𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙊𝙈 ꨄ︎ ʷʰᶜ¹, ˢᵘʰᵒ

To anyone, Park Na-ri was the golden girl-flawless, untouchable, everything a person should be. She had the kind of smile that teachers adored and classmates envied. Sweet, smart, and impossibly put together. Everyone treated her like glass-something to protect, display, never question.

And for a long time, Na-ri let them.
She figured it was easier to play the part than admit she'd forgotten who she really was.

Behind closed doors, perfection cracked.
Beneath the spotless uniform and practiced smile was a girl who knew how to stay quiet, how to move carefully, how to hold herself together when everything else fell apart. Na-ri was perfect-undoubtedly so.

Or, was it simply a role she was playing?

Inside, she was extremely tired. Hollow in places no one could see. A girl built from expectations and silence, who'd long stopped believing she could be anything else. The kind of girl who forgot how to feel without permission. The kind of girl who's body never felt like hers.

Then came Ahn Su-ho.

Ahn Suho was the first to see her-really see her. He didn't say much, but he saw everything. He noticed the way she flinched at sudden sounds, the way her smile never quite reached her eyes, the way she looked at things like she was somewhere else entirely. He caught the quiet in her voice and the kind of exhaustion that doesn't come from sleepless nights, but from holding yourself together too long. He was the first to look past the perfect girl everyone else saw-and see the person underneath.