“Kai.”

The male approached her by a familiar smile that Ariel has seen many times. “I thought that was you. What are you doing here?”

“I’m tagging along with my brother here.” Ariel gestured her thumb to the building behind her. “You?”

“I was out for a walk.”

Ariel nodded her head as she took another sip of her smoothie. 

Kai shoved his hands into his pockets. “It’s been awhile huh?”

“Yeah, it has. How are you? I heard you’ve been going back and forth to China.”

“Yeah, it’s tiresome.” Kai glanced at the sky as he inhaled the air. “But I’m okay. I didn’t think I would see you earlier than what Sojin told me.”

“Speaking of Sojin,” Ariel gave him teasing smile. “what’s going on between you two?”

Kai cocked his head to the side. “Nothing, why?”

Some relationship yet again.

Ariel just shrugged her shoulders. “I was just curious as to why I see Sojin blushing and smiling every time she reads a message from you.” Ariel began walking backwards. “I gotta go, I’ll talk to you later!”

Ariel sighed to herself as she entered the recording studio to see Daniel mixing different sounds together. 

“Hey.” He greeted as he felt her presence next to him. “Are you ready to go back in?”

Ariel gave him a sarcastic smile. “Yes master.”

Daniel decided to ignore Ariel’s sarcasm and gave her the nod to go back into the booth. Once she did, she placed the headphones on and Daniel spoke through the speakers. 

“How are your vocal cords?” 

Ariel drank her smoothie before she replied. “I’ll be fine. You can cue the music. The high notes at the end right?”

Daniel cued the music for her headphones and observed her struggling to sing the high notes at the end. He advised her to do it again and again; it’s the tenth time already and she finally hit the notes correctly; however, it didn’t have the right feeling. 

“Ariel.”

“What?” She asked, coughing to the side on her arm. 

“You’re finally hitting the note without cracking but..”

Ariel glanced at him. “But what?”

“You’re singing like a cyborg basically.”

Ariel scoffed. “Oh gee thanks.”

“I’m serious.”

“Why didn’t you ask Sojin to do it then?” Ariel retorted. “She’s way better than me.”

“You’re both equally good. I picked you because you fit the concept of the song.” Daniel explained.

“What’s the concept?”

Daniel bit his lip as he hesitated to explain the meaning of the song. 

“Well?” Ariel dragged the word longer to get his attention. 

“It’s a song about missing people who left.”

Ariel made a face as she bobbed her head up and down, understanding the meaning of the song now. “I see why you chose me instead of Sojin.”

“Look, I’m not going to explain the-“

Ariel interrupted him mid-sentence. “You can say it.”

“But-“

“Say it.” Ariel sternly said. 

Daniel let out a sharp breath and mentally praying that Ariel wouldn’t kill him later. “I think you should sing the song, thinking about he who shall not be named.”

“You can say his name ya know.” Ariel mentioned, placing a hand on her hip. “He’s not Voldemort.”

“You miss Ch-“

Ariel held her hand up to stop him. “Actually don’t say his name. I’ll be sulking about it later tonight when I'm at Ara’s bridal party.”

“You miss him, Ariel. Stop trying to hide how you feel.”

Ariel exhaled sharply as she glanced at the digital clock. 6:34PM. “Look, I need to go.” Ar