“Perfection”

Leah's gaze lifted from the corpse beneath her; blood splattered all over her hands and the floor. Her hands trembled as she looked at her bloody hands and the knife in her right hand, with her tear filled eyes. She slightly shook her head repeatedly.

“I- I didn't do it intentionally. I di- didn't do it intentionally.”

She repeated, whispering under her breath, as if... to assure herself.

Her beloved lover gazed at Leah's eyes, which once held purity and Innocence; Now, solely held insanity. She noticed the terror in him as he observed her. "P-please, don't f-fear me.” She tried to soothe him as she slogged towards him, despite the severe wounds on her knees, only for her to see him flinch and writhe in pure horror.

Leah stopped on her tracks and tried to hold in tears as she noticed how different she looked and how much her beloved feared her. Her gaze slowly moved to her best friend, Jennifer. Jennifer was sitting against the wall, several injuries visible on her body, which made her go through blood loss.

“Y-you... A-at least... At least, you believe me, right?”

Leah asked, tearfully, throwing away the knife in her hands, before gently holding her cheeks with her hands which were now, trembling and drenched with blood. Jennifer's cheeks got painted with the red blood, due to Leah's hands before Jennifer slowly and tenderly stroked leah's shoulder and passed her a tender smile and nodded. Jennifer didn't possess any ounce of energy to speak, at that moment, due to the blood loss.

At some distance, the faint noises of the police cars concealed the remote area and overpowered the silence of the area.

The door of the House was kicked down as several police officers barged inside. Leah's hands were firmly and forcefully cuffed behind her back by an officer as her boyfriend watched it all happened, right infront of his eyes. In his eyes and from his perspective, she was an insane psychopath who tormented him and her best friend, Jennifer.

Not being aware of the reality was the only flaw in his perspective. When Jennifer saw the officers putting handcuffs on Leah, her breath quickened and hitched, and she used all her remaining strength to defend her, “O-officer, P-please... Listen to me. S-she... Leah… L-leah, is innocent! She didn't do it intentionally. It was all out of self-defense. Please, sir!-”

The officer interrupted Jennifer in the middle after noticing the severity of the injuries over her body. “Quickly get her admitted. There is a possibility for her dying with this much loss of blood.” The cop completely ignored the words of Jennifer regarding the defense of Leah.

“Please! You are arresting the innocent! Sir!-” Her voice only fell on deaf ears, and she was taken to the ambulance.

Leah, on the other hand, from the corner of her eyes, looked at her beloved for the last time, before she was taken to the police car; To be taken to the police station for further investigation and interrogation.

...-Leah's POV-...

...It all started with the beginning of my career, As... a K-pop idol....

...Five years back......

...23 July 2023...

"You know, things don't come easy..." Mr. Hamasaki held out his hand to help me get up. His tone— sharp as a dagger... I felt my legs get heavier and I stumbled and faltered.

Seeing me falter, his expressions hardened and he shot an angry glare right on my face. "You need to sacrifice a lot for them. AND if you cannot, then LEAVE." My vocal coach went into a long tirade— pointing his finger at me as my gaze lowered and I remained sat on the floor silently.

I could not help but notice his voice replete with antagonism and ruthless hatred for me. My group members; Jennifer, honey, anastasia and Sakura.. All, had fallen silent as they awkwardly continued with their usual stretching. I shifted my glances all around the room and avoided eye contact with everyone at that moment. I felt nothing but shame...

I could literally hear Stephanie snickering to the sight of my humiliation. Sakura was no more doing any stretching, but, only catching in the sight of me facing the ruthless rage of Mr. Hamasaki.

Jennifer was fidgeting with her fingers and appearing tensed up with her body posture. Honey and Anastasia- the both of them were drinking water from one bottle, one by one, and awkwardly looking at me.

After Mr. Hamasaki finished with his furious invective. I couldn't hold it in any longer and rushed to the washroom after I saw Mr. Hamasaki leave. I stood infront of the mirror and could think of nothing but hatred; for myself.

I remained quiet, and my gaze lowered, remaining still on the floor as I closed my first tightly. I could hear faint voices of my group members conversing with eachother. I felt the need to listen and pressed my ear to the door, eavesdropping to the conversation...

"Don't you all think we should check on Leah?" Jennifer questioned, her voice sounding tensed and anxious.

