@LGCENT Just Posted A Photo!

they play their own game of pick and choose — his comments on the masses do little to appeal her to go out of her way to ask for another favor from another person she would rather not spend a second of her time with.

the thought, itself, made her moment here with seunghyun seem the slightest bit more bearable than any of the other options made available. at least she wouldn’t get hit on, proposed to, and/or suddenly arranged to be married. all of things she was trying to avoid with seunghyun’s mother — but her way with words was all too tempting. 

her eyes follow his line of sight to a woman in dangerously tall heels and a purse that looked like it was from marry poppin’s on xanax. “oh, she seems to love you.” then she frowns, eyes redirected to his seemingly nonchalance. “what ish? does she get nicer whenever she gets a touch up on her migrating zyderm?” lili was more preferential to eating her duck rather than seeing it on the face of some over-aged mistress.

Seunghyun snorts. "Nothing? Nothing at all? What a shame..." He knew so little about Lili other than his mother's infatuation with her bone structure - but she was beginning to seem a lot more foolish than she looked. Who would subject themselves to an evening of this willingly?

He bends to swipe at his pant leg with a subtle scowl, rising up to cross his arms over his chest. He eyes the elder waddling this way and that by the terrace's edge, muttering something to himself.

"Do you know who that is?" the model asks with a quirk of his brow. "New appointee on the board of directors at Hanhwa group. Total basket case. If I even so much as say hello I'm going to be stuck listening to him babble on for the next three hours..."

He scans the area for a moment, spying a woman frantically searching through her purse. He can't quite put a finger on it but she seems so familiar... They lock eyes and she frowns almost immediately. Oh, that's right. One of his mother's acquaintances whose shifting filler he just found so interesting ( and often commented on it quite loudly ). "Why don't you ask her? She's friendly. ...Ish."

any other day, one where the sun wasn’t in her eyes or the wind wasn’t messing up her hair — or where lili wasn’t paranoid that chicken shit had gotten underneath her fingernails — maybe lili would have tickled her competitive bone. but no, apparently that day was not today. and lili knew a losing game when it’s been had and from the get go — soap? was no winning contender in anyone’s book.

it wasn’t as if the people around here went through soaps as quickly as they would water — they couldn’t be that dirty, could they? she sniffs, trying not to appear too miffed by the idea before turning back to emi.

“surprised — why?” she feigns her own little raised brow in confusion, a smile playing on her lips as she looks at the juice cups. her finger dances in the air around them as she tries to choose, “which do you recommend, you’ve been here all day — which has been selling the most?” 

she swore, just when she thought she had legacy figured out, they wanted to throw another curveball-- like sending them out into the country, having them feign for themselves, or at least it felt that way sometimes. really though, all mimi could do was cackle at the different shenanigans they had been put through. it was all in a good fun, and honestly, she hadn't realized how sick of the practice room she was until they were heading far far away from it.

fresh air would do her some good anyway, it had been a rough couple of weeks.

and she liked competing. it was fun, it lit a fire under her, even more so when she realized she was losing. so to say this weekend had been... eventful was an understatement. it was nice to get closer to the trainees and unnies, though.

sometimes, this makes it easier to feel like she fits in.

juice selling was going well, and the team was excited, hushed whispers around their future spoils of vicotry when the voice rings through and emi turns, blinks a bit at lili as she tries to hide her snort. she takes the bill with ease, moving to get change, and gestures to the juices. "take your pick, take your pick. i am a little surprised you wanted to get one from us, though." she admits with a chuckle.

the first day of the year.

lili knows what it is — she always know what it is — but as all the years before, she learns it’s better to not expect anything. less expectations, less chances for her to get her hopes up and have them fall apart once the clock strikes midnight and the second day of the year comes with the first going unnoticed — again. 

the first day of the year.

lili knows what it is — she does — because the first day of the year: is her birthday.

this year comes in the form of a phone call and an apology — her grandmother calls, gives her her best, and then apologizes for hosting a party — not in her honor — but for the nth charity excursion her grandmother was aiding. her grandmother was 591 miles, and 2 hours and 15 minutes away and all lili received was a phone call — one that lasted less than ten minutes.

it would be sad if it wasn’t so … expected.

her birthdays of past, much like she believes this year to be, were always inconsequential. days that went by with no thoughts except living until the next day. this year wouldn’t be any different. this year, she thinks, she will still bear the bitter agony of expecting something she shouldn’t.

the first day of the year.

lili knows what it is — but this year, is surprisingly different.

what lili hadn’t been expecting was seeing taeha — having taeha lead with a surprise even though lili has always said ( rather unconvincingly, might we add ) that she didn't like surprises — suddenly being immersed in the brilliance that was taeha and being the center of her energetic display of affection. frozen in her place, her eyes open to reveal the same room she had entered minutes earlier, the one significant change is taeha — carrying a cake that lili can only describe as atrocious on sight, but she bites her lip.

