Chu Sojung is, as the fans will later say on social media, slaying. Serving , spitting fire, however they wish to describe it — anyone would agree, it is simply the truth.

 

Hyunjung knows this is a happy day, and she is so proud of her fellow-group-mate-slash-best-friend, she doesn’t immediately say anything when the person in front of her starts to go a little wilder than what is socially acceptable. (I mean, come on, there’s other people at the venue.) In fact, she doesn’t say anything throughout the whole show, no matter how upset she is.

 

“Unfortunately, this is the final song,” Sojung announces. Her cheeks are flushed and Hyunjung can tell the outfit the stylists picked out for her is entirely too uncomfortable, too many buckles that are just too tight. Regardless, she looks ridiculously hot — perhaps because of the buckles. Something about women in leather and knee-high boots. “Thank you so much for coming. I hope to see you again soon,” the woman teases, knowingly, and the fans start to yell out, their eyes filled with disappointment.

 

After Sojung exits the stage, the lights go out, causing the audience to quiet down, only murmuring as they await for something— anything to happen. They are not disappointed when a red light comes on in the center of the stage. There, Sojung is crouching in what Hyunjung will later describe as a cringe-worthy pose. (“You were trying to look cool, admit it.”)

 

“Exy, Exy, Exy,” the crowd chants as Sojung begins to rap to yet another one of her self-written and self-composed tracks.

 

Much to Hyunjung’s chagrin, the person in front of her jumps up and down in their seat once more, screams at the top of their lungs and furiously waves around their lightstick. As they’ve done for the entire show.

 

It is obvious that this girl is trying hard to get Sojung’s attention, Hyunjung figures someone this petite has to be either a woman or a child (except, as statics would have it, Sojung’s fans are 99% young adults so), but if she doesn’t stop—

 

Hyunjung is two minutes away from grabbing her group’s lightstick from the stranger’s grip and smacking her with it.

 

She can’t focus. Hell, she can’t even see the stage with all the ruckus.

 

The lights go out again and when a video starts to play from the big screen on the main stage, everyone sits and the audience goes relatively quiet again. The infuriating stranger included. Good.

 

The video playing on the screen is a behind the scenes Sojung had recorded, this one specifically about the last song she’d just performed. Hyunjung hasn’t seen it, not the finished product, but she remembers. (She was there, after all.) Still, for some reason, she is startled when her face pops up on the screen and the crowd goes wild. Self conscious, she adjusts her glasses and her mask.

 

Sojung talks about what inspired her to write the lyrics, what was harder about recording the song and what the members thought of it. It’s all pretty standard for a behind the scenes video, but the response from the fans is absolutely insane. They scream, clap furiously and Hyunjung is pretty certain she sees someone cry a few rows down.

 

As expected from Chu Sojung.

 

“You thought it was over?” Sojung giggles in the video, before the screen goes black.

 

Time for the encore.

 

It’s a pretty heartwarming sight, if Hyunjung does say so herself. The stage is barely lit and Sojung is, most likely, still backstage trying to fit into another outfit as quickly as humanly possible. The venue is filled with lit lightsticks and the crowd is fervently chanting Sojung’s name to summon her back onto the stage.

 

(Hyunjung wants the nine of them to stand on stage again. Soon, she hopes.)

 

Oh, the beauty of the last outfit for a concert.

 

Sojung reappears in an oversized black shirt, her concert merch that she’s compelled to promote for the crowd, and the pigtail braids the fans wanted to see her in (they asked her over and over again). She doesn’t like it, thinks herself to be entirely too old to go around sporting such a hairdo, but she does want to please the fans and so she does it without giving it too much thought. (That, and the members told her she looked cute.)

 

For the final song, Exy sings one of the group’s fansongs and is, again, rewarded with all sorts of emotional reactions from the fans. By the time the song is over, the girl is covered in confetti, wrapped around an LGBT flag someone threw on stage, and her head is adorned with cat ears.

 

Hyunjung hopes someone manages to snap a picture because she is already planning to use it as her profile picture on several apps.

 

The ending comments of a concert are always bittersweet. Because there’s something they feel regretful about, because they got the choreography wrong or didn’t quite manage to hit a high note the way they had practiced. It’s worth it, though, to be able to perform for the fans, the family — sometimes the members, too.

 

“I was told a lot of my friends came out today,” Sojung reveals to the crowd, squinting her eyes as if she’s trying to spot said friends. “Im Dayoung, make some noise!” Sojung screams and, as though all she needed was to be encouraged, Dayoung suddenly appears on the big screen.

