20 cm || Choi Yeonjun

09

Days passed by literally like a blur, time moved so fast and the next thing we know, today is the day of our evaluations. Fortunately, we have the rest of the morning all to ourselves. There is no scheduled classes and management told us to focus on impressing the panelists.

So that is what we are currently doing — rehearsing, polishing some ad-libs and doing vocal exercises. We got up extra early that the sun hasn't even rose when we arrived in our practice room. The evaluation from what Eunbi told us the day prior, is scheduled in the afternoon, around 4:00 pm on the sixth floor, an area we have yet to step on to.

"Warm up your voice more, Ria. It's still a little bit shaky." I walked to her side, patting her shoulder encouragingly when I notice her struggling in her little corner. She came a bit late today so she had to skip a few parts of our warm up. Maybe because of the jitters and because she was the last one to go home yesterday. She beat herself too much; aiming to do better, perform better and be better.

"Yes, unnie." She diligently replied. We knew she was a little behind in singing since she was assigned on a different position — that being dance and rap but our maknae, she is very hardworking. Her passion for performing is her greatest strength. Plus she learns abnormally fast for her age. Its crazy.

"Jiwon-ah, can you pass me my water bottle?" Ga eun asked me without straying her eyes away from her ipad, her hands outstretched to my direction. She's watching the live version and is obviously taking notes of the artist's breathing technique. I simply nodded, going to her after grabbing the purple bottle near me. 

"So who exactly will evaluate us?" I broke the silence and the little world we were all in by asking the question I failed to ask yesterday night. The girls automatically looked at Eunbi unnie, they too silently asked the same question.

"Our trainers, Bang PD, and our soon to be manager." Eunbi lifted her fingers indicating 5 people.

Well damn. That was actually a lot. I was expecting at least three people but five? No way. This is saying a lot considering that this is only our first performance for our training tests. We all froze on our spot when we hear Bang PD's name come out of our eldest's mouth. My heart began thumping fast and my hands started shaking. There were rumours going around that he was particularly stern with singing and that he gave TXT sunbae a hard time during their trainee days.

"Then, another round?" Ga eun asked us while giggling. She was trying to lighten the mood, I just know it. Her brow was quivering but her smile still remained plastered on her face. "Okay." She must've seen on our faces that we were all nervous.

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The afternoon came and our vocal coach fetched and lead us through a bunch of unfamiliar hallways. Seeing that we were on a different floor, even the design on the walls were noticeably different. He opened the door for us, and we all filed in one by one. I roamed my eyes and saw a long table in front of a mini stage. The windows were all covered by thick drapes so it was a little bit dim in the room. The mic stands were already placed on stage and the evaluators were seated, sporting unreadable expressions as they eyed us. We all bowed our heads and greeted them one by one. We positioned ourselves immediately when we stepped on the platform, we were all ready.

The familiar tune of our song resonated in the whole room. This is it.