Narrator’s POV

“Well, what lovely news…” Woohyun said with a smile, but his eyes were dead serious. “That guy had better have a west as white as snow…” He trailed of meaningfully. But then he seemed to have taken a decision and he fixated his eyes on Sungjong’s. “Listen carefully, dongsaeng,” Woohyun said in a voice that allowed for no objection. “You’ll take the next flight back to Seoul and you’ll research that guy thoroughly! I want everything from his name over his family tree and employer to his eating habits and shoe size. Understood?”

Sungjong nodded. “That’s what I would have done anyway…”

“Good.” Woohyun seemed to relax a little. “I can’t leave until this stupid campaign is over, which will not be until next week.” He sighed annoyed and rolled his eyes before his expression turned serious again. “I will come to Seoul as soon as I can. And I am expecting you to have the information ready by then.”

Sungjong showed a smile that did not reach his eyes as he answered. “No need to worry; I will have it ready. This is my speciality, after all…”

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Back in Seoul, Ha Neul was on another date with Donghae. He had picked her up in his car and now they were driving through the streets of Seoul. Though, this time, it was a little different because he stubbornly refused to tell her where they were going. No matter how many times she asked, twisted and turned her questions, he’d look onto the road and say with a mysterious smile: “You’ll see.”

In fact, Ha Neul was so focused on getting him to tell her even a small hint, she failed to notice how the neighbourhood turned more and more familiar. Only when he finally stopped the car and tilted his head towards the little café in the side alley saying “We’re here” she realised where he was actually taking her.

“Café Maman?” Ha Neul asked slowly and without looking at Donghae.

“Yes. It’s a nice little café. I’m sure you’ll like it!” Donghae answered still unaware to Ha Neul’s sudden mood change. He got out of the car, walked around its front and like a gentleman opened the door for her.

HE would never do that; opening the car door for me, Ha Neul thought to herself and sighed. If anyone were to open the door for the other, it would be her instead…

“Ha Neul?” Donghae interrupted her thoughts when she remained seated on the car seat.

Ha Neul’s head snapped up and she gave him an apologetic smile. “Ah, yes. I’m sorry!” She quickly said and got out of the car. “I was just thinking of something…”

“Oh, okay,” Donghae said and opened the door of the café for Ha Neul.

The later carefully stepped over the doorsill and took a deep breath of the calming familiar herbal scent that always filled the café. And almost naturally, her eyes then fell onto the one table where she had turned a certain jerk into an alien terrorist. Where he had told her the reason for his nightmares. Where she had learnt of the fact that he distrusted women.

Calling herself back to reality she tore her eyes from that corner and briskly walked over to the table at the complete other end of the café.

Just then the shop ahjumma came to greet the new customers that the doorbell had announced. But when she saw that these customers were none other than Ha Neul, a big smile spread across her face and she gave Ha Neul the usual big hug. “It’s good to see you, Ha Neul-ah! How are you doing?” She asked smiling.

“Yes, thank you. I’m doing fine.” Ha Neul replied and a small smile showed on her lips too.

The shop ahjumma then glanced over at Donghae. “And who might this be?”

“Oh, this is Lee Donghae, a very good friend of mine!” Ha Neul introduced him. Oddly, for a split second, Ha Neul thought she saw the shop ahjumma frown when she heard the name. But when she looked at her again it was already gone and Ha Neul wondered if she had just imagined it.

“So, what should I bring you then?” The shop ahjumma asked and looked at the two persons in front of her. “Tea? Coffee?”

Ha Neul and Donghae both picked a dessert and a beverage and the shop ahjumma went to get it right away. And loaded with all kinds of delicacies the two went back to their table.

“So, you already knew this place?” Donghae started the conversation and took a bite of his dessert. “Wow, this is delicious!” He exclaimed making Ha Neul smile a little.

“I know, right? Nothing beats Café Maman! And yep, I already knew.” She then looked at him curiously. “But how did you know of this place?”

Donghae smiled a little embarrassed. “Well, someone I know quite well recommended it to me…” He scratched his head awkwardly. Because the truth was, this morning when he had been thinking of where to take Ha Neul in the afternoon he just couldn’t think of anything anymore. During the previous days he had taken her to all the places he knew and now he had been out of ideas. So he had called his noona and had asked her whether she knew another good place to distract a girl from her worries. And she had told him about this café. But even though he called her his noona and had never considered her as anything else, she wasn’t truly his older sister. Actually, things were a little complicated what concerned her and he didn’t want to bother Ha Neul with it at the moment. Hence the simple answer.

“Eh, really?” Ha Neul said surprised. “I thought not many people knew about this Café…”

“Well, she used to work here during high school…”

“What? Seriously?” Ha Neul put her cup back down onto the saucer with a clanking sound. “Such a coincidence! I used to work here, too, you know?”