 

Unlike Hyunjung, the blonde had prepared. Her hair is done, as well as her makeup, her outfit is comfortable and, still, flashy. “Yes, thank you for coming. You can sit back down, Dayoung-ah. I know for a fact Kim Hyunjung-ssi is somewhere in the crowd,” Sojung tells the fans. Their reaction is, once again, loud. Hyunjung deliberately tries not to move too much, this time, afraid she’ll give herself away. “But if she’s refusing to be seen, then she probably doesn't have any makeup on. Everyone, you understand. Don’t you?” She laughs.

 

Wow, how did she know?

 

Hyunjung figures all the WJSN members are at the venue with her. Some of them, like Dayoung, came prepared and even brought gifts (as was the case with Juyeon and Soobin, who woke up early to get Sojung her favorite flowers.) Such an effort had not been made by Hyunjung. She’ll admit it — sleep was, in that particular moment in time, much more important than the idea of getting up to get her hair and makeup done. And so she didn’t get up, instead rolling over and going back to sleep.

 

Now, is she confident that their fans are not going to spot her in the middle of the crowd? No. And is she confident that their fans will still love her all the same upon seeing her with all of her unconcealed blemishes and dark circles? Also no. Either way, what’s done is done.

 

“Who else is here?” Sojung squints, once more. It probably doesn’t help, not when there’s a sea of people in front of her, all of them desperate to be noticed by Exy from WJSN. Nevertheless, points for effort.

 

As soon as Sojung asks the question, the girl from the row below Hyunjung’s is screaming at the top of her lungs again. She waves at the stage and grabs her phone from— somewhere? Is she filming? This girl may be crazy and annoying (there is a huge possibility, Hyunjung believes), but she is also brave. If security catches her, she is done.

 

“It really is the end now, you guys. Once again, I would like to thank everyone who came out today,” Sojung bows earnestly. “Thank you to the members for supporting me, my family for raising me and thank you to the fans— none of this would be possible without your support.” At the honest remark, Hyunjung finds herself screaming along with the fans. (That’s her best friend.)

 

---

 

Purposely, Hyunjung waits for the venue to clear out. Not that she’s going to exit the arena, because that’s not the case, but she does still have to use the same doors as everyone else. Backstage, Sojung’s waiting room, is one floor down. Or, alternatively, through the back of the main stage. Unfortunately for Hyunjung, she is currently at this arena not as Kim Seola, member of WJSN, but simply as Hyunjung. And Hyunjung does not have the power to go on stage and back— she couldn’t, either way, as it is surrounded by barricades.

 

In the back of her mind, Hyunjung briefly wonders why the hell the loud girl from the row below hasn’t left (same as herself). Then again, she reasons, the girl does seem peculiar. Why question any of her behavior, especially now? The show is over, anyway.

 

Gathering her belongings — a simple eggshell colored tote bag that is, for the most part, empty — Hyunjung begins to climb down the stairs, allowing herself to be slow and all but dragging her feet as she goes. It will surely take a while for Sojung to be ready to leave, so she’s not exactly in any rush.

 

In fact, she may as well drop by the cafeteria downstairs and grab herself something to eat. Sure, Sojung is probably going to want to order food for dinner. But does coffee and bread count as a meal? Not today, it won’t.

 

---

 

Iced americano in one hand and a slice of cake in the other, Hyunjung finally reaches the depths of the first floor. If any of her members were to ever ask, she wouldn’t say a thing, but her bare face did almost give her trouble. The security staff failed to recognize her (not that Hyunjung doesn’t get it, because she does), even though these people have worked with WJSN for years, making it so Hyunjung had to get one of her managers on the phone.

 

Whatever, she’s through now and it hurts her pride to dwell on the event.

 

Venues this big can be scary, Hyunjung realizes. The amount of empty rooms is a little eerie, especially when some of the doors to these rooms are wide open — and the lights are off. Willing her eyes to look only forward and never to the sides, Hyunjung walks faster. Nothing is going to jump her. Not today, not when she has so much to live for still.

 

Namely, eating takeout with Sojung later. And she doesn’t mean it entirely because she knows her managers will be paying for it.

 

Even if Hyunjung was to be confused about which room is Sojung’s (which is unlikely because she’s been at this venue, as Kim Seola, in her early debut days), the ridiculous amount of flowers and congratulatory banners would surely enlighten her.

 

“No way that was all Soobin and Juyeon,” Hyunjung mutters to herself, still very much the only person in the long hallway.

 

Or so she thinks.

 

It would be an exaggeration to say this girl is so tiny Hyunjung almost doesn’t notice her, but — this girl is genuinely so tiny, Hyunjung does almost miss her.

 

Similarly, it takes her a while to place the girl. (Although, as far as that mishap is concerned, Hyunjung doesn’t blame herself.)

