*Eun Joo's Pov*

My back was hurting a lot when I woke up for the eighth time that night. I opened my eyes and reached for my phone on the coffee table. The sofa was the place I did not look forward to sleeping on again. Nevertheless, I ended up sleeping on the sofa. After all, a human deserves to sleep on a bed, but a doll... a puppet... doesn't need to sleep comfortably right? I my phone to check the time.

2:34 a.m.

I went to my music app and let the soft piano notes flow out of my phone once again. I closed my eyes and laid completely still on the stiff sofa.

*Author's Pov*

Dong Ho threw one last look at the depressing hospital room and threw the last few of his belongings into his black duffel bag. He was finally leaving this stupid hospital. Actually, he was supposed to be leaving the hospital a day later, but he arranged some things with the doctors and was able to leave a day earlier. His phone rang and he picked it up.

"No, I'm not going home yet." Dong Ho informed the caller. "I need to make a stop somewhere."

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Eun Joo bit her lip as she stared at the twenty page music sheets, holding onto her violin. She was seated in between her grandfather and AJ, who was watching her concentrate on the sheets of music. Another girl was on the stage, playing her very best, which was average for the competition so far.

AJ hesitated to grab her hand and decided it would be better to pat her back, comforting her. "You'll do fint." AJ said reassuringly as her grandfather sighed.

"I can do better than fine." Eun Joo said, prepping herself.

"No. You will do better than fine. Anything less than fine is not acceptable and you know it." Her grandfather told her, not bothering to glance at her.

"I understand, Grandfather." Eun Joo felt light headed as she waited for the girl to finish her piece.

"Next contestant, Song Eun Joo please come up to the stage."

"Well, that's you. Good luck!" AJ gave her a sincere smile as Eun Joo smiled back and got up, nearly toppling over due to her dizziness. "Whoa, be careful. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Eun Joo made her way up the stage and set up her music sheets. AJ watched her carefully, smiling.

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Dong Ho stopped in front of a flower shop with his duffel bag in his hand as he walked in.

Which flowers should I get?

His eyes trailed over the shelves of coloful and lively flowers. His eyes stopped at the classic red roses next to the yellow roses and sighed. He forced his frown to turn into a smile as he bought the flowers and left.

Hopefully....

I'll make it there on time.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

You'll do just fine, Eun Joo. Don't worry.

As AJ smiled at his own thoughts, he felt his phone vibrating and took his phone out to look at the text message he had recieved and looked towards the back of the auditorium, causing Eun Joo's grandfather to glare at him. AJ smiled awkwardly as he turned his attention back to Eun Joo.

Eun Joo was up to page seven of the piece when her fingers began to move stiffly and it was hard for her to keep playing. Tiny beads of sweat formed on her forehear as she forced herself on. Her dark, side-swept bangs helped cover the tiny beads of sweat. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she focused even more, ignoring her headache.

Her fingers on her left hand were hurting even more as she played. As she came to an eight beat rest at the end of page seven, she quickly placed page eight and nine onto the music stand, covering the previous pages, leaving red stains on her music sheet. The audience couldn't see the red stains on the music sheet since it was covered by the stand but she could.

Ignore it. The competiton is my first priority.

She found it hard to keep a straight and elegant face as she played on. Her hands were growing sweaty as she stood under the lights of the stage.

"Stop!" It sounded like Dong Ho, but it couldn't have been. Beginning to think that she was hallucinating, Eun Joo continued to play until she reached a three beat rest and risked a glance at the audience.

AJ. AJ sent her a worried look as she continued to play. He diverted his gaze to the back of the auditorium once more before standing up and running onto the stage and grabbing the violin from Eun Joo and pulling her into a hug. The judges and the audience became completely silent as the atmosphere turned dark and dropped significantly.

Eun Joo struggled a bit and let out a frustrated gasp as AJ refused to let go of her until she calmed down. Her hand dropped to her side when she realized it was no use to fight AJ at the moment. She had lost. She wasn't going to win. Her left hand slowly followed the right hand to a rest position as the audience caught a first hand glimpse at her bloody fingers.

"Give my violin back." Eun Joo said as soon as AJ let go of her. AJ looked down to the ground and then looked at the entrance of the auditorium, torn.

"Come with me." AJ grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her along, but Eun Joo stood her ground.

"I need to play. AJ, I need to." Eun Joo's eyes reflected pain as AJ felt completely bitter. AJ gave in and gave her violin back, leaving the stage and the auditorium. As Eun Joo was about to resume playing, the judges stopped her.

"It's okay. We don't need to see anymore. Next contestant please get ready." A judge in his mid fifties said, shaking his head, sighing.

Eun Joo bit her lip and took her music sheets and got off the stage, leaving the auditorium and heading back to the back rooms of the concert hall. She went to her room and put her music sheets away and sat down, wiping the blood off the finger board of her violin as her grandfather barged in.

"YOU'RE A DISGRACE." He spat as soon as he came in. Eun Joo's eyes grew wide as her grandfather clutched his left chest angrily as if his blood pressure was rising rapidly. He took deep breaths to calm himself down. It had been almost ten years since she had last seen him so angry.

"Grandfather-"

"SHUT UP. I don't have a granddaughter like you. You're not going to even get third place this time. Thanks to you. I told you practice didn't I? And what did you do?" Her grandfather looked at her accusingly. "Go out with that wife stealer? You ruined your reputation and mine with this competition. If you really didn't want to do it, you could've said something. This is completely embarrassing. What are you? A doll? Don't you have a mouth? Use it!"

"I'm s-"

"And what? Do you want to create scandals with that wife stealer? Letting him hug you in front of everyone. Have you forgotten who you are?!" Her grandfather glared at her. "I don't want to have a granddaughter like you. Don't bother coming home ever again."

Her grandfather left the room, slamming the door as Eun Joo got up to go after him and calm him down. As soon as she stood up, her dizziness worsened and felt her surroundings become increasingly blurry. Her body was closing down and she closed her eyes.

"Eun Joo!" 

As soon as a pair of arms wrapped around her, a bouquet of red roses were dropped.

*Updated after two weeks? XD I have the next chapter planned out, so anticipate seeing it next week! And I'm currently working on other stories I have now too >.< So someone didn't appear in this chapter :( But in the next chapter, I can say that Someone does appear and that there will be A LOT of drama with Eun Joo and even more to come in the following chapters. And now for the poll! Eli lost with a total of 2 points. Awww.... So that leaves Kevin and AJ.