"This is gonna be so fun!" Victoria exclaimed, clinging onto Minhyuk.

But Minhyuk didn't listen to her. He turned his head around. Krystal seemed to be crying in front of her uncle. Victoria, realizing this, snapped her fingers in his face.

"Hey!" she snapped. 

Minhyuk faced her, but didn't say anything.

Victoria peered over his shoulder.

"That girl?" she asked.

"What?" Minhyuk said, "Oh, no. It's just that I was wondering if she was okay."

"You like her?" Victoria asked bluntly. 

"No," Minhyuk replied, "But you know me."

She sighed.

"You get concerned over the smallest things." 

Minhyuk was the submissive type of guy. He couldn't just pass by anyone who was in need of help, regardless of the situation. 

"Don't waste yourself over unnecessary things," Victoria said, walking forward at a bit faster pace. 

Minhyuk felt offended. Being concerned over his friends...wasn't an unncessary thing to him. 

"I think," he pulled off Victoria's arm, "That it's best that we just mind our own businesses while we're here. I see you often anyway, but I hope you can respect my decision to just spend some quality time with the costaff."

"Minhyuk," Victoria begged.

"Victoria," Minhyuk said in an exhausted tone, "Why are you like this?" 

Sohee turned around when she saw that Minhyuk was missing. She turned to Donghae.

"They're back there, still," Donghae said, pointing at Minhyuk and Victoria.

"They seem to be having some serious conversation," Sohee pointed out.

"C'mon," Donghae held her hand. 

Sohee's heart skipped a beat.

"Oppa..." she said softly.

"Let's go," he smiled. 

"You don't know?" Victoria said. 

"First, it was my obligation to you as a waiter. Then, it was because of my sympathy. Next, it was my desire to be good friends, but not to the point where I have to be with you 24/7," Minhyuk explained. 

"You're not Minhyuk right now," Victoria said, trying to grab onto him again. 

Minhyuk firmly set her hands off of him.

"I don't have any obligation to serve you."

"So," Victoria asked, "Being kind to me...filling up the lonely space...was just out of your job?"

"It was out of me trying to befriend you," Minhyuk said, "But that's it."

"I don't know," Victoria sniffed, "It's just that at home...It's all about work and my future, but when I'm with you and at the cafe...I felt like just myself. I could be myself."

Minhyuk sighed.

"Hopeless," he ruffled her hair. 

"Minhyuk," Victoria touched the end of his shirt, "Will you stay with me?"

Those words. Stay with me. Those had been the words that had stayed in his mind permanently...on that day...

~Flashback~ 

"Welcome to Cafe Lulo!" Minhyuk greeted an incoming customer, but when he saw her face, he was mesmerized. 

She was so...beautiful. She carefully checked the cleaniness of a nearby table by running her index finger around the edge. Feeling satisfied, she sat down in the chair. She gazed at the empty seat across from her.

"Ah," Minhyuk thought to himself, "Must be waiting for her boyfriend."

Yet, nobody came, and that same scene, the mysterious beautiful girl sat there by herself, either gazing blankly outside the window or at the empty seat in front of her. It was that one day, the day that Minhyuk decided to sit at her table, that the bond between them was created. 

"Excuse me?" Victoria was startled when Minhyuk sat down with her.

"It felt like a waste to have someone as pretty as you just sit alone all the time," he said. 

"Heh," she scoffed, "Sorry. You're cute, but I'm not interested."

"Haha," Minhyuk laughed, "Brutal honesty."

"It's happened so many times," she sipped her cappaccino, "That's I have no care for flirty guys such as yourself. People like you are too common."

"I'm not your typical common guy," Minhyuk winked at her, "I just came because you seemed to be lonely."

"I sincerely appreciate your concern, however, I don't believe I need it," the girl rejected. 

Minhyuk snatched the book she was reading. 

"Hey!" she frowned. 

"Law?" he asked.

"Parents."

"I see," he said and tossed the book to her. 

"You're quite rude to someone you've just met," she said. 

"Alright," Minhyuk said, "Name?"

"Am I obligated to answer your question? This is intrusion of privacy."

"Fine," Minhyuk stood up, "But in case you want to request for my company, name's Minhyuk."

"Like that'll happen," she said. 

"Minhyuk!" Go Soo handed him a bill for the girl.

Minhyuk took it and stared at the bill.

"Here you go," he gently laid it on the table, "Victoria."

She glanced over at him and put her credit card into her wallet. 

"Well, Minhyuk," she got up to head towards the door, "I suppose...I'll see you tomorrow."

And just like that, the two quickly became good friends. Then, one day, as Minhyuk lay lounging in his room late at night, his phone rang. 

"Hello?"