Now it was Donghae’s turn to look surprised. “You did? Well, you might know her then; her name is Kim Sae Ryung; that is, you might rather know her by her maiden name Jeong Sae Ryung…”

“Ehhh?! You know Sae Ryung unni?!” Ha Neul exclaimed excited.

“So… you really do know her?”

“Of course! She taught me so much! She and the shop ahjumma are the reason why I like this place so much! But after she got married and stopped working here, we somehow lost contact…”

“Wow, I guess it’s true that the world is a small place…” Donghae mumbled more to himself. But then he looked up to Ha Neul again. “Anyway. Would you like to meet her again? I’m sure she would gladly agree if I asked her. Ah!” He then interrupted himself and an apologetic smile showed on his face. “But she’s on vacation with her family right now… You’ll have to wait until she gets back. Do you mind?”

“Not at all! I’ll be already very happy if she even remembers me!”

“Yah, of course she’ll remember you!” Donghae chided. “How could someone not remember you?”

Ha Neul smiled embarrassed at his compliment. Here he was spending his rare break on taking her out on dates and trying to distract her. And all she did was thinking about that idiot all the time! How pathetic and rude!

Yah, Hwang Ha Neul, pull yourself together already! She then told herself silently and straightened up. “Thank you for your nice words but it’s okay now.” She said and smiled. “I have been awfully impolite for the past days; not even asking how you have been! I am very sorry about that!” And she bowed her head over the plate in front of her.

“Don’t be,” Donghae replied kindly.

“So, how’s your dad?” Ha Neul still asked and took another bite from her dessert. “I always looked for new albums of him but I never saw one… Did he quit?”

Like his son, Donghae’s father used to be a singer in his young years. And Ha Neul could still vividly remember the beautiful sound of his guitar and voice when he sang them a song in the evenings at the beach.

But Ha Neul also knew that ever since Donghae’s mother had left him, which had been even before she had first met Donghae, his father’s career had been declining. He had started drinking, it affected his performance at work, and in the end he got fired from his record label.

Donghae heaved a sigh and lowered his eyes. “Well, he didn’t quit but…”

“But?”

“But he never truly got back on his feet either…” Donghae sighed again before he continued. “He is now a music teacher at a small school in the countryside. He’s still drinking; though things got a little better ever since my mother returned back to his side but—“

“Wait, you’re mother came back?” Ha Neul interrupted him with wide eyes. “When?”

Donghae didn’t answer right away. “The spring after my father and I last came to Hyeopjae Beach…”

Jonghyun’s POV

I thought I was really going crazy.

Ever since we’d come to Japan I’d started seeing her everywhere. On the streets on the other side of the road… during rehearsals behind the curtains… at concerts and fanmeetings among the crowd… Even when it was just us members in our hotel room I felt like she’d come barging in any moment complaining about why I had deleted her favourite drama from the hard disk of the recorder again. And one wouldn’t believe it, but I even started to have hallucinations of the little monster! Whenever something moved in the corners of my eyes I would think it was that cat!

And if I closed my eyes, it was even worse. I would hear her voice; talking to the little monster in this high-pitched voice or her sarcastic tone when she commented something I did. For example, when we talked about insoles on a reality show and I lost my temper for a second I could literally hear her talking in my mind: Ah, our mighty Alien Terrorist lost to a pair of insoles! How tragic~!

But the worst was during night time. I didn’t know when or how it happened, but it turned out I could no longer fall asleep without feeling her in my arms. In the end, I had to go down to the lobby and get one of those long cushions from the couch as a substitute. And don’t even mention the nightmares! The first night was horrible!

I thought was going insane.

And I think my members were noticing it, too. Ever since that time in the foyer, they’ve started treating me like some fragile doll. They would choose very carefully what to say to me and if possible not say anything at all. I didn’t know whether Onew had told them something or whether they had gotten so scared by my expression when I went to my hotel room after calling Shin that evening. Because I was quite sure that my face must have looked murderous at that time.

Either way, they were now all doing their best to avoid me. Even the staff.

But during our second evening in Japan I had enough of it! I was on a ‘holiday’ in Japan and I wouldn’t let it be spoilt by some Ghosty and her little monster.

However, as we had the whole evening off I was secretly a little scared of the infinite possibilities this would create for those duo hallucinations to appear again and thus I decided to take some preventive measures. I called the most exclusive night club in Tokyo and using my hyung’s name and social prestige I booked us the best table.

I had expected that convincing my members to go there would be the most difficult part but surprisingly it turned out to be a piece of cake. It only took me a single sentence: “Let’s go have some fun!”

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So, here's the new chapter! XD Again, sorry for taking so long! ><

Btw, I adjusted a few sentences in the previous chapters because of the plot-revision I did. But it's not something major; just a few more hints for my future readers ^^