Bom’s POV

Normal…everything was but normal for us, the lights, glamor, fame that was all just a part of the deal we all signed up for. Chasing our dreams, reaching achievements that’s what everyone had in mind when they first joined, in fact everyone had an idea on what the entertainment business was like, it’s cruel and a hard world, where fans admired you and haters said anything they wanted to say just because of their dislikes.

Flaws were emphasized, just to make themselves feel better, what’s happened to the world? Where everyone judges everyone on one single thing, where prejudice remarks are made, where privacy was no longer a option for us. As crazy as it seems some loved the attention while others regretted, getting what you want has its downs, finally realizing what a cruel world we actually live in.

“Bom unnie…” a wary voice came, shaking my arm lightly as to bring me back from my thoughts.

“Yes?” I faked a smile at our maknae, feeling tired as I glanced at her.

Sighing a little she shook my arms again, “come on unnie! We’re finally having our comeback today, why do you seem so dull?” she exclaimed exasperated, allowing her arms to drop back down on her sides.

Pinching her cheeks lightly I managed a giggle, “don’t worry about me…I’m just a little tired,” I muttered to her, fixing my Chanel sunglasses which rested on the bridge of my nose.

“ it up unnie, you’re not the only one tired,” CL called stoically from seat in front of me, catching her flip her long blonde locks over her shoulder.

“Exactly the point, I’m just stating it,” I said with no energy, having no intention of starting another fiasco with the younger female.

CL groaned, rolling her head as she turned back to me, “same…I’m just stating it as well,” CL replied with a cold tone.

Switching my attention back to the window on my left, I continued to stare outside as our van drove, everyone becoming quiet with the silent hum of the engine the only thing breaking the deafening silence within us members…like I said what a cruel world it is.

People change, no one has control over that, fans may assume that our group was as tight as it could get but in reality it’s the exact opposite, over the years our friendship dissipated into nothing but memories, what was captured on our pirate TV show was the peak of closeness. So what have we become? 

Main vocalist? Well its safe to say that my role did not live up anymore, the one and only baddest female in our group obtained the parts that should have originally been mine, vocalist and a rapper? Leave it to her to get all those, our album could be called a joke, delusional people would be the only ones who could say that the parts were fairly divided, I mean did people even hear ‘Crush’? It was song written for her, ironically she was the one who wrote it, come back home?

The hell all I did was sing a part of the chorus, she’s become a person whom I didn’t know anymore, we weren’t on friendly basis anymore…in other words the fame got to her, she only cared about herself, everything about herself, for goodness sake! Our AON concerts only consists of her having a solo stage, what happened to the three of us? I’ve heard some even describe 2NE1 as CL and the backups, that honestly was the most insulting thing we heard…what have the rest of us become?

“Come on guys,” our manager saved me from my thoughts, knowing day by day it was getting more unbearable for me.

So there we were, within a blink of an eye faking around each other as we followed our manager oppa inside the building, leaving a bees trail as we dodged frantic staff of the broadcasting station with our waiting room the only thing on our mind, bowing and greeting everyone as we rushed our way to our designated room.

“Unnie can you come with me to the bathroom after?” Minzy questioned me, feeling her link her arm with mine.

Knowing that she did not deserve any bad treatment at all, I just nodded my head at her reassuringly, “of course.”

Following our usual protocol, our stylist unnies went ahead to unpack their sets ready for any touchups before and after our performance, as the two drama queens collapsed onto the sofas dramatically.

“We’ll be having a dry run in 20 minutes, so please be prepared,” a staff announced, popping into our room for the short announcement.

“Neh,” we all responded, acknowledging the information.

“Unnies we’ll just be popping to the restroom for a second,” I informed our stylists, as Minzy and I dropped our bags onto the sofa, my phone in hand.

Dara who heard us switched her attention from her phone to us, “make sure to come back stat,” she ordered.

“Of course unnie,” Minzy responded, still being the respectful maknae, whereas I was already ahead of her with my hand on the door handle.

