Meori Apeuda

Epilogue

A hand tapped onto my shoulder and when I looked up, Hyun-Ki stood before me, holding up ten fingers to tell me that we were due in ten minutes. I nodded and took out one of my earphones.

"Are you okay?" he asked and I grimaced, but nodded. "It will get better, when we're on stage, I think. I'm still nervous, can you believe it?" I chuckled and he smiled. "Yeah, I don't think that'll ever go away. But you guys will rock this, I know it!"

"Thanks, hyung..." I murmured and he squeezed my shoulder encouragingly, smiling warmly. Then he left to assemble the rest of the members. He had been such an incredible source of strength and unwavering support to us these last months, to me especially.

No matter if it was sorting out small disputes within the team out of stress, surprisingly stopping by with a bag full of groceries because we forgot to shop again while thinking about lyric adjustments for the new album or just genuinely asking "How are you?" ...

I honestly couldn't imagine getting through this time without him. I think I probably would have crashed again.

Because I desperately wanted to show everyone that I was still able to do the job, to write, to produce, to lead my team, despite everything that happened. On more than one occasion he had held me back, ignoring my protest, threatening to take my laptop and phone from me, so I'd have to take a break.

Smirking I put my earphones back in, trying to tune out the noise of the crowd in front of the stage and started the song again, rehearsing the choreo in small movements. It was our comeback tonight.

The song that we would show was called "God's menu". It was the one Kaylee had inspired, back on Jeju Island, on that one evening she had called herself a five star michelin. The song that broke my writer's block. As soon as the intro started she was back in my head.

But to be honest, everything reminded me of her. A whiff of the perfume of a person passing by. A funny video someone sent to me that I would love to show her. And music. Music all over the place.

I sighed. Nearly seven months had passed since that day. I still woke up some nights, drenched in sweat because the picture of her lying there in her blood still came back. But it has definitely gotten better.

The members had helped me a lot. I was so thankful for them every single day. Cheering me up, ripping me out of occasionally lethargy...they had saved me again.

I took out my phone, ready to turn it off, when it suddenly rang. A smile spread on my face and I picked up quickly.

"Hello?"

"G'day mate!"

I threw my head back and laughed. "What's this? I'm sending you on a vacation home and that's how you greet me?"

Her laugh rang clear and joyful in my ear. "Sorry, love. But my accent did return, I hung out with Cara quite a lot. She says hi by the way."

"Hi back to her. I hope she's gonna visit us really soon." I smiled and leaned back against the wall.

Kaylee had been in Australia for two and a half weeks now. The trial against Brent had started, but with the evidence she had managed to record on her phone it really was a piece of cake.

After all he had admitted killing Jessy and with the recording of what happened after he was done for. He wouldn't see freedom again so fast, no matter how much Daddy Mason was ready to pay.

With a soft voice she asked: "Are you already at the hall?" I nodded and then remembered she couldn't see it.

"Yeah, I'm behind the stage and Hyun-Ki-nim just told me that we'll start in about ten minutes. Now he took off to find my - how did you put it so lovely once? - Crackheads?"