It's that time of the night again. Hyejin lies on the sofa and sighs softly, letting herself sink deeper into the sagging cushions. It's only been 2 hours since she bidded goodbye to the rest of the members after an intense day of dance practice. She should be tired. After all, she did dance intensively for over 8 hours and she was on a diet. A strict one in fact. Body completely drained and deprived from the nutrients it needs. She should be asleep. But somehow, she finds herself wide awake again not surprisingly despite how her physical body was screaming at her to rest. Her mind however seemed to insist on ignoring the body's pleas for mercy, continuously running and inserting unwanted thoughts into her head.

Fumbling around with the wires behind her head, Hyejin grabs onto a random Type C wire, and plugs it into her phone beside her. She should probably organise those wires soon because they become too tangled to be salvaged. Her screen brightens up as it gets charged, quite the opposite compared to the owner of the phone herself. Clumsily, she unlocks her phone with her long nails that threaten to drop off any moment.

Hyejin scrolls through the new articles with her name tagged and reads through the comments. The latest one discussing her appearance on the KBS show seemed to be a hotly discussed article. She winces reading the contents of the article. She chides herself for not putting up a brighter appearance. 'You were on TV for goodness sake! Couldn't you have behave more appropriately? Or are you just lazy and irresponsible?' Her brain nags at her and she closes her eyes for a bit, feeling the stinging feeling of tears forming in her eyes. It wasn't that she was being lazy, that day she had another photoshoot till 4am that morning and she had barely clocked in 2 hours of sleep before the dance practice. But, she didn't want to mention it that day during filming. She didn't want to worry the members, not on camera at least.

It also wasn't that she didn't want to sleep. It was just almost impossible for Hyejin to sleep. She would spend hours in bed or on the sofa, closing her eyes tightly trying to drift off into dreamland, only to still be conscious after several hours later. There were just too many thoughts running through her mind. Too many burdens weighing her down. Even sleeping pills didn't seem to work in the long run.

'Hwasa is obviously the laziest in the group. Everyone looks so tired but there she is just oversleeping and arriving late casually. Terrible work ethics.' She laughs at that single malicious comment. Deep inside her, she knew that wasn't true. With a schedule like hers, lazy was a word never to describe her. She had countless back to back schedules for the past few months to the point her physical exhaustion was showing. Yet, her mind was ignoring the truth, instead drowning her with more negativity.

'Look. You're just lazy, redundant and so very hopeless. Why are you trying so hard to gain fame when you're never going to achieve that?' She drops her phone onto her carpetted floor and chokes out a sob. One sob that leads to uncontrollable crying that she knows will last for a good 2 hours at least. And she would then finally fall asleep. With 1 hour left till her alarm rang again for the next day's schedule.

'Knock knock knock'

Hyejin questions herself whether she had heard someone knocking on her door or were her ears just playing tricks on her. She sniffles, hesitating before shifting about on the sofa. Who could it be at her door so late in the wee hours of the morning?

'Knock knock knock knock knock'

She's sure now. Someone is knocking on her door at 3am. There's greater urgency now in the way the person knocks on her door. Clearly wanting her attention. Carefully, Hyejin springs up and drags her feet noisily to the security camera. It's Wheein. What was she doing here at this hour? Did something happen? Before Hyejin could let Wheein in, the door opens with the puppy girl looking at her worriedly.

"You look awful right now Hyej" Wheein greets her casually. Hyejin looked at Wheein and offers a small smile wordlessly.

"Why are you here Whee? It's late. We need to be up by 6am later." They head towards Hyejin's bedroom which she barely used. Wheein doesn't reply, continuing to drag her into the room, finally pushing her onto the bed and hopping onto the other side before backhugging Hyejin like a koala tightly.

"I know you can't sleep Hyej... you're schedules are insane enough and if I don't take things into my own hands, you're going to end up collapsing due to over-exhaustion soon." Wheein finally says as she gently rubs her thumb over Hyejin's soft small pudding. It was one of her favourite parts of her best friend.

Hyejin sighs. "It's fine Whee.. it's dangerous to be out so late.."

"Hush now baby, you need sleep. And if you can't get it yourself, I'm making sure you sleep under my watch." Wheein replies with affection dripping off every word.

Hyejin says nothing but feels her eyes starting to tear again, nose stinging, ready to start bawling any moment again.

Wheein senses this and tightens her hold on her favourite person.

"I saw the article too... I just want you to know, you're far from any bad thing they say okay? They don't know you. So they don't know how precious and what a wonderful little lion cub you are." Wheein places a gentle kiss on Hyejin's cheek and softly swipes the tears running down Hyejin's smooth skin away.

Wheein would always be there for Hyejin. Just like she knew her lion would be for her.