The morning light in Mina's dorm slipped through the floor-to-ceiling windows in thin, pale strips. It made the whole room look colder than it really was. For the first few seconds after waking up, Mina had no idea where she was. The bed was too soft, the room too big, and everything was too quiet.
Then she looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling and remembered.
South Korea.
JYP Arts.
The dorm.
Nayeon somewhere a few doors down.
Chaeyoung somewhere in the same building.
Mina let out a slow breath and rolled onto her side, her hand brushing against something cool near the pillow. She lifted her wrist and looked at the bracelet Chaeyoung had made her the day before.
In the morning light, it looked smaller somehow. More delicate. The thread was uneven, frayed a little near one of the knots, and the tiny white bead with her initial in the middle looked almost silly against everything else in the room, which was expensive and polished and chosen by someone with far too much money.
She liked it more because of that.
Mina turned it slowly around her wrist, smiling a little before she even realised she was doing it. Something about the fact that Chaeyoung had actually made it herself made her feel lighter. Nobody really gave Mina things like this before — not handmade things, not imperfect things, not things that felt like someone had actually sat there and thought about her while making them.
Her phone buzzed on the bedside table and made her jump.
Still half asleep, Mina reached over and checked the screen. A group chat she didn't remember joining had lit up overnight.
Sana: good morninggg ☀️ showcase group meeting today! Studio B after lunch ok? 😊
Momo: Bring your timetable.
Nayeon: 12:30. Don't be late.
Mina stared at the last message for a second.
"She really does think she runs this place," she muttered.
She dropped her phone back onto the table and sat up, dragging both hands over her face. Her eyes landed on the folder sitting on the chair across the room. Inside were the loose pages Chaeyoung had given her the day they met. Mina still wasn't sure why she'd bothered taking them out and putting them there instead of just leaving them in her bag.
Maybe because seeing them made this place feel a little less strange.
A little less lonely.
She stood up and stretched, her shirt lifting just enough for the cold air to brush against her stomach. A yawn escaped her as she made her way to the bathroom.
As she splashed water on her face, Ms. Lee's words from yesterday came back to her.
Don't lose sight of who you align yourself with. The company you keep will shape how you are remembered.
Mina frowned at herself in the mirror.
For some reason, that line bothered her more now than it had in the office.
Back then it had sounded formal. Polite.
Now it felt more like a warning.
The hallway outside the dorm rooms was almost empty by the time Mina stepped out later that morning, satchel hanging off one shoulder, damp hair loose around her face. She was still trying to figure out how one building could have so many corridors that looked exactly the same when she spotted a familiar head of messy short hair near the lockers by the stairwell.
Chaeyoung was sitting on the floor with one knee up, sketchbook resting against it, pencil moving lazily across the page. She looked so absorbed in what she was doing that for a second Mina just stood there and watched.
There was something weirdly calming about it.
Like Chaeyoung existed slightly outside everything else.
As if she felt Mina looking, Chaeyoung glanced up.
Her face brightened almost straight away.
"Well, well," she said, half-closing the sketchbook over her lap. "You look like someone who got exactly four hours of sleep."
Mina leaned against the locker opposite her and scoffed.
"Five."
Chaeyoung raised her eyebrows.
"Wow. Look at you adapting."
Mina smiled in spite of herself. "I'm trying."
Chaeyoung's eyes dropped to Mina's wrist, and Mina caught the tiny shift in her expression the second she noticed the bracelet.
"You kept it."
Mina looked down too, even though she already knew it was there.
"Of course I did."
Chaeyoung tried to act casual about it, but the corner of her mouth twitched.
"Most people lose stuff like that."
"I'm not most people," Mina said before she could stop herself.
The words landed a little heavier than she meant them to.
Suddenly Mina was very aware of the empty hallway, the way Chaeyoung was holding the pencil, the way her face had gone quieter for a second.
Chaeyoung looked back down at the page.
