Mino probably shouldn’t be surprised to see her, but yet he is.

Lee Hayi sits cross legged, comfortably just a few feet before him. Her hair is caught in a messy nest of a bun, hanging onto dear life as it is contained in a faded snapback. She’s just an ordinary girl and yet Mino finds the whole situation hard to approach. He stands still by the entrance, eyes fluttering side to side as if in search for some kind of help. In a daze, his feet fail to make a move.

She doesn’t notice his appearance. With her back facing him, all her attention is set on only one thing. The blank canvas before her and the small of lines from the marker she gently holds in between her fingers is all that she knows of. But the sudden creak of the wooden floors finally cause her to spin around.

Hayi’s eyes fixate at the boy. He has a face full of confusion painted on.

Mino’s eyes become enlarged, as if guilty from committing a crime...as if he had spoiled some sort of secrecy by disrupting whatever it was that the girl was doing. As if him being there at the moment alone with her was something that should be avoided.

The stillness in atmosphere is unbearable.

“U-Uhm, hey…” It was the best greeting that he could think of at the top of his head.

He was never really that close to the girl in comparison to his other members. So the whole ordeal of seeing her with no one else in sight, came off as a slight thought to worry about.

Mino’s personality is like an open book, what you see was just about what you got. With Hayi being one that alludes a chicness second to none, the duo was an odd sight to see.

“Hello,” was her simple answer. She took a quick glance at him, from top to bottom before slowly readjusting her stance back to her artwork.

Mino was really contemplating whether or not to just turn around and pretend that the whole encounter was just a figment of an imagination. It was strange...did she not want him there? Was her lack of friendliness perhaps her way of passively wanting him gone? Was he just not picking up on the clue?

“Oh Hyuk oppa’s not here…”

“Bwoh?”

“That’s the reason why you’re stopping by correct?”

Mino could just picture her eyes rolling, possibly thinking that he’s such a nuisance or something along those lines.

“Are you okay?” Hayi catches the boy in a stupor, lost deep in his own thoughts. She usually wouldn’t mind it, but it’s making her somewhat uncomfortable...with him standing so motionless.

“I’m good.” There’s an obvious awkwardness to the way he answers that’s impossible to hide. But at least the conversations are starting to flow. Kind of…

There’s still a slither of thought in the back of his mind that’s tempting him to retrieve his footsteps and walk out that door. But Mino decides instead to stand his ground.

“How about Epik High hyungs?”

“Not here.” Short, simple, straightforward answers.

“So it’s just you here?”

“And apparently you…”

“You lonely…?” Mino was prying. He knew he was pushing buttons that probably shouldn’t be pushed, but a part of him knowing that the girl was spending a perfectly good saturday night cooped up in a barely lit office, churned his insides.

“What if I said I was? What differenc