Cora opened the door to the practice space, her face somber and her eyes narrowed towards the floor. Reina turned to her, from the circle she and the girls had formed on the floor. “We’ve narrowed it down!” She said happily.

Cora nodded. “Just place the order and I’ll pay when it gets here.”

Maria looked her and, surprisingly, spoke. “You aren’t hungry?”

Cora was surprised, since Maria was still blisteringly angry at her, but she tried not to show it. “I’ll be alright.” She said, moving to sit in the far corner of the room, away from the girls. “I need to make a call. I’ll be quick.” She said, sitting down with her back towards them. She knew she was far enough away from them not to hear her, so she dialed Mark’s number.

“What’s going on?” He asked, out of breath.

“Practicing?” She asked, and he hummed. “I just need to talk to you about something later, alright? It’s, uh, really important but I don't think I can talk about it now without breaking down.”

He was still huffy. “What? What’s going on? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but just… please let’s talk about it later. Just remind me, in case I forget.” She said, hanging up before he could continue to quiz her on it. She then turned back to the group, who were all staring at her. “Sorry,”

“What’s going on?” Reina asked immediately.

Cora shook her head. “Nothing important.”

“No, it’s something important.” Maria said, frowning. “Tell us.”

Cora shook her head again, moving to her feet. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll handle it. I’ll figure something out.”

Yuna coughed. “I think it has something to do with us, since you went to talk to Cho Hee before coming back looking all morbid.” She crossed her legs. “We deserve to know if it has to do with us.”

Reina nodded in agreement. “It isn’t really appropriate for you to keep secrets about us.”

“Yeah.” Maria agreed.

“And after the hell you put us through,” Ji-su started. “I think we deserve to know.”

“What would MinHee think if she knew you were keeping secrets from us?” Mikki asked.

And Cora snapped. “Fine! You want to know, I’ll tell you.” She threw her arms out. “We’re done for!” She crossed her arms over her chest now. “Big Hit is done with us. We haven’t been putting in enough effort, we’ve been slacking, and none of you are taking it seriously.”

Mikki scoffed. “I think you aren’t taking it seriously.”

“Mikki, so help me god if you say another word I will tear your damn throat out, I am so not in the mood for your craft.” She spat. Mikki was instantly silent. “Cho Hee brought it to my attention that we’re all slacking. Reina, you’re too worried about everyone’s well being, and not worried enough about them practicing. Mikki, you complain restlessly about everything and everybodyin the building wants you gone. Ji-su, you whine so often that they feel the same about you. Yuna, you’re so hostile, no one knows how to work with you. MinHee is too worried about the music in place of the actual dancing, which isn’t nearly as bad as everyone else.” She sighed. “And I’m not here enough. We all have problems that we’ve brought into this.

“And I’d like to point out that fighting with me is not going to solve it, oh dynamic duo.” She said, shooting a glare at Mikki and Ji-su. “And I think that we can fix this, but you need to work with me.”

Maria stood. “I’ll work with you.”

“Thank you!” Cora started, but Maria cut her off.

“I’ll work with you, if you stop lying, and come clean.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest. “We need to trust each other, all of us. Starting with you, current faithful leader.”

Cora bit her lip. “What about? What am I being untruthful about?”

“Mark.” She spat immediately. “I call Chanyeol and Sehun. They were as confused as I was, and apparently, not even Kyungsoo knew, so I know you’re lying about Kai.” She sighed. “By the way, Chanyeol is hurt that you didn’t fake date him instead.”

Cora sighed. “Fine. Jesus christ you’re all so adamant.” She rolled her eyes. “Obviously I’m with Mark. But we doubt it will last long, so we’re not official. In fact, we have a contract to keep us from getting too attached again. We’re just keeping each other company.”

Maria sighed. “And why couldn’t you tell us this?”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter