Chapter Text
Daniela didn’t expect to start a new trend. Though there were more subtle variations of her hairstyle, many people had shaved some of their hair off, leaving part of their scalp free and breezy. It went against the conventional hairstyles that were popular, and although not everyone thought it was cool, most had respected Daniela’s bravery and commitment to her work when they linked the message of the song—being yourself—to her hair.
With such sentiments of the public, Ling and Natsuki had jumped on the chance to cut their hair as well. Neither of them had shaved any of it off, but they both had it cut above their shoulders—without permission from their companies, which meant getting scolded. But the fans loved it.
It was break during dance practice when EVILLZ sat in the corner of the room again. Daniela took a sip from her water bottle as she listened to her groupmates talk.
‘Honestly, they should be thanking us for spicing things up a little,’ Ling said. ‘Everyone having long hair just makes everyone look similar. Even if we dye our hair differently, it’s still long!’
Natsuki nodded and yawned.
‘My hair isn’t long,’ Nari said, gesturing to her hair that reached just past her chin.
‘Yeah, but your company wants you like that,’ Ling said. ‘You’ve got the opposite problem where they don’t want you growing your hair out.’
Nari made a face as if she only just realised this.
‘Short hair is so good,’ Ling said. ‘Me and Natsuki can get ready faster now since we spend a fraction of the time washing and drying our hair. What is wrong with our companies?’
‘So much.’ Natsuki tore open a granola bar. ‘Less time with hair means more time eating which is good.’ She smiled as she bit into her snack.
‘But you’re almost always eating in your free time, Natsuki,’ Elena said.
Natsuki nodded. ‘More time, more food.’
‘I don’t understand how you don’t gain weight at all.’ Rose folded her arms. ‘Makes me jealous.’
‘Yeah, for real,’ Nari said. ‘I get that you tall girlies,’ she eyed the Dimitrescu sisters, ‘need more calories since there’s more of you, like, atoms, cells, and stuff. But Natsuki ain’t even tall!’
‘Taller than you,’ Cassandra said. She received a glare from Nari.
‘Different metabolisms?’ Rose said.
Natsuki shook her head. Her shoulder length hair swished from side to side. ‘I think it’s just malabsorption.’ She stifled another yawn.
‘You mean to tell us that you’ve been having nutrition problems?’ Bela asked.
Natsuki unwrapped some more of her granola bar. ‘No? I think I remember a doctor telling me I don’t absorb things very well when I eat.’
‘Natsuki,’ Elena began in a gentle voice. ‘We need to take you to the doctors again and get some tests done.’
Days later, after the tests, they found that Natsuki had multiple vitamin and mineral deficiencies. These explained her constant lack of energy and hunger. Though her fatigue began to improve with prescription supplements, her hunger stayed, and she carried on eating whenever she could. Natsuki still didn’t gain much weight, not as long as the malabsorption hung around, and it would. She felt better, though. The girls were happy about that. So it turned out that Daniela’s solo debut, plus her shaved head, even helped out a friend.
#
Daniela had been getting more and more opportunities for commercials and TV shows with her rising popularity. The younger generation had latched onto her as an icon for change and open mindedness in a strict and traditional culture. It was funny what one song and one partially shaved head could do.
Today, she was guesting on a popular variety show that was into its one-hundred-and-fiftieth episode. She sat on one of the many couches that circled the large room with a whole row of cameras trained on her. There was a core cast of five people on the show, and another five celebrity guests that were invited. Everyone was to pair up but not with each other as there were another ten guests, family or friends, to be invited for each celebrity to form a pair with.
Daniela’s partner was the last to be revealed. Everyone else already had their teammate sitting next to them. Tapping her toes inside her black boots that matched her leather jacket, Daniela tried to guess who was sat behind the frosted glass wall but found her eyes drifting to the various large potted plants that dotted around the room.
‘How long have you known Daniela?’ a skinny man from the core cast asked.
Through the glass, a vague shape could be seen lifting a microphone to their lips. ‘I’m not sure. I don’t count the days,’ came the chipmunk-like voice altered by a voice changer.
Daniela narrowed her eyes at the glass. It wouldn’t be any of her groupmates unless one of them had lied to her about having other work at this time. A part of her wondered if it could be Ryn, but she’d be too busy writing. Plus, she didn’t even like being on TV. Ryn had been invited on many occasions to be filmed, and she had declined them all minus the times Wooyeon had forced her to accept.
‘How did you get to know Daniela?’ the same man asked.
There was a pause. ‘Her profession, I suppose.’
‘Her profession?’ a middle-aged woman said. ‘Daniela’s an idol. Maybe it’s someone in the same line of work? Are you popular?’ she asked.
‘I… hm… that depends.’
The woman pointed at the glass. ‘She’s popular! She’s definitely popular!’
‘Do you know who she is?’ someone asked Daniela.
Daniela didn’t catch who had spoken. She’d been lost in thought, fiddling with one of the holes on her ripped jeans. ‘It’s not one of my groupmates,’ she said. ‘None of them are free, and none of them have black hair, either.’
Everyone stared at the blurry glass. It was obvious that the hair was dark even if the form was vague.
