ꜱᴄᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏᴜꜱ - ʜᴇᴇᴊᴀᴋᴇᴋɪ

✦ 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 - ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ ✦

Niki - March 8th, 2026

The sound of the deep bass vibrating against the ground nearly drowned out the sound of someone calling my name behind the locked door of my dressing room. Despite the desperation in their voice, I chose to reach for my cheap gas station cigarettes instead. I ignored their limp state and lit one up, losing myself inside the buzzing music nearby.

Taking in a sharp inhale, I allowed the nicotine to burn against the back of my throat before I carefully breathed it out. I watched the smoke drift in front of my half-lidded eyes, but it was a sensation I was more than used to.

The knocking at my door had nearly turned into a beatdown. I grinned to myself and at last rose to my feet, abandoning my cushy couch to approach the door.

"What the hell took you so long?" Sunghoon scoffed, shoving his way inside with Jay following behind. "Thought you fuckin' died for a second."

"I was jerking off," I shrugged, trying to make my joke as believable-sounding as possible. The two only gave me a short laugh as we collected onto the black leather sofa.

"Yeah, like you have anyone to jerk to," Sunghoon muttered, shooting me a glance before stealing one of my cigarettes from my box on the side table.

"I could if I wanted to," I shrugged, keeping my gaze focused on the wall, which was decorated with random staff photos.

"Well, why don't you find someone already?" Jay raised a brow, leaning his elbows onto his knees to stare at me.

"Don't need to," I answered shortly, examining my cigarette like it was more interesting than my own bandmates. "I get enough from hearing your ridiculous stories about your dumbass boyfriend."

"Oh, come on," Jay rolled his eyes. "He's not that bad."

"He's pretty bad," I widened my eyes to emphasize my point. "I remember meeting him and he was...a lot."

"At least he's not boring and moody like Heeseung is," Sunghoon chimed in with a smirk.

"Heeseung?"

- a few months prior -

"I think I see him," Sunghoon nearly shouted to be heard over the shouts throughout the dimly lit bar. The sounds of chatter and music were almost therapeutic to me. I was certainly...acquainted with the party life. Though I was more into the drugs and drinks over the hookers. I leave those for Sunghoon and Jay.

I followed the two over towards a booth near the back, and I couldn't tell how Sunghoon spotted them from so far away. Maybe because he's obsessed with this guy he's seeing. I was pretty curious to see the man who actually managed to keep Sunghoon's attention for more than an hour. That was never accomplished before, and that's just a fact.