Leina’s POV:

  Chew. Chew, chew.

  I watch him munch on his lettuce, his mouth moving at the same speed, monotonous like a robot.

  Swallow.

  He reaches for his water cup, but before the edge kisses his pink lips, his eyes lock onto mine, catching me staring at him.

  Cough. I look away, immediately, grabbing my water bottle and chugging the water down my throat. But of course, just as I expect, I hear my name two seconds later.

  “Leina.”

  I pretend to be interested in my soondae soup for a second, and look up. “B-Baekhyun sunbaenim?”

  “Gwenchana?”

  No, everything is not alright. I’m not the one who watched helplessly as the one I love cried like the world was about to end in my arms. I’m not the one who listened to what happened to the one I love through violent sobs.

  I’m the one who only watched as the one I love brought the girl he loves to her training room last week, bridal style, with a tenderness I’ve rarely seen flowing out of him.

  It should be me asking you that question.

  “Ne,” I reply, with a smile, trying to lighten up the mood. “You – “

  Suddenly, a few voices interrupt my sentence.

  “– how miserable she is!”

  “It’s been a week, Elise!”

  “Of course I know that, Mel. Do I look like I can’t count days?”

  “Girls – “

  A tray plops onto the desk Baekhyun, I, and a few other members of EXO are eating at. Melanie sits down nest to me, and then so does Elise, followed by Tess and Chohee, with their trays.

  “Can we just eat for now?” Tess groans.

  “Andwae.”

  “I need energy to keep arguing with you guys.”

  “We aren’t arguing – “

  “Hi, girls.”

  The four of them spin around, looking as if they didn’t notice my presence. An emotion I can’t comprehend flickers over Elise’s face, but it vanishes so fast so I assume I must have imagined it.

  “Oh, Leina…” Chohee sighs, after giving Mel a look. “Mianhae, I didn’t see you there.”

  “It’s fine.” I wave my hand in the air. “How – “

  “How’s Vi?”

  Baekhyun’s voice seems to cut through the air, and a thick fog of tension unrolls itself among the table we are sitting at. The girls look at each other, as if not daring to speak. Even Tess looks scared.

  We all know how bad a mood he had been in this whole week. And by looking at the way the girls are changing looks, I could tell that they didn’t want to worsen it.

  Tess swirls her spoon in her soup, but it’s Melanie who speaks up. “The same, I guess.” She chuckles nervously. “I think she has a new hobby of staring into space every spare second.”

  A muscle flinches in his jaw, and then I realize that the whole table has quieted down, the other boys scooted closer to listen. “I see,” Baekhyun says with a very strained voice.

  “I haven’t seen her since… last week,” Lay says, genuine concern filling his voice. “Has she – “

  “Ani.” Chohee shakes her head. “She never comes out of the training room.”

  “Never?!” Luhan exclaims. “But what about – “

  Elise, all of a sudden, slams her chopsticks onto the table. “She sleeps in the training room – although I don’t think she sleeps at all because she just lies down and stares at nothing –, she uses the restroom in the training room, she eats in the training room… she literally lives in there now. For a whole week, she hadn’t even gone two meters near the door.”

  “She only eats what I bring her, or doesn’t eat at all,” Chohee adds. “And she doesn’t talk much, only gentle ‘Thank you’ s. When we’re dancing, there isn’t a glint, a love in her dance moves. When she raps, it’s so… monotonous. And during breaks, she just plugs earphones into her ears and keeps on practicing, even if our teacher tells her her moves are perfect already.”

  “This is wrong,” I whisper. “This isn’t normal.”

  “Of course it isn’t,” Mel sighs. “She’s friggin’ torturing herself, for goodness sake.”

  “She’s like a walking corpse,” Tess says with a bite of her bread. “It’s terrifying.”

  Baekhyun’s eyes are closed, hands in fists, as if he’s restraining himself. Without even thinking, I reach over and put my hands on his.

  He eyes shoot open and lock with mine for a moment, but then he gently pulls away. I awkwardly pull my hands back, feeling embarrassed and stupid.

  Chanyeol clears his throat. “Sehuna isn’t doing well, either.”

  “Is this all really necessary?” Chohee sounds on the verge of tears. “Just look at their state – “

  “They had to, Chohee,” Tess says. “They got caught.”

  “But they didn’t have to break up – “

  “It’s a strict rule of the company.”

  “Theresa, you’re not helping.”

  “I never said I want to,” she shoots back.

  Chohee shoots out of her chair, glaring directly at Tess. “What the heck is your problem?”

