Chapter 3

The Stuff of Dream(Nightmare)s

A week later:

Shin Mi dragged her feet along as she walked down a quiet street in the early hours of the morning. Despite the onset of spring, the cold remnants of winter still made itself known. However, as time passed and morning turned to noon, the temperature would rise. This meant, shedding your warm clothes that were once worn to keep warm. It was extremely irksome to Shin Mi for she is known to leave most of sweaters in cafes or her workplace or park benches where they would be lost forever.

“Can someone please reiterate why we are out of the house at 6:30 in the morning?!” she huffed like a child as she slung her bag over shoulder, narrowly missing Su Hyeon’s face.

“We didn’t get time to prep for today last night so I have to do my part of the prep. Hee Na stayed up most of the night to complete what she could. Oh, my poor baby!” Sa Ra placed her hands over her heart and pouted.

“Poor baby, my-,” the honk of a truck made her jump, cutting her off. Huffing, she continued, “I bet she loved the isolation… especially staying up till 3 in the morning. That woman’s a vampire, I tell you.”

They walked in silence for a few seconds before Shin Mi spoke up once, “It’s unfair, though, you dragging us with you. I mean, look at Su Hyeon! She looks like a zombie!” she pointed to the tall female next her. Su Hyeon was gazing lifelessly at the sparse traffic of the street they were walking along. Shin Mi had linked her arm with the other female to make sure she doesn’t wander away and get lost. In addition to looking like the undead, she was dressed in a black hoodie and equally dark jeans. Her hoodie was pulled up and concealed half her face. Needless to say, she traumatized a few kids.

Sa Ra suddenly whirled around making the other jump and stop in her tracks. Su Hyeon kept walking mindlessly until she was pulled by the shorter female. Sa Ra cocked her hips and placed her hands on her waist and narrowing her eyes, she said, “Is it? Tell me, who were the ones who pulled us into a week long debate about what we saw that night was real or not? Was it not you two?”

“Oh, come on! Don’t you wish it were real? Don’t you want to see your Taekwoonie oppa face to face?” Shin Mi stomped her foot and changed her voice in a more child-like manner when she mentioned the main vocal.

“Well, of course I would but that doesn’t mean that I’m willing to accept whatever crazy thing that happens! I mean, can you even explain what happened that night?” Shin Mi opened to reply but was cut off by Sa Ra, “And don’t tell me you believe what hallucination Hongbin said. Ah, I can’t even believe I said that.” She pinched the bridge and heaved a sigh. “Look, I’m not going to waste my time talking about this again. I have work to do and you need breakfast.”

And with that Sa Ra turned around and resumed walking, her walk had a bit of sass to it. Disgruntled, Shin Mi followed her pulling Su Hyeon along.

For the four friends, anything and everything was always like this. Two would agree while the other two disagreed. Otherwise, they stood alone with their own opinions refusing to budge (save Shin Mi who always found herself siding with one whose ideas and opinions made the most sense to her), until one of them could convince the rest otherwise.

They also stood divided in the way they dressed, Shin Mi had once noticed. She dressed in colours and designs that emphasized her babyish features for she knew that was how the world saw her and dressing otherwise would be foolish.

Sa Ra was the same. She dressed in pastels and whites accompanied by light jewellery. Today, she wore a light blue summer dress that ended just above her knees. “I like the way it flutters around my legs,” she had said when she bought it. She also made a point to regularly streak her hair, change the colour as she pleased. Maybe it was her way of showing the world she wasn’t all that innocent as her name would suggest.

Su Hyeon on the other hand dressed for comfort. She was a complete tomboy but under that tough exterior she still had a woman’s heart. Sa Ra had pointed out to Shin Mi whenever she caught Su Hyeon (not so) discreetly inspecting dresses and pretty lingerie. Shin Mi spared a glance at her zombie-like friend. We need to hurry up and get her a cup of coffee…

And then there was Hee Na. One day she would wear baggy clothes, the next she would don something that hug her body resulting in horrified stares from the neighbourhood ahjummas and many a nosebleeds from men (she always seemed oblivious to them). Sometimes she would be a burst of colours, other times it would just be blacks, whites and grays.

