Hello everyone,
Here is today's chapter, but before that, I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who offered their condolences. It is truly appreciated. It means a lot to me to see your comforting comments, especially from people I don't personally know.
I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. LOVE.
I hope you enjoy the chapter.
_______
(Llana's House)
Dolores was in the living room, watching Llana's survival show on television. She lay comfortably across the large, cream-colored, custom-made U-shaped sofa. It was so spacious that even if three versions of her stretched out on it, there would still be room left. It was the most comfortable sofa she had ever sat on, and if she could, she would have even slept on it.
Her legs were crossed, resting on the glossy coffee table in front of her. She had once overheard the household staff whispering that the table alone was worth at least $100,000. Dolores didn't understand why it was so expensive. To her, it was just a table.
She casually popped a grape into her mouth from the bowl of sliced fruit she was holding close, as if someone might snatch it away at any moment. Her eyes remained glued to the enormous television, which was showing the latest episode of SEVENTEEN.
Then Sana's scene came on, making her nearly choke while swallowing a grape.
"HAHAHAHA!"
Dolores laughed out loud as she watched Sana fall into the pool from her inflatable airplane without anyone even touching her.
A loud chorus of laughter echoed from the TV.
"Yah! She's the imposter in my group!" Jin Bong-seul said, though the camera didn't show her. Instead, it cut to the chicken fight game, where Sana was eliminated the second the round even started.
Dolores burst into laughter again.
Llana walked down the hallway, hearing Dolores's booming laughter. She shook her head. 'I'm not even Dolores, and I can hear her from miles away.'
"...Cousin Dolores can hear a pin drop, Camilo shapeshifts, Antonio gets his gift today…" Llana hummed softly, remembering the opening song of Encanto.
When she stepped into the living room, she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you laughing so hard?"
"AAAH!"
Dolores screamed, nearly tossing the bowl of fruits into the air. She whipped her head towards Llana, eyes wide in shock. Then she quickly looked around the living room as if checking whether anyone else had witnessed her ungraceful behavior.
Llana blinked. "Why are you looking around like that?"
Still flustered, Dolores hurriedly stood up. She placed the bowl on the coffee table, grabbed the remote, and muted the TV before marching toward Llana. Without hesitation, she grabbed Llana by the shoulders.
"Where are your brothers?" she demanded.
Llana frowned, feeling confused. Dolores normally acted perfectly composed around her brothers, so seeing her like this confused her.
"They already left," Llana answered slowly. "Why?"
Dolores froze, then her face turned pale.
"D-Don't tell me… they saw me here?" she stammered, horrified as she remembered how she had been lying across the sofa with her legs on the expensive table, laughing loudly... very unladylike.
Llana grinned."Good for you, they didn't. They left directly through the underground garage."
Dolores let out a long breath of relief.
Only for her expression to immediately shift into heartbreak.
"I didn't get an autograph…" she whispered, devastated.
Llana tilted her head. "From whom?"
"Jin and V of BTS, obviously!" Dolores nearly cried in grief. "They were so close to me and I didn't even get an autograph or a picture!"
BTS is one of the most popular South Korean boy groups in this world. They debuted around 2011 through a survival show, becoming the first K-pop group to do so, and over the years achieved international fame.
In Llana's past life, however, BTS didn't debut until around 2022. She barely knew anything about them back then, too busy juggling work and college to keep up with trends.
"Oh." Llana responded without much reaction. She walked back to the sofa, picked up the remote, and unmuted the TV.
"What do you mean 'oh'? Don't oh me, Ezhel!" Dolores huffed, following her. She grabbed a pillow and threw it straight at Llana's face before sitting down across from her with her legs crossed.
"Ouch!"
"Why didn't you tell me that Brother Adrian is friends with Jin and V?" Dolores grumbled. "If I had known earlier, I would've asked him for their autograph!"
"My brother is only friends with Jin-ssi," Llana corrected with a shrug. "But anyway."
"Still the same!" Dolores scrunched her face like an angry cat.
"Oh, look at this. Die from envy." Llana smirked and showed her phone screen—selfies with V and Jin.
"YOU!!"
Dolores lunged at her, tackling her onto the sofa. Llana lost her breath instantly. Dolores weighed nearly twice as much as she did.
"Yah! I can't breathe! Get off me, idiot!"
