I have it all. Everything one could wish for. I was currently with my four other band-mates performing in a stadium of over one hundred thousand audience. The NIGHTFALL was the epitome of success. We were the best selling boyband in all of history. But a member of our group, Tai, was going to go on a hiatus to look after his pregnant wife.
Fans were unbelievably supportive of his decision and as our last tour as five member group, we wanted to say goodbye to fans.
"Everyone, I love you! NIGHTFALL are STELLARS and STELLARS are NIGHTFALL!" Tai shouted out.
"This will not be the end of us! We will be back before you guys even know it! So please wait for us and give us a chance again! The five of us will come back and if there's even one less of us, we will disband." Ryuu, the group's leader and most popular member, announced. He was so popular that even his solo would sometimes outperform group on charts. My popularity was almost non-existent compared to him. He was born to be a celebrity.
"I think we were born to be NIGHTFALL." Jett smiled at us. "The five of us make NIGHTFALL."
"Yes! If it's not all five of us then we won't perform. Next time you see us together, it will be all of us together. And next time you see ME, I will be the coolest! I will come back even more awesome than before!" I shouted out but Tai and Ryuu dragged me away.
"He's is so embarrassing at times but remember NIGHTFALL might just come back as FOUR members!" Rex, a member, snickered as he lifted his four fingers.
"H-HEY! Don't exclude me! NIGHTFALL IS FIVE NOT FOUR!!" I whined to him but the other three members rushed to Rex and kept joking about it.
The group always joked about excluding me and that they could do without me but despite the jokes of my exclusion, I knew they loved me because behind the scenes I was totally coddled by them as if I was their baby or something.
Once the final show had come to an end, we returned to backstage and Ryuu jumped at me.
"You were the coolest today! Your singing is already getting better than us. I knew... You are the only one I'm most scared of." Ryuu said. He knew he was the most popular and so did everyone else but somehow despite it all, he always believed that I could become more popular than him.
"Ace, you're too bounded to NIGHTFALL... We have been together for over fifteen years now... But it seems like your existence is being ACE of NIGHTFALL. Maybe try to branch out and do more. Oh... right... while Tai takes a break, Jett and Ryuu will release music, so, why don't you record an album too? An album that doesn't link you back to NIGHTFALL? An album just about ACE and not ACE of NIGHTFALL." Rex suggested.
"You are a personality that is meant to shine the brightest. Even amongst the five of us, you have made the most amount of progress so why don't you use your network and do something? Like those questionable friends of yours." Ryuu raised his eyebrow with a disappointed expression. He was always against my friend circle though I never understood why. I thought all of them were kind people so I thought Ryuu was just jealous of me. Obviously because he is the most popular so he has hard time finding real friends outside of NIGHTFALL unlike me.
I scoffed it off, pretending that I wasn't bothered by it.
"I'm scared... we all are scared. You're not a child anymore and you can't keep acting like that. Those are not good people..."Ryuu said but I got angry at him.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW! You are just jealous that I have everything you beg for! You talk like you know it all! I made those friends outside of my value as a member of this group! They're my actual first friends outside of NIGHTFALL! We will end this conversation here." I stormed off.
...
Next day, the five of us were doing the livestream for the fans and answering some questions.
"You guys know how ACE has a song titled 'No Rules'? I feel like he will break a rule or two and next time NIGHTFALL comes back, he will be a criminal." Ryuu snickered.
"Wait- who are you calling a criminal?" I asked in a confused tone.
"Yeah... He has made friends so he doesn't hang out with us anymore. We mean nothing to him... It's always the four of us." Tai fake whined.
"F-four? But I was there on the dinner last month." I tried defending myself.
"We have had three dinners since then together. We made plans on group chat." Jett said.
I quickly checked my phone and went through the chat log and they were right. I was busy with my own friends that I didn't even bother reading NIGHTFALL's groupchat.
See? I told ya. We mean nothing to ACE. He is taking us for granted." Rex actually sounded heartbroken as he said that but tried to play it off as a joke.
I felt guilty to a certain degree as I was always helped by NIGTHFALL in my solo content. They were always there to support me and even collaborate with me on solo music so more people would listen to me. Ryuu especially has always defended me from others too. I just didn't know how to convey those feelings. I knew I had a life outside of this band but I still had to spend time with them too.
...
"ACE!!" Someone jolted me awake. "Have you looked at the news?" It was my dad who had woken me up. I confusedly searched up my name.
"The legend of POP or a disgraced scum? ACE of NIGHTFALL accused of selling women as sex slaves to rich men?!"
As I read through the article, they mentioned screenshots they somehow got from a business partner of mine.
"What is the meaning of this?!" My dad punched me in the face. "THAT'S NOT THE ACE YOUR MOTHER AND I RAISED!"