In the three years Shin Mi had known Hee Na, she knew better not to try and figure the daydreaming vampire’s cognitive processes. Most of the time, it would leave you frustrated or just plain confused. It was like her friend went out of her way to do things that people wouldn’t think of her to do. It was equally frustrating when she would answer questions with “I don’t care” and “I just feel like it.”

Shin Mi never considered herself a curious person. Self-aware, maybe but curiosity was just too much trouble. However, she found herself wondering if this is how Hee Na was going to her life; full of disinterest and nonchalance. Sure, she would take and expressed her interest and joy in many things, one of them being VIXX and sometimes react to event like a normal person would, but it always seemed that there was some degree of emotionlessness to her personality.

Perhaps she was just a bit too rational. Or was it that she was trying to hide something?

Suddenly, she was yanked back making her head snap up. She was so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t realized where she was going and almost rammed into Sa Ra when the latter halted. They were standing in front the glass door that opened into Madeleine, the bistro Sa Ra and Hee Na co-owned.

Sa Ra fished out the keys and inserted them into the key hole. “Okay, get in so I can fix you breakfast and give Altair Ibn-La’Ahad here her coffee before she curls on the sidewalk and goes back to sleep.”

And with that, she swung the door open and stepped in, her brown ankle length boots clicking on the wooden floorboards.

x--------x

Leader Cha was burning. Not literally. If he were to be burning literally, he would never be able to live down the fresh bouts of insults his little brothers would throw at him after getting a look at his crispy, charry skin.

Leader Cha was in fact burning with determination and excitement.

N wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge and definitely wasn’t one to break a promise, no matter that it was acknowledged by just one side. Hence, Cha ‘N’ Hakyeon would see to it that he fulfilled his promise using any method possible.

Even if it meant breaking into the other party’s workplace to “surprise” them.

“Whoa! This place is so pretty!” N’s baby mangnae gasped as he spun around the room with his arms spread out and his head turned to the ceiling. He had just managed to escape N’s omma hug and “gross” aegyo with a few neck slices and a whole lot of complaining.

Hyuk pirouetted ungracefully a few times before moonwalking and ended with a toe-stand. He rocked back onto the soles of his feet and flashed a silly grin at his hyungs. The mangnae was feeling especially excited this morning. Ever since that night, N’s two youngest expressed significant interest in meeting the four women whose names N had already forgotten and had to be repeatedly reminded of by the mangnae. It had taken by him surprise, though. The fact that Hongbin and Hyuk would be so interest by people who were not famous was something very unlike them. Forming relationships with normal folk was more often than not a hindrance if not, completely useless. Useless as they were too busy to keep the friendship going and the relationship would just disintegrate into nothingness. 

N’s heart swelled as he watched his youngest fool around in the small bistro. His face broke into a smile and he was about to choke the baby giant into another hug when he realized how close the boy was to Hongbin. The leader froze in his spot and shrank back in his seat under the icy glare of the visual. Hyuk, noticing this, inched close to his hyung with an elated grin having finally found something to ward off the overbearing leader.

Frankly, N was surprised that the dimpled 23 year old could hold his posture and facial muscles so exquisitely for such a long stretch of time. They had been her for over quarter of an hour and N hadn’t seen the younger one move from his position once he had assumed it. He sat motionless, sent death glares at the leader, his shoulder rhythmically moving, a sign that he was still alive. He looked a piece of artwork but one that would induce nightmares instead of awe from those who laid eyes on it.

If only he had fed his dongsaengs before arriving to fulfil his selfish promise…

Gathering all his courage (which wasn’t much, considering that he got scared of almost anything), Hakyeon stood from the booth and walked towards the three sided counter purposely assuming a calm demeanour and looked around.

 A few feet away was the open kitchen. The customers could see their food being made as they waited. Jutting out of one wall was a huge wash basin, clean and gleaming. Both the kitchen counter, the stoves, the selves above and the sink were made of stainless steel and were kept in their best condition. Leaning against the opposite wall was a self of kitchen utensils; measuring cups, whisks, spatulas and what not. On the back wall was a steel door which was locked (Ravi had tried to open it in some shameless attempt to steal food). It was probably the pantry, N had concluded.

