The next few days for Coven were a little difficult. Now that it was out about two of their members dating two other idols, and they didn't even have a single song out, people were having issues with them. So, the women just worked harder and harder, until it was finally time for them to start to practice for their first performance. Their first song was going to be about the irreplaceable bond they now share between them.

However, that changed when Kwan showed up that morning to get them to take them to the practice rooms. Instead of meeting them at their car, he met them at their dorm.

"I'm sorry to say this, but it seems that your song was leaked out," Kwan informed the women with a frown on his face. "Other groups are claiming the song as theirs, despite it being a specific song to you girls."

"What does that mean though? Our song has been stolen?!" Nova cried out in horror, being the first of the women to gather her thoughts about the matter.

"Yes, it has been stolen. You can't use the song anymore. You'll have to do a backup song now."

"That's not fair! We were just about to learn the choreography for this one!" Kim-Lee was feeling distraught over the situation.

"I know this is less than ideal, but we have to move forward immediately. They already chose a new song for you to do out of the other songs you've written. You will learn the choreography for that one today now." With that, Kwan turned around and headed out of the door. This left the women scrambling to get their bags and other supplies.

The women hurried after their manager feeling all sorts of feelings. Arcadia was furious. Eclipse was a bit sad, but she'd wanted to do a different song anyway. Aurora was angry like Arcadia. Kim-Lee and Nova were both on the verge of tears, feeling a sense of loss. Amara was neutral, not sure how she felt yet. While Ga-eul was feeling an intense mix of anger and loss.

Once the women got into their car, Ga-eul started speaking to Kwan.

"Which song did they choose for us to do now?"

"They chose the titleless witchy song that you all really liked," Kwan responded simply as he looked at his phone. He sounded annoyed at that fact. "You'll have to come up with a name for it before you perform it."

"Really?! That's amazing!" Nova happily yelled in the car, making everyone cringe at her. "Oh, sorry guys..." Nova sunk down into her seat embarrassed that she'd made a fuss.

"Talk about what you want to name your song. I'll need to inform them of the title so they can start promoting your first performance and song." Kwan stated as he turned his attention back to his phone.

"Our song title should be 'The Cauldron'." Eclipse blurted out instantly. The women in the car turned to look at her in surprise. She just shrugged her shoulders before speaking. "It just feels right."

"It really does!" Nova happily cheered to her friend.

"Nova! Volume! Use your inside voice!" Amara growled at the lilac-haired woman.

"Are you sure you girls want to start off with a witchy song? Shouldn't you do something else?" Kwan questioned, clearly annoyed with the women of Coven.

"We're a witchy group. Our name is literally Coven. Most of our songs will be witchy." Aurora responded to the manager. He just seemed to ignore the purple-haired woman's words and kept messing around on his phone.

"Okay, so now that's figured out, what do you think we'll wear for our performance?" Nova asked Arcadia, who just shrugged her shoulders in response.

"If it was up to Arcadia, we'd all be wearing tank tops and shorts or pants. So, don't ask her." Aurora responded before Arcadia could open her mouth to respond to Nova.

"Rude... but not untrue," Arcadia grumbled to Aurora, which caused the other women in the car to laugh. "Oh shut up! You all know I'm no good with fashion."

"That's the truest thing you've said in a while!" Kim-Lee laughed as she spoke, which made the others laugh even more.

"Oh come on!"

"What would Taeyong think about how you have a lack of fashion knowledge?"

"I'm pretty sure he's aware, considering how he's only ever seen me wearing the same outfit, just different colors," Arcadia spoke with a frown. She clearly didn't like the way this conversation was going. "I don't think it matters to him whether I'm into fashion or not. He's into me because of who I am."

"That's surprising as is," Amara muttered to Arcadia, meaning it as a joke, but no one laughed.

"Amara! That's rude!" Nova cried out to her friend.

"What? What's wrong with what I said?" Amara turned to look at Arcadia, who was now facing the window, trying her hardest to not think negative thoughts. Arcadia was frowning deeply and those who could see her noticed that her eyes were a bit teary. Amara instantly frowned at the scene in front of her. "Dammit, I didn't think, I'm sorry."

