Donghae lounged at the café in the lobby of AFF’s building. He was looking over his schedule for the following month, making sure his planner was in order and that none of the activities clashed. He was so concentrated on his own business that he didn’t even notice the hours go by. The only thing that disturbed him and made him look up was when the table slightly shook.

“Oh I’m sorry.” The woman in her late forties apologized to Donghae who seemed unaffected that she accidentally bumped into his space. “Oh young man, I remember you. You work with our daughter, right?” The woman’s statement rattled Donghae’s brain although he tried to hide it by showing a faint smile and stood up to bow. While he tried hard to identify whose mom she is, the woman already called her husband who was standing not too far to approach them.

“Hey, you’re the one who brought our _________ to the hospital, right?” Donghae finally put the pieces together with the mention of _________’s name. Now he knows why they look familiar to him. He remembers briefly seeing them when _________ got admitted after she fainted months before.

“We haven’t thanked you enough for taking care of her that time.”

Donghae shook his head and smiled sincerely to the older couple before asking them to sit down with him since it was awkward that they were still standing. The parents delightfully joined him and were able to talk affectionately and comfortably to Donghae for quite some time.

“Oh dear, we’ve taken enough of your time. You’re probably busy with your own work.” ________’s mom commented after finally noticing the papers in front of Donghae.

“It’s no problem really. It was such a pleasure to talk to both of you.” Donghae genuinely replied, he had a good time with the lovely couple and they were able to relax him from the stress he had. The talk they had did him some good.

“I think you really are a fine gentleman Donghae.” ________’s mom already opened up to him, she was already rooting and hoping for Donghae to somehow end up with _________ not knowing the circumstances.

“Continue to look after our little girl, would you?” ________’s dad extended his hand to shake Donghae’s hand.

“Yes sir.”

“Please…you can call me uncle or even abeoji since we are already at ease with one another.” The feeling was mutual because Donghae too enjoyed the time he had with them.

“Can you kindly give this to _________?” Her parents asked for a favor which he agreed to do without any question.

Nichkhun’s new solo album has already been released for a few weeks now. His new work garnered rave reviews not only from fans but also from different respected artists and magazines. Not only is he and his management happy, but the news also got __________ excited. She waited for Nichkhun to give her a copy of his CD but he asked for her to wait for a while since he wanted to give her one of the special limited releases and with a personal message that’s meant only for her eyes and that made her anticipate for it all the more.

But on the same fateful day that _________ missed out on bonding with her parents because she was not aware of their surprise visit and the fact that they forgot her and chose to converse with Donghae, _________ saw Nichkhun’s new album laying on top of one of the speakers in the practice room where she’s about to dance in. It was her first time to see it in the flesh and her hands itched the longer she started at it. She promised Nichkhun that she would wait for him to give her her own copy of the album but right now she was having a hard time fulfilling that promise.

“A little, quick sneak peek won’t hurt, right?” She couldn’t control herself anymore and got the CD and eagerly looked inside the booklet, feeling already greedy to see her name under the song that she wrote for him but to her dismay and confusion, her name was nowhere to be found. To make matters worse, Nichkhun’s name was used under that song, labeling him as the sole composer of the song that she wrote. It didn’t make sense to __________ as to how that happened and it seemed like Nichkhun had no plans in clearing things up with her.

If that truly is the case, then it would mean that she already lost two of her own precious songs…the first being the one she sang in the recording room that the producers liked yet she didn’t claim and now this.

Ironically, Nichkhun had the ‘perfect’ timing in calling her over the phone and informing her that he wanted to give _________ her own copy of his album already.

Since __________’s schedule wasn’t finished yet, she asked Nichkhun to just meet up with her inside AFF after his celebratory party for his comeback stage. Should she still give him the benefit of the doubt?

“Are you ready?” Nichkun teasingly asked _________ before he handed over the CD that was wrapped prettily with a red ribbon.

_________ could smell a faint scent of alcohol coming from Nichkhun…well it is expected to celebrate with a few drinks, right? But he still looked pretty sober so she didn’t bring it up.

_________ calmly opened the album in front of Nichkhun, her poker face slightly intimidated him since he expected her to express happiness or show enthusiasm.

