izumi's first stage finished off perfectly. she followed the boys off stage, wiping off her sweat. the lights were shining brightly tonight, making the stage even hotter. however despite how tired izumi was, the smile on her face couldn't be wiped off.
"good job guys." hani smiled, giving the four of them a thumbs up as they thanked her. izumi grabbed her water bottle before falling down onto the sofa. she was completely drained, which was unlike her. usually after a performance she was tired, but this felt different. she felt as if she could barely breathe and her body ached all over for some reason.
she unscrewed the lid of her bottle and gulped down the water, feeling refreshed. she sighed, panting for breath as she set the bottle aside.
"izumi!" she looked up to see felix approaching her. he stopped before her, crouching before her as he smiled brightly up at her. "you did great up ther― hey, are you okay?" he immediately noticed how tired the girl looked. her skin looked paler than usual, which was strange since she was completely fine during rehearsals.
"i'm fine." she reassured with a smile, taking his hands in hers. felix's eyebrows furrowed in concern, noticing how cold her hands felt despite the fact that she was just on stage.
"izumi-"
"felix! we're up next, come on bro!" a voice called for felix, cutting him off. felix bit his lip, seeming reluctant to leave izumi.
"i'm fine felix. go up on that stage and have fun, don't worry about me." she smiled, ruffling his hair. felix sighed, nodding his head. he gave her one last glance before reluctantly standing up and heading towards the stage.
izumi sighed, leaning back into the seat and closing her eyes. she was just going to take a quick nap before she had to get ready for her next stage.
-
izumi yawned, stretching her limbs to make sure she didn't pull anything on stage. she was still stuck in a daze as her and felix stood in front of the mirror to recheck their moves. the pair were wearing matching outfits for the stage, izumi was in a white tank top which was bordered in black and tucked into a pair of black skinny jeans. whereas felix was wearing a white tee with black borders and matching black shorts. the two were wearing matching black vans too, completing the look.
"guys! good luck out there!" jeongin cheered as izumi and felix were called on standby. izumi smiled, waving at the younger boy who was cheering the pair on. the two stood at the side of the stage, watching as the second to last stage finished up.
"weird, isn't minah supposed to be in sooji's stage?" izumi mumbled to herself, noticing the missing girl.
"hm?" felix questioned, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he stepped closer to her. izumi was surprised by the action, her eyes glancing up at felix who was looking at the stage in search of the said girl. "strange, aren't they always together?" felix questioned.
izumi snapped out of her daze, clearing her throat as she nodded her head. "well, knowing sooji, she must've kicked her out last minute or maybe they fought over something." izumi shrugged. the two watched as sooji's stage came to an end.
sooji came off stage, a smirk on her lips as her gaze was fixed on izumi. "break a leg, izumi." she patted izumi's shoulder before pushing past, her other dancers following close behind. izumi raised a questioning eyebrow, she couldn't help but think that the girl had another idea of the encouraging phrase.
shaking it off the pair made their way to the centre of the stage whilst the lights were dimmed. izumi could feel her heart beating against her chest as they waited for the music to begin.
the two were lightly panting for their breath, a big smile on izumi's face as well as on felix's. the two swayed lightly side to side as the lights began to dim and the song faded out. felix pulled her closer as the lights went out before lightly pressing his lips against hers. it was only for a quick second, but it was enough to have izumi's heart beating faster than before as the butterflies in her stomach caused a splurge of happiness to surge through her.
the cheers and clapping snapped them out of their daze as izumi suddenly stepped back, her face heating up as she realised what had just happened. the lights suddenly shone brightly once more as everyone ran onto the stage, standing in one long line.
"thank you to everyone who came to watch the show," mr jeon stood at the centre as he gave the ending speech. "and thank you to all the performers who worked hard for this showcase too. let's give them one more round of applause!" mr jeon walked off to the side so the crowd could fully see everyone as cheers and applause echoed throughout the auditorium.
"good job, izumi." izumi didn't have enough time to process who had whispered into her ear as a hand pressed against her back, pushing her forward. she tripped over her feet, landing on the floor with a thud as everything came to a sudden halt. gasps and shrieks filled the room as izumi wondered what was wrong.
"izumi move!" she heard her father's shout. izumi's gaze lifted above her as she could only see a black dot before everything went dark. the audience and performers could only stare in shock. felix was the first one to snap out of it as he jumped forward, his hands shaking as he tried to find a way to lift the object off of her.
"someone call an ambulance!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face as he tried to stay calm. panic began to ensue, as mr jeon scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket, calling an ambulance. the culprits of the accident snuck out as the other boys attempted to lift the rail that held the spotlights.
somehow, instead of the single spotlight that was simply meant to knock out izumi, the whole rail had dropped. sooji had ran off in panic, afraid of getting caught as minah could only stare down in horror. no one had realised that someone had pushed it off.
"s-stop!" hyunjin shouted, stopping the boys from moving the rail. "it's stuck in her, if we move it we could damage something more." he explained, trying to think rationally.
"she's dying! we can't just leave her!" felix, who was unable to think clearly, shouted as he pulled his hair in frustration. hyunjin grabbed him by his shoulders.
"i know felix! i know how you feel, but doing something may kill her. let's just wait for the ambulance, okay?" felix couldn't stop the stream of tears as a sob escaped his lips, weakly nodding his head. hyunjin gulped, holding back his own tears as he pulled the boy into a hug. he shut his eyes tight, trying to get rid of the image of izumi's body, but it was no use.
in the audience, her father fell back in his seat. his heart completely torn into pieces as the timer slowly approached zero.
she had ran out of time.