"It's not a big deal, forget it." Arcadia's voice shook as she spoke. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Are you-" Nova began but was cut off by Arcadia speaking up.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Eclipse questioned her sister, with concern in her voice. She wasn't sure if her sister was telling the truth or not. However, before Arcadia could say anything in return, the vehicle came to a halt.

"We're here. Let's go. We don't have the practice room all day, another group is coming in after us. We need to get done as quickly as possible." Kwan informed the group as he climbed out of the vehicle.

"Who's the group coming in after us?" Kim-Lee asked as she got out of the car after their manager.

"It doesn't matter." Kwan's response was harsh, which made the others fall silent. "Let's go."

"Alright..." Ga-eul responded for her group. They all then headed to the practice room to meet with their choreographer to learn the dance moves for their song.

The women followed their manager up to the floor with all of the practice rooms. On their way to theirs, the women all noticed a door that was open. As each of them passed the room, they peaked in. In the room, there was a group of guys, who each of the women realized was SuperM as they passed by.

"Don't stop, you all are working right now. There isn't any time for a conversation with them. We're running late." Kwan growled at the women as Eclipse and Arcadia paused after they passed the door to the room SuperM was in. The two sisters sighed and continued to walk with their group until they reached their room.

Since they were 'running late', Kwan had them get going immediately. So the next few hours consisted of six members of Coven working on the choreography, while Arcadia fell behind. She was never that great of a dancer in the first place, being so clumsy for no reason at all. Arcadia spent more time looking down at her feet and at the choreographer than actually dancing and getting it right.

"Arcadia! Come on!" Amara yelled out in horror as Arcadia fell over, tripping over he own feet once again. This time though, Arcadia nearly knocked Amara down as well.

"I'm sorry!" Arcadia cried out in response, literally being on the verge of tears.

"Let's take a moment," Ga-eul spoke up, leading Arcadia to the bench along the wall where their bags were. The other women followed after them. "Are you alright?"

"Of course not. I can't get this right." Arcadia sighed and leaned against the wall, clearly upset.

"You shouldn't push yourself. If you can't do it, then tell us." Amara was trying to sound supportive, but it came out rude.

"I can do it, it'll just take longer for me to get the hang of it."

"Are you sure?" Kim-Lee asked, worried for her friend.

"I'll be fine, I swear." Arcadia then pushed herself back to her feet. "Let's get back to it!" Arcadia went back to her beginning spot and stood there. She looked back at the others, who all looked back and forth at one another. "Guys?"

"We're coming!" Nova happily responded before hurrying to Arcadia's side. "Here, let me show you the part you get tripped up on."

With that, the others stayed to the side to watch Nova go through the steps to what Arcadia was having issues with. Once the redhead seemed to get it well enough, the others joined in and the practice began again with all of them following along this time. Arcadia still made some mistakes, but she was able to figure the harder parts out well enough for the first day.

Once the practice time came to an end, Kwan started to rush the women along. It was like he was trying to keep them away from the next group to use that specific practice room. It became obvious why when Taemin opened the door, revealing SuperM standing there, looking surprised.

"Oh, hey there." Taemin happily spoke to Eclipse. She smiled at him before Kwan frowned and got in between them.

"It's their turn now. We need to leave." Kwan stated to his group.

"Awe, but we want to watch them!" Nova cried out unhappily.

"No," Kwan responded instantly. "You have to go and start to practice singing your song now. We have no time to play around." With that, Kwan walked past SuperM and continued down the hallway.

"I guess it was nice seeing you?" Eclipse said to Taemin, as she began to walk past him.

"I'll text you later," Taemin responded with a smile and a nod of his head.

"Good luck with your song! Can't wait to hear it!" Ten called to the women as they passed by him. As Arcadia walked past Taeyong, the two smiled at each other.

"I'll call you later tonight. Have a great day, Arcadia." Taeyong spoke to his girlfriend, which made her smile brighter.

"You have a great day too, Taeyong," Arcadia responded as she fully passed him.

The women felt a bit rejuvenated now that they'd seen their only friends in the idol world. Plus Arcadia and Eclipse got to see their lovers, so that helped too.