( whether to stop the tears that had suddenly begun to well up at her lashes or the onslaught of forced ‘complaints’ at the tongue — who knows ) 

instead, she fiddles with a small smile pressed between her lips — a hand running through her hair as the other nears, “did you make this yourself?” even if the obvious is very well obvious, she still asks, inspecting the cake as she does so. it was cute, now that she looked at it, if she ignored the imperfections here and there — she could see taeha’s sincerity in clear view.

it’s the first day of the year.

lili knows what it is — had readied herself with zero expectations — but a part of her finds the longing in it quenched at the sight of taeha’s brilliant smile and her horribly iced penmanship. it made the saying it’s the thought that counts loom in the back of her mind and she can’t help the way her heart swoons, leaning forward at taeha’s command — eyes closing, one by one, as she takes a second — maybe three — before she blows out the candles.  

 「 ❀ 」  ━━ ˗ˏˋ 22 CANDLES !

@lgclili

"Close your eyes and keep them closed!" Taeha instructs from her place just outside the practice room. Inside Lili would be waiting for an extra special, super duper surprise ( as the string of texts she'd sent a few hours prior promised ). A bit of scuffle and shuffle can be heard beyond the open door, before she moves to take a few careful steps into the room, balancing a tray on her forearms.

"Okay, now open your eyes!"

On the tray is mini two - well, more like 1.5 if one were to be technical - tiered vanilla cake with a strawberry filling, covered by a thick layer of pink buttercream frosting. The words Happy Birthday are written in purple icing on top, alongside a pink and purple smudge camouflaged by a cluster of red candies arranged in the shape of a heart to conceal Taeha's failed attempts at writing Lili's name in fancy script. Finally, twenty-two brightly lit candles are placed wherever space would allow, illuminating Taeha's excited grin.

Sure, some may call it a "homemade monstrosity" ( coined by her older brother who was quite amused watching the cake's creation on Taeha's FaceTime version of Kitchen Nightmares ), but the trainee is certain her friend will love it! ...At least she hopes she does.

"Happy birthday, Lili! Make a wish!"

fun was not the word that could explain her mood but she supposes it was the best way to … levy the anguish that was swirling inside her. if she had expected anyone to stop her, such a feat goes without notice, their presence easily slipping through the doors like sand between ones fingers; quick, hard to hold onto and without fail, easy to miss. 

lili knew she would hear no end of it later but she didn’t care about that, at least not now.

for the remainder of her birthday, lili wanted it to be about her.

and rather than wallow at home, moping about another failed birthday, she mulls jisoo’s suggestion with a tilt of her head; bracing the new year’s cold with a quick tug of her jacket around her shoulders. “what do you have in mind?” the night was still young but — it was the beginning of the new year, what were the odds somewhere had room to accommodate them?

it really didn't feel like a birthday dinner at all, and it makes jisoo think that they ought to rewind a few days and have had a mutual celebration instead. it's not too late, considering how its going. belated never hurt anyone ( well, on paper. but with lili, it could always play out to be a different story ) but anything seems to be better than this. the whole event was decorated as a farce for lili's birthday but the charade did not match. the memo was missed. and no birthday cake even!

jisoo is dressed for the occasion but the celebratory part seems to be amiss as he sat for majority of the eve, legs crossed and observant at the lack of anything truly happening. trying to stay quiet through the droll of speeches, there was only so many bathroom and water breaks he could take while not ditching his friend's side.

"yes, time does fly when you're.... having fun." he clears his throat, glancing at his watch. "i think it is time to head out. if you'll excuse us," his family did have a dog, settling perfectly at home with his parents, but it would be well-suited as an excuse if anyone asked for proof of photos. he hadn't brought anything with him that wasn't already on his body, lest his coat so with that in hand, he is already on tailspin on the way out. he prefers to have lili go ahead of him, in case anyone starts asking about why they were leaving so early, or that they not ought to go.

only when they're out of earshot, and sight and having turned the corner, jisoo glances at lili fully first before opening his mouth again. a conversation with her at times could be described as standing in the middle of a fork. which way to go? "would you rather head home or be on autopilot and we still end up celebrating your birthday a little more quietly between the two of us? we're already out and dressed for it."

the problem with lili was her ego.

in this business, it proved to be her make it or break it point and for lili, she could not sacrifice herself to the masses just for a few laughs — it was below her. she loved herself far too much to make herself look dumb just to receive her awaited fifteen minutes of fame. no — she was far too talented for such a thing.

