Mask - Chapter 7
Mask
Rating: PG-13
Subject: Yesung | Pairing: YeBum
Genre: AU!Family, Drama/Minor!Angst, Romance
Length: Chaptered
Summary: Whisked in the arms of a wealthy and charming bachelor, its all smiles and sweeping happiness in front of the camera lenses. A fairy-tale ending that was short lived.
§ The Seventh Thread §
***
The floating world was an era of flourished arts, where people sought to escape political tyranny. To embrace the sinful acts and turns its back on the world that claimed otherwise. Where one could forget one's self and place, grasping the illusion and rejoice in acts of pleasure and joy. This is was where Kabuki could truly grow.
The themes of love, revenge, secrets, hatred. All embedded within the many plays that remained for generations, the lessons continued because it still holds a place with the audience to this day.
There's only so much time however before reality is brought upon them, the blissful ignorance evaporating into non-existence as it leaves remnants of former glory.
The floating world is an escape, but it can never last.
"Mommy." Jongwoon called repeatedly, long while after his grandmother left, gently patting her ghostly pale cheek. "If you want to leave, leave. I promise, I'll go with you. I don't care what nana says." Jongwoon murmured, combing his mother's hair. "Let's tell daddy, we can all leave together, right?"
Li Yin said nothing, letting the other brushed the locks of her hair as he gently moved it from her face. He slowly helped her to the white mat on the ground, laying her on the pillow as the young child moved the brown blankets over her shoulders.
He sang a soft melody for her, in his still timid voice, but as the hours grew on, it faltered bit by bit.
The panel door opened, and revealed a slightly older child entering the darkened room, reaching to grab the cast aside folded fan. The servant's son stepped forward and knelt down beside the younger.
Kibum was startled as Jongwoon turned around, his eyes brimming with tears he fought to restrain. "Do you think she'll be okay?" His voice asked weakly.
Kibum reached to wipe away the tears and said quietly, "She'll be fine."
The hours lengthened as Kibum remained by his side, never once leaving. By the time dawn came, Jongwoon's cheeks were stained with dried tears. This was the first and last time, Jongwoon had ever displayed them.
"You're lying... just like everyone else."
-
The flowers lined up against either side of the wall of the large restaurant, each congratulatory messages from various important figures were pinned up outside.
"I apologize," Jongwoon began; he was notably absent for the ceremony that had taken place. His father sat on one of the cushions on the floor within the now empty room, wearing a warm smile.
"Henry had long told me that you two may not be able to attend." Jongwoon gave another polite, apologetic bow. Kangta instead beckoned him to sit beside him. "Eat."
"You're still going to remain in the mainstream world?" Jongwoon asked in the midst of it, Kangta didn't seem sure. Soon his plate filled up when the new dishes arrived.
"The media is asking me if half the fortune had been spent on this occasion," Jongwoon informed. Kangta considered it briefly.
"Those numbers I have never understood. But if it had been, then I wished it had been on a more noteworthy purpose."
It seemed the family had kept the truth from his father, that in fact, half the fortune had gone missing. Yet the son felt no need to spoil their meal.
Once done with their meals, his father walked from the table outside. Jongwoon stood up to follow, leaving a tip when he realized his father had forgotten his wallet on the table and grabbed it.
"Henry hasn't yet told me what the new password is." Kangta said once Jongwoon appeared.
Jongwoon remembered that Henry reminded him to tell their father if he ever asked, but after he was sure their grandmother wouldn't find her.
Her endless searching finally relented over the two years since Henry had moved their mother out of the Ahn household. Their only means of contact was Kangta speaking to their mother on the phone whenever that person had potentially gotten close. The nurses and Kibum both understood that anyone that wasn't Henry nor Jongwoon had to use a password to even acknowledged she lived there. Even if Kangta had already been there before, the filial son may unknowingly have let it slipped under false pretenses.
Henry may have been overly cautious, but Jongwoon felt it was just.
He parted his lips, but stopped short when he sighted the woman show up at the edge of the bottom stairs. Jongwoon's jaw clenched, his lips thinned.
"Get rid of her, and I'll tell you."
Kangta seemed puzzled by the ultimatum, "Sending her home?"
"No," Jongwoon stated. "I want her out of our lives, I never want her face near this family again."
"But she's my acting partner." Kangta said simply.
