between the spolight - purinz ✧

when the masks fall.

giselle's pov —

i closed the door, my hands clenched tightly at my sides as i listened to their footsteps fade down the hallway. a hollow, angry silence filled the room, settling over me like a weight i couldn't shake. yunjin and chaewon... i'd thought that after everything i'd done, everything i'd so carefully set up, i would finally get through to them. to her.

they didn't understand. they were acting like i'd done this out of nowhere, like i was some villain hell-bent on breaking them up for fun. i scoffed, a bitter laugh bubbling up in my throat. they couldn't see the truth. yunjin couldn't see it. she never could, not even when i'd been there for her during every late-night rehearsal, every breakdown and bad day. she'd lean on me just enough to keep me around, then drop me the moment she didn't need me anymore. and chaewon... she never even noticed me. just looked through me, like i was nothing more than a shadow lurking in the background.

but that didn't mean i was powerless. far from it.

i moved to my desk, the faint glow of my laptop screen illuminating the room as i tapped it awake. in a few quick strokes, i pulled up the messages, the photos, the small moments yunjin had once shared with me—moments she'd probably already forgotten. these little fragments were all i had left to remind myself that there was something there, that we hadn't just been friends by convenience. she'd let me in, even if only for brief moments, and that meant something to me. it still did.

i thought back to the confrontation we'd just had, to the looks on their faces. chaewon, so sure of herself, of them. and yunjin, so willing to see me as the enemy just because she didn't want to admit she'd led me on. the thought made my blood boil. how could they turn on me like that? how could she not understand? all i ever wanted was for her to see what we could have been—what we could still be, if only she'd let go of this stupid attachment to chaewon.

i pulled out my phone and scrolled through my messages until i found the group chat. rumors, carefully placed and stirred, had already begun to spread, but they were subtle enough not to draw immediate attention. just whispers, seeds of doubt that i'd planted without anyone knowing where they came from. chaewon and yunjin had managed to keep things together this time, but that didn't mean they'd survive the next wave.

and, thanks to a few shared confidences, i knew exactly where to strike.

they thought they were so strong, so untouchable. but i'd seen them unravel before; i knew their weak points. chaewon was fiercely protective, yes, but she was also proud, stubborn. yunjin, meanwhile... she hated conflict, dreaded drama. a part of her would always try to keep the peace, even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness, even if it meant staying away from people who brought trouble into her life.

it wasn't long before i had the posts ready: vague messages, cryptic hints, designed to reach just the right people without drawing direct attention back to me. just enough to make them second-guess each other, just enough to make chaewon wonder if maybe, after all, yunjin had let something slip in her past. the tension was already there—subtle, hidden behind their public front—but all it needed was a little push.

the satisfaction was instant, a surge of triumph warming my chest as i pressed "send." yunjin had always thought she could keep me on the outskirts, as if i was someone she could leave behind without a second thought. but she'd underestimated me. they both had.

i allowed myself to lean back in my chair, closing my eyes as i imagined the scene that would unfold in a few days, maybe even a few hours. their faces twisted in hurt, anger. the way they'd look at each other, seeing cracks where there'd once been trust, doubt replacing certainty. yunjin would have no one else to turn to but me, the one person who knew her secrets, who understood her better than anyone else in that entire group ever could.

a sudden knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts. i straightened, my heart racing, but i forced myself to take a steadying breath. not now, i thought, anger still simmering just beneath the surface. but it was probably just another group member, coming to ask about something trivial, something that didn't matter. nothing, really, did matter—not until i had her back.