( at least, that was how lili often viewed variety-dols ; sacrificing their sanity in exchange for the automated laugh machine, it was something lili could never bring herself to do )

thankfully, she found a kindred spirit in rua — her tears ( there were no tears ) and complaints not falling on deaf ears as someone who shared lili’s very same sentiments. if anything, if lili wanted to be funny — she would find her dry humor fanatics on her own; unfortunately, dry humor did not make for amusing national entertainment. 

she looks to rua then, almost begrudgingly saying do i have to before nodding, tossing her notebook to the floor and straightening up where she had been slouched — appalling lack of poise aside — lili had been stressed out over this workshop.

“wait, wait, wait — have you already decided what skill you’re going to do? ugh — i can only go so far as using korean as my second language as funny but i don’t know what skill i have other than that and that can’t be called a skill, could it?” maybe she was overthinking it, overstressing — the workshops of the past hadn’t been this hard. lili had put her head into it and ran through it with the determination of a bull. this, this, couldn’t be handled with the same ease.

take a chance ʚ♥ɞ

་ ⸼ ⸒ ✴ a closed workshop starter for @lgclili、

rua honestly had some doubts about her variety potential; she didn't see herself as particularly funny, naturally or otherwise, nor was she super willing to make a fool of herself in the name of entertainment if it came down to that. sure, she could be sociable and wouldn't shy away from conversing with someone older or more senior than her in the industry but the possibility of still being boring is very real.

however, she supposes that's exactly why she was put into this workshop to begin with - to change that. was she improving though? rua wasn't quite sure but at least she wasn't alone. she looks over at lili next to her and finds it funny that they're practicing for their final evaluation together because it was like the blind leading the blind. they were trying, don't get them wrong, but nothing felt right and neither of them felt confident enough about their variety talent to point themselves in the right direction.

"okay, maybe we need to try pretending we're in a specific variety show?" rua suggests, plopping on to the floor of a practice room they had managed to reserve and grabbing her water bottle nearby to take a drink from. even if they weren't dancing, rua has to admit that she feels most comfortable here, as opposed to using something like a meeting room or elsewhere to practice. "one of us can pretend to be a mc and the other a guest, and then we'll switch roles?"

“no, no —” her hand immediately shoots out to take chaekyung’s arm again, raising the other’s hand to her forehead again. “check it again, i definitely feel something coming on.”

when the rouse is called — lili frowns. method acting, her ass! “everyone does that when they feel faint — me, i’m everyone and i feel faint, i swear it.”

she didn’t feel faint — but how was chaekyung to know? weren’t symptoms like these supposed to be subjective? 

“maybe it’s because your hands are so cold.” it was definitely not because lili wanted to be escorted out of this bird-infested hell.

( just when she had thought they had finished another trainee returns with a ha! just then — lili feels her eyes roll to the back of her head, her blood running cold )

"fine, be that way, abandon me in my time of need!"

she did as she was told, bringing her hand to lili's forehead to check her temperature. huh. the warmth of her skin felt normal. chaekyung wrapped her arm around the older female, this time placing her hands on both of their foreheads to compare temperatures. nothing. her hands weren't that cold, so she should have felt it if lili's temperature was higher.

her eyes narrowed as she squinted at lili. "your temperature's fine... and you look," she paused, scanning her from head to toe, "totally healthy." chaekyung let out a gasp followed by a low whisper, "your acting's so bad, unnie. the moment you said 'oh' followed by my name, you gave yourself away." as she said that, she pulled her arm away and gently pushed lili back so she could stand on her own. "nobody does that when they feel faint."

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

angel of mine  ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱  

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

finally peace and quiet — the perfect place to dish out her grievances without the annoying coaches butting their unnecessary comments in rebuttal to lili’s own annoying complaints.

she was not some dancing monkey at the circus who could work for peanuts — or was it bananas, irrelevant! — lili needed her breaks ( and a place to complain, freely ), too. it wasn’t like she was the only one who had been idling during the break — she was in the middle of an important phone call!