At his calm and honest tone, Jongwoon wanted to scoff, to berate the man for his innocence. The woman who had acted with him in his highest rated dramas and films, trailing after him even after he gained his mainstream fame, still lurking about the family like a parasite.
He felt the anger slip through the cracks, of the wall he had so carefully built up.
"You're so naive dad, it's because of that you couldn't protect mom."
He trudged away from the spot, the wallet still clutched in his hand.
-
The drops fell down from his lips, the amber liquid gulped considerably glass after glass. He no longer cared what it took, he wanted it erased, gone, numbed.
"What are you doing?"
He turned around, recognizing Kibum's stern face. "Are you not a doctor? Or are you still so simple-minded that you can't see what I'm doing?"
Kibum yanked the glass from his hands, Jongwoon reached for the bottle instead.
"This isn't like you."
"I barely know what I'm like as a person, how can you know me any better?" Jongwoon retaliated. "You're just the stupid kid who used to follow me around, hanging on my every word. I know your mother was shocked when she heard you came back with such a career. I'm just as surprised you would amount to anything-"
"Stop it," Kibum interjected. "You want to make me hate you, I know your plan and it won't work."
Jongwoon narrowed his eyes, "What makes you think I want to?" He stood up, bottle still firmly in his grip. Narrowed eyes at the man before him.
"This is me, this is the real me." Jongwoon stepped forward. "Let me ask you, do you still love this person then? Do you love me at all when I'm like this?"
Kibum cleared his throat, "There's no use answering you now." He decided firmly, when the other was sober. Yet the moment he turned his back, something within Jongwoon snapped.
The bitter laugh had ended, the struggle was tightening its grip.
"Fine," Jongwoon uttered. "Leave!"
The bottle smashed against the opposite wall, its liquid spilling down the wooden walls. His fists clutched tightly, his breathing speeding up,
"You would have done it sooner or later." He chided. "You're no different."
It was then Kibum stopped.
Jongwoon lowered his head, the outburst sinking in, vaguely aware of two hands firmly grab his arms.
"Why?" Kibum confronted. "What's it to you if I still love you despite how you're acting? What makes you demean my emotion as if it's nothing?!"
Jongwoon remained still, the singer's strength escaping him. Kibum strained to listen to the vague, raspy yet audible reply-
"Love is worthless to me."
Kibum's grip tightened, leaving Jongwoon's arms almost bruised, but the man was too numbed by the alcohol to react. The thoughts swirled about in his incoherent mind, but still, he knew.
"Love was the only thing my mom could depend on, and even then she broke." Jongwoon said, his voice lowering. "I'm going to be the same. I'm going to end up the same."
He'd succumb to those voices his mother heard.
His mother only appeared strong, but that was merely a facade, hiding the fact that she could hear and repeat every insult for years no matter how playful. She collapsed under the sheer weight of it all, no matter the success and praise. Jongwoon had been terrified to say, after all these years, that he was the same.
"She had my brother and I, my father, but we were not enough." He spoke, his voice breaking.
He was not as strong as his brother who could shrug away the pressure and brush aside the harsh words. He wasn't able to. The celebrity lifestyle with its public scrutiny, its constant critiques, it all drained him. His mental state stressed, driving him to the edge.
The stoic expression Jongwoon had longed master, the threads that held him up snapped one by one. The paint masking his vulnerabilities dripping down his flushed skin.
It was breaking, and he didn't have the strength to stop it.
"I'm... I..."
The single tear escaped, landing on the back of his hand. The anger he held diminished, fading.
"I'm going to end up the same."
"No, you're not." Kibum said firmly.
Jongwoon remained unfazed, deaf to his words. The man was withdrawing further and further, Kibum reached out before it was too late.
"You never had to beg, to bribe me, to do anything but simply ask." Kibum said calmly, pressing his forehead against the other's, hoping he'd listen. "If you ever asked me to stay, then I'll do it."
Kibum should have known better than to have abandoned him. Bitter at the rejection, determined as he left the house without a single word. His mind was clouded with one single desire that he took no note of how afraid the other must have been.
History was repeating itself, and Jongwoon was fearful, terrified, to be next.
"I was immature and left you alone." Kibum said softly. "I should have stayed by you."
His voice came with great difficulty. "If you need a close friend, someone to confide in. I'll be that person." He compromised. He shifted aside what he wanted, who he desperately yearned for, if it meant Jongwoon's sanity.
