The Unexpected Rhapsody || ✅

Chapter 21

The vintage bulb dangling down the centre of ceiling flickers on and off. There is a deep silence which weighs down the already daunting atmosphere of the room. Right below the cursed bulb, stand Haein and Hana, with their faces a few inches apart. The brown and hazel pairs of eyes peer into each other, none of them backing down in this fight for dominance.

Their fisted palms face each other as if ready to punch a bunch of ugly monsters.

Hana raises a challenging eyebrow to which Haein simply smirks from one corner of her mouth.

"Kawi-bawi-bo!" they howl out in unison.

The younger throws her hands up in the air before letting out a passionate cheer for her win. Hana squats down on the floor as she mentally punches herself with the same fist which defeated her in the final round of the game.

"Very well, Haein-ah," Stacy says while clapping her hands and making her way towards the centre of the room, "You have finally won the lower level of the bed." She then directs her index finger towards the still crouched Hana and then points to the topmost level of the bunk bed as she commands, "You're going up."

Hana scowls as she replies, "I know, of course. No need to order me around."

It had been a week since the five soon-to-debut girls had been shifted to their new residence. Yet, they had a daily argument regarding where each of them will sit. Lucky for them, there were two bunk beds in the room: one being two tiered and the other three-tiered. But the main question in front of them was about deciding a bed for each of them in the fairest way possible.

Suddenly, the depressing light switches to a blinding one. Hana squints her eyes to look at the switch board and finds a feminine figure standing against the wall with her arms crossed against her chest. When she makes her way towards the three girls, Hana's eyes finally adjust to take in the beautiful black-haired girl in front of her.

When she reaches close enough to the crouched girl, Rubina extends her hand towards Hana and the Nepali girl grabs it to pull herself to her feet.

"Finally, we three are here to create a ruckus in the suite life of Hana and Stacy, aren't we?" jokes Yoonseul as she observes the way Stacy and Hana interact.

"Yeah, eonnie!" Haein cheerfully says as she clicks her tongue.

Stacy and Hana, in the meanwhile, look at the two conspirators through their judgy eyes before letting them be for now.

"Let's finally make our beds now that we're on the top of this room," Rubina mentions to Hana. The duo climbs up the bunk beds and make the arrangements to settle into their new home: the BigHit dorms.

Apparently, Hana was supposed to move in directly to the BigHit dorms after ND had left. But since a lot of trainees had left the SOURCEMUSIC dormitories owing to the pandemic, there was enough vacancy for her to be accommodated in a SOURCEMUSIC dorm itself.

~

"Let's go home, Hana-ya." Stacy says as she saves her latest recording on her iPod.

Hana lightly shakes her head as she detaches the last wire off the large stand of microphone in front of her. "I'm sorry, buddy. But I would come in a little later."

"What for?" asks Yoonseul, as she turns off the brightest light of the small room.

"I have my mock tests coming up. Plus, I gotta revise my languages as well."

"Mock tests and languages?" repeats Rubina, while standing up from her seat and folding the sheet of lyrics in her hand. "Oh... the Korean Language Programme at SNU?"