Watched: Parks and Recreation

      January 9th, 2009

January 9th, 2009

The tension in the air was so thick it couldn't be cut with a sharpened carving knife.

All the members were overwhelmed at the prospect of having their comeback stage. To them, it didn’t feel like just any comeback stage. It's been almost a whole year since they stood on stage together, and Gee also happened to find its way to the top of the charts on its very first day of release.

To say the girls were surprised was an understatement. Sure, it was catchy but the lyrics themselves were rather dimwitted.

Usually whenever Echo felt this over whelmed she would send a quick text to her mom, who would always know just what to say to help her calm down. But their phones were taken the second Gee was released four days ago.

Currently, the group was making last second adjustments at the studio before heading out to Music Core.

Hajoon was the one who noticed Echo's pale exterior and told her to walk through the halls in order to catch her breath and gather her thoughts, they didn’t need her fainting on stage mid-panic attack.

The SNSD member took deep calming breaths as she roamed the empty hallways. Trainee classes were in session so the odds of her running into anyone was slim.

"NOONA!"

She lied.

Before she could even turn around Echo found herself being picked up from the ground in a surprisingly bone crushing hug. Echo said something to the boy but it went unheard as her face was pushed against a flat chest.

"Taeminnie, let go of my girlfriend." The arms instantly released her.

"Hyung, I'm just saying hi to my favorite noona," the maknae pouted, one of his many unconscious cute acts that he swears he never does.

The elder male just smirked, leaning down to place a chaste peck on Echo's lips as he slid his arms around her waist. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for your comeback?"

She smiled, nodding, melting into the taller male's warm embrace. "My manager told me to take a walk because I was having a mental breakdown. There's a lot of pressure with this comeback, Jonghyun-ah."

"It should be good pressure," Taemin rationalized. "Fans are really loving the song, they're probably more excited for today than you are."

"But what if I mess up? What if I can't reach my high note, or I trip, or I fall into a member, or a member falls on me?!"

The SHINee members chuckled at their label mate, both more than used to her mini freak outs since their trainee days.

"With that attitude you will," Jonghyun pointed out. "You have to think confident, otherwise your fear will show up on your face. You should be excited! I wish SHINee had a song that reached number one before we even had the comeback."

"Why are you feeling so pressured this time?" Taemin asked. "You usually don't freak out about performances."

Echo visibly hesitated, not looking at either males eyes. "I may have read some comments online about me…"

The two gave her you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me looks. "What would possess you to do that?"

She shrugged. "I was hoping fans thoughts of me would have changed."

"You have to do something for that to happen," Taemin softly smiled.

"That's work," Echo joked, suddenly feeling in a lighter mood.

"If my watch is right then you should be leaving soon," the male vocalist said, looking up from his watch. Giving the girl a last kiss the SHINee members continued on to wherever they were originally going.

Taking a deep breath Echo stepped forward with a new determination.

"Don't eat too much or you're going to puke," Hajoon chided some of the members as they waited in their waiting room. They had no time to eat a proper meal, but their manager was able to fetch some fruit and chicken from a small store near the music studio.

They went through all the run through's already, the next time they stood on stage would be the real deal. Their anticipated comeback.

"I don't know if I can stomach it," Echo frowned, poking at her bowl of fruit.

"Force yourself," Taeyeon replied, shoving her own fruit into . "You didn't eat much all day, I don't want you fainting on stage."

"Wait to do that when we're super famous, then everyone would feel bad," Sooyoung joked, receiving a jab in the ribs from Yoona.

"If we ever become super popular I'll faint on stage and cause a huge scene just for you, unnie," Echo joked, a small smile on her face.

"Aw, our Echo would  cause a huge controversy to get everyone on our side," Sooyoung cooed, she went to pinch the shorter girls cheek like she usually did, but her eyebrows furrowed when she realized she didn’t grab as much skin as usual. She decided not to verbally question it, but sent the younger girl a strange look.

Echo pretended not to notice, instead, becoming involved in her other unnie's conversation.

Before the girls knew it, they were standing behind stage. They were rushed on stage, the girls standing atop individual circular platforms, Echo swiftly took her place in the back left.

Seconds later the music was pumping through the speakers, their comeback performance starting.

Throughout the whole thing Echo was careful about not losing the smile on her face. The cheers of the fans and the adrenaline of the performance fueling her through the movements. Echo always loved performing, ever since she was a child she loved to participate in talent shows or even the yearly school play. Sometimes she found the stage more comfortable than anywhere else. Because no matter how she changes, or no matter what stupid decisions she may make, she knows the stage will always be waiting for her.