  “I don’t have one.”

  “Oh, yes you do,” Chohee says, her face twisted in anger. “You’re just jealous of Jung In!”

  “Really? As if I would be jealous of somebody confining herself to a room?”

  “YES!” She shouts. “You’re just jealous she had a boyfriend who loved her so much and cared for her! Don’t – just – stop pretending, Theresa! I’ve seen the way you look at them. You envy the perfect relationship they had, and now that it’s broken by the boy you once made out with, you’re just so gleeful and happy!”

  Tess stands up, too. “So maybe I am!” Her braided hair swings around like dangerous whips. “Maybe I am jealous of their relationship because I seem to never, no matter how hard I try, have one like that! But it’s not my fault they’re like this now! Violet shouldn’t have been so careless and stupid!”

  Chohee’s eyes narrow, and she looks like Tess has just poured buckets of paint on her. “What did you just call her?” Her tone is suddenly so dangerous, so thin, as if trodding on fragile ice or even a single rope high up in air. “Did you just – “

  “Call her stupid? Yes, I did.”

  Chohee’s face immediately turns red of fury. “YAH – “

  “STOP!”

  To my own surprise, I rush in between the two girls and am just in time to block the push from Chohee. She doesn’t seem to use much force, but I’m still caught by surprise and stumble to the ground, my hitting the floor hard. I whimper, but I’m too furious to acknowledge the pain.

  How could they be acting like this, fighting each other? Was it just the unnerving tension, or something else? Tess shouldn’t have called Violet stupid, but Chohee shouldn’t have been so impulsive, either. Violet would be more devastated, knowing that her friends just had a fight over her…

  I scramble up from the floor, taking in all the wide-open mouths and shocked looks, but I focus on Chohee.

  “L-Leina – “

  “Stop this, please.” I try to sound brave, but I can’t. I’m never good at defending other people, not even myself; come to think of it, I haven’t ever really defended for myself before, even if I got misunderstood. I always just took the blame and punishment, and let it pass by. That’s all.

  But I can’t do that this time. I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel very determined that I couldn’t just sit there and watch friends of mine fight.

  “The two of you are being irrational – “

  “Leina – “

  “How do you think Violet would feel if she were to know that one of you got hurt, in a fight, because of her? Do you think it would make her feel better? Because it won’t! It’ll only crush her more, don’t you get it? She’ll think that everyone, Sehun, you, and Tess are hurt all because of her, that she’s responsible for everything. Do you want her to think that?!”

  “Leina – “ Chohee reaches for me, but I flinch back.

  “Fighting won’t help her, it’s the wrong thing – “

  “Leina.” This time, when I hear my name, I freeze, because it’s not from Chohee. I widen my eyes and spin around to face the speaker himself, who is standing on his feet and looking straight at me. “That’s enough.”

  Enough? How could he say this is enough? “What is wrong with you?” I ask in unbelief. “How could you say – “

  “You’ve said enough, Leina. Now stop.”

  What?

    Violet’s POV:

  I love you, Jung In-ah. I do and forever will.

  We will never be separated, babe. I promise.

  You lied, I think to myself, staring at the ceiling.

  The floor of the training room is warm underneath my back, but the air is cold. For the hundredth time, I stare at the wide crack on the white ceiling, staring at it as if it would suddenly close with my mind power.

  As if.

  I want to express how sad I feel, but I can’t. I want to write it in my dairy, but whenever I open it and hold onto my pen as if it were my only lifesaver, I have a strong feeling that no matter what I write, no words can truly explain the hollowness in my heart, the way I can’t feel anything around me, the way I can’t find my love for dancing anymore. It’s as if a whole chunk of my heart had been snatched away, and I can’t find it. I don’t know if it still exists anymore. And what’s the use of writing, when it can’t express even 0.1% of what I feel now?

  I see his face whenever I close my eyes. I hear his voice, feel his touch as if he’s really beside me, whenever I am almost asleep. Am I going mad? They say that when you acknowledge the fact that you can’t see the person you love anymore, the yearn and ache is ten times stronger than not seeing him for a week when he was busy of schedule. You start to have illusions, and eventually go mad.

  For me, it feels a million times worse.

  Suddenly, I hear the door open, but I assume it’s just one of the girls back early from lunch, maybe wanting to make me speak again. Or maybe Elise has finally decided to drag me by the neck out of the room.

