lim aerin / kiha / lee miyeon

who is the popstar?

lim aerin is a child superstar. casted at the young age of 13, debuted at 14. she has been releasing pop hit after pop hit since the early days of her career, her ultimate hit song coming after only two years of promotions - 'getaway'. every song after that one consistently hit the top of the charts, her face plastered on every young teen magazine that was out there across asia. aerin's bright and bubbly face was her trademark, a youthful face that hadn't changed throughout the years. hosts dubbed her as 'everyone's favourite little sister', then when she turned 17 she became 'everyone's first girlfriend.' fair skin with big eyes, long straight hair, and a smile brighter than the sun. people called her cute as a button, an untouchable gem filled with joy and love. her fame grew exponentially across the globe, her lovely smile capturing the hearts of many. when she turned 21 though, she disappeared off the scene. she no longer makes any live appearances anywhere, doesn't have a single schedule. the only thing that fans have to know that she's still safe and well is her instagram where she posts infrequently on. her posts are random, and the captions are usually just short sentences, sometimes just emojis. however whenever she posts, there are millions of likes and comments that pour in asking where aerin is and wishing her well. when asked by her company, they say aerin is just taking a break.

the decision was her own to step away from the industry, to go radio silent on her activities. she wanted to be able to be in control of her life, wanted to be able to make her own choices. aerin has never had a single scandal in her entire career, her private life locked away for no one to know about. people love to speculate about her, but since aerin has never done anything, no one can find anything about her.

who is lee miyeon?

lim aerin is a stage name though. lee miyeon is the girl behind it all. a girl who chooses to be lonely, driven to solitude by the cruel hand that not only the entertainment industry has dealt to her. she takes comfort in being alone, where no one can hurt her. she hates being called by her birth name though, the name 'lee miyeon' bringing even worst memories than the name 'lim aerin' does. her story is of a modern cinderella, her father passing on early and her guardianship being left to her step mother. lee miyeon was loathed by her step mother in favour for her younger brother. she would be yelled at frequently, scolded for every little thing. if she didn't make her bed neatly enough, her step mother would threaten to slap her. if her marks were low, she would be forced to stand outside no matter the weather for hours. once her company scouted her, there was no hesitation or worry when her step mother sent off her off from her hometown to faraway seoul. (they didn't care if they signed her away to a fraud company, if she signed a terrible contract that sold away her soul for the next 10, 20 years. as long as she was out of the house, it was fine. actually, her step mother probably had assumed that it was a fake company - that no one would actually ever be interested in miyeon for real.) her family nor miyeon herself realized that lee miyeon would soon grow to become the sensation lim aerin was. however at that point the relationship, miyeon had no interest in mending the relationship, and her step mother had no interest in keeping contact with miyeon either (her company was determined to keep miyeon's vicious and uncaring step mother away from aerin, confidentiality agreements signed and threats of lawsuits from aerin's company sealing any hope of reconciliation). the only love she had was the love that she recieved from the public once she debuted - but she knew that the public's love was conditional as well. despite everything - the verbal abuse she suffered from her step mother, the long hours of training and promotions, the pristine image she was pressured into keeping, her company keeping her constantly overworked for years - aerin wants to believe that not everything comes with conditions, that she can love and be loved unconditionally.

there are no princes at the end of modern cinderella's story, cinderella has to save herself not only from her step mother, but the symbolic tower her company put her in when she debuted. the tower is the long hours of training, the blood, sweat, and tears she shed for her career, the box her company put her in. her creativity was silenced, she was boxed and packaged as the perfect popstar and lived that way because she didn't know any other way to live.

who is aerin lim?

lim aerin nowadays is a very silent person who prefers to not leave the apartment building often. she doesn't like to be around other people, preferring to stay in solitude most days with her thoughts. if she's in bellevue, there is no more pressure for her to return to her career, she can assume a semi-regular schedule and pretend that her fame doesn't exist. if she lives with enough famous people, she can pretend her fame doesn't define all of her. her circle of friends almost non-existent at this point as she chooses to only keep a select number of people close to her. aerin knows how cruel the industry can be, the tedious years she spent constantly promoting and her sleeping problems as part of that evidence. aerin doesn't want to face the world that she grew up in, the entertainment industry that stretched her thin. she communicates with people online on occasion, the wall of the internet making her feel safer and more in control of her life. she likes to keep her hair dyed away from the black hair she had when she was more active in the music industry, a naive part of her hoping it would help with keeping people from identifying her (they always do though). her hair changes often though, she used to not be able to choose her hair colours or styles, so she changes them whenever she wants now. she also doesn't go out much anymore because of her sleeplessness, she has insomnia so she usually just has low energy and difficulty sleeping when she wants to or sleeping as long as she needs to. she doesn't have the energy to entertain the reporters and paparazzi on her trail, so she just tries not to see them at all. aerin's a night owl, staying awake late and even until dawn. she doesn't sleep because she also has nightmares often, which leave her in a cold sweat when she awakes.

she misses singing tremendously but she no longer wants to go down the musical direction that her company wants to to follow. that brings her a lot of stress when it comes to the future of her career. she is no longer 13-14-15 years old, she is 25.

who is kiha?

kiha. the famous pen name of a faceless writer who is only known to "reside where the stars exist." they are a complete mystery to everyone. their identity is shrouded in shadows, and only a very small amount of people know who kiha is. the only thing that continually rings true is their intricacy and perfectly completed stories. kiha writes a number of different things from poem collections, to full novels, to short chaptered series. kiha's stories are compelling and tell tales from real life, but also from faraway fantasy lands. recently there is talk that many directors want to get in touch with kiha in order to make some of their works into films or shows. kiha has not responded to any of these love calls. kiha's latest work released is a poem collection called 'unforgettable.'

personality;

even though aerin stays in all the time, rarely leaving bellevue, she's actually a very caring person. she tends to put other people before herself. aerin knows what it feels like to feel alone and hated, so she has a huge amount of love to give to anyone who she feels may have ever felt the way she did at some point in her life. however, aerin is also a very private person. she keeps everyone at an arm's length or more, and no one will ever know anything about her that she does not want them to know about.

most people will describe aerin as very polite, well spoken, and sweet. when she was younger they used to say she was innocent and very genuine to everyone - at 25 she's still genuine, still wants to not let the entertainment industry change her into a terrible version of herself - but she is definitely no longer innocent.

people may think she's a fake because of her almost angelic disposition, her desire to help others, or her manners that are never out of place, but that's just how she is. aerin is optimistic even when she has no reason to be, kind when the world has never been kind to her. she's just smart about it now, protective of her own safety bubble that she's created.

-

likes: kids (because she considers them pure of heart), white, pastel colours, clear days, singing in the shower, kalimbas, the sound of a light drizzle against her windows, people watching, floral teas (because they calm her), small flowers, fairytale drawings, cheap beer, gin and tonics

dislikes: liars, thunderstorms, hot and humid summer days, mosquito bites, public speaking (just because she is good at it doesn't mean she likes it), plastic dolls, snowstorms, clothes with holes in them (she is particular about mending them)

hobbies: writing songs (that she will never be able to sing), writing (it brings her peace and she can express the feelings she cannot in the real world), people watching, knitting (because she's an old cat lady at heart), baking (it is a sort of science and requires preciseness, even when everything is falling apart, two cups of flour will never betray her)

goals: to have control over her life again, to learn to love and be loved unconditionally, adopt a cat, become a better cook, find something new to write about

fears: that she will never be able to fix her sleep, nightmares will swallow her up, her insomnia will control her life, that she will always be locked in her tower