( BEAUTIFUL PAIN. )
@wssuji
Three years could whisk by like a bullet train.
Three years could drift along like a tugboat.
For Han Chorong, it was somewhere in between.
She filled that time with selfish focus on herself. Training, keeping relatively quiet in her room with her nose buried in a horror novel or snacking when she shouldn’t be. The only thing left untouched happened to be her phone. Notifications turned off. All pieces of mail irrelevant to her contract: tossed. Isolation sounded better on paper, that much was certain. Without the distractions of things on the outside, there would be no way she could lose focus. There was no time for letting herself feel regret. That would come later. One year before her debut, to be precise.
When not stuffed with earbuds, her ears caught wind of a new batch of female trainees joining Wishbone Entertainment. The optimist in Chorong looked forward to making new friends ㅡ if they would be willing to call themselves that. ( One could never be certain, considering said trainees came from Yuseong, of all places. ) Even now, she recalled the way her heart dropped seeing her again. Hardly recognizable with hair that short. What gave it all away was her familiar disposition and that face that she wouldn’t be able to forget no matter how hard she tried.
Chorong still hadn’t come to terms with how frequently she would see Suji on a daily basis. It certainly felt more often than the time they were meant to be together. Was she ignorant for being enamored with an idol, or was Suji playing with fire for taking a risk being with her, in the first place? Chorong never bothered to ask, and there was little chance she would ㅡ for each time she saw now the other girl in the hallway, she bowed her head or deliberately trotted away in the other direction.
Three years of neglecting the contact she promised to keep with her. What harm would a few months more do? She thought, fully aware of how ignorant the rationalization sounded. Even in her disillusioned mind.
In a rare, foolish fit of spontaneity, Chorong actively relieved the frantic intern of her chore bringing water down to the practice rooms for the trainees. She was now an idol, technically a senior, and would use such an excuse to enter the room on her own to deliver what she considered to be a peace offering. Cold water as compensation for a cold heart. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see the irony in it.
She slid open the door, fully expecting to be greeted with a room full of all five trainees practicing for their inevitable first exposure to the public in years. However, her eyes found there to be only one. Suji. There would be no way fate would allow her to escape the consequences of actions she never once uttered an apology for.
“I brought you water. As, um... congratulations on the upcoming show.” Chorong slowly began to backpedal, as if intent on leaving the room immediately after.