twenty two - wheein & hwasa

part three

in which the aftermath occurs.

one:
wheein

wheein wakes up cold and disappointed on her bedroom floor, her friends scattered around her in similar fashions. the moonlight is no longer magical, only melancholic and grey as it cuts a hole in the parted curtains. perhaps the only source of light in the dim room is wendy's star-shaped nightlight, that sits in the center of the pillow circle. wheein releases her hand on a small roll of paper that she didn't realize that she was holding. silently, it reads:

Dear Wheein.

Your dark haired friend with bangs's soulmate told me your name. 

seulgi's soulmate must know her, wheein guesses.

I don't know how she knows you. I think you would know by now, that your soulmate is Hwasa, from DYSMB. I'm really sorry about how the press has probably treated you, or will treat you. I'm really sorry for being selfish. I shouldn't leave you my e-mail or my phone number, but I will, because I'm all alone. I'm all I have. It's asawhwasa@gmail.com.
my phone number is +82 838 365 7368. give me a call sometime. I live in Seoul, and I think i'm in Daegu right now, at your house. I'm going to visit you. I have your street name so I can send you letters. It's going to be great. I left my keychain on the top bunk. there are no mirrors in this place, but i'll know what you look like.

— Hwasa

wheein sighs happily, tears floating in her dark eyes. she knows that she has been assigned to get something that she can never have. she gets up, and stumbles across to the top bunk of her bedroom. there's a small keychain that resembles a capital h, made out of delicate daisies. wheein thinks it's charming, and dainty, so dainty that she attaches it to her makeup bag in the bathroom, because it will never leave. as she tapes the note to her mirror, she looks over the phone number. grabbing her phone out of her back pocket, she saves it, just in case.

hwasa✨

+82 838 365 7368

notes? 

dream girl <3

seulgi starts to groan on the floor, rolling over until she wakes. she mumbles sleepily, a couple of happy, incoherent words that jam together and slide out of her mouth. finally, she hugs herself tightly and sits straight up. wheein's smile falls off her face, and she turns around in her bed, trying to hide the light of her phone.

"wheein?" she hears, a cautious whisper in the dark. she's almost afraid to answer. "yes?" she cautiously-whispers-in-the-dark back. 

seugli takes a big breath and walks across the room towards wheein. "wheein. i'm so so lucky!" she squeals, sitting down on the edge of the bed. rolling towards her, the blonde tries to use the duvet to cover up the tears that have been falling so quietly. "yeah?" wheein barely has time to respond.

 "my soulmate!" seulgi continues, "it's joohyun! the girl from down the street, whom i've had a crush on for the longest time!" she places a hand over her heart, closing her eyes. wheein takes the moment to force a smile. "that's totally great! i'm so happy for you!" she sighs through gritted teeth. it sounds horribly false, but wheein hopes that in seulgi's happy state of delirium, she won't notice. 

"aw! thanks!" seulgi laughs, and gets off the bed. worked like a charm. 

"man," wendy's voice cracks from across the pillows. she lounges on the floor, cookie crumbs dusting her cheeks and chin, "this girl is smart. like, she wrote down her address, her phone number, her name, email, even her physical appearance. wow. dude."

seugli's eyes brighten tenfold, and then they fall to her shoes. "huh. that's cool. joohyun didn't leave anything." anyone can hear the slight pang of jealousy in her voice when she comments on sooyoung, wendy's soulmate's handwriting. 

miyeong chimes in to the conversation from the top bunk. "yeah... my soulmate didn't leave anything. too bad. i left my phone number and told him to call me when he wakes up. but i doubt it. his room was a mess." she drawls, looking at her nails. 

her phone rings. "oh," miyeong exclaims, "this has got to be him!" 

all the girls quickly gather round, including yongsun, who has been at the window for most of their conversations. she's also got hints of tears in her eyes, and wheein wonders what hers are for. 

the phone rings again. 

connecting... 

the words on the screen blare. and finally, a deep voice hums on the other side. "hello?" miyeong's soulmate questions and the girls hold in squeaks of excitement. "hello? hello!" miyeong tries to sound calm. 

"is this miyeong?" the voice continues. "yes?" miyeong pipes nervously. 

"yeah, uh. i'm daeyul. your soulmate?"

two:

hwasa

the hall outside is exploding, and hectic with people. hwasa can tell, even from the bathroom that she has just woken up on. there are reporters, and stylists, and band members and press running around frantically, trying to make sense of what probably just happened. if her soulmate was forced to escape into the bathroom, hwasa can tell that odds are that it did happen. 

that the shock was probably too much for her poor space-curtained daegu girl. the cameras were too pushy, the spotlights too bright. if hwasa wasn't used to it, she would do the same, and she doesn't blame wheein. at all. and what about jisoo's soulmate, what about them? were they also entrapped in a tight circle of media, pressing their microphones forward like sharp spears aiming for critical damage? hwasa doesn't want to know. she doesn't want to go through the miles of tv footage in front of her manager and her bandmates. but she will be doing that later. sitting on the bedroom floor, scrolling through the breakdowns and emotional lapses that will have been captured on illegal cameras in this very bathroom. 

hwasa knows that she will be watching her own life unfold, in ways that she doesn't like. hwasa knows that she and wheein can never be safely together if her career is successful. she doesn't want to exit this bathroom, to show the public the tear tracks on her cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes. she wants to be safe and hidden, just like wheein is. safe, from so many judgemental eyes that watch from the dark corners of every tempting mistake. but eventually, she will have to do so. she will have to do what every star has to do. she has to fall.

walking towards the door and pressing her manicured hands down on the cool handle, she turns the knob, ready for the swarm of camera holding menaces to attack her. this is what it takes, she thinks. this is what i need to do to live my life. 

and then she parts the sea of shocked faces singlehandedly and marches towards the main platform, up the stairs, clutching jisoo's wrist along the way. she grabs the microphone, and announces herself. "i am hwasa, and this is jisoo, and we will live happily with our soulmates wether you like it, or not!"

but she doesn't do that. she lets the masses of eyes stare her down, again. and again. and again.