Song Joong Ki stared vacantly at the elevator buttons. It was his third day living in the apartment building and he felt lonely. He just moved to Seoul after getting a new job doing a variety show called Running Man. For the past four months he had been staying in a hotel alone, but since the show had aired and gained a huge popularity he had to move out. Fans had disturbed the hotel’s guests and he felt responsible for that. Besides, he had become a permanent member of the running man family, so there was no use of living in a hotel. He needed to stay in Seoul for at least a year or two.

Still waiting for the elevator to stop at the eighth floor, Joong Ki sighed as he took his phone out from his pocket. He stared at the phone’s date disappointedly.

Thirteenth of February. I’m going to pass this year’s valentine alone again.

He wasn’t the kind of person who’s craving for what’s called love, but as a young man, somehow a part of him wanted to feel warmth in his heart too. Lots of pretty girls wanted to go out with him, but he was too shy to ask them on a date. Sometimes he regretted being a coward but in some way he was relieved. That way he could focus on his career to be a well-known actor.

When the elevator reached the 6^th floor, the door was opened. For awhile Joong Ki couldn’t believe what he saw. The person coming in was even more surprised than he was.

“Joong Ki-ah, you live here??” A woman walked in, joining the younger man in the elevator. She seemed excited and confused at the same time.

“I just moved in. What a coincidence, noona.” Joong Ki tried to answer as calm as possible. He even added a warm smile as a polite greeting, showing her that he had a good manner.

The woman was Song Ji Hyo, his co-worker plus the only female member of Running Man. Honestly Joong Ki rarely talked to her outside filming. Well, he rarely talked to anyone. He had troubles with starting a conversation although he was a quite fun person actually.

“Well, it’s nice then. I live in the eighth floor room number 206. So if you ever need something, just knock on my door.”

“ Really? I’m in room 208. Seems like I’m going to bother you a lot since now, noona.” He smiled at her friendliness. Even the stupidest person on earth could tell that Ji Hyo said it sincerely. She had always been nice to her juniors.

“Please be my guest, Joong Ki-ah.” She let out a beautiful smile that struck Joong Ki’s nerves.

Right at that time, the elevator doors were opened again. Ji Hyo stepped out first, still bubbling something about the show.

“I’m so glad we can work together. I hope we can get along well, you know. I know you’re the youngest there, but you don’t have to be too polite in front of us.”

Joong Ki followed her walking through the long cold hallway until she stopped in front of a door on the left.  

“This is my room.” She said as she looked around and added, “Oh, that’s yours. I guess we’ll be seeing each other a lot after this.”

“Yes noona. I hope I won’t be a bother.” Joong Ki smiled again as if his lips were exclusively made to give smiles for the entire human race.

“Yah, don’t be too polite, okay? See you around.” She went into her room after giving him a pat on the shoulder.

There it was again, loneliness. Perhaps it was Joong Ki’s most loyal friend. He turned his head staring at the elevator that was left opened. For awhile he just stood still looking at it. Empty.

The entire coldness of the hallway made him shivered.

*******

Morning came faster than usual. Joong Ki could feel the warmth of the sun touching his skin. Slowly he opened his eyes, not wanting to be hurt by the bright light that slipped through his apartment window. He smiled sarcastically remembering what day it was. He pitied himself for being alone on Valentine’s Day, but there was nothing else he could do. At least he would receive boxes of chocolate from his fans.

He got off the bed and headed to the bathroom, forcing himself to take a shower early even though he had a day off. A warm bath and a cup of coffee would be nice, he thought.

Joong Ki didn’t know the area that well but he didn’t want to ask Ji Hyo where the coffee shop was. He would be a big bother to her if he asked her such an unimportant question.

 Besides, she probably isn’t a big fan of coffee. What if she hates caffeine so much? What if she’s anti-caffeine and she’s doing a campaign to stop people drinking coffee? Damn it I’m being paranoid.

Joong Ki wore his sneakers and put on a cap to hide his face. He hesitated for a moment before opening the door. There was a possibility of seeing Ji Hyo outside and that made him quite uncomfortable. Living two rooms away from a co-worker was neither a good nor a bad thing for him. However he needed to adapt to his current life and unfortunately he was known for being such a bad adaptor.

Slowly but not too obviously, Joong Ki opened his door and stick his head out to take a little peek of the hallway. No one was there so he quickly went out. If someone saw him acting like that, she/he must’ve thought he was a robber or something. Luckily he was seen by nobody accept the building’s CCTV.