  I can’t. I’m terrified by the thought that I might bump into or even see Sehun, and then the knowing that I can’t touch him or hold him or even kiss him again would gnaw at me until I crumple. It would be worse than death, to me. I had even refused Mel, when she tried to show me what’s going on on the Internet.

  I don’t need to know. There must be reports and news with the flashing words ‘THE DATING RUMORS OF OH SEHUN AND KIM JUNG IN ARE TRUE’ and ‘BOTH PARTIES OF FANS ARE DEVASTATED AND HATING THE OPPOSITE FANS‘ or maybe even ‘DATING AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE, WOULD IT AFFECT OH SEHUN’S IDOL CAREER? THE POSSIBILTY IS VERY HIGH!’

  I’ve ruined Sehun’s reputation. Now his fans are hating me and some are even starting to ‘un-fan’ him just because he has a girlfriend who is now his ex. I don’t need to see the news to know that this is just what’s going on.

  “You know, I admire the way even you just lying like the dead is able to stir up commotions.”

  For the first time this whole week, I don’t slug. Instead, I sit straight up and scramble off the floor, and when I confirm my fear of who it is, I stagger back.

  “J-Jason.”

  The smile on his lips indicate that he can hear the sheer panic and fear in my voice, loud and clear. “Looks like you’ve been having a splendid week, my dear.”

  “I AM NOT YOUR DEAR!” I stagger a few more steps back as he walks toward me. How did he even come in – . I never thought of locking the door. Well, because I never thought that Jason would come and ambush me when I’m alone.

  “Violet – “

  “GO AWAY!” I scream, not caring how I appear to be. This guy took Sehun away from me. He did it on purpose, knowing that there were fans outside, last week, and still said out loud that I was Sehun’s girlfriend.

  Was.

  “You…” when I take another step back, I find my back to the wall. “You…”

  In just a few strides, Jason swallows up the remaining space between us. “Pity, how… miserable you look now, Violet. Should I introduce a new hairstylist for you?” He smirks.

  I squeeze my eyes, willing this to be a nightmare. But when I open them, he’s still here, his smug face inches away from mine. I feel a trail of tears roll down my face. “What…” I try not to break down. “What do you want from me, Jason?”

  “Want from you?”

  “You separated me and Sehun. Everyone knows about our relationship now, all because of you. I know you did it on purpose! And now you’ve won, you’ve succeeded on making me feel like there’s nothing for me to live anymore, so why can’t you just leave me alone? Why are you here; what else do you want from me?!”

  Jason chuckles, making me tremble even more. “Yes, I admit I did that on purpose. Oh, my dear Violet, but I am not satisfied enough.” He leans nearer, his eyes as dark as black holes, evil and scheming. “I will not stop until your life is completely ruined.”

  If I was terrified before, I am beyond terrified now. I even have a hard time swallowing. “W-what?” I can’t believe… “Haven’t you done enough?” I sob. “You’ve ruined my life already!”

  “It’s not enough.”

  “AND WHEN IS ENOUGH?! Why are you doing all this?!” I sob, or plead, or maybe both. “What have I ever done to you, to make you do this to me?!”

  For a few seconds, Jason just studies me. Then he chuckles, a chuckle full of venom and disgust. “Of course you won’t remember.” He leans back, giving me space to breathe. “You never remember those in the shadows.”

  “W-what… what are you talking about?”

  “Do you remember,” Jason asks, “last year? That ceremony, the one that was going to announce the best movie, best new actress, best new actor, and more, of the year?”

  My mind flashes back to a year ago, when Sehun and I had been awarded with our first award ever: Best New Actress, Best New Actor, and Best Movie for Teenagers of the year. “N-ne, I… I remember…”

  “Then do you remember that one boy, who was years older than you, who had ten more years of acting experience than you, whose movie was also a nominee for The Best Movie of the year award? That one boy, who had finally gotten some more attention than before and had hopes of winning, only to be beaten by a teenage girl who had never even acted before, in the end?”

  He faces me directly, watching as my face turns pale. “Do you remember his name?”

  I do.

  After his reminding, I do.

  “Han,” I reply in a shaky breath, remembering last year, how the boy with curly silver-white-dyed hair had been so excited, seated behind me, his smile as bright as a sun. I remember the way his smile dropped immediately when they announced the winner: my debut movie, Double Lives. “Han,” I repeat, steadying myself with a hand on the wall, not believing how stupid I had been to not recognize him. “Jason Han.”

  Jason scoffs, as if he’s disgusted to hear his real name from my mouth.