Sakura sighed and stated, "I'd be crashing early tonight... I'm too exhausted." Sakura then additionally added, "Though, I still am worried about Leah.. so.. if you do check on her. Just let me know how she is and if you need me urgently just call me up. Okay?" Jennifer remained quiet for a moment and then agreed and answered, "Hm... sure-"

However, Stephanie interrupted before Jennifer could finish and she opposed, "I suggest all of you to just leave her alone. She is not a freaking toddler. She is an attention seeker and that's it. I'm sure, she doesn't need any of us at all-" Sakura glanced at Stephanie and agreed as she tried to continue her statement, yet, got interrupted again, "Leah surely is no toddler... but..."

"But, what?..." Stephanie bickered and then laughed. "You know what? I'm just sick of you all emotional fools. Just forget her and sleep. We need to get up early tomorrow as usual." Stephanie reminded everyone.

Honey and Anastasia exchanges some glances with eachother and then hesitantly replied, "We are leaving then..." Jennifer didn't protest and stayed even after everybody had left.

My value in this group could be seen due to this conversation. I felt my jaw clench and I quietly washed my face infront of the mirror. My head ached... I felt discomfort all over my body and my mental state was chaotic.

I did not utter a word.. I could feel a lump in my throat and then I felt my eyes slowly well up with tears and I silently cried while covering my mouth, so that, Jennifer who was still out there could not hear my cry.

About five minutes passed by and I finally stopped crying. My eyes looked slightly red and puffed up and anybody could tell that I had cried. I washed my face again and massaged my face a little.. trying to think of positive things so that my face looks happy.

I was feeling like I was about to cry again and in order to avoid that. I started to pace around the washroom and jumping a little to distract myself.

During my feeble attempts to not cry, I heard a knock on the washroom's door. I inhaled and exhaled and then tried to sound as neutral as possible and questioned, "Who is there?" I heard Jennifer speak, "I'm waiting for you here.. what are you doing in there?.. you've been in there for quite a while... Are you okay?.." she just sounded concerned as my best friend.

I felt pathetic and told her not to worry, "I'm absolutely fine, Jennifer.. Y-you can leave.." My voice cracked in between. Jennifer now was sure that I wasn't fine because she then mentioned in an accusatory way, "You don't.. sound 'fine' to me. Come out and I'll see for myself." She paused for a moment to see if I had anything to say and then demanded, "Now. Out here."

I quickly blinked a few times to fix my face and sniffled and rubbed my face with my napkin and then exited the washroom.

I did not look into Jennifer's eyes for even a moment and chatted, "Let's go to my dorm. We can eat some fresh noodles!" Jennifer appeared somewhat confused and suspicious due to my weird behaviour.

She held my hand and took me to her dorm— cluelessly, I followed her without any questions. As we reached to her dorm, she sat me down on her bed and offered me a glass of water...

"Drink it..." She offered her a glass of water and her voice slightly firm, as if it was an order. I tried to assure her that I was okay, "I'm fine-"

"No. You're not." she interrupted.

She just glared at me a little and then sat next to me. "You're not okay." She said.

"The nerves on your forehead always pop out when you're stressed, upset or about to bawl your eyes out." She remarked, with an accusatory tone and a look of suspicion on her face. My cheeks reddened in embarassment and my gaze roamed everywhere around the room and down at my lap except her.

I had got no alibis at that point... My lips quivered slightly as I fiddled with my fingers. I had no excuses, however, I tried to play it off, "I-I really am fine-" But, who was I fooling around with? Jennifer? Jennifer had been my best friend, since, I was eleven. She knew me so well, she could look through my excuses into my soul.

"Your lips are quivering too. I guess, I was correct. You're lying to me, aren't you?"

I couldn't hold it in any longer at that point and a loud deafening sob escaped my lips which I had been trying to suppress since the time she brought me to her dorm.

She smiled a tiny bit as her brows slightly furrowed, she took me in her embrace.

"It is okay. You can let it all out. Trust me. I'm here. Why are you always pleasing everyone around by acting like you're fine when you're clearly not fine at all? And what was the need to bottle it up even though it was me? Do you really think that lowly of me?"

I slightly leaned backwards from the hug and looked into her eyes for a second before looking back downwards again. Because, I knew, she was absolutely right about everything. She knew me too well. Neither did I utter anything for the rest of the night, Nor did she question my silence...

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