Chapter Text
Another splash of rain pelted the window of their apartment as the wind howled outside. Normally the rain gently pelted Huntr/x tower (or so it was called by the group) in a soft, steady rhythm, the one that the girls could easily spin into a song idea. Zoey would hear the tip tap on the glass and immediately start beat boxing, Mira couldn’t help herself but start moving to the groove, and Rumi, with a shrug of her shoulders and a roll of her eyes, started to hum out a melody.
There was nothing “rhythmic” about this rain. The harsh splashes filled the apartment with a discordant energy, punctuated by the harsh, ghostly howl of the wind outside. It was far too disruptive to have a normal conversation or drown out the sound of the TV, so the girls turned to each of their respective headphones to silence the all encompassing noise.
Zoey laid on her back on the couch, a Nintendo Switch suspended over her face as she fidgeted with her feet. Rumi sat next to her, hand gently stroking her hair as she held a book in the other hand while her headphones filled her ears with gentle ambient noise. Mira sat at their kitchen table, hunched over her laptop, her brow furrowed as she scrolled through choreography notes.
It was a typical evening for the Pop group —save, of course, for the disruptive weather making what would have been their movie night rather uncomfortable. Everything was peaceful in the apartment…that is, until a notification floated by the corner of Mira’s screen. Her blood froze as she read the name and subject line. Her mind rapidly put the pieces together as her breath hitched.
She must have gasped and not realised it as Rumi pulled off her headphones and called out to her girlfriend.
“Mira? Is everything alright?”
Mira quickly shook her head and clicked to make the notification disappear as quickly as possible.
“No, yea, everything’s fine. Just…realised something about our routine, adding it to the notes. It’s fine!”
Rumi frowned slightly. Mira should have chosen a better lie. In all her years of knowing her, through all the complexities and nuances to her mannerisms and behaviours, Rumi had never heard Mira gasp quite like that —and certainly not over something as mundane as their group choreography.
She paused for a moment, debating whether or not she should press on it. Despite how boundlessly capable her girlfriend had proven to be, emotional vulnerability still proved to be one of her greatest challenges. She was more likely to just grunt and flare up in anger when something genuinely upset her than plop down and have a cry —though her girlfriends certainly had a way of drawing such a reaction out of her.
Zoey, noticing that Rumi’s petting had stopped, looked between her two girlfriends, pulling one of the headphones off her head.
“Something wrong?” She asked innocently.
“No, nothing is wrong,” Mira said firmly.
Zoey’s eyes shifted back to Rumi, now sharing in her concerned expression as both brows furrowed.
“That doesn’t sound like nothing,” Rumi said softly.
Mira drew in a deep breath and stood from her chair at the kitchen table and slowly closed her laptop. The young popstar plopped down on the couch beside Rumi and let out a heavy sigh.
“It’s…it’s whatever…I just…I don’t want to talk about it but I got…reminded of something I really didn’t want to think about…ever again.”
There was a melancholy and weight to her voice that the two could scarcely ever recall before. Zoey and Rumi looked at each other once more before readjusting themselves to have Mira in the middle. Zoey gently placed her hand on Mira’s as Rumi wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
“We don’t have to talk about it…but we’re here if you need anything, ok?” Rumi said softly.
“You can just tell us how you’re feeling right now. You don’t need to give us the specifics,” Zoey added, running her hand up Mira’s arm.
Their girlfriend drew in another deep breath before then releasing it and falling backward, further into the cushions.
“I am feeling…god, I don’t even know what I’m feeling,” she moaned as the complexities unraveled in her mind.
“That’s ok!” Zoey soothed, looping her arms around her girlfriend.
“How about we watch some TV?,” Rumi offered, resting her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder.
“We can play some Smash Bros if you want,” Zoey added, her eyes still wide with concern.
“I think some boring TV sounds good right about now,” Mira sighed as she leaned into Rumi.
Just as they were about to pick something to put on, an angry buzzing rattled the table in the distance as Mira’s phone burst to life.
“Ughhhhh…”
“Ok, let’s just put all our phones on silent for the night and turn off notifications. It’s after 7:00 PM anyway so there is no reason anyone should be trying to call us at this hour,” Rumi said as she grabbed Mira’s phone and silenced the call.