Though I was lifeless inside, I managed to create a cheerful front, holding hands with Minzy as we both strolled towards the restroom, humming our latest single together as we were continuously greeted by our juniors, greeting them in return as well as we eventually reached our destination, the smile on my face dissolving within a split second as I watched our maknae go inside one of the stalls.

Glancing myself at the mirror, at first glance anyone would notice the beautifully done makeup by our stylist, my eyeliner equal with our colourful eyeshadow, with the foundation that covered all the imperfections of my skin…but after a few seconds or so you finally notice the bags that formed beneath my eyes, how fatigue was evident on my face…how so many flaws I had.

“Stop Bom…this is what you always do…and this never ends in a good way,” I whispered to myself, feeling tears threatening to well up, a sob stuck in my throat as I looked at the broken person staring right back at me.

*ring ring*

Halting my emotions from running haywire, I looked down to my ringing phone, as his name blinked on the screen…the one person who knew how to get me talking…the person who was always by my side.

“Hello?” I answered with a whisper, walking around the restroom checking the other stalls to ensure it was only Minzy and I here.

“Hey, how are you doing beautiful?” his baritone voice greeted.

Smiling to myself with his usual compliment, I leaned back against the counter, “don’t call me that, I might end up puking before our performance,” I teased, “anyways…just the norm, I only have my trusty maknae with me.”

“I’m not lying Bom you are beautiful but on the serious note you know I would rather be there with you…but someone doesn’t want me there,” he replied, hearing him sigh from the other line.

“You and I both know you standing up to CL for me always makes everything worse,” I reminded him, tapping my foot lightly against the tiled floor as Minzy soon emerged from the stall.

“Someone needs to do it, that doesn’t know her limits,” he explained.

“Well that person, no matter how annoying she is does not deserve to be called that way,” I muttered, flashing my right hand to Minzy indicating a time of just two minutes.

Hearing his chuckle from the other side, then followed by another sigh he proceeded to talk again saying, “I’ll just meet you after? Dinner for three? Invite Minzy as well,” he suggested.

Smiling lightly, grateful for his thoughtfulness for my beloved maknae, I threw my shoulder around her shoulder, “of course, Minzy and I would love that!” I exclaimed.

‘Seunghyun oppa?’ Minzy mouthed beside me, nodding my head at her to clarify.

“Great, I’ll pick you guys up at the YG building after,” he informed me.

“Sure,” I breathed, my goal to finishing today’s schedule.

“See you later oppa!” Minzy yelled into my phone, hearing Seunghyun chuckle in response before the line went dead.

Minzy smiled at me dreamily, “I wish I was in a relationship as sweet as yours,” she pouted envious, as we both headed towards the exit.

“Your time will come,” I assured her, my arm still wrapped around her shoulder as we walked, “but yeah…he’s a great one isn’t he?” I laughed happily.

She nodded her head enthusiastically, “he’s a definite keeper,” she whispered in my ear.

Giggling together like high school girls, engrossed in our conversation about the famed rapper…too engrossed even, not paying attention to where we were walking as we suddenly hit a road block, coming face to face with a hard wall…or so I thought.

“Kkaepsong…” a voice sang, causing the both of us to look up.

“Unnie…” She whispered to me cautiously.

Tightening my hold around Minzy, I hope for the heavens to allow the ground to swallow me up for I hope my gut feeling was wrong, “the ….why?” I whispered ever so quietly, only allowing the both of us to hear.

“Sorry…” Minzy greeted, bowing our heads as I kept my gaze to the floor.

“We are ONE! Hello, we are EXO!” they then greeted, recovering from the mishap a few seconds ago and back to their manners.

“Annyeonghaseyo,” I smiled, lifting my head for a minute second.

“Unnie we have to go, our rehearsal starts in five minutes,” Minzy urged, thankful for having an excuse to run.

“Oh really?” I said with widened eyes, “oh sorry, if you would excuse us we have to run,” I said in a rush.

Without waiting, I dragged Minzy away, rushing back to our room not sparing a glance back feeling the heated stare on my back. 

“The hell…what are they doing here?” I complained, squeezing Minzy’s hand tighter.

