Surprises came in all different forms.

There were surprises that were wrapped inside the biggest of boxes.

And there were some that were placed inside a tiny box with a bow.

Still, the response would remain in the same screech.

But other times, surprises didn’t come in material impressions.

Surprises could also be in the image of a live person—or in the case of my surprise, live people.

I had been staring at myself on the mirror for ten minutes.

My face was blank. I sat there observing myself and the moving backdrop I had behind me.

Everyone couldn’t sit still. Event people and our staff were dashing in and out of our waiting room. Even the members couldn’t sit quietly and act accordingly to the name of the room we were in—wait.

That night, I wasn’t in my jolliest state.

I had just sat there without saying a word, not moving since I got my hair and makeup done.

I noticed how Momo had been observing me with a concerned look on her face.

I wasn’t in my most girlfriend-ly state either.

But that was all because earlier, as we had just pulled up at the venue for our comeback showcase, I was informed by one of our managers that my entire family would be in the audience that night.

I had specifically pleaded to my mother not to come weeks prior.

I knew, I knew. I sounded like the worst daughter in the world and I would definitely be burning in hell’s fire when I died.

The reason for such request was that—as shallow and childish as it was—I was just nervous to be performing again.

I never really let my family tell me that they would be watching my shows because that would make me lose my focus. I was sure they didn’t mean for me to know. Regardless, I did.

We were to perform at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, for crying out loud. There was an expected 20,000 people to be in attendance that night. And it was all for our comeback showcase.

It wasn’t even a real concert.

Just a showcase.

For our comeback.

I might have overreacted with the whole ‘my family would be among those 20,000 people’ situation. But I was really having a bad day.

A day so bad that during the last rehearsal at the showcase stage, I sang off-key and kept singing off-key.

There was just a lot on the plate I had for the day.

My family.

The possibility of me ing up my parts on the showcase.

The frenzied atmosphere.

Momo could’ve made me feel better in an instant.

But even she couldn’t do that.

I could just scream there in front of the mirror and yank all of my hair out.

I was reaching the sky with the annoyance I had for everything there. If I could only walk out of the showcase and go home, I would.

Amidst the people moving from every direction, Momo stood up from the sofa she was sitting on and came over to me.

She placed her hands on my shoulder. “Don’t stress yourself too much.”

I laid my hand above hers and tilted my head to arm. I closed my eyes, nestling to the feel of her. “I don’t want to perform.”

She rested her chin on my head as she looked at me from the mirror. “But you need to.”

I tightened my face, nodding even though I wasn’t agreeing to anything.

I just wanted to run away, somewhere far away from the noise everyone was making. I couldn’t stand busy, crowded places whenever I wasn’t in my happy mood. I wanted to get out there.

Take me away from here, Momo. I said to myself hoping that she would somehow hear it.

“Come,” she pulled my hand. “Let’s get out of here for a bit.”
 

I turned to face her. “Where are we going? We only have twenty minutes before the show starts.”

And there, her cheeky smile suggested I had to stand up and follow her and end my su