The lights went out throughout the bar as a single spotlight hit the middle of the small stage. A girl dressed in black suit pants, a white blouse with her sleeves rolled up and a black waistcoat was seated on a stool with a guitar in position to be played. Kass Lee had protested again and again to the manager that if he was going to make her perform, he should at least let her off earlier. She knew there was no point asking for extra pay for her performances, but surely letting her finish earlier was permitted? This was the only job she was fully qualified for and the pay was fairly reasonable. Her manager had taken advantage of her once he knew she wasn’t a resident of Korea. He would make her stay behind to close up shop, perform on any day he felt like she should be performing, and he wouldn’t give her any overtime pay.

She began to strum the first few chords of the intro as the silent bar filled with a soft acoustic melody.

I never doubted you at all
The stars collide, will you stand by and watch them fall? (by and watch them fall)
So hold me 'til the is clear
And whisper words of love right into my ear

'Cause I've got you to make me feel stronger
When the days are rough and an hour feels much longer
Oh to make me feel better
When the nights are long they'll be easier together

After her performance two familiar faces caught her attention. They were hard to miss as one of them was eagerly waving his hands in her direction. She recognized their hairstyles and mentally banged her head against a wall. Didn’t those two have anything else to do? They said that they were busy tonight and wouldn’t have time to drop by. She was thankful of it, as she didn’t want them to see her performing the other half of her so-called job description, but it seemed like tonight really wasn’t her night.

Kass was already declined clocking out early; several drunk customers had spilled their drinks over the bar counter and one even chugged on her waistcoat (she was lucky she had a spare set in her locker). Another tried to her and some lady even started criticizing the way she was mixing the drinks. All Kass wanted to do was speed back to her dorm on campus on her motorcycle and get some much needed rest.

As soon as Kass came off stage the manager shooed her towards the bar counter and she was back to being the resident mixologist. She didn’t mind mixing drinks; actually she rather enjoyed being a bartender. Kass had studied hospitality and drinks back in the States in high school for two years and even received a certificate for it. When she came to Korea, she barely had enough money to pay for her tuition fees let alone the dorm she was staying in on campus.

With a sigh she returned her focus to her job, looking around and checking up on her supplies. Her back was turned as two bodies slid into the chairs behind the counter. She didn’t even need to look over to know there were customers waiting. “So what can I get you two?” She spun around and her eyes widened as she immediately recognized her friends sitting in front of her. “What are you two doing here? You said you weren’t coming,” she hissed at them.

“What? Aren’t you happy to see your best friends supporting you? Great performance by the way, since when did you sing?” She wanted to throw the cloth in her hand at the speaker. Chansung grinned and poked his tongue out at her.

“Now I see why you were so persistent on us not coming today,” Junho added before ordering the first thing on the menu. “At least you can make some money while we’re here,” he teased. Kass had always talked about quitting her job, but never did cause she’d end up jobless and broke.

“YAH, YOU TWO!” a voice from behind shouted. The three looked to see whom it belonged to. “You bring us to an unknown bar and then just ditch us?!” A male walked towards them, followed by several other guys and a girl. The boys looked awfully familiar but she couldn’t exactly pinpoint from where.

“Sorry Jaebeom-hyung. We were just catching up with our friend.” Chansung gestured to Kass behind the counter. She just nodded and went back to mixing the drinks Chansung and Junho had ordered earlier. She placed the drinks in front of the two and took another look at the group whom she assumed were their friends.

The male who’d yelled noticed the way Kass was looking at them and took the opportunity to introduce himself. “I’m Jay.” He bowed. “You must be Chansung and Junho’s classmate, Kass-ssi?” She was a little taken aback from the fact that he knew her name. The name Jay definitely rung a bell in her head. 2PM?! She quickly bowed in response before pulling Chansung and Junho out of earshot from the others.

“Why did you bring 2PM along with you?” she whispered sharply, in total shock.

“Well we needed some excuse to bring Renn-noona with us. We couldn’t just take her and not invite the other members as well,” Chansung explained. “We figured with her connections she could help you with your job hunt because seriously Kass-ah, you have to get out of here.” Chansung was right. If she didn’t get out of this job soon, the manager would never let her leave. She agreed hesitantly as Junho called over the girl standing beside Jay.

“Oh! You?!” She recognised the one called Renn. Renn had been a special guest in her music class a while back.

“You know me?”

Kass nodded slowly. “You guest lectured in one of my classes a few weeks ago.”

“Well then I guess this makes this a little less awkward. Here’s the address, meet me there tomorrow morning at 10am. Go to the front desk and ask for Renn. And don’t be late.” She flashed Kass a quick smile as she placed a small card on the counter and slid it towards the younger girl. Before she could reply, Renn had already turned around and joined the boys as they made their way towards the exit. So much for best friends, she muttered to herself as Chansung and Junho disappeared along with the rest of 2PM.

She picked up the card that had been left for her on the counter. She read the name off the card; it simply read Renn, with her credentials and office address at JYPE below it. Kass flipped the card over to look for a full name but she found nothing.