The bar counter was in the shape of a square bracket. The counter top was made of black marble, sitting atop a wall of dark wooden planks. The counter came up to N’s chest. Accompanying the counter were long legged chairs made of polished creamy wood.

The counter was bare except for a cash register on one end and a coffee machine next to it being worked by Leo. The man needed his coffee and etiquette wasn’t going to provide him with the caffeine he so desperately needed. The other left him to himself after he almost killed his fellow main vocal for trying to get him away from the coffee machine. Under the counter’s right and left extensions, N could see selves that contained cups and glasses of varying sizes.  

The entire bistro itself was built in the shape of a square bracket. When one entered the bistro, he would notice two seater table to his right; for couples to enjoy their privacy. In front of him would be the bar counter, facing four and six and more two seater booth placed against a transparent glass wall. Walking towards the opposite end, towards the right would be a couple more four and two seater booths. Towards the end were the restrooms and the supply closet. The chairs were creamy wooden and the tables, glass and steel.

“WHAT IS THIS?!”

N suddenly jumped and his snapped to the direction of the noise. Beyond the bar, standing next to steel kitchen island were Ken and Ravi. Ravi kept his head down, embarrassed or trying not to laugh N did not know, while Ken waved a rubber spatula at him, partially preoccupied by the way it flailed around at the slight agitation.

“I SAID, WHAT IS THIS, KIM RAVI-SSHI?!” Ken screamed at the rapper in an annoyingly high octave, purposely cracking his voice. His words were laced with a horrible American accent and N was torn between laughing at the deliberately horrible acting or jumping over the counter and smashing a latte cup over the vocalist’s fluffy brown head.

“What are they doing?” he turned to Hyuk who was in laughing fits watching his hyungs fool around. That boy really laughs at everything…

“Ken hyung is playing Gordon Ramsey and Ravi is the ‘victim’.”

N pulled his stank face and went back to watching his dongsaengs fool around. He sure was getting more and more assured that Ken was missing more than just a few screws in his head.

“YOU RUBBED SO MUCH TURMERIC ON THAT CHICKEN , ITS CLAIMING TO BE ONE OF THE SIMPSONS! WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT?!” Ken pointed to the kitchen island where the non-existent chicken was supposedly kept. From N’s seat, he could see Ravi unsuccessfully stifle a laugh which in turn urged Ken to break out in a grin before regaining his façade of mock anger.

“I’m… sorry, uh, chef,” Ravi spat out in midst of trying to control his laughter.

“OH, YEAH?! AND WHAT ABOUT THIS SOUP?! IT’S SO HOT THAT THE TERMINATOR IS DESTROYING ITSELF IN IT WHILST GIVING A THUMBS UP! YOU UNDERSTAND TUHMBS UP, CHEF WONSHIK?!” Ken continued screeching like a pterodactyl and jabbed his thumbs right under Ravi’s nose. The rapper burst into fits of laughter and collapsed onto the floor, clutching his stomach. Ken followed suit soon after before regaining composure.

Figuring that it was going to take a lot more time for Ravi to regain his composure, considering that he was the worst at acting, Ken decided to put up a one man show.

He took a step to the right, morphed his voice into that of an ahjumma and crooned at the fallen rapper, “This won’t do, young man! Stand up and face Kendon Ramsey!” Then he stepped back into his previous position, turned towards where he was a moment and nodded sternly, his face serious and eyebrows furrowed into a scowl.

Quickly, he assumed his Kenjumma role again and began gushing, “Omo! So handsome! What do I do?!” He repeatedly stole glances at where ‘Kendon Ramsey’ once stood and turned away, embarrassed whilst balling his fist and nudging the air shyly.

He’s doing dual roles now? Despite Ken’s over the top antics, N found himself enjoying and laughing along with the mangnae at the ridiculous act unfolding. He was always reminded of other times where the cute vocalist lifted his spirits and was truly thankful that Ken had been chosen to be part of VIXX instead of going solo to becoming a ballad singer as he had originally planned, however selfish it sounded. In Ken, he had found an invaluable friend to whom he could confide in his darkest fears.

