CH 14: May 13, 2013

“I can’t believe they’re making us come today,” Jia groaned from the backseat. “We just finished promotions. Can’t we rest for a bit?”

“Yes, Sixiao, you will,” Jaesung stated calmly from the front seat. “But for now, we’re just going to the building to finish up formalities. It’s not going to take too long.”

Sixiao groaned once more. “Why can’t just you do that?”

“I did everything else, Sixiao, don’t be lazy.”

And again, she groaned. Hyerin groaned back. “Jia, shut up. We’re all tired, stop being a child.”

“I am, though,” Sixiao replied. As Hyerin began to argue back, I let out a sound from the back of my throat. 

“Both of you, please!” I exclaimed. “Chill. I know you guys are cranky and you haven’t slept more than seven hours this week, but please, please, chill out. We’re just gonna go to the SM building, do whatever we have to do, then we can go home and relax, sleep, whatever.”

The two of them grumbled in the back, but sure enough, they shut up. Sometimes it seemed like Hyerin was 16, too, even though she was the same age as me.

The only sound was Ahra and Jaesung’s soft conversation and the radio as we drove to the building. I stared out the window, watching the buildings that whizzed by, wasting time.

Our dorm, where Jaesung picked us up from, wasn’t very far from the SM building. By car, it was only some 10-15 minutes, which, compared to places we went for promotions and other things, wasn’t very far away.

We knew we had reached the building when we saw the fans who usually hung out outside the building near our car and start yelling. 

Nyx, as a whole, was roughly two months old. In those two months, we had experienced something which, according to Jaesung, wasn’t something many freshly debuted groups experience. Our debut was strangely successful. Strangely, because nobody had expected this. Not many SM groups gained popularity upon debut like we had. 

Not only had we received our first win barely a week after debut, almost a month later, our songs had hit the top. “Sirens” had reached number one in four countries, “Tempest” in two. What’s more, they had stayed like that, for almost two weeks, and even now, after promotions had ended and we had our goodbye stage, they were still in the top tens. 

So yeah, we got real popular real fast. Hyerin’s brother sent us videos of our songs playing in stores, they would come on as we would be listening to the radio; it was ridiculous. Not to mention the fans, oh God, the fans. Suddenly they were everywhere. 

I remember a pit stop we had made on the way to an interview. I had to use the bathroom, and I heard some girl groaning. I asked her what was wrong, to which she replied that she had started her period without a pad or tampon. I, of course, saved the day, offering her a spare pad I had that I kept in my backpack for emergencies. When she came out of the restroom, I only expected a mere thank you. But instead dropped open as she saw me. “Holy !” She had exclaimed. “You’re Lani! From Nyx! The main vocalist, and the face of the group, and- Omo, Lani just gave me a pad!” She had freaked out, I had, too. 

This was one ex