Her worries dropped away the second the music started, everything negative washed away so she could perfectly be in the moment of the thing she likes the most. The cheers and her sisters by her sides was just the butter cream icing on the cake.

Before she knew it, it was over.

Those at home would be watching their 'Way To Go!' performance right after, but the audience here had already seen it the hour prior.

The members quickly made their way back to the waiting room, hoping to catch the song's performance before it ended. Since the last time Music Core had any chart system was back in 2005, the girls were done for the day (except for Yuri and Tiffany).

As the members watched the closing statements on the small television set Echo excused herself to slip into the bathroom. She hummed 'Way To Go!' to herself as she tied her long hair back with the black hair tie on her thin wrist. She turned the faucet on, cleaning her right pointer finger until she deemed it ready. Making sure she shut and locked the bathroom stall door behind her, Echo opened and blindly jabbed towards the back of .

Within seconds she felt the all too familiar feeling of rapidly rising bile from her stomach.

The girl jumped in shock when she heard a loud thump on the other side of her stall door. Her stomach churned in more ways than one.

She twisted her head back around, staring at the while tiled wall with wide eyes. Did someone catch her? Just as she was ready to stand up, her food rushed out of and into the open toilet. The sound was obvious. Whoever it was, knew what she was doing. There was no way she could play off just being sick, she just performed live perfectly!

Her heart thumped heavily in her chest as whoever was on the other side was growing more insistent with their banging.

Straightening up, she wiped off her face the best she could with her sleeves. She took a deep calming breath, briefly closing her eyes.

She opened the door.

"Are you ing kidding me?!"

Echo jumped back at Tiffany's loud exclamation. Tears pricked in the corner of the singers eyes. "You told me you stopped! This isn't stopping!"

She had no words, she had no way of justifying her actions. And she knew nothing she said would change the look of horror and desperation in her best friends eyes.

"It's none of your business," she simply said, refusing to meet her eyes. Without another word she twisted on her heel, walking out of the lavatory.

"Everything you do is my business!" Tiffany growled in English, practically running out of the bathroom after her member in her haste. "You are my member, your business is mine and mine is yours. Enough of these secrets! Can't you see you're hurting yourself?!"

Echo took a deep breath, reverting to her first language. "I'm helping us. I'm keeping my image in check."

"By almost killing yourself?! Do you not know how dangerous bulimia is?"

"I don't have bulimia!" she spat. "I'm not insane, I don't have a problem. I throw up from time to time to control my weight."

Tiffany's eyes narrowed. "Our diets are already heavily monitored, just follow those and you're fine. You're messing up your body. Don't you see that you're only hurting yourself? Physically and mentally. You have a good body, you don't have to lose weight!"

"Yes, I do! Look at this!" Echo pushed up her shirt to pinch a tiny layer of fat on her stomach. "Look! I have all this fat! I shouldn’t be able to pinch my own skin like this!"

Tiffany slapped the younger girls hands away from her stomach, her shirt falling back into place in the process. "That is normal, we all need fat on us to survive. Girls need it more than guys! Balancing fat and muscle is a goal for a healthy body." Tiffany stepped back, shaking her head. "What you're doing isn't okay. You need help Allison."

"Ah, if it isn't Girls' Generation."

The duo whirled around, eyes widening when they recognizing the gossip magazine reporter. Instinctively, Tiffany shifted forward so Echo was half-hidden behind her.

"Son-ssi, so nice to see you," Tiffany greeted with her perfect idol smile in place. "When did you get here?"

"I was just about to leave after watching the performances," the man gained a dangerous glint in his eye as he sauntered forward like a predator. "That was until I heard some yelling in English. Any intergroup problems?"

"No," Echo replied, wearing her own idol smile. "Nothing's wrong." The idol didn’t bother explaining any further.

"Really?" he cocked his head to the side. "Because you seemed to be in a rather heated discussion just a few seconds ago. What about?"

"I'm sorry but I have another schedule to get to," Tiffany smiled, hastily bowing and pulling away the younger member behind her as she hurried back to their waiting room.

Behind them, the photographers eyes never lost their glint. There was inner turmoil going on in the group, and he was going to find out what.

Echo is a pretty decent actress (especially for an idol), I wonder when she'll get her big break.

Is it just me or has Echo lost a lot of weight lately? She was always thin but I swear I can see her ribs perfectly!

I ship TiffHo so hard it's unhealthy -_-

Has anyone else gotten 'reading invites'? I got a few and I have no idea what the hell it is o.o

P.S. Anyone know who the photographer is? ;)