Due to the bad weather, the café remained quiet for the rest of the day. Sam let Jimin go home early while she continued to teach Namjoon how to bake. Thankfully there were no more mixer related incidents, they did end up with a few burnt fingers (and even more burnt cookies).

When they finally decided to call it a night, they had a mountain of different types of cookies and pastries. They took some of them up to the apartment, storing the rest of them in containers, deciding to snack on the ones that wouldn’t fit into the containers.

They took an armchair each in the living room as they flicked through the TV channels, finally deciding on a movie they both liked. “I think you’ve got some potential.” Sam said as she held up a mostly unburnt cookie. Namjoon laughed, “I don’t know. I might just leave the baking up to the professionals.” She laughed as she finished her cookie. “So what’s your speciality then? Since it’s apparently not baking?” she asked as she shifted her position, letting her legs rest over the arm of the armchair, her back resting against the other arm so that she could face him.

Namjoon hesitated. He was kind of worried about letting anyone know who he was. He had been enjoying not being recognised for the past few days. He didn’t want that to get ruined if Sam or any of the others figured out he was famous. “I’m an artist.” He said vaguely. She nodded, “That’s pretty cool.” She said, assuming that he was a painter or something. Namjoon breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t press him for any more details. “I remember you saying that you were kinda stressed and that’s why you came here to escape, is it a lack of inspiration or something?” she asked him, curious to learn more about the handsome guy in front of her.

He nodded hesitantly, thinking about how to answer her without revealing himself. “Yeah. I've been gaining a bit of popularity back home lately and it seems to be that with every bit of popularity I gain, the more people expect from me. The pressure was just getting too much. I felt suffocated.” He said aloud, surprised by his own honesty. He had spoken to Yoongi about the pressure he was feeling, knowing that the older man would understand, with them both being in the same industry. But for some reason, confiding his feelings to Sam felt different.

“I don’t know.” He said as he leant back, running his hand through his hair. “I should be happy that I’m getting recognition for my work, but somewhere along the line, I've forgotten why I started on this path in the first place, you know? Plus, there's so much pressure to keep on putting out new work and I just can’t seem to create anything I'm happy with.” He said, his gaze on the pile of cookies in front of them. Sam shifted her position, so that her legs were tucked underneath her. She gave him a sympathetic look, reaching over and patting his thigh. “Hwaiting.” She said in Korean, Namjoon giving her a curious smile.

“Did I say it right?” she asked with a chuckle. “Jimin and Taehyung have been teaching me Korean since I met them.” She said with a laugh before becoming serious again. “You shouldn’t push yourself too hard. You were probably able to create things easier before because you weren’t forcing it to happen. Inspiration won't come just because you want it to. If that was the case, then just anyone could be an artist. You should take this time to just chill and remember why you started on this path in the first place. Hopefully if you do that, inspiration will come to you.” She said, giving him an encouraging smile. Namjoon smiled at her, her words making a lot of sense to him. “Thanks Sam. I think I needed to hear that it was ok for me to want to take a break.” He said, flashing her a dimpled smile which made her heart race.

“Right, I need to get up early tomorrow.” She said as she stood up. “I’m gonna get some sleep. But don’t stress yourself out anymore, ok?” Namjoon nodded. “I won't.” he promised. She bid him goodnight and went into her room. Namjoon turned off the TV and grabbed his headphones before heading up to the roof. There wasn’t much up there except for a few plants and a few boxes. He found a relatively dry area to sit down and flicked through the songs on his phone until he found one to match his mood. He looked up at the star filled sky, feeling more relaxed than he had felt in a very, very long time.

The next morning Namjoon woke up after a refreshing sleep. He quickly got ready and went downstairs, noticing that Sam’s room was already empty. He waved at Taehyung, the younger boy waving back enthusiastically as he approached him for his morning coffee. “Hey Taehyung.” He greeted, the younger boy smiling brightly at him. “Morning! Same as last time?” he asked, his hand already reaching out for a mug. Namjoon nodded, impressed that he could remember his order. Taehyung refused his money, telling him that Sam had said that his morning coffee was on the house from now on because he had helped her the day before.

