“Are you going to be okay?” Rap Monster asked, squatting down beside Cora, who sat on the ground with her back against a wall and her head thrown back. In her hands she held a water bottle and a bag of granola, which she couldn’t even stomach eating. Her hands were shaking, and she felt like vomiting. “Honestly, we can have one of the actor’s step in-”

Cora shook her head. “Namjoon, I’m fine, I swear. I just need a minute to breathe.” She said, twisting the top off her water bottle and taking a small sip. She’d overworked herself. A lot. All the flips, all the cartwheels and splits, acrobatic tricks and running around was getting to her. It shouldn’t have, because she’d been in the best physical shape she’d ever been in, but it was.

Rap Monster sighed. “You need to take it easy. Everyone’s already made it through your room, and my room. I don’t think anyone will be coming through the shared room, so just stay here and relax, okay? I’ll have a driver pull around and we’ll get you home.”

“I have to stay to help clean up.”

“No,” J-Hope declared, crouching on her other side. “You don’t. We’ve got it, okay? Besides, we have off tomorrow, since our manager and choreographer aren’t feeling too well, so we won’t be working, like you will. You need to go home and sleep, while you still have the time to.”

Cora bit her lip and shook her head. “I don’t want to go home.”

“Why?” J-Hope asked, pushing a strand of Cora’s escaped hair behind her ear. “Is something wrong?”

Cora shook her head. “I just don’t want to be there.” In truth, it was because Cora knew who was going to be there when she arrived. Since Passion didn’t have work until much later in the day, Youngjae would be lounging with Maria, and Jackson would be keeping MinHee company. Reina and JB would be snuggled up, and Yuna had stopped by to see Mikki, meaning she and Yugyeom, who had in fact stayed together, would be there. They’d been at the party, but Cora only saw them for  a moment. Yuna was, of course, a ty cop and Yugyeom was a prisoner. It was cute, for a short period of time. In truth, Cora didn’t want to be surrounded by couples when she still wasn’t over the fact that she wasn’t in a relationship. “I think I’ll just crash here tonight.”

“Seriously?”

“It is my house.” She said, starting to move to her feet, but J-Hope shook his head and moved her to sit back down. “I mean, I have spare rooms upstairs if you guys want to stay too, that way you don’t have to drive home so late.”

J-Hope stood. “We need to go start taking this apart. Come on Rap Monster. Cora, you stay right there.” Cora frowned as the two stood and made their way towards the haunted house.

A few of the actor’s Cora’s mom had hired were mingling around, dancing to the music that could be heard through the house, or laughing about the night, while Cora sat in a ball in the corner, pitying herself. “God, I’m pathetic,” She murmured, lifting the bottle of water to her lips again.

Jr. and Bambam, who hadn’t made their way home just yet, as they were searching for Mark, their third musketeer, strolled through and waved to Cora. “Are you feeling alright?” Jr. asked, coming to a stop in front of her.

She nodded. “Just coming down from a candy hype.” She said, forcing a laugh. The two must have thought it was genuine because they asked if she’d seen Mark, and when she said no, they continued on as if nothing was wrong. She was thankful for this.

What she wasn’t thankful for was the next musketeer to walk into the space. And she especially wasn’t thankful that the first place his eyes landed was on her. “What’s wrong?” He asked, walking towards her.

“Nothing. Jr. and Bambam are looking for you.” She pointed to the other side of the space. “They went that way.”

“I know,” He said, continuing towards her. “And don’t say nothing. Cora, I know it’s not nothing. Did you hurt yourself?”

Cora frowned. “No. I’m fine.”

“Liar.” He said, crouching down in front of her. He reached out to place his hand on her forehead, and she smacked his hand away. “Okay, you need to chill out.”

Cora glared at him. “Don’t touch me.” She said angrily, moving to stand.

She hated herself the moment she did, because instead of standing, she crumbled back down to the ground. Only instead of landing on the ground, Mark caught her, like he always had, and stood, holding her against him. “You need to lay down.” He said lightly. She was standing now, but he grabbed the back of her legs and lifted her fully into his arms. And she punched him hard on the chest. “Stop.” He said, turning and starting towards the slit in the curtains that let out into the backyard.

“I’ll scream, I swear to god.” She warned, wiggling as much as she could, which was a pathetic amount because she felt like she was about to vomit, and her vision was wobbly. “Mark Tuan put me down.”

Mark sighed and continued to walk. “Honestly, nothing has changed.” He said under his breath.

But Cora heard it. “What? What do you mean nothing has changed?” She demanded, perking up a bit and staring directly at him. He dyed his hair. And it looked… blonde? No, it must have been her eyes playing tricks on her. “Answer me Mark.”

He scowled. “I said nothing has changed because you’re still the childish, spoiled rotten brat you were when I broke up with you two months ago.”

Cora pushed him hard enough that he let go over her, and she fell to the ground. “Oh, Cora,” He said, bending to pick her up, but she slapped him. Hard.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t you ever touch me!” She hissed. “Of course I’m the same childish, spoiled rotten brat I was when you broke up with me two months ago! I’ve been the same childish spoiled rotten brat that I am now since I was in high school, and it’s never going to change Mark. But why does it matter now, since you didn’t seem to mind when we were dating. I’ve always been like this, so don’t pretend it just happened one day after we started dating.” Mark frowned. “I’ve been me, the real me, since the beginning. But who the hell are you?”

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