girl()friend // hyewon

ix

The theater was in absolute chaos. Only a few hours before the big show, and Chaewon did not feel prepared at all. She was going to lose it. She was going to get up on stage, and forget all her lines instantly. How many times had she practiced her part? Obsessed over her lines and meticulously block her scenes. All of that would be wasted because as Chaewon had learned in the past few weeks, she was incredibly gay and Hyeju was incredibly attractive.

Yeah, she had noticed it before, but with Hyeju in her Prince costume Chaewon literally had trouble breathing. What gives someone the right to look so good in a shirt and pants? It looked so good on Hyeju, showed off her lightly toned arms, the openness of the collar showing off her nice collarbones. Her hair was left untouched by Yeojin, so every few minutes Hyeju would be pushing it out of her face and running her fingers through it, leaving Chaewon staring like an idiot. No one had the right to be that fine.

The reality of the situation had set in as she heard people beginning to gather outside the theater, waiting to come in and take their seats. Chaewon still hadn't put on her dress, and she had yet to see Hyeju at all.

The cast and crew alike were running about the theater, putting things in their places and taking the last little while to wish each other good luck. Chaewon could see Yeojin and Yerim up in the catwalk, hands discreetly intertwined and a wide smile on Yeojin's face. Cute, she thought. Yubin and Gahyeon were running their lines for the millionth time, because Yubin was still worried about messing up. Siyeon and Bora had put their costumes on already, dressed up as knights of the castle. The younger girls were now dressed in maid's dresses, now it was only the leads that needed to get ready.

"Chae?" Chaewon felt a hand on her shoulder and recognized Hyunjin's voice. "You okay?"

"Yep," Chaewon tried to exhale and relax. "Just nerves,"

"You're going to do great," Hyunjin told her. "I'm sorry about your Mom,"

Chaewon tensed. She had told Hyunjin about the phone call after they wanted to know why Hyeju took her to ditch the entire practice. According to Hyunjin they needed a pretty good reason, and as soon as Hyunjin saw the tears forming in the corners of Chaewon's eyes, she stopped giving them any trouble.

"I wish she was here," Chaewon admitted softly. "She said she would be, she promised,"

"Isn't your brother here, at least?" Hyunjin offered.

"Both of them are, Minhyun's been staying at my house already and Jaemin just flew to see me," Chaewon grinned at the thought of seeing her brother again. "They know it's hard to be without mom, that's why they come to my performances and stuff,"

"That's cool of them," Hyunjin agreed. "If I gave you permission to say hi to them, and only them, before the show, would that brighten your mood?"

Chaewon looked back at her with her mouth hung open. "Really? Hyunjin that would mean so much-"

"I know I know, I'm a saint," Hyunjin patted her head. "You'll have to do it before costume changes, so do it soon. And don't take too long,"

"I won't, I promise," Chaewon hugged her. "Thank you Hyunjin,"

Hyunjin tried to play it off like she didn't care but Chaewon could see the genuine smile in her eyes. "Yeah yeah, just don't make me regret it,"

Chaewon watched her figure disappear into the anxious crowd of cast members and tried to keep her breathing steady. She could do this. Totally fine.

Chaewon spotted Jungeun among the crowd, without Jinsoul hanging off her which was, frankly, an unusual sight these days. Jungeun also looked...suspicious? Like she was doing something she shouldn't be. She had a box in her hands and was looking around like a thief expecting to be caught.