"Did you try to keep us from them?" Amara asked Kwan as they
walked into their recording room. Kwan didn't answer which gave them the answer that Amara wanted.

"That's not very nice," Nova grumbled to herself.

"Since when was this world 'nice'. This world you live in now has never been 'nice'. I don't suggest you play 'nice' with anyone here. You'll get stomped all over." Kwan's voice was harsh again. It was like he knew from experience that the idol world was a harsh world. This made the women wonder if he tried to be an idol or if he'd always wanted to just be a manager.

"Yo, did something crawl up his ass and die or something?" Amara whispered to Arcadia, who was walking right next to her. Arcadia shrugged her shoulders and held back a chuckle. The last thing she wanted to do was upset her manager further than he already was.

"I think he's just trying to look out for us," Nova replied to Amara, even though she wasn't part of the conversation.

"I somehow don't believe that," Arcadia answered to her friend with a frown on her face.

"I always got a weird vibe from him." Kim-Lee joined in the whispering conversation then.

"Same." Nova and Amara responded in unison. The women then chuckled amongst themselves, which caused Kwan to spin around and glare at them.

"If you have time to laugh, you have time to sing. Get to work." Kwan practically growled at the women. Instantly, they separated from each other and started to go through the motions of what they needed to do right then.

After a few hours of practicing their song and recording parts of it, they were allowed to take a break. Kwan had brought them some drinks and some snacks.

"This is getting real for me, I can't believe we're going to be releasing our first song soon!" Nova was happily bouncing in her seat, which annoyed Arcadia, who was seated on the couch with her.

"Nova, I get you're excited, but calm down a bit. You're going to make me spill my drink." Arcadia had been trying to take a drink of her water, but Nova's bouncing made it difficult.

"Oh, my bad." Nova chuckled as she took a drink of her own drink, having calmed down her bouncing.

"Nova was right though, it's getting real now. We'll be performing our song within the month if everything goes right." Eclipse spoke up as she munched on her snack.

"That's right, I'm glad you girls are finally understanding the seriousness of this. You shouldn't be focusing on your 'lovers' or whatever you want to call them. You should be 100% focused on this right now." Kwan said from his seat in the corner.

"I wish I even had a lover to focus on..." Nova grumbled as she took a bite of food.

"If you had a lover, you would ruin Coven." Kwan instantly replied, which immediately upset each of the women.

"The fuck do you mean by that?!" Arcadia asked as she stood up from her seat. Nova beside her looked genuinely hurt by Kwan's words.

"If it was revealed what exactly Nova goes for, it would ruin you girls. No one wants their idol to be gay."

"That's just disrespectful and ignorant. Nova can love and date whoever she wants. It wouldn't ruin Coven. We are all different than the normal girl group." Arcadia growled out to the man, who narrowed his eyes in response.

"I suggest you watch what you say."

"My sister is right. Nova being a lesbian wouldn't hurt us in any way. I'm pretty sure that others would support her, even though there would be some problem people. It shouldn't matter what or who anyone loves." Eclipse stood up next, in defense of her sister. Kwan clearly understood that upsetting the group would do more harm than good if he continued the conversation, so he just turned to his phone.

"Are you just going to ignore Eclipse's words? Have you forgotten that we all are different? Most of us aren't straight and if someone is straight, they have other issues that affect them and make them different." Amara got up from her seat and spoke to the man who was pretending he wasn't listening.

"Just sit down and eat your snack. You'll be getting back to work in a few minutes. Make the best of your break." Kwan finally spoke up, nearly sending Arcadia into a blind rage. Nova grabbed a hold of Arcadia's arm, instantly calming the redhead down.

"It's alright. I understand that he's wrong, even if he doesn't understand it. Let's not fight." Nova said to Arcadia as she looked up at the redhead with teary eyes.

"A-Alright. I won't fight." Arcadia sat back down and picked up the drink she'd knocked over when she stood up. She then took a few sips of it, trying to fully calm down, despite her boiling blood and racing heart. As someone who wasn't straight as well, Arcadia was furious at Kwan's statements. She wanted nothing more than to tear off his arm and beat him with it. However, she knew that would get her into trouble and it'd upset Nova, so she just remained seated again.

