Chapter Text
Manon always wondered what possibly could’ve happened to make Daniela walk out on them like that.
She was furious. They all were.
They worked so hard to get to where they were at- songs in the Top 100, winning the VMAs, getting nominated for TWO Grammys for goodness sake; all within their first year.
And she just threw it all away.
Like they said, six or nothing. They couldn’t continue without her, it just wasn’t possible. So by Daniela throwing her own life and hard work away, she- in a way- threw everyone else’s away too.
Through the haze of her anger though, she saw Sophia.
She was a wreck- but not in the same way everyone else was- and that confused her.
She wasn’t screaming or crying like everyone else, she was just… still.
She kept her eyes to the ground, and they were lifeless. Dull, unlike anything she’s seen before. Fists loosely curled at her sides.
Sophia always had a brightness in her eyes, even if she was upset. Everything she did, she did with passion. Singing, dancing, even when arguing. But now? With Daniela at the door, suitcase and contract in hand, she was just blank.
And no one knew why.
Everyone was too focused on Dani to notice, though.
Daniela just stood at the doorway, withstanding everything being thrown at her. Yoonchae’s eyes were widened with unshed tears, Megan was crying while demanding answers, and Lara was trying to calm her down; confusion, anger and disappointment in her eyes.
Manon just stared at her. Slowly, Daniela’s eyes lifted up. But she didn’t look at anyone surrounding her, no. Her eyes slid over Megan’s infuriated screams, avoided Lara’s questioning gaze, steered away from Yoonchae’s quiet pleas, and completely kept away from Manon’s tempered presence. Her eyes landed past Manon’s shoulder and her breath hitched. Manon subtly followed her line of sight, and saw Sophia.
Her eyes were begging. Not just to stay, but for more- and that made Manon pause.
—
Manon feels on top of the world. They’re saying goodbye to their family and friends before they get into the car. It’s so cheesy and romantic and it’s everything that Sophia loves.
She made sure to paint the cans with cute flower designs and tie them to the back of the back of the car with lavender… what material did she use again? String? Webs? Ribbon? Whatever she used, she made sure it was perfect for Sophia’s romcom classic wishes. Also, she wouldn’t want to accidentally cause an accident by a rogue can on their way to their Honeymoon spot. That wouldn’t be good.
-
With a mumbled, half hearted apology, Daniela sighed, opened the door and left.
The house was still.
Megan started to move, but Lara’s hold on her tightened.
“Lara, let me go.” she snarled.
“She’s gone, Megs.”
“The engine didn’t start, I didn’t hear it. Let. Me. Go.”
“Megan-“ Yoonchae began.
“She’s not giving up on this- on us. Not yet.” Megan’s voice was raspy, her throat thick with emotion.
“She made her decision.” Sophia’s voice was cold.
“Dude- you’re the leader, YOU were closest to her- DO SOMETHING.” Megan argued.
“What do you guys want for dinner?” Sophia ignored her, trying to put lightness into her voice.
“What the fuck?” Manon suddenly broke her silence. All heads turned to her, all except one.
Sophia’s head was kept bowed, her eyes trained on the tiled floor.
“What. Happened? You can’t just pretend nothing happened and make dinner. What the fuck is going on?” Manon growled, finally letting out her anger.
“Manon, maybe you should calm down. We’re all upset but how would Sophia-“ Lara began.
“She knows. SHE KNOWS.” Manon’s voice rose rapidly.
“How-“
“Lara. Think about it. Why would Sophia- out of all of us- be that quiet?”
Everyone fell silent.
“Yeah. How would she know- huh? The one that clung to her side, the one that called her ‘her Dani’-“ Manon’s fists were clenched, practically shouting now. She used the words “her Dani” as a weapon, the mocking tone attempting to cut through Sophia’s walls- eliciting a barely noticeable flinch. Her arms shook with anger, and maybe remnants of old jealousy as she reminded herself of their closeness. She doesn’t need that right now. She just needs to know what happened for her best friend to leave so abruptly.
