The Second Chance of A Suicidal Idol

Roomies (2)

Joon-woo's face flattened at the sight. On his board sat 'kitten' in large letters. He frowned and looked to Hyun, who had decided such.

"Hyung, why?" Joon-woo asked, annoyance escaping his tone.

Hyun smiled at him, breaking out into laughter as he looked at Joon-woo's board.

"My drawing is so accurate to you!" Jaesang egotistically said, gesturing to the simple cat drawing next to the lettering.

It wasn't poorly drawn, but Joon-woo thought his to be better. But more importantly, the drawing was a blank-faced black cat. Hyun-Ok seemed to find the comparison accurate, as he chuckled at Joon-woo's annoyed expression.

Jesus, he thought, would he be known as a kitten in this life too? And it wasn't even left at that. His emoji was also a cat... but written in parenthesis next to it was 'kitten'. Joon-woo shook his head.

"Hyung." Joon-woo groaned, "Why?" He asked again

Hyun tilted his head, "You are avoidant and quiet and you always look at us with much thought..." He explained. "Even your hair–" He gestured to Joon-woo's longer hair, "Like a cat, but you're small and young, so like a kitten." He explained.

"Yes, yes– When I saw you and Reggie talk for the first time. I saw a stiffly stood kitten and an overly excited puppy." Jaesang further explained.

Joon-woo shook his head, 'small', he had been called 'small' again. "I don't want to room with you guys anymore..." He joked, looking away out of annoyance.

Hyun-Ok cooed, "The youngest is still acting like a cat..." He said, calm composure breaking into laughter.

Joon-woo huffed. Maybe rooming with these guys would be as bad.

–+–

In Ha-rin's arms lie Ju Hae and draped across their bodies were cutesy magical girl dresses that ended just above their mid-thigh. Loosely hung around their neck was a ribbon and their hair was pulled into space buns.  In Ha-rin's arms Ju Hae was pale and unconscious.

It was the first show of their first world tour, and Ju Hae had passed out in Ha-rin's arms on stage. And in front of her were thousands of concerned fans, in horror, looking upon her. Lightsticks suddenly stopped waving. Music suddenly stopped playing.

And staff– why was no staff coming out to help? Why was no one slinging Ju Hae over their backs and getting her off stage? Why were they letting this sight be seen for so long? Why hadn't Ha-rin taken action? Panic rang from the sold out crowd.

Ha-rin recalled Ju Hae's eating habits like the back of her hand. The hand-sized daily diets, the comments, the scales drastic number drops. And here Ha-rin sat, eyes piercing her and staring at her lack of leadership ability.

Staff, she thought, where were they? Ju Hae's breath was slow as if she was exhausted, slow as in slowing and slowing. Staff, why weren't they helping?

Joon-woo woke up, breathing heavily. His body was warm with cold sweats and the weight of the blanket suddenly felt anything but comfy. He threw it off of him and sat up.

It was dark. The dorm was dark, the small window reflected dark, and the sound of snoring filled his ears. Joon-woo peered at the analog clock upon the wall. It was 4:47 A.M. and Joon-woo knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again.

The memory haunted him. As after that day, their group was headlined as something unfavorable. The clip of Ha-rin, leader of Cheerleader, frozen with her passed out member in her arms, had gone viral. Pity collected and protests rang constantly at their company and Ju Hae was hospitalized.