A woman who had been quiet till now folded her arms. ‘Who has black hair, is popular, is in Daniela’s field, and knows her?’
‘Eveline!’ The skinny man clapped his hands once. ‘From the serial killer drama. She’s ticks all the boxes!’
Daniela tilted her head. Eveline? I guess we kind of do know each other. Did they really pick her? But she’s not what I’d call a friend... Daniela tugged on the end of her green crop top, adjusting it out of nervousness. Things might get awkward if it’s Eveline…
‘Are we right?’ the group asked. ‘Give us a hint!’
They received a high-pitched chuckle. The voice changer was working well. It was hard to tell what the person would sound like without it.
‘No,’ Daniela said, surprised. How could it take her so long to figure it out? This was ridiculous. Seriously. What the fuck? ‘It’s not Eveline.’ A smile crept onto her face. ‘It’s… It’s strange that she’s here, but I know that chuckle.’
‘How do you know from a chuckle?’ the skinny man asked. ‘There’s a voice changer!’
Daniela shrugged. ‘She drives me crazy. Quite literally. You ditched writing for me tonight?’ she asked the obscured figure.
‘You’re the only person I willingly ditch writing for.’
Daniela’s cheeks warmed.
‘Your reaction’s funny, Daniela,’ the middle-aged woman yelled. ‘Who is it?’
Daniela tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. ‘Hi, Ryn.’
The glass parted way, and a familiar face stepped out in slim fit black jeans and a dark green buttoned shirt with rolled up sleeves. ‘Hey,’ Ryn said.
They announced Ryn as the popular thriller author whose recent TV drama adaptation had been all the rage.
‘I can’t believe you’re really here,’ Daniela said, meeting Ryn halfway. And our outfits match too.
‘Me neither. I was told that you’d be happy if I helped with this episode, so I came.’
Daniela hid her deep smile as she led Ryn to the couch.
‘So it’s your author friend,’ the skinny man began. ‘You said you didn’t know how long you’ve been together.’
‘I really don’t know,’ Ryn said.
‘Not long enough,’ Daniela said. She would never know Ryn long enough. All the time in the world wouldn’t be enough. Then she added for the viewers, ‘to be bored of each other yet.’ She didn’t want to be too obvious with her relationship with Ryn. They weren’t going public yet. Most people were still very conservative in South Korea.
There was light laughter in response. Then someone said, ‘Once you’ve had enough of each other, that’s when you’ve known them for way too long.’
‘You two are well known by fans to have cute nicknames for each other.’ The skinny man glanced at his queue card. ‘Could you tell us what some of those nicknames are?’
I call her Boo, Babe, Honey, Number One, My Author, Sweetness—’
‘I just call her Dani,’ Ryn said quickly.
Daniela gave Ryn a nudge. ‘And the other one,’ she stage whispered.
Ryn smiled but said nothing else.
‘What’s the other one?’ the skinny man asked.
Ryn sighed. ‘Sometimes—only sometimes—I call her… My Dummy…’
The reactions they received from everyone on set could only be described as death from sugar overload.
‘Is this what young people are like nowadays?’ The woman who had remained quiet till now did not look impressed. ‘No wonder more and more people are getting diabetes.’
#
The first segment of the show was to guess the top three things someone said. This could be a phrase or a single word, and the answers had been gathered from friends and family closest to the person. The prizes for correct guesses ranged from bottled water, fruit baskets, jewellery, tablets, a TV, and the most prized of all—luxurious Korean beef. Anybody could take a shot, even the person picked for the round.
When it came to guessing Daniela’s top three most spoken things, the regular cast had started bombarding her and Ryn with questions for clues.
‘Ryn’s a guest. Don’t make her nervous. Give her space!’ Daniela demanded.
‘You’re a guest too, and you’re not nervous,’ the skinny man replied.
Daniela shot him a fake glare and shifted closer to Ryn on the couch.
Daniela’s top three most spoken things turned out to be:
- Wynwyn (Ryn’s name but cutesified)
- Always (in response to Ryn asking 'Need me?' which had become a common occurrence between the two of them)
- Something else that was related to Ryn that they never got to answering because several members of the core cast had thrown an exaggerated tantrum of being jealous and unable to cope.
‘What is this?’ the quiet woman asked. ‘Everyone else’s were phrases of complaints or curse words and dissing, but you guys are like newlyweds! What even.’ She shook her head incredulously.
‘You guys are blushing!’ the skinny man said. ‘Are you guys actually dating?’ he joked.
‘Are you an idiot? They’re married for sure!’ the same woman grabbed his collar.
‘What are you doing? Let go of me.’
‘I’m furious. Even my own husband isn’t as cute as this!’ The woman started dramatically wailing. ‘Not even my own husband!’ She shook the host by the collar of his shirt.
‘Okay, okay! Send your complaints to him, and stop shaking me!’
‘YOU’RE MY HUSBAND YOU FUCKING BASTARD!’
Watching the amusing scene, Daniela wondered if they would censor the swearing or edit out this section entirely.