He held the single thread that kept Jongwoon there, that held him together, and gradually pulled back from the brink. Remaining in his firm yet gentle grip.
"I'll ask nothing of you in exchange. I promise you."
A second tear escaped Jongwoon's eyes, but the alcohol had drained his energy, the freedom had sucked away whatever he had left to simply stand.
Jongwoon closed his eyes, drifting off as he collapsed onto his shoulders. He allowed himself to be weak, vulnerable, and Kibum was there to catch him.
-
[Breaking news: Ahn Yesung's New Book Reveals Family Trist - The Story Behind The Ahn Family]
"Li Yin's absence from the public is an alarming confirmation of what Yesung had revealed..."
"The shocking details speak about the life of Li Yin, a brutal and agonizing perspective."
"Her management claims it is a misunderstanding. The actress, who is known best for her role in Tamed, has had sponsors withdrawn her ads across the country. Recent popularity polls have also reflected the scandal, with netizens stated a woman after a married man is demeaning, to that of his wife as well."
"The Ahn family has refused all questions and interviews at this time."
"You wrote about the family!"
"Madam, please." The maid pleaded as she placed a gentle hand on the grandmother's arm.
"You impudent child." She said crossly towards her oldest grandson. "You dared to show disrespect, to tarnish the family name." She then grew hostile. "Why are you looking at me?"
Jongwoon wasn't on his knees, and stood upright. He didn't lower his head to signal his regret, but instead raised his head straight, simply staring at his grandmother's whose eyes narrowed into slits.
The scandalous story could be interpreted, declined in whichever way possible, but the damage had been done. Decades, generations of an upright family, tarnished, destroyed in a matter of days.
He held not a single regret.
"Isn't publicity your favorite thing?" Jongwoon simply spoke, "I'm sure you can somehow spin this around. Claim I'm on drugs, addicted to lies or simply as insane as my own mother."
"It will not be too far from the truth."
"What words in my book were lies then?"
His grandmother's shoulders tensed. Every mistress, affair, everything they had once covered up with a mere wave of wealth and protected by the aura they created. Unlike previous attempts by outsiders, the fact that the accounts escaped Yesung's own lips, the scandal could not be put down as before.
The story was now written on paper, broadcasted, spread further by word of mouth. This was the inside world they wanted to peek into, and Jongwoon gladly gave them the understanding they so craved. As for the family, the publicity and attention they ever so desired.
The flustered woman beside her, her usual tightened and brushed hair in a wreck. "Why would you do something like this?!" The woman asked angrily. "I treated you like my own son!"
Jongwoon paid her no mind. He addressed his grandmother first. "I'm my mother's son, did you think I'd stand by and watch you tarnish her name for your own well-being? Watch as my own brother was ridiculed and shoved aside?"
He spared the infuriated woman a darkened glance, done with formalities. "As for you... My mother pleaded with you to let her leave with my brother and I, begged even." The woman stepped back at the accusation, her hair still in the same furious mess.
"You may have succeeded in gaining Madam Ahn's favor, but you had already lost mine."
The woman's sunken eyes lowered as Jongwoon dared to meet the older woman's furious gaze. "Who would want to succeed a worthless name now?"
His grandmother straightened herself, failing to maintain composure. "Leave. You have no place here."
"I never wanted it in the first place."
He was done playing his part, the very one he began so long ago.
Without a bow, without a shred of respectful or well-manner behavior, he turned a cold shoulder towards them. And as he walked down the corridor, the once cold expression lightened, the corner of his lips shifted upward as he walked with the familiar grace he was once trained with.
The mystery behind the theatre had now been displayed for all the public to see. The seemingly glamorous and enticing lifestyle led many to be enchanted by the history embedded in its walls. The crest dyed curtain he tossed behind him as he walked down the flower path of the theatre, making his final exit.
The only sure thing he knew for sure, being raised within the Ahn household, was simply this.
Fame is fleeting, a cringe worthy investment. Yet revenge was that much sweeter, the very thread worth pulling mercilessly at every turn until it finally snapped by his own hand.
The Ahn name was not deserving of the prestige it gained, the very one it had now forever lost.
| Chapter 6 | - | Chapter 8 |
A/N: Flower path: 花道 Is a walkway on the left, perpendicular to the stage that connects backstage to the stage. It's used by the actors for entrance or exit. Courtesy of this site.