"Minhyuk-ah..." Victoria's voice said dreamily.

"Victoria?" Minhyuk asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Apparently, I'm...not good enough," Victoria laughed. 

"Are you drunk?" Minhyuk demanded, "Victoria! We're only in high school! Where are you? Tell me right now!" 

"What are you going to do?" she cackled, "Get someone else to come here for you because you don't care about me enough? Like my parents?"

"No," Minhyuk stated sternly, "I'm going to come for you."

Minhyuk stopped at one of the most grand hotels in Seoul.

"How is she here?" he thought to himself. 

He entered the elevator, and sprinted to her room once its doors opened. 

"Victoria!" he rapped on the door, "Victoria!"

The door slowly opened, and Victoria stood before him, completely wasted. 

"Hehe," she giggled and sipped a bottle of alcohol, "Oppa came! Woo-hoo!" 

Minhyuk closed the door behind him and took the alcohol away from her. 

"Ah!" she screamed and chased after him, eventually clinging onto his leg so he couldn't move. 

"What's wrong with you!" Minhyuk demanded. 

"What's wrong with me?" Victoria laughed loudly, looking at him with her mascara-smeared eyes, "Everything! I'm stupid! Not able to fullfill my parent's expectations of the perfect daughter! I'm useless, they said! I'm useless for Yin Han!" 

Yin Han? It was one of Korea's most successful law firms. 

"Victoria," Minhyuk bent down to literally pry her off his leg, "What are you talking about? Yin Han? I thought your parents were small business owners."

"Pscht!" Victoria waved her hand, "I lied, 'cause you were gonna leave me then!" 

"Leave you?"

"Don't play stupid!" she laughed, pushing him with her hand, "I only have friends because my parents own Yin Han!" 

"Why'd you lie to me?" Minhyuk asked, "I don't care about that stuff."

"I wanted you with me," Victoria's voice started to break and her hysterical laughter turned into broken sobs, "And even if I was lying to myself, I wanted to believe...that you wanted to...be with me."

Minhyuk sighed.

"You didn't have to lie. I want to be part of your life Victoria."

"But," Victoria looked up at him, "That's what everyone says!" 

She grabbed her hair.

"Everyone's a liar! They only...they only like me because of what I have! Not who I am! I hate it! I hate it!" 

She screamed and began to pull her hair out.

"Victoria!" Minhyuk yelled and grabbed her hands.

"What!" she shrieked.

Minhyuk held her face in his hands.

"I want to be your friend. I want to be with you."

"You..." Victoria gazed at him with wide eyes, "...Want to be with...me?"

Minhyuk nodded. 

"So, don't think that I only like you because of your parents. You didn't have to lie to me."

Victoria said nothing. 

Minhyuk her hair and stood up.

"Now that you've got your answer, are you alright now?"

"If I say I am," Victoria glared at him, "You're going to leave, right?"

"I meant to my house..." Minhyuk said. 

"Ugh!" Victoria started to scream again, "Everyone leaves me!" 

She got up and ran to the kitchen and pulled out a knife. 

"You lied!" she screamed, jumping up and down, "You want to leave me! Just like my parents! They told me that if I don't become what they want, that they'll leave me!" 

"Victoria!" Minhyuk panicked, "Drop the knife."

"No!" 

"I'll stay with you," Minhyuk said. 

"Prove it!" Victoria ordered.

Minhyuk slowly walked over to one of the hotel chairs and sat down.

"I'm staying."

"That's not with me," Victoria said. 

She stomped over, with the knife which scared Minhyuk even more. Victoria, her eyes wild, sat down on the hotel bed. 

"Sleep with me."

"Victoria..." Minhyuk said uneasily.

"Ah!" she screamed at him, waving the knife.

"Okay, okay!" Minhyuk said hastily without thinking. 

His friend's life was in danger. 

He slowly sat on the bed. 

"I'm staying," he whispered to her, "With you."

Minutes of silence passed until Victoria finally laid down the knife of the floor. Suddenly, she raced into Minhyuk's arms.

"I'm so..." she sobbed, "Scared..."

How lonely she must be.

"It's okay," Minhyuk comforted her, burying his nose in her hair, "I'm here."

And thus, that's where the rumor developed. Someone had been Minhyuk and Victoria coming out of the hotel the next morning together. In actuality, yes, they had slept in the same bed, but nothing had happened. It just occurred, that at that time, Victoria needed someone to fill up the loneliness she had been hoarding inside for such a long time. 

~Present~ 

"I understand why you're like this," Minhyuk smiled at her, "But I believe you're strong enough now..."

Victoria shook her head, pleading him silently not to say it.

"...to be on your own."

And with that, Minhyuk slowly let go of her hand.