☆☆☆
"Seriously, where is that woman?" Penni grumbled as she nervously tapped her foot. Her phone was in her hands, and she was constantly glancing down at it. It was currently open to her group chat with Jiwoo and Yeojin, but neither had answered the texts she had spammed within the last few minutes.
Finally, Jiwoo answered.
Jiwoo: I can't find her anywhere, can you cover for her?
Penni cursed and turned off the phone. She rushed to the changing room, where the girls were waiting for their manager to take them to the stage. There was only five minutes left until the show started, so Penni knew she had to hurry.
"Alright everyone, let's go!" she yelled once she was in the changing room. The girls were all standing around, gossiping with each other to help with their stress.
"Did you find Yeojin?" Nilla asked as the girls made their way to her.
"Nope. I'm your manager today. That means no funny business," she glared at Briella, who merely smirked and put her hands in the air.
"I haven't even done anything yet," she said as she followed Nilla out of the room. Next came Lindzy, Navy, Kiri and Alysha.
"We're missing two. Where are they?" she turned to Nilla, who was herding everyone towards the stage.
"Still talking to Miss Kang. You kind of made her mad earlier, and now she's taking it out on those two."
Penni rolled her eyes. "I'll deal with her. Can you take everyone to the stage?"
"Yep!"
Penni made sure they were all leaving before entering th eroom. She made her way to the very back, where Minju was chewing out Hanni for her "lack of respect for her group, managers, and CEO." Saki was nowhere in sight.
"Yo, stop yelling at my child!" Penni snapped when she saw this. "That's my job."
"These girls-"
"I told you, Jiwoo will deal with it," Penni said, then turned to Hanni. "Where's your sister?"
"She ran off when Miss Kang started yelling."
Penni sighed. "Naturally." She rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on. "I'll go look for her. The other members have already gone backstage, so you can join them. You know where it is, right?"
Hanni nodded, then ran off. Penni turned her attention to Minju. "Jiwoo will be hearing about this."
Then she turned around and ran off.
☆☆☆
Saki slid down the wall and tucked her head between her knees. She couldn't stabilize her breathing or her thoughts. She couldn't stand yelling. She just couldn't.
Not only was Cherry gone, but she was in a completely different world. Sure, it was mostly like her world. But it was still different. She saw people staring at her colorful eye all the time. In her world, her eye was normal.
She didn't like this world.
Now Cherry was lost in this world. She was probably confused, sad, mad at her sisters for ditching her.
Saki wished she had known Cherry had followed them sooner. She wished she had looked for her sooner. Or done it herself. Now Cherry was gone, and it was all her fault.
Why did everyone always suffer because of her?
She tried to hold in the tears, not wanting them to smear her makeup. Instead, she made small, panicked gasps. That made it harder to breathe, but Saki didn't care. Unless if someone heard her, which would've been embarassing.
She hoped no one else was there.
She wished Briella was with her. Or Owen. Or Forrest. Or even Hanni.
"Dear, are you alright?" a woman asked, and Saki gasped. Someone else was there. Her fears were coming true.
She slowly looked up to see a concerned woman standing there. Saki didn't know who she was, but the woman's kind look made her calm down slightly. The woman crouched down in front of her and met Saki's eyes. "What's your name, dear?"
"Saki."
A light of recognition flashed in the woman's eyes. "You're a member of FMC, right? I take it this is your concert?" the woman asked in a soothing tone. Saki nodded slowly.
The woman shifted so she was sitting next to Saki. She rested her hands on her legs, and Saki noticed a sparkling diamond ring on her right ring finger. She focused on the ring, memorizing every curve and glint of light in it.
"Where's your manager, dear?"
Saki shrugged, not meeting the woman's eyes.
"That's alright. Why don't we take a few deep breaths, okay? That will make you feel better."
Saki wasn't sure anything could make her feel better, but she followed along with the woman as she lead her through some breathing exercizes anyway.
When the woman was done, she let Saki sit in silence for a minute while she calmed down a bit.
"Are you feeling a bit better now, dear?"
Saki nodded slowly.
"Performing onstage can seem scary, huh?"
Saki just nodded again in response to the question. She didn't want the woman to know the real reason for her panic attack.
"If you want, I can offer you some advice to help when performing can start to seem scary," the woman offered. Saki looked up, and the woman smiled at her. She still wasn't sure who the woman was, but Saki found herself trusting her despite that fact.
The woman ran her through some exercises to help with anxiety, and Saki listened to each one intently. She'd never been good at controlling her panic attacks, despite everything her parents, partners and therapists had tried. Yet somehow, she knew everything this woman was suggesting would work. Maybe it was the certain way she presented the advice, or the kind way she gave it. Either way, Saki wished this woman worked at RE:VENGE instead of Miss Kang.
When she thought of Miss Kang, she immediately winced.
"Are you alright, dear?" the woman asked.
"Who are you?" Saki asked suddenly, curious about knowing this woman better.
"My name is Choi Minji. You can call me Manager Choi, if you prefer."
"You're a manager? At what company?" Saki asked, her anxiety gone now that she had something else to focus on.
The woman laughed. "I'm a manger for CreSCN-"
Then she was interupted by the door to the practice room Saki had holed herself up in bursting open. Penni stood in the doorway, frazzled and breathing hard. "Oh, thank goodness! There you are!"
"Are you this girl's manager?" Choi Minji stood up as Penni strode into the room.
"Temporary manager. Her actual manager decided to pull the disappearing act on us," Penni turned her attention to Saki. "Are you alright? I told Jiwoo about what happened. Minju won't be working at RE:VENGE for much longer."
"And what about Cherry?" Saki asked hopefully, fidgeting with a bracelet on her wrist.
"Jiwoo said that you and Hanni can look for her after this concert," Penni said. "I can help as well, if you would like."
Saki nodded. "Thank you."
"The girls are all backstage. If you're feeling better, you can join them. They'll be performing 'Fantasy' in about a minute now, so you'd better hurry."
Saki nodded, then rushed away. When she was gone, Penni turned to Minji. "Thanks for helping, uh…"
"Choi Minji."
"Minji."
"It sounds like your company needs some new managers."
Penni shrugged. "We definitely do, but unfortunately, we don't have many other options."
"I'd reccomend starting with removing your current manager. It seems like you'd make a better manager than her. Saki seems to trust you, at least."
Penni made a face. "I can't be those girls' manager. They already think I'm their mother."
Minji gave her a confused look. "What?"
"Nothing."
Penni blushed then walked off, leaving Minji with several questions about what was going at RE:VENGE.
(Cherry belongs to
@♡ ‧˚₊⊹Shygirl ⊹₊˚‧ ♡ & Choi Minji belongs to
@elstay )