"Good," she said softly, almost like she hadn't meant to say it out loud. Then she quickly bent over the sketchbook again, like she didn't want Mina to notice the way her expression had softened.
Mina adjusted her bag on her shoulder.
"I've got that showcase meeting after lunch. With Sana, Momo and…" she said, trailing off on purpose.
Chaeyoung filled it in for her.
"The queen herself."
Mina laughed under her breath. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Chaeyoung tapped the pencil against the edge of the page.
"Depends on what kind of crown she's wearing today."
Mina tilted her head. "You really don't like her, do you?"
Chaeyoung smirked, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"I like ice cream. I like sleeping in. I like Biggie. I tolerate most other things."
"That's not what I asked."
Chaeyoung looked up properly then. Whatever joke had been sitting on her face faded a little.
"You're going to be late for class," she said.
Mina let out a breath.
"That's still not an answer."
Chaeyoung closed the sketchbook and got to her feet in one easy motion. She slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped past Mina, close enough for Mina to catch that faint strawberry smell again.
"Have fun with the royals, Mina."
Her tone was light, but not mean.
Then she kept walking down the corridor.
Mina turned and watched her go.
For some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about the way Chaeyoung's pencil had paused the second she mentioned the showcase.
Lunch was chaos in the way only a school cafeteria could be — too loud, too bright, too many people moving in too many directions at once. Mina stood in line with her tray, trying to decide whether cafeteria food tasted the same in every country, when a voice behind her cut through the noise.
"If you choose the fish on a Wednesday, you deserve whatever happens next."
Mina turned to find Dahyun grinning at her like she had no business being that cheerful this early in the day. Tzuyu stood beside her, calm as always, tray already full. Chaeyoung was there too, hood up even though they were inside, her eyes meeting Mina's for only a second before she looked away again.
"I wasn't going to get the fish," Mina said.
"Good," Dahyun replied. "You're learning."
They took a table near the back, away from the shiny laughter at the front of the cafeteria where the elite students sat in neat little clusters beneath the best lighting, like even the room itself had picked a side.
Mina sat down across from Chaeyoung.
Dahyun leaned forward immediately, elbows on the table.
"So. First official elite meeting today."
Mina rolled her eyes. "I'm not defecting."
Tzuyu took a sip of her drink. "That's how it starts."
Chaeyoung snorted into her rice.
"Relax. She hasn't signed the blood contract yet."
Mina laughed, but there was something different about the way the three of them looked at her afterward — still playful, but a little more watchful too. As if they were waiting to see whether this place would change her the way it seemed to change everyone else.
Dahyun tore open a packet of sauce.
"Just don't come back speaking in luxury brands and passive aggression."
"I make no promises," Mina said.
Tzuyu glanced toward the front tables. Nayeon sat there with Sana and a few other girls by the windows, all easy smiles and expensive bags. Even from across the room, she somehow took up more space than everyone around her.
"That table collects people," Tzuyu said dryly. "Like a black hole with lip gloss."
Dahyun nearly choked laughing.
Mina followed Tzuyu's gaze.
Nayeon looked up at exactly the same time.
And smiled.
Not the cold look from the airport. Not even the irritated one from the dorm.
This one was smooth. Warm. Inviting, almost.
It unsettled Mina more than either of the others.
When she looked back at the table, Chaeyoung was staring down at her tray, poking at her food with her chopsticks.
Mina hesitated, then asked, as lightly as she could, "So… what actually happened last year?"
Silence.
Dahyun stopped chewing.
Tzuyu's expression stayed mostly the same, but her eyes lifted slowly from her tray.
Chaeyoung's chopsticks went still.
For a second, Mina thought Chaeyoung might actually answer.
"What do you mean?" Dahyun asked, too fast.
Mina shrugged, trying to sound casual.
"People keep mentioning it. In class. At dinner. Yesterday too. So what happened?"
Tzuyu leaned back in her chair.
