Bittersweet

42

December was approaching fast and so was your comeback. You, Ji Woo and Soo Jin were more than prepared. Even though you had to re-record and redo choreographies, having less members made it easier to coordinate and practice. You squeezed in some extra practice for the dances whenever you could and Ji Woo and Soo Jin would tag along because there was nothing else to do.

You were confident that you would absolutely kill the comeback, but you were less confident that people would actually take notice. Your official social media accounts for the group lost a lot of followers the moment Big Hit announced that Seo Yoon and Jae Hwa had left the group. A lot of the fans who remained were crazy about Ji Woo, who you were afraid would leave right after the comeback.

Your comeback was set for exactly the 2nd of December, which was a pretty odd choice on Big Hit's part. But at the same time, you weren't complaining. You wanted to have your comeback as soon as possible.

Beside you, Ji Woo scrolled though your group's Twitter, reading through tweets that your account had been tagged in. Her lip curled in disgust.

"Man, the unnies had more fans than I thought. We're getting so much hate because they're not there anymore. I really wanna just tweet what actually happened so they stop being so negative."

You shrugged.

"The unnies were probably the most likeable members in the group apart from you. With all the drama Soo Jin and I went through, I'm not surprised that most fans feel negatively towards us."

Ji Woo shook her head.

"But still, it's getting really bad. Like look at this one."

Ji Woo tilted her phone towards you, her finger hovering above one particularly malicious tweet.

"She's such a big attention seeker, we knew it from the moment she called Soo Jin out on that V-Live. I bet they all left cause she was too attention-hogging and never let the others have their moments. God what a fuckin psycho, I hope she leaves next so that at least Ji Woo and Soo Jin can have a peaceful career."

You felt your heart sink. You knew very well who that was aimed at. You. You wished you could take to social media and clapback, but you also knew it wasn't worth it. Those haters weren't worth your time or effort and you didn't need to respond.

You just clenched your jaw and shrugged.

"If that's how people feel, I can't help it. Just because they say things, doesn't mean it's true."

Ji Woo nodded.

"Yeah. You're right."

-----------------------------

It was finally the day of your comeback. You were currently in the company car, being taken to your venue. You weren't yet decked out in your performance clothes. Instead, you were wearing your usual sweatpants and T-shirt, with a baseball cap over your head and a mask strung across your face. You were nervous. You wanted this to go well, you desperately wanted this to work so that your group didn't have to disband.

But your gut told you otherwise.

You could feel it, that something was going to go wrong. You tried not to worry about it too much as you pulled up to the building. Your managers ushered you inside, escorting you to your green room. The makeup artists immediately got to work, slapping things on your face, blending, sponging, and even gluing little glitters to your face. And then, they were tugging on your hair, pulling it up into different styles based on what would go best with your makeup. Finally, you eased into your outfits and prepared to step onto stage.

As the spotlights shined brighter, almost blinding you, you heard cheers from the crowd. However, the cheers were hardly as much as they were before in previous comebacks. You were a little disappointed, but you were still determined to do your best.

As the music started, you and your group moved into the choreography, singing and rapping to each of your parts as they came. The song quickly came to an end, and the cheers were loud as the lights dimmed.

You could only hope that your comeback would be spread by word of mouth, that fans would think 'Wow, they still did good with only half the members, watch this!' and pass it onto other people.

You slumped in an empty chair in the green room while still mindful of not creasing your dress. You were still really, really worried. Your fanbase was at it's all time low, and unless your comeback went viral, your group had no chance of surviving. Your music video had practically flopped. Not many people had streamed it. Even your debut music video had more views. Your optimism was waning and you didn't know what to do.

Ji Woo took a seat next to you, her brow creased with concern.

"Hey, cheer up. We did pretty good."

You shook your head.

"Did you see the audience? It was practically empty. At this rate, we're not gonna make it."

Ji Woo sighed.

"Unnie, if you promise you won't get sad, I'll tell you something."

You raised your eyebrows at her, confused. Ji Woo swallowed nervously before speaking.

"My contract is set to be terminated as soon as all performances for this comeback are finished. I already talked to the director the moment he finalized that our comeback would be set back. I could do so much better in a bigger company."

You sighed. You had expected Ji Woo to leave for the longest time now, so this didn't come as a surprise to you. You nodded glumly.

"I get it. I really do. I hope a bigger company serves you better."

-----------------------------

You all gathered around the small computer screen, eager to see Tae's first appearance on the show Hwarang. He hadn't been there in the first episode, but he claimed that he would be there in the second.

To your dismay, he appeared in the end, for only a few minutes. But even in those few minutes, he made an absolutely adorable appearance with an innocent, quirky character.

You laughed as the boys poked light fun at him, quite literally. Jin kept poking Taehyung in the cheek, and Jimin poked him in the sides, earning tickled giggles from Tae.

The episode came to an end, and you groaned, wanting to watch more. The plot was interesting, and you loved historical dramas despite having absolutely zero knowledge of history.

Your laughter was interrupted by a furious series of pings from your phone. Your Twitter notifications were blowing up. Curious, you opened up the app, peering at all the mentions of your group's account in various fans' tweets.

The boys had quieted down to, watching you curiously as you scrolled through all the tweets.

Jimin was the first to break the silence.

"Y/N-ah, what's up? Everything okay?"

You were silent as you scrolled through hate comment after hate comment. Never had you ever seen so much hate.

And most of it was directed at you.