𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗽𝗶𝘁𝘆 || 𝒌𝒑𝒐𝒑 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒕 ᴮᵒᵒᵏ ¹ [MAJOR REVISIONS👷]

❝Shadows Beneath the Spotlight❞(✔︎)

[ Year: May 2013 ]

⎯⎯ ୨ THIRD PERSON'S POV ୧⎯⎯

The city outside was awake long before she was. The rustle of buses, the shriek of tires, and the echo of vendors setting up their stalls seeped through the cracks of the window like background noise to a movie she didn't remember auditioning for.

Kala sat at the edge of her bed, silent and still, staring at her toes curling against the hardwood floor. Her room looked like it belonged to someone else—a shrine to perfection. Medals glinted from hooks nailed into pastel walls. Ribbons fluttered lazily from the ceiling fan above. Shelves lined with dolls and stage playbills gave the impression of an idyllic childhood.

But in the shadows of the closet door, carefully hidden behind a row of long-sleeved training jackets, were reminders that the truth couldn't be seen from the outside. Her body told a different story.

She winced slightly as she reached for the concealer on her desk. The large bruise along her side was turning an angry shade of yellow-purple. She knew the routine by heart now: antiseptic, foundation spray, color-matched body makeup. No one could ever know.

Not her parents.

Not her brothers.

Not the world who thought she had it all.

"Kala, breakfast!" her mother called from downstairs.

Her voice, warm and bright, never failed to pierce Kala in places no bruise ever could.

"Coming, Mom!" she replied, matching the cheerfulness with practiced ease.

She slipped on a hoodie even though the spring morning air didn't call for it, pulled her sleeves past her wrists, and tucked her hair behind her ears. A quick glance in the mirror told her she still looked like "the good girl." The girl with straight A's. The rising star. The perfect daughter.

But her eyes—her eyes betrayed her.

— ✧ —

Downstairs, the Park family kitchen smelled of toasted seaweed, eggs, and rice. Her mother moved briskly around the kitchen, humming a soft melody. Her father, reading a business newspaper, looked up and smiled as she walked in.