“Manon.” Lara cut in- a silent warning of ‘enough.’
After a few beats of charged silence, someone spoke.
“Sophia…” Megan quietly cut in, you’d have to strain your ears to hear it.
“I don’t know.” Sophia was calm- too calm. She was still evading everyone’s eyes. Then, she walked away towards the kitchen.
-
“Yes yes, Sophie. I’ll tell you all about it. Mwah- bye. Thank you again for the beautiful speech. You’re the best ‘Best Woman’ ever. I’ll talk to you soon.” Manon dismissed Sophie with faux-annoyance and a high-pitched giggle, glancing towards the end of the line of people.
There stood her former bandmates, her forever sisters.
“Thank you for being here guys.” Manon’s voice shook with emotion, tears welled in her eyes.
They all wrapped in a group embrace, squeezing eachother tightly. This was the first time they’ve seen eachother in a few months- first time they’ve seen Dani in a while, actually. It’s been around a year since they- Katseye- have been complete. A hangout was organised by Lara this one time, and for the first time ever since the disbandment, Daniela actually showed up. That was more than a year ago- the wedding was the only time all six of them were together since, and it felt too quick.
“We need to actually arrange a meet up again. It’s been too long.” Sophia said, her well known stern leader tone put in place- acting as a guard to hide her emotion.
“Yes leader, anything you say leader.” Lara and Manon chorused, cackling through the tears as they reminisced about their old livestream.
“Well SOMEONE needs to actually check the group chat.” Yoonchae gave a pointed look towards Daniela.
“You sassy, sassy maknae. Oh child- please forgive me.” Daniela laughed.
But something was off. Daniela’s voice was strained, trying to overcompensate for something.
She was trying to sound happy.
As Manon was making her rounds with individual hugs, she checked over her shoulder to see Sophia preoccupied with teasing Yoonchae. This was her chance.
Manon leaned in towards Daniela for their embrace- why the hell is Dani so tense?
“Hey, let’s catch up after this. Okay?” Manon murmured in her ear.
Daniela’s shoulders dropped, but only slightly.
“Just the two of us.” Manon added,
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah.” Daniela nodded.
Manon’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Dude, are you okay?”
She took note of Daniela’s reaction, trying to figure her out.
Daniela tensed up more and her eyes slightly widened, lips parted.
“Yeah! Yeah! Sorry- it’s just… yeah. Everything’s just- yeah.”
“Everything’s? Gnarly?” Manon grinned.
She may care about her friend, but this was her big day. Her and Sophia’s. She won’t let her mood get dampened just because Daniela won't open up.
Daniela laughed, sounding relieved for the topic to be dropped. Manon finally released her, but she didn’t fail to take not of the sigh of relief that her best friend let out.
This girl and her sighs.
-
The others glanced at eachother and immediately followed suit.
“Sophia. Drop this stupid fucking façade of yours, and tell us what the actual fuck happened.” Manon’s voice was low- and that was somehow much worse than when she shouted.
“I DON’T FUCKING KNOW ANYTHING, MANON. OKAY? I DON’T. CAN WE JUST DROP IT AND TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK YOU GUYS WANT FOR DINNER?” Sophia slammed the pot she was holding on the kitchen counter.
The silence was deafening.
“Fuck you.” Manon stormed off, going to her room to cool down.
It’s her room now- not Manon and Dani’s, not Casa Danon- hers.
Manon finally let the tears she’s been holding in since she watched Dani come out of their room after coming back from a bathroom break out.
-
“Going somewhere? Since when did we have an off day?” Manon teased.
“I- well, I guess we- are going to have lots of off days now.” Dani replied, not looking her in the eye.
Manon’s nose scrunched in confusion.
“What?”
“I can’t do this anymore, Manon.” Dani said quietly, dragging the now visible suitcase behind her towards the door.
Manon stood there in shock, hearing the other members perk up from the living room.
Audible sounds of confusion and increasing frustration could be heard as Manon mentally prepared herself to head into the living room to join the others.