 

It happens like this:

 

Hyunjung is still crossing the hallway, quickly trying to shorten the distance between herself and the door from where music, voices and the distant sound of a hair dryer are all coming from.

 

Managing to snap out of her own daze, Hyunjung notices someone is already at the door. Before she can take the time to analyze the person — friend? Faux? WJSN? Crazy stalker? —, Sojung appears from inside the room and throws her arms around the figure’s neck. A girl.

 

What?

 

“Sojungie,” the girl coos in a strangled voice, presumably because of the tight grip Chu Sojung has around her.

 

“You came!”

 

The tiny girl nods. “You should’ve seen me,” she says. “I kept waving and— and doing all of this,” the girl jumps up and down, flailing her arms around her body and—

 

Wait a minute.

 

Hasn’t Hyunjung seen those moves somewhere?

 

“Hey,” she points forward with a scream, one accusatory index finger stretched out. The two of them startle, looking to place where the noise had just been produced.

 

“Unnie,” Sojung screams excitedly, once more. Hyunjung walks to her friend and halts to a stop just in front of her waiting room door. “I suddenly feel so important,” the orange haired girl exclaims, referring to the fact that two of her acquaintances came out to see her.

 

Hyunjung doesn’t entirely understand what the situation here is, but Sojung is smiling so brightly — she doesn’t say anything, doesn’t have the courage.

 

Sojung, on the other hand, makes sure to get everyone acquainted. Pulling the girl that is hiding behind her to stand by her side, she says, “This is my friend, Kim Jiyeon.”

 

Kim Jiyeon, who had just been using Sojung as a human shield, finally raises her head to greet the girl with a wave of her hand. Her bashfulness is frankly amusing to Hyunjung, as it is such a different behavior from the one the girl just exhibited less than an hour ago.

 

Now that she’s getting to see the girl’s face instead of just her back, Hyunjung thinks this girl looks somewhat familiar.

 

Where has she seen her before?

 

Pointing to Hyunjung, Sojung continues with the introductions. “This is Seola,” the girl looks pointedly at Jiyeon, not even bothering to be discreet when she winks. Jiyeon blushes on the spot.

 

It seems Hyunjung is oblivious to whatever the two of them are doing, though, because she simply nods to signal she’s listening. “Hello,” she says.

 

She is more concerned about having to possibly introduce herself as WJSN’s Seola, given her current appearance.

 

“Hi,” Jiyeon replies.

 

Her voice…

 

Isn’t that—

 

Kim Bona?

 

---

 

“Just stay,” Sojung whines.

 

Jiyeon must be shy around strangers. Either that, or Hyunjung has an unapproachable face. Which could be the case, considering her current state and attire.

 

“I really can’t,” Jiyeon says, attempting to free herself from the grasp Sojung has on her wrist (and failing ridiculously). “I have— a thing,” she giggles nervously.

 

Through the entire interaction, short as it was, Hyunjung chooses to remain silent. Her mind is filled with thoughts. The main of which being, How the hell does Sojung know Kim Bona?

 

Hyunjung thinks back to when she was so upset, she almost asked the girl in front of her to keep it down. Little did she know, the girl was Kim Bona.

 

She does feel half bad. There seems to be something going on with Sojung and the girl, and Hyunjung is probably interrupting.

 

Or maybe it’s not like that. Sojung would tell her. Right?

 

Pushing orange strands of hair away from her eyes, Sojung rolls her eyes. “Sure.”

 

“We can do dinner another time,” Jiyeon offers.

 

“Really?” Jiyeon nods. “I’ll hold you to that,” is what Sojung says, sounding as though she’s threatening her. Genuine or not, the invitation seems to soothe the orange haired girl. She lets go of Jiyeon's hand, who quickly detaches herself from her friend and tries to bolt.

 

“I’ll call you,” Jiyeon tells Sojung. “And behave,” she says, equally as menacing.

 

While Hyunjung is not familiar with this girl, neither does she know what her relationship with Sojung is like, she does find it amusing that this is how they speak to one another.

 

“See you next time, Seola unnie,” Jiyeon kindly greets before she turns a deep shade of red and practically runs away from the scene. Sojung scoffs, which only makes the girl move faster.

 

Unsure whether to comment on everything that’s just happened, Hyunjung simply congratulates Sojung. “You did amazing,” she says, genuine. They’ve known each other for too long, and they are not the type of friends who exchange sentimental words with one another, but truth must be told. Sojung put on an amazing show.

 

“Tteokbokki?” Sojung suggests.

 

As far as Hyunjung is concerned, that’s more than enough to show she acknowledges her compliment. As far as Hyunjung cares, “Tteokbokki” is better than “I love you”.

 

She knows Sojung loves her, anyway.