Rating: PG-13
Subject: Yesung | Pairing: YeBum
Genre: AU!Family, Drama/Minor!Angst, Romance
Length: Chaptered
Summary: Whisked in the arms of a wealthy and charming bachelor, its all smiles and sweeping happiness in front of the camera lenses. A fairy-tale ending that was short lived.
§ The Seventh Thread §
***
The floating world was an era of flourished arts, where people sought to escape political tyranny. To embrace the sinful acts and turns its back on the world that claimed otherwise. Where one could forget one's self and place, grasping the illusion and rejoice in acts of pleasure and joy. This is was where Kabuki could truly grow.
The themes of love, revenge, secrets, hatred. All embedded within the many plays that remained for generations, the lessons continued because it still holds a place with the audience to this day.
There's only so much time however before reality is brought upon them, the blissful ignorance evaporating into non-existence as it leaves remnants of former glory.
The floating world is an escape, but it can never last.
"Mommy." Jongwoon called repeatedly, long while after his grandmother left, gently patting her ghostly pale cheek. "If you want to leave, leave. I promise, I'll go with you. I don't care what nana says." Jongwoon murmured, combing his mother's hair. "Let's tell daddy, we can all leave together, right?"
Li Yin said nothing, letting the other brushed the locks of her hair as he gently moved it from her face. He slowly helped her to the white mat on the ground, laying her on the pillow as the young child moved the brown blankets over her shoulders.
He sang a soft melody for her, in his still timid voice, but as the hours grew on, it faltered bit by bit.
The panel door opened, and revealed a slightly older child entering the darkened room, reaching to grab the cast aside folded fan. The servant's son stepped forward and knelt down beside the younger.
Kibum was startled as Jongwoon turned around, his eyes brimming with tears he fought to restrain. "Do you think she'll be okay?" His voice asked weakly.
Kibum reached to wipe away the tears and said quietly, "She'll be fine."
The hours lengthened as Kibum remained by his side, never once leaving. By the time dawn came, Jongwoon's cheeks were stained with dried tears. This was the first and last time, Jongwoon had ever displayed them.
"You're lying... just like everyone else."
-
The flowers lined up against either side of the wall of the large restaurant, each congratulatory messages from various important figures were pinned up outside.
"I apologize," Jongwoon began; he was notably absent for the ceremony that had taken place. His father sat on one of the cushions on the floor within the now empty room, wearing a warm smile.
"Henry had long told me that you two may not be able to attend." Jongwoon gave another polite, apologetic bow. Kangta instead beckoned him to sit beside him. "Eat."
"You're still going to remain in the mainstream world?" Jongwoon asked in the midst of it, Kangta didn't seem sure. Soon his plate filled up when the new dishes arrived.
"The media is asking me if half the fortune had been spent on this occasion," Jongwoon informed. Kangta considered it briefly.
"Those numbers I have never understood. But if it had been, then I wished it had been on a more noteworthy purpose."
It seemed the family had kept the truth from his father, that in fact, half the fortune had gone missing. Yet the son felt no need to spoil their meal.
Once done with their meals, his father walked from the table outside. Jongwoon stood up to follow, leaving a tip when he realized his father had forgotten his wallet on the table and grabbed it.
"Henry hasn't yet told me what the new password is." Kangta said once Jongwoon appeared.
Jongwoon remembered that Henry reminded him to tell their father if he ever asked, but after he was sure their grandmother wouldn't find her.
Her endless searching finally relented over the two years since Henry had moved their mother out of the Ahn household. Their only means of contact was Kangta speaking to their mother on the phone whenever that person had potentially gotten close. The nurses and Kibum both understood that anyone that wasn't Henry nor Jongwoon had to use a password to even acknowledged she lived there. Even if Kangta had already been there before, the filial son may unknowingly have let it slipped under false pretenses.
Henry may have been overly cautious, but Jongwoon felt it was just.
He parted his lips, but stopped short when he sighted the woman show up at the edge of the bottom stairs. Jongwoon's jaw clenched, his lips thinned.
"Get rid of her, and I'll tell you."
Kangta seemed puzzled by the ultimatum, "Sending her home?"
"No," Jongwoon stated. "I want her out of our lives, I never want her face near this family again."
"But she's my acting partner." Kangta said simply.
