the hallway holds that same flat brightness like it often did. chaewon stands just off to the side, attention fixed on her manager, expression unreadable in the way sheβs learned to keep it. βiβll go over it again before rehearsal,β she says. then, in the middle of it, something catches her eye. a familiar presence. her gaze doesnβt move at first, doesnβt break from the conversation, but she catches it anyway. him, just at the edge of her vision, standing where he shouldnβt matter and somehow still does.
she doesnβt look, not fully, doesnβt give the moment the weight itβs trying to take. instead, she finishes speaking like nothingβs changed. when the conversation ends, she steps away without pause. no recognition settles in her expression, no hesitation to soften it. just distance, clean and deliberate, as if whatever existed there has already been folded into something smaller, something manageable.
@ycvnjun
