A Player's Game? | Minho ff

| Chapter 34 |

PoV: 3rd Person

The first solo was over. The crowd freaked out by the talented guy they go to see. Even more excited were they for the girl group they will get to see in a second. Excited and nervous Jiwoos looks at Liz, who gives her friend a reassuring smile.
Together with her four bandmates Jiwoos walks onto the stage, getting into her starting pose when the melody from their song Wannabe starts. A song that Ma-Ri wrote and helped producing together with Chan. Jiwoo and her four bandmates give it their all, dancing, singing and rapping. Changing their facial expressions to fit the moment perfectly, until Jiwoos saw something or rather someone in the crowd.
"Was that Ma-Ri?", She thinks, unsure if she had imagined that just now. Still she keeps going and ends the song. Only a second later their second song starts playing. Loco is also a song Ma-Ri wrote. While doing the choreography Jiwoos tries to find the girl, she believes to be Ma-Ri, again, but this time she is unable to find her.
When the songs ends and the cheer are over, the five girls run off the stage. Immediately Jiwoos rushes to Liz.
"I think I saw Ma-Ri!"
"What? Are you sure?", For a second Liz glances at her phone, but there are no missed calls or unread messages for their friend.
"I... I am not sure.."
"If she is here, then we will see her!"

While the second male soloist gets his opportunity to shine, the girls try to get a look at the crowd, but still they can't seem to find the girl Jiwoo saw.
After a few minutes it's Lizs time to shine on stage. Elegant she walks up, gets into position with multiple dancer to support her on stage. Hopefully she looks around but no change to find anyone in particular.
The music starts, Liz begins to sing the song 'Glassy' that was also written by Can and Ma-Ri. Gently she dances, with elegant and flawless moves she does her thing, enchanting everyone watching, as her dancers and her do their job more than perfectly. When the music stops and she is in her ending pose, she is almost glad it's over. Her worries for Ma-Ri are way too high to actually enjoy that moment. Immediately she rushes of the stage, when she is able to. While she does, she discovers Ma-Ri parents. Without any hesitation she walks straight into the crowd to approach her parents. To her surprise hers and Minhos parents stand fairly close. As she tries to say something, a teacher walks into the spotlight.
"I hope you enjoyed our show so far. Of course we still have many more talented students, but for now we will have a 20 minute break. Take this time to use the restroom, get something to eat and drink."
Again the teacher leaves the stage, but before Liz is able to talk to Ma-Ris parents, who literally stand in front of her, Minho parents begin to talk to her.
"Oh my gosh, Liz! You were so good!", Both praise the pretty girl. A big embarrassed she bows, thanking them.
"Excuse me for a second", smiling she turns to the other set of parents, "Do you know what's up with Ma-Ri?"
Surprised Ma-Ris parents look at the girl, before they smile sadly.
"No we don't. She went out with Minho and came home crying. We asked her what's wrong but she didn't leave her room nor did she talk to us.."
It's obvious how worried they are for their daughter, but it's even more obvious that she need space.
"What? That's horrible!", Liz wants to add something to her sentence, when she is interrupted by Minhos parents.
"What's horrible is that this.. girl wanted to waste our son's time!", The father says with a serious and disgusted look. His wife agrees: "She didn't even make it into the show. We don't need someone so untalented im our family.."
"Excuse you? How dare you?", Immediately the tension between these two sets of parents skyrockets. That is when Sora decides it would be a good idea to interfere.
"I was selected to perform because of my talent and I am from a wealthy family AND I am pretty. Wouldn't I be a good fit for your son?"
With disgust Liz looks at the babyfaced girl, as the four adults turn around to face her.
"Yeah, you would really good with my son", the father agrees, "I'll be interested to see how good you do."
"Oh, you will not be disappointed!"
Again Minhos parents turn around to Ma-Ris.
"It's not our fault your daughter is not good enough for our son", and with that they leave again, leaving both the parents and Liz mad.
"I can not believe this..", Liz mutters, but she stops when she hears silence sobs coming from Mi-Gyeong. Gently she let's herself fall into her husbands arms.
"We failed. We could not protect our daughter..", she cries into her husbands chest, who looks upset as well.
"Don't worry sweetheart. Ma-Ri wanted to move and switch school after the year anyway. Without these people around we will be able to protect her..", lovingly he strokes his wife's back, trying to comfort her. Liz on the other hand is shocked about the news. Determined she walks off, going back backstage. The second she sees Minho, she rushes over grabs him by his collar and smashes him I to a wall.
Confused and mad he looks at her.
"What was that for?"
"For being a idiot", she keeps on smashing him into the wall with every reason she says, "Hurting Ma-Ri! Breaking her heart for no reason! And fucking listening to your parents instead to yourself!"
Forcefully he takes her hand off his collar, stopping her from actually hurting him.
"What's done is done. I can't just undo it, you know!"
"You don't understand!", The more these two talk, the louder their voices get, u til Liz screams into his face, "She is going to leave!"
His eyes widen.
"What?"
"She was thinking about leaving and now that you hurt her she will leave when the year is over!"
"What?? She.. she can't leave!"
"But she will because you hurt her so much! Why can't you just do what good for you once?? It's doesn't of your parents approve of Ma-Ri, as long as your happy!"
Tears begin to build up I'm his eyes, when the teacher announces that the break is over and that stray kids will be the next to perform. Chan, Changbin, Han, Felix, Jeongin, Seungmin, Hyunjin and finally Minho walk into the stage, getting ready to perform. Full of sadness Minho looks through the crowd, finding his parents and other students he doesn't care about. The melody for maniac starts, the boy move, Chan begins to sing and everything goes smoothly. When the second chorus is placed and they all dance, Minho sees Ma-Ri, as she stands next to her parents. Seeing her makes him happy, even though he knows how deeply her hurt her. All he wants is her.
The second the song finishes, he tries to run off, wanting to hug Ma-Ri. Tell her how much he loves her and need her by his side, but a teacher stops him. After the cheering the are free to go. Without any hesitation he leaves backstage and walks into the crown, while Sora enters the stage and begins her performance. When the brown haired boy sees Ma-Ris parents, he can't seem to find her anymore. Did she leave already?