Finally, Ravi stood up and even before he could respond, Ken smacked two tissue paper wrapped hands on his cheek, brought him close and whispered, “What are you?”

Ravi just stared at him dumbly. Ken whispered something in his ear which made him giggle like a schoolgirl. Pulling away, Ken repeated, this time in the initial annoying screech, “I SAID WHAT ARE YOU?!”

With shaking shoulders and flaring nostrils, signs that he was, for the millionth time controlling his laughter, Ravi said, “An idiot sandwich…” Not a moment after the words left his mouth, the younger’s eyes bulged and he grabbed the other’s hands and pulling him closer (as if they weren’t close enough) and gasped, “Hyung! SandVixx! We are sandVixx!”

And with that the two of them threw themselves on the floor and howled gleefully, repeating the word over and over again. The two got up and decided to share their genius with the other members.

Hyuk, as usual, responded supportively, laughing and squealing like a child along with his hyungs and making small jokes of his own. They moved to Hongbin next but the visual was both too angry and too starved to care and so the nicest thing he could do given his condition was turn them away with a feral growl and a sneer. Undeterred (although mildly terrified), they moved onto the latte fairy. When present with the joke, he simply stared at the two blankly before thrashing Ken and pushing Ravi expectant face rudely away before getting back to his coffee.

Upon reaching N, Ravi walked away claiming that the leader was too old to understand such new age humour to which he heard an earful of nagging and a dozen neck chops. The rapper went to sit next to the almost dead visual and began snapping pictures with him with the intention of posting it on every social networking website he had access to along with tag lines mocking his friend.

“Ah, Leo hyung! You’re so mean! How can you ever hit anybody as cute as me?” Ken complained with a pout as he slid into a chair next to the leader, rubbing his neck and shoulder. N patted the younger man’s fluffy head sympathetically.

“It’s okay. We all know he acts so violent because he doesn’t know how to properly react to the things you do. Our Taekwoonie is cute like that. Right?” N turned to the stoic vocal with a sweet smile and Ken leaned to the side to get a look of the Leo and batted his eyelashes cutely.

Unfortunately, they were with the usual silence.

N once again pulled his stank face before turning towards the younger vocal with a scowl and smacked him in the arm. “Yah! Do something about those three! They’ve been mean to me ever since they woke up this morning!” He crossed his arms and pouted childishly.

“First, stop hitting me! I’m human too, you know! Second, they were woken by you bouncing all over their tired bodies, you didn’t bother feeding them. AND!” Ken pointed a finger to the ceiling and paused dramatically before continuing, “You brought them to one place that is the worst, considering their starved state; a closed bistro. If you ask me, their anger towards to you is completely justified.” He finished with a decisive nod.

“But… but you and Leo are fine!” N whined, bouncing up and down in his seat.

“Well, Leo hyung is fine now because he made himself a latte. And I had some bread and chocolates in my bag so…”

“Why didn’t you share it with them?!”

“But… they were mine…” Ken responded slowly with a blank expression.

N let out a whine to which Hongbin responded with a string of curses that could have brought N omma to tears if he wasn’t busy ignoring the visual. Kongbin, having spent all his energy, dropped his head on the counter with a loud thump and went back to being dead. Hyuk and Ravi exchanged shocked looks before shrugging and went back to their selfie spree with the visual chocolate brown head between their cute faces.

The group descended into silence save for the occasional sound of the camera shutter. Ken had pulled out his iPod to either doodle on his drawing app or to watch anime. Leo, having finished his coffee, plugged in earphones and was listening to songs, humming softly to whatever tune was playing.

N unconsciously chewed his lip. The silence was not nice as it was giving way to nagging thoughts that gnawed at his brain, stressing him out. He began second guessing everything. His decision to come here. If such a degree of recklessness would really pay off. He still wasn’t entirely sure why he was so bent on meeting these girls. Given what they were other than idols, the fact that two of those girls dismissed it as a dream was as ideal as accidental meetings could get. As much as he loved his fans, he never fancied forming close, intimate relations with any of them. The chances of it ending horribly for both parties were too high.