“Oh, yea! It’s the weekend too! Why would anyone try and bother us now?” Zoey remarked as Rumi returned to the couch and handed Mira back her phone.
With her phone back in her hand, Mira quickly put it on silent as her girlfriends did the same. Mira’s eyes lingered heavily on the missed call notification at the top of the screen.
One Missed Call From:
Mom
The trio awoke the next morning to a disappointingly early alarm from Rumi’s bedside table. A chorus of groans erupted from Zoey and Mira as Rumi leapt out of bed and began her morning routine.
While each member of Huntr/x had their own room, which one they slept in depended on the type of day they were set to have the following morning. Zoey liked having big, fluffy blankets and a space heater that made the room perfect for cold mornings and long cuddling sessions. Mira’s room had black out curtains and a white noise machine that made sleeping in ideal there. Rumi, on the other hand, had a room that was ideal for getting up bright and early. The bed frame was lower to the ground and the blankets were light so one could jump out easily. The mattress and pillows were firm for ideal sleeping posture, and the bedside tables were made of a wood that rattled violently whenever a notification went off on one of their phones.
“Come on, my loves,” Rumi yawned to her band mates.
“We’ve gotta be at the studio by 7:00 sharp.”
“Ugggh, but it’s so early…” Mira complained, rolling back over onto her side.
“Who even watches TV anymore!” Zoey cried out, throwing her arms and legs up as though she were struck by lightning.
Despite their resistance, Rumi managed to get her girlfriends out of bed, fed, and in the car to the set of a live early morning talk show.
The trio stood in the lobby of their building, aimlessly scrolling through socials and giving their brains just enough dopamine and bright light to not fall asleep once again. Mira was just about to like another idol group’s dance routine when her phone burst to life with another call, the number and name mocking her with their simplicity.
Incoming call from:
Mom
Mira quickly rejected the call and was about to block the number had Bobby and their ride not arrived at that exact moment.
“Bobbyyyyyy,” Zoey cried from the middle seat of the SUV.
“Why do you still schedule these?”
“Sorry girls,” their manager said from the passenger seat of the car.
“It’s not really a choice. We have to stay competitive in every demographic and pretty much every Kpop group does early morning shows. We can’t lag behind other groups, company policy and all that!” he explained with an apologetic smile.
“We’ll just show up, do the thirty minute segment and then the clips of it will be all over the internet. It’s a lot of bang for your buck: we get to reach the early morning TV watcher demographic while still reaching our usual fanbase.”
Rain sloshed around the wheels of the cars as it slowly worked its way through the harsh weather. Commuters filled the streets with clear, plastic umbrellas, forming a phalanx of patchy dryness as they made their way to work.
“I know you’re right but it still sucks” Mira moaned while rubbing her eyes furiously.
As far as Bobby was concerned, it was all about the bottom line: keeping popularity up, not falling behind, and making sure the brand stayed relevant. He had no idea how high the stakes truly were for the girls to stay on top of the charts. One slip up, one major decline in listenership and they could risk the Honmoon weakening, allowing demons into the human world and preying on the souls of the living.
“I know it sucks, but once we get done with it, you girls will have a full hour to yourselves!”
Still overwrought with exhaustion, Zoey folded over onto Rumi’s shoulder and belted out a muffled scream into her shoulder.
“There, there, my love” Rumi soothed quietly.
“Bobby,” Zoey asked, pulling her face out of her girlfriend’s jacket.
“How do you handle this so well? Like, are you never tired?”
Their manager belted out a hearty laugh with a tinge of manic energy lurking beneath.
“Girls, I come from a single mother, working household, if there’s one thing I understand, it’s early mornings, hard work, and concerningly high caffeine consumption.
Mira’s phone buzzed again in her hands while the girls sat patiently in their make up chairs, waiting for the last touches to be complete before they would be introduced and trotted out before the cameras. A quick scoff was the only answer she gave her phone before hastily stowing it in her bag. She couldn’t do this, not now of all times. When she was on camera she had to be careful about her image, her managed personality. She was a wild child, the tough one, the cool and aloof one but only in a way that looked good on cameras, that the fans would like. She was allowed to be a little grumpy, a little caustic, but always had to snap right back into that sickeningly sweet, feminine charm at a moment’s notice.
