𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇

"superstar is all you! your iconic rude part is going viral. and don't even joke about them forgetting you," she wrinkles her nose immediately like the sentence itself tastes bad. "because they literally couldn't. you're bohyun!" she says it with the effortless certainty of a pretty weathercaster.

"you're right! and i'll make sure they don't forget me with more instagram posts and whatnot. post them all these photos that i've been saving for some other time!" there were a bunch of photos in her album that have yet to be posted. while she hadn't been keeping them hidden on purpose, this semi-hiatus from promotional activities seemed like a perfect time to get them out of the box.

sena  was  a  creature  that  operated  on  whimsy  and  novelty  first,  tedious  pragmatism  and  feasibility  second.  he  cared  little  for  the  hierarchical  structures  that  governed  the  stuffy  corporate  echelons,  and  he  scoffed  at  constraints  and  pranced  over  drawn  lines  as  though  they  were  never  there  to  begin  with.  which  was  why  he  barely  acknowledged  the  fact  that  his  target  for  the  day  was  from  a  different  label  than  his  own;  the  entire  hydra  family  was  his  playground,  and  everyone  needed  only  to  delight  in  having  him  amidst  their  ranks.

that  day,  both  the  male  and  female  trainees  were  brought  to  hydra  japan's  headquarters  for  some  bureaucratic  reason  or  another  that  sena  had  little  interest  in,  especially  since  he  had  other  pressing  matters  to  attend  to  at  the  time.  but  he  made  sure  to  let  his  personal  secretary  know  that  he  should  be  notified  the  moment  they  were  released  or  had  even  a  few  minutes  to  spare,  because  that  would  then  be  sena's  time  to  swoop  in.

when the question is thrown in her direction before even an introduction, she's taken back for a second before she answer. "i can play the guitar. that's usually what i use to write music, too. i know most of my chords from the piano lessons with my mom. she's a piano teacher to this day." that's probably a lot more information than what he asked for, but she couldn't really stop herself.

this sort of business is simply something that comes with stardom, bohyun thinks.

when she speaks again, he notes that her voice sounds much closer now. he angles his head down to better hear her over the din of the room, then listens to her brief, in full. “anxious that he’s not just interested in ladies’ fashions then, i take it?” yeonseong punctuates the question with one end of a wry smile. “then how are you meant to determine what his glances mean? … that he’s inattentive? easily sidetracked? a well-dressed satyr?”

"well, if he is, then i'd say that he's looking at the wrong people. the choi's are always wearing the most interesting pieces. they'd be the perfect family to observe if he was indeed so very interested in the fashion aspects of this ball." bobae's quite sure that yeonseong is simply joking, but it's a nice distraction to the mess that's going inside her head.

when he offers to accompany her, bobae shakes her head. "it's quite alright. i don't think i'd be able to properly articulate my thoughts if i were to actually stand in front of him." with a scrunch of her nose, she let out a sigh. "with skills like this, i doubt i can take over my family business. perhaps i need to find another job?" with that, she lets out a soft chuckle. she's half-joking and half-serious at this point.

still, it’s reassuring to hear that none of this has managed to splinter bobae’s unfailing optimism. ( at least not yet. ) having made her acquaintance some time ago, yeonseong cannot refute the idea that he finds something about her… unusual. spending time with her feels like being plucked from the present and deposited back into a time when he was still wide-eyed and soft-cheeked. giggling with yeonhee over destinies lustrated in pure white lights— nearly a decade ago, when love seemed so substantial a thing.

now, yeonseong only seems interested in an independence love cannot afford him. and yeonhee, who all but tore herself away to return to conversing with her suitors, acts as though she’s little more than a diplomatic offering for the future of their family.

yeonseong is desperate for something impractical to believe in.

"oh, i would love to, but i am absolutely terrible at focusing on two people. i can barely even manage with one!" she exclaimed with another shake of her head. "of course, if i see a lady who seems to radiate as bright as you, i shall not hesitate to introduce you two at once!"

despite all this, she was doing a terrible job at finding her own soulmate. her aunts have told her that it wasn't something that she had to seek out, and that it came naturally. that spark, the aura match, they were all things she simply had to wait for, but she was getting rather impatient.

"bohyun-ah, hurry your legs," nayoung calls out, a sharp little bell of authority. she is moving across the cobblestones with a grace that is very demure, but her heels click a rhythm that says get out of my way or get stepped on. she has spent exactly twenty minutes being "extra charming" to the head stylist, which mostly involved nayoung speaking a dramatic, broken french she learned from a private tutor who eventually quit — and now? now she has the keys to the kingdom. or in reality, the keys to the "archive rack" for the filming.

IT ISN’T PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT TO FIND LEE BOBAE. in a room pulled taut with hollow gestures, vain repetition of the most nauseating of platitudes, the way bobae holds herself seems to saturate the entirety of her being in a crown of her own light. a halo of warmth. ring of petal. ryu yeonhee once heard her older brother call bobae the wildflower of the season. and now, wading through a crowded room with him in tow, anticipating the amicable curve of her smile, well. yeonhee is inclined to agree. “miss bobae,” she begins crisply. there’s something of a smile at the corners of her lips. “my brother has asked me to escort him over. i’ll have you know he was quite insistent.”

following this introduction, yeonseong dips his head into a sheepish bow of address. “yeonhee’s words often favor exaggeration, but her claims are not unfounded. i have been wanting to find you.” when he lifts his head, the arc of his mouth softens. “i’ve gotten word that your friend’s previous match was a bit… generous with his affections, bobae. she isn’t too disheartened by it, i hope?”

she's lost in her own thoughts when a familiar face approaches her, and she gives a polite bow toward yeonseong before going off in a ramble. "i would have never introduced him to her if i had known!" bobae's trying her best to keep her voice down, hiding her mouth with her fan so only yeonseong could hear her, but she's still fuming about her last attempt at setting up her friend that she wouldn't be surprised if somebody else did hear.

minah is wearing sunglasses too big for her face (borrowed from miru) and behind the camera crew, since she's testing how far she's allowed to drift before someone clears their throat and says her name in that please behave voice since it's filming day. bohyun is beside her who is a new member in the formation. unfamiliar. "you alright?" she says, not looking over yet, fingers hooked into the strap of a little canvas bag.