Yongsun didn’t stop running until she found an empty room. She slammed the door, pressing her body against it and turned the lock. She panted, awaiting the pounding on the door and shouts. 

They never came.

Confused, she waited a few moments to catch her breathe, then slightly opened the door so she could peek outside. She spotted Byul’s blonde hair and Wheein’s blue down the hall talking to someone with long black hair. Yongsun took this as a chance to slip into her own waiting room next door. She quickly changed into her post performance attire, making sure that every part of her was covered. She held her breathe and walked out quickly towards her friends as there was no other way to reach the back door. When she got closer, she smelled a familiar perfume that belong to Hwasa, her fellow performer. She was facing Yongsun’s direction, and seemed quite agitated as she interacted with Wheein and Byul. As Yongsun got closer, she realised that both Hwasa and Wheein looked quite annoyed, borderline angry. 

“-you tell me?” Wheein yelled.

“Why should I? It’s not like we’re friends.” Hwasa sneered. Yongsun forgot about discreetly sneaking out and stopped in her tracks. She looked up to see Wheein’s eyes full of hurt, staring at Hwasa. She noticed that Wheein had balled her fists and was slightly trembling.

“Fine.” Wheein stomped away, knocking into Yongsun as she passed. Byul chased after her. Hwasa stayed rooted. Yongsun unfroze and tapped Hwasa on the shoulder.

“Hey, wanna go out for a bit?”

Solar eyed Hwasa nervously. The raven haired girl was throwing drinks down while staring aimlessly around the bar. She was still in her red performance dress and make up, adding on to her natural iness. Yongsun had taken her hat, mask, and sunglasses off. She cleared .

“Wanna talk?” Hwasa’s eyes shifted from their surroundings to focus on Solar.

“Hm, do you want to know?” Hwasa asked, taking another gulp of her beer.

“If you aren’t comfortable with sharing-“

“It’s fine.” She put down her bottle and stared at it. “I hope this can stay between us, unnie.” Solar nodded as a promise. After a moment, Hwasa sighed.

“I’m a completely different person outside, unnie. Everyone calls me the social butterfly around the clubs, but honestly, I don’t know anyone outside. Both my parents left when I was 3 years old and I was sent to an orphanage with my two older sisters. They were both adopted within a year, yet I was unwanted by anyone. I stayed there for years, waiting for someone to adopt me, to take care of me, to protect me. I was hit and beaten by the other children there. They would take my meals, lock me outside in the snow, blame me for things I never did. I hated it there. I wanted to leave. 

“One day, when I was 14, I was miraculously adopted. My adoptive father was a taxi driver and my adoptive mother was dishwasher at an international school. They adopted me and gave me the best that they could. They enrolled me into a local middle school, but I was bullied there. They bullied me because my biological parents had abandoned me. They bullied me because my adoptive parents were not well off. They bullied me because my adoptive mother wasn’t Korean. I learned to ignore all of those voices though. My p