“I don’t know…but they’re not promoting right now so I don’t know,” she answered, with our waiting room in sight.

“Wow…isn’t it so sweet that EXO came to cheer their SNSD sunbaenims?” a staff gossiped to another, walking past us as they gushed about the male idols.

Minzy and I stared at each other, amused to have our question answered without a hassle, “great…now that baboon is going to be here to watch us live,” I whined, pushing the door open to be met by the hateful gaze of our leader.

“Where the hell have you two been? We have less than five minutes to prepare,” CL scolded, microphone in hand while Dara stood beside her obediently. 

“It’s just a rehearsal, calm your ,” I muttered beneath my breath, walking up to the female staff member to fix on the equipment.

“Just because it’s not the actual performance that does not leave any room for slacking,” CL snarled, “especially you Minzy, you of all people should know that you shouldn’t have spent that long in the restroom.”

“Leave her out of this, if your mad take it out on me, she didn’t do anything wrong,” I stood up for her.

Having a scoff in return, CL just shook her head arrogantly, “just make sure you don’t make any mistakes…I’m not going to make up for your mistakes,” Dara second.

“Just take care of yourself,” I retorted, catching our stylist unnies shake their head disappointedly at their behaviour. 

“Okay, please follow me everyone,” the staff announced, the whole group of our dancers and us leaving our room for the rehearsals on our specially designed stage.

CL haughtily taking the lead whilst brushing past my shoulder, giving me more than a hard push as I stumbled on my spot, “just the norm…take a deep breath Bom,” I chanted to myself, refraining myself from doing anything rash becoming a usual routine.

“Come on noona,” Dony said, an encouraging smile on his face as he urged for me to hurry.

“Let’s do this unnie, just think of oppa waiting for you,” Minzy teased, grabbing my arm was we both hurried behind the others, ready to practice our performances for the day.

“Jihye unnie, don’t forget not to miss the beat when you’re supposed to move…I don’t want you to bump into me again,” CL spoke, adjusting her in-ear as we approached the set.

“Neh, of course,” Jihye could only reply helpless.

Rolling my eyes behind the scene, I glanced at Minzy making a chatter gesture with my hand feeling more than annoyed by how our leader was treating everyone as if she was above us all, “Yah! Lee Chaerin! Jihye is still older than you, show a bit of respect!” I scolded her, ensuring nobody else besides us YG family crew heard.

“Respect? Unnie, you need to earn it, why don’t you perfect your breathing practices first then we can talk about respect,” CL scoffed, stepping up the steps to the stage.

Insulted by what the younger female said, the Hi-tech and crazy crew all turned back to look at me bewildered, feeling as horrified as I was as they bit their lower lips fed up with her behaviour.

“Unnie…”Minzy whined cautiously, our whole crew making our way onto the stage as we prepared by taking our positions.

“What? It’s true,” CL said with no regret.

Gaping at her while my hands balled into fists, I took a deep breath before replying her carefully, “well then, make sure not to let your voice crack…oh and especially when you scream, you tend to sound a bit rough then go off key,” I smiled sweetly, “oh and how could I forget about how loud you scream into your microphone…”

“This bit-“ CL said, only stopping midway the word as a staff member approached us.

“Okay, so just please be careful with the pyrotechnics up front, but other than that the stage is completely safe,” the staff informed us, giving us a thumbs up as the go signal.

“An eye for an eye,” I said proudly, feeling great to let her taste a bit of her own medicine, catching one of our dancers tap my shoulder enthusiastically.

With the cue from the producers, our MR played as the lot of us ran through our performance, hair flipping here and there as we sung our hearts out, CL taking the lead as she ran back and fourth across the stage as usual, just wanting to pass today’s comeback stage as I ensured not to make any mistakes with our choreography, I sensed a few pairs of eyes on us as various artists stood near the set, watching the profound YG girl group performing, looks of admiration everywhere as it marked that 2NE1 was officially back.

“Okay good job, we will inform you when the official recording will be done,” the producer announced, as we all walked off the stage.

Smiling to the idols as CL threw her arm around my shoulder happily, “annyeonghaseyo,” she continued to greet the