“Excuse me?”

                “Miss Song, you have been practicing too much that you’re body is on the verge of shutting down. Your legs are now giving away at any time and you always feel so weak and tired.”

                “So what are you trying to say?”

                “What I’m trying to say is that you have to lay off the practicing a bit. You have to be hospitalized for a bit.”

                “What if I don’t?” What if I refuse?” Victoria’s voice got higher.

                “Miss Song,” the doctor tried to explain. “This isn’t something that should be taken lightly of-“

                “My group and I are not even halfway through our comeback single. How can I just ‘lay off’ the practicing?”

                The doctor sighed. “Miss Song, your legs could get permanently damaged if you keep on putting a lot of exercise on it.”

                That quieted Victoria. The doctor went on.

                “You will have to talk with your agency. You have to take this seriously, Miss Song. Do you understand?”

                Victoria nodded and then shook her head.  The doctor sighed again and got up, escorting her out of his office.

                “Have a good day, Miss Song.”

-             

                Victoria knew that she had to rest. Permanently damaging her legs would deeply affect her life. But what could she do? She couldn’t just leave when they were doing so well.

                Throughout the weeks, Victoria held it in. she never mentioned or hinted about it to her members or manager or to anyone else, for the matter. When she’d collapse, she’d joke about it and say that she slipped. Luckily, she didn’t collapse one throughout their performances.

                At the same time, she didn’t communicate with Nichkhun at all. He was off with his group doing international sorts and Victoria was happy for him. But she wasn’t too happy with herself. The pain was excruciating and she found it worse day after day.

                After their last performance in Music Bank, Victoria felt so relieved that she made it. While they were announcing the winners, Victoria felt her leg start to shake uncontrollably. Her vision was blurry and her head pounded. She stumbled back a bit, a surprised Sulli grabbing her back for support. Sulli giggled at her, thinking that Victoria just slipped a bit on her heels.

                That wasn’t the case.

                Victoria felt like screaming, screaming so loud to get rid of her pain. Her arms were starting to shake now. But she couldn’t collapse here, not now. It would ruin the show. SNSD had won and she didn’t want to interrupt their victory with her cause.

                But she couldn’t. Not anymore.

                It was just too much for her to bear.

                Her legs buckled and she fell on the floor. She couldn’t move and felt numb while at the same time, she could feel the pain that came from her legs. She opened , but not even a rasp came out.

                And for some reason, when she was in the ambulance, driving to the hospital, all she thought about was Nichkhun.