"Thank you for trying to defend me though." Nova suddenly spoke up to Arcadia with a smile on her face. The tears in her eyes had faded and were replaced by admiration. "I couldn't stand up for myself, so I'm glad I have Coven to help me with that."

"We'll always be here to help you, Nova. No matter what."

"Arc is right. No matter where we all go in life, we'll always just magically appear to save your ass." Amara laughed as she spoke, which prompted Nova to laugh as well.

"Thank you," Nova replied with a bright smile.

With that, the women's break ended and they went back to their work. It took a while longer, but eventually, they got the hang of their song. They were able to figure out that they needed just one more try to fully record everything. They were more put together than Kwan had expected from them. It was only because they were excited about their official debut. The song they were going to perform was also playing a part of it, as they were really looking forward to their witchy song.

On their way home, most of the women fell asleep in their vehicle. The only ones who didn't sleep were Eclipse and Ga-eul. Other than their driver and Kwan, the two women had the vehicle to themselves. They were silent for a little while, but once they were halfway home, Ga-eul spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Do you think everything will go well with our official debut?" Ga-eul's question caught Eclipse off-guard. The pink-haired woman turned to look at her leader with confusion.

"Of course everything will go alright. Should there be something to be worried about?" Eclipse responded as she furrowed her eyebrows in complete confusion.

"I just have this feeling that things aren't going to go as planned. That's all."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that too much. We're going to do just fine, even if we have to go with the flow."

"Arcadia and Nova won't like it if anything happens that is unexpected. You know how they are."

"True, but they have us, and we won't anything happen to our more anxious members."

"Right, we're a coven. We take care of each other."

"Exactly." Eclipse and Ga-eul shared a smile before turning their attention to their other members. Eclipse knew and understood where Ga-eul was coming from. It was fair to be concerned how Arcadia and Nova would react to something off happening. Both of the women had issues with anxiety, and Arcadia wasn't that great at being in front of people just yet. Eclipse suddenly felt the same thing that her leader said. She had a feeling that things weren't exactly going to be how they expect them to be.

~ ~ ~

Eventually, Coven got back to their dorm and everyone decided to go to their rooms for various reasons. Ga-eul chose to go through the recordings of their song to make sure that everything sounded good so far. Aurora decided to go through the recordings of their dancing to ensure that things were looking good, even with Arcadia's issues. Kim-Lee went through the internet to find an animal to adopt since she wanted to have a dorm pet as a therapy animal for everyone. Eclipse decided to take a nap and wait for Taemin's text later. Amara started to just search through Instagram to laugh at random memes and send them to Nova and Arcadia. Nova chose to just lay there in her bed, mentally preparing for everything that was coming for Coven. Arcadia set herself up at her desk to continue that story she'd been writing before.

Arcadia made sure to keep her phone with her and have it on its loudest volume so she could hear when Taeyong called her later that day. She wanted to focus on her writing too though, so she dived into it. She decided to write and write until her phone went off, signaling that Taeyong had begun to call her. She instantly picked up her phone and answered it.

"Hey," Arcadia spoke into the phone happily as she saved her document and closed her laptop.

"Hey," Taeyong's voice revealed that he was smiling to himself. This brought a smile to Arcadia's face as well.

"How was your day?"

"It was pretty stressful, but I'm glad that I got to see you, even just for a moment. That helped me."

"I feel the same. I kept messing up at dancing and I'm pretty sure my voice sounded terrible today, but now everything is alright because I'm talking to you."

"I'm sure tomorrow will be a better day for both of us. Just stay strong."

"I'll try, but I sometimes wonder if I should give up this way of life." Arcadia's voice sounded so sad that it worried Taeyong.

"Are you alright? Is something more bothering you?"

"Maybe, but I'm not exactly sure yet. If I figure it out, I'll let you know, okay?"

"Alright, as long as you remember that I'm always here for you. If you ever feel down, just call me. Anytime. I'll answer your calls."

"Thank you, Taeyong. You're so sweet." Arcadia chuckled as she spoke. "I can't believe that I get to be with someone like you. It's a dream come true."

