DISPATCH: Breaking News: Karina from Aespa and Actor LJW Dating after meeting in Prada’s Fashion Show. It was “love at first sight”.

The news dropped everywhere online in the middle of a tuesday where no one was expecting it. Fans all over the world were laughing at the news, not really believing it even a bit, a lot of them making fun of the news outlet that released it. What a joke, they said, wait until SMent releases a denial. 

“Like where did that even come from” was the collective thought of people on the internet, it was so out of the blue that it was laughable at best. 

Then another piece of news dropped. And another, and another.

And suddenly, everything was a mess. A MESS.

SM ENTERTAINMENT CONFIRMS DATING NEWS BETWEEN AESPA KARINA AND ACTOR LJW.

All hell breaks loose, people don't know how to react, Positive reactions? Continuous support? Backlash? Hate trains? It was everything all at once. Trolls can be found everywhere, fanning the flames, adding fuel to the fire. People posting rants and demanding things from those involved, people demanding action from the entertainment company, people joining in the hype train. Mixed reactions were suddenly anywhere and everywhere. 

It was numbing though, for one person.

The one person that had every right in this situation to be mad, to be upset, to rage and rage and rage until everything blurs out. But all she could feel was numbness, she can’t feel a thing right now. Not when that is the news that welcomes her in her break-time. Not when it feels like she was suddenly drenched with ice cold water, with a dash of reality check. 

Winter was feeling happy that day, she had the luxury to wake up late for the day since her only schedule was practice. She didn’t have to wake up at God knows what time early in the morning in order to go to a schedule at God knows where. All she had to do was practice today, and she was feeling super pumped about it. It felt like nothing could break her good mood, she was on top of the world today, and it felt awesome.

She arrived at the practice room practically jumping for joy, excited for the day. She noticed that she was the first one there today, so she settled her things and prepared for the day. She sent updates to their group chat saying she finally arrived at the practice room and that she misses them. Everyone is out on their own schedules today, so it was just her in practice today. She sent out a different, separate text, to her girlfriend Karina, asking her when she will finish her errands and if she can drop by the practice room and they can go home together. Alas, everyone was busy, she got no reply. Winter didn’t mind though, she just let herself be busy with her thing too.

“Hmmm, how about I order myself some bagels while I wait for our dance instructor,” She was positively humming while scrolling through her phone, looking at what she can order and have delivered. She finally settled on a bagel and some new drinks to try and clicked order before anyone else could stop her. 

Winter ended up practicing some parts she had to master before the others arrived in the room with her. She was jumping up and down, excited to start the practice for the day. The instructor had her warm up first before starting with anything in case she pulls a muscle in the routine. They certainly can’t have that. “Minjeong, your food arrived, go eat that first before we start for the day.” 

After eating her food, she rested for a bit to digest, and then she started her day with practice. As always, it was draining, all the repetition, all the re-do, she couldn’t feel her legs after how many run-throughs she did of what she already knew. To think that what she learned so far in choreography was just the tip of what she needed to master for future projects and appearances they needed to do. 

It was a good feeling though, being able to prepare all of these for the fans that supported them, who loved them throughout the three years of their activities. It was hard to meet with fans since their debut was during the pandemic, so even little things like these were giving Winter the feeling of satisfaction, a sense of fulfillment. She wouldn’t exchange all of this for the world, no matter how tiring the practices were getting, no matter how early they had to wake up and do schedules, no matter how much they had to sacrifice in order to get here.

“It’ll all be worth it in the end,” she thought to herself, she would definitely be able to return all the love she received from fans. 

At least that's what she thought. 

She tho