"This school runs on gossip. Half the stuff people say happened last year probably happened three years ago to someone else."
"That wasn't helpful."
"I'm rarely helpful."
Dahyun kicked Tzuyu under the table.
"Ow," Tzuyu muttered, though she barely reacted.
Mina looked at Chaeyoung.
"Do you know?"
Chaeyoung kept her eyes on her tray.
"Everyone knows something," she said.
"That sounds ominous."
Chaeyoung smiled faintly, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"This school likes stories, Mina. Especially the ones that make the right people look good."
Before Mina could ask what that meant, the bell rang somewhere in the distance, cutting through the noise of the room. Chairs scraped. Conversations broke apart. Students started moving toward the exits.
Chaeyoung stood first, tugging her hood properly over her head.
"You've got your meeting," she said quietly. "Better not keep the monarchy waiting."
"Chaeyoung—"
But she was already moving away from the table, disappearing into the crowd before Mina could follow.
Dahyun let out a quiet breath.
Tzuyu said nothing.
And for the first time, Mina got the feeling that whatever sat underneath the word showcase was a lot bigger than a school performance.
Studio B was on the far side of the performance wing, past two mirrored rehearsal rooms and a row of framed photos showing previous graduating classes dressed in white and gold. Mina got there at exactly 12:29 and still found Nayeon already inside.
Of course she was.
The room itself was brighter than the other practice spaces Mina had seen so far. Polished wood floors. Built-in speakers. One corner set up with notebooks, bottled water, and a tablet propped on a stand. It looked less like a student meeting and more like a project briefing.
Sana sat on the floor stretching, blonde hair tied back loosely. Momo crouched by the speaker dock messing with cables.
"Mina!" Sana chirped the second she saw her, skipping over to Mina and giving her a hug. "Come in, come in."
Momo glanced over her shoulder and gave a short nod. "You're on time. Good."
Mina smiled and stepped inside. "Apparently that matters."
"It matters to her," Sana said, jerking her head toward Nayeon.
Nayeon finally looked up from the tablet in her hands.
"Punctuality matters to people who want good results," she said.
Sana clutched her chest dramatically. "She says that like she wasn't born holding a planner."
Mina expected Nayeon to glare at her or make some dry comment, but instead she just smiled and put the tablet down.
"Sit," she said to Mina. "We should start."
There was something strange about watching Nayeon in here.
She was still sharp. Still intense. But in this setting it fit her differently. Like this was the version of her other people saw first — the one who always had a plan, always knew what came next, and somehow got everyone else to follow along without needing to raise her voice.
It was irritating.
And, annoyingly, kind of impressive.
Mina sat cross-legged beside Sana.
On the floor between them were pages of notes, rough stage layouts, and concept words scribbled in neat handwriting.
"You did all this already?" Mina asked before she could stop herself.
Nayeon raised an eyebrow. "Were you expecting less?"
Mina glanced down at the pages again. "I was expecting we'd at least say hello first."
Sana laughed out loud. Momo smirked.
For a second, even Nayeon looked thrown.
Then she recovered.
"Hello, Mina."
Something about the way she said it made Mina look away first.
Momo reached out and tapped one of the papers.
"We need to decide a direction. Dance-based, vocal-based, mixed performance, narrative piece—"
"Narrative," Sana said immediately. "Something people actually feel."
"People feel clean choreography too," Momo argued.
"They admire it," Sana corrected. "Not the same thing."
Nayeon crossed one leg over the other and looked at Mina.
"And you?"
Mina blinked. "Me?"
"You're in the group."
Sana grinned. "Which means she gets bossed around equally now."
Mina laughed softly and looked down at the papers.
"I think…" She hesitated. "I think a performance should tell the truth about something."
The room went still for a beat.
Momo leaned forward. "Go on."
Mina shrugged, suddenly aware of how vague she sounded.
