golden age

i was always the better dancer. it’s just natural talent, haena signed with an eyeroll, shaking her head and getting a tissue to dab at her eyes. i love you too. stop crying. you need to be tough or you’ll ruin your image.

byul let out a little whine, laughing. “what will i do without my tough girl image that i’ve done such a good job of keeping up for all these years? you’re right,” she retorted sarcastically

“yeah, yein is too good solo. and if she and minseok are getting more serious, having group schedules on top of everything doesn’t seem like the most viable option for her,” gigi agreed. “sometimes i wonder if we should have just disbanded. because i love the new music, but its obvious you’re not happy, byul.”

“i’m surprised that hasn’t happened yet, i’m going to be honest with you,” byul admitted with a little laugh. “i wonder when minseok is going to enlist-- i know yein mentioned that they want to start a family after he’s back....” she sighed deeply. “i do often wish i just.... left with yein when everything happened. i feel like i owe it to the fans, though. and to you.”

haena took a deep breath in, sidestepping closer to byul and looping her arm around her friends’. they’d debuted together as little girls, in the grand scheme of things. they’d trained together as children. when her voice had been ripped away from her, so had haena’s family. she’d kept up with yein’s solo career, as well as byulah’s, but there was a reason why she’d never really been able to keep up with new reign. 

i missed you too haena quickly signed into the mirror

byul smiled, trying to breathe deeply so she wouldn’t cry and ruin her makeup, holding haena under her arm, and resting her head on the shorter woman’s. “how’d you become a better dancer than me over the years, huh? i’ve been the one working my ass off. how’s that fair,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood. “i love you.”

“i think so too. especially without haena. it felt so powerful having her back, like we were starting a new chapter, but that’s not the case,” gigi hummed, frowning. “i really hope that this doesn’t do more harm than good. for her, i mean.”

“i wish there was something we could do. to go on like this. but its not fair to yein or haena,” byul sighed. “at the very least, i want to push to have more of a hand in the music. hyo does good work, but it doesn’t suit us. or me. it doesn’t suit me at least.”

“now that i know it’s something that would help, i’ll look into it. thank you byul. that’s incredibly helpful,” she answered

“well, we have drastically different jobs but..... i still like to help out people in my community whenever i can. i know how overwhelming this all can be.”

“you know, i might be able too. i’ll have to look into that. if i was just a wrestler, i’m sure i’d already have some sort of management. i’m a performer too– it’s something i should see if i can get,” she said thoughtfully.

“you’re like...a performer and a journalist all in one. i’m sure that’s something you could arrange. even if it’s a part time contract on your own dime.”

“Just barely for a while there - I had to buzz it off at one point,” Ohkyung laughed. “A couple probably ended up in the covers I used to upload, but I privated those before they could even reach three hundred views. I couldn’t imagine that many people having seen it.”

“it’s terrible. if my work email wasn’t integral to my job, i’d never log into it,” jina sighed.

“right-- there’s really no good solution,” byul agreed. “i can’t imagine you’d be able to hire a part time assistant to sift through your inbox and discard anything like that.”

“I’d say as bad, but it was lot more grounded than debut-era Reign. My hair was probably more fried, though.”