#
It was only by the last segment of the show—the dance segment—when everything finally settled down. The married hosts had bickered throughout to everyone’s amusement. By now, the skinny man’s shirt was crinkled, his hair a mess. Ryn even pictured his soul leaving his body.
Whilst everything was being set up, Ryn caught Daniela eyeing one of the prizes in the new batch that the staff had brought out. Following her line of sight led Ryn to a bizarre plushie, the size of a pillow, shaped like a bloated book. There was a blank cartoonish expression sewn into the surface. ‘Is that a book plushie?’
‘Yeah, it’s the new character from the Morning Buddies series,’ Daniela said. ‘I’ve been wanting one for ages, but they’re out of stock everywhere. Bookie’s my favourite already. She constantly questions herself about what she’s doing existing in the middle of a bunch of idiots that she calls friends.’
‘Nobody else seems to want it,’ Ryn said, scanning the other participants. ‘They’re all talking about the tech and the beef.’
‘Good. That means less competition.’
Ryn swore that Daniela’s golden irises flared up with flames. Like molten gold… Ryn thought. How pretty.
Nobody being filmed knew that the partners, who were family and friends, would be forced to dance. This left an awkward situation where the more reserved guests had been cheered for doing even the tiniest of dance moves.
‘Oh no,’ Daniela mumbled, glancing at Ryn beside her.
Ryn, recognising the look of panic, offered a reassuring smile. Why was Daniela worried? Daniela was a dancing machine. Everyone knew this, especially with her solo debut.
By the time it was Ryn’s turn, they blasted EVILLZ’s most recent title track through the speakers.
‘Ryn! Let’s go! C’mon, Miss Author!’ they cheered.
‘Don’t worry, Ryn. I got this.’ Daniela stood up, mumbling something about it being okay even if others end up calling her a screentime junkie.
‘Were you worried about me?’ Ryn asked, and she could see the answer in Daniela’s eyes. So that’s what it was. ‘Don’t be.’ She got to her feet and strode to the centre of the stage.
‘Whoa, I didn’t expect this!’ The middle-aged woman’s jaw dropped open.
Ryn was hitting every single dance move in the song at the right time. She wasn’t at the same level as EVILLZ, but she was good. Really good, Ling had once told her, saying that she was better than some trainees even. Ryn only knew how to dance because Ling had forced her to learn EVILLZ’s dances for exercise. It was so that Ryn’s body didn’t deform and become like a blobfish from all the sitting she did. Maybe Ling deserved a thanks.
Recovering from her surprise, Daniela jumped in with a glint in her eyes to dance with Ryn. She slipped in close, placed an arm around Ryn’s chest, and whispered, ‘Carry on.’
Ryn had stiffened at first but followed Daniela’s command. Knowing Daniela, she was probably thinking that it was just her luck that she was often paired with Ling when it came to any dance moves that included an invasion of personal space. Being taught by Ling, Ryn had learned how to dance Ling’s position.
A hand travelled down Ryn’s side, reaching her hip. The front of Daniela’s body pressed flush against Ryn’s back. Dancing always got Ryn out of breath and sweating, but never did it make her dizzy like this. Her mind felt fuzzy, and by the end of it, her skin was burning. When the music ended, she shrunk in on herself.
‘You danced so well, and now you’re embarrassed?’ the cast laughed as Ryn fanned her face.
Daniela’s cheeks were pink, her expression smug. She’d danced much closer than she would with Ling in their original choreography. Nobody knew, except Ryn, and maybe the EVILLZ members if they watched the episode, the choreographer, the hawkeyed fans, the—Ryn gulped, pushing the embarrassing thoughts out of her head.
Ryn imagined Daniela saying, ‘I seized the opportunity!’ when they were home later.
‘Give them a prize already!’ the not-so-quiet-anymore woman screamed. ‘Ugh, my husband would never! Why do you never dance with me?’ She stomped towards him. With every step she took forwards, her husband took one backwards.
‘Choose your prize! Choose your prize, quick!’ he said, shuffling away from his wife.
Daniela insisted that Ryn be the one to pick out a prize since she had done most of the work.
Ryn didn’t hesitate to grab the book plushie, handing it to Daniela.
‘You sure?’ Daniela asked.
‘It’s the one you wanted, right? So it’s the one I want.’
This only made the woman give her husband a dejected glare again. She watched as he avoided her gaze.
‘Thanks, I’ll hug it all the time whilst thinking of you,’ Daniela said. ‘This character reminds me of you, y’know. That’s why I like it so much.’
Ryn felt a sensation in her chest. Was that a palpitation? They’re getting more common. Do I need a doctor?
‘Hey, hey!’ the skinny man called for their attention. ‘You were friends with Ling from EVILLZ first, weren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ Ryn said. No doubt this man suddenly thought of something fun to ask. Show hosts were like that, and she couldn’t blame them since it was their job.
‘Who’s your bias, then?’ he asked.
‘Ling,’ Ryn said with no hesitation. She waited a second, smiled, then said, ‘can’t compare to this person right here.’ She met Daniela’s eyes and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. Sorry, Ling, Ryn thought. I’ll buy you a drink. ‘Daniela’s my bias.’