"You're my dream come true." Taeyong's words caused Arcadia to
blush and nervously giggle.

"Um, thank you. I think? Are you sure I'm not a nightmare?" To Arcadia's words, Taeyong chuckled.

"Of course not. You're too much of a blessing to be a nightmare to me."

"You say that now, give it time." Arcadia smiled, but Taeyong could hear the darkness hiding within her voice. "So, what're your plans for the next week?"

With that, the two lovers began to chat about their schedules and work plans for the following week. It was just work talk, but it felt different to them. It didn't matter what they were talking about, it only mattered to them that they were talking. Every word, every sentence meant everything to the two of them.

Taeyong and Arcadia talked for an hour before there was a knock at Arcadia's door. She frowned instantly and sighed to herself.

"I just heard someone knock at your door, I take it that it's time to hang up?" Taeyong questioned on the other end of the phone.

"I guess so. Hold on though, let me check to make sure it's important." Arcadia responded as she set down her cellphone to go unlock her door. She then opened it to reveal Eclipse standing there. "What's up?"

"It's time for dinner," Eclipse responded simply.

"Oh, isn't it kind of late?" Arcadia looked at her clock and it told her that it was a little past 8 pm.

"It is. We all got caught up in our own things, but I remembered that we need to eat."

"Alright..." Arcadia headed back to her desk and picked up her phone again. "I do, indeed, have to go now. We're eating food now."

"Oh, wow. I don't think I ate anything recently actually." Taeyong chuckled but Arcadia frowned.

"Go eat too! You need to keep eating or else you'll lose your strength and pass out."

"I know, don't worry. I'll go get something to eat right after we hang up. I swear."

"Alright, I trust you."

"I'm glad. I love you, and we'll talk again soon." Taeyong smiled as he spoke, which brought a smile to Arcadia's face.

"Alright, I love you too. Eat well!" Taeyong couldn't help but chuckle at her words.

"Of course." With those words, he hung up the phone, prompting Arcadia to hang up too. Arcadia then smiled to herself and held her phone for a moment before setting it down and turning around, only to see Eclipse still standing there.

"Holy fuck! Why'd you stay there?!" Arcadia was so surprised that she nearly fell from her chair. Eclipse just chuckled and shook her head.

"I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to see how you and Taeyong talk to each other. It's really nice to see you happy again."

"I know, right? It's nice being happy again." Arcadia stood up from her chair and paused as she set down her phone.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm too happy. Something terrible is going to happen to me."

"What? Why would you think that?" Eclipse walked to her sister and turned her around, immediately seeing that Arcadia's eyes held sadness and worry in them now. "How'd your emotions to a complete turnaround so suddenly?"

"You know that all throughout my life, whenever I get too happy, something comes and ruins it." Eclipse couldn't deny that fact, as Arcadia spoke the truth. "It's that damn curse. Something is going to happen. I just know it."

"Arc, you can't let things get to you like that. If you allow that negative energy-"

"I know if I dwell on it, it'll happen. I can't help it. Nor will I let that curse affect this. Not this time. Not this relationship." Arcadia then walked out of her room and headed to the kitchen where the others were.

"It's about time! We were about to start eating without you and Eclipse!" Amara yelled out as she saw Arcadia approaching them.

"Sorry, I was talking to Taeyong." Arcadia simply stated in a neutral voice, despite feeling upset inside.

"Okay?" Amara and the others at the table could sense that something was up. They didn't know exactly what happened nor who it was who upset her, but they knew that Arcadia was being affected by her darkness.

"Where's Eclipse?" Nova questioned, just as Eclipse walked into the room. "Oh, never mind."

"Let's eat now. I'm so hungry that my stomach is eating itself." Amara grumbled, which caused Nova to chuckle.

"Right, let's eat," Ga-eul stated, which prompted Arcadia and Eclipse to sit down at their usual seats.

Arcadia ate normally, even though inside she knew and was terrified that something bad was going to happen. She wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen, but she knew something was going to. She couldn't help but dwell on it and the negativity. That was how she'd always been. She wasn't sure exactly how to change herself to stop that. She just knew that if she didn't do something, she'd somehow ruin everything for herself.