The music stopped and Wonho gasped for breath as he held his ending pose for Beautiful. The other members were out of breath, as well. The deafening applause from the Monbebes in the crowd made his heart race again and a smile curved his lips. He felt so close to their fans. They finally broke the pose and stood to bow.

Backstage, they were handed towels and they wiped at their sweaty faces.

"Did you see hear how loud the fan chants were today?" exclaimed Minhyuk, a glowing grin stretching from ear to ear. 

Shownu gave him a fond fatherly look. "I don't think we could've missed it, unless we were deaf," he said teasingly, though the tone went over Minhyuk's head.

The other five laughed and Minhyuk looked bewildered. Wonho quickly clapped him on the back. "The chants were loud, weren't they?" he agreed, smiling at the younger.

Minhyuk's face dissolved into another happy smile as he nodded and bounced on his feet. "Yes!" Tears filled his eyes as he kept smiling. "I love the Monbebes so much."

Wonho nodded. "Me, too." The others chimed in, not to leave anyone thinking that they didn't love their fans, too.

They all took seats and watched the remaining performances. 

Sadly, again they failed to win and Wonho stared at the ground as they trudged outside to get in the van. He kicked a rock with his foot and watched it skitter to the edge of the sidewalk. He felt just like that rock. For a while he was in the spotlight, but soon someone better came along and kicked him out of the way.

Inside the van, Changkyun leaned over and hugged him. Somehow, the maknae could always tell when he felt down even though he did his best to hide it from everyone. "It'll be all right, hyung," he said softly. "We just have to make sure we do our best. We still have a chance."

"But I thought we did do our best," Wonho muttered under his breath. He laid his head on Changkyun's shoulder. He tried to stop them, but he felt tears slide from his eyes anyway. The maknae patted his back and did his best to comfort him. The swaying of the van along with Changkyun's  patting, soon lulled him to sleep.

He awoke when the side door was opened. They gathered their things and climbed out, Wonho being the last because he was in the backseat against the window.

He trailed behind the rest a little, his feet dragging. Defeat weighed heavy on him. No matter how hard he seemed to try, he felt that he never did as well as he could've.

Kihyun glanced back and saw Wonho walking slowly. His heart hurt as he caught a glimpse of the sadness on his face. Wonho always took their losses personally. He held himself to such a high standard and when they didn't win, he tried to take the full blame. Kihyun stopped walking and let Wonho catch up. He threw his arm around the older's shoulder. "How does ramyun sound, hyung?" he asked him, smiling.

Wonho smiled faintly. "Good," he answered.

Kihyun pulled him closer, hugging him as they caught up to the others who had stopped and waited. "I'm making ramyun," he announced.

They all gave positive responses to his announcement. They could tell Wonho was very down and they wanted something to try and cheer him up.

After they had all showered, they piled on the couches with their bowls of ramyun and ate as they gave some of their attention to the T.V. that Minhyuk had . 

Wonho tried to make sense of the drama currently playing, but all he kept hearing was the name of the winning group coming from the MC's mouth. 

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and stood. Everyone's attention turned to him. "I'm going to go to bed, guys," he said. They nodded, but he could see how their faces became worried.

He walked wearily to the room he shared with Shownu and Hyungwon and sat down heavily on his bed. Like an automaton, he reached for the laptop on the desk nearby and pulled up a social media site. He typed in Monsta X and skimmed over the headlines to see the reactions of their performance. He smiled as he read one fan's glowing report, but it soon disappeared as his eye caught another and began to read.

"I went and saw Monsta X perform tonight and it was great. Great, except for that one with silly lavender hair. All he did was dance around and try to show off his body. He has no talent whatsoever. His voice sounded so awful, I wanted to cringe. I don't know why he was ever chosen to be in the group. He clearly is the worst out of the entire group."

He barely made it to the end of the review. He struggled for breath as tears filled his eyes once again and dripped down his face. The laptop slid off his lap onto the floor, but it didn't even register. He pulled up his knees and pressed his face to them, trying to mute his sobs. 

Again and again, the words repeated in his head.

All he did was dance around and try to show off his body. He has no talent whatsoever. His voice sounded so awful, I wanted to cringe.

His sobbing had finally stopped as he pulled down the covers on the bed and buried himself under them. He curled up into a tight ball, tears still falling silently. He hugged himself tightly trying to block out the words, but he just kept hearing them.

He has no talent whatsoever.

I don't know why he was ever chosen to be in this group.

I don't know why he was ever chosen.....He clearly is the worst out of the entire group.

In a strange way, he was glad he'd seen the review. It had just solidified what he already knew. He wasn't talented. He wasn't good enough. Now, even the fans knew he wasn't talented. He hadn't covered it up enough. Everyone knew the truth.

I don't know why he was ever chosen....truthfully, he didn't either.