Comeback Stage

Disclaimer: I have nothing against Kara whatsoever. Their characters in this story are nowhere
related in real life. Heck, I don’t even know them personally. I hope this is clear as crystal.
P.S. Don't mind the grammatical errors. I haven't proof-read yet.

August 23, 2014. 3:00 PM. SBS Inkigayo. KARA's Comeback Stage.

A girl stood back stage together with three other girls. All of them were on stand-by, waiting for their turn on stage. The said girl had her hands clenched and unclenched on the seemingly unfamiliar and heavy microphone she held on for dear life. Her hands had kept on shaking, her skin soon becoming clammy. Her knees had seemed to be too weak for her liking that she felt the need to sit down and take a deep breath; however, she didn’t, as the MCs in-charge at the moment had already began their segment, gradually announcing the next performers cheerfully.

“That was a really great performance. Don’t you think so Suho-sshi?”  Baekhyun, Suho’s co-member in EXO and his co-MC at Inkigayo, said.

Suho and Baekhyun, who were in-charge of that particular segment, had kept on talking casually after Sistar’s performance. They were unaware of a particular girl’s nervousness back-stage. Despite her slight freak-out with before their performance though, she had kept a stoic-expression on her face, not wanting her other members to notice how nervous she was. She took deep breaths as a remedy for her slightly disturbing problem, which had seemed to work eventually. Soon enough, the MCs had already called them on the stage.

“Let’s now welcome KARA with Mamma Mia!” Suho called.

The main PD – who was positioned near the entrance of the back-stage, and was also in-charge of the performers going on stage – motioned for the whole group to enter the main stage.

“Youngji, you better not mess this up,” Hara – Youngji’s co-member – hissed at her quietly before she took a step on the main stage; there were clear traces of venom on her tone of voice. Hara had kept a normal-face as she told Youngji off, which the latter had bitterly nodded in response, not wanting to retort back; in fact, she wasn’t planning on doing that any time sooner. She couldn’t accept how Hara was able to control and manipulate her co-members with her -face though. To other people’s eyes, she may seem as innocent and frail just like her appearance, but in reality, she was the exact opposite, and Youngji knew. She knew.

One. Two. Three.

It took three seconds before their song was played on the background, readily starting their dance routine. As Youngji took her first glance at the crowd, she couldn’t help but smile slightly as she saw some of the audience holding signs with her name. A sudden wave of pride had swarmed her body at that moment; even though she was just officially making her debut, she already had fans. She gave them a wink in return and proceeded to focus on their routine instead. She didn’t want to mess up with their performance. At least not yet.

♫ Think of me more than anyone else, like a queen.
Treat me more highly, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. ♫

Youngji couldn’t help but inwardly scoff as Hara had reached her part in the song. She believed that she had the better voice between them, yet she had more parts than her. She’s younger, yes, but was age really the basis for everything? Well, to their CEO, it was. Apparently, Youngji was just debuting, and the company didn’t want her messing up everything since she was just new. Moreover, she was indeed younger than the others, and apart from the age issues, she was an amateur, whereas the others were already professional performers.

♫ Start it. It’s time to be okay. ♫

She had given her best for her part, despite its shortness. Two lines. She only had two mere lines for the entire song. Despite that, she gave it her all and even gave the audience a wink as a sort of fan service, which had garnered more attention from the audience than what Hara had done when it was her turn. Youngji guessed that since Hara was already a “professional” performer, the audience had already gotten tired of her. She couldn’t help but internally smirk at that thought, feeling somewhat content that she seemed to be doing a lot better than her.

A part came up when she had to stand beside Hara. She took advantage of that moment and purposely stepped on her feet – only lightly though, but nevertheless, painful. She flashed a sorry-look on her way, when she was truly grinning in achievement – internally, of course. To the audience’s eyes, it was a mere mistake of an amateur idol performer. However, she was no amateur.

♫ Cherish me. Cherish me. Cherish me. Don’t stop. ♫

Another part of hers came up, and yet again, she gave it her best. Suddenly, the scene in Youngji’s eyes had changed. She had suddenly flew to the dance studio she had gone to after their group practices as she tried to master their routine for four more hours straight without breaks, alone and wearing a white t-shirt and comfortable black leggings with pink sneakers. She felt herself walking forwards and clicked the Play button of the music player that was placed on the other side of the door. She walked backwards and stared at her figure on the mirror. Her movements had begun to flawlessly follow the beat of the music, her arms following the routine as she swayed her hips alluringly as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

♫ Everyone’s party, party, party, Mamma Mia!
Today is the start of this night. ♫

She reminisced those times when her mother first taught her to dance. She remember when she left, and how she struggled to go up and reach out to her dreams. She remembered those times when she was still in the hospital. The memories haunted her as she danced, but instead of crumbling down, she fought with then and danced whole-heartedly, giving her all.

Then she remembered the other reason why she had worked hard to be an idol. She remembered him, how she was close to him than before – how she was close to him as she worked hard to get revenge, to take back what was hers before. Her heart was suddenly filled with hate and anger, which fuelled her to dance even more as she let her anger out through the routine.

♫ Mamma Mia! Shine the light like this.
Start it. It’s time to be ok. ♫

As the song ended with her final pose, the scene had long went back to what it originally was, as she immediately registered the ecstatic claps and shouts that came from the audience. She panted, growing flustered as she felt like she was truly practicing on the dance studio instead of being on stage.  Grinning sheepishly, she stood upright and deeply bowed at the audience, truly thankful that they had liked the performance, soon noticing how Hara had done what she had done as well, even bowing deeper at the audience as tears pooled out of