↱ 3rd Pov ↲

The two cars pull up to the restaurant and parked next to eachother. Before the 4 girls left the car Yuri mumbled under her breath “I’m not sitting next to her” Since she was so close to her, Aiko heard what the former lead mumbled. Aiko leaned over to her to whisper “I’m not either”. The girls finally got out of the car. None of them greeted Haneul just like Haneul didn't greet them either. Once they were seated - Eri and Misaki sat next to Haneul while Aiko and Yuri sat further down the table- the awkward tension could be felt throughout the room.

There was no talking between the girls well...no talking to Haneul. Aiko and Yuri were too busy mumbling under their breaths in Japanese. One thing out of the many that the 4 girls don’t know about the soloist is she knows and can understand Japanese. So what Aiko and Yuri were whispering to each other, Haneul knows exactly what’s being said. The soloist contemplated whether she should cut into their conversation and let them know she understands perfectly what they are saying or keep quiet and use her knowledge to her advantage. On the other hand Misaki and Eri were getting some help from their manager with the menu of the restaurant. You know translating.

Haneul clear before speaking, “Let's address the big elephant in the room. I’ve seen the articles about Karina and I now understand why most of you aren’t happy with the idea of me joining Quxxn. Just like you, I had no idea about YG making me an addition to the group. If this will make any of you feel better… I’ll withdraw from Quxxn” Haneul looked around the table for answers. Most of the girls had their heads down, not wanting to speak up. All except for one. Yuri looked at the light brown haired girl with her arms crossed “Please do”  A small grin appeared on the former leader’s face. “Haneul I’m so sorry--” “No! it’s fine. If that’s what she wants...I’ll gladly grant it” Haneul sent a nod towards Quxxn’s manager who tried to apologize for Yuri’s behavior. 

Haneul excused herself from the table and headed for the bathroom. Eri scoffed at Yuri. Being the type of person who would want the group members to be peaceful to each other was not happy about what Yuri just did. As leader you need to set good examples for your members. Eri started to think that maybe giving the leader position to someone else was a good call on YG. There was no way Yuri would be a fair leader to the group now. “Yuri you know that saying ‘Think before you speak’?  You should really use it because what you just said was uncalled for. She hasn’t done anything to you, to anyone of Quxxn and this is how you treat her? I for one am very disappointed in you. No wonder why you aren’t leader anymore because clearly you aren't fit to be one.” With one last shake of the head, Eri pushed up from her seat and went after Haneul.

Eri went in the direction of the bathrooms. Luckily the bathrooms here wasn’t for one person only. Eri pushed open the door and spotted Haneul facing the wall on her phone. Haneul must of hadn’t notice Eri come in as she continued to speak on the phone. “I know I know but she doesn’t like me! Heck she doesn’t even want me in the group. Why would I want to be groupmates with someone who hates me” By the way Haneul is speaking, Eri guessed she is talking the CEO of YG. Slightly panicking, Eri quickly walked over to Haneul, taking the phone away from her ear. Haneul whirled around in surprise. The surprised girl watched as the lad spoke into the phone. “uh...Hi. Everything is okay! Don’t w-worry!” Eri said in shaky korean.

Haneul looked at the girl in confusion as she ended the call. “What are you-” “I’m sorry about Yuri! She’s just...not in the right state of mind. You just need to understand where she is coming from. Her and Karina are practically sisters and the news of Karina not coming here with us is really messing with Yuri’s head.” Eri took a breath before continuing, “I’m probably the only one who realised that you're not replacing Karina-- “ “If you see that then why can’t the others as well?” Haneul cut off Eri, wanting to get straight to the point. Eri shook her head. “Until Karina  comes back, the rest of the members will consider you as replacing her and that obviously doesn't sit well with them”

-Meanwhile-
-Japan-

The sound of boxes being placed down could only be heard in the 2 bedroom apartment. Karen, Karina’s cousin, looked at her crowded apartment that was filled with boxes. Karen let out a sigh as she realised how much unpacking she was going to do with Karina. You see Karen had let her favorite cousin Karina move in with her as she was kicked out of the dorm she shared with Quxxn. Just thinking of the fact that Karina was kicked out made Karen roll her eyes. ‘Thats CEO disgust me!’ Karen thought to herself as she her heels, heading for the front door. She stepped aside as she spotted Karina walking with a box in her hand “uhh just put it on the table over there”

 Following directions, Karina entered the apartment and walked over to the coffee table where Karen had pointed to. Karina sat the box on the table but only to her a thump hit the ground. Karina peeked over to the box and noticed she had knocked a small stack of papers to the ground. The inactive Quxxn member bent down to pick the papers up. Upon putting the papers back on the table few by few, she came across a manila envelope with some papers spilling out from it. Karina stared at the envelope as she began to think.

flashback:

I picked up the light box and went over to where Shuuka was waiting for me. “I need to ask you something” I said as I placed the box I was carrying on top of another box. “Sure” Shuuka had an worried expression on her face. I thought about how I should word my sentence before speaking, “By any chance did Karen and Mr. Matsuura (ceo of avex) have any problem with each other? Karen said they didn’t but he brought her up in the conversation..” I trailed off. Shuuka tilted her head at me.

“I’m surprised she didn’t tell you. Last year Karen threatened to sue the company” I looked at the younger girl in shock.I haven’t even heard about Karen wanting to sue or thinking about suing AVEX. Karen and I are pretty close so why wouldn’t she have told me about it? Shuuka probably sensed my confusion so she spoke up “She hasn’t told you about it?” I shook my head in response. This was it right? This is why Mr. Matsuura is doing all of this for some sort of revenge? But why me though?

“No she hasn’t told me anything…” I sat on my bed and sighed. “I even texted her if she had any problem with Mr. Matsuura but she….basically lied to me! What was the lawsuit even about?!” Shuuka sat on the bed as well and sat facing me. “She told me it was about not being paid but I guessed her and Mr. Matsuura had worked things out” “But if they worked things out then why- You know what? I don’t want to know anymore. Let’s just continuing packing okay?” Not giving Shuuka much choice, I went back taping some boxes.

flashback end:

Karina turned her head towards to the door to see if Karen was coming back in the apartment. Quickly she pulled out the papers from the envelope and read the heading. ‘This is it!’ The word Lawsuit was written at the top. Her eyes traveled down to the paragraph on the paper. Karina read out loud in a whisper “Fujii Karen suing CEO of AVEX Company Matsuura Masato for se-” The papers disappeared from her vision. She confused as to what happened to them but the voice of her cousin said it all. “I allowed you to come live with me not snoop around my private things!” Karen spook in a cold voice.

Karina quickly got out from her knees and became face to face with her cousin. “What the hell is that lawsuit about?” Karina asked in a calm voice. She was trying not to make the situation worse by raising her voice even though she wanted to. “Look if I wanted you to know I would have told you when it happened. Just drop it okay? “ Karen her heels and walked to her bedroom, ending the conversation.