sim.jaeyun → reality show

48

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"Haerin, are you good to walk out? Enhypen are collecting their award, are you sure you don't wanna see Jake on that stage?" Taeri winked, nudging me lightly as I stood up swiftly, quickly heading out of the place.

We assimilated into the crowd again, obviously there was attention on us, especially how I'm back conscious again, but regardless, we managed to sit back down without much of a hassle.

The boys were on the stage, Jay was holding the award proudly in his hand, and then he suddenly handed the mic to his other member, Heeseung.

He spoke his 'thank you's' and appreciated his fans, then looked over to see if anyone wanted to say anything else.

Heeseung then proceeded to just shove the mic into Jake's hand, although he didn't want to say anything. I subconsciously smiled as Jake looked as confused as ever, but regardless, began to speak.

"Like Heeseung said, thank you all for the love. And I want to give an important thank you to those who support me no matter what, those who smiled at me even under certain controversies - and most importantly, those who motivate me everyday to become better." Jake glanced over to where I was sat, and then would not cut his gaze off me.

"Thank you for being there, and, I love you." Though he was technically speaking to the crowd and his fans, the way he was only looking at me made it feel as if he was saying this directly only, to me.

Jake looked away from me with a small smile, giving the microphone back to Jay. The boys then proceeded to bow collectively and head off stage with their new award.

The award ceremony was a little long, after them, was another group, and another, and then, finally our group was called up.

It felt a little awkward for me, obviously after collapsing in front of everyone before, it felt weird coming back. Let's just hope it doesn't happen again.

Our group came up, and we were all giggling to ourselves and smiling over the fact we got such a big award.

"Haerin! You're back and up! How are you feeling?" The host directed the microphone to me, and I just smiled, looking over the crowds.

"I'm feeling a lot better, thank you for taking care of me." I smiled, giving a small bow as she nodded chuckling.

The award was handed to us, and it was a lot heavier than I anticipated. But nonetheless, we still held it up and it was our time to speak.

"Ah Petals, how can I say this?" I stared, looking over at the dozens of lightsticks from our group in the crowds, "This award is ours, yours and mine. Without you, we're nothing, thank you for everything!!"

I passed the microphone over to Taeri, who just glanced over at Hana and nodded her head, signalling something. I wondered what the hell they were doing, but finally, Taeri spoke.

Hana briefly walked over to the side of the stage, to where the crew members were. I had no idea what was going on, but regardless, just went with it.

"Yes, like Haerin said, this award is just as yours as it is ours. But there is also something else I wish to mention." Taeri cleared her throat, "Upon the recent months, our group has been horrendously mistreated."

Taeri began, and I shot my head to look at her, widened eyes and wondering what she was doing. Then, on the big screens either side of the stage, played a clip of Mingho's abusive reign.

It was the clip of Mingho scolding us for our weight, and even resorting to hitting me. Then it clipped back to Mingho's mistreatment of us and not allowing us to get rest. Another clip of him yelling at us for ruining his reputation, and another of him shouting at me for not being entertaining enough.

Gasps came from the audience, and cameras flashed heavily.

"We weren't allowed to eat normally, or live normally, we can't do anything freely. In which, this resulted in our precious member, Haerin, collapsing from exhaustion." Taeri began speaking again, and I could feel the nervous beating of my heart against my chest, "Even from certain controversies regarding other members from different groups, we have been punished collectively, and I feel that this treatment is unfair to us."

Taeri swiftly passed the microphone to Hyera.

"We love our jobs, we appreciate our fans, but this treatment is something we cannot endure any longer, especially if it causes both physical and mental distress to our members." Hyeri added onto it, "We are supposed to be touring Asia and Europe within upcoming months, however, as a group we have decided that, if management doesn't change, we will refuse to perform."

Hyera passed the microphone to me, and I just looked at her, unsure of what to do or say. Hyera gave me a look that just said, 'speak your truth Haerin.'

I hesitantly took it off, and although the nervousness was settling in my hands, I looked upon the crowd, and more specifically, towards Jake, who had just smiled at me.

"Unfortunately, it is all true. Mingho has treated us cruelly, I wasn't allowed to love the person who cared for me the most, I was restricted and treated like an animal. I tried to endure all the demands he told me to, like being severely underweight, to train as hard as I could, to revolve my life solely around my career." I continued, I could already feel myself start to tear up, "But I can't do this anymore, I can't deal with this. I live so I love, I'm a person, just like you all too."

Taeri put her hand on my shoulder as the host looked utterly shocked and in pure disbelief.

"If you choose to not support us because we act like ordinary humans, that is fine too. But I would rather give up my career, than give up on the person I love the most. That is all, thank you." I gave a deep bow, as the girls did too, and placing the microphone back on the stand, we all walked off the stage.

People whistled, clapped, screamed and yelled while taking videos and photos. It was a shocking moment to me too, I didn't even know this was happening.

As we walked off stage, one of the staff members from our team approached us, leading us into the changing rooms.

"Thank god you exposed Mingho. He was beginning to get on my nerves too." The makeup artist gave a sigh of relief.

"Where is he now anyways?" Mira inquired looking around the room to which staff had gathered around in.

"I think he left to go to the company building. I don't know why he's there, he's fucked with his job either way." Another staff member chimed in, good thing we were all on the same page about Mingho.