chapter three: run

"an illusion in a fairy tale becomes daily life here."   

She'll never get used to this. 

Huiying with her often seen gentle eyes were now coated with an expertly placed smoky effect. Smoky eyes always suited Hyerin more, but this time, the main goal was for everyone to have smoky eyes. Even Jonathan was wearing that kind of eye make-up, along with some gray-colored contact lenses. Hyerin, on the other side, was told to wear brown-colored contact lenses while Huiying chose to not wear any. But it was better that way. She looked better without contacts.

In fact, she looked without make-up.

"Eonni!" Hyerin hears Huiying call out before she sees the youngest running towards her. Hyerin was still having her hair, which was now in a darker shade of golden-brown, fixed into a nice hairstyle. Huiying must be done with her make-up and hair styling session, which made the younger sprint towards her. 

Hyerin can only see the youngest's reflection through the mirror and what she saw would never be a typical thing. Huiying's eyes were still as gentle as they are despite the smoky eyeshadow trying to make them look sharper. Her lips were tinted in a dark pink color and her reddish-brown hair is now straightened and clipped with a black flower head dress on the left. She looked so y yet her cuteness was still overflowing. The stylists would always fail to make this young lady ever look y. She's forever the cute youngest member. 

"Yes?" Hyerin asks in the calmest matter. She was actually running out of patience. She hadn't had any nice sleep and she's actually suffering this terrible head ache since morning. She didn't want to sound angry at her sister so she just smiled. She's not angry at her siblings anyway. She loves them and she couldn't bear to be angry at them.

But that head-ache.  Ugh. That head-ache was making her day go worse.

"Is my hair okay? The stylist decided to straighten it this time." she giggled as she turned around, making her reddish hair sway silkily. "Tell me your most honest opinion!" she grinned.

Hyerin smiled before she lets the calmest of words slip her lips. Her luscious red lips. "You look gorgeous, but no, you don't look any y. I mean, you have a great body shape but your aura is still... cute." she smiled.

"Aw. They'll never be able to make me y." she pursed her lips before she plopped down the vacant seat beside her older sister. She eyed Hyerin, smiling in content as she saw her sister's full body.  

Her sister's eyes were coated with smoky make-up and her once ebony-black orbs were now brownish. Her lips were bright red. Her defined body outline wasn't exactly visible in her loose statement sweatshirt but her white legs. Oh, any girl would surely kill for those pair of legs. Hyerin could consider that her legs are her perfect parts. She loved them and is exactly proud of her white legs. And the black shorts she chose to wore exposed them perfectly. Aside from this, her golden-brown hair– which was currently being styled– had a few strands tied behind by a maroon ribbon with net-like designs. And unlike her straightened reddish hair, Hyerin's is naturally silky smooth and straight. Sometimes, she doubts if Hyerin's hair isn't damaged. It always looked so perfect despite undergoing numerous color dyes.

White. Brown. Violet highlights. Bright scarlet. Yellow ombre–

Too much to remember even. And how many times has her hair been cut and layered and still, as perfect as it is. 

Sometimes, she thinks that her older sister is actually the epitome of "perfection". Well, really. Her perfect, white legs. Her perfect S-Line. Those perfectly created eyes. Her undying charms. Her lulling singing voice. Her silky-smooth hair. 

Everything literally about Hyerin is perfect.

"You two done with your make-ups?" Jonathan, who came out of no where, cried as he entered the room. The stylists gestured him that Hyerin was nearly done while Huiying simply eyed him, smiling cutely.  "Well, I see our precious dancer's prettily done today." he grinned as he patted Huiying's head gently. "Love your make-up, sis."

"You look pretty awesome too, oppa." Huiying replied as she scanned him. His hazelnut-colored hair was purposely styled into a slightly messed up way where in it would fit his smoky-eyes make-up. The clothes he were were perfectly exposing the outline of his perfectly toned body. Over the years, Huiying witnessed how the middle sibling managed to form those perfect chocolate abs, as well as how his body changed– being once a wimpy kid into a hunk with those deadly six-packs. Like, ugh.

"Ah, of course, the leader would have to be the one to stand up in the performance." Jonathan mumbled as he stood next to the eldest sister, who was by any chances finished in her make-up session. She stood up and headed to the dressing room to fix her microphone and to wear her designated clothes for their comeback performance. Huiying trailed close behind, careful not to mess up her brother's clothes, which were already free from creases and what so ever.

"So, don't forget our new choreography, okay?" Hyerin reminded. "We need to make this performance the best it can be. Mostly because it's our long awaited– ouch– come back and our Pyxis are extremely expectant about it. Plus, we need to make it for– ouch– Eunseo's leave–ouch, dang this headache."

"Noona​, are you sure you're okay?" Jonathan worriedly asks as he held onto Hyerin's shoulders. "I'm worried. Headaches had been attacking you for quite some time now. You sure you'll be perfectly fine?"

"Just probably a migraine, Jo." she smiled reassuringly before she rubs her temples. "It'll go away soon. I promise."

