Jisoo's PoV

It had been nearly a year since I met him in the hallway. Somehow we were able to avoid each other on most shows and if we ever did meet we acted as if we didn’t know each other. Today was one of those days. It was the day for the Mnet Asian Music Awards, otherwise known as MAMA. I had two stages. The first stage was in part one of the show and it was a duet song I had released recently. The second stage was in part two of the show and it was the song I had released earlier this year. The concert was being held in Hong Kong and Jae-Hyun was even able to come out. Jisuk even came out since both of the artists in the agency were performing. He instinctively became my manager during this trip even though I had Jaemin. He would stand next to the stage when I performed and would camp out in my dressing room. I was getting my makeup done when I was complaining about it.

“Why are you always in here? Shouldn’t you be taking care of Astro? They’re the rookies, not me.”

“They’ll be fine. They have their manager.” he dismissed.

“And I have mine. And Jae-Hyun.”

“Wow, you get a boyfriend and now you throw me away? I am hurt!” He placed his hands on his chest and pretended to be in pain.

“Well, at least I know where Jisoo gets her drama queen personality from,” Jae-Hyun said from his position on the couch. We bickered like this multiple times until it was time for the live show. I was placed among other artists facing towards the stage. Considering that I was on hiatus for a long period of time I didn’t really know anyone here and me being who I am was very awkward with everyone. My only savior was when someone was performing and I couldn’t hear anything due to the loud music and the loud cheering of the fans. For the majority of the show I only heard the monotone ringing in my ears. Towards the middle, I got up on stage to perform and after the performance, I went back to sitting in the chair. I got up once to accept an award and then once again I was sitting in the chair. It was an ordinary end-of-year award show. Lots of sitting and lots of cheering. After the first part ended, I stood up and went back to the dressing room in order to get ready for my stage. I changed clothes, got hooked up to a mic, put in my in-ears, and was on standby near the stage. Once it was my turn to go up, I placed the two small devices into Jisuk’s hands and walked out towards the stage. I stood in the middle with the spotlight on me. The instrumental started playing through the in-ear and I began to count the beats as the music soon became drowned out by the cheers of the crowd.

Tired of lies

I am tired of excuses

not gonna play your games anymore

I’m sick of being pushed around I think I had enough

now it’s time to patch my open wounds

and I’m gonna stand up high

and I will no longer deny

the power that I had within me all this time

yes I will stand up high

and I wanna see you try

to bring me down but I’m not gonna let you cuz I’m stronger than you

you laugh at my face