~ Eunhyuk’s POV ~

I sat down on the floor after a round of dance practice. Junsu and Sungmin were also catching their breaths after dancing for two hours straight. We are using this time to practice more while waiting for Kangta sunbaenim.

We will have another filming for Battle of Century with sunbae and I am really looking forward for it. Through this show my classmates in school learned that Junsu and I were trainees in a talent agency.  They have been asking me to take their H.O.T or BoA albums to bring to the sunbaes for autograph.

There was a time when I saw BoA sunbaenim in the front lobby of SM building along with her manager. That was the last time I saw this sunbae who is the same age as me.

However I regularly see Kangta sunbae and even Heejun sunbae because of the show. I tell my classmates that I am close to them but they don't believe me. They think that it is not appropriate for sunbaes to be close with their juniors especially us who are still trainees.

To prove the fact to them, one night I stole some H.O.T albums from the studio. I took the one with the member's autograph on it and showed them the next morning. Reluctantly they finally believed me.

"Hyuk can you pass me that bottle of water?" Junsu said to me breaking my thoughts. I reached for the bottle and threw it to his direction.

“Where did manager hyung go? I haven’t seen him leaving the room,” I asked the two of them.

Sungmin shrugged his shoulders. “I did not notice him. Maybe he was called by the staffs for a meeting,” he replied while lying down on the floor.  He is staring at the ceiling and holding a towel to off the sweat on his face.

“He is in the meeting. I overheard their conversation with the staff. Apparently it is something related to our group because I heard our names,” Junsu spoke.

A meeting? About us? It must be something important. Could it be that they are now planning about our debut? I cannot help but expect that we are finally on our way to performing onstage. We already spent enough time preparing as group and I’m sure that there will be no problems within the three of us. I have known Junsu the longest and I’m sure I would be friends for a long time with Sungmin.

“Then I guess we just need to wait for them,” I said while stretching my muscles. “Ughh… I’m so tired. I will lie down for a bit.”

We took a rest while waiting for them.  I am already feeling sleepy when manager hyung came back into the room. I am so lazy but I need to get up now but I need to stand up.

“Boys, I need to tell you something so sit down,” he said after we all stood up to greet him. “Its about the show, they are cancelling the show now because of scheduling conflicts.”

“Oh.” I heard Sungmin said. “I understand sir, we will just add extra hours of training everyday by ourselves,” I said.

“There’s more. The company is having financial issues right now. They are having problems after the failures of some of the groups they recently debuted. The company needs to plan some strategies that will cover up all their loss,” Jihoon hyung said looking at us with a serious face.

“The meeting is about the plans they have but I am sorry that there will be bad news with it. Boys, they are disbanding all the project groups right now,” he finished and he avoids meeting our eyes.

We are shocked at the sudden news. We are busy practicing and getting prepared for the group and we never thought that there would be a chance that our debut will be cancelled. We were blinded by our excitement and eagerness to stand onstage.

“Sir what about us? Our group will be dissolved?” Junsu asked.

“You will be a regular trainee for now. Don’t worry boys, you will have another chances in the future. It all happens to everyone so don’t lose hope,” manager hyung said.

“But how about all the efforts we had? We practiced all night long just to learn the choreography,” Sungmin insisted.

“I’m sorry boys, but it is not my decision. The company plans everything and we as managers only deliver the news and follow their instructions,” he said patting Sungmin’s shoulder to comfort him. “You did your best and I think that the project group had made some improvements in your skills.”

“It’s been nice to be your manager even for a short time. I sincerely wish that you will be debuting in the near future in a much better circumstances,”

He left with words of comfort but it did not lessen the disappointment that we feel. I am already excited about standing onstage that I forgot about the things that might happen unexpectedly. We were too busy with things that we forgot the uncertainties of the reality.

If it isn’t now then when?

Will I have a better chance in the future?

*              *              *

“Hyukjae-ah I heard about what happened to your group. Are you okay?” Youngwoon hyung asked me few days later during our monthly evaluation performance.

Honestly I am not yet okay with it. Imagine all your efforts being wasted away just because you hope too much. However, Junsu is still there with me so as long as we are doing things together I know that it will be fine.

“It is not me whom you should be asking that, it should be Sungmin. He is taking the news hard. I haven’t seen him since that day,” I replied smiling faintly to convince him that it doesn’t bother me a lot.

“I noticed that he did not even attend any of the vocal practices this past week. I thought he is sick,” Jongwoon said.

“I kept on texting him but he doesn’t reply to me,” Donghae grumbled.

“He must ha