The vibrations from her phone were relentless now. Wendy sighed as she sank into her couch and buried her face into her hands for a brief moment.

All these bloodhounds; lusting for whatever news or rumours they can get their hands on without a care of whose blood will be shed in the process.

Fine, if they truly wish to know what was the relationship between her and Chanyeol, South Korea’s favourite male rapper whom she had collaborated with on several occasions, they had gotten tipsy and the male rapper had pecked her on her cheeks after being goaded to by their mutual friends. Wendy found it amusing how such a small gesture could be misunderstood and now the entire nation is after them for the latest, juiciest news about them. No matter how strongly she has denied and how Chanyeol has maintained his silence, the media still spoke about them every single minute, giving them no respite.

Wendy switched to whiskey when she realised that she had finished her bottle of red wine. Whiskey was her favourite and therefore, it was all the more dangerous as she drank from her shot glass, one after another. At some point in time she felt some discomfort and she barely made it to the washroom to throw out whatever contents were in her stomach. Then, in her state of drunkenness, she heard someone yelling her name in panic.

It was noon the next day when she found herself awake and tucked into bed.

A person was in the sofa chair, by her bedside, her head supported by her hand. It was Joy, one of closest confidante and someone who has always been there for her. Yet, like her, every single action of Joy was being watched by the public; for she was an actress, one who had been nominated at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the youngest Korean nominees.

“You should be glad I still remember how to administer an injection without killing you.” Joy said in a flat tone.

“What happened?” Wendy asked groggily as she tried to sit herself up and immediately felt her head spinning again.

“You were puking non-stop. You even puked out the anti-nausea pills.”

Wendy sighed loudly, thankful that Joy had remembered where Wendy kept her private stash of antiemetics.

“I had a drop too many.”

“Had a drop too many…” Joy repeated, an expression of disgust on her face. “Just tell me that you are not affected by this scandal and that you have stopped thinking about that woman.” Joy remarked snidely.

A wry grin wended itself onto Wendy’s face and she let out a scoff. “Who am I going to kid right?” Wendy said with no hint of pity nor remorse.

“Keep this up and your songs would not even be nominated in the Gayo Daejuns and the Billboards. Then very soon you will be left behind in the industry and people will forget you.”

Wendy chuckled in spite of herself and threw her arm over her face to hide the tears that leaked from her eyes and rolled over her temples.

“Whatever. I don’t care.” 

“You obviously do which is why you are in this state now. Anyway, I postponed my magazine shoot for your sake.” Joy said with some bitterness in her voice. “So please get up. Doctor Yu will be here in fifteen minutes to give you proper medicine and shots.”

Wendy sighed aloud and tried to sit herself up, immediately feeling the world spin around her.

“.”

“ indeed. You cannot imagine how many times you puked all over me. Me! A Cannes Film Festival nominee.” Joy rolled her eyes as she exclaimed loudly.

It was only then that Wendy realised that Joy had rummaged through her wardrobe and found clothes which utterly did not fit well on her taller frame.

“Oh…”

“You had the cheek to say that. Anyway, quick, get up. At least be presentable, you are still Wendy Son, South Korea’s Beyonce.”

Wendy scoffed again but heeded her friend’s words.

**

Irene was a nervous-wreck ever since she got wind of the news of the dating scandal between her ex-girlfriend, whom she still cares about very much, and another imbecile male rapper, who dared tarnish the reputation of her ex-girlfriend when she had been so careful not to. Whatever it was, Irene had made a snap decision to fly back to South Korea to ensure that this dating news was quashed and that her ex-girlfriend was fine. The latter of which she was most concerned about.

From Wendy, Irene learnt that the entertainment industry was unforgiving and the route to success was treacherous. Many times, even Wendy could not preserve and stick by her morals. Once, Wendy had confessed to Irene that she was forced to entert