He began second guessing his calibre as a leader. If this, whatever this was, was all for naught, then what does that make him? How selfish and incompetent of leader would that make him? A cold chill ran down his spine as he pictures the members’ reaction. He glanced at the mangnae line snickering and giggling to each other. He definitely didn’t want to be hated by any of them. He held them close to his heart, no matter how insolent they occasionally acted. He didn’t want to be hated. He didn’t want to be left alone. He didn’t want to be abandoned.

N screwed his eyes shut in an attempt to rid himself of such thoughts when he was distracted by the sound of a camera shutter. Opening his eyes, he saw Ken looking at his iPod in satisfaction. He turned the screen to the leader to show him the picture and said, “I’m gonna caption this ‘Leader Cha meets lemon! >.< ~~!’ because you look like this,” Ken clenched his eyes shut, puckered his lips and shook his head cutely.

“Ken-ah, what I am doing, is it really the right thing?” N sighed and looked to Ken, sincerely hoping that the younger would be able ease his worries. Ken simply tilted his head to the side, urging him to continue and so he did, “I just can’t help but think that this may be all for nothing. And when I think about that, I know for sure that I’m going to be hated by the others and I absolutely cannot bear the thought of it! It’s just that everyone seem to be drifting away from me and then the next time we are together it feels like we don’t know each other anymore. I thought doing this would be a start of getting to know each other again but I’m not so sure anymore.”

He glanced at Ken expectantly only to find the vocalist scrolling through his photo gallery. Upset, he opened his mouth to reprimand the other but was instead cut off, “You see, hyung, the way you do things is bit too… you know. If want the group to know how you feel, you have to use your words. Not force, but simply words. I get it that you do things the way you do them as a result of the anxiety you feel but they don’t know that. Also, why are you so bent on meeting these women anyway?”

Ken finished and looked at him, awaiting a response and N was struck dumb by the uncharacteristic seriousness and placidity that the otherwise hyper vocal demonstrated. No matter how many times the two confided in each other, it never failed to surprise him every time that Ken indeed had such a side to him.

Taking a deep breath, he contemplated over what Ken had asked him but all he could come up with was, “I don’t know.”

“Eh… Then what are you worrying about?” Ken chided and clapped the leader on the back. He his plush lips and continued, “See it this way; if you know the reason you’re here, then what’s the problem? If you don’t know why you’re here, you’re already here and will probably find out in a matter of time, so what’s the problem?”

N blinked at him for several minutes, taking in what was said. He opened his mouth to respond, probably complain as to how this was not how it worked but he couldn’t think of any reason as to why he couldn’t adopt such a way of thinking. Sighing, he hung his head and Ken grinned smugly. “That’s right. I’m such a genius,” he gloated.

Just then, they heard the front door click open and a voice that said, “Get in.” Ken and N met gazes and smiled evilly to each other.

x------x

Hee Na would have taken her time enjoying the good weather if she were not busy trying to untangle her necklace from all the string and lint that found residence in her pockets of her shorts, whilst walking down the street to Madeleine. Hanging about her wrist was a blue leash with the other end clasped securely onto the collar of her German shepherd, Nico. The canine was big, his trunk coming up to Hee Na’s mid-thigh and his white coat was covered in black spots.

 Huffing as she removed a last trace of lint from the silver chain, she looked and spotted the front door of the bistro. Gazing down at her pet, she said, “Why don’t you go ahead and announce my arrival?” Nico looked up at his master and panted happily and Hee Na smiled in response and let go of the leash. Nico made a mad dash for the bistro pushed the door open with his head and disappeared inside in no time. The door silently swung back in place.

She picked up where she left off with her necklace. Swinging the necklace behind her head, she brought the two ends together and tried to secure the clasp into the hollow ring but it proved to be harder than expected.

She looked up to realize that she was already at the front door. Spinning around, she pushed the door open with her backside as her hands successfully secured her necklace. Once inside the bistro, she turned around once again, pushing her hair out of her necklace and bringing the pendant to the front and the clasp to the back.