"Not literally. I just mean… if it's all technique and no feeling, people forget it. But if it feels like it means something, they remember."
Sana pointed at Mina like she'd just won an argument. "Exactly."
Nayeon's eyes stayed on Mina's face.
"You're going to make this year interesting, aren't you?"
The way she said it was hard to place. A challenge, maybe. Or admiration. Or something more personal Mina didn't want to overthink.
Momo stood up. "We should test ideas."
Within minutes the room was moving. Music came on. Sana tried one routine and gave up halfway through because it was, in her words, "emotionally bankrupt." Momo demonstrated a sharper sequence that looked nearly impossible and still somehow effortless. Mina joined in where she could, learning their timing, watching how easily the three of them moved around one another.
And through all of it, Nayeon kept the room together.
Not by being loud.
By always being half a step ahead.
She changed tracks before the energy dipped. Reworked combinations when they didn't land. When Sana and Momo started bickering over tempo, Nayeon raised one hand and cut through it neatly.
"We'll test both," she said. "Argue after we know what works."
Sana flopped dramatically onto the floor. "I hate when she's right."
"That must be exhausting for you," Nayeon replied.
Everyone laughed.
Even Mina.
And that was the part that bothered her most.
Not that Nayeon was sharp.
That she was so easy to follow when she wanted to be.
At one point, while Momo reset the music and Sana wandered off to find water, Nayeon stepped closer to Mina.
"You're quiet," she said.
Mina shrugged. "I'm listening."
Nayeon's expression sharpened, amused.
"Good. Most people here only know how to talk."
Before Mina could answer, the studio door opened.
She felt the shift in the room before she fully registered why.
Chaeyoung stood in the doorway, one hand still on the handle, expression unreadable.
Her eyes moved from Momo to Sana to Nayeon.
Then finally to Mina.
"Oh," she said. "Didn't realise the room was booked."
"It isn't," Nayeon said immediately.
The softness from a minute ago had vanished from her voice.
Chaeyoung gave a tiny nod, like that told her everything she needed to know.
Sana straightened. "Hey, Chaeng."
Momo lifted a hand in a quick little wave.
Chaeyoung barely seemed to notice either of them.
Her eyes flicked back to Mina.
"Practice going well?"
Mina took a small step forward before she even realised she was doing it.
"Yeah. We're just figuring stuff out."
Nayeon folded her arms. "And we're in the middle of it."
The sentence wasn't openly rude.
It didn't need to be.
Chaeyoung's face didn't really change, but something in her posture did. Not defensive. Not angry. Just… quieter.
"Right," she said. "Didn't mean to interrupt."
She turned to leave.
"Chaeyoung—" Mina started.
Chaeyoung only looked back over one shoulder and gave her that faint, crooked little smile.
"Have fun, Mina."
Then she was gone.
The door clicked shut behind her.
No one moved for a second.
Mina looked from the door to the others. Sana had gone still. Momo's jaw looked tight. Nayeon's face had settled back into calm, but it looked more deliberate now, like something she'd put back on.
Mina frowned.
"What was that?"
Sana bent to pick up her water bottle. "Nothing."
"That didn't look like nothing."
Momo stood, brushing dust off her hands that wasn't there. "Old tension."
"From what?"
Momo opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of it.
Nayeon answered instead.
"Last year," she said smoothly. "Some people don't know how to let things go."
Mina narrowed her eyes. "What things?"
Nayeon held her gaze for a second, then smiled.
"You'll hear fifty different versions if you ask around. Most of them dramatic."
"That's not an answer either."
Something close to approval flickered in Nayeon's eyes.
"No," she said. "It isn't."
Then she turned back toward the speaker and clapped once, sharp enough to reset the room.
"Again from the top."
The meeting went on.
Mina moved when she was told, listened when she needed to, nodded when it made sense.
But her thoughts kept drifting back to the doorway. To the way Chaeyoung had gone quiet. To the way everyone else had suddenly gone careful.