Zoey and Rumi both looked at her with thinly veiled concern. It wasn’t their business to ask, boundaries were something they took great care to maintain in their relationship, yet they couldn’t help but notice how on edge Mira seemed. Her usual snide remarks and quips about the farce of television production were nowhere to be found. She made no comments about the quality of the bottled water they were handed by craft services, the canned and repetitive mannerisms of the show’s host, or the sweltering heat of the studio lights from above. They rarely ever saw her this quiet.
“We’re on in 3! You’ll enter stage right,” the technician told them as another attached microphones to their lapels.
Zoey opened her mouth to say something to Mira but quickly swallowed the words as the backstage crew began wordlessly gesturing to each other before they came out. This would have to be something to bring up during their free time between now and rehearsals.
One of the back stage crew drew their attention as he counted down on his fingers from five. After he reached one, the girls quickly walked out, making sure not to look too rushed but not too relaxed, a perfectly urgent walk.
The whole set was sterile, sleek, and modern with a blindingly white appearance that seemed straight out of a sci-fi movie. A large TV screen hung on a wall at the back of the set displaying b-roll of the stormy weather that plagued Seoul. The three sat next to each other on a white couch while the host appeared opposite of them in a white arm chair with black accents. He began with the usual introductions, to which the audience applauded, followed by a usual bout of box standard questions: what were their plans for the future, what was it like recording their latest single, what their favourite snacks were.
The interview moved forward at a steady pace, due in large part to the host’s competence, yet there was an extra tension in Mira’s smile that all but her girlfriends missed. There was a stillness in her eyes that neither of them could quite place.
“Alright,” the host said as the interview drew to a close.
“Last question, is there anyone watching right now that you’d like to say hi to?”
The group paused for a moment before Rumi suddenly waved her hand and smiled.
“Hi, Mom!” Rumi laughed, hiding the sincerity in her voice.
“Oh! Your mother is watching right now?”
“Yea, she watches pretty much everything we do. She is pretty busy most of the time though, so I guess now’s as good a time as any to say hi.”
“And Zoey,” he said, turning to the maknae of the group.
“Do you have anyone you want to say hi to?”
“I don’t think he’s watching but shout out to Armando and Pedro, the guys who ran the best taco truck in Burbank!” She replied with a playful giggle.
“And Mira?”
Her teeth bit into her lip as she forced a smile —not too big, painfully natural. Under normal circumstances, she might have just made a quip out of it, a joke about aliens watching from above. She could have just played it off with an easy response of “our fans! I love all of you!” But right here, right now, it felt as though this question in particular was made to screw over just her.
The image of the caller ID on her phone came back, mocking her. The years of ridicule, disapproval, neglect all staring her right in the face, refusing to go away. She remembered what she had been told as a young girl when forced to pose for a photo.
“You mustn’t frown! Keep your face neutral, like everyone else's!"
“But I don’t want to be like everyone else! I want to frown so I’m frowning!”
Imperceptible to the cameras, her girlfriends’ eyes shifted over to her, noting the hesitation and tension in the air. The host remained oblivious as Mira drew in a quick breath while cocking her head to the side. At last, she turned to look straight into the camera.
“I would like to send all my love to all our fans, especially anyone who feels misunderstood or alone right now. Our music is for you and always will be. You deserve to feel seen and understood. When people cheer for Huntr/x, they’re cheering for you too!”
An audible “aww” emanated from the live studio audience —including from her own girlfriends.
“Aww, well, thank you for such heartfelt and genuine answers. Alright everyone, that was Huntr/x, their new single Unspoken is out now on streaming services! Thank you all and good morning!”
The three filed out just as quickly as they came in, breathing a heavy sigh of relief once they were out of view of the cameras.
“Ugh, god, those shows are soooo uptight,” Zoey complained as the crew quickly removed their microphones.
“I feel like I’m on a movie set with how scripted everything is,” Rumi laughed, rubbing the part of her skin where the microphone had pushed against her.
“Tell me about it,” Mira huffed, shaking her head.
“It reminded me of when I had to—”
“Celine?!”
