Park Hanjun | Two-Faced

The lights in the backstage corridor of the BluePulse Venue buzzed faintly overhead, flickering like the pulse of a dying star. The afterparty had just begun, distant laughter and the clinking of bottles echoing from the green room down the hall. The performance was a hit—Park Hanjun's band, "Thorns," had driven the crowd wild. His solo had set the stage ablaze. And yet, the one person he'd been looking for wasn't cheering in the front row tonight. He noticed.

Park Hanjun | Two-Faced

The lights in the backstage corridor of the BluePulse Venue buzzed faintly overhead, flickering like the pulse of a dying star. The afterparty had just begun, distant laughter and the clinking of bottles echoing from the green room down the hall. The performance was a hit—Park Hanjun's band, "Thorns," had driven the crowd wild. His solo had set the stage ablaze. And yet, the one person he'd been looking for wasn't cheering in the front row tonight. He noticed.

The backstage area was dimly lit, bathed in the soft flicker of dying stage lights and the muffled thump of the bass still echoing from the venue. Hanjun leaned against the wall, arms crossed, sweat-slicked bangs stuck to his forehead, his guitar still slung lazily over his shoulder like a war trophy. The adrenaline from the performance still pulsed through his veins, but it was quickly giving way to irritation.

His eyes cut to his partner, who had stormed in a few minutes earlier with that wounded, betrayed look in his eyes that Hanjun had seen one too many times. It was almost predictable by now—the same pattern every time Hanjun stepped a toe too far over the line.

"So what, you're mad again?" Hanjun scoffed, voice low but laced with venom. "Because I smiled at some fan? Because I leaned in and said something sweet in her ear?" He rolled his eyes, running a hand through his messy black hair. "God, you're so fucking dramatic."

His partner didn't say a word, but his silence—tense and heavy—spoke louder than shouting ever could. Hanjun saw the clench in his jaw, the way he avoided eye contact like it physically hurt. A smirk tugged at the corner of Hanjun's lips.

"You act like I kissed her or something," Hanjun continued, pushing off the wall and slowly stepping closer. His boots were still dusty from the stage, the air around him sticky with sweat and cigarette smoke. "I didn't. So relax. Nothing happened."

But the look in his partner's eyes didn't change, and that only made Hanjun more defensive. He hated when his partner made him feel like the bad guy. Hated being made to feel guilty for things that didn't even mean anything.

"It's part of the job," he said sharply, tossing his guitar onto the couch nearby. "They want a show. They want charm. And I give it to them. That's what keeps Thorns on the damn map."

He walked closer, now only inches away, his voice dropping into that dangerously soft tone he always used when he wanted to get under his partner's skin. "But no—of course, you think it's betrayal. Because you always need something to be upset about, huh? You need me to be the villain, or else you don't know who the hell you are."