And yet again, she doubts if it will ever go. The headaches subside, yes, but only to return a few hours later. And what she hated about them was that it came back worse. Worse that she wanted to dig her nails into anything and make those annoying screeching sound. Or maybe hit her head with something hard to divert the pain away.

But this was their comeback stage. She needs to appear perfect. For the sake of their fans and their previous members.

She needs to make this perfect.

"Me and Huiying here'll just change, okay? You go practice your rap parts." Hyerin instructed as she patted Jonathan's arms. Darn, she could feel his muscles with the slight contact. "I suppose reciting your LTE raps would need extra practice."

"But we'll only lip-sync." Jonathan huffed. "No use on making it live if the microphones are turned off." he pursed his lips.

"Who ever said we're turning them off?" he saw Hyerin mouth to him before she and Huiying finally entered the dressing room. With that, Jonathan smiled.

As sly as you can ever be, Kim Hyerin. 

They could here the fans deafening screams once they climbed up the stage. Because of Eunseo's leave, a few fans were rather upset and instead of cheering, they shouted words like "where's Eunseo?", "our Eunseo! Where is he?!", "where's our adorable kitten Eunseo?", "no! who'll recite his rap parts now?!" 

It pained them. Eunseo was rather a "ladies' man" more than Jonathan is. He garnered fans' hearts with his amazing rapping skills– which of course, wasn't anything better than Jonathan. Jonathan is the lead rapper, which rather explains why he gets LTE raps and longer lines. The main rapper, however, was Eunseo and technically, he was supposed to debut as a dancer. But of course, no-common-sense Mr. Kim Monster decides to task him down with rap. It was hard for the poor guy.

And now, Eunseo was gone and it broke a few– no, lots of fans' hearts.

And yet again, Hyerin must assure them.

"P. S, secret," Hyerin began.

"Hello! We are Pandora Street!" the three of them greeted before they bowed. Of course, they were greeted back by the Pyxis, who were shouting on top of their lungs. The fans, however, were rather unique than other groups' fans. They had their own greeting as well, like how idols have.

"P.S, Forever with you, we are Pyxis!" the crowd greeted in perfect unison. The three waved at them lovingly as they waited for their music to come on. Huiying always knew it was safe to get close to them. They wouldn't claw on them or drag her dangerously near, so she stood on the edge of the stage, waving at them cutely before she shouts.

"Pyxis! You've been really patient and for that, thank you!" the cute youngest, despite her (failed) y concept, cried out in her small voice, sending the fans squealing before a chorused "you're welcome" was replied to her. Huiying smiled in content before she flashed her signature sunny smile at them. "I hope you'll like our performance! Hyerin-eonni here did a lot of hard work for you guys."

"Huiying, go in position." she hears Jonathan command, making the youngest run to her place. When she did, Jonathan eyed the crowd. He smiled. "We'll start our performance now. Watch us well, yeah?' he cries out, making the fans reply a chorused "yes" once more. He smiled again.

They heard a female's voice say "ready" and there, the beginning of their new song track began playing.

And as if they were one with the melody, the three moved in a flawless synchronization. And soon enough, when the dance intro was done, something the managers nor the stylists expected happened.

The three were singing live.

Despite the strict command of Youngmin to "lip-sync", the three were quite rebellious. The fans squealed more when they realized that the three weren't lip-syncing but singing live. Sure, the choreography was quite tiring but singing live was something this show was all about. The dance is just an extra. Idols are tested with their ability to dance swiftly and to sing excellently at the same time. Not just one of the choices. 

The three, however, excelled in both. It was something Youngmin always looked down on them but now, they're proving him wrong.

Hyerin sang well with Huiying. She was just a sub-vocal since her specialty is actually dancing but hey, her voice is pretty good too. Not as good as Hyerin's, but still trained good. Jonathan kept silent all the time but when the rap neared, he prepared.

It was Eunseo's designated rap part that came first but Jonathan was tasked to cover it up. While dancing, he rapped with ease. Well, Eunseo's rap isn't as fast as his and he must admit, his tongue is somewhat "programmed" for fast raps such as LTE so raps like Eunseo's which were nice and steady were like a piece of cake to him. 

The dance, the singing, the rapping. All of them were done live and they must admit, they did those with ease and perfection.

The song slowly ended and the three froze in their position, striking sharp poses. The Pyxis cheered loudly. A loud "Cut. That was perfect shot" coming from the same female's voice came, making the three bow. They always get things done in a one-shot way. 

"Thank you for supporting us!" Jonathan cried out. "Did you like our performance?" again, a chorused "yes". "We all know you're terribly agonized with Eunseo's sudden leave, and we're sorry. We'll do our best though."

With that, the two of them turned around, only to see Hyerin wobbling unconsciously as she walked. "Eonni, are you okay?" Huiying worriedly asks as she ran to catch up to the eldest. "Is your headache worsening?" she questioned as she scanned her sister. 

"I'm o-okay, Huiying. The headache is... ugh, it's killing me." Hyerin softly said. "And I feel nauseous." she added.

"We'll go get you some medicines, okay?" Huiying smiled with still worry in her eyes. "Come on."

