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Bobby fondly remembers his idol days. His time on the stage led him all over Korea, all over the world , before it led him to his girls. His time on the stage left him with many fond memories; memories of cheering fans, of long days and even longer nights with the two people in his life that he cared most about. His brothers in all but blood.
Bobby also remembers the pressure, the eyes, and the expectations of thousands upon thousands of people bearing down on his shoulders. He remembers the blood, sweat, and tears that went into every song and every choreography, the arguments and fights that always, somehow, brought them closer together.
He remembers when the youngest of his trio began to wear longer sleeves, even in the hottest of weather. He remembers not questioning it, not really, when they always fit into the outfit, into whatever style the group was going for in that moment.
Bobby vividly remembers breaking down his bathroom door, finding him in the bathtub of his apartment, bleeding and convulsing. He vividly remembers calling emergency services, stumbling over his words as he desperately tried to stem the flow of blood until the paramedics could reach the top floor. He doesn’t remember how he got the gash on his shoulder, assuming it was from when he shouldered the door open.
(The scar persisted even now, never truly fading. A constant reminder of what he could have lost.)
The doctors who saved his brother’s life praised him, saying that had he not busted the door down, had he been even a few minutes late, they would be having a very different conversation.
Their manager had managed to spin the story to be as follows: the lead singer of the K-pop trio had an accident in his bathroom at home, leading him to an early retirement from the injury.
After their group was disbanded, the three found themselves on different life paths. Bobby found himself taking on a managerial role after a few years, taking different rising groups under his wing before he was picked up by Celine for the new group Huntr/x, almost ten years later. Their visual released a few single albums of his own before retiring, opening his own dance studio in Seoul. Their lead singer, after recovering in an inpatient facility, had nearly dropped off the face of the world, taking refuge in the suburbs not too far from Seoul.
Bobby made sure to visit his home at least once a week, never letting him know when. If he couldn’t visit in person, he would always make time to call, even if it was in the middle of the night, where he was. Now, years later, Bobby gets to visit his twin nieces every week as well as his old friend.
(He vividly remembers waking up in the middle of the night not too long ago, his friend calling him in tears to thank him for this second chance, blabbering about how he just got to watch his girls’ first dance recital, how they had done a routine to one of their old songs. How the only thing that had stopped him from breaking down right then and there had been his wife, who was sitting beside him with tears in her eyes as she smiled at him, hand on his wrist as her thumb stroked his old scar.
The next morning, Bobby had to wave off Mira, Rumi, and Zoey as they fretted over his bloodshot eyes, explaining that he had been crying from happy news.)
So when, years and years after he almost lost a brother, one of his girls had shyly asked him to start incorporating longer sleeves into her outfits, hands nervously playing with her long purple braid, Bobby struggled to keep the smile on his face. His brain was ringing alarm bells after alarm bells. He didn’t brush it off this time, he couldn’t , but he didn’t fret. Not yet. It was the beginning of spring when Rumi asked for longer sleeves; there was still a chill in the air, after all.
It wasn’t until the end of spring, when the days began to get hotter and hotter, and she still wore those damn sleeves that he began to fret. Booby decided to test the waters, seeing if he could get away with a sheer sleev design for their outfits. Mira and Zoey had been all for it, wide smiles in place as they looked over the designs, but his focus wasn’t on them. It was on Rumi.
Rumi, who was just nodding at the designs, smile plastered on her face. It was the fakest thing Bobby had ever seen. That cemented in his mind that something was wrong with his girl .
He decided at that moment to try a slightly more direct approach. Never quite outright asking why she wore the sleeves, but not not asking. All that managed to get him was the leader clamming up, visibly shutting herself off from him for a few weeks before seemingly bouncing back to her normal self as if nothing happened.
After a more direct approach didn’t work, he began watching her a lot more closely. It was at this that Bobby noticed that something wasn’t quite right between Rumi and Celine. The leader always seemed to shut down after any meeting with the older woman, but after one particular solo meeting, he had found her walking back to her dressing room, muttering to herself. She didn’t even seem to notice him in the hallways, looking down at her feet as she repeated a mantra over and over again.
“They cannot see, they wouldn’t understand. They cannot see , they wouldn’t understand. They cannot see, they wouldn’t understand…”
Booby had never been more glad that, not only was he as close to his girls as he was, but that his girls all lived together. One phone call to Mira, and the pink-haired girl was recruiting Zoey on a mission to find and comfort their leader. A few hours of worrying later, he had received one text: a selfie-style picture of Mira in her bed with both Zoey and Rumi clinging to her in their sleep. There were dried tear marks on Rumi’s cheeks, but the contented smile on her sleeping face ebbed away some of his worry.
