She looked disappointed at his question and that made Sunggyu satisfied.

“Ah, so it was really you, Soojung-ssi.” He clapped his hands together in faked realization.

“Yah, where did your electrified curls go? I thought you looked pretty good in it!” Sunggyu teased as he played with her hair casually.

From the side of his eyes, he was watching Hoya’s reaction.

Soojung looked at the ground in embarrassment and laughed awkwardly at his comment. Hoya saw her dimples form and he thought he also saw a faint blush on her cheeks. It must be the lighting, he thought to himself.

“We got to go for now. See you around!” Sunggyu patted her shoulder and slung an arm loosely over Hoya, dragging him along.

“Hyung, you knew Soojung too?” Hoya asked, looking at Sunggyu. “Of course.” He replied.

Hoya nodded away and Sunggyu looked down at his hand, wondering what’s wrong with him. It was so unlike him to get all comfortable with girls, touching their hair like what he just did. It was as if he wanted to prove to Hoya that they were close. He was getting confused now.

“I must be crazy…” Sunggyu ruffled his hair at his abnormal behaviour.

-

Soojung bit onto her lower lip as she played with her fingers nervously. She could feel her palms sweating as anxiety settled in with every passing second. She felt like a death fugitive awaiting her official execution sentence, inside the CEO’s office. The glass door opened and Soojung jumped up instantly. The CEO sat on his leather chair and turned to face her with a stern expression.

“Sit.” He said simply.

Soojung inhaled deeply, bracing herself for what he was about to say.

“Your debut MV has hit a mere 5000 views, that’s not even 1% of what I expected. I’m sorry but Soojung, there won’t be any follow up schedules for you. You need more training and preparation. Are you agreeable with my arrangement?” he leaned back in his chair.

Soojung nodded and replied, “Yes. I am sorry for being a failure like this to the company.”

“You may take your leave.” His reply came cold as ice.

Soojung got up from the seat, tucked in her chair and left quietly. She took a last glimpse of the CEO’s office and wondered whether this would be the last time she gets to enter here.

The receptionist looked up and she didn’t even bother to acknowledge her existence. Indeed, she was nothing but a failed project now in the company. Her debut turned out to be a flop, like what the trainees were hoping for. The staff had asked her to return the phone by the end of the day. Before she returned the phone, Soojung called her family. When the line finally got through, she quickly hit the ‘end call’ button. She figured she didn’t want to worry them. Or maybe, she simply didn’t want to hear their disappointed tone again.

-

“We have a new trainee joining us today.” The other trainees clapped to welcome the new girl.

“Hello everyone. My name is Ji Ah. Nice to meet you, please take care of me.” She self-introduced.

As she straightened herself, she glared at Soojung and purposefully looked away with a smirk.

Ever since Ji Ah joined, she quickly gained popularity amongst the trainees. People said she was pretty, kind and fun to be around. Soojung’s flopped debut quickly became an inside joke among the trainees. Behind her back, they secretly laughed at how many viewers commented on how Ji Ah was a goddess when she was supposed to be the MV’s focus. Although they pretended to be on good terms with her, she knew better. However, Soojung could only smile and pretend that everything was fine and she didn’t knew anything. Every other day when Soojung opened her locker, she would find a slip of crumpled red paper scribbled with hate words. The scribbles were always of a different handwriting.

“Oh. Annyeong!” Sunggyu waved.

“Annyeonghaseyo.” Soojung quickly closed her locker and replied, bowing slightly.

“I accidentally ended up in the wrong floor.” Sunggyu laughed.

“Oh right, Sunggyu. What a perfect excuse.” Sunggyu inner rolled eyes.

“Have you eaten?” he asked.

She nodded and the conversation ended with Sunggyu having to rush off to a meeting.

“Sorry, I know I am a busy man. Don’t miss me too much.” He joked before taking his leave.

Soojung checked her watch and realised she was about to be late for vocals lessons. Running to the practice room, she entered from the back door but to find all eyes on her.

“Seems like someone is back from her flirt session.” One of the girls from Ji Ah’s clique said.

“Is INFINITE’s Sunggyu your plan B to idol road?” she remarked and everyone else laughed.

“I—I…”Soojung was about to defend herself when Ji Ah spoke.

“Come on girls, don’t be so mean. Everyone has different talents, you know.” She said sarcastically.

The laughter in the room died down when the instructor came in.

“So… Let’s have somebody to demonstrate the 3 octaves note we learnt last week.” The instructor said.

“Oh. Instructor, Soojung is raising her hand.” Someone shouted from behind.

“Alright. Come on up, Soojung.” The instructor said.

Soojung swallowed her saliva and made her way to the front. She could hear the supressed laughters and snickers from the rest so clear and loudly. It was killing her inside. The song started and usually, it would not be an issue for her to hit 3 octaves. However, her voice broke this time, right in the middle of the song. Tears gathered in her eyes as the entire class laughed at her mistake. Soojung covered her trembling right hand as she fixed her gaze on the ground.

“I am sorry instructor, I am not feeling well…” She lied and the instructor excused her for the lesson.

Curling up at the rooftop, Soojung cried her heart out. They said it was alright to fail, as long as you tried. Those were all lies. If you don’t succeed, you’re destined to be trampled on. She knew before she embarked on this journey that it won’t be an easy one towards stardom. However, she was not prepared for it to be this difficult. Every day was like living hell, especially after her failed debut. She, who used to be a wallflower, became a laughing stock in the wrong limelight.

Her debut dream had shattered right before her and since then, every step she was taking was like walking on glass. It hurts like hell and she wondered why she had to put herself through this. Was it really worth it, just to achieve her dreams that seemed even further away now? She felt like stopping and escaping back to her hometown, leaving all of this behind. However, she had come this far. Could she really go back without achieving anything? The thought of the disappointed looks on her family and relatives face scared her. She felt like she was stuck.

Soojung climbed onto the parapet to get some cold air. Dangling her legs in the air, she felt an adrenaline rush and she got scared. Suddenly, she realized she was just one inch away from death. However, she did not get down immediately. Instead, she sat there and watched the cars pass by beneath her. Seoul was such a beautiful and cruel city, she thought. It’s so big, so big that she felt so small in it. So small and powerless…

Then, she felt someone grab her from behind, pulling her off the ledge.

She thought it might be Hoya.

“Are you crazy?” he yelled.

Opening her teary eyes, she realised it was Sunggyu holding onto her. She thought he was not just holding onto her shoulders but holding onto the insides of her that were falling apart.

“I am sorry…” She didn’t know what else to say.

Tears fell on its own will and she felt him patting her shoulder gently in a rhythmic way. It gave her comfort, knowing someone was here for now.

“I am sorry.” Soojung apologized once more, wiping her tears away and pressing her lips together.

“Instead of apologizing, shouldn’t you be telling me what happened?” His eyes were filled with concern. Concern that Soojung thought she didn’t deserve at all.

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry but I've a dance practice to go to, I’ll take my leave first.” She informed, looking at her watch.

“Yah! Are you freaking serious right now?!” Sunggyu shouted.

He was scary when he was angry like that, and Soojung wondered why he was this angry. 

Author's Note: 
Thank you for the overwhelming comments for the previous chapter <3
Typing another update for you lovely peeps although I've a test tomorrow ㅠㅡㅠ
Hope you guys enjoyed it and do leave a comment if possible! ^^ 
Thank you so much for reading 'Walking on Glass' 
ps. This story is purely fictional and no hate on Ji Ah please <3