imagines | newjeans ✔

(request) danielle › moonlight (pt. two)

It's almost three years since that night, and it's one of the last times that you saw Danielle.

You cast a wistful glance towards the picture frame still standing proudly on your desk. No matter how many seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years pass by, you'll always remember Danielle and the special place she held, and still holds, in your heart. But you'll also always be weighed down by the one question that's constantly running laps around your brain.

Why did she leave me?

FLASHBACK:
2½ YEARS AGO

It's been a week since you came out to Danielle, and you were now heading to her house for your weekly sleepover, looking forward to whatever fun activities she had planned.

You weren't expecting what you were met with.

As you approached her house, you first noticed that both of her parents' vehicles were missing. That's odd. Usually at least one of them is home by now on a Friday afternoon. The second thing you noticed was that cute decorations that used to be on the house's windows were now gone, which was also severely unusual, because one would have to quite literally fight Mrs. Marsh if you even so much as wanted to take them down. A heavy feeling of unease rooted itself deep in the pit of your stomach, making you feel queasy under the weight of the almost frightening peculiarities that you could point out.

Maybe Danielle's home.

You took slow steps up to the front door and raised your arm. Your knuckles rapped against the front door, waiting for a response in return. After waiting a few moments, you got none, which instantly made you tense up. You bent down in front of the small angel baby statue to the right of the door, and lifted it to reveal a key. You stood up straight and quickly jumped into action and inserted the key into the keyhole.

After a few seconds of frustratedly fumbling with the metal object in your grasp, you finally managed to open the door.

And, again, what you saw is not at all what you were expecting to see. You were expecting to be welcomed by the cozy atmosphere of the Marsh household; the comfortable couch that you and Danielle have spent countless nights on together, the cute coffee table that you all have eaten at as you watched television, the selection of soft quilts they kept near the couch.

Instead, you were met with nothing. There was not a single piece of recognizable furniture in sight. It seemed that the whole house was simply... empty.

They were gone.

FLASHBACK END.

Ever since that day, you've always wondered where they went-where she went. You think that you'll forever be mad at Danielle about the fact that she didn't even bother to notify her of her leaving; she hasn't ever texted, called, or written to you, which is what baffled you the most.

You're trying to move on, but it's hard. You're still in love with Danielle. She's still all you've ever wanted, and all you think about. She's hard to forget. But you've been distracting yourself with the task of getting a job, since, even though you're only sixteen, you've already graduated from high school.

You've already discussed this with your parents. You asked for permission to move to South Korea to live with your uncle who moved there several years ago for a job, and they gave it to you. You had already learned the language and about the culture prior to asking, so that you're prepared.

This was going to be a new chapter of your life. Maybe you'll move on from Danielle, maybe you won't. But you'll try.

🌓

It's been a week since you've been in Seoul, South Korea, living with your uncle, and you've already managed to get a job. Your dream job, at that. Ever since a couple of years ago, you've wanted to be a makeup artist. Now that you're here in South Korea, you decided to see what you can do. Fast forward several days, you've been given a job at HYBE Labels.

You've heard of this label. During your flight here, you had done some more research about the music of South Korea, namely the biggest genre; K-pop. There are four companies that make up a recognized group called the Big 4, which consists of HYBE Labels, JYP Entertainment, SM Entertainment, and YG Entertainment. You found yourself liking the music released by certain groups from some of the labels, groups like TWICE, Stray Kids, and aespa. Unfortunately, you didn't get to do much research about the HYBE artists since you fell asleep, but you did get to listen to a few BTS songs.

Point is, tomorrow is your first day as a MUA-in-training, a title they gave you since you're still young, which you didn't mind. For your first day, you would simply be tagging along with some older makeup artists as they did up some idols, specifically a group called NewJeans. Feeling too lazy that night, you didn't do any research about them, opting on just meeting them when you get to the building.

🌔

You woke up early the next morning, excited for today's plans. You hopped out of bed and quickly got ready, making yourself a light breakfast afterwards. The entirety of the bus ride to the HYBE headquarters, you dove into NewJeans' music. You have yet to see their faces, but you're awfully excited. Their songs are so good, maybe your favorites out of all of the ones you listened to from your research.

You smiled happily as you walked off of the bus and then took off down the street, an easily noticeable pep in your step as you went. You were honestly quite excited to be a part of such a big project. In a few months time, maybe even in a couple of weeks, you'll be able to do the makeup of one of the most popular groups in K-pop. The thought excited you greatly. And it distracted you from your heart's turmoil.

After walking into the building and being shown around by an employee named Minho, you were led to a hallway where you were met with several people running around and preparing things. Minho led you past those people and into a room that looked to be a dance studio. You assume this is where the NewJeans members are.

And you were right.

Huddled around a camera monitor was a group of five young girls, but all of them had their backs to you as they examined what you assumed to be one of many takes of their dance practice for their latest song, OMG.

"Do you want to do one more take?" The videographer asked them. They all nodded, saying yes in unison. And so they got into their beginning position.

And that was when you froze. You felt like all of the air was knocked out of your lungs. Were you seeing right? You have no clue, because standing right before you as a member of one of the hottest K-pop groups of 2022, was Danielle Marsh, Mo Jihye, your best friend.

What you did next caused all the attention to turn to you.