**** Yejin is her stage name, Sai is her birth name ****

Sai carelessly flipped through her journal as Cho laid next to her, tugging her arms and speaking in a high, cute voice.

Seeing and hearing the aegyo reminded her of her school days, and she quickly pushed the maknae away, satisfied with the thud of her hitting the floor.

The shrill whining, however, was not so satisfying.

"Yejinnie! Why do you hate me?!"

Sai rolled her eyes lightly, but she put her journal down and stood up, looking at the teary eyed Cho crumpled on the ground looking up at her.

Ah, she's such a drama queen.

She roughly grabbed Cho's arm and pulled her up, before leading her out of the room.

"I can't hate you, we have to train together."

Sai still wasn't sure exactly why she had been put with Cho to share their room. She got along well with all the girls, fortunately, as that was important in a group. But she was usually quieter than Cho, as she was constantly stressing about the debut, the dance moves, the lyrics, and the music. She had a lot on her mind.  

Cho, on the other hand, was one of the most hyperactive people she had come into contact with. The energy was great for dancing, but when it was the early morning and Sai had stayed up all night composing music, it wasn't so great.

Jiyeon and Soobin were across the hall, and they generally had very noticeable singing competitions, so Sai wouldn't have been left alone no matter who she roomed with.

Sai shrugged it off, as she knew there was nothing she could do about it. And despite how she acted, she did enjoy the company of all of the members. They had become a family to her, and she loved them.

On top of that, she got a feeling of importance and worth from them, especially the younger members, as she loved the affection they gave her, and how they strived for her compliments. She liked the feeling of others depending on her. It gave her something to do, a reason to be there.

It was a good thing too, because being the leader meant she had a lot of people depending on her. It was hard, but at least she could handle it and not hate it.

The feeling of power rose in her chest when she walked into the practice room and everyone immediately gave her their full attention.

She wasn't power hungry, but she had grown up with minimal impact, so being able to lead others now and be respected was new enough to feel like a big deal to her.

"Cho, let's show them what we came up with."

The maknae clapped and stood beside her, leaning into Sai's arm happily before her face turned blank.

If there was one thing that could make Cho serious, it was teaching dances. While Sai got more free and playful when performing, Cho became more serious, though she was still more hyper than all of the others.

As they were finishing up the dance, the door opened and Sai immediately stood in the center of the others.

As their manager walked in, they prepared to greet him politely.

Sai looked over at Cho, before they all stood straight.

"1, 2, 3," Sai's voice was powerful and clear.

"Hello, we are your STAR!" They spoke together as they bowed in exact unison.

Cho and Jiyeon stood up with wide grins, proud for the perfectly executed greeting. Soobin and Sai shared an amused look before they all faced the manager.

"Girls, you all know that your debut is coming up quickly. You're doing very well, but you still aren't perfectly synced in your dance, and the vocals still need work. We can't film the music video until the audio is perfect."

The manager's eyes were on Sai, so she did her best not to slouch her shoulders in shame at his words.

He was right; she needed to work harder to get everyone prepared for this. It would be primarily her fault if they failed to debut because they couldn't perfect everything. She couldn't let that happen.

"Yejin, you've been doing a lovely job, but I think it's time we brought in some higher help to encourage all of you and remind you of the reason you're training so hard. Because, who's encouraging you Yejin?"

Sai nodded softly, her eyes stinging as she felt tears coming up.

Was she getting replaced as the leader? Had she failed? She'd already failed, before they even debuted she had already failed as the leader. She was a disgrace, a failure.

She felt a nudge on her shoulder, and she looked over to see Jiyeon giving her a comforting smile.

She took a deep breath and faced forward.

Whatever happened, she would greet it graciously, because this debut was a gift that she would cherish.