The group instantly snapped to attention after Rumi called out the name of their Ceo (and her mother). Walking towards them in her usual professional blazer and heels, Celine waved slightly as she carried a coffee in one hand with a clipboard wedged under her arm on the other side. Her smile was faint but her eyes beamed slightly after seeing Rumi’s surprise and excitement.
“Mom, I know I said you’d be watching but I didn’t think you’d actually be here!”
The former idol laughed as she gave her daughter a half hug.
“A happy coincidence, Rumi. I already had some business to take care of here, I didn’t realise that you also had your appearance today.”
All three of the girls looked at her with varying degrees of skepticism. Their CEO was notorious for having every detail, every schedule, and every time table memorised and planned out for weeks. Several months had passed since Huntr/x has learned of the less than ideal relationship Rumi and Celine had and while patching up their bond and reforging trust took time, they had made a great deal of progress. Rumi’s enthusiasm and positivity towards the process certainly made it easier for her girlfriends —though Mira still maintained a level of distrust towards authority figures and parents.
“I know you girls have an hour free and, while it is raining, there is a shopping centre a couple blocks from here. I brought umbrellas or I can have the car bring you.”
“That’s fine, eomma, but I think we can walk in some rain just fine,” Rumi responded, looking back to her girlfriends for approval.
Mira shrugged and tossed her head to the side while Zoey nodded vigorously and jumped up and down.
“Oh yea!” the maknae cheered.
“I love the rain! Maybe it’s because we always got so little of it in LA but I’m always stoked when it happens.”
The three girls began to make their way towards the back alley exit when Celine stopped Mira subtly.
“Can we talk for just a minute? It’s urgent,” she whispered in her ear.
Mira froze, immediately piecing together what this could be about.
The two quickly slipped behind a rotating set and moved over to the craft’s table.
Zoey and Rumi looked around quickly as they realised Mira was no longer with them. The pair craned their heads once they saw Celine and Mira conversing, her jaw as tense as ever as their CEO’s eyebrows furrowed in her typical “delivering bad news” face.
“What do you think is going on over there?” Zoey asked, trying to strain her ears to listen in.
“I don’t know, but…Celine wouldn’t pull her aside like that if it weren’t serious…and personal.
“I hope she isn’t in trouble…”
Rumi shook her head, not tearing her gaze away from her girlfriend and mother.
“No, something’s…wrong wrong. Look at how Mira’s acting.”
Mira stood perfectly still, nodding politely after each of Celine’s utterances. They were not arguing, Mira was not yelling or acting defensive (as she often did when she was in trouble), she simply stood there and calmly received the news.
Zoey kicked herself for not being able to read lips properly —she had told herself long ago that it was easy and assumed she could naturally do it perfectly (like she did for a lot of things)— though she could make out one word from Mira’s mouth before she turned back towards them: “Thank you.”
“Alright, let’s roll,” Mira said as she returned to them, not missing a beat.
Both of her girlfriends nodded, not wanting to push her on it at that moment.
“Ugh! Home at last!” Zoey cried out as they shuffled back into their penthouse, worn out from an entire day of media appearances and rehearsals.
“Tell me about it…at least it was a productive day,” Rumi said optimistically, pulling off her jacket and folding it over her forearm.
Mira shuffled in last, uncharacteristically silent. Usually she would be the first one to belt out a sigh of relief once their responsibilities for the day were done. She would kick off her shoes, throw out her arms and collapse onto the couch in a dramatic display. But not today.
Today, Mira quietly shuffled over to the window and just stared out at the skyline, a sullen expression reflecting in the glass back at her amid the rain droplets that battered the glass. Rumi and Zoey turned to each other, silently agreeing it was time to intervene.
“Hey Mira?” Zoey called out cautiously, approaching her girlfriend from the side.
“You’ve been…real quiet lately…You didn’t really talk much during most of our interviews.”
“And you just kind of kept to yourself during down time,” Rumi added.
“You don’t even really seem that relieved now that the day is over…”
“And what was all that business with Celine? She definitely came there to see you specifically.”
Mira remained silent, still staring out the window in front of her.
“Come on, Mira, tell us…maybe we can help?” Zoey asked innocently.
Mira replied with a scoff, causing Zoey to shrink slightly.
