ETERNAL

Chapter Two

       ❝I'D RATHER DIE DOING WHAT I LOVE
THAN LIVE A SUCCESSFUL LIFE
DOING SOMETHING I HATE,
THAT'S WHO I AM.❞
       
—L

∆∆∆

Sighing, I push my thoughts aside and change into some black leggings, sneakers, and a black hoodie with purple/pink ombré writing spelling out ET ER NA L on the back and sunglasses. My usual beanie wasn't necessary as I was wearing a hoodie, so I was pretty safe to go home.

Except I wasn't going home. Instead, I went to my studio. It was just across the building that had RISINGSTAR PRODUCTIONS in big writing above the doors. It was a very big glass building that had a flat roof most people went up when it was warm. There were flowers surrounding it giving off a welcoming vibe—courtesy of Eunji.

My studio was a bit more my style. Smaller, there were still flowers but they were black lilies, I think. Eunji thought they suit my personality more than the other flowers she had put on our combined studio.

Making my way to the studio using the stairs—it was on the fourth floor, I just wanted to get fitter if I had to do any physical activities during interviews or ETERNAL STARS, which was basically a weekly video (or one made before and after a concert) posted on YouTube and tweeted out, I rarely ever did tweet things, the girls decided to do it for me sometimes.

Opening the door to my studio using my keys, I immediately throw my bag to the ground and kick off my shoes, ready to continue with my mixtape.

I was going to perform one or two of the tracks at our next concert as a surprise, then release the mixtape a few days later. I wasn't one to make people wait for another album, so I made my own for them to listen to while they waited for our seventh album.

It had been, what, seventh, eighth, year together? I was thirteen-fourteen when I auditioned, a year or two before Jungkook. Back then, I had multiple songs, choreography, music, albums, everything was planned out for the future. I had it all planned out. My hair colour for each track, the theme, what the song itself represented, what the album represented, why I was even in ETERNAL.

And a hidden track.

It was about my love for each member of ETERNAL. How they treated me and how I treated them in return. How we made it this far. How we got along so well. How we cared for each other. How we looked after each other. How we loved each other like sisters.

They were my entire life. They have been since I met them, our bond has grown and is still growing, we were like wheels on a car, there's four of us or none of us. We can't just be replaced like tires, though, but we are never that far apart. We're closer than most, we do everything together.

Yet I still keep lying to them.

Turning towards the piano, I sit on the lowered stool and my fingers glide along the keys desperately, as if I was craving it.

And I was. It had been a few hours since I had last played, that was enough for me, time to get back to playing.

Does it ever get boring?

Never. No matter how many times my fingers press the keys, over and over again, no matter how long I sit at this piano doing nothing but playing, writing and processing, no matter how many days or weeks or months I spend playing, it never gets old. It only gets better.