Ri In looked at Junsu as she started singing the song she had been practising for the most of the day. It’s off to a great start so far. She turned to look at the audience. She didn’t know how they felt about the way she was singing but it didn’t really matter to her at that moment. She closed her eyes to feel the song as she continued to sing. Junsu began to sing his part and looked towards her as he did so. A genuine smile curved on her lips as he stared at her. Her eyes were sparkling. He was glad he suggested her to perform at that stage. He knew he did a right thing. One point for Junsu.

                They sang their hearts away and put enough feelings into that song that granted them a round of applause from the audience when they finished.

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                They decided to stay for another hour to watch other bands perform. Ri In didn’t want to miss the chance to have a little bit of fun time. After all, she hadn’t been a “social person” lately. She rarely spent a lot of time with them. She kind of missed it. They sat around with the crowd. It felt very nice. Most of them came out with their partners. The couples were scattered everywhere doing their lovey dovey gestures as they appreciated the performances. Ri In couldn’t help but smile looking at them. She wished she had someone special to share the moment with. Junsu took a seat besides her, offering her a lemon tea. Her favourite.

                “Thank you for inviting me tonight,” she uttered after taking a sip of the tea.

                “Don’t mention it,” he replied with his eyes glued to the front.

                “I missed you so much girl, we should do this more often,” Hana intervened and hugged her tightly from the side.

                Ri In could only laugh. She wished she could do that but her situation didn’t allow her to.  More work less fun. Junsu shifted his attention to the two girls next to him. He found himself to feel proud that he did this thing for her and the fact that she was enjoying it. Well, that’s what friends are for right?

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                Heaps of fans crowded outside the broadcasting building, expecting their idol group “Sweethearts” to show up. They were heading out after they wrapped up their performance for their album promotion.  The trio finally exited the building, showing up their faces to the hardcore fans that had been patiently waiting for them. All three of them, Raina, Lizzy and Nana waved their hands as they came out. All the fans went crazy, shouting their respective names non-stop. It was pretty much deafening to hear their shouting. However, it didn’t seem to have any effects on the trio. They were well adapted to this situation by now. They were actually content for having the fans. They felt like they had a well established career now. They were in fact at the top of their game.

                After releasing so many singles throughout the years, they had made their name known to the public. But it was more than meet the eye.  They eventually get over the crowd and made an entrance into their black SUV parked just in front of the building.

                All the happy faces they just portrayed at their fans vanished rapidly at the instant they got into the SUV. Exhaustion was written all over them. It seemed like they didn’t enjoy the attention they were given at least for the two of them. Raina, the leader felt the urge to bring that topic again after their manager had gotten himself into the front seat of the van.

                “You know I couldn’t bear this any longer right?” it sounded more like a statement than a question.

                “And you know I couldn’t do it, right?” the manager replied without looking back at her.

                 “I want out. I don’t want to play this perfect “fairy” girl anymore. I’m sick of it. Sooner or later we’re going to be forgotten. With all the new idol groups keep coming up, we need to disband now in ‘grace’”

                Lizzy just shut . She obviously had enough of this drama. It was easy for Raina to say it. She was the most popular among the three of them. If she debuted as a solo after this, she would make it big. It’s not the same for the other two of them. Nana would be suffering a lot of damage. She had the least popularity. If this group was over, her life would be over. She dedicated all her teenage life to be a singer. She even dropped her school for this career. As for Lizzy, it really didn’t matter. She had found herself her own “supporter” if they disbanded things won’t get really ugly for her.

                “Just stay for another year. Then I will see what I can do. It’s not easy to do this at this time of the year. You guys have the award ceremony coming up.” He tried to persuade her.

                “Yes unnie, please. Let’s just try to stand it for another year. For my sake” Nana braved herself to beg her. She needed this life. She got nothing else.

                Raina didn’t say anything else after that. She still had the humanity inside her. She knew well what this life meant to Nana but she sometimes need to be selfish and not thinking of what other’s felt. She remained shut soo everyone took it she agreed to it. The mood fell to silent. No one was talking along their way back to the dorm.

                “A year. Just a year. I need it. I have to make myself known in a year. It’s all what I need to do,” Nana whispered to herself, feeling anxious as to what would happen to her in the future.