( sure, it had just been a small here and there of whispered complaints to seojin about how she hated catallena with a burning passion but it wasn’t not important as one of the coaches had said — it was important to lili, there was merit in her complaints, alright! )

sliding her phone back into her pocket, she pries herself out of the restroom she had holed herself in to avoid the coaches other unmentionable and otherwise unwarranted pieces of advice when she had received maylin’s text that it was time to go back. 

faced with another trainee — so, that was who had come bustling in with the slammed door and all — lili looks her once over. noticing the slight leveling of the other’s breath, she wonders if she should intrude — the other did look like she was trying to find a moment of peace. obviously another person who couldn’t find such in the stuffy practice room — a thought lili feels induce a smirk of satisfaction, one she stamps out immediately when she notices the water on the other’s cheek.

stilling her movements, lili goes to wash her hands, quietly — trying to find leeway for a conversation, wondering if she should even start one. 

( she didn’t really care for it but lili just couldn’t help but want to pry — )

drying her hands on a paper towel, lili pretends to fuss for a second, maybe two, before she reaches for another towel and hands it to the other girl. “sarang, right?” she makes a movement with her other hand, tapping at her cheek as if to say ‘you have something on your face’. “they’re telling us that we have to head back.” 

it had just been a pretty shit day.

it started with her class, those outside of legacy. sarang wasn't sure if it was something as simple as waking up on the wrong side of the bed but she felt off from the moment she opened her eyes. that feeling only increased as she made her way through the day. but that was horrible enough but then it came to training and it felt like an out of body experience.

she thought she'd be fine with 'ah-choo' but nothing was coming together. mistakes had been made, moves missed, her voice wasn't strong enough. nothing was right and that only served to stress her out more because she hated getting things wrong. for someone who chased perfection, anything less than that was earth shattering. it didn't help that it was public either.

by the time they finally broke for a break, sarang only took a seconds of inching towards the door before she bolted for the bathroom. she headed straight for a mirror, quietly trying to talk herself down.

bad days happened but this one was rough. rough enough that she had to splash some water on her face and take the time to breathe. right now, she knew she didn't paint the prettiest of pictures, bend over the sink that she sick, breathing just a tad too heavily. it'd past, it had too. she had to get back before they started practicing.

@lgclili

HOW TO SAY I'M FUCKED IN JAPANESE? where lili probably shouldn't be in this workshop and yet, here she is — @lgcichika

she shouldn’t complain, really.

wasn’t this what she meant by she was interested in hosting — looking back, lili hadn’t really thought they would have taken such a small mention so seriously. at least, this is what she tells herself as she sits across from ichika and tries to find rational in why she was lumped into a workshop for a language she didn’t know a lick about.

still, she was no quitter, even if said workshop expected her to speak a whole-ass dialogue and such for some mock hosting gig as the evaluation. no, even then, lili was no quitter.

but — she did think they could have cut her some slack. just from the basic phrases and such that ichika had gone over in passing earlier with the rest of the group, lili was still having trouble wrapping her head around it all and this is after going over her notes thrice in the last half-hour. “i know, i suck — but i swear, i really didn’t know any japanese going into this so i think … really, i’m quite the improvement, wouldn't you agree?"

“you have a point there,” she murmurs quietly, fingers tapping mindlessly at the desk they were seated at.

“don’t forget there’s also to, too and two. oh! and complement and compliment. it’s honestly insane.” her english as a second language class had been hell growing up; if she had been asami’s shoes, she would have thrown her hands up and called it a day but alas, here they both were, suffering through english. fortunate for lili, she liked learning languages; unfortunately for lili, it was fueled by her need to succeed and to prove others wrong for doubting her and her lovely intellect. 

“english is full of things that sound the same but are spelled different, it’s dumb but … it’s english.” she says as if that would help asami's predicament at all. it didn't but lili truly didn't know what else to say, "you know what you need is a break! should we go for lattes?"

Asami smiles satisfied with herself for pulling that reaction out of Lili. She shrugs, "As far as you know, I might only be able to count up to ten and know how to ask for directions to the bathroom. When I got to Korea, that was all I knew for like a month. Oh, and also colors!" Asami points her finger up like she made a discovery at the addition of that last piece of information.

She could feel her head starting to hum with the foreshadow of a headache. Learning new things that didn't require her moving often left that little impression in her. "It makes no sense. The best way to keep us from saying idiotic things is by not being able to say them at all," she says with a little pout and a sigh, but then she deflates, "I understand how this is important, since it's a easier language for most people to follow abroad, but doesn't change the fact that is so confusing," Asami points at the screen where she is seeing interesting language facts where the words 'they’re, their and there' are all side by side, "These all sound exactly the same."