  “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” I look at Jason, as if for the first time in months, and then curse myself for being so stupid. How could I have not noticed that same straight nose, same broad shoulders? He had changed his hair color and his eyes dawned on more calculating than innocence than I had met him last year, but if I look closer, I can still see, that it’s really him.

  Jason Lee is Jason Han, the opponent I had won over last year.

  “This is about revenge.” I say, realizing. “You’re doing this, all this, just to ruin me, for revenge.”

  All of a sudden, Jason pins me to the wall, his right arm across my shoulders. “Do not speak of it as if it’s not important!”

  “It isn’t!” I struggle. “Revenge is never a good thing, Jason!”

  “I will not tolerate you telling me what is good and what is bad, Kim Jung In!” Jason clenches his teeth, his face as hard as stone. “Do you know, that I had shed blood and tears, friendship and even love for more than half of my lifetime, just to achieve my goal of being the best actor in Korea? Do you know how much I had sacrificed, how hard I worked, to get to the top? And then when finally, the award that can help me reach the peak of my career is just right on front of me, it gets snatched away by an arrogant girl who had never even acted before and was born into a family that gave her everything?” He punches the wall right beside me. “Do you know what I had thought that time, when you posed with the award that should’ve been mine? ‘Why did she have to abandon her wealthy family and just had to come and steal my award away?’ It was supposed to be mine!”

  Although tears are threatening my eyes, I feel a surge of anger course through me. “You don’t understand. The family I grew up in didn’t give me everything – “

  “I DON’T CARE!” Jason shouts. “You should’ve stayed in your ing California and become a ing chairwoman, instead of flying to here and stealing my prize! I deserved it, not you!”

  “Jason – “

  “You made my career go down the dumps after that. Every movie company wanted you and Oh Sehun; every movie company turned me down. And when finally, because I had connections, I got to enter SM Entertainment, I decided that I would have revenge.” The blood in my veins run cold when I hear his tone. “And that little… incident last week was just the beginning, Violet.” Jason breaks into a grin, a grin so sinister I can’t help but shiver. “I will not stop until you have nothing, no love, no friends, just like me. And step two is already in process, since your frienships are already tearing apart.”

  “W-what?!” I manage to breathe out. “My friends…”

  “Oh yes, I must say it was quite a scene,” Jason says with a sinister smirk. “A fight of tongues, harsh and cruel words, and then the best part came when fists appeared – “

  “NO!” I couldn’t believe it. The girls got into a fight?! “You – why – “

  “Because of you, of course. You’re destroying the friendship between your friends, did you ever notice that?”

  I feel myself wanting to crumple to the floor. They… my best friends… had a fight? Over… me? They got hurt… because of me?

  “Are they… hurt?” I ask. “Let go of me, I need to see – “

  “They’re all in the infirmary room. The situation was… depressing.”

  “NOOO!” I cry. “I NEED TO – “

   Jason shakes his head, pinning me firmly against the wall. “I am not done with you yet, Violet.” He smirks. “You see, you’ve destroyed the career of your beloved one, making his popularity go down like a slide. Now, you’ve made your friends turn onto each other. That’s just part two. And when I am ruining someone’s life for revenge, I have a tendacy of stopping at least at part three.”

  “And what is – “

  I stop mid-sentence when I see the look in his eyes, and then feel his body push against mine, as if trying to grind me into the wall. Then I understand, and when I do, fear bubbles inside of me ferociously, like waves and waves of attacking tides.

  “NO – “ I try to scream, but Jason clasps a hand over my mouth as I struggle for my life.

  “Now,” he says with a triumph glint in his terrifying eyes, his free hand sliding down the side of my body. “Here comes part three.”

  Suddenly, the door is kicked open, and a feel of déjà vu washes over me, reminding me of Andrew, reminding me of him.

  “Let go of her, now.”

  But it’s not Sehun this time, who comes to my rescue.

  It’s Mr. Lee Sooman.

  With Leina, my group members, and EXO behind.

[Author's Note] THAT WAS SO LONG OMGGGG /BANGS HEAD ON WALL AGAIN AND AGAIN/

It was mainly about the JASON-WE-ALL-EFFING-HATE-YOU problem... sorry if you guys were waiting for the Leina-Baek-Kyungsoo thing OTL... it would be in the next chapter. If everyhting goes as planned OTL OTL.

Thank you all who have been waiting for almost two weeks (or already two weeks) OMG YOU GUYS ROCK I CAN'T EXPLAIN WHUT I FEEL ;________;

Yes. Jason is about to disappearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. BOO-YEAHHHHHH.