“No matter the idols I’m with?” I ask casually.
“No matter how mean those girls can be.”
Ha! Guys. But, okay, sure. Perfect.
“You take your dream with both hands, Ah-Ri.”
Tears well in my eyes. “I’ll find a way to pay my phone bill.”
“Take your dreams with both hands, and I’ll pay it for you,” he says softly. “Just don’t say no to an opportunity to do what you love if you have it right in front of you.”
A tear slides down my cheek. “Okay, I’ll be home soon to have dinner with you guys.”
“Are you hungry?”
I stare down at the ramyeon and lie. I’m already insecure enough about my body, and I know he’s doing it to celebrate. Unfortunately, right now, I have to do this alone, as he said. Need to use the only money I have to eat dinner. Both hands, right? Both hands. “Stuffed, actually.”
“Mom just grilled some meat. Come over now. Don’t be late,” he says before hanging up. The line disconnects. I know I’ll have to take the bus to their house, then sit in front of them and listen to more lecturing, and I hate it. But I am still hungry. Why is this all so hard?
I wipe my cheeks, then scroll through my phone.
My fingers tremble as I stop on Fallen Angel Forever.
I send the text that will seal my destiny.
My fate.
My forever.
And type two simple words.
I’m. In.
Chapter Three
Ryan
I don’t expect her text.
I’m so shocked I stare at my phone for a few minutes before taking a deep breath. Or maybe that’s what it feels like to finally breathe a sigh of relief—my first one since all the shit went down a few months ago.
We’re at the same label and were given some restrictions on what we could do and a timeline, but we’re the label’s first to start in a new direction in K-pop—despite there being one other co-ed group in the industry.
Funny thing is, the minute you think you have a genius idea, everyone wants to stop you because it seems like it’s too out of the norm.
Haneul and I live in the same apartment we used to live in with the group, except we now have spare bedrooms since the other two members left for the military.
The whole point was to go together.
But they decided to do it without us, disbanding the group right after we started truly taking off with worldwide recognition.
And now it’s back to ground zero.
You can’t really be a K-pop group with two rappers. I mean, you could, but that wasn’t the look we had from management.
We can sing, but two of us? Who’s going to come to see two guys missing their other lead vocalists?
I’m still pissed, honestly.
I’m pissed because things were strained since the beginning with the group. When the label put us in the supergroup, Haneul and I were both solo artists, but the other two guys had already been a part of two groups and had basically grown up together. Shit, talk about creative differences between the four of us. We kept everything behind closed doors, though.
On stage, everything was perfect. Sold-out concerts, millions upon millions of views on our videos. We were trending worldwide when our last mini-album dropped a year ago.
And now? They’re gone.
They weren’t happy.
They needed a break.
And while I can understand how hard they worked since they were sixteen, and how much traveling and crazy scheduling they had to go through, I’m being selfish. Because while I can sell the hell out of a skincare line, I wanted to be a part of something bigger.
And I thought I’d found that with them.
At least Haneul and I had each other and were able to form a friendship based on utter betrayal and sadness.
Yeah, we had at least four drunken nights in a row once the guys announced they were taking a break and going into the military, leaving Haneul and me with the choice to go back to our solo projects or do something new.
Maybe it was the soju talking, but at two in the morning a month ago, we came up with an idea. What about a group with two guys and two girls? What if we played both sides and pulled in fans from everywhere? Created a new bias for K-pop? I knew of only one group that had successfully done it, and they’re still busting ass at another label.
Which brings us to this predicament.
Haneul and I basically told the label that we needed to compete with them if we wanted to stay relevant.
They fucking went for it but didn’t want to invest a ton of money or time into it. So, they dropped the entire plan into our laps, gave us a timeline, and that was it. If we do well on the debut stage, get a certain number of views on our music video, and can get on the Billboard charts with our first song, they’ll financially back us one hundred percent and actually pay us right out of the gate.