"Hmph!" Dolores finally got off but continued sulking, arms crossed and lips pouted. "You didn't even call me."
"Sorry, sorry." Llana rubbed her shoulder, wincing. It felt like a truck had flattened her just now. "They had an emergency and left urgently. Otherwise, I would've begged them to take a picture with you and give you an autograph." She nudged her lightly. "On the bright side, at least you had dinner with them, right? V was literally sitting in front of you. That's a dream for millions of fans."
"…Right."
Dolores brightened a little at the memory. It really did feel like a dream. She had even sacrificed her precious food, barely eating just so she could look at him longer.
Honestly… she felt like nothing else mattered in that moment.
"Why did they come here anyway?" Dolores asked curiously, finally lying down and turning to face the TV.
"It's a secret. I can't tell you." Llana replied in a playful tone. She glanced at Dolores and gave her a mysterious smile.
"Come on, no one else has to know. I won't tell anyone—I promise," Dolores pleaded, wide, imploring eyes fixed on her as she lightly shook Llana's arm.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?" Dolores pouted.
"No. Do you want me to say it in Spanish?" Llana brushed her hands away.
"Noh."
"Hmpf. Killjoy. How could you do this to your loyal, cute, lovely, ele—"
Llana finally couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed a banana from the table, peeled it quickly, and shoved it into Dolores's mouth.
The show had already reached the part where JYP began revealing the Top 8, right after Sana moved up from Minor to Major.
Llana couldn't afford to let Dolores's noisy voice distract her now. She's curious who among the members voted for her.
"Llana, you ranked eighth with seven points. The older trainees clearly had the advantage in this round. I didn't expect the foreign members—especially you, Llana—to make it into the top eight."
The screen flashed to Llana, Momo, Sana, and Tzuyu as JYP finished speaking. Then it cut to Llana's confession interview.
"It's very unexpected," she admitted.
"I honestly didn't set my hopes too high for this."
She paused, her lips curling into a bright smile. "So I'm really, really happy."
"Being ranked eighth shows that the other members recognized more than just your talent. They saw your character as well, even in such a short period of time."
JYP continued, the screen returned to him.
The screen flickered, transitioning smoothly to the voting clips.
First to appear was Chaeyoung, holding her voting card up to the camera.
"Llana is an incredibly talented singer. I don't think anyone in this competition can match her. She's also a great dancer. And on top of being so talented and beautiful, I've never seen a hint of pride or boastfulness in her."
She lifted the card higher.
Two points.
"Oh, thank you, Chaeyoung," Llana commented softly.
"I think Llana has all the qualities PD-nim is looking for," Mina said, giving her one point.
Dahyun also gave her a point. "What she's like in front of the camera is exactly what she's like off-cam."
Llana smiles at that feeling touch in her heart. Hearing three consecutive praise for her talent and character touches her a lot.
Chaeryeong appeared on screen.
"Llana-unnie is very pretty, talented, considerate, and humble."
Another point.
"Aww… I didn't expect that from Chaeryeong at all," Llana admitted, genuinely surprised.
"Why?" Dolores asked, tilting her head.
"We don't really interact that much."
"Well, everyone knows she's your fan."
"Oh… really?"
Llana blinked, caught off guard. She had no idea Chaeryeong admired her that much.
Then Sana appeared on screen.
"Llana is very helpful. I remember during the first group battle, I was alone in the practice room feeling really depressed. She stayed with me, listened to me, and comforted me while I was crying."
They showed a previously unseen clip of Llana sitting beside Sana, patiently listening while Sana cried and opened up about her worries and the problems she was having with her group.
"I'm really grateful to her… and a little embarrassed," Sana smiled bashfully. "She's so mature that sometimes I forget she's younger than me."
Llana shrugged at that. Technically, she was older than all of them.
"This scene wasn't broadcasted before. If Sana hadn't mentioned it, they wouldn't have shown it," Dolores commented, taking a sliced apple.
Then came Tzuyu's clip.
"Llana…existing."
Llana blinked. Did she just receive a point for simply existing?
"HAHAHA—" Dolores burst into laughter. Thankfully, she had already swallowed, or she might have choked. "Llana breathes, Llana deserves a point."
Llana couldn't help but laugh too, amused and touched at the same time. Tzuyu really did have a way of saying the most unexpected things.
_____