While Minho tries to find the girl he loves, the backstage area is slowly turning into a mess. Multiple teacher make phonecalls, causing everyone to get nervous, until a teacher sighs.
"We have a issue, our secret artist is sick. They can't perform.."
Instant panic spreads. Will the show be ruined now? Was all their hard work for nothing?
"Just get someone else to do it", a different voice says. Confused they turn around and see Ma-Ri. At first Liz and Jiwoos feel happy, then confused when they see her black hair, different style of clothes and different make-up.
"What happened to you?", Jiwoos asks confused, but Ma-Ri ignores her. Instead she walks to the teachers.
"I want to do it."
Unsure the teachers look at each other before agreeing, as they see no other options than to let her do it.

Sora is done with her performance. People clap, admiring her cute visuals and the happy song she chose to perform, since she knew it was gonna be a hit. After all her parents paid some known songwriters to write her the song 'Smiley'.
Happily she runs off the stage, searching for Minho, but obviously can't find him. So she decides to got to his parents, wanting to make sure she got what she wanted. As she arrives there, she sees Minho standing close by. Forcefully she grabs his arms and drags him to his parents with her. While he is forced into a awkward conversation the light on the stage are being turned on again. To his and everyones surprise Ma-Ri stands on the stage, a microphone on her hand, as she looks determined.
"This is called 'Temporary funeral'. It's for all the assholes who have broken your heart and think they still have power over you."
After she says that the music starts. Ma-Ri sings. Letting all her anger out with the words she is singing. People look shocked. Shocked about her new look, her vocals but also the lyrics.
"Standing at you temporary funeral", with these words she finishes the song. At first people look still confused up, but only a second later it turns into laughter and cheering. Not believing what he just saw, he looks up.