"D-Dad! It's fake news! Don't take it seriously! Trust in me. I will defend m-" Before I could finish my sentence, he launched another punch.
"They had CCTV footage of you forcing a drunk woman in the club... All that money and fame got to your head... You truly are a scum! GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE"
As I tried explaining my situation, my dad physically dragged me outside the house and slammed the door shut at me. And with that, I was kicked out of the house. It seemed like there was an overwhelming amount of evidence about me. My phone was blowing up with text messages from just about everyone. I went on instagram and noticed my following list number had gone down from 1,254 to merely 237. It means almost a thousand of my acquaintances had blocked me already.
Me who was till yesterday ruling the music industry was now disowned by my own parents? How...
I fell to my knees as the reality started setting in. I covered my face unable to even cry. It was too much for me to even comprehend.
I quickly posted on instagram about the situation.
"I understand that everyone is confused by the current situation and all I can say is wait for the outcome. Everyone's love has gotten me this far and never once would I use it to commit such crime. I will prove my innocence so wait for me. Please, don't give up on me."
I posted the caption with a white image. I quickly checked and NIGHTFALL hadn't unfollowed me yet. I had to go talk to them and my lawyer.
I kept checking more news and articles as they kept mentioning this group chat where I would personally give prices to women that they alleged I was trafficking. It was all a lie and I knew it. But people had already believed everything because of last night's live where NIGHTFALL had called me a criminal. Public ran with the idea the NIGHTFALL already knew this would happen even though they were just joking. I was becoming hard to even breath as I sat next to the entrance. Just then my sister came back from college with a friend of hers. The two of them probably already knew as they averted their eyes.
"Kris,please listen to me. I'm begging you! I'm not... I'm not a monster!" I begged her as I held onto her legs. She was the only one I had a chance to explain things to.
"Y-you..." She looked at me as if I was a filth in her feet. At that moment I realized just how utterly alone I was. How wrong I was to think my situation was better than Ryuu... He might've been alone but he didn't have people who would discard him at first sign of issues.
"You are just as I had expected... I always knew..." Her friend scoffed at me to even have the audacity to defend myself. My sister kicked her foot right in my face as I fell to the side completely powerless as she entered the house I no longer belonged to.
...
The five of us were sitting in a room by ourselves. The situation was as grim as it could get. I was completely frozen while the other four just stared at me before Ryuu got up from him chair and approached me.
It stung.... his slap... it felt worse than when my dad hit me or when my sister kicked me to a side. He was the team leader and I ruined his life too.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WE SACRIFICED?!" He grabbed me by my collars and pinned me to the wall. "WHY CAN'T YOU FUCKING LISTEN!? Countless times! Over and over again! We kept telling you to stay away!"
"You always painted us to be the bad people for telling you to watch out. They were using you. Your name as ACE to get ahead... to get in touch with billionaires and politicians." Jett was just disappointed in me.
"My wife... you have no idea how much stress you have put on her! What if it leads to come complications! We loved you! Was our love just not enough?!" Tai slammed his hands on the table. "Were we not enough?"
I just couldn't answer. I knew they loved me but I was the least popular. I was never anyone's choice so I fell for the first trick in the book... I fell for their sweet words.
"Just prove your innocence and we will deal with the rest. We are together and will stay together. I don't care how long you take. We were going on a hiatus anyways." Rex said without even looking at me.
They supported me despite the evidence put forth while my own dad kicked me out.
"And when it's all set and done, we will comeback as five!" Ryuu said.
"No... No... I don't we will..." I noticed some notifications about how more news about me was coming out. It was like everything was crashing down on me all at once.
'The disgusting POP star ACE accused of gang raping a drugged woman.'
'Screenshots that reveals ACE was laughing at films of his victims.'
"I... think... I will leave. I will leave the group." I said in a trembling voice. Tears kept flowing as I read through the news articles that kept flowing. My heart rate skyrocketed forcing me to sit down. I gasped as breathing was becoming difficult for me too when our stylist rushed to me with a glass of water in her hand.
"ACE, take deep breathes and drink this." She said.
I chugged down the water so fast that I started coughing but she patted my back with a worried expression on her face.
"Hey! HEY! Don't you DARE say that!! We four and all our staff know you are innocent! None of us care if we take collateral damage because of your fuck up!" Jett shook me.
"Of course! Don't make such harsh decision when you're so emotionally overcharged. Talk to your lawyers and first clear up your name. Just remember we all all brothers! We have gone through everything so we won't go down like this and just to be clear... if you leave, we will disband." Ryuu gave me the ultimatum.
"We would look awkward as four anyways so yea... relax. Your life isn't over. It won't be over as long as four of us and our staff are there for you." Rex smiled at me.
But despite their love, I had made up my mind, I will leave them so they would no longer be burdened by me.
And I will focus on finding out who did everything.