connected|chan

-seven-

"You look pretty." SeungMin smiles sweetly as he stands behind EunHye.

She stares at her own reflection, confused by the person looking back at her. It's not her. The makeup. The hair. The stage outfit. It's all just an illusion. Something to make her more presentable.

"I don't like it." EunHye sighs, tugging at the uncomfortable strapless top.

"You'll be able to take it off soon." SeungMin reassures her, squeezing her shoulders in hopes of easing her discomfort just a bit.

"Not soon enough." EunHye pries her eyes from the disappointing girl looking at her.

"You ready?" Chan makes his way toward her, SeungMin's hands quickly falling from her.

"As ready as I'll ever be." EunHye mumbles, her hands fiddling with the dangling crystals hanging from her short skirt.

"Breathe. It'll be over before you know it. As soon as you step off the stage, you can come back here and change. By the time you're changed and your makeup is off, we should be done." Chan rubs at her arms, his eyes filled with love for the fragile girl.

SeungMin swallows hard and heads for the others, unable to stay within earshot of the two. He can't handle hearing their sweet words to one another. Although he told Chan he'd accepted his fate, he still doesn't like the idea of having to see and hear everything he's missing out on.

"I gotta go. We have to get back to the stage. You're up next. You and Jinnie. Focus on him and only him. The people in the crowd aren't there-okay?" Chan's words are a bit rushed as he hears the staff calling for them.

EunHye nods, her hand slipping from Chan's as he hurries to his place. Her heart thumps madly in her chest as one of the staff calmly directs her to her place. The boys have a minute and a half of the song before she comes on stage with HyunJin. She has to be in place and ready to go before it's time.

"So-you see that part of the stage-the moment the lights go down, you'll be lifted up there. HyunJin will be next to you the moment the lights come back. You know what comes next-but you have to be really still going up and coming back down-if you move too much you could slip." The staff informs her, their words hurried and hard to understand.

The staff pushes her into place, causing her to take a shaky breath. The feeling of their hands lingers on her skin like an unwanted snowstorm lingers in a normally sunny city. She trembles, the loud thumping of the music the only thing capable of keeping her grounded. Doing her best to keep track of each beat, she prepares herself for her stage debut.

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Chan rushes off stage, anxious and filled with worry as the lights dim. He can just barely make out EunHye's figure as HyunJin hurries to meet her. The bright red lights flash on and his hands are on her delicate body.

Despite his panic, EunHye seems calm. She's so focused on dancing with HyunJin that she doesn't seem to notice the loud crowd. Truthfully-he doesn't either. All he sees is the way HyunJin touches her and the way she touches him. It should be him dancing with her. Red Lights isn't a song for her and HyunJin. It should be his song with her. His chance to show her how seductive he can be while dancing.

Chan's hands ball up into fists as he takes a deep breath. He can't hold it against HyunJin. He knows that. It's just a dance. A dance that hadn't been intended for the two of them. It was a situation that couldn't be helped given the circumstances. But-for some reason-he just can't help but get jealous and angry.

"Calm down. Damn. If people could see you, they'd think you've been in a ten year relationship." ChangBin teases in hopes of lightening Chan's mood, but it's pointless.