Immediately after the photo shoot, I headed straight to CJ E&M where the other members were already waiting in make-up for me. Having kept the make-up I already had on my face, I figured I wouldn't take long.

                "How long before rehearsal?" I asked my manager.

                "As soon as the last of you are done in here," he said.

                I sighed heavily. Throughout the drive from the photo shoot until we stood off stage on standby for the rehearsal, I was deep in thought of Kris. Not hearing from him because we agreed not to contact each other was killing me and only leaving me with more and more questions.

                "Unnie, did something happen?" asked Kimi. "Chanyeol Oppa was there, wasn't he?"

                I didn't snap back into reality entirely just yet. But I did acknowledge my members concern.

                "Nothing happened," I said. "I guess I just can't believe the timing of all this."

                "Could you hold it in? Just for tonight?" asked Jaekyung.

                "Yeah," I heaved.  "Yeah, I will."

                "Crescere, you're up!" the stage director called.

                Over the past year, it's actually been a good year for us. Our debut wasn't spectacular, but it was decent; else people will expect too much from us too soon. But it was a good year. We made fond memories and we learnt from all our mistakes. All for the better of a bigger comeback.

                "Annyeonghaseyo, we are Crescere!"

                The crowd of young girls roared their hearts out. For a few seconds before I introduced myself, I scanned the audience and actually did find a small number of boys. I was happy, and the thought of Kris suddenly became less of a burden, because I suddenly realised that he and the EXO-M members would be tuning on online over in China when the show starts. I needed to show him that I'm OK.

                "Annyeonghaseyo, I am Crescere's leader and main vocalist, Ren. Nice to see you again!" I greeted.

                Quickly moving down the line, the other members moved on and kept the fans screaming.

                "Annyeonghaseyo, I am Crescere's dancing machine and main rapper, Jaekyung. Thank you for coming!"

                "Annyeonghaseyo, I am Crescere's second vocalist and cutie, Kimi. Nice to see you again!"

                "Annyeonghaseyo, I am Crescere's breath of fresh air, Hyoim. Good to see everyone!"

                "Annyeonghaseyo, I am Crescere's all-rounder, Saerom. Thank you for coming!"

                "Annyeonghaseyo, I am Crescere's maknae, Ruby. Nice to meet you again!"

                I let the fans scream for a few seconds more to let them get it off their chests before I spoke again.

                "We, as Crescere, have been working very hard over the year to give you better music and better performances. It has been a while since we last performed but we are very thankful and grateful to all our fans here and all over the world that have waited for us. We hope that you enjoy our comeback and we look forward to making more fond memories with you."

*

                The digits climbed rapidly between Crescere and Apink. When it paused, we all held each other tightly, hoping that our score was the one that increased. In one arm, I held Ruby, who was grabbing me around my waist. On my other arm, I held hands with Hyoim, who was practically grabbing my whole arm. Jaekyung, Kimi and Saerom were all tangled among themselves too, as all our eyes, including Apink, were glued to the monitors. I was too focused on the movement of the numbers that I almost didn't hear our group being called out.

                "Crescere, High Rise! Congratulations!"

                I wanted to close my eyes before my tears fell out, until I realised that the Ruby's tiny frame was collapsing on me from the overwhelming feeling.

                "Hey, hey! You're OK!" I said to her over the crowd.  "Come on, up, up, up!"

                Picking her up, I managed to join arms with the other members who took Ruby into their arms to comfort her. By the time the MCs gave me the mic and the trophy, I was already in tears looking around to see if the members were still around me.

                "First of all, thank you to our beloved President, Lee Sooman sajang-nim for all your kindness and patience. Thank you all the coordinators and producers and all the extended staff behind the scenes, our stylists and managers, our vocal trainers and choreographers!"

                Racking my brain, I heaved and allowed a few more tears to drop. I felt my members behind me and two sets of arms around me, that I didn't even bother to find out who they belonged to.

                "All of our sunbaes who have supported us from the beginning and all of whom we respect and idolize to the bottom of our hearts, our parents and our extended family and friends, worldwide, we love you! Thank you so much, above all else, to our fans here and worldwide! We love you so much! Thank you for waiting for us! Thank you M! Countdown! Thank you so much!"

                I finally managed to look at my members in their eyes. All of them were crying of joy. Jaekyung, who was holding the flower bouqet swung her free hand around me and sobbed, while Kimi cried hysterically into Saerom's shoulder.

                "We're all right," I said, just loud enough for them to hear.  "We're good now."

