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Haerin blinked in surprise, an understated reaction compared to Hanni and the other trainees beside her.

“Daniel, the Daniel?” Hanni squealed, bumping her shoulder with Haerin’s. In front of them and a few other trainees was the usual timetable posted on their practice room’s wall, containing every group’s schedule.

Usually, the girls wouldn’t give a second thought to other groups’ schedules—they practiced in different rooms, had different workout times, different lunch breaks—especially the male trainees. They only ever really trained and crossed paths with girls the company thought of debuting them with.

Yet, recently the girls Haerin and Hanni were training with had noticed a male trainee’s schedule, Daniel Marsh. His schedule was suspiciously similar to theirs, even closer than other female trainees.

Some girls began questioning if the girl-group they were working to debut in was actually a co-ed group. The idea was far-fetched, but the girls still liked to fantasize about being able to have an idol boyfriend without dealing with the usual scandals that came with proximity.

One night, all of the girls were making up how their hypothetical boyfriends would be if they did end up in a co-ed group. Haerin, characteristically, wasn’t very talkative and “couldn’t come up with anything.” Naturally, Hanni and the others had decided Daniel would be Haerin's boyfriend since he already existed—“boom, you don’t even need to make one up.”

Presently, training group 7N22J was expecting a new member, Daniel Marsh, name printed in perfect lettering under their usual column.

“Your boyfriend is coming, Kang Haerin!” Hanni teased, her Aussie accent obvious as she said Kang Haerin.

Haerin gave Hanni a subsequent side-eye, fighting the blush on her cheeks. A few other girls began to enter the conversation, both teasing Haerin and questioning the schedule.

As voices began to rise and Haerin could no longer make out any actual words, the practice room door eased open and in walked an unfamiliar girl.

Everyone paused, not expecting a new girl to join them. She was tall, thin, and inarguably pretty.

Haerin and Hanni would joke about this moment for years to come, but Haerin never told how her heart skipped when she first saw Danielle.

One of the more outspoken girls broke the silence, “Are you in the wrong room? I don’t think you’re scheduled for this practice room.” She asked gently, assuming the girl was new to HYBE or being a trainee.

The new girl smiled, the simple action lighting up the room. “Ah, no, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be here. My schedule just changed yesterday and I got transferred here.” Everyone’s eyes flashed to Hanni for a split-second, recognizing the thick Australian accent the new girl had.

Hanni’s mouth suddenly dropped open, and in English she let out the longest “Awh shit,” possibly ever recorded. The new girl suddenly looked at her, bewildered at her crude language.

Hanni chuckled, connecting the dots in her mind. “Are you Daniel? But like… Danielle?” She asked in English, awkwardly emphasizing the last syllable of each name.

Danielle nodded, glancing around at the shocked group. She didn’t expect her first minute in a new training group to consist of being questioned about her name.

“Oh man,” Hanni sighed, looking at Danielle and then at the rest of the group of trainees. She continued in English, “So, we might’ve all thought you were a guy because Daniel and Danielle in Korean are the same… But! I’ll clear that up for everyone really quickly.”

Danielle paused for a beat, computing that in her brain. When she did make sense of it, she giggled.

Haerin didn’t know exactly what Hanni had said, but she heard her say Daniel a bunch of times and then this girl was laughing. A spark of jealousy ran through her.

Before any more English was exchanged, Hanni turned around and clapped her hands together like an elementary school teacher, facing the other trainees.

“Quick English lesson, everyone!” Hanni announced, in Korean now. “In Korean, Daniel is usually only a guy’s name, and there’s only one way to write it, right? Well, in English it’s both a girl and guy’s name, pronounced pretty much the same but spelled differently for the masculine and feminine version. So… the girl over there is Danielle, the same Danielle on our schedule, just not a guy.”

Danielle was laughing her ass off, eyes in crescent moons as Hanni finished. When Hanni turned back around to her, she couldn’t help but smile as well.

Haerin felt that spark inside her dissipate, admittedly finding the confusion amusing.

“Ah, that’s too funny. I’m a girl, sorry to disappoint.” Danielle said, still smiling.

That’s when Hanni suddenly remembered about Haerin. “Oh right,” she muttered in English. Then, Hanni whipped around and searched for her in the group of 7N22J.

“Haerin!” She called in Korean, “How open minded are you?”

The group of girls burst out laughing, nudging Haerin where she stood.

Danielle could only be confused, not in on the inside joke. Yet, when she spotted the one girl in the group not laughing, cheeks dusted pink, she couldn’t take her eyes off of her.

Years later, Danielle would laugh along with Hanni and Haerin about this day, but she would never tell about how she couldn’t take her eyes off of Haerin for the first week after they met.

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