He spotted Sam in the kitchen, shouting through his thanks for the coffee. She came out of the kitchen, slipping on her jacket. “No problem, it’s the least I can do after you helped me out yesterday.” She said, giving him a grin. “You mean burning half your cookies?” he joked as he sipped on his coffee. “They weren’t all bad.” She said with a laugh. He noted that she was dressed to go out. “Are you going somewhere?” he asked curiously. She nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a few things I need to pick up at the supermarket.” Namjoon's ears picked up at that. Since he had become an idol it had become almost impossible for him to do simple day to day tasks like going to the supermarket.

“Do you need any help? I could go with you, you know, if you need someone to carry your bags or something?” he offered. She gave him a curious look. “Wouldn’t that be really boring for you?” she asked. He shook his head. “No, to be honest. It’s been a while since I went to a supermarket.” He confessed. She looked at him in shock, wondering just how famous he was. She chuckled, “Ok, we can go when you finish your coffee.” She said as she sat down opposite him.

Once he was finished, they said good bye to Taehyung, and gave a quick hello to Amber as she came in for the start of her shift. They made their way to the supermarket, the walk only taking around fifteen minutes. They grabbed a trolley at the entrance, Namjoon offering to push it. He was overwhelmed by the size of the supermarket. Sam tried to hold back her giggles as she watched him rush between the middle aged women who called on him to give him free samples, his face lighting up with each new thing he tried.

Once she finally managed to pull him away from the free samples, he was just as excited by the different things on sale around them. He looked like a kid that had been given free rein in a toy shop and didn’t know what to look at first. She found this childish side of him really cute. She figured that it had been a long time since he had been able to just relax and be himself. She wasn’t sure what his life was like back in Korea, but in the few, short days that she had known him, she could tell that he had become much more relaxed and carefree.

Their shopping trip took them well over an hour as Namjoon kept on wandering off by himself to look at things. Once they left, with way more bags than she had bargained on, they slowly made their way back to the café. Sam chuckled, “I can’t believe that you ended up buying more than me. Seriously, what are you going to do with all that?” she asked, looking at the bulging bags by his side. “I don’t know.” He admitted with a chuckle. “I suppose I could take some back as gifts?” he said, letting out another low chuckle. They went around to the back of the café so that Sam could put her bags into the kitchen.

She put them down with a sigh, flexing her hands to get the blood flowing into her fingers again. Amber and Taehyung’s loud whispers sounded from the front of the café. “I can’t believe he turned up here again!” Taehyung said, annoyance clear in his voice. “When is he going to realise that Sam doesn’t want to see him?” Namjoon glanced at Sam, her normal smile gone. He could tell that she was clenching her teeth, her hands were balled into fists by her side. “I know. You were right to tell him to leave. It’s good that Sam was out when he came by.” Amber said, turning to enter the kitchen, her gaze landing on an angry Sam and a confused Namjoon. “.” She breathed, Taehyung appearing at her side a second later, letting out a curse of his own.

Sam let out a deep breath, her hands unclenching. “Jason came by again, didn’t he?” she asked wearily. Amber and Taehyung exchanged looks, as if wondering whether or not to tell her. Amber gave her a nod, knowing that she must have overheard them talking. Sam sighed loudly, running her hand through her hair in frustration. “I’m sorry you guys had to deal with him. Did he cause any problems?” she asked. Both Taehyung and Amber shook their heads. “That’s good. Sorry again guys.” She said, her tone apologetic. The two of them waved off her apology, telling her not to worry about it.

They went back into the café, leaving Sam and Namjoon alone. “Who is Jason?” Namjoon asked curiously. Sam sighed, leaning back against the counter. “My ex. He shows up here every now and again.” Namjoon frowned, the thought of her being hassled by someone, especially an ex leaving a bad taste in his mouth. She noticed his serious expression and pushed herself off the counter. “Don’t worry about it. He’s harmless.” She said giving him a bright smile, but he could see the strain behind it. “I better get this stuff put away.” She said as she busied herself with putting away the things she had bought. Namjoon took his things upstairs, his mind still focused on Sam and her persistent ex.