But Hyerin stopped in her tracks. Her sense of sight was failing her as her vision slowly blurred. Her hearing was weak and she could barely hear Huiying nor Jonathan nor the crowd squealing behind her. 

And the next thing that registered to her weakening senses.

Was the cold and hard stage they were once standing on, felt by her cheeks.

Everything was suddenly too blinding. 

The sudden environment that consisted of white walls, a foreign smell of faint lavander mixed with a large amount of air conditioner smell. The lights were kind of bright, or maybe it was just the sunlight entering through the huge window beside her. Soon enough, her vision cleared up, only to see a teary eyed Jonathan and a puffy-eyed Huiying whose nose was obviously red. She was sniffling and upon seeing the eldest wake up, she carefreely threw herself in Hyerin's embrace.

"Eonni! Thank goodness you're awake!" Huiying sobbed as she tightened her grip around Hyerin, who was rather surprised at the happening events. She was quite clueless on what's happening.  She eyed Jonathan, who gave a smile upon noticing she's really awake. She felt his huge hands over her small ones. His arms were cold but the sensation of having his hands over hers was comforting.  It relaxed her a bit.

Just a bit.

"What happened?" Hyerin questioned as she eyed her siblings. "Where am I?"

"Hospital." Jonathan answered rather quickly. "You collapsed while we were promoting in Music Bank. Don't you recall?" 

Hyerin blinked as she tried recalling things that happened prior to this.

She slowly recalled things. She remembered having to suffer this head-splitting headache. She felt having a spoilt mood throughout half the day and on how she was beginning to feel dizzy around the time the song was playing near its end. Then, she felt nauseous, or probably a worse case of dizziness and lastly, she remembered the hard concrete stage floor meeting her cheek and the terrifying blackness afterwards.

"I collapsed?" she blinked. "Am I sick?"

"Perhaps it's only stress, Miss Kim." the doctor, who was standing beside her the whole time, interrupted. "Lots of idols are daily visitors here. They get lots of your case too and everyone had 'stress' as the cause. It's probably stress alone. We saw nothing serious in you neither."

"Seriously?" Hyerin asked, raising a brow at the middle-aged doctor. "What about my headache? I've been getting that darn headache for days now! There must be a legit explanation for it. I doubt it's normal." the eldest complained.

"Ah, about that." the doctor nodded his head. "You're experiencing a slight flu in you, dear. "

"Flu?" she nearly gorged her eyes out. That was it?

"Yes, Miss Kim." the doctor nodded. "I'll give the prescribed medicines later. And just a few rests would do and you're back to normal."

Hyerin glared at the doctor in disbelief. All this time, she was suffering flu?

"Mister Choi, Miss Lee, please exit the room for now. Your, erm, 'sister' would need some rest." the doctor says as he eyes the younger siblings of the patient. To his frustration, they remained planted in their places. "Excuse me? Mister Choi? Miss Lee?–"

"Those aren't us, so we won't move." Jonathan sternly says, glaring at the doctor. "We aren't leaving our sister here. Let us stay here."

"And for the record, we're not 'Mister Choi' nor 'Miss Lee'. Please get that right." Huiying added, the similar stern-sounding voice from Jonathan noticeable in her small voice. 

"But your records say–"

"It's 'Mister Lee' and 'Miss Chang', for your information." she corrected. "Those are our real names. The way you're calling us as you did prior to this is our adopted surnames. Surnames of the families that adopted us." the half Chinese says. 

"A-ah, okay. My mistake then." the doctor says. "But still, you must give your sister some time to rest. She needs to recover–"

"We are not leaving our sister's side until she is dismissed from the hospital." Jonathan growled.

"Jo, just do what he has to say." Hyerin commanded. "He's the one with more knowledge here, so listen to him, okay? Just wait outside of the room. I'll be out of this place within minutes, I promise." she smiled lovingly, trying to assure her siblings. "Okay? Do you understand me?"

The younger siblings only listened to their eldest sister, and hearing their sister say those was the key to make them exit the room. They slowly and took their time exiting the room and once the door clicked close, Hyerin's sharp eyes found their way towards the doctor's. "So tell me, what's the truth?"

The doctor was rather caught off guard, hearing the patient's words. He turned his head in hopes of avoiding the question, but that only made Hyerin ask louder. "What is the truth?" she asked louder, glaring at him harder. "Tell me. What's my real condition?"

"As I've said, it's just... flu and extreme stress." he grinned nervously before he tried to exit the room.

"Don't treat me dumb, doc. I might not be as smart as my younger sister nor as tactiful as my younger brother but I know pretty well that this severe headache I'm experiencing isn't just flu." she glared. "Now I'll repeat my words once more. What's. My. Condition?"

The doctor let out a tired huff before he eyed the patient. "Alright. You're too smart to let me go, anyways."

"And I'm rather thankful your siblings exited the room just in time."

The doctor's mouth slowly opened before he released the dreaded words Jonathan and Huiying thankfully didn't hear. Hyerin's mouth fell agape as she heard the news. 

"I'm so sorry, Miss Kim." he sighed deeply before he loked at the clipboard he held.

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"You are diagnosed with Brain Tumor."