Cherry Pie

The lavish set was decorated with a starry backdrop. In the middle was a semi circle shaped stage, illuminated by spotlights of different colors while two rows of seats were placed on both sides. In front of the stage was a judge panel with three chairs. Cameras were placed on every angle to capture the full performances. 

The contestants were mesmerized by the sparkling stage. They stared in awe at the spot where they will give their first public performance. The years of training and hard work was for this one chance to showcase their talents. In a few weeks, five lucky winners will be able to see their dreams come to fruition. 

"It is so beautiful," Semin whispered, her jaw gaping in awe. Yoona, who was standing next to her, paid no attention to the stage. Her eyes were on the judge's panel where Jinhyun was busily looking over some papers. 

"Yes he is," Yoona said. 

"What?" Semin frowned. "What did you say, unnie?" 

"Yes it is," Yoona lied quickly. "The stage is beautiful." 

They were standing at the back, waiting for their stylists to arrive. 

"Unnie, I heard we will be styled by Cherry Pie Cosmetics!" Semin squealed. "The CEO herself will personally style us. Isn't it exciting?" 

Yoona put on a smile and nodded. Cherry Pie was an exclusive brand. The products were rare and hard to buy even for high class socialites. The exorbitant prices were not an issue but Cherry Pie was known for using all natural ingredients in its cosmetics. Hence, as part of their environmentally friendly strategy, they only took customized orders instead of selling in mass. Furthermore, they chose their own clients. Money is not enough to become their customer. 

So it came as a surprise that the elusive brand had willingly agreed to sponsor the program. Even Yoona, who was the customer of all high profile brands, did not get easy access to Cherry Pie products. She was keen to meet the CEO, Cherry Wang, who will style them. The CEO was usually aloof and let the other people deal with the customers. With her personally leading the team, Yoona was curious about the woman. 

The stage manager approached the trainees. 

"All of you will be divided into groups for styling," he informed them. "Numbers one to five, go to make up room number eight. Numbers six to ten…" 

He announced the makeup room numbers for them. Yoona and Semin were in the same group for room number ten. They, along with the other three trainees, headed for their designated room. 

The makeup room was fairly spacious. There were five spots equipped with makeup products and individual racks for clothes. Since the first performances were to be solo, the trainees had to send in their preferred clothing choices to the designers beforehand. Yoona chose a pastel blue crop top with long, black pants. Since her first performance was a dance piece, she chose comfortable clothes. 

Semin was opting for a song performance so she chose a simple peach frock with slight golden frills. She kept her guitar by her side. 

"Why do you always carry that?" Yoona asked curiously. "I'm sure you could have chosen a better model from the instruments room like the others have." 

"Ahh, this was given to me by my dad," Semin replied. "You see, he travels a lot due to work so he can't see us often. So when he heard that I wanted to be an idol, he got me this guitar. So that even if he's not around while I'm performing I can feel his presence." 

"Is he coming today?"

"No, he's away on a trip overseas." 

Semin looked a little sad. She was really hoping he would turn up. But her grandmother was coming so she wanted to perform her best for her sake. 

Yoona patted her hand. "Best of luck," she smiled. Semin returned her smile. 

"Thank you, unnie," she said cheerfully. "Best of luck to you too." 

The door to the makeup room opened. They turned around to find a tall woman in her late twenties approaching them. She was wearing a red suit and carried a cane in her hand. The trainees were gaping at her.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. There was an elegant touch to her steps as she walked towards them. Her high cheekbones accentuated her sharp features while her almond shaped eyes scrutinized them. 

Yoona did not pay much heed to her looks but there was something awfully strange about the woman. She looked familiar but Yoona was sure they had never met. 

Cherry was followed by her team. She summoned them inside. 

"You guys work on these three," she ordered. "I'll work on those two." 

She pointed at Semin and Yoona. The stylists obeyed and immediately got to work. Cherry walked over to Semin first. 

"Minimal makeup should do for you," Cherry commented. Even though Semin did not recognize Cherry as the old shaman, the latter still wanted to take extra care of her by personally styling the kid throughout the contest. 

Semin was overwhelmed. The gorgeous woman was going to apply makeup on her face? She felt a little nervous. 

"Will I look good?" she blurted out. Cherry leaned towards her ear. 

"You'll look the very best," she whispered and winked at her. 

Semin felt reassured at her words. Cherry took off her blazer and got to work. She cleansed Semin's skin thoroughly before moisturizing it with a cream with banana extract. Taking a fresh beauty blender, she applied a primer onto her face. She stood back to assess the skin type. 

"Combo," she muttered. She looked through the cosmetics, looking for the right base. 

Finally, she picked up a matte foundation, rubbing it gently on Semin's skin. Instead of choosing a glittery highlighter, she opted for a subtle one followed by light contour. 

"Close your eyelids," she instructed Semin. She picked up an eyeshadow brush and smoothened the creases. Matching with the dress' color, she applied a soft peach eyeshadow and a shimmery eye liner. On the lips, she used a rosy lipstick. Putting the final strokes, she looked back. 

"Done," Cherry said. Semin opened her eyes only to widen her mouth in shock. She could not recognize herself at all! The girl in the mirror was drop dead gorgeous! 

She could barely tell that it was makeup. It looked natural and there was a breezy, innocent aura around her. Semin felt like crying.

"Don't cry!" Cherry warned. "Otherwise the make up will get ruined." 

Semin immediately tried to control her emotions. "No crying," she promised. "Thank you unnie!" 

She got up to hug Cherry who was taken by surprise. The latter, not knowing what to do, awkwardly patted the young girl's head. 

"Um, I need to move onto the next person," Cherry reminded her. Semin let her go. 

"Sorry, I just-" 

"It's alright," Cherry said with a slight smile. She fixed Semin's eyelashes a little before turning towards…her.

Yoona was already dressed and her hair was styled into soft curls. She was observing Cherry's technique and was somewhat impressed by her abilities. But she was confident that by the time Cherry was done, Yoona would look more beautiful than Semin. 

Cherry slowly made her way towards Yoona. 

Yoona smiled and bowed. "Hello, Ms. Cherry. I am Sung Yoon-" 

But the rest of her sentence was drowned by a loud slap as Cherry hit her face with all her might.