-

A black canvas backpack dropped on the ground with a loud thud in the staff room of the café—Eunji had just gotten there. She took out the rectangular metal box she retrieved from Inguk’s bed-side table—that was once the place where she kept her miscellaneous things in—from the bag and placed it on her lap.

Her performance would only start in an hour but she had decided to come in earlier as she had nothing to do back at home besides sleeping. (And because, ‘those college assignments can wait.’)

The edges of her lips curled up when she saw what was contained in the box. It turned out to be a watch case, bought by her younger brother Minki whom she missed the most.

When Eunji decided to move out of Busan after her high school graduation almost 4 years ago, Minki presented the small gift to her. Though, Eunji loved it so much that she never even once used it—afraid to get it scratched—and after she left, her brother was the only person back home she kept in touch with frequently. Both her parents were only occasional callers.

“How can I forget to bring you with me?” She said to the inanimate object before closing it and then putting it back into her bag, in the deepest part for maximum security.

The door to the staff room was pushed open and Eunji looked up to see Kang Minhyuk who had his drumsticks case slung over one shoulder.

“Oh, I don’t know the room is occupied,” he nonchalantly said, his eyes were everywhere around the room but her. It hadn’t even been a week since the break-up and, damn, things had changed so much that it felt like nothing actually happened.

“I was just about to leave.” Eunji stood up from the faux leather couch and took off her coat to hang it alongside those that belonged to the other staffs. She grabbed the doorknob just when the door was about to close and left the room which had just gotten colder.

-

“So how are you guys handling the situation?” Bomi asked. She was one of the pastry chefs in the café who, according to Eunji, makes the best cake in the world. (Though, actually, that was just lip-service.) And she was the only one whom Eunji felt comfortable talking personal things to.

“How?” Eunji asked back. “There’s no how.” She popped in one whole strawberry into and munched it. Eunji sneaked into their working place so often that the kitchen staff were so used to her presence as much as believing that she wasn’t even there in the first place.

Naeun then came in with an additional order from table 4. “One cheesecake and one crème brûlée,” she called out.

“You look in a hurry, Naeunie.”

Naeun heaved a sigh and then said, “It’s utterly crowded outside.” Eunji, having coming in from the back of the café building, hadn’t seen the situation in front.

“It’s Saturday,” Bomi said with a shrug as she started to work on the custardy dessert first.

“And Jihyun-eonni,” the café’s manager, “told me to tell you that you should get ready to hit the stage,” Naeun added before leaving the kitchen.

“That’s my call.” She swiftly got off the high-chair and put away the bowl of strawberries.

“Good luck out there, hun.” Bomi gave Eunji a big bear hug and patted her back gently.

“Thanks, Bbom.”

“I’m so gonna give you the ‘healing,’ tonight.”

“Ugh, I—”

“Just shut up and go,” Bomi cut her off, “Leave everyone in awe.”

Eunji’s lips formed into a curve. “I will.” She then opened the kitchen door and head to the staff room where she tidied her make-up and outfit.

She couldn’t help but sighed hard when she walked up to the side of the stage and spotted Minhyuk already behind his set. ‘Why do I even bother to care!?’ She thought to herself.

Her feet left loud thumps as she stepped on the small flight of stairs. She took in a deep breath, never even once feeling this nervous about standing on stage. ‘Don’t bother, Jeong Eunji, don’t bother.’

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” she greeted into the mic, not sounding too much of a ‘Busan Country Girl,’ anymore though the vibe will never die in her. “My voice will be accompanying you tonight so, please, enjoy . . .”

Eunji looked back to ask the guitarist, Lee Jonghyun, what song they were about to sing because she didn’t trouble herself earlier to ask—having been trying to avoid every member of the band and because it was always Minhyuk who told Eunji the song line-up.

Jonghyun momentarily looked at Minhyuk who was looking down at his sticks and then looked back at Eunji to tell her what the song was. “Okay.” Eunji had her eyes on the audience again and waited for Minhyuk’s cue.

“One, two, three, four,” he counted as he hit the sticks together. Everyone started playing their respective instruments.

Eunji let her voice escaped too, crooning the lyrics to the song. Her eyes skimmed the whole room—something she had always done every time she stood up there—as if she was making contact with her audiences.

45 minutes later, at a quarter past 10, the band was rewarded with a 30 minutes break before they have to come back on stage for another hour.

After the band dispersed from the stage, Eunji saw Minhyuk left the building from the back door so she headed back to the staff room.

“What’s going on with you and Minhyuk?” Jonghyun asked straight away when the door was shut closed by Jungshin, the bassist.

“Yeah, I noticed that you guys are a bit . . . off tonight,” Jungshin added.

Eunji let out a scoff and then threw herself onto the couch. “Well . . . we fought.”

“And then?” Jonghyun asked, keened to know more.

“You dumbwit.” Jungshin punched Jonghyun’s arm pretty hard. “You shouldn’t be asking,” he whispered directly to his friend.

“And then we broke up,” Eunji clarified.

“Whoa . . .” Jonghyun responded. “‘Never date your bandmate,’ is the only advice I could give to you right now.”

Eunji let out a little laugh. “Thanks. Your advice is very much appreciated.” Though, it was never a ‘fight’ that occurred; it was just the revelation and then the break-up.

“What happened between you both?” Jonghyun asked—only to be punched by Jungshin again. He looked to the side on prompt and cried out, “Stop it, dude!”

“Let’s just say . . . I caught him screwing this little missy in here,” Eunji said as she looked around the room. “Gosh, he probably did it on this couch.” She quickly got on her feet and went to sit on the table instead.

“Like, you caught him red-handed!?” Jonghyun jolted in his seat. “Who is the girl? Do you know her?”

Eunji chuckled because Bomi didn’t even sound this enthusiastic when she told her about it. She was only filled with rage—smashing some berries with such force that it became puree in no time.

“No, I just heard him,” Eunji replied. “It’s this girl who visits the café often. I think she’s my junior in college.”

“Dude, seriously, you shouldn’t be asking Eunji these things,” Jungshin told Jonghyun.

“When was it?” Jonghyun asked.

“Seriously? You’re like . . . ignoring me.”

“A week ago.” She looked up at the ceiling,