Chanyeol just wanted a quiet afternoon. He went to the cafe near his friends' condominium unit since he's been a regular there and he is also friends with the brother of the owner. He needed time off from the public for a short while so he could write songs for his group. 

 

He entered the cafe and sat at his usual seat near the back end of the cafe. People don't usually sit there since there's more space in front, that's why Chanyeol finds this seat perfect. There's only two tables there and they're not that far apart so even if someone looks for a seat at that area, they would turn back because they'd think it's already occupied by him. 

 

After settling down, he took his laptop out and tried to start working. The waitress already knows his usual order so minutes after, his coffee already arrived. 

 

He was mixing tunes and beats for a new song. He usually does this in the studio, but sometimes, just like today, he felt suffocated and just wanted a quiet day. He thought he could find more inspiration if he went out. 

 

Suddenly, a girl wearing a black shirt came up to him which startled him. He removed his earphones because the girl was saying something. He only caught the end part and deduced that she was asking something. An autograph? A Selfie? Did she recognize me even with my disguise on?

 

"Uhhh N-no", he replied to her question, unsure what the question was even about. He just answered 'No' because it's safer that way. 

 

She smiled at him which caught him off guard. What is she thinking about? Is she crazy? Is she a sasaeng fan? Is my mask not on right? Did she recognize me? What was her question earlier? 

 

A lot of thoughts was storming in his mind. 

 

"Can I sit here? There's no other vacant seats with an outlet nearby", she asked. 

 

Aahh! 

 

He just then realized what she was asking him earlier. So it was about the vacant table. I should have said yes, aargh! You dug your own grave Chanyeol-ah! I just hope she's not some crazy fan who stalked him there. 

 

He cleared his throat and just replied, "Sure!". 

 

He stood up and let the girl plug her laptop. She then settled in her seat infront of Chanyeol in her own table.

 

She smiled at him when she said thanks and that took him by surprise again. It was a genuine smile, from a stranger to a stranger, and that made Chanyeol relax. He realized then that she was not a stalker fan girl and that atleast for once after he became an artist, he could be in the company of a stranger without acting the way fans/society expect him to be. 

 

Unknowingly, he kept on glancing at her from time to time while he wrote the lyrics to the song he's composing.

 

 

 

The smile which lit my day

The smile which caught me

 

