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“And the other girls. Are they treating her well?”

“They wouldn’t dream of upsetting her,” Sun Ye says with a teasing smile, “not with Min Sori watching over her.”

I roll my eyes. “You can tell me the truth.”

She pauses, thoughtful. “Just the normal stuff. Six girls togetherfor long stretches of time in a high-pressure environment? Lots of bickering. Some hair pulling. Just kidding.” She laughs.

Hyemi must not have told the other members about how her father’s involved. Though, now that I think about it, she probably doesn’t know the extent of it. Which means I’ll have to make sure to keep it a secret from not only the members—who might grow to resent her—but also Hyemi herself, who might feel self-conscious that she didn’t earn her place in the group.

“She’s an amazing rapper too,” Sun Ye says. “It makes sense why Joah signed her on last minute. Our diamond in the rough.”

That’s a relief to hear. “Thanks. I feel reassured that you’re looking out for her.”

“I know. It’s a lot of pressure. I practically acquired five younger sisters overnight.”

Sun Ye speaks as if she’s long-suffering, but there’s a twinkle in her eye. “I’m happy for you,” I say. This is a big moment for Sun Ye. After ten years as a trainee, she’s finally debuting.

“Thanks, Sori.” Her expression softens.

I change into workout clothes and join Hyemi where she’s stretching on the floor of the practice room.

“Sun Ye told me practice went well,” I say, extending my legs out and reaching for my toes.

“Sun Ye-eonni is kind,” Hyemi says. Like before, I notice how tired she looks. Not just physically. If I remember her schedule correctly, she was up at five this morning for practice, after having returned late from the variety show recording the night before.

“I know we’re supposed to go over the choreography, but we can take a break.”

Hyemi shakes her head. “I don’t mind working hard for the next two weeks, and then sleeping afterward.”

Even if she hasn’t been a trainee for very long, she definitely sounds like one.

Later I’ll have to tell her that it’s better to pace herself, and that things will only becomemoredifficult after she’s debuted, but for now, I’ll let her hold on to that belief a little longer.

“Okay,” I say, rising to my feet and moving toward the side of the room to turn on the music. “Walk me through the steps.”

The danceisdifficult, but luckily Hyemi’s positioned mostly in the back or to the side during the majority of it, only coming to the front when she has her lines. She’s hadsomeformal training, having gone to a dance studio in Toronto all throughout elementary and middle school. As I go through the steps with her, I offer her tips and corrections.

Hours later, we’ve gone through the choreography so many times that I’ve memorized it myself. Her dancing still needs a lot more finessing, and she’ll have to put the time into practicing so that she can perform it flawlessly on a live stage, but she’s improved considerably from when we began.

“I’m nervous about how I’ll appear on the episode,” she says as we’re packing up to leave the studio.

“The episode ofCatch Me If You Can?” I ask.

She nods. “I feel like I wasn’t completely myself. I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I tried to be on my best behavior, but I think I might have come across stiff.”

I consider her words. “You don’t have to show your whole self to people. In fact, youshouldkeep a part of yourself just for you.”

“Is that what you do, Seonbae? Your image is very glamorous, but you’re also glamorous in person.”

“I’m really not.”

“But you are,” she insists.

“I can be self-conscious and mean-spirited. And annoyed and ticked off.” I think of Nathaniel leaving this morning without telling me. “And maybe one day I’ll be comfortable showing those sides of me to strangers, but right now I want to keep that hidden and only show the glamorous side.”

“I hope to see all the sides of you one day, Seonbae,” she says with a grin, and I laugh.

It’s four o’clock when I step off the bus in my neighborhood, the sun setting over the mountains to the west. For a moment I just stand there, breathing in the cool night air.