----Interlude: Lisa----

The last of the music fades, the instruments previously leading to a rapacious beat now subduing one by one until only a few piano keys are heard in the background, coming slowly to a stop. The lights shut down, a complete silence reigning in the auditorium, lasting a good five beats of her heart. Chest heaving, her body immobile in the last pose of her movement, she briefly wonders if the audience all fell asleep.

Then the lights turn back on, and the spectators stand up in sync, clapping and cheering.

Under her mask, Lisa smiles wide, the sight in front of her so powerful tears are pooling in her eyes. It's overwhelmingly hot, with the mask and her dance costume, sweat is dripping from everywhere – her forehead, her lips, her nose, in-between her toes – but she never felt this electrified before.

Everything ran smoothly, from the beginning until curtain falls. All the dancers delivered their parts perfectly without a single false step, including herself. She feels like crying; the stress in the beginning almost choked her, then the deep concentration she kept during the performance and now, this euphoria that's pulsating inside her heart.

Mostly, she wants to cry from how proud of herself she is, and of everyone else's performance. She does her best to hold her tears back however, since she's already sweating so much from all the dancing and the mask on her face, she doesn't need another type of liquid dripping down from her face. For now.

It pains her that no one she knows attended the performance. How wonderful it would've been to have their support, to have at least one friendly face in the crowd. Sadly, part of the agreement she has with her company was that no one could know and that no one would draw attention to it, otherwise no dance gig for her.

Why couldn't the public know, it would add prestige to her name, she asked them, almost pleading, but they gave her a vague answer about how rumours could start since a member of BTS was also participating.

As if Chaeyoung didn't do a whole song AND a CF shoot with Jimin, of the same group.

AND they allowed Jennie that collab with Min Yoongi.

But her...

At least there's a professional cameraman who filmed the whole show and he's agreed to give free copies to every member of the troupe.

She can't wait to show her members. And her family. And all of her friends.

She finally had her first solo dance-related gig, and she wants to scream it to the world but has to swallow it down instead.

But that's okay. There will be other chances. Lisa has always been optimistic.

After bowing one last time to the audience, they leave the stage in a single line from both sides. She's one of the last to leave, wanting to bask under the audience cheers as long as possible, but she can't stay indefinitely and hurries to follow the line.

Backstage, she's greeted with group hugs all around, with some jubilant laughs or happy cries from the troupe, and she immediately joins in. Her chest is too full, she needs to let some emotion out before she bursts into tears in front of the staff, the choreographer, and all the dancers. That would be too humiliating.

So she goes around all the groups, to share some congratulation words and debate over the most memorable moment with everyone. Once certain she's talked to everyone, she joins Hoseok who's with their choreographer, the one who enrolled him into this.

When he spots her, he sends her his sunniest smile, arms waving in the air, and it immediately makes her smile in return. She wants to raise her arms at him too but doesn't think her muscles would comply.

"It was awesome, right?"

She can only nod, her emotions a huge lump in . She's definitively going to start crying if she speaks.

He seems to notice, so he simply ruffles her hair while he continues his conversation with his friend.

After all the hours she spent rehearsing with everyone, she's gotten to know most of them, but she got closer to Hoseok most of all. Since she didn't know anyone, he'd stick to her like glue all the time, always made sure to include her when there were other people with them, and for the one rehearsal he missed, he even asked one of his friends to keep an eye on her.

In any other circumstances, she would've felt offended since she's a big girl who left her country for a dream and knew no one at first, so this isn't a new situation for her, nor an uncomfortable one. And big girls can take care of themselves. But it's impossible to be mad at him. Instead, she found it adorable that he's taking such good care of her.

"We're going to celebrate the success of the show, on me," the choreographer suddenly tells her. "You'll come this time, right?"

Lisa hesitates.

Her first instinct is to refuse. While she knows everyone, she's not close to them. Working alongside them and hanging out around a table are two different situations, and the latter makes her uncomfortable.

Her manager is also rather strict about her outings.

It's just food, so it should be okay as long as she avoids alcohol. And deep down, if she pushes the part of her that would be uncomfortable to the side, she really wants to go. It's probably her last chance to spend time with everyone before they all part ways.

She glances at Hoseok whose eyes are shining with hope. "I have to ask my manager..." It's frustrating as a grown adult, having to ask permission to go somewhere, to do the smallest of things. But it's a small price to pay to live her dream, and it never bothered her much before. Until now.

Phone in hand, she sends the most polite message she's ever written to her manager, with perfect grammar and punctuation. She hopes he'll take into consideration the fact that she never asks for anything, and that her record is sticky clean.

No drinking. Until 11pm.

She grins, holding back her yelp of victory. "I'll come!" she announces, with great restraint on her enthusiasm.

She'd be bouncing around if she'd been with her members, but she's always been more subdued around people she isn't close with.

"Yes!"

Hoseok seems as ecstatic about the news as her, grinning so hard