"What's wrong, Alana?" Yeonjun asked, crouching down beside the young woman who was sitting in the corner of an empty practice room.

Head buried in her hands, she shook her head and sighed. "I told you to call me Miyoung, Yeonjun." She mumbled, loud enough for him to hear.

"I mean, Alana is your name too." He shrugged before gently bumping her head with his hand. "I'm guessing this months' evaluation was a tough one?"

"It feels like no matter how hard I practice I can't improve." Another sigh came from her lips, the overwhelming feeling of disappointment she had towards herself continued to grow with each evaluation.

It had already been almost a year since Miyoung had started her life as a trainee. Throughout that time, she has struggled countless times, which is what she expected. However, she was losing faith in herself. Losing the strive that she had in the very beginning of her days as a trainee. And with talk about Yeonjun's debut approaching, she wasn't sure she could accomplish her goal.

"Alana. We all improve in our own ways at our own pace. There is no need to rush things." The young man said, speaking in a soft tone trying his best to comfort his friend.

"I know. It's just. . . I don't know if I can keep up at this point." She started. "You're going to debut soon. Some of the other trainees that left are already making their debut in other companies." Miyoung's words came from her lips so quickly, she could barely understand herself. "I'm the only one that's still here. Right where I was when I first started."

Yeonjun sighed before gently nudging the young woman's shoulder with his own. "Now what did we say about talking like that, miss?"

"Yeonjun, I'm serious."

"I am too." He said firmly. "We made a promise. That we would support each other and become the best idols the world has seen."

"That was like a year ago."

"And? Are you going to break that promise? Even after we pinky swore?" The man said with a dramatic gasp.

Miyoung couldn't help but laugh quietly to herself, the negative thoughts slowly fading. Yeonjun always had a way of instantly making her feel better, although she had no clue how he did. She peeked up from her hands, her eyes meeting his as he gave her a soft smile that instantly made a smile of her own form on her lips.

"Listen. Miyoung. I believe in you. Just as much as you have believed in me. I will always be your number one fan, always."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those words echoed in Miyoung's head as she ran off stage as soon as the lights completely dimmed. Rushing backstage, she pushed passed each staff member that tried to congratulate her, apologizing to each one. Finally making it to her waiting room, she shut the door behind her.

Her breathes were shaky and uneven, her head was pounding, her palms sweaty. Her body slid down the door as she curled up into a ball, covering her ears and closing her eyes.

A panic attack.

This unfortunately was normal for the young idol. Something she had been suffering with for years now and was getting treated for. Miyoung hadn't had an attack this bad for almost six months now and was unsure of why it was happening now of all days.

"Was it him? I think it was him."

"It totally was him."

There they were. The voices that haunted Miyoung's thoughts.

"I can't believe he showed up."

"Especially after what you did to him."

Miyoung buried her face into her knees, attempting to shrink as much as she could. The voices continued to grow and overlap one another. She covered her ears to stop them but they only grew louder.

"Get out. Please. Stop." She whispered to herself, feeling her mind slowly start to slip into unconsciousness.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. With that the voices suddenly stopped.

Another knock followed by the soft voice of what Miyoung could barely register as her manger. "Miyoung? You in there?"

She opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. Attempting to move, Miyoung inhaled sharply, a sharp pain practically banging in her head. Trying her best to push past it, she shakily stood up and leaned against the door frame, cracking the door open slightly.

"Sara?" She whispered.

"Miyoung? Are you okay?" Her manager asked frantically, pushing the door open making Miyoung stumble a bit. "Did it happen again? Have you taken your medication? Did you drink water?"

Not giving Miyoung a second to answer any of the questions, the older woman wrapped an arm around Miyoung and led her over to the chair, settling her down before scurrying to the other side of the room to dig through some bags.

Miyoung's manager, Sara Choi, has been with Miyoung since day one. Although she wasn't her manager at first, they had become very close friends during Miyoung's trainee days. Over the years, Sara had been by Miyoung's side and knows more about Miyoung than she does. That includes her panic attacks, just one look and Sara instantly knew what happened.

"I took them already. . ." Miyoung mumbled.

"When did you take them?" Sara asked.

"Before I went on."

A sigh of relief can be heard from the older woman, before she rushed back over to the young idol, kneeling down next to her and gently patting her cheeks.

"Do you know what could have triggered this? You've been doing so well."

Those eyes. "I think. He was here."

"Who?"

"Yeonjun." Miyoung said before shaking her head. "Or maybe I was just hallucinating."

There was silence between the two woman. Sara had known about Miyoung and Yeonjun's friendship and did everything in her power to support it, even after he had debuted.

"Do you think. . . that he made it?"

"Your debut has practically been the talk of the decade, Miyoung. Everyone would do anything to make it to your debut." Sara stated. "Even if he didn't show up tonight, I'm sure he watched your performance."

Miyoung bit her bottom lip, unsure of how to respond to that statement.

Sara placed a hand on Miyoung's lap, patting it softly. "He would be very proud of you, Miyoung. I'm sure."

As soon as Sara said that, Miyoung broke down into tears. All of the emotions she had been holding in before the show suddenly overflowed. She covered her face and sobbed to herself as Sara comforted her in silence.

All of her hard work had paid off, but why did she feel so empty? Like something was missing. She did everything practically perfect. The audience loved it. Like Sara had said, people were talking about her debut since it was announced. Then why was she feeling like this? Like she didn't accomplish what she wanted? This was her dream.

"I believe in you. . ." A voice echoed in her head. "I will always be your number one fan, always."

Those words kept repeating in her head, louder and louder each time. Miyoung couldn't tell if her mind was trying to comfort her or mock how pathetic she was for holding onto those words for so long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the help of Sara, Miyoung eventually calmed down. Well, enough to properly drink some water and lay down. Sara insisted that Miyoung rest for a bit before going back out. With no energy to argue otherwise, Miyoung agreed.

Sara left the young woman alone in the room. Miyoung laid on the chair and sighed, reaching for her phone that Sara had placed on the table next to her. Opening it, she scrolled through her socials. Thankfully the public enjoyed her showcase, praises were here and there and the performances was already going viral. A wave of relief flushed over Miyoung as she turned off her phone and stared up at the ceiling smiling to herself.

"You did good, Unity." She reassured herself.

Her eyes grew heavy and began fluttering to a close before she felt the vibration of her phone on her chest. Looking at the notification, her smile instantly dropped. Her stomach practically flipped as she stared at the message on the small screen.

"Good job today. You looked great and you were amazing up there!" The message read.

Blinking a couple times as she continued to read it over and over again. Suddenly another message comes through.

"I'm outside whenever you're ready to talk."

She instantly sat up, looking around the room as if someone was peering over her shoulder reading the messages. Rising to her feet she rushed to the door, placing a hand on the knob taking a deep breath.

Turning the knob, she pulled it open and poked her head outside, looking to her left only to see an empty hallway. Inhaling once more she turned to the right, only to see no one there. Opening the door completely she sighed, slightly disappointed as he turned back towards the room.

"Miss Unity?" A deep voice spoke.

Stopping in her tracks, her heart stopped.

"Ala- sorry." The voice started. "Miyoung. It's been a while."

Turning her head, her eyes slowly met his. Feelings of both happiness and regret begin to bubble inside her.

"Yeah." She mumbled quietly through the silent space between the two. "Long time no see. . . Yeonjun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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