“Mind if I join you?” he asked.

“Well you already put your tray here, right?” Hayi mumbled while stirring her drink.

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing, sorry I was just talking to myself. Sure, you can.”

Hayi mentally facepalmed herself. No doubt he was angry at her for the long lecture she gave earlier. She completely disregarded that he was 4 years her senior and almost dropped her honorifics too. The two sat in silence, sipping at their drinks. Jiho cast a glance at his watch and coughed, breaking the air of awkwardness.

“Don’t you have to get back to the studio soon?”

“Well, Robin told me to take a break but I was actually going to bring my drink back to the studio…”

“Why didn’t you, then?”

“Well..." she hesitated, unsure if she should tell him the truth. Ah, heck it. What's the harm in him knowing. "Don’t laugh, but-” she went on explain the whole episode of how she thought that he was a stalker. By the end of her story, Jiho was bent over, guffawing heartily.

“I told you not to laugh!” she frowned at him as he wiped the tears at the corners of his eyes from laughing too hard.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But that’s just way too cute.” He grinned at her and she felt her stomach lurch a little. First he calls her cute then he smiles at her like that? She straightened up in her chair and silence fell once more as the two of them continued drinking their drinks.

“Hey, sunbae-nim, you’ve broken up with someone before, right?” Hayi suddenly asked, causing Jiho to choke. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” Hayi quickly handed him a serviette and Jiho just gestured with his hands as he coughed, trying to assure her that he was alright. What a way to phrase it. Couldn’t she have just asked if I’d dated before?

He cleared his throat once more and faced her again. “Well, to answer your question; yes.”

Hayi nodded, as though she expected that answer.

“And when you broke up with her, did you ever feel like you wanted her to come back after that?”

Jiho stared at her face intently, wondering where she was going with this conversation. He tilted his head at her, “How come you’re so sure the person was a ‘her’?”

Hayi's eyes widened as she turned a bright shade of pink. “I didn’t know you were- I mean, I’m sorry I- Oh my God I-”

Jiho chuckled at her reaction, he really found it so cute. She stared at him for a moment before realising that he was pulling her leg. She narrowed her eyes at him as a scowl replaced her previously flustered expression.

“You’re so mean! I really thought you were gay for a moment there, okay?!”

Jiho just laughed and picked his glass up, taking another gulp of his cappuccino. He his lips when the foam stuck to it. Hayi looked away, unsure why but his actions were making her feel uneasy. She finished her drink and pushed it aside. “Well, yes,” he replied, his tone suddenly serious, “doesn’t everyone regret ending a relationship at some point after it’s ended?”

He glanced out the glass window, as if looking at some far off place. “Well, I wouldn’t know, I’ve never dated anyone,” Hayi said, mostly to herself. Jiho’s head snapped back to look at her in disbelief. “Never dated? Ever? That’s impossible!” Hayi just laughed and explained that YG wouldn’t let her date no matter how many times she asked.

“But didn’t you have boys flocking around you in highschool? No way someone as pretty as you would be left alone by a bunch of teenage boys!” What with all their raging hormones, he added mentally.

She blushed at the compliment and thanked him, saying she was actually quite plain. “Besides, when I was in school, I was training too, so I was only barely ever there. I didn’t have many friends either - I was quite the loner, to be honest.” she laughed at her words but Jiho saw, just for a fraction of a second; the hint of sadness in her eyes couldn't betray. He understood her struggle. Of starting young. To sell your youth for your future. Almost instinctively, he reached out and squeezed her hand, wanting to comfort her. Even if it was through such a small gesture.

She stared at his hand, shocked, before smiling and gently removing his hand from hers, squeezing his hand back before letting it go. “Thank you, but it’s fine, really. I was used to it. Anyway, back to what I was asking. How did it feel, really? Wishing you could have her back? Could you explain it to me in detail? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to probe and I know it’s probably hard bringing back such old emotions but I’ve been having trouble with this one song and I just can’t seem to understand how to convey the right feelings into it…” she ranted her frustrations.

Jiho thought about it for a moment. “Let’s see, I guess it feels like you spent all this time preciously taking care of this beautiful sunflower, and because you loved it so much you wanted it to be yours, and only yours. So, you plucked it. And for a while it was amazing. It was great having this flower right there by your side. But soon enough, it started to wither, it’s petals began falling off. It died. The break-up. You wished you could bring it back to the way it was, originally. Beautiful and alive, before you uprooted it. So you bury it back in the ground, wishing, just hoping that a little bud would emerge out of all the fallen petals. Yearning for that person to turn back around and take just one step in your direction.”

Hayi stared at him with half open. “Heol, sunbaenim. I didn’t know you were the deep kind,” she joked and he just rolled his eyes at her.

“You can drop the sunbae, just call me oppa. The word ‘nim’ makes me feel so old.”

She scrunched her nose at him. “No thanks. I’ll stick to sunbae. Without the nim.” she bargained.

Jiho nodded, then took his phone out. She peered over, curious. She was about to ask him what he had been listening to earlier when the barista walked up to them. “Sorry, you two. But we were supposed to close half an hour ago.”

Hayi checked the time on her phone. 2:30 a.m. , Robin’s probably waiting. The both of them hadn’t realised how long it they had been talking for and quickly gathered their belongings and walked out onto the street. Jiho stretched and yawned outside the entrance, swinging his arms as they walked down together. “Don’t worry about Robin, I messaged him earlier to inform him that I bumped into you and we might be late.”

He smiled down at Hayi who was walking next to him. She looked up, taking in his full height for the first time. Damn, was he tall. It obviously didn’t help that her height was only 155 centimetres [A/N: that’s 5’1 for you Americans]. Even with the platform sneakers she had on, he still towered over her.

“I sure didn’t expect us to take this long though. Guess we get along pretty well eh, Lee Hi-ssi?” he nudged her as they reached the crossing.

“You can just call me Hayi,” she spoke as he plugged his earplug into his phone. “What are you listening to?” she asked, tiptoeing to get a peek.

“Oh, it’s just the track I’m working on right now. It’s almost complete, but I just feel like something’s missing and I can’t figure out what, here-” he was about to offer her to listen and put the earpiece in for her when the light turned green. They both looked up at the luminous, blinking stick man and walked down, the moment gone. The rest of their journey was silent, both parties knowing that their chance encounter was nearing its end - and both feeling a little disappointed, though they couldn't figure out why.

A/N: hellooooo again, people! here's the 2nd chapter bahahhaha i decided to push the rest into another chapter so yall could get this update earlier! i hope yall liked it, do leave a comment and please stay tuned for more :"))) chapter gif credit to owner.