“You never know, talking about it might make you feel better?” Rumi said, casting a look of sympathy to Zoey.
“I don’t think anything can make this better,” Mira finally said in a low growl.
“Mira…Please…we love you and it hurts us so much to see you in pain and not even know why,” Zoey pleaded.
Mira drew in a deep breath and slowly turned to face her girlfriends.
“It’s about my family,” she said at last.
Rumi and Zoey froze. They knew how touchy of a subject Mira’s family had been. While they all had their own deeply troubled home lives, Mira’s was one of the most contentious. Rumi had patched things up with Celine, Zoey was no-contact with her father, but Mira’s parents were both incredibly wealthy and well connected in their own right. Ignoring them proved far more difficult than one would assume, especially given how meddlesome, controlling, and demanding they had been of their daughter in the past. Mira had told them many stories of the callous and cruel treatment she received from her father and mother, the neglect, casual insults, and violations of her autonomy, all punctuated by the phrase “it’s whatever, I guess.”
The trio sat on the couch. Mira leaned forward, her eyes locked on the ground with Zoey and Rumi on either side, leaning close enough to provide comfort but just far enough to provide space.
Mira struggled with expressing her emotions in a non-explosive way. When something went wrong, when things just felt completely out of her control, she felt as though she had no other language to respond in, no words to speak. She had been working with her girlfriends on regulating her behaviour, trying to reel herself in before things became too intense. It was difficult, even to this day, but she was always willing to try for them.
After a long period of silence, Mira finally spoke, slowly and carefully.
“My dad is dying…”
Zoey and Rumi leaned forward, colour draining from their faces.
“...He’s in the hospital and he wants to see me…my family wants me to see him and they have been trying really hard to get me to respond…they even reached out to Celine when I kept ghosting them.”
Zoey was the first to speak, careful not to accuse with her tone or words.
“Well…did you respond to them?”
Mira scoffed as she turned to face her girlfriend.
“No, why should I? I don’t want to talk to them, that should be enough of an answer.”
“Well,” Rumi added softly.
“It would get them to stop calling you at least if you told them no.”
“Ugh,” Mira groaned as she threw her head back down into her hands.
“God, it’s so fucked up that they are being so persistent though,” Rumi continued.
“Like, going all the way to Celine, trying to put professional pressure on you for something personal.”
“That sounds like them, alright,” Zoey sighed.
The two of them had heard their fair share of stories of the lengths Mira’s parents would go to to try and monitor and reign in their unruly daughter. Teachers, doctors, therapists, friends, even the convenience store worker that she had taken to chatting up were not above being bribed, manipulated, or black mailed into coercing Mira into the lifestyle they had pre-ordained for her. She had lived much of her life expecting nearly every person she had formed any kind of relationship to be a spy in some way, trying to persuade her back into the rigid and obedient role that was expected of her. Upon learning this, it was little surprise to the other members of Huntr/x as to why Mira was so slow to trust, why it had taken them years to even get a single secret out of her.
“Well, maybe this will be the end of that chapter then. If you just refuse or don’t answer them, that chord will be cut and that’s that,” Rumi speculated, leaning slightly closer to Mira.
“See…” she breathed.
“It’s not as simple as that.”
“What do you mean?”
“My mom didn’t just tell Celine to tell me to talk to my dying dad. She actually gave an ultimatum.”
Zoey and Rumi’s eyes both went wide, their skin suddenly growing cold.
“I have to go visit my dying dad or else she makes this whole thing public…”
The other two girls look at each other frantically, their mouths agape.
“W-What do you mean?” Zoey said, uneasy.
“It means that she says the word and every shitty tabloid in the country runs a story about how a snooty, stuck up idol won’t go and see her dying father, despite the good natured pleas of her family. She makes a big statement —probably on the internet— begging me to come and visit my father. Everyone sees it, big scandal, PR nightmare, Honmoon probably gets fucked up too.”
“She can’t just do that!” Rumi said with fury, abandoning her attempt at being the calm and stabilising voice.
“It’s totally unfair!” Zoey added, joining Rumi.
Mira forced her tongue against the roof of her mouth and counted her breaths, trying desperately to preserve what little calm she had left in her.
