A/N: yoooo I lost my flash drive with all my completed chapters and originally, I wanted to write new chapters and post them but I decided against that because too many details would be lost fjdksjf anyways, long story short I finally found it (x. so as compensation (and as an apology), I'll be posting a chapter daily until Saturday, so we'll be caught up (: ANYWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN SUPPORTING THIS! I LOVE YOU <333

~~~

She sighed as she sunk into the seat of the van. She hated when her schedules were busy. Her day had been full of modeling, small interviews, and signing new contracts with different companies for more acting and modeling opportunities. Krystal had felt completely exhausted by the time her manager spoke to her about a company, whose name she had forgotten, who wanted her to endorse their facial creams. It was the last thing she had to do for the day until she could finally relax.

As the car drove towards her apartment, she gazed out the window. She watched the city pass by in a blur as she thought about what her program for tomorrow. Thankfully, because of the Valentine’s concert, her schedule would be slightly less hectic due to her having to practice so much and to her, practicing was not a problem. She enjoyed spending time in the studio and on the stage. Wherever, really, she could sing or be around music. That was the upside of her busy life: the music. There were times, however, where everything was too much. Talking to people, faking smiles, acting professionally around ridiculous people, everything. She needed more times like this when she would do nothing but music. To her, it was her safe haven, her refuge from all of her hectic activities.

As she was deep in her thoughts, she nearly failed to notice her favorite café pass by. Truthfully, she knew she should rather go home and go to sleep immediately, but her stomach rumbled at the thought of a slice of the owner’s soft pound cake accompanied with a hot and creamy cappuccino.

No. She would go home and she would sleep. There was no need to eat all that sugar at night. She shivered at the thought of what type of exercises she would have to do to get rid of all the sugar. She already hated core exercises and the simple idea of having to do more than the bare minimum to maintain her figure motivated her to push the tempting thought of food out of her head.

Krystal shook her head, determined. She would NOT go to the café.

~~~

Krystal silently cursed at herself as she took another bite of the lemon pound cake. Her left hand was circled around the warm cup that held her caramel cappuccino. Her right hand pulled a silver fork out of and used the utensil to cut into the cake once again. The warmth from the liquid traveled through the cup and into her cold hand.

The café was quiet. It made sense; there were only two other people in the café, and both of them were deep in their laptops and even deeper in their coffee intake. They were most likely finishing an assignment before an upcoming deadline.

As Krystal mulled over her regret over coming to the café, she smiled despite herself. She liked the quiet place. She almost always came here at night, though never this late at night: she was usually in her apartment eating a salad. During nighttime, it was less crowded and much more serene. The interior had a modern theme, which made it easy on the eyes, and the owner constantly played songs of varying genres. Sometimes it would be rock, sometimes jazz, sometimes pop, but it never once felt out of place in the café. The owner and his wife held bright smiles when receiving orders and their employees always seemed genuine.

The overall calm atmosphere was a favorite to not only locals but to idols alike. It would not be a surprise to find a famous actor having a quick cup of tea or a dancer enjoying her buttered toast. To add to this, the owners had one strict, but unspoken rule: keep the peace. With that said, paparazzi and eager fans usually did not enter the café to bother idols. It was a weird phenomenon, but everyone in the area knew the café and respected its calm environment enough not to harass its customers.

Before Krystal took another sip of her drink, a couple walked in. They were young and obviously excited about them being there. Krystal would have smiled and gone back to her drink, but she saw something unusual about them.

Both of them wore a cap and a mask. It was obvious they were hiding their identity, especially the woman, who had a scarf wrapped around her neck.

Krystal shook her head and looked back down at her illegal meal. They couldn’t be idols. Wearing a mask in the café would be unnecessary seeing as no one could bother them here. Maybe they were just a high-school couple that wasn’t allowed to be together. She took her sip of the cappuccino and looked out of the window near her, but could not shake the feeling of knowing the eyes of the male.

~~~

Several moments later, Krystal had finished every crumb of her cake and every drop of her cappuccino. She had handed her cup, plate, and fork to the dishwasher and thanked both of the owners as well as her server for the meal. As she walked out, she glanced around the café.

One of the customers had fallen asleep on her laptop and a waitress was on her way to wake her up. Another was finishing his coffee with a yawn before typing quickly on his laptop. The couple from earlier were talking quietly, both had what seemed to be lattes with designs on them. Krystal was too far away to distinguish what they were.

Despite the fact that the couple had both taken off their masks, Krystal could only see the woman’s face as the man was facing the window. Krystal raised her eyebrows in surprise. It was Taeyeon. Krystal wondered who she was on a date with as she walked out of the door. Immediately, by the sight of her, her driver started the car and stopped playing a game on his phone. As Krystal walked towards the car and opened the door, she glanced back to the café in hopes of catching sight of the man Taeyeon was with.

Krystal stopped midway into the car and stared. No wonder he had looked familiar. It was Aj.

She thought back to the day of the tour. Was it Aj she saw talking to Taeyeon that day? It would explain her blushing. Krystal smiled, happy for the couple, but before she entered the car, the blonde cracked a smile. It reminded her of his cute smile from when he had hurt his fingers. She had not noticed it at the time, but now, looking at him through the window, she noticed how alluring and pure his smile was. For some reason, it warmed her heart as she watched him smile happily.

At the same time, she wished he was smiling at her. Or at least to have someone smile at her like that. She shook her head and frowned. She had no time for dating. She fully entered the car and waited for her chauffeur to start driving.

Once more, she cast a look towards the couple and to Aj’s smile. Her heart ached as the car headed towards her cold and empty apartment.