behind the curtains | jhs.

five

The second rehearsal was worse than the first one and there was only two more until the actual show. Hoseok shouted at Hyoyeon and told her to leave the room until she got her feet right. Hyoyeon cried at that because you could tell that she was working hard. Cierra was already in a bad mood because, in a phone call with her mom, they got into an argument. Cierra and her parents were close and running the restaurant with her mom were difficult at times. So when her mother called her talking about shutting down the restaurant, Cierra got angry.

"What do you mean closing the restaurant?" Cierra asked before laughing, unamused. "You know that is the only thing I know right?"

Her mother sighed over the phone, "Cierra, you have dancing-"

"Dancing is a temporary thing," Cierra automatically argued back, "you know that! Cooking is what I do, cooking is what I like, you can't just shut it down. We have been running it for three years now."

"Cierra-"

"No!" Cierra had no interest in allowing her to finish. "You know I respect you and I never argue with you. It's just not fair first of all for you to throw all our hard work away. We got validation for the states, certifications, and multiple licenses. If you want to quit then fine, but I'm not."

The line went silent for a while until her mother broke the ice, "I'm sorry today was just terrible. I just thought that dancing could be something you'd partake in forever."

"Well," Cierra shook her head as she held onto the phone, "you just can't decide that. This is not something permanent. I'm sorry for snapping, today wasn't the best for me either."

"We both had shit days," her mother joked, lighting up the mood, "I miss you, princess."

Cierra gulped down, avoiding herself from getting emotional. "I miss you too, mom. Is everything fine at home?"

"I had cursed out this lady who kept ordering my ginger cookies," her mother recalled with a loud cackle, "she never came to the shop and she kept ignoring me. Like you wasted my time over these ginger cookies and you wouldn't even pick them up."
Cierra and her mother continued to talk and tell each other about the things that were going on. Cierra told her mother about everything about the tour.

"Just remember to not stress yourself out too much," her mother advised her, "have fun and be careful, please!" Once Cierra got off the phone, she got out of the hotel bathroom since she got called after her shower. Cierra joined the other girls on the couch as they watched a k drama and reflected about their days.

The next morning they did what they did the previous days. They all got ready for rehearsal and went to their buses. Cierra could tell that everyone was still gloomy from their last practice. She didn't like how Hoseok acted either but she knew that it didn't matter right now. It was time to prepare for the show despite personal feelings and hopefully, they'd soon know that.

It was like Hoseok had to complain about everything and Momo not being there was causing him to be a downer on everyone. It was frustrating Cierra to the point where she stopped halfway of Hangsang, it was a risky thing to do. A few seconds later, the music paused from Hoseok's doing. "Is there a reason why you stopped dancing?" He crossed his arms and glared at Cierra.

Cierra exhaled before nodding her head, "There is actually, I need help on a move." She really did and she'd rather stop to ask instead of him noticing and humiliating her.

"Are you being for real right now?" Hoseok scoffed before turning his back. "Maybe you should sit out because we have a show in three more days and we only have half-day rehearsals for the next two."