When it finally ended, Sana stretched her arms over her head and announced she was starving. Momo agreed. Nayeon started gathering papers into neat little stacks.
Mina slung her bag over her shoulder.
"I'll catch up," she said.
No one stopped her.
Chaeyoung was exactly where Mina expected to find her.
Under the old tree at the back of the field, knees drawn up, sketchbook balanced against them, pencil scratching gently across the page. The late afternoon sun slipped through the branches overhead, leaving shifting patches of light over her face.
For a second Mina just stood there.
Then she walked over and sat down beside her.
Chaeyoung didn't look up straight away.
"You left pretty fast."
"I didn't want to interrupt."
Mina glanced at the page. From where she sat, she could only see part of it — dark lines forming what looked like a staircase that didn't lead anywhere.
"You weren't interrupting."
Chaeyoung finally looked at her, one eyebrow lifting.
"Really? Because your queen seemed to disagree."
Mina laughed before she meant to. "She's not my queen."
"Yet." Chaeyoung mumurs.
"That's dramatic." Mina says, rolling her eyes.
"You've met me."
Mina leaned back on her hands and looked out over the field. Students moved in little clusters near the far buildings, voices carrying faintly on the breeze.
After a moment she asked, "Why does everyone act weird around you?"
Chaeyoung's pencil stopped.
"They don't."
"They do."
Chaeyoung half-closed the sketchbook, the same way she always did when she didn't want Mina seeing too much.
"This school has a long memory."
Mina turned toward her. "About what?"
Chaeyoung shrugged, but this time it looked tired.
"Depends who you ask."
"That's a very annoying answer."
"I know."
Mina watched her for a second. There was no anger there. No real hostility. Just the same strange quiet she'd seen in the studio doorway.
"Did I do something wrong?" Mina asked before she could stop herself.
Chaeyoung looked at her properly then.
"What?"
"In there. When you left."
Chaeyoung's expression softened almost immediately.
"No."
"Then what was that?"
Chaeyoung stared at Mina for a moment, like she was weighing up how honest to be. Then her gaze dropped to the bracelet on Mina's wrist.
"You fit in with them easier than you think," she said.
Mina frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's not an insult."
"It sounded like one."
Chaeyoung let out a quiet breath through her nose.
"It means you don't look lost with them."
For some reason, that made Mina's chest tighten.
"And that's bad?"
Chaeyoung looked back toward the school buildings, the glass windows catching the sun too brightly.
"No," she said quietly. "Just… don't let this place decide who you are too quickly."
The breeze shifted. Somewhere in the distance, a bell rang.
Mina let the silence sit for a few seconds before speaking again.
"Nayeon said it was old drama."
At that, Chaeyoung smiled.
A real one this time, but small enough to hurt.
"Of course she did."
"So there is something."
"There's always something."
"Chaeyoung."
She looked over.
Mina softened her voice.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But don't act like I'm stupid."
Something moved in Chaeyoung's face then. Surprise maybe. Or gratitude.
Maybe both.
"I know you're not stupid," she said quietly.
Then, after a pause:
"I just don't know which version of the story you'll hear first."
Mina held her gaze.
"Maybe I'd rather hear yours."
Chaeyoung looked away first.
When she smiled again, it was smaller. Sadder.
"One day," she said.
Then she nudged Mina lightly with her shoulder, like she was trying to pull the moment back into safer territory.
"For now, focus on your showcase. You're going to be terrifyingly good at it."
Mina rolled her eyes. "That sounds like a compliment and an insult."
"That's because it's from me."
Mina laughed, softer this time.
Chaeyoung reopened the sketchbook.
"Go on," she said. "If you stay here too long, people will think I'm corrupting you."
Mina stood and brushed the grass off the back of her skirt.
"Maybe you are."
Chaeyoung smirked without looking up.
"Then I'm doing a bad job. You still stand like someone with a trust fund."
