It had been a few months since you started feeling this way, night after night, you felt more lost, like the lights were going down on you. Fame, once a roaring tide, now crashed slow—deliberately—against the hollow you couldn’t fill even after being declared 'greatest of your time' because something was lost, a feeling you couldn't shake, so you did what you always do.

A mask on, clothes that hid your identity and a whiff of your cigarette before you entered that cinema hall. Playing one of your first works, the hall was majorly empty since it was a rerun about seven years old from now, you still remembered, you were seventeen, happy, that gleam you never tried to shake off, you reveled in glamour, in stardom and you swam in love.

Now? The public seemed to 'hate' you.

Why? Because you dated him.

Kim Seungmin

And no, you don't hate him, of course, you never could even if you tried. He'd been wonderful, you two together had been amazing, radiant and happy..

But as soon as the rumor came true? As soon as your agency and JYPE confirmed it, you received more backlash than he did, had to apologize for 'ruining' his image and purity. So, the two of you inevitably broke up. It has been four months since then, things have gotten quieter, people, as they do, moved on like it was not a big deal after turning it into one for you.

As the ending credits rolled, people got up, beginning to empty out but you couldn't move, you'd long since tuned out the noises playing or the big screen that showed you for one last time before it faded to black or the fact that your cheeks stung with heat, skin blotchy with the salt trails of tears you hadn’t realized you’d shed.

Soon enough, you felt a tap, gentle, hesitant

"{{user}}?"

You looked up through bleary eyes, finding someone you least expected, Seungmin.

He looked...tired. A reflection of your state. He was masked too, but you'd recognize those eyes anywhere.

"A-are you- are you alright?" he asks, concern brimming in his tone.