“Look, that’s just what the situation is…I’m going to have to see my dad and then this’ll be over.”
“Well, you can’t just let them win like that,” Rumi said, her resentment spilling over into her words as she threw up her arms.
“I don’t have a choice, Rumi...”
“I still can’t believe they can just do that! Can’t we block them from that legally? Like, defamation or something?” Zoey offered, scratching her chin.
“No…Celine already explained it to me: even if we could sue them, it wouldn’t be until after the fact, and even then, the damage would be done.”
“Well, what did Celine say next? What are our options?” Rumi asked breathlessly.
“She said she supports me no matter what I do but that my options are pretty much either just see my dad or let her deal with the fallout…not much in the way of choice.”
“Well, maybe people will be on your side,” Zoey said, jumping up and down to release her frustrated energy.
“I mean, you’ve talked a lot about how shitty your parents are in interviews! It’s in our most popular song ever! Surely people will understand you not wanting to see your shitty dad!”
Mira shook her head as she fell back onto the couch in defeat.
“Yea, that was when my dad was not dying of cancer and I wasn’t being pleaded with by my family to go see him. People think you’re supposed to forgive everyone and anyone once they’re dying of cancer, Zoey,” she said as though it were a matter of fact.
“I’m fucked.”
“You’re not fucked!” Rumi barked.
“We’re going to march over to your mom and tell her exactly what we think and get her to drop this whole thing!”
“Yea! Who the hell does she think she is?! She is threatening our very world and not even realising it! All for some dumb, stupid, selfish need to have her daughter back!” Zoey spat balefully.
“Once she sees that we mean business, she’ll definitely—”
“We are not fucking doing that, ok?!” Mira roared, standing up from the couch suddenly.
“She’s my mom, Rumi, not yours! You don’t know what it’s like, the ends they would go to just to make sure I stayed in line. You think I haven’t tried yelling and screaming at her myself? You know what that got me, Rumi?! It got me sent away! It got me sent to a boarding school where I didn’t know anybody and I got called “the weird dyke girl” for five years of my fucking life! I’m just going to suck it up, watch my father die in agony, then go on with my peaceful life like nothing ever happened, ok!”
The room fell dead silent as both of the other girls froze, Mira’s nostrils still flaring and her teeth bared at her girlfriends. Finally, after a long pause, the emotions cooled off and the realisation hit her like a truck.
“Fuck, no, no, I didn’t —Rumi, I’m sorry, I didn’t…” Mira sputtered as she tried to take back all the anger she had just thrown in her face.
Mira wanted to reach out, to touch her girlfriend, pull her close and whisper more apologies into her ear, but she knew better. She felt like a monster. Her anger didn’t often get the better of her…but when it did, she felt like she didn’t deserve anything, a savage beast, the horrible, ill-tempered brute that her mother always said she was. She quickly pulled away, folding into herself as she collapsed back on the couch.
“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry, I just—I don’t wanna see him…I don’t want to do this and I just…I don’t want her to control me anymore —I just can’t do it, I don’t want to but I have to and I—” her breath began to catch as panic set it, faster and faster, the words spilling out as she unraveled.
Rumi gently placed a hand on Mira’s shoulder, sliding in next to her.
“It’s ok…you’re forgiven…we were kind of pushing things a little too hard, to be honest.”
“Yea…it’s just,” Zoey said, mirroring Rumi’s action.
“We’re just so fucking mad that they’d do this to you, that they did any of that to you.”
Mira’s lip began to quiver as she buried her face in her hands.
“We love you and it makes us sick to think about how much these people have tried to use you and treat you like a robot,” Rumi hummed, rubbing her girlfriend’s back.
“We love you and we’re going to help you get through this,” Zoey said, meeting Rumi’s hand behind Mira.
“No matter what.”
Mira couldn’t take it anymore, tears poured down her face as she erupted into a grief stricken sob. Her arms wrapped around both of her lovers and pulled them tightly into her as she pressed her broken face into their shoulders.
“It’s going to be ok, my love,” Rumi whispered.
“It’s—It’s—It’s all so—”
“Shhh, don’t talk, baby. Just let it all out,” Zoey hummed, pressing her head to her girlfriend’s.
The pounding against the window fell silent as the rain finally stopped.