“It’s everything to me.”
“There you go,” Akari says.
Juhyun’s eyes glint underneath the gym’s fluorescent lighting. “Mina underestimates you, Princess Rachel.” She pulls off her boxing gloves and unravels her hand wraps, revealing intricately manicured pale-pink and navy-blue floral nails underneath. “Now go show that bitch who’s boss.”
* * *
I punch the elevator button for the eighteenth floor, antsy to get home and shower after Appa goaded me and Akari into going thirty minutes in the ring with him.
The first thing I hear when I enter our apartment is the sound of K-pop music, followed by Leah laughter and a group of giggling girls. I slide into my slippers and walk toward the living room, where Leah is sprawled on the floor with four other girls from her class, watching the newest Electric Flower music video on their phones. I recognize it immediately—the legendary Kang Jina along with the rest of the group, all dancing in glowing orange jumpsuits against a pure black soundstage. It’s the quickest viral video in DB history, getting over thirty-six million hits in only twenty-four hours. Leah stands, holding a hairbrush to her mouth like a microphone, and belts out the lyrics, matching Jina’s powerful soprano note by note. I can’t help but smile. The girl’s got talent.
Seeing me, one of her friends, a girl with a heart-shaped face and diamond-encrusted Hello Kitty earrings, nudges Leah in the toe. “Your unni’s home,” she says, nodding in my direction.
Leah spins around and holds the hairbrush out to me. “Take it away, Unni!”
I make a half-hearted motion to grab the brush, but the song is already fading to an end, leaving the room in an uncomfortable silence.
“Too bad,” Heart Face says. “We could have had a performance from a real K-pop trainee.”
Another girl in a striped shirt arches an eyebrow at me, taking in my matted, greasy hair and drooping sweatpants. “Um, are you sure she’s the K-pop trainee? Maybe Leah was talking about another sister.”
Leah laughs awkwardly, plopping back onto the floor and setting down her hairbrush. “Nope… that’s her. I only have one unni.”
“The one and only,” I say.
Stripes looks stunned. “Are you serious?”
Damn, Mina and the others are no match for these vicious preteens.
Leah chokes out another laugh, her cheeks turning pink. “Come on, guys. Trust me. Remember those ninth-grade girls from school who followed her on the bus all the way to DB headquarters just to see if she was really a trainee? Don’t be like them.”
“If you’re a real trainee, what can you tell us about DB?” one of the other girls asks. She leans forward, her eyes wide. “Do you ever see Jason Lee?”
“I heard he has a secret girlfriend that he only sees during the full moon,” the fourth girl says. “Is that true?”
“That’s so romantic.” Heart Face sighs. “Is it true that he picks a superfan off social media to surprise and spend the day with? He’s just the best!”
I laugh to myself. Even outside of DB, gossip can’t touch Jason “Angel Boy” Lee’s pristine reputation. “Um. Right… well, the thing is, I don’t really see him around.” It’s the truth, but I can tell that’s not the answer they were hoping for.
“Well, what about Electric Flower? Do they all get along? I bet Mr. Noh favors Kang Jina. She’s obviously the prettiest.”
“I don’t… know?” My body is really feeling that thirty-minute spar, and I can barely keep up with their questions.
Stripes lets out an exasperated sigh, blowing her bangs out of her face. “How… interesting.” She tiptoes around my sweat-soaked sweatshirt that I threw on the floor. “I guess being a trainee isn’t as fun or… glamorous… as we thought it would be. Our bad… come on, girls. Let’s go shopping at Coex.” She nods at the other three but doesn’t make eye contact with Leah. They all get up and quickly walk single file past me, putting on their shoes.
“Um, but… wait! I love shopping!” Leah stumbles to her feet, watching as the girls leave. Her shoulders slump as Heart Face slams the door behind them. Ouch.
“I’m sorry, Le—” Before I can finish, she whirls around to me, her face flushed with anger. “Unni! Would it kill you to at least pretend to be a cool trainee?”
Stung, I draw back. “What? Don’t try to make this about me! Every week you have some new group of girls over here—why don’t you try making some friends that like you for you for once, instead of for the gossip they think you can deliver?”
“Well… maybe they would have liked me eventually! You know, if you hadn’t scared them away with your ahjussi sweatpants and gross hair,” she claps back. “I know there’s a women’s locker room at Appa’s gym. Stop being so lazy.”
I sigh. I know those girls aren’t real friends, but I also know that Leah is upset. Just like Appa, she never asked to leave New York and the life our family had there and move across the world so I could pursue my dream, and yet she’s supported me every step of the way. She was too young before, but I think there’s a part of her that wishes she could audition for the DB training program now. But after everything I’ve gone through, though, Umma would never allow it and Leah knows it. So I probably could have put on a little show for her friends. What would have been the harm in it?
But it’s too late now.
I think of a way to cheer her up instead.
“Well, maybe the real reason I didn’t want to tell your friends about what’s happening at DB is because I wanted you to hear it first.” I plop down on the couch, patting the seat next to me. “Sisters get the inside scoop before anyone else.”
Tentatively, Leah sits down next to me. She makes a big show of not sitting too close. She isn’t ready to not be mad at me yet, but she’s too curious to resist. I ham it up, telling her all about my showdown with Mina in media training, Mina’s loaded invitation to the trainee house, and Mr. Noh’s proclamation about how my future at DB depends on showing up tonight. She leans in closer and closer as I talk, her eyes widening with every word until she’s practically sitting in my lap.
“Unni,” she screams, shaking my shoulders. “A night at the trainee house! That sounds like a dream come true.”
I laugh, letting her jiggle me around like a bobblehead. “Don’t get too excited, little sis. You know there’s no way Umma will let me go.”
“Oh, you’re right,” Leah says, putting her face in her hands.
I think back to my conversation with Juhyun. “Of course,” I say determinedly, “I could always sneak out…?”
Leah squeals. “I’ll help you with an escape plan! I already have one in mind!”
I narrow my eyes. “I hope it doesn’t involve climbing out the window of our eighteenth-floor apartment.” My younger sister is well-known in our family for her obsession with The Rock.
“Okay, so I’ll come up with a plan B.” Her eyes gleam. “As long as you get me Jason Lee’s autograph. You know he’s my ultimate bias!”