The dressing room is vacuous and noiseless. Dozens of outfits are hung at the end of the room. Glossy gold dresses, classy women suits, bright petal dresses, and many, many more outfits for the show. At one end of the room, three dressers with mirrors and lights are lined up against the wall. And on one of the dresser, Momo sits quietly.

Her eyes wander off the walls, slowly crawling to the hangers, then to the table. Then, they look at the mirror. She finds herself there. She takes time, staring at herself. She then rises. She bends her body from her chair to get closer to the mirror and stares deeper into herself. She is inches away from herself.

She stood up right. While the chair she was sitting on got pushed back. Without music, she starts dancing.

Momo is TWICE’s lead dancer. So far as to hold the name ‘a dancer sent down by the gods’. She is a dancing machine after all. It’s well-deserved, she dance as a master would dance. Her moves are bold and mesmerizing. Agile as a panther in a zoo. Wild but tamed.

But yet, in this empty room, she is dancing sluggishly. Slow. Heavy, but not in an intimate kind of way. It’s almost drowsy. As if she is a car that has run for miles without a drop of gas. Still, no music is heard. And still, she dances.

Then a knock is heard.

Momo isn’t bothered.

‘KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK’ But she keeps dancing, not bugged by the door at all. Then the door opens.

“Oh, Momo-ssi.” Jeongyeon comes in slowly.

“Jeongyeon-unnie.” Momo says as she quits her dancing.

Hearing her name and the word unnie in the same word from Momo gets Jeongyeon. It's a running joke between thet two.

“Very funny.” She says. “You were dancing?”

“Umm, yeah.” Momo says, standing fumblingly.

“Why’d you stop?” Jeongyeon seeks for a seat to watch this private show.

Momo resumes. Her dazed and dozy dance. She dances with a wide space. Moving a couple of feet to the front and back. Almost a ballet. It would be perfect to be accompanied by a mellow jazz drumming.

Jeongyeon wonders. “Odd.” She tastes something is out of place in this very dressing room. It’s not the room. It’s not the air conditioner that’s only blowing at one specific direction. And it’s not the slightly warm temperature that’s for sure.

“What’s going on, Momo?” Jeongyeon asks, relaxed on the make up chair she is sitting on.

“What is going on?” The dancing Momo asks back.

“You’re dancing… how do I put this… distinctively.”

Momo furrows her brows in confusion. Jeongyeon is saying something but it’s not out clearly just yet.

“Oddly.” Jeongyeon puts it. “I mean, you’re not dancing like you normally do.”

“I’m not? How do I normally dance, then? You’re even oddly-er, Jeongyeon.”

“Something’s bothering you.”

“Maybe I just feel like dancing like this.”

“What’s the matter?” asks Jeongyeon. Persisting.        

“You’re pushing me.” Momo feels a little squeezed.

“No I’m not pushing you, I’m asserting you. C’mon. Tell me. What’s up?” Jeongyeon then starts poking Momo on her toned stomach in Wonder Girls. “Tell me, tell me, te-te-te-te-te-tell me.”

“Hahahaha.” Jeongyeon triumphed in making Momo laugh. “Alright, alright.” Momo exhales her breath as she sits herself down on the floor with her hands holding her leg together. “What happened in sixteen?” She asks, looking up to Jeongyeon on the chair.

Momo mentions a random number and Jeongyeon is at sixes and sevens for a few seconds. “The show? Our debut show?”

“And the stories, and the elimination. What happened?” Momo continues with a subtle rise on her tone.

“How can I tell?” Jeongyeon is unable to answer Momo’s curiousity.

“How can I tell!?” Momo raises her voice immensely.

Jeongyeon’s mouth is shut tight for Momo’s unusual anger startled her.

“I’ve been watching the episode, the finale, a hundred times, Jeongyeon. And it’s been stuck on my mind for weeks.” Momo says as she slowly gets up. Jeongyeon finally gets a grasp of what is going on.

“But you know what’s the worst of everything is? It’s not that I was eliminated. And it’s not that I wasn’t ‘good enough’ in his eyes. But it was because they got me out of the team and I was called back in less than a day.”

Now knowing the harshness, Jeongyeon is still clueless and is probably helpless facing Momo. This is really out of character from Momo.

Jeongyeon gulps. “So this is what’s been bothering you?”

“But why? Why was I disqualified and called back to the group?” She menacely and slowly approachs Jeongyeon, getting closer and closer with every word. “I’m fine being not good enough for the group but did they really have to play with me? Was I called back just to become an ‘eye-pleaser’?” Momo resumes fiercely as she gets closer while Jeongyeon is still defenseless on her chair.

Jeongyeon doesn’t say anything. She can’t say anything. She is waiting for Momo to simmer down.

And after quite a while, Momo finally cools down. She rests her hands against the table. Jeongyeon stands up and she opens .

“Momo, you’re not an eye-pleaser.” Jeongyeon says, barely realizing her words could be misinterpreted. “I mean, you do please eyes. But don’t know what you really are. You’re not just an eye-pleaser. Lia-unnie said it herself. ‘A dancer sent by the gods’. And that’s what you are, an amazing performer sent by the gods.”

“Then why was I eliminated in the first place!?” Momo yells. Throwing Jeongyeon back to her chair. She is staggered once more.

Momo then fell on her knees. Her knees made a lightly hard sound as they meet the floor harshly. Momo is now a time bomb and Jeongyeon is anxiously looking for the right wires to cut. “Momo…” She caresses Momo as she rises tediously.

“Sorry, it’s just…”  Momo’s eyes start to glimmer.

Seeing Momo’s eyes getting watery, Jeongyeon hugs her on the floor. She hugs her as tight as possible. She hugs her as close as a friend could. Letting tears to stream down her Japanese friend’s face.

“Momo, you’re a fantastic artist and you’re one of my best friends. Without you, TWICE won’t be TWICE. Don’t you ever forget that.” Jeongyeon says as they drop the hug to the cold floor. They are now facing each other on the floor.

Hearing this, Momo feels a lot better and her tears starts to settle. She tightens her hug a once again.

A while after feeling Jeongyeon’s warmth, she starts letting go of her friend and they get back sitting on their butts.

“You godsent dummy.” Jeongyeon says. Laying a little laugh on Momo.

They then leave themselves to a moment of peace. To think and to reconsider everything that has happened. How close of friends they are and how grateful they are to have each other.

Jeongyeon’s phone ringing broke the warm silence. She took it out of her pocket.

“Yeoboseyo...
I’m at the dressing room…
Why would I go backstage?…
Alright, alright I’ll be there…”

“Who’s that?”

“Nayeon, she wants me to go backstage. Wanna come?” She puts the phone back to her pocket.

“Actually no, crying is pulling my eyes down.” Momo wipes her face as she goes to a couch. “I’m just gonna take a little nap.”

“Oh, alright then. Don’t sleep too long, we got a concert to perform. Can’t do it without ya.” Jeongyeon heads to the door as she blinks her left eye. Unsuccessfully. She winks both eyes instead.

“You do know you can’t blink properly right?”

“Have a nice nap.” Jeongyeon closes the door.