After that incident, he was never able to bring anything up. Golden was released early, Rumi’s voice gave out, the Saja Bys became a thing, and then the Idol Awards.
He had been shocked to snap out of whatever trance he was in to be met with shimmering blue lines covering the entire world, to the feeling of something gentle resting on his shoulders, a feeling of Hello, welcome, you’re here, I’m sorry, you’re finally here , invading his mind.
When he came to them in a panic about what he had seen, how he couldn’t understand why no one was talking about what they had all just experienced, and why the hell were there blue lines in the sky- why does Rumi have glowing tattoos?!? They simply looked at him before pulling him into a private room. They had explained that demons were real, that they were the protectors and guardians of the very thing that separated their world from the demons, and that they created a new Honmon that he could apparently see and feel, just to a lesser degree than what they could feel. After they explained what had really happened, the only real thing he could think to say was, “Is that why you always wore long sleeves?”
The only response he got was a bashful smile and a shrug as her hand rubbed up and down her right shoulder. He was almost relieved before that weight settled on his shoulders again, a new feeling of Don’t listen, wrong, talk, speak to her, wrong wrong wrong wronG wroNG TALK invaded his mind.
He was suddenly hit with the memory of Rumi always seeming to wear a shirt with one sleeve longer than the other, making it her signature style for quite some time before she moved onto long sleeves only. Always her right shoulder. Bobby remembered a choreography they had to scrap a few songs ago, Rumi just not able to do one movement the way it was needed. Her right shoulder. Where she was rubbing.
The weight of these puzzle pieces falling into place settled on his shoulders, the scar he bears itching with the feeling. A feeling of Help my chosen, help her, reach, help, separate them, I’m sorry, thank you settled on his mind. When his girls left, arms wrapped around shoulders and waists, murmurs of “I’m sorry,” “I love you,” “It's okay, I love you, too,” following them, Bobby quickly pulled out his phone and started making some phone calls. He had some work to do.
A week after the Idol Awards, a week after he spun a story of Saja Boys being an industry plant, that Takedown wasn’t a real breakup and was all an act, that the markings on Rumi’s body were old scars she was tired of hiding under makeup, and instead decided to tattoo over. The world only saw them as white tattoos, but to those touched by the Honmoon, they could easily see the shifting colors, the emotions on display for her world. A week after, he found himself visiting their penthouse, asking to speak to her privately in her room.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, Bobby softly patted the spot next to him, a thick binder placed behind him. He smiled softly at her as she hesitated, her hands nervously messing with the end of her long purple braid. Her patterns were shifting, not quite glowing and not changing colors, just iridescent. Once she sat next to him, he held out one of his hands for her to take. Once she did, he covered her hand with his larger ones.
“It’s no secret,” Bobby softly began, running a thumb over the patterns on her knuckles, “That I used to be in a group.” He paused, and he could see that the girl in front of him was paying rapt attention to the mention of his old group. It's not that Bobby didn’t talk about it; he just didn’t talk about it often. “The story goes that we had a few good years before Jin had an accident that left him unable to perform. We disbanded, Dae-Ho began a solo career, I fell into a manager role, and Jin just… disappeared.” Bobby looked up from her hand, still running his thumb over her patterns, his eyes trailing up her bare arm. She was wearing a short-sleeved, cropped shirt today, the patterns trailing up her arm visible to the world. Looking over, meeting her eyes, Booby gave her a sad smile.
At his sad smile, Rumi’s brows furrowed, and the purple-haired girl softly asked, “That's not what really happened, is it?” He let out a small laugh, shaking his head.
“No,” he replied, taking a hand off hers to rub at his shoulder subconsciously. His scar itched. He felt her grip get tighter on the hand she was still holding, and he gave her a soft smile. “What really happened was…” he trailed off, shaking his head a bit before continuing. “I’m sorry, I’ve never actually talked to anyone about it.”
Rumi held his hand in both of hers, much like what he had been doing, meeting his eyes as she softly said, “You don’t have to, Bobby.”
He shook his head again, clearing his throat. “I don’t, but I want to.” Taking a deep breath, Bobby continued his story. “What really happened was, Jin attempted.” He both felt and heard her inhale air, and the patterns on her hand to her elbow began to glow a soft ombre of blue. Squeezing her hand, he then said, “I was the one who found him. He had locked himself in his bathroom in his apartment, cut himself, and had taken some pills.” At this point, she had reached a hand up to hold her own right shoulder, the ends of her fingers slowly turning into purple claws. Bobby reached up, softly pried her hand off her shoulder, and held it in his own. He smiled at her, his eldest girl, raising his other hand to her face. His thumb brushed against her cheekbone, right over a pulsing blue pattern. She keened as she leaned into his touch, squeezing her eyes shut.
