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Step after step, the time was quickly stripping away. Without any breaks in between, Minho managed to memorize the choreography. His body wasn't screaming for him to stop anymore. Rather, it was crying for him to stop. Regardless of its pleas, Minho still continued until he got his positions down. As he was about to shift left, his alarm went off. Huffing for air, he turned it off and dragged his body back to the green room. 
Everything around him was fuzzy and muffled. He couldn't make out what was in his line of sight or what people around him were yelling about. All he knew was that he was probably late as a staff member gripped his arm and pushed him to sit so the make-up artist could do her job. The next thing he knew, he was in the changing room as a pile of clothes were shoved in his arms. The whole scene was a complete blur because with a blink of an eye, he was already on stage with the spotlights shining on his group. 
"Minho, what are you doing?!" Chan whispered yell as he dragged the male to his position. "Stop spacing out and dance!"
Minho snapped back into reality and started to move. After relentlessly drilling the performance into his body, his moves were all now muscle memory. However, he wasn't able to memorize all of his positions. Nearing the end of the performance, he accidentally bumped into Felix, causing the sunshine male to twist his ankle. Felix withstood the pain, as he waited for the lights to black out before he could cry in pain. 
"Yongbok, I'm-" Minho tried to apologize but no one could hear him.
Chan quickly ran up to the freckled male and carried him backstage. "Hang in there Lix, we're almost there." The leader tried to reassure.
All the members were quick to follow behind, leaving Minho alone in the empty stage. "Alone, that's where you belong." Minho could hear a voice inside his head. 
"It's just the curse talking." He tried to comfort himself. "Just ignore it and it'll go away."
"Do you really want me to go away? I'm the only one you have now."
Minho continued to ignore the curse as he made his way to the infirmary. 
"You can't ignore me forever. You'll eventually turn to me because I'm the only one who'd listen to your cries." 
Maybe, maybe the curse was right. But the one thing that he clearly remembers from his sister is to not talk to the curse. "Minho, promise me one thing. If, and I really hope this never happens to you, but if you ever get rejected by your soulmate, never, and I mean never, talk to the voice inside your head. Don't respond to it, don't interact with it, don't let it take over you. Once you interact with the curse, there's no saving you. Okay? Please promise me this, I can't move on knowing that you'll go through the same thing as me." 
Back then he was too young to understand what his sister meant. She always talked about how he shouldn't seek out his soulmate because they'll be either the light to his life or the knife that stabs him. But now he knew. He knew how and why she passed. He finally understood what type of pain she went through and he felt horrible that he couldn't do anything to help her. I should never have opened my mouth. Minho could only laugh at his past self, getting so happy about finding his soulmate but it ended up stabbing him in return. But maybe it's a good thing. Maybe then, he could finally see his sister again. 
"Minho?" Seonghwa asked in surprise. "What are you still doing here?"
The said male snapped out of his thoughts. "What do you mean?"
"Your group left the venue minutes ago. They all came out of the infirmary and got into the van."
"Oh." Was all Minho could say. They forgot about me again. 
"Of course they did. You hurt the sunshine of the group. You think they'll forgive you that easily?"
"Hwa, there you are!" Hongjoon ran up. "Come on, the manager is waiting. Oh, hey Minho! Did you forget something?"
"Joon, I think they forgot about-"
"Yea. I left my phone behind." Minho quickly stopped Seonghwa. 
"What are you talking about? You-"
"Come on, you two grandpas!" Jungho yelled at the end of the hall. "I'm hungry and I want some meat!"
"Ok, ok, we're coming!" The leader of Ateez shouted back as he gently grabbed Seonghwa's wrist. "Come on, we're going to get our heads chopped off if we don't feed him." 
"But-"
"Enjoy your meal." Minho waved to the two of them as they left. 
Minho watched idols leave the venue as he stood outside in the cold. It was below twenty degrees and all he had on was a thin sweater. His body was already weak as it is and standing outside won't help it get any better. He tried calling the members and the manager but he was sent to voicemail every time. He eventually gave up calling and looked up the nearest train station. It was a half an hour walk away from the venue but there was nothing else he could do. Pulling up his hood over his head, he began walking. Luckily he managed to catch the last train. It was a long ride but he eventually made it back to the dorms. 
By the time he arrived, everyone was asleep. There was no one to welcome back or wonder why he got back home so late in the night. No one to ask if he was okay or how he was doing. No one to talk to. Even so, Minho couldn't find the energy to care anymore. I'm not sure how much longer I can withstand this pain. Was the last thing he thought about when he finally felt his eyelids closing.