You hung the outfit you wore to the meeting with 0218 with a huge satisfactory smile on your face.

“Nora, your presentation… Brava!” Kyung Hwan applauded making you blush with both pride and shyness, “The 3D printing machine is such an innovative idea! Although it’s out of our budget, we’d be foolish not to get one. We’ve heard about it for action figures and other things, but never thought to use it with clothing. The fact that it’ll eliminate all material waste was on point with what we’re trying to do. We’re confident it’ll be a profitable investment. Our partners loved it. Great job! Nora!”

If you were beaming any brighter, they’ll need to wear their sunglasses and put on sunblock.

Seho patted Seunghyun on the shoulder, “TOP, you’re a lucky man. Beauty and brains! Don’t let this one go.”

You exaggeratedly wiggled your eyebrows at Seunghyun,“You hear that? Beauty AND brains!”

His laugh came out low and heavy as he slipped his hand into yours, “Not planning to.”

You let out an awkward choppy laugh, because technically you both were suppose to be breaking up soon.

“I'm going to talk to our partners about branching out to other markets. Again, great work, Nora. We’ll see you guys back home.”

You looked around the hotel room for your phone. You wanted to call Jinyoung and tell him everything that happened. You hadn’t talked to him much since you got to Paris; only a few texts here and there. You were so busy preparing for the presentation. Now that it was over, and that it ended more perfect than you had expected, you knew he was going to be so proud of you. You couldn’t wait to hear his voice. You could already hear his laugh and praises.

As soon as you spotted your phone, you heard a rhythmic knock on the door as if someone was about to bust a flow right through it.

Before you could even ask him what he wanted, Seunghyun strode through uninvited. Standing in the middle of the room, you realized that was the most normal you had ever seen him dressed. For the first time, he wasn’t dressed in any sort of designer suit, no button up, slacks, or jackets adorn with embellishments. His hair had no products in it and all he wore was a plain black zip up hoodie, denim jeans, and sneakers. Even simply dressed, he still looked gorgeous. How?

“Get ready, we’re leaving in 10 minutes.” He casually stated.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but no. I’m tired. I felt like I haven’t slept for 73 years because of the meeting.” Your shoulders drooped down when you're reminded of the exhaustion.

“Sleep later. We’re in Paris and we’re flying home tomorrow. You’re not going to waste your time sleeping.” He ordered.

“I have to be back here in a few months anyways. I’m sleeping.” You began to push him towards the door, but he did a spin back into the room, but you were too exhausted to physically fight him.

He stared at your face for a few seconds before he scanned your body up and down.

“What? Stop loo-”

“You’re decent enough. Let’s go!” He grabbed your hand and pulled you out the door.

“Wait! I don’t have anything on me!!” You tried to turn back and reached for your room.

“You’re with me. When you’re with me, you’ll never need anything.” He held your hand tighter so you had no choice but to go along.

---

You both walked through the streets of Paris and as tired as you were, you couldn’t help but be in awe of the city. It was what you had always imagined and more. Little cafes in every nook and crannies, people sat outside and chatted. The smell of freshly made bread as you passed bakeries. Your mouth watered at all the pastries on display, some looked unimaginably soft and fluffy, others looked like art that it made you question if it was even edible. Seunghyun, who had been to Paris dozens of times before, explained all places that he’d been to. The alleyway where he did his first photo shoot in Paris. Restaurants that were hyped to be one of the bests, but he didn’t think they were that great. He gave them a two star, because apparently he could. “Top-Star” he called it. Of course, it was followed with your eye rolls. He talked about the people and how they were different from the people back home. The way he talked about traveling and food reminded you of how he talked about Rap when you were kids. It was like some sort of fire that lit up his eyes and radiated out of his mouth that drew you in, like on a freezing day. It made everything he said so interesting, you felt you could’ve listened for hours without saying a single word and wouldn’t be tired of it.

“So here it is, my favorite place in all of Paris.” He walked backwards facing you with hands in his pockets watching your reaction as leaves fell gracefully around you two.

There was a beautiful melancholiness to the park, like the saddest song sung by the most broken hearted angel. There was a stone colonnade that curved right behind a weeping willow in the pond. It was chipped and broken as if it went through many violent wars to protect the weeping willow, and after all these years, it still stood strong behind it and protecting it.

Seunghyun put out his hand, “Can we? I’ve always wanted to take a walk in this park holding my girlfriend’s hand. When in Paris right?” He had a cheeky smirk.

Why not? The atmosphere was too lovely to say no and you’ve held his hands a million times before.

You took his hand as you two walked around the park taking in its lush serene garden. From his relaxed face to the fluid movements of his shoulders, which were usually stiff, he seemed so at peace there at the park. You could see why it would be his favorite.

“Are you happy?” You asked with care.

He looked down at you with slight bewilderment. No one had ever asked him that. Besides his fame and his looks, nothing’s changed. Like in school, he had no friends, and now he still had no friends. Because of his past, he was too scared to trust anyone. Even more so now that he was famous. He kept his circle small, which were mostly those he worked with, but trusted. They’ve never asked him if he was happy, because in the end, they were also looking to profit. His happiness didn’t matter. His family too, they’ve only asked if he was healthy and if he was doing well, but they’ve never asked him if he was happy, because to them, if he was healthy, he was happy. Of course, that wasn’t the case.

He turned back to the path ahead, “I’m good looking and I’m rich.” He scoffed and shrugged his shoulders as if that answered your question.

You stopped walked without letting go of his hand, making him turned back to you.

“Yeah OK, but are you happy?”

He lets go of your hand and put them back in his pockets. He walked to an empty bench nearby and sat, looking out at the park. You took a seat next to him and watched people walked by.

“Does it matter?” He said still staring straight ahead.

You snapped your head and gaped at him, “Of course it matters! What kind of question…”

“Happy or not, I’m obligated to continue being TOP. At first, of course, I wanted to do it for myself. For my own reason. I just wanted to know what it would feel like to be liked and admired by people. I just wanted a sip of that fortune and fame; not drown in it. But now, I can’t climb out even if I wanted to. There are millions of fans who love me and made me who I am today. There are people like Daesung, who work harder in the background for me so that they can put food on the table for their family and buy them nice presents. There are family members who were able to stop struggling to scrape by and could finally send their kids to better schools. I stopped thinking about if I was happy or not, because it stopped being about me a long time ago.”

“Well, what makes you happy Seunghyun?”

He squints his eyes, “Hmm… I don’t know?”

“Rapping!” You shouted and he bellowed a laugh from the depth of his throat.

“You remembered that, huh?” He said as his laugh died down.

“I’ll never forget.” You said as memories breezed through your mind.

“You know, as much as you think you’re famous, I noticed that barely anyone knows who you are here. I’m sure you can still make decent money using your name, but live somewhere else. You only have one life to live, why live it for others? I really want you to be truly happy, my friend.” You placed your hand on his shoulder.

He stayed quiet and pondered on that thought when all of a sudden your stomach began to growl.

You both looked down at your stomach and then you looked back at him with puppy dog eyes, “And if you want me to be happy… please feed me!”

“We’re talking about my happiness, no one asked about yours!” He got up and walked off without looking back.

“You jerkface!” You jumped off the bench and hopped on his back.

He held your legs securely as he started running out the park, “Let’s go!”

---

You guys finally arrived at a tiny eatery that didn't look like it was anything out of the ordinary. It looked like something you'd walk past a hundred times and still wouldn't rem