Mina gasped. "That was rude."
"That was accurate."
Mina shook her head, but she was smiling as she stepped backward.
"I'll see you at dinner?"
Chaeyoung's pencil started moving again.
"Probably."
That probably should have annoyed Mina.
Instead, it made her feel oddly relieved.
The dorms were quieter after sunset.
The energy that had filled the hallways during the day slowly drained away as the evening settled in. Doors closed one by one, laughter faded into muffled voices behind walls, and the long corridors returned to the same polished silence they seemed to prefer.
Later that night, Mina stood by her window after showering, her hair still slightly damp at the ends. She had wrapped herself in one of the oversized sweaters she'd packed from home, the sleeves hanging past her hands as she folded her arms loosely against the glass.
Outside, the field stretched out beneath the dorms, washed in soft yellow light from the tall lamps lining the paths. The old tree near the back of the field was just a dark shape against darker grass, its branches swaying slightly whenever the night breeze moved through them.
Students crossed the courtyard in pairs and small groups, their voices drifting faintly upward before disappearing again. From this height they looked smaller, like pieces on a board moving slowly across the paths.
Across the courtyard, windows in the opposite dorm building flickered on and off one by one.
Some rooms glowed warmly.
Others stayed dark.
Mina watched them for a while, letting the quiet settle around her.
Her phone buzzed suddenly against the desk behind her.
She turned, grabbing it lazily.
Another message from the showcase group chat.
Sana: mina survived her first royal council meeting 🎉
Momo: Barely.
Nayeon: She did fine.
Sana: wow she's been accepted
Nayeon: Don't be dramatic.
Mina huffed out a quiet laugh and tossed the phone onto the bed.
For a moment she just stood there, staring at it.
Then she turned back toward the window.
Without really meaning to, her eyes drifted straight back to the tree.
It was darker now. The lamps didn't quite reach that far, leaving the space beneath it half hidden in shadow.
She couldn't see anyone there.
Still, the image came easily.
Chaeyoung sitting beneath it with her knees drawn up, sketchbook balanced against them, pencil moving slowly across the page while the rest of the campus rushed past without noticing.
Mina lifted her wrist again, brushing her thumb across the bracelet.
The uneven thread caught faintly in the light from the room behind her. It looked fragile — like something that could come apart if it was pulled too hard.
For some reason, that thought made Mina hold her wrist a little tighter.
Ms. Lee's words drifted back into her mind.
The company you keep will shape how you are remembered.
Mina frowned slightly.
Maybe that was true.
This place clearly believed it was.
JYP Arts seemed to run on reputation — who you stood beside, who you worked with, who people saw you laughing with in the halls. Every glance and conversation felt like it meant something more than it should.
Mina reached for the curtains, but she paused. A figure stood in one of the lit windows across the courtyard.
Nayeon.
Even from this distance, Mina knew it was her. The posture gave it away. Straight-backed. Still. Controlled. For a moment Mina thought Nayeon might turn and notice her standing there too, but Nayeon's attention stayed fixed on the field below.
On the tree.
Or maybe the space beneath it.
Mina followed the direction of her gaze, but from this angle she still couldn't see anything in the darkness.
Then, slowly, Nayeon turned her head. Her eyes lifted toward Mina's window. The distance between them should have made the moment meaningless.
It didn't.
Something uneasy settled low in Mina's stomach.
Nayeon smiled.
Not brightly.
Not warmly.
Just enough to say:
I see more than you think.
Then she stepped back from the window and disappeared into the shadow of her room.
The light behind her dimmed.
Mina stood there a second longer, her hand still resting on the curtain.
Below, the field remained quiet.
The tree didn't move.
Finally, Mina pulled the curtains closed. The room fell into softer darkness. But even after she climbed into bed and turned off the lights, the image refused to leave her mind. Chaeyoung beneath the tree. Nayeon at the window.
And herself somewhere between them.
Whether she meant to be or not.