Synopsis: Hayi won on this week's Inkigayo with Breathe and she should be celebrating. Performing is one of the things she loves to do, but how can she enjoy it when it feels more lonely than fun? Being a soloist can be tough and lately it feels like her dream is slipping away from her grasp. Who would be there to comfort her and cheer her up?

 It was a surprise and pleasure to Hayi as they announced that she was the winner of this week’s Inkigayo. Confetti filled the air as she finished up her thank you speech and the emcees wrapped up tonight’s show. Everyone laughed at her cute remark as she thanked her mom for being her number one fan. All around her were the idol groups that were promoting the same time as her. Hayi bowed towards Taemin and the rest of her juniors and seniors as they walked passed her. Murmurs of congratulations were heard as she made her way towards center stage and the emcees personally congratulated her. Hayi smiled and even though most of them were headed off the stage, she still bowed even if they didn’t notice her. MAMAMOO warmed her heart inside as they kept congratulating her and Hayi was glad that there were some people that still stayed humble despite the outcome.

As Breathe continued to play in the background, Hayi sighed to herself as she watched everyone leave before she started to sing. She knew that she could come off as shy and awkward, but it was times like this where Hayi wished she could be more approachable. Although Breathe wasn’t much of a party song for people to celebrate with, she still wished that there were people standing on stage with her to celebrate that great moment. Her fans are her world, but promoting as a soloist can get the best of her when everything starts to become overwhelming for her. She had no members to lean on and she didn’t want to burden her school friends when they’re busy preparing for their exams that were coming up. Even when she’s standing on stage, she can feel lonely sometimes. Hayi smiled to all her fans as her encore stage finished and they began to leave. She walked towards the edge of the stage to gather any presents that her fans wanted her to have before being guided backstage by her manager.

Hayi removed her ear piece as she returned the microphone to one of the crew members and bowed to all the staff members. She tuned out her manager as she droned on and on about her following schedules. After a tiring day of recording and performing, all she wanted to do was to go back to her apartment and snuggle in bed. As they walked back to her dressing room, she smiled at Jackson who passed by her and congratulated her once more. All the other groups were in their respected dressing rooms getting ready to go home or talking to all their friends that were in the same hallway. Hayi sighed as a pang of loneliness hit her as she saw all those groups together. Performing was something she loved but being with good company always made it better and easier for her to break out of her shell. Stepping into her dressing room, she changed into more comfortable clothes as her manager disappeared to down the hall to take a call.

“Another tiring day, done. Good job Hayi, you got first.” she murmured to herself as she plopped down onto the couch that was by the door.

Her phone buzzed and a chuckle left as she read what her best friend sent her.

To: Hayi
Waaaah! Congrats on getting first unnie, you were jjang! Keke I wish was there to personally cheer you on but Chanhyuk-oppa and I had something to do *sobs* don’t worry though, we’ll make it up to you!

From: Suhyun

'Ah this girl, she always knows how to make my day,' Hayi thought as she sat back up and typed a thank you reply. Grabbing one of the water bottles on the table in front of her, she took a gulp as she eyed her phone for any other messages.

I thought you said you would message me right after the show…you jerk.

She rolled her eyes to herself as she shrugged off the itch to text the idiot first. Hayi puffed out her cheeks out of boredom and began to hum to herself as she stood up and decided to look through her Snapchat. She laughed to herself as she watched the Snapchats Seungri had sent her with the rest of BigBang congratulating her on her win. 2NE1 had also sent their congratulations through their personal accounts and Tablo had texted her too. Hayi was thankful for YG Family for always having her back and began to reply to all their supporting messages. A knock disrupted her replying spree and she opened the door to find Jonghyun and Taemin standing in front of her.

“Oh oppas, hello.” Hayi murmured as she bowed to the two SHINee members standing in front of her.

Jonghyun smiled and ruffled her hair as Taemin also gave her a small smile. “We just wanted to drop by and say congratulations on taking first Hayi-ah. It makes me happy that people get to hear our song.”

“It’s all because of you Jonghyun-oppa, so thank you for everything.” Hayi smiled back.

The elder nodded before Taemin said that they had to go. Hayi understood and thanked them once more as her manager came back. Even if it was a brief encounter, Hayi felt a little happier knowing she had some supporters in the intense idol world. It was more competitive compared to the time her seniors in YG first debuted with all these rookie groups debuting one after the other. As a soloist, it was a much harder journey with trying to win votes and appease the public with all their expectations. There are days where she wondered what it would be like if she debuted under a girl group, but then she realized she would have lost her way of expressing her own artistic views. Then she would always remember Tablo saying that because of her unique voice, she could take on Korea by storm just by being herself.  Now that she was on her way back home, Hayi finally relaxed in her seat in the van. With her earphones in, she opened up her music app and pressed shuffle. As the familiar intro to iKON’s My Type began to play, a smile crept onto her face as she looked out her window to see the lights of Seoul fly right past her. There was just something about this song that always lifted her mood as she bobbed her head to the music. Her phone buzzed once more and she peeped at who it was. Speaking of the devil…

To: Hayi

Yah, where are you?

From: Hanbin

To: Hanbin

On my way home, just left SBS.

From: Hayi

To: Hayi

Hurry up and meet me at the rooftop.

From: Hanbin

She raised an eyebrow at his text and scoffed to herself as she typed back a response. Sometimes she questions why she fell for iKON’s charismatic leader in the first place.

To: Hanbin

And what if I don’t show up?

From: Hayi

She waited for his response as she fiddled with her phone in her hands. It had only been a couple months since they became a couple. Not many knew that they were together and they preferred to have it that way. It was only Bobby, Suhyun, Jinhwan, and Chanhyuk that knew of their relationship status. Hayi remembered as if it was yesterday that Hanbin began to creep his way into her heart. They started off as acquaintances that bumped into each other once in a while late at night at the company. But once their CEO requested her to take part of Mix & Match to collaborate with the playful trainees, Hayi and Hanbin grew closer.