“My sweet girl,” he whispered sadly, caressing her face as she tried not to cry. He pulled her into a hug, a hand on the back of her head to bury her face in the crook of his neck as she began to softly cry. “I was so scared when you asked for long sleeves. You remind me so much of him, so kind, but the pressure of the world on your shoulders.” Her shoulders began to shake as he spoke, her crying slightly picking up in intensity. He made a cooing noise as he began to rock them back and forth. “You’re so young, Rumi. You have a whole life ahead of you, and you have two absolutely amazing girls out there who are by your side. Please, please , let them in. Let them care for you.”
Rumi was nodding into his neck, her breathing having calmed a bit as her tears slowed down. Pulling away from him slightly, she couldn’t meet his eyes as she whispered, “I… I had tried to cut them off. Before.” She raised a hand to her right shoulder again, rubbing at the area. “It didn’t work,” she weakly joked, and he gave her some grace by smiling at her attempt to lighten the mood.
“I may just be your manager, but I am so, so proud of you girls.” He reverently said, watching as her face began to blush at the praise. Sensing that it was maybe getting too heavy, he nudged her left shoulder with his fist, jokingly saying, “Now, I will be even prouder when you finally tell those poor girls that they actually have a chance.” Booby let out a looud laugh as her face became as red as a tomato, her patterns flashing a vibrant pink at the thought.
Shouting his name, she used both of her hands to push him away slightly, causing him to laugh more. Soon, both were overtaken by laughter. After a few minutes of laughing and gasping for air, they slightly sobered up.
“Now, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I brought something with me.” He began, reaching for the binder that he had laid on her bed. Handing it to her, he gestured for her to open it. Rumi hesitantly opened it, and the words on the first page made her freeze.
Looking up at him slowly, she whispered, “Is… is this what I think it is?” She had begun skimming through the words on each page, reading faster as she got through more of them.
“A plan to separate Huntr/x from Sunlight Enertainment? Yes, yes it is.” At his words, she looked up at him with a look of awe and hesitance. Bobby reached a hand for her right shoulder, giving her enough time to stop him or pull away. When she didn’t, he softly grasped her shoulder. Looking her in the eye, he softly said, “I will not continue to let Celine have as much power over you as she does.” Gripping her shoulder a bit tighter, he used his other hand to caress her face again, wiping her tears away with his thumb. She was just looking at him with a stunned expression. “You have two amazing girls out there, Rumi, who have faced literal demons for you. Let me deal with the metaphorical ones.” Smiling at her, he pulled her into a soft hug again. “It's what I’m here for.”
At the two-hour mark of their private chat, two soft knocks rang out against the door. Rumi let out a quick “It's unlocked, come in!” as she smiled at the door. Two heads poked in from the door before it fully opened, and Mira and Zoey hesitantly walked in. They paused, taking in the sight of Rumi’s room. Their leader and their manager had somehow ended up on the floor, papers strewn about as they discussed the plan to extract Huntr/x from Sunlight Entertainment.
“Uhhhh, what's this?” Mira asked, her eyes trailing from paper to paper. Zoey had already bent down to pick one up, her hand resting on Rumi’s right shoulder as she did so. Bobby smiled as he watched as Rumi didn’t flinch, smiling wider as he watched her lean into the casual touch.
“This…” the youngest of the trio began, her voice laced with confusion, “These are plans to leave Sunlight Entertainment?” She had begun to literally vibrate with excitement, letting out an indignant ‘Hey!’ when Mira snatched the paper from her hand.
The taller girl looked from the paper to Bobby’s grinning face, to Rumi’s soft and open smile. Seeing that look on her leader’s face, Mira broke out into a grin before kneeling down in front of her, taking her face in her hands and, ignoring Rumi’s noise of confusion, began to pepper her face with light kisses. Pulling away slightly, Mira let a small smile cross her face before whispering, “I am so fucking proud of you.”
Rumi gave her a lovestruck smile before it was taken over by shock as Zoey tackle-hugged them both to the floor, laughing as she switched back and forth between the two older girls, peppering their faces with kisses as well.
Bobby quietly stood up, backing away from the scene on the floor with a smile. He leaned against the door frame as he watched his girls laughing and play-wrestling with each other. He quietly walked away, closing the door as he did so, muffling the laughter from the bedroom.
He had a phone call to make. He didn’t think he’d make an in-person visit this week after all.