He didn’t move, so she said, “You just ran a lot, didn’t you? You need some water.”

That girl urged him to take the water by reaching out her hand more. For all fish in the world, Donghae really wanted to take it. It took all the energy left in his exhausted body to keep his hand still. But the voice of his manager kept ringing in his head, “Don’t accept any kind of foods or drinks from anyone! Your anti-fans can be everywhere, and they can poison you.”

Seeing him hesitating, she came to understand why. “Ah, you’re not supposed to take any drinks from a stranger, right Donghae-sshi?” she guessed. His heart thumped when he heard she called his name. Before Donghae could reply, she already opened the bottle and took a gulp. She pulled out a tissue from her bag and wiped the bottle lip.

“Here, I’ve tasted it first. If it’s poisoned, then I’ll be the first to die,” she prompted him to take the water. He eventually took the bottle and gulped it down at once. When the last drop of it fell into his mouth, he heard her chuckle.

“Next time you go out, make sure you bring water with you. You wouldn’t know when you’d have to flee. I’ll be going then,” she briefly bid him farewell.

She was already turning around when he called her, “Hey! What’s your name?”

The girl stopped. She looked back and said before carrying on, “Ra Kyung.”

She left him completely mesmerized. Living a life as a superstar, Donghae had seen plenty of beautiful girls, but never did he find himself interested in them. He decided in the next split second to chase after the girl, and asked her permission to contact her. But before he could even made his step, a guy called him.

“Donghae-ya! We finally found you! Come, we’re almost late!” the manager exclaimed from the car. Donghae reluctantly got in to the car as he took a last look at the girl who was already far across the street. He couldn’t do anything but to let her disappear as she turned to an alley.

The night after the performance in Japan…

Just like the other members, Donghae was resting on his bed after another successful performance. He shared the room with Eunhyuk and Siwon, and they already slept soundly—literally. He was just as exhausted as they were, not to mention he happened to run almost half across the city earlier, but he couldn’t close his eyes. Every time he did, he would remember the scene when he saw those grey boots, and when he looked up to find the naturally beautiful face of the boots’ owner.

He got up from his bed and searched his bag. He took out the bottle she left as he whispered her name. “Ra Kyung.”

He let out a heavy, long sigh. He made up his mind. I have to find you. That thought brought his hand to take his cell phone and go straight to his Twitter. Leaving the fact he knew very well that the manager—and even the CEO—would scold him, and the fans would go crazy, Donghae typed a status. Sent.

Ra Kyung… Should I forget you?

3 months later.

Donghae zipped up his turtle-neck jacket as he was about to get in to the car. He put on his sunglasses and hat, and grabbed his bottle of water. Since his tweet 3 months ago, he’d become target no. 1 to every reporter. The CEO and the manager did scold him, but they couldn’t do anything either to ease up the scandal. Donghae accepted every scolding, and every hardship he must go through, as he didn’t regret for tweeting it.

Yes, he was still waiting. Waiting for the girl with the blue-black hair to show up and give him the chance to talk to her. It was totally fine with him if she appeared only to yell at him for making such a fuss. He just wanted to see her again, and did what he didn’t get to do back then.

The car arrived at the SM Entertainment building as they were going to have some exercises and practice. As expected, the reporters were already covering the main entrance when they arrived. One by one of the members went out of the car, Donghae was the last one—since he was the one the reporters were chasing. Flashlights went wild when he showed up. Donghae went straight in to the building, just like how he always did in the last 3 months. There was one thing that he also used to do in the last 3 months. That was scanning through the crowd of reporters. Just in case she would be there… She was never seen, but he never gave up.

The boys practiced for their next performance on Music Bank. After 5 straight hours of dancing and singing, they were completely worn out and sprawled all over the practice room’s floor. They were given a break, so they began to check their own cell phones. Donghae checked his too; he checked his Twitter first only to find thousands of mentions from people claiming as Ra Kyung. He sighed. He then searched his bag and fished out the bottle Ra Kyung gave to him 3 months ago. He had it cleaned, and always brought it along with him. He took a picture of the bottle and uploaded it on his Twitter. Donghae slightly rubbed the bottle before putting it back to his bag.

“Hyungnim, may I go to buy the ttokbokki from the ahjumma near our building? I won’t be long,” Donghae asked his manager as he got up. Without turning his eyes from the schedules, the manager nodded. Donghae then went out, not forgetting his own bottle.

He exited the building from the back, as he wasn’t sure the reporters were gone. He saw the ahjumma’s stand not too far from the building and rushed towards it—worrying of being caught by the reporters. “Ahjumma, two portions of ttokbokki, please.”

He put the money on the table as he already knew the price. Donghae gulped the water he brought with him while waiting for the ttokbokki.

“You really bring water with you all the time,” a familiar voice said from behind.

Donghae froze. His back stiffened as his eyes dilated. His heart throbbed. He knew that throbbing feeling, the very same feeling he had once on a nice day 3 months ago. With all the fear that it was all just an illusion, he braved himself to turn around.

And there she was. Still with the long blue-black hair, and that natural beauty on her face. This time, a smile was even carved on that face. The face he never gave up on searching. He took three long steps to get himself right before her eyes. His body leaned forward without him realizing, taking her into his embrace.

He felt her shoulder slightly flinched, but she didn’t resist. He buried his face on that shoulder and muffled, “Found you.”

She lifted her arms and put them around his waist as she chuckled. Donghae embraced her tighter as if there was still a gap between them. He lifted his head and whispered on her ear, “I’m not letting you go this time.”