At his calm and honest tone, Jongwoon wanted to scoff, to berate the man for his innocence. The woman who had acted with him in his highest rated dramas and films, trailing after him even after he gained his mainstream fame, still lurking about the family like a parasite.
He felt the anger slip through the cracks, of the wall he had so carefully built up.
"You're so naive dad, it's because of that you couldn't protect mom."
He trudged away from the spot, the wallet still clutched in his hand.
-
The drops fell down from his lips, the amber liquid gulped considerably glass after glass. He no longer cared what it took, he wanted it erased, gone, numbed.
"What are you doing?"
He turned around, recognizing Kibum's stern face. "Are you not a doctor? Or are you still so simple-minded that you can't see what I'm doing?"
Kibum yanked the glass from his hands, Jongwoon reached for the bottle instead.
"This isn't like you."
"I barely know what I'm like as a person, how can you know me any better?" Jongwoon retaliated. "You're just the stupid kid who used to follow me around, hanging on my every word. I know your mother was shocked when she heard you came back with such a career. I'm just as surprised you would amount to anything-"
"Stop it," Kibum interjected. "You want to make me hate you, I know your plan and it won't work."
Jongwoon narrowed his eyes, "What makes you think I want to?" He stood up, bottle still firmly in his grip. Narrowed eyes at the man before him.
"This is me, this is the real me." Jongwoon stepped forward. "Let me ask you, do you still love this person then? Do you love me at all when I'm like this?"
Kibum cleared his throat, "There's no use answering you now." He decided firmly, when the other was sober. Yet the moment he turned his back, something within Jongwoon snapped.
The bitter laugh had ended, the struggle was tightening its grip.
"Fine," Jongwoon uttered. "Leave!"
The bottle smashed against the opposite wall, its liquid spilling down the wooden walls. His fists clutched tightly, his breathing speeding up,
"You would have done it sooner or later." He chided. "You're no different."
It was then Kibum stopped.
Jongwoon lowered his head, the outburst sinking in, vaguely aware of two hands firmly grab his arms.
"Why?" Kibum confronted. "What's it to you if I still love you despite how you're acting? What makes you demean my emotion as if it's nothing?!"
Jongwoon remained still, the singer's strength escaping him. Kibum strained to listen to the vague, raspy yet audible reply-
"Love is worthless to me."
Kibum's grip tightened, leaving Jongwoon's arms almost bruised, but the man was too numbed by the alcohol to react. The thoughts swirled about in his incoherent mind, but still, he knew.
"Love was the only thing my mom could depend on, and even then she broke." Jongwoon said, his voice lowering. "I'm going to be the same. I'm going to end up the same."
He'd succumb to those voices his mother heard.
His mother only appeared strong, but that was merely a facade, hiding the fact that she could hear and repeat every insult for years no matter how playful. She collapsed under the sheer weight of it all, no matter the success and praise. Jongwoon had been terrified to say, after all these years, that he was the same.
"She had my brother and I, my father, but we were not enough." He spoke, his voice breaking.
He was not as strong as his brother who could shrug away the pressure and brush aside the harsh words. He wasn't able to. The celebrity lifestyle with its public scrutiny, its constant critiques, it all drained him. His mental state stressed, driving him to the edge.
The stoic expression Jongwoon had longed master, the threads that held him up snapped one by one. The paint masking his vulnerabilities dripping down his flushed skin.
It was breaking, and he didn't have the strength to stop it.
"I'm... I..."
The single tear escaped, landing on the back of his hand. The anger he held diminished, fading.
"I'm going to end up the same."
"No, you're not." Kibum said firmly.
Jongwoon remained unfazed, deaf to his words. The man was withdrawing further and further, Kibum reached out before it was too late.
"You never had to beg, to bribe me, to do anything but simply ask." Kibum said calmly, pressing his forehead against the other's, hoping he'd listen. "If you ever asked me to stay, then I'll do it."
Kibum should have known better than to have abandoned him. Bitter at the rejection, determined as he left the house without a single word. His mind was clouded with one single desire that he took no note of how afraid the other must have been.
History was repeating itself, and Jongwoon was fearful, terrified, to be next.
"I was immature and left you alone." Kibum said softly. "I should have stayed by you."
His voice came with great difficulty. "If you need a close friend, someone to confide in. I'll be that person." He compromised. He shifted aside what he wanted, who he desperately yearned for, if it meant Jongwoon's sanity.