“Good morning!”

“Good-” On instinct, she replied before cutting herself off and her breath hitched when she recognized the voice. She raised her head and laid eyes on the six familiar men for the first time in a week. N left his seat at the bar and stood in the middle of the room, smiling triumphantly at her.

Something moved in her periphery and her eyes flicked past the smug leader and met Sa Ra’s. Her lips were pursed in a pale tight line and as if she read Hee Na’s mind, she shook her head vigorously. Hee Na’s jaw clenched.

Damn, this is not a dream…

She didn’t dare look at a certain cute vocal who was no doubt exchanging amused looks between her and the mangnae.

“Now that we’ve proved that we’re not something from your dreams, is there anything you would like to say?”

She looked at Leader Cha, then at the rest of VIXX. Leo looked least interested, for he was humming away to whatever song was playing on his device. Ravi smiled when she met his eyes and she was tempted to return the gesture, if she were not in such a profound state of shock. Hongbin next to him looked like a reanimated corpse staring off into nothingness. Hyuk waved at her excitedly which made Ken turn and Hee Na forced herself to tear her eyes away. She had no intention of turning to putty at that moment.

She glanced at her friends. Su Hyeon resembled Hongbin. She lied face down on the counter, her hoodie pulled over head. She looked like an overworked, caffeine deprived Grim Reaper. Shin Mi next to her was a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Her lips too were pursed and she swayed sideways and her hands were tucked under her thighs. Sa Ra tried looking calm but failed miserably. The base of her neck hollowed repeatedly as she kept in breaths. Her cheeks were dusted pink and her fingers flitted about nervously.

She looked back at the leader who looked like he was losing his patience by the second. Parting her lips, she in a breath and said, “Would you like some breakfast?”

x-------x

“Would you like some breakfast?”

Silence befell the bistro and everyone turned to look at Hee Na. N pulled his stank face, clearly disappointed that he didn’t get the reaction he wanted out of the raven-haired female. Ravi, Ken and Hyuk were in fits of silent laughter, conscious of the fact that if the disgruntled leader heard them, he wouldn’t let them off without at least dozen neck chops.

“Really? Is that all you have to say?” N urged not bothering to hide his disdain.

All Hee Na could do was blink innocently at him. Realizing that N was waiting for a response, Hee Na’s eyes began to flit about the floor, probably trying searching for something appropriate to say, Sa Ra inferred.

“Well, um, it is early morning and you guys probably didn’t have breakfast so, would you like some?”

Sa Ra gulped down a fit of laughter and glanced at Shin Mi sitting in front of her. The latter had her head down, biting into her bottom lip in a desperate attempt to not laugh. As innocent as Hee Na looked in front of the leader, Sa Ra knew Hee Na wasn’t going to admit her mistake so easily. That one was a bit too proud for her own good. And so, Sa Ra watched, silently hoping that the older man would step away before he busted an artery.

“Yes! We would very much like some breakfast as you can see,” Ken chimed in diverting attention from the leader. He pointed to the corpse-like visual and smiled sympathetically. Hee Na jumped at the sound of his voice and her eyes once again found the floor. Sa Ra unsuccessfully swallowed a giggle when she saw the creeping blush on the other’s cheeks.

Hee Na nodded and was about to leave when Hyuk spoke up, “What’s for breakfast, noona?” Sa Ra heart squealed like a boiling kettle at the sheer adorableness of the mangnae.

Hee Na met Sa Ra eyes and questioned, “Pancakes?”

“Pancakes,” Sa Ra affirmed and the mangnae cheered along with his vocalist hyung.

Hee Na smiled at the boy which soon dissipated as the leader once again swam into her line of vision, his arms crossing and a pout featuring his tanned face. Hee Na blinked nervously at the man and slowly inched a few feet away before turning on her heel and joining Sa Ra on the other side of the counter.

Placing her bag on the ground just below where Shin Mi sat, Hee Na whispered, more to herself than to her co-worker, “I’ll go get the ingredients.” And with that, she made a bee line for the pantry in the back wall of the room. Opening the pantry door, she slipped in and the room descended into awkward silence.