He left the apartment to the north, walking by instinct. If he was lucky enough, he would find a coffee shop at least two or three kilometers from there. The further he walks the more pessimistic he got. However, the world seemed to know that he needed a help. Soon a man in suit walked pass him holding a cup of hot coffee, making Joong Ki glad knowing that he had walked to the right direction. It smelled good and it made his tummy starved. He didn’t have breakfast before he left and he didn’t eat a single thing the night before. No wonder he felt weak.

Not long after passing the man in suit, he arrived in front of a coffee shop in the corner of the street. He walked in feeling happier than ever. Finally he could consume a light dose of caffeine. Without taking any longer, he ordered a cup of coffee with a small slice of cake.

He took a seat near the window in order to see everything going on outside. The warm sun that greeted him that morning was nowhere to be found. Darker clouds started to replace the white ones, making the sky looked even darker.

“Here’s your coffee and here’s your cake, sir.” A waitress approached him with a big smile on her face.

“Thank you.” He smiled back, making the girl blushed. Perhaps the coffee shop was lack of good looking male customers.

“You spent your Valentine’s Day alone sir?” She asked innocently, trying to be friendly. Joong Ki chuckled hearing her words.

“Don’t make my day even worse, hahaha ” He said jokingly followed by the girl’s laugh. Then there was a moment of silence between the two. It was obvious that the waitress was flirting with him. She was dying to keep the conversation going.

“The weather was nice before. Now it seems like it’s going to rain soon, what a shame. I would absolutely go to the park if it was sunny.” The waitress brought up a weather topic, a standard way of continuing a boring conversation. Joong Ki was familiar with that kind of situation. Being a good looking person meant always being an object of flirting. He grew up learning how to get used to it.

“Yes, but I don’t mind if it’s raining either.” Again Joong Ki replied her smile and the girl could only giggled in excitement which was then turned into disappointment right away when her boss suddenly called her.

“Umm sorry, the park that you were talking about, where is it?” Joong Ki asked before the waitress walked away.  He suddenly thought about a nice destination to go after he finished his coffee.

*********

The park was a few blocks away from the coffee shop. He thought it would be crowded by lovers since that day was Valentine’s Day, but he was wrong. The number of people there could be counted with fingers. Perhaps the cloudy sky made people avoid outdoor activities. Lucky me, Joong Ki thought.

The park was unexpectedly beautiful. It wasn’t like the parks he usually saw in his hometown. This was big and surprisingly green, considering all the buildings surrounding it.

Joong Ki walked to the nearest gazebo, hoping nobody was there. But he was wrong, somebody had occupied it.

“Ji Hyo noona?” He stared confusedly at the person in front of him.

“Joong Ki-yah, why do we keep on meeting at random places like this?” She chuckled in disbelief as she moved aside, giving Joong Ki a place to sit next to her.

“Please don’t think I’m a stalker.” He said laughingly, sitting beside her.

“You just gave me the thought.”

“Anyway, you come here a lot, noona?”

“No actually. This is the second time I went here. I don’t go out much except to buy coffee.”

“Oh you’re a coffee lover. I just bought coffee a couple of blocks away from here.” Somehow it came across Joong Ki’s mind that perhaps the noona had gone to the same coffee shop he just went to. He wasn’t surprise though; it might be the nearest place to buy coffee from the apartment building.

“Well that’s my favorite place. It’s the only coffee shop we could reach within walking distance here.”

“Lucky I went north.” Joong Ki mumbled the sentence in relief. He couldn’t imagine what if he left the apartment the other way. Probably he would not have his coffee yet.

“Excuse me?” Ji Hyo asked him to repeat his sentence. She thought it was meant for her to hear.

“I was gambling when I left the building for coffee. I’m new in this area so I don’t know where to go.”

“You could’ve asked me you know.”

“I don’t want to bother you for simple things like that noona.” He politely chuckled, trying to make the conversation less serious since Ji Hyo seemed to take it personally.

“I’m famous for always taking care of my dongsaeng so please just ask me questions if you need to, okay Joong Ki-yah? I really don’t want to lose the title.” Ji Hyo smiled as she saw the dongsaeng nodded.

The rain that they had waited for finally fell down. People rushed to avoid the raindrops. Some leave the park and others chose to seek shelter under the trees or gazebos. Strangely no one went to the gazebo where Joong Ki and Ji Hyo were sitting at.

“Should we go back or continue our talk noona? I think we can still make it to our place without getting too wet if we go now. The rain isn’t heavy yet.” 

“We could stay a little bit longer if you want to.”

“I want to.”

He agreed to stay. It’s better than dying alone in the cold apartment, he thought. For now he only think that way, but soon he would be craving for this kind of moment with his noona, cherishing every second they’d spent together.