The roar of the crowd was still shaking the walls when Verosika stepped off the stage.
Her pulse was still racing.
Voice burning in her throat.
Skin tingling from the lights.
But none of that was why her hands wouldn't stop trembling.
She pushed open the backstage door, letting it slam behind her.
Minca was already there, half unzipped jacket, arms crossed, eyebrows raised so high they were practically orbiting her forehead.
Kordel was sitting backwards on a chair, chewing gum like it owed him money.
Both stared at her.
"Okay," Minca said. "Start talking."
Verosika tossed her mic pack onto the couch and pulled her hair back, trying to look composed.
She failed.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.
Kordel snorted loud enough to echo.
"Oh yeah? So you didn't just almost break your voice staring at ONE guy all night?"
Verosika's tail flicked upward like a whip.
"That is not what happened."
Minca stepped closer, lowering her voice.
"V… you performed like you were on fire. And not in your usual 'I run this ring' way. This was different."
Verosika opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again.
"I didn't plan it
"No shit," Kordel muttered.
"I mean," she hissed, glaring at him, "I didn't expect him to show up."
Minca's expression softened.
"…But he did."
Verosika swallowed.
"Yeah. He walked in like it was nothing. Like going to a show that could burn down the building was just an evening stroll."
Her tail refused to stay still.
"He watched the entire time. Not blinking. Not distracted. And every time our eyes met"
She stopped.
Minca leaned in.
"what?"
Verosika said it quietly, almost reluctantly.
"It felt like he was studying me… and seeing me at the same time."
Kordel groaned dramatically.
"Ohhhh, she's GONE. Absolutely gone."
"SHUT UP."
Verosika threw a water bottle at his head. He caught it, smirking.
Minca stepped in again, gentler.
"V… be honest. Did it feel good?"
Verosika hesitated.
Then her voice fell to a whisper:
"…Yes."
And then:
"…And terrifying."
She sat down on the vanity stool, elbows on knees, face in her hands.
"Every fan looks at me with hunger.
Rival with jealousy.
Manager with greed.
But him"
She looked up, eyes bright and conflicted.
"He looked at me like I mattered."
Minca softened.
Kordel, for once, shut his mouth.
Verosika continued, voice low:
"I don't know what he doing, but whatever he's becoming… I shouldn't be pulled into it."
Minca nodded.
"But you are."
Verosika didn't deny it.
Instead, she whispered:
"I thought I was ready to face him again on stage. But on it felt like he was the only one in the room. Like the whole arena went quiet."
Kordel cracked his knuckles.
"Okay, so what's the problem? If he's into you and you're into him"
"I DIDN'T SAY THAT."
"Sure," he said, unimpressed. "And I didn't eat three boxes of donuts yesterday."
Minca elbowed him.
Verosika paced again, tail swishing wildly.
I don't know him well enough even though we spent over a year together she said.
Silence.
"And I don't trust myself around him."
Even quieter silence.
Then
A knock on the backstage door.
A very controlled, quiet knock.
Not the frantic pounding of a staff member.
Cumsy banging of a drunk fan.
Entitled tapping of a manager.
Minca and Kordel exchanged looks of alarm.
Verosika froze.
Her breath caught.
"…No way," Kordel whispered.
The knock came again, soft but unmistakably deliberate.
Minca stepped toward the door.
"Do you want me to send them away?"
Verosika swallowed.
Her heart beat so hard she felt it in her teeth.
"No," she whispered.
Minca opened the door a few inches
and her eyes went wide.
"…Verosika," she said softly, stepping aside.
"He's here."
Malerion walked in with the calm of someone who didn't force his presence into a room
but filled it anyway.
No dramatic aura or display.
Just quiet gravity.
His eyes found Verosika instantly.
And everything she'd been rehearsing in her head, every line she thought she'd deliver with sarcasm or confidence
evaporated.
He bowed his head slightly.
"You sang well tonight."
Verosika's pulse spiked.
"Y-you came," she said before she could stop herself.
Malerion's expression didn't shift, but something in the air did.
"You asked."
Minca mouthed OH MY GOD silently behind him.
Kordel made a sound like a dying kettle.
Verosika forced her voice back to normal.
"I didn't think you'd actually do it."
"I gave you my word," Malerion replied simply.
Something electric flickered behind her ribs.
Kordel leaned toward Minca and whispered:
"I ship them so hard I might explode."
"Shut UP," Minca hissed.
Malerion looked briefly at the two bandmates assessing them without effort then returned his attention to Verosika.
"You have time?" he asked.
Not a command, pressure.
Just a question.
Verosika nodded slowly.
"…Yeah. I do."
He extended a hand slightly not touching her, just offering direction.
"Walk with me?"
For a moment Verosika just stared at him, caught between instinct and impulse.
Then she exhaled.
"Fine. But only because my dressing room smells like Kordel's breath."
"HEY"
The door closed behind them.
Leaving Minca and Kordel stunned.
"…She's in trouble," Minca said.
"Oh, she's DEAD," Kordel whispered.
"Emotionally dead."
"Totally doomed."
They weren't wrong.