Strings & Stitches

Chapter 12

After Gahyun finally woke up and Bora's nerves weren't in chaos that much anymore, she was able to get back to work, returning to her ideal late nights spent in the bar. Tonight was no exception, though it seemed that it was a bit too hectic. Maybe the cause of that was the fact that she hadn't been working for a few days, or that she was still a bit sleepless. Overall, the music and the crowd felt louder.

Handong was still the same, behind the bar making all different kinds of drinks. Her orange hair seemed more faded away, and Bora thought that she might be looking too much into this whole situation, because she was missing out on the work for only a few days.

When the halftime break of her performance arrived, she disappeared backstage where one of the stage coordinators walked up to her. "Are you feeling alright?" The question caught Bora off-guard, giving her the thought that maybe things in the club weren't different, but it was she, herself, that was acting differently.

She couldn't really afford the thoughts of that now, so she just shook them away, nodding her head to the guy. "Yeah, thanks," She said and walked to the changing room, wanting to fix her outfit and hair, and maybe her mood in general.

There were a few more things that the guy wanted to say but since Bora walked away, he wasn't able to do that. Clearly, not everything was okay. "Hey, I know something happened in your private life, but you really need to step it up;" He dared to say, trying to sound as nice as possible. "You're not captivating the crowd like usual."

Bora slowed down her steps, turning around in disbelief at the audacity of this guy. Well, she shouldn't be too surprised, but the whole bundle of troubles that were heaving her mind didn't need anything else to add up. "Well, if you want them to be captivated, why don't you go out on the stage and try it out yourself?"

Just that reaction alone showed that Bora was definitely not feeling like herself. Usually, she was very professional, even in her speech. "Hey, I'm just trying to make you aware of it. I don't want them to start complaining,"

"Maybe try and stop complaining yourself, first." She said, obviously realizing she wasn't being professional, but the annoyance was higher than any awareness at the moment. She turned back again and continued the way to the changing room, hoping the guy wouldn't add anything else.

Luckily for her mental state, he indeed didn't follow her. The guy recognized that if he tried 'giving her advice' like for example losing more clothes or talking to the audience, that Bora could fly into a rage.

No one likes being told how to do their job after all.

Her night for sure didn't start well, and it didn't look promising for the next few performances either. She thought that after Gahyun would be out of her unconscious state, she would feel more at ease to come back to working, but she found herself angered and annoyed at tiny things, and even said no to a few private performances.

The bartender was quick to notice the change in her friend, though, probably being the only one in the entire bar who understood what she was going through. So, for most of her resting periods, Bora stuck to the bar, close to Handong who didn't bombard her with questions and made her feel calmer.

"So... what does the rest of your night look like?" Handong asked, placing Bora's favourite cold drink in front of her. She knew Bora had to perform on stage again, but there could be extras afterwards. Those were never really planned beforehand.

The brunette shrugged her arms, taking a rather large sip of the drink. "Not sure, yet, I guess I'll just pass the private dances tonight"

Handong nodded, "You just do what you think is best, alright? The boss won't think less of you;" Bora was the 'main attraction' here. Surely he understood that everyone had rough periods in their life.