"She looks so...happy."

The girl looks on, struggling to keep the smile intact, even if that smile is fake, even if it's a mangled mess that resembles nothing of a smile. But it doesn't seem to matter anymore. 

Because Yuju doesn't notice.

She falls back, her face hidden in the dark. They are laughing, and at what, she will never know. It seems that she is unable to make Yuju laugh that way anymore. 

"She has never laughed like that with me before.."

She's not sure who she's talking to. But it's possibly to the curtains drawn slightly before her, and the metal poles rusting in the corner. They give her, oddly, some form of comfort. She grasps her costume tightly, undoing the corset rings. She needs to breathe.

Her fingers tug all the frills of the costume, feeling utterly suffocated. Her brown hair is sweaty as she runs her fingers through it, undoing the clumps that have stuck together. The farewell and thank you stage seems to progress fine without her. The other members have slung their arms around each other, laughing and blowing kisses into the crowd.

She's sweating, but it feels cold. 

Her breath is choppy, like she's trying too hard to breath normally. She's a coward, she knows. Her feet inch towards the light beyond the curtains, shoes dragged forward as she decides.

But she can't be so selfish.

Reaching down, she undoes the straps around her ankles and aligns her shoes to one side, breathing heavily as she feels the cold stage underneath her feet. She can hear fans shouting out names, and occasionally, she hears it.

Yeju.

"There you are!" fingers wrap around her wrist and she is hauled out back onto the stage, dragged from the comforts of the curtains.

She feel so bare, so transparent. And she feels eyes on her, searching into her, piecing her in ways she doesn't want to be. She's just fidgeting in the corner, finally swaying her hands. She smiles, widely, though it hurts her cheeks. And keeps on smiling.

"Why are you bright all of a sudden?" Sowon slaps her on the back. 

"I'm just happy."

Sowon laughs and reaches out to hook her arm with Sinb's. She listens to Sowon's laughter closely, thinking that probably she will hear some pain in that strained voice. Or maybe heartbreak.

"Yeah, shouldn't you be? It's a concert, after all."

She just smiled and nods to keep things simple.

"Come on," Sowon forces her away further onto the stage, where fans reach out desperately to them.

The fans cheer louder, and chants begin to possess audacity, but