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                The concert wouldn’t finish until midnight. Ri in couldn’t afford to stay that late. Cinderella had to go home back to the real world. She had to work the next day. After bidding the other farewell, she and Junsu left the venue. He insisted to bring her home although it wasn’t that necessary. Nonetheless, she felt glad he made that decision. At least, on her way home she won’t be lonely and kind of gave her the sense of security when he walked next to her.

                “About quitting the job, it really isn’t that easy,” RI In started.

                The guilt him again. He shouldn’t have brought that topic earlier. He remained silent; he didn’t have anything to say in reply.

                “After my sister eloped, things are not the same anymore. Mom had gone quiet ever since people started to say my sister married her husband because of his money. Father had to work extra hard to make the end meets. It’s our own fault to have turned up this way. We depend on our sister’s income too much. Maybe she had enough of it that she decided to run away.”

                Junsu caught by surprise to hear her story. She never told him this. Perhaps it was her  work that had acted as a barrier between them lately. They rarely shared their life stories after they graduated from high school. Ri In straight away went to look for jobs while him just took a break and readied himself to be a singer. He never knew his bestfriend was struggling.

                “Ahhhh, meolla~~ (I don’t know). Don’t want to think about this again,” she tried to cheer up the depressing mood they had few seconds ago.

                Acknowledged the attempt she was trying to make, Junsu did the same thing. He casted away the thought he had earlier and acted all happy: placing his arm around her shoulder and they walked all jumpy as they laughed at their childish actions. Although they knew they were faking their feelings and hiding the real ones behind them, this was what they needed at the moment. Sometimes in life, laughing it out is the remedy.

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It was the next morning and Ri In was already in the café expecting customers; back to the real world. After having so much fun last night, that morning seemed duller than usual. Deep inside her heart, she hoped something interesting will happen today. She grinned at the silly thought of it. She made her way to the table where the first customer for the morning sat. She handed him the menu and waited for him to make an order.

                “I’ll just have a cup of coffee and garlic breads. Thanks,” the man replied.

                She jotted down his order but she couldn’t help to notice the violin’s case he brought along with him. She at a brief moment took an interest to this guy who seemed to be around her age. She made her way to the kitchen and returned to the table with a cup of coffee. She noticed now he was studying a music sheet. He thanked her and shifted back his attention to the sheet he had on the table. Ri In played a violin too and she was good at it. It was really rare for her to find others who played violin. She couldn’t let the chance slip away and she thought since he was the only customer at the moment, it wouldn’t hurt to spend time with him just for a while. She braced herself and took the seat at the opposite end of the table; facing the customer who was shocked to see her did that.

                “So you play violin?” she asked while pointing to the case besides him with her eyes.

                “Yes,” he replied not knowing where this conversation is heading to.

                “I play it too. It’s so nice to meet people with the same passion,” she was over the moon which made it so weird.

                “Deh~ Good to know that,”

                He found it was really awkward to have a chat with stranger and this is not like any usual strangers. She was all happy and hyper to meet him as though they had not met for a long time. However, he didn’t want to make it so obvious, after all she looked like a very nice girl. They continued to talk and talk about violin and classical music. He found it she was a Chinese but grew up in Korea. He didn’t know if it was coincidence or not but he was glad that he had meet another Chinese in that country. He was drawn to her as time passed by and for a moment, she was glowing while talking but maybe it was just the sun.

                Ri In eventually noticed that she had spent over time with him than she planned to.  She apologized if she had caused any inconvenience to him, she explained herself that she was just too happy to meet him and plus he was a Chinese too. That made her even more excited. They had a lot in common. Well, she won’t exaggerate about that too much. They only have those two in common. They played violin and they were Chinese. She returned back to her work and left the customer to enjoy his breakfast. He watched her went to the back of to the kitchen as she resumed her job. He admitted he had a fun morning. He was pleased to have gone to the café.

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*Guest appearance : Henry - Super Junior M

We managed to finally update this story. We are currently working on the next chapter. I hope you guys will still keep an interest on our story. HEHE if that's not too much to ask. :) Anyhow, we just hope you enjoy this story until the end. Feedbacks are appreciated and we're happy to see the number of viewers is rising. Thanks for your time.

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