“Did your boss do something to you?”

“뭐...뭐...뭐라고 (what did you say)?” Hani thought she heard him wrongly. Nobody knew what happened except herself, so how in the world did Heechul find out? Nobody knows and it should continue to stay this way. “You looked so afraid, even in your sleep... Tell me, what did he do to you?” Heechul broke away from the hug as he gripped firmly onto Hani’s shoulders. “오...오빠 (oppa), you’re hurting me” Hani whimpered from the pain in her shoulders as she attempted to push away Heechul’s hands. “AHN HEE YEON, TELL ME, WHAT DID THAT BASTARD DO TO YOU?!” Heechul was mad, crazily upset that Hani was not telling the truth. He want to and had to find out no matter what. Nobody ever messes with the people he cares for, nobody, and he means it. “아파 (it hurts)!!!” Hani began to tremble from the pain as she bit her lip to stop herself from crying out loud. “오빠, 하지마 (oppa stop it)! Even you...even you, want to hurt me too...?” Hani looked at him in the eye and said as tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “Why does everyone think that it’s okay to hurt me like that...? Why?!” Hani ranted on as Heechul started to let go of her shoulders. “Heeyeon... I... I didn’t mean it... I’m sorry, it’s all my fault, please don’t cry? It’s all oppa’s fault, I shouldn’t have hurt you like that...” Coming to his senses,  Heechul reached his hand forward towards Hani, but she shunned it almost immediately. “I’ve been here for too long, I think it’s time to go” Hani wiped away her tears with her hands as she grabbed her handbag from the side of the couch, stood up and walked towards the door.

“Heeyeon, I...” 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Thank you for being there, oppa, sorry to trouble you” with that, she left the building.

—-

(A week later)

“All of you get out. You, stay” the CEO of Banana Culture stepped into the dance practice room as the girls prepared for their comeback dance. He ordered for all the crew and EXID members to be out of the room and only for Hani to stay put. “네, 사장님! (Yes Sir)” the crew and the other members bowed and said in unison as they left the room as quickly as they could.

“사장님 (Sir)” Hani bowed 90 degrees downwards as she greeted her CEO with a smile. She had this sense of uncertainty as to why was she called out but she knew it was definitely not anything good. “Remember the last time that I gave you that reminder?” he broke the silence and said in a monotone and uninterested voice. “네, 사장님 (yes sir), thank you for the lesson learnt, I have been practising well with my members these few days...” Hani bowed again and said, earning a disinterested chuckle from the CEO. “Really? You’re that hardworking these few days for EXID?” he said with a smirk as he walked closer to her. “네, 사장.... (Yes, sir)”

*SLAP*

The CEO’s hand landed on Hani’s cheek just before she could finish her sentence. She was confused, very very confused. She didn’t know what did she even do to deserve that slap. She had really been practicing with her members for the past few days. “사장님 (Sir)... I....” 

*SLAP*

Just when Hani was about to speak, his hands flew right towards her face again. “사장님...(Sir)” Hani pleaded while holding her cheek from the burning sensation. 

*SLAP*

“사장님 (SIR)! WHAT DID I DO THIS TIME?” Hani couldn’t take it anymore as she held her cheek and shouted towards the direction of the CEO. “What did you do? What did you DO? Don’t forget that your contract and fate is in my hands. I can build you up but I can also tear you down easily. AHN HEE YEON, you are nothing but a filthy . It wasn’t enough that you had to cause issues with Super Junior’s Donghae out in the public, now you have to be caught coming out from Kim Heechul’s house? Do you know HOW MUCH money I had to pay these people who took these photos so that they will not put it up online? Obviously you do not because all you can do is to seduce men! Didn’t I warn you that you’ll face the consequence should you do something out of line to hurt EXID’s reputation? You deserve all these slaps. You deserve all these filthy labels and names. You’re nothing but a useless piece of crap without EXID. This is my final warning to you. If you do not stay in check and continue to be the filthy that you are, don’t regret it” the CEO grabbed onto Hani’s jaw tightly with his hands and said in a close distance. “Don’t forget that your identity, your body and your soul belongs to this company until the end of contract, or if not, until you die and can no longer be here” he said with a hysterical laugh as he grabbed onto her hair and tugged it violently, causing her head to jerk backwards. “Filthy creature” he spat at her before turning to walk out of the studio, leaving the poor girl there, trembling from the fear and pain.

—-

NEWS: EXID AND SUPER JUNIOR FOR MARCH LINE UP OF COMEBACKS 

(Backstage of M Countdown)

“하나 둘 셋 (1 2 3), whoz that girl? 안녕하세요 (Hello), EXID 입니다!” the girls said in unison as they visited Super Junior’s waiting room and greeted their sunbaes. 

“안녕 (hello) ladies!” Donghae greeted back while signalling for the girls to come into the room. “Yah, everyone! EXID is here to say hi!” Donghae called out to the rest of the boys who were fiddling with their phones. 

“안녕, 하니! (hello Hani)” Donghae greeted as he turned to look at her.

“하니? (Hani)” (no response)

“하니...(Hani)?” (No response again)

“하니 (Hani)!” Donghae tapped Hani on the shoulder after seeing her dazed out look after calling out to her a few times. 

“어, 오빠, 안녕하세요 (oh, hello oppa)” Hani forced a smile as she greeted him with a bow.

“괜찮아? (Are you alright?)”

“응, 괜찮아요. 감사합니다 오빠 (mmm, I’m alright, thank you oppa)” 

“Hmm, what do you have after this?”

“Nothing, just gonna head back to the dorm”

“Do you have time? You can just come over to our waiting room after you’re done”

“Oppa, I ...”

“It’s alright, Hani, I’m just trying my luck to just find a chance to speak with you because it feels like you’ve so much on your mind these days, but it’s alright if you have your reasons”

“죄송합니다 (I’m sorry)”

“아니, don’t be sorry, you shouldn’t be. I’ll be by my phone if you want to text or talk alright?” 

Hani bit her lips to stop her tears from rolling down as she lowered her head and nodded before turning towards the door.

“Girls, I’ll just heard back to our room first” Hani said and walked out of SJ’s waiting room.

“Makdong!” Heechul called out as he ran after her.