“She’s strange, that one,” Sa Ra heard N grumble as he reassumed his seat at the counter.

“Oh, you’ve seen nothing yet,” Shin Mi said with a light laugh to which N frowned.

“There’s more?”

Sa Ra leaned against the steel island of the kitchen and hummed in thought, “Well, not of the same thing. More like a spectrum of weirdness, you could say?” she turned to Shin Mi for confirmation who nodded. Su Hyeon offered a thumbs up, although her head was still on the counter covered by her dark hoodie.

For the next few minutes, she waited for Hee Na as the people in front of her tried and failed at having small talk, considering that the only ones talking were Hyuk and Shin Mi. N was still pouting about how things didn’t go his way. Ravi and Ken were content with just observing as they did on most variety shows. Well, they are meeting new people so it’s not surprising, I suppose… Leo had sneaked off to play with Nico after a good for seconds of staring at the over grown mutt.

Sa Ra frowned and glanced at the closed pantry door. What is she doing in there? It shouldn’t take so long to get a couple of ingredients. She got up and made her way to through the kitchen, opened the door and almost choked on her spit.

Curled in a ball, lying in the middle of the pantry was a weeping mound of flesh. Sa Ra’s lips curled in disgust at the antics of her co-worker and quickly slipped in and closed the pantry door behind her. She stood and stared at Hee Na for a few moments. Why can’t she be normal like the others?

Hee Na wore a navy blue sweater that Sa Ra was sure it was made just for Shrek. The collar of the oversized sweater was pulled over her head in such a way that it hid her face but her scalp was still visible from the hole and tendrils of her black hair fell about her form. The empty, unoccupied sleeves flailed about uselessly resembling grotesque extensions of a hideous monster. Her arms were inside the body of her sweater probably covering her ugly sobbing face. She spotted flashes of blue as her legs flailed around like a seizing patient. It was the one time when her denim shorts made an appearance which were otherwise concealed underneath the ridiculous length of her sweater.

Sa Ra sighed and placed her hands on her hip as she cocked it, “What are you doing?”

She watched as the flailing stilled almost immediately and Hee Na’s face emerged from the underneath the sweater. Her moist, pink lips was contorted in a pout and eyebrows were drawn together in a worried crease and her sparks of panic danced around her eyes.

“Sa Ra!” the name left her lips in a wail as Hee Na looked at the other female in utter helplessness. “Why are they here?! Why couldn’t they just be a figment of the subconscious made aware by the brain during REM sleep?! Why did they have to be real?! Why?!” She resumed flailing like a little child which ended with her twisting around, throwing her upper body onto the closed door of the walk-in freezer and beating her fists on it.

So dramatic, this one… Sa Ra rubbed her forehead and sighed in exasperation. “The only way we can find out is to go out there and ask. Nothing is going to change if you’re going to lock yourself in and start behaving like a monster from a weird amateur horror movie.”

Hee Na turned to face her and pouted, “I wasn’t trying to be anything… I was only… trying to comfort myself…” She hung her head and meekly pushed her arms through the sleeves of her sweater. Sa Ra bit her lip, afraid that she may have hurt the other. Who could blame her anyway? She didn’t have the best social skills even if she was the only one in the room.

Sa Ra knelt in front of her and began combing her fingers through Hee Na’s hair trying to smoothen down the hair that were messed up from earlier. “I know that it’s a bit uncomfortable for to be forcibly pushed into such an unexpected situation. Hell, it must be scary too but right now, the people outside are not VIXX. They are not idols. They are customers to whom we must tend to. That is our job and our only mission as owners of Madeleine. So, let’s make sure they get to enjoy a good breakfast, hmm? What do you say?”

Sa Ra was as gentle as a human could be and she meant every word she said. For if she didn’t she wouldn’t have been rewarded with her desirable result so fast.

Hee Na watched her business partner with wide, uncertain eyes for a moment and chewed her plump bottom lip before beaming a confident smile at her which Sa Ra automatically returned. She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair and fixed gazes with Sa Ra.