“My name…it’s in here.” _________ stuttered, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing in front of her very own eyes.

“Yeah, exciting isn’t it? I told you that I’d guide you along and make your stay worth it.”

“My name is in this album.” She repeated.

“Can’t get over that fact huh?” Nichkhun grinning not knowing what was going on in her mind.

“This one album that you took so long to give me, is a special one, right?” ________ looked up from the item to meet Nichkhun’s eyes.

“Yeah, I told you I took time in writing a personal note only for you that’s why I couldn’t give it to you earlier.”

“But that’s not the only reason, is it?” She asked in a bold manner.

“What do you mean?”

“The ones you gave everyone else, the album that’s been publicly released…those aren’t ‘special enough’ because this is the only copy of the album that has my name on it, am I right?” She voiced out her theory. “It can’t be that those other thousands of copies had errors in missing out on printing my name under the song I wrote, right?” _________ did borrow other copies from her group mates, co-trainees and other staff of AFF that she passed by earlier and scanned their albums just to make sure.

“________ I can explain –” Nichkhun looked stunned, she had it all figured it out.

“Explain what?! I…I put my heart and soul into that song. I believed you, you said you’d help me yet you went behind my back to do something like this. Is that why you asked me to keep it a secret?! So that no one will know from the beginning and I have no say in it all?!”

“I didn’t betray you _________. I didn’t mean to make it look like I stole the song from you.” Nichkhun tried to defend himself.

“Then what happened?! Because right now I really feel that you used me.” She attempted to calm herself while waiting for what Nichkhun has to say.

“Uhm…this happened because of your status as a trainee. They were hesitant to put out any song that featured a trainee since they feel like it would complicate the debut process. I had to change my story, I had to change our plan. _________ I’m sorry, I really am. That really wasn’t my intention, I wanted your talent to be acknowledged. But hey, try to think of it this way, you still helped me out big time. I owe you a lot. Everyone loves your song and that’s all that matters, right? I mean, in the end when they introduce a song in the radio or on TV they still won’t mention the composer, they’ll only state the singer and the title of the song.” Nichkhun tried to brainwash __________, he was trying to manipulate her into thinking that she has only helped him immensely and nothing would have changed even if her name was in the album. Although for _______, the issue is much deeper than just her ‘greed’ to see her name.

“We can make this work _________. Let’s get past this, please?” He was able to woo her in the past, he was able to make her stay but now she has realized that he’s not consistent with his words and actions, his empty promises got to her.

“I have no way of verifying about the ‘facts’ you started with. Just know that I poured my heart out on working for that song but since I’m hearing peoples praises then I think I can try to let this problem go, but I don’t think I can trust you anymore. Your excuses ruined your apology and honestly, I’m not even sure how sincere you are. In the end you chose to hide this from me and you lied instead of trying to explain to me what truly was happening behind the scenes, I would have understood if you talked to me seriously. I won’t say anything to anyone but let’s end whatever relationship we have, whether professional or personal.” _________ was about to step away from Nichkhun but he immediately stopped her actions by grabbing both sides of her face. He trapped her against the wall and placed his lips harshly on her.

_________ widened her eyes as she realized what was happening. She tried to get away from Nichkhun by pushing him on the chest but his strength kept her in place as he continued to force himself on her, continuing to kiss her as if he was waiting and hoping she would change her mind about him.

This unexpected attitude from Nichkhun absolutely caught her off guard. Her eyes started to get filled with tears as Nichkhun attempted to pry open her lips for a French kiss while he pressed his body much closer to her.

Was this really how Nichkhun is? Or did he just snap because of her? Either way, _________ didn’t want to do anything with him anymore. If the song issue wasn’t enough, then this action definitely changed her view of him completely.

Nickhun’s body was finally detached from _________ and then he fell down the floor with a loud thump.

________ panted while she blinked her tears away but then her attention was diverted to the person suddenly near her who seemed to be breathing harder than her.

A riled up Donghae came out of nowhere and now stood there with his fists tightly closed. He watched Nichkhun curse under his breath as he recollected himself down on the floor, his hand rubbing the side of his jaw that Donghae punched with all his might. 

To be continued... ;)