As soon as they reached backstage, Chaeyoung could no longer hold back her excitement. The sudden urge to hug someone hit her, and with Llana right in front of her, she became the perfect target.
Without warning, Chaeyoung rushed forward and jumped onto Llana's back, her arms wrapping tightly around her shoulders.
"That was crazy—we did so great out there! I'm so happy!" she squealed, her voice bursting with pure joy.
Llana stumbled forward from the sudden weight, letting out a startled yelp as she tried to steady herself. "Eek!!"
"Wha—what happened?!" Jihyo, who had been talking with Momo and the staff removing their head mics, immediately turned at the noise, eyes wide. "Are you okay, Llana?"
"I'm okay, unnie," Llana replied with a small, reassuring smile, nodding lightly.
She reached up and gently pried Chaeyoung's arms off before turning to face her, a helpless smile forming. "You know jumping on someone like that is dangerous."
Momo, who had just walked over with Jihyo, laughed. "The audience's reaction earlier was insane. They were actually scared of our intro."
"There was this one person who went 'Kyaah!' out of shock," Jihyo added, imitating the startled scream from the crowd.
Everyone burst into laughter.
"Well, our intro is really scary," Chaeyoung said with a grin, her dimples showing, making her look even cuter. "That old church bell sound alone already gives chills, and then the Latin chant on top of that is the cherry on top."
Llana let out a soft laugh. She had thought that adding the old church bell sound effect and removing the 'pray for me now' line from the chant would make it feel darker and more ominous. The bell sets up the atmosphere, added the Latin verse, then the cello, and violin to build the eerie tension.
And judging by the audience's reaction…
It worked perfectly.
"I had to stop myself from blushing earlier, during that part where I had to face you and lean in close. Seriously, I thought I was already immune to your visuals, Llana… turns out I'm not," Chaeyoung complained.
Llana let out a soft laugh, glancing at her with a hint of amusement. She had noticed Chaeyoung cheeks turning pink earlier. "You're exaggerating. I'm not that pretty," she said, shaking her head slightly. "And you handled it just fine."
"On the bright side," Llana added, a teasing smile forming, "you didn't have to tiptoe to reach me this time. Thanks to the heels."
She couldn't help but recall their practice. How Chaeyoung had to tilt her head up just to meet her gaze, and how she had instinctively lowered hers to close the distance.
Now, with the added height, Chaeyoung finally met her at eye level.
Momo and Jihyo burst into laughter.
"Yah! You're exaggerating it!" Chaeyoung shot back, pouting slightly. "The height difference isn't even that big!"
They continued chatting among themselves as they walked back to the waiting area. As they walked, they spotted Minor A Team approaching from the opposite direction, on their way to perform next.
"Fighting!" Llana and the others called out, raising their fists in encouragement without stopping.
"Thanks!"
The other group returned nervous smiles, nodding politely as they continued walking.
"Unnies, your performance was so cool!"
Natty said excitedly as they drew closer, just a step away from crossing paths.
Mina also gave a small, shy wave as well, her smile soft but sincere.
"Good luck, Mina-unnie, Natty, Minyoung-unnie," Llana replied, turning her head slightly as they passed by.
They exchanged one last wave, and without breaking their pace, both groups continued on their separate paths.
Llana glanced back at them, her gaze lingering for a few seconds on Minyoung before she finally looked away.
A faint crease formed between her brows.
It felt like Minyoung didn't like her… or was she just imagining it?
There had always been a strange disconnection between them. Like an invisible barrier neither of them could cross. Every time Llana tried to start a conversation, Minyoung's replies were short, distant.
Just like now.
She hadn't even met her eyes.
'Did I do something wrong?'
Llana's steps slowed slightly as the thought settled in. Maybe she had said something before… something she hadn't even noticed that ended up offending her.
Or…
Was it the other way around?
What if she was the one who didn't like Minyoung, and her mind was just twisting things to make it seem like it was Minyoung?
There was that thing… a defense mechanism. Projection, wasn't it?
When you place your own thoughts or feelings onto someone else.
Was she doing that?
Llana shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts creeping into her mind. She didn't like this kind of thinking at all -especially toward someone who had done nothing wrong to her.
Thinking badly of others without any reason wasn't right. It wasn't something she wanted to tolerate within herself. She refused to let those thoughts take root in her mind, knowing how toxic they could become. The more you dwell on negativity, the more it grows, until you don't even realize you've started speaking badly about others and letting your mind turn dark.
She wouldn't let that happen.
'Satan is whispering in my ears. Begone, evil!'
After about an hour, all the performances finally came to an end. Each team was given 15 minutes to prepare, perform, and greet their fans, so everything went by quickly.
Once everyone had finished performing, they put on Black SEVENTEEN shirts over their outfits.
They were set to give one final performance for the audience before leaving. The song they would perform had been requested by JYP for Llana. It was what the staff had whispered to her six days ago. Originally, it was supposed to be a performance with 2PM member Taecyeon, but due to an issue, JYP approached Llana instead.
Llana bought Zootopia's song "Try Everything" for this.
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" (4x)
The SEVENTEEN members walked toward the stage and sang together.
"I messed up tonight, I lost another fight. I still mess up, but I'll just start again."
Jihyo and Minyoung sang the opening.
"I keep falling down, I keep on hitting the ground. But I always get up now to see what's next." Jeongyeon and Nayeon slung their arms over each other's shoulders, swaying slightly as they sang.
"Birds don't just fly, they fall down and get up." Llana and Mina smiled at each other.
Tzuyu and Sana followed, "Nobody learns without getting it wrong."
"I won't give up, no, I won't give in. 'Til I reach the end, and then I'll start again."
By the chorus, everyone joined in. The energy on stage surged as they began jumping and moving freely, hyping up the crowd.
"No, I won't leave, I wanna try everything. I wanna try even though I could fail!"
"I'll keep on making those new mistakes." Chaeryeong and Somi took their turn, followed by Natty and Momo. "I'll keep on making them every day."
"Those new mistakes."
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh"
"TRY EVERYTHING!"