He held the single thread that kept Jongwoon there, that held him together, and gradually pulled back from the brink. Remaining in his firm yet gentle grip.
"I'll ask nothing of you in exchange. I promise you."
A second tear escaped Jongwoon's eyes, but the alcohol had drained his energy, the freedom had sucked away whatever he had left to simply stand.
Jongwoon closed his eyes, drifting off as he collapsed onto his shoulders. He allowed himself to be weak, vulnerable, and Kibum was there to catch him.
-
[Breaking news: Ahn Yesung's New Book Reveals Family Trist - The Story Behind The Ahn Family]
"Li Yin's absence from the public is an alarming confirmation of what Yesung had revealed..."
"The shocking details speak about the life of Li Yin, a brutal and agonizing perspective."
"Her management claims it is a misunderstanding. The actress, who is known best for her role in Tamed, has had sponsors withdrawn her ads across the country. Recent popularity polls have also reflected the scandal, with netizens stated a woman after a married man is demeaning, to that of his wife as well."
"The Ahn family has refused all questions and interviews at this time."
"You wrote about the family!"
"Madam, please." The maid pleaded as she placed a gentle hand on the grandmother's arm.
"You impudent child." She said crossly towards her oldest grandson. "You dared to show disrespect, to tarnish the family name." She then grew hostile. "Why are you looking at me?"
Jongwoon wasn't on his knees, and stood upright. He didn't lower his head to signal his regret, but instead raised his head straight, simply staring at his grandmother's whose eyes narrowed into slits.
The scandalous story could be interpreted, declined in whichever way possible, but the damage had been done. Decades, generations of an upright family, tarnished, destroyed in a matter of days.
He held not a single regret.
"Isn't publicity your favorite thing?" Jongwoon simply spoke, "I'm sure you can somehow spin this around. Claim I'm on drugs, addicted to lies or simply as insane as my own mother."
"It will not be too far from the truth."
"What words in my book were lies then?"
His grandmother's shoulders tensed. Every mistress, affair, everything they had once covered up with a mere wave of wealth and protected by the aura they created. Unlike previous attempts by outsiders, the fact that the accounts escaped Yesung's own lips, the scandal could not be put down as before.
The story was now written on paper, broadcasted, spread further by word of mouth. This was the inside world they wanted to peek into, and Jongwoon gladly gave them the understanding they so craved. As for the family, the publicity and attention they ever so desired.
The flustered woman beside her, her usual tightened and brushed hair in a wreck. "Why would you do something like this?!" The woman asked angrily. "I treated you like my own son!"
Jongwoon paid her no mind. He addressed his grandmother first. "I'm my mother's son, did you think I'd stand by and watch you tarnish her name for your own well-being? Watch as my own brother was ridiculed and shoved aside?"
He spared the infuriated woman a darkened glance, done with formalities. "As for you... My mother pleaded with you to let her leave with my brother and I, begged even." The woman stepped back at the accusation, her hair still in the same furious mess.
"You may have succeeded in gaining Madam Ahn's favor, but you had already lost mine."
The woman's sunken eyes lowered as Jongwoon dared to meet the older woman's furious gaze. "Who would want to succeed a worthless name now?"
His grandmother straightened herself, failing to maintain composure. "Leave. You have no place here."
"I never wanted it in the first place."
He was done playing his part, the very one he began so long ago.
Without a bow, without a shred of respectful or well-manner behavior, he turned a cold shoulder towards them. And as he walked down the corridor, the once cold expression lightened, the corner of his lips shifted upward as he walked with the familiar grace he was once trained with.
The mystery behind the theatre had now been displayed for all the public to see. The seemingly glamorous and enticing lifestyle led many to be enchanted by the history embedded in its walls. The crest dyed curtain he tossed behind him as he walked down the flower path of the theatre, making his final exit.
The only sure thing he knew for sure, being raised within the Ahn household, was simply this.
Fame is fleeting, a cringe worthy investment. Yet revenge was that much sweeter, the very thread worth pulling mercilessly at every turn until it finally snapped by his own hand.
The Ahn name was not deserving of the prestige it gained, the very one it had now forever lost.
| Chapter 6 | - | Chapter 8 |
A/N: Flower path: 花道 Is a walkway on the left, perpendicular to the stage that connects backstage to the stage. It's used by the actors for entrance or exit. Courtesy of this site.