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Prologue

The spotlight is blinding, but it's not the kind of light that makes you feel special. It's cold, unforgiving—a harsh reminder that you are, and always will be, just another face in the crowd.

[Y/N] stood backstage, her heart racing in her chest, fighting to control the breath that seemed to catch in her throat. She wasn't supposed to be nervous. She had trained for this moment for years—every day in the practice room, every sleepless night spent rehearsing, every critique from the company that felt more like a punch than advice. They had told her she was ready. They had said it was her time to shine.

But now, standing here, it didn't feel like her time at all.

Through the heavy curtain, she could see the other girls—her bandmates—laughing together, a tightly-knit group whose smiles seemed so effortless. They were family, or at least, they acted like it. She wasn't part of that. She never had been.

In her reflection on the glass door, she saw the raw nerves in her eyes, a girl on the edge of breaking down. She wasn't like the others. She wasn't the picture of confidence, the one who commanded the stage with ease. She wasn't even sure she belonged here.

"Don't mess this up," she whispered to herself, but even the words felt hollow. How could she not mess up when the weight of the entire company's expectations were pressing down on her?

When the curtain finally rose and the music blared, the crowd cheered—but it wasn't for her. Not yet. She was just another shadow on the stage, another girl who had to prove herself.

As she stepped forward into the spotlight, she knew something they didn't—something that no one else seemed to care about. Her journey wasn't about fame or the applause. It was about surviving the betrayals that were already unfolding behind the scenes. The company had already written her off. Her teammates—her "sisters"—had turned away, not out of malice, but out of ambition.

And she? She was left to fight for herself, alone.

But what they didn't know—what they couldn't see—was the fire inside her, the quiet determination to rise from the shadows and prove them all wrong. She was more than just a background player. She had a story to tell. A story they would have to listen to—whether they liked it or not.