*

[Kris' POV]

                None of us doubted it. At least, none of us should have been foolish enough to have doubted it. I could only smile as I watched the live stream of their performance and her speech. She looked adorable, even when she cried. Beyond the love I was yet to reveal to her, I was relieved; and I'm pretty sure she was too.

                "At least she actually cried during the speech," said Chen.  "Suho hyung had the face but no tears."

                The other members laughed.

                "So, they won first place. The plan's in play then?" asked Luhan.

                I sighed and smiled at him. "Yep. I reckon it's right."

                "Well…we're right behind, like always," said Xiumin.  "She's a cool girl."

                "Yeah, just pull it off quickly, or else I'll spill the beans for you," Chen joked.

                "Yah, if you're gonna make fun of her, leave me out of it," I said. "She's had a tough life."

                "I know, I know, I haven't made her cry," said Chen. "I let Crescere getting first place handle that for me."

                Typical Jongdae. But he was the least of my problems.

                I got up and looked around the lounge room. Tao wasn't there, but after a mini-search, I found him sitting on his bed with his iPad on his hap and earphones plugged in his ears. He was watching the playback of Crescere's performance. He knew I was looking at him but he didn't turn to look at me.

                "You can ignore me all you want, but there's no use being angry at her," I said.

                Tao just sighed.

                During the times Ren and I dated, everything was still fine between everyone. Tao and Ren even got along. But since I opened up about my relationship in the interview, he hadn't spoken to me; or any of the members really. I've always usually been the one he came to when in need of someone to talk to, but now, I had no idea how to help him when he wasn't talking to me.

                "Fine, whatever," I shrugged.  "I tried. And I have been trying so ing hard to make things right and to make things work out between everyone, but I suppose you see something that I have missed!"

                For the first time, over the past day, Tao finally made eye contact with me.

                "If you just grow up and talk to me like an adult should, you might tell me what I'm missing," I said, firmly. "Because personally, I don't know how much more I can do!"

                "I know," Tao spoke, in a soft tone. "That's why I'm not asking for anything more."

                "Then why are you being such a child?" I asked.

                Since I first got to know him, we always spoke about finding the right girl and having her become a part of our family; welcoming her as a sister. I thought Ren would be the best person EXO could have as a sister, especially for Tao. But it looked like he wanted to prove me wrong.

                "Nothing," said Tao, still in a soft tone.  "Just leave me alone."

                He was one of few people that could tell the difference between my regular frown and my angry frown. He knew he had pissed me off. Whether or not it was his intention, it worked.

                "Fine," I finally said. I almost said something else but I just stormed out.

                The other four members that were still scattered around the lounge and kitchen looked at me.

                "I will talk to him," said Lay.

                "Don't bother," I said. "Let him sulk on his own. It's not worth anyone else's tears."

*

                [Tao's POV]

                Honestly, I didn't mean to be childish. But since Kris Ge opened up, I needed time to think; a lot of it.

                Unbeknownst to him at that moment, I was actually re-watching Ren Noona's debut on Immortal Songs 2 that aired two weeks ago. She didn't even win one round, but I was still just as touched as I was when Chen and Baekhyun Hyung debuted on the show. But it wasn't the performance I was watching exactly; it was her pre-interview.

                "As much as I am honoured to be a part of the show, I'm also a little embarrassed. As a foreigner, I'm still very unfamiliar with Korea and it's culture and music. All of the seniors in my company are my idols and the reason I decided to become a singer. They made me respect K-pop and the more I listened to their music, the more I wanted to be a part of it. I allow myself the pressure of matching their standards and I get given the honour of sharing the stage with them as a reward. However, I knew that they too had their idols, and many of them come out on Immortal Songs to hear their music being sung back to them. I am still very unfamiliar with many of them and unaware of how much of a mark they each left in history, but long since before I came to Korea, I knew that I wanted to give back to those people, because they are the true pioneers of music. They are the reasons that idols can exist. As a rookie, I'm still learning about the style of music I intend to pursue and the kind of singer I want to become, and hopefully my time on this show will help me decide. But along with that, I hope to fully acknowledge all my seniors. And as long as I continue as a singer, I will continue to give thanks to them…one song at a time."

                 They sounded like naïve words, but why the heck was a touched by them? I've been spending half my spare time trying to find a fault in her, but I couldn't. She's everything in a woman that Kris would want or need. Ren Noona is only somewhat my ideal woman, but I never felt that way about her. I guess I didn't know who to tell that I was jealous and envious.







Sorry it's been a while, but I was tryna work up a decent - not the main, but...yeah. So I'll leave Tao in the wake ^^ I know almost exactly how to go about it next too =) 
Btw, i have no idea why I chose Apink as Crescere's opponent...I don't hate them, in fact, they're adorable ^^