 

~~~

 

Chanyeol's ringing phone interrupted his game. He stopped working about 2 hours ago and just played Starcraft on his computer. He didn't notice the time since he usually stays at the cafe for 8 hours or so. While getting his phone from his pocket, his eyes moves towards the girl. 

 

Her eyes were closed but she was not sleeping since she's tapping her forefinger in the table. She looks like she was thinking. She then suddenly opened her eyes and turned a page from the book she was reading. 

 

Chanyeol answered the call while looking at the girl. 

 

"Hyung! Where are you?", the person on the other line asked. 

 

"I'm at Baek's noona's cafe. Why?", Chanyeol replied.

 

"Oh! I like it there too. Hyung! I'm coming over".

 

"Yah! Sehun-ah, don--", Chanyeol tried to say but it was too late, the person on the other end, Sehun, already cut the call. 

 

He was flustered. If Sehun comes, his peace would be disrupted since there is a higher chance the paparazzis or sasaeng fans could find him. 

 

Looking at his watch, he gasped, realizing it already has been four hours. 4 hours worth of silence was enough so he decided to leave and just text Sehun on the way, that he's not at the cafe anymore. 

 

He organized his things but stopped when he saw the girl. She was biting her pen and her ring on her left finger. She was busy on her book and on her laptop. Chanyeol then realized that if he himself forgot the time because he was too busy, the girl would have surely done so as well. She's been drinking unlimited coffee as shown on her teacup. Their teacups are color/design coded by the type of coffee and if it's just one order or if it's unlimited. He knows because that's what he ordered too. 

 

Chanyeol wanted to talk to her, he doesn't know why. She looked stressed yet she still has that positive aura around her. He then stood up and went to the counter. 

 

"How may I help you sir?", the bartender asked him.

 

"Can I get one banana muffin and one strawberry cheesecake please", Chanyeol replied. 

 

"Okay sir, anything else?", the bartender then punched his order in their monitor.

"No, thank you", he said while handing her his payment. 

 

"Can you please give the strawberry cheesecake to the girl on the next table. Don't tell her it's from me, though", chanyeol continued. 

 

The bartender gave Chanyeol's money back to him.

 

"Sure sir, I won't tell her it's from you. Sir, you don't have to pay. As usual, it's on the house. Unnie strictly instructed us not to receive anything from you"  Lisa, the bartender replied.

 

"Oh, okay", he replied, smiling awkwardly at her. 

 

He returned to his table and just waited for Sehun. He wants to make sure that the girl in the next table would get the cake he ordered, sasaeng fans be damned. 

 

After a while, Lisa approached their table carrying his order. She placed his banana muffin on his table and then turned to the girl.

 

"Ma'am here's your 4th cup of coffee and strawberry cheesecake. Enjoy!"

 

The girl looked lost and confused. She asked Lisa who ordered the cake, saying she didn't order any. Chanyeol looked at his phone to not make it obvious that he's listening.

 

"Oh no maam. It's for you and you don't have to worry because someone already paid for it", the waitress said. 

 

"What?", she asked, shocked. "Wha-wh-who", she stuttered. She looked around the cafe and then she stared at Chanyeol. 

 

"He doesn't want to let you know who he is. He just said that you've been working 4 hours nonstop and you could use some food.", the waitress replied.

 

Chanyeol nearly choked on his drink when he felt that she was staring at him. He hastily placed his phone in his ear and pretended to talk to someone. 

 

She gave up looking for the person who gave her the cheesecake. Chanyeol sighed and composed a text to Sehun. 

 

"Yah! Don't come anymore. I'm leaving. Going to Baek's place, seeyah!"

 

He barely got to type 'don't' when suddenly a hord of girls approached him. He saw the girl in the other table jump up in surprise. 

 

He couldn't really hear what the girls were asking him. One thing for sure, he's screwed. He's alone time and one of his favorite hang out place just got  busted by fans. 

 

He's really grateful for the support the fans give the members but sometimes he just feels so stuffed and choked. Sometimes, like this time, it feels suffocating that he can't even have a private time for himself. 

 

He looked at the girl in the next table when she gasped when one of the fangirls bumped on Lisa, causing her to spill the water on her front. He had the urge to call out the bad behavior of the fans and force them to apologize to the girl. 

 

The girl then smiled at him before going to the washroom. 

 

That smile again. 

 

"Hi! Okay i'll sign but could you please lower down your voices, we don't want to disturb the others, do we?", Chanyeol told the girls, trying to sound as polite as possible. 

 

A minute after, he saw Sehun entering the cafe and walking towards him behind the hord of girls. This is a chance for me. If Sehun could get their attention, I could slip out of the cafe through the backdoor. Mianhae, uri maknae.

 

He raised his hand and waived at him. This caught the girls' attention and they looked towards Sehun. 

 

Sehun's eyes bulged a little but stopped himself from showing more panic. He did not expect that he'd meet a lot of fans here. He thought the cafe was secure since it's his hyung's noona's cafe. Little did he know, the fans were very resourceful. He smiled and braced himself from the impact that the coming girls would cause. 

 

It was then that Chanyeol saw the girl coming out of the washroom. It was too late to stop the girls from going towards her direction. She was between Sehun and the girls. 

 

Her eyes widened and she mouthed something, a curse perhaps, which would make Chanyeol laugh if not for the obvious panic in her eyes. The girls ran past her and knocked her down. He saw Sehun just behind her who moved on reflex to save her. 

 

As the girls ran towards Sehun, he saw a girl just going out of the washroom. She'd be ran over, he thought. The girls bumped into her causing her to lose her balance. Before she could fall further, Sehun caught her back and pushed her back up, before he was swarmed by the fangirls. The panic in Sehun's eyes was obvious to people who knows him well, but for the others, he just looked indifferent.

 

Sehun walked past her after saving her and settled at the seat infront of me. The loud girls followed him. 

 

"Hyung!", he widened his eyes at and mouthed "Eottehkke?!". He smiled at the fan girls and accomodated their selfie requests despite his discomfort. 

 

After about 5 minutes of autograph signing and selfie requests with the girls who seemed to increase every second, the staff of the cafe were able to shoo them away. Chanyeol hoped that they won't think of coming back to the cafe since it's one of the few places in Seoul he feels most comfortable at. He saw the girl get her things and tried to catch her eye to officially apologize. Too bad, she was too agitated to care. She took her things and left without sparing a glance at any of them. 

 

"Hyung! Did you hear? The hyungs now have a new neighbor. Apparently the couple who lived in their floor before rented their unit to a student. Let's just hope it's not some mega crazy stalker fan." 

 

Dang! I thought those girls won't stop till they eat us. Mianhae hyung! One of your hideouts has been compromised. I hope they won't follow us to Baek hyung's place later. The hyungs will kill us, no not us, me. The hyungs will blame everything on me and then kill me. Nope, they'd probably write a diss track first especially Tao and then they'd kill me. Ooow but before that they'd make me listen to it just for the torture. No, it won't be an easy death, it would be painful and drag on for days. Maybe they'd starve me. Maybe you'll join them in torturing me. Hyung?! Hyung??!! Are you listening?". Sehun snapped his fingers in front of Chanyeol, who seemed to have a faraway look, to get his attention.

 

Sehun's voice faded into the background as Chanyeol thought of the girl and how sorry he was. If they ever meet again, he plans to treat her again. Anonymously, of course. He still doesn't know who the girl is, maybe the girl would turn out to be a psycho so better keep a little distance especially if it would bring harm to the group. But the fact that she was disadvantaged because of him does not change. Therefore, he owes her. Sehun's finger-snapping woke him from his thoughts. 

 

"Hyung are you listening?", Sehun asked for the nth time.

 

"Yeah! Of course!", Chanyeol replied. 

 

"Hyung! We better be careful in going to Baek hyung's place from now on.", Sehun said. He gestured for Lisa to take his order. 

 

Chanyeol signalled Lisa not to come. "Let's go maknae! Let's go to Baek's place and ruin their lives", Chanyeol said ,laughing and pulling Sehun from his seat to stand up.

 

"Ahh Hyung! I want to eat. Just one slice of cake. Ah Hyung! Stop! Stop!", Sehun replied, struggling from Chanyeol's grip. 

 

"Let's eat at Baek's place. C'mon!". He bowed at Lisa and at the other friendly staff. Sehun followed suit. 

 

"Thank you sirs!", the staff greeted in a chorus. 

 

~~~~