"Where there is hope, there is always pain."
When you were young, there was one thing you wanted more than anything in the world. One thing you would give your very soul up to achieve, if only it meant you would finally be able to make your mark in...
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It's been three months.
Three months since your world has been turned upside down.
You blink violently when the car honks, nearly tripping over the curb as you step back onto the safety of the sidewalk, bystanders murmuring under their breath at the sight of a near accident. The attention burning a hole into your neck, you pull your hat further down your face, hoping that will perhaps cover up what little shame you may have left.
If they manage to get any more pictures of you this week, you just know that you'll have an earful to sit through back at the company, and you'd prefer not to take any chances.
Or perhaps the simple gesture is done to hide the smirk that appears on your face at the little memory of the day you first stepped into this country, a memory that occurred only three months ago but feels like eons.
Perhaps the adrenaline in your chest from the near-death encounter reminds you of a time when things were simpler.
When you could walk across a street in the middle of ongoing traffic, and none would be the wiser as to who you were. When you didn't have to think twice before stepping outside or bundle yourself up just to conceal your identity. Perhaps a part of you longs for the days when you could walk down the street without someone wondering if you were the girl from the pictures, the staff member from the news, or the dancer from that night. A time when you could fall on top of strange men without guards or staff members clamoring to cover up news or rumors of a scandal.
Like the day you saw the masked man for the first time.
At the memory, you can't help but chuckle to yourself.
He was right after all.
You will never see each other again.
Catching sight of Taehyung's face in an ad in the distance, you swallow hard at the jump in your chest at the mere sight of him, even through a medium such as the side of a skyscraper.
Then again, would you even want to meet the masked man again?
Do you want something else?
Something even farther out of your reach?
Turning away, you rock on your heels as you wait for the onslaught of traffic to pass by. The minutes tick fervently in your mind each time another car passes you by, your eyes brutally trained on the crossing light, as you wait for it to change.
Forget being scolded for another public spectacle, if you're late for this meeting, you just know the lecture will be long and tedious. You can tell by the way your phone buzzes in your pocket that you're pushing it, but you don't dare take the chance to pull it out and check your messages for fear that you'll miss the light change.