“You’re right. Let’s go make some breakfast.”

x------x

Sa Ra spared a glance at the scene in front of her as she wiped down the kitchen with a rag. Breakfast had been made and served. The members of VIXX drooled as they watched from the counter hungrily, having completely forsaken their idol image. The smell of banana pancakes had even brought Hongbin back to life. Sa Ra and Hee Na casted amused glances at each other when they caught the members’ heads bobbing up and down as they traced the path of the pancake as it was flipped in the air due to the expert ministrations of the two chefs.

More often than not, the room would ring in a chorus of ‘oohs’ as one perfectly cooked, fluffy pancake would find itself, mid-flight, landing on a white plate rather than the familiar frying pan. All Hee Na had done was sweep in with a plate to catch the pancake as it made its journey back down. Sa Ra couldn’t help but chuckle at the involuntary blush that crept to Hee Na’s cheeks. The response was obviously more than deserving, for Hee Na was absolutely mesmerizing when she cooked. Sa Ra had accepted and admitted it when she had reunited with the other woman at the home economics room of their college and watched her cook for the first time.

It was one thing to cook delicious food but it was another to make such a simple thing look like most fantastical act on the face of the earth.

In the middle of her reverie, she lock gazes with Hee Na who smiled at her with cheeks full of pancake and traces of whipped cream stuck to the corner of her lips. Snorting a smile, she wiped the other’s mouth with a tissue earning a sheepish giggle in return.

The sound of clinking of glass forced their attention and they turned towards the source. N cleared his throat and made a show of wiping his lips as he waited for everyone to focus on him. Poor Hongbin had to be brought down to earth when he had just attained nirvana after scarfing down his breakfast.

N set his crumpled tissue on the empty plate and opened his say something when Leo cut him off, speaking for the first time. He looked at the two chefs and his eyes flitted to the coffee machine then back to them. “Latte,” he uttered before falling silent for the remainder of the day.

Being the one in charge of beverages, Hee Na stepped to the coffee machine and got to work, all the while trying to resist a smile at the vocal’s typical behaviour.

N glared at Leo for interrupting him but decided to make his statement. “Now that we- dammit!” he cursed and kicked the counter wall in frustration as he was once again cut off by Shin Mi’s phone ringing. Hastily, she pulled it out, froze when she looked at the screen and it forward, calling for Hee Na.

Hee Na turned around and took the phone from her friend’s hand, mentioning for Sa Ra to take over at the coffee machine. She answered the phone and spoke as if she were giving out an order, “Hey, she’s not going to make it to work today, She’s taking the day off. I’ll talk to you in the evening. Bye.” Without even waiting for a response from the other side, she ended the call and handed the phone back to Shin Mi who beamed at the other.

Sa Ra caught Hongbin’s eyebrows raise in mild amazement at Hee Na brazenness.

N exhaled angrily and closed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing in a scowl. He waited for few moments, almost sure that he would be interrupted once again if he opened his mouth.

“Hyung, if you don’t want to be interrupted again, I suggest you start speaking now,” Hyuk smirked as he sipped his iced latte through a blue straw.

N placed his hands on the counter and heeding the mangnae’s advice said, “Now that we’ve had perhaps the most heavenly breakfast in our lives, I think it’s time to get down to business.” He paused for dramatic effect.

“I know you all must be wondering why we’re here.” Sa Ra glanced to Hee Na and swore she saw the other gulp down a snarky comment.

“It was all his idea. We’re innocent in this,” Ravi jumped in and shot is hand up trying to look as innocent as possible. His statement was further supported by vigorous nods by Hongbin and Hyuk.

“Yah! Why do you have to say it like that?! Don’t you know you’re hurting your hyung?!” N complained.

“Hurt you? What-” Hongbin was cut off by Su Hyeon clearing . The petty argument stilled before N spoke again.

“Aren’t you curious as to what is really going on?” he smiled slyly at the women as if hiding something that when revealed would completely get them to believe him.

“That would be an understatement,” Sa Ra snorted as she and Hee Na began clearing up the plates and cups and wiping down the counter.

N’s sly grin grew and he stood up and straightened his shirt. “Then follow us.”