Fortunately for me, I wasn’t criticized as much as I expected for that accident. Maybe it was because the news of me crying had spread throughout the news websites.

That would have been so embarrassing

Aw I can’t believed she cried; she’s so sweet

Let’s hope that won’t happen again

I found my strength through comments such as those ones. Gyuri seemed to warm up to me more since then but there were times that she slipped back into her old ways. Her goddess complex grew as more and more people praised her for her features and we began to wonder if we had to remove all the mirrors from our dorm. The fans began to say that it wasn’t her fault for her being so lovely and that she was being confident. I wondered though where one would be able to draw the line at such a statement. They didn’t really know that she wasn’t quite like that at home and she only posed in the mirror to fool around. I must sound so hypocritical.

***

December 19, 2008

But Gyuri’s looks helped with our popularity boost according to her ‘pretty but natural’ appeal. To be honest this felt like a harsh blow to me but no body seemed to notice. We gained more male fans. One of them was Shin Hae-cheol.

There was another problem however. It was a little something that kpop stars try to avoid. “Oh bless you,” Seungyeon handed Jiyoung the box of tissues; “your flu is starting to get worse.”

“I’ll be fine,” the maknae objected blowing her nose. Gyuri was walking around with a pad of paper with a pen.

“What’s she doing?” Jiyoung asked us.

“She’s trying to preserve her voice.” Seungyeon explained. “’s been sore for the past few days.”

“Are we still going to be able to perform?” Poor Nicole was so tired. She had the weakest stamina out of the five of us and the excess practicing was taking it’s toll.

“I hope so,” JiHyun oppa walked in through the door. “The company is expecting for things to run smoothly and for there to be no further mistakes.” He was looking at me as he said that last part.

“Of course,” Gyuri shut immediately. I watched as she mouthed a bad word as she walked off to continue her period of silence.

***

We came to the dressing rooms and slumped into our chairs for makeup and hair. The makeup and hair unnies did their jobs in quiet though they complimented us at points when they felt necessary. My head felt light from the lack of sleep. I wish I had bought my bed with me.

“Alright ladies are we ready?” JiHyun managed to suppress a cough he seemed keen to let out. We lifted our heads to him with a weak yes.

“Don’t worry; you girls will be able to rest well tonight once tonight’s over.” Gyuri opened to argue but we stopped her with the shaking of our heads.

“Alright, you better get to the stage.” We rose up together and walked to the stage trying to compose ourselves in time before the fans saw us. The journey from the basement to the stage almost felt like it took forever. We got into position, waved at the fans who were watching our rehearsal. The music started and we started the practice, the cameramen moving to capture the moments particular members went to the front of the stage.

About an hour later it was all over.

“Well done girls,” JiHyun patted us all on the back.

“Jiyoung-ah,” we all started to panic as our maknae slumped to her knees. Nicole and I were barely able to stand as well. Seungyeon and Gyuri still had their posture despite their weary faces.

“Are you alright?!” The fans called out to us as they saw what happened. A medic came over to check on us.

“These girls are in no condition to perform,” he told JiHyun once the check was done. JiHyun gave a sigh as he watched us, I grabbed the nearest stable object to lean on.

“Come on,” he nudged Gyuri with a hand. “I’ll take you to the hospital.” We were happy to agree as we followed him to our van.

“Tch you girls really have out done yourselves.” Despite what he said, the way it was spoken was that with care. None of us responded with words. Just with feeble nods.
 

“Hmm,” the doctor examined me and told me I could get off the bench. “Seems most of your girls are suffering from exhaustion or the flu.”

“Is that all,” JiHyun ran a hand through his hair as I sat next to him. “I guess then we can give them IV’s and the less seriously ill can come home with me.”

“This isn’t something that is going to be solved with a simple one-off injection.” The doctor argued. “What these girls need is rest and time to recover.”

“Alright thank you.” With that JiHyun rudely brushed off his comment. “Keep the three in the worst condition and I will pick them up in the morning.” The doctor was at a loss but he didn’t argue back.

“You three will stay here tonight.” JiHyun told us as the three of us sat on a ward bed. “You will be picked up at eight am.”

“Oppa,” Jiyoung was barely able to stay awake. “What about our performance for tonight?”

“Doesn’t matter,” JiHyun told her. “What matters is that you three try to recover while the others do the same.” He then rose to his feet with his hands on his knees. “Alright, have a good night girls.”

“Night,” we chorused as he left. We all crawled off the bed as the nurses came to administer to us the treatment.

“Now this may prick a little,” my nurse warned me as she held out my left hand. I looked away as she pierced the skin with the needle. Once that was done I had the uttermost pleasure of having a thin tube inserted into my vein. I would love to point out that last sentence was in full sarcasm.
“Unnie are you alright?” Nicole whispered to me as we lay in the beds. Jiyoung was already out.

A boring chapter (I have to stop making excuses) but I read the part on wiki about them going to hospital and thought, ‘why not add it in?’ It must be hard for kpop stars. Also this fanfic is now 54 pages long XD please vote in the poll on my profile page.