All Alone in the Night

The clock struck at 10:00 in the evening. The day was tiresome as usual. Like the usual days, the café would be crowded with customers, not to mention a number of men who would either ask for her picture or request her to serve their orders at their tables. The remaining staff members of the café started to fix everything up for the shop's closing. Almost all of the café staff members have left the shop. Mr. Bong left early to attend some issues at their home. Junho and Kikwang also left the shop earlier than their actual shifts because they were both invited by their common friend to attend his wedding. Yoseob went out early as well to visit his former classmate who had just arrived from Oklahoma. The three of them asked Taeyeon and Baro to fill in their shifts.

On the other hand, Woohyun, the manager left the shop at past 8 o'clock in the evening since he could no longer stand the distant attitude of Taeyeon towards him. He needed to gather his thoughts up, and seeing Taeyeon who acted like she was avoiding him throughout the day made him feel the worst.

The ones who were left at the café were Taeyeon and Baro who busily did their jobs. It was not really awkward for Taeyeon to be alone with Baro, for he was the one who she had grown most comfortable with among the café staff members. Baro has been very nice to her even though there were times he would overly flatter her with compliments because of her good-looks and nice personality. His aegyo has been too irresistible as well.

His bright personality would usually remind him of Sungjong, his younger brother whose aegyo and cuteness are too much to be resisted. She has grown close with all of the staff members, except for Woohyun who would usually be cold and rude towards her, in contrast with his brother, Sunggyu who has been treating her nicely which would usually make her blush madly or stammer with her words. She has been secretly admiring Sunggyu, the angel of her dreams since the first day they met.

Finally, their shift has ended. She removed her apron as she went out of the kitchen.

"Hey! Shift is over, Taeyeon-ssi. Do you want me to send you home? You know, it is really dangerous for a woman like you to go home alone during the nighttime." Baro said as he patted Taeyeon.

She said, "Thanks, but there is no need for you to that."

His face looked worried. He did not want Taeyeon to go home just by herself. "But."

"Thank you. Just go home now. Your mother is waiting for you now. Do you want to miss your mother's galbi tonight? She is waiting for you, right?" She patted his head.

Baro pouted. He bowed his head, "If you insist so. Arasseo. Goodbye, Taeyeon-ssi. See you tomorrow."

"Nae. Goodbye, Baro-ssi. Take care. Good night." She bowed her head.

He smiled, "Okay. Good night, Pretty lady." He chuckled a bit.

Taeyeon smiled, "Such a joker. Arasseo, arasseo. Goodbye, Mr. Cutie."

Baro winked at her playfully, and left the café afterwards. She locked the front door because she was planning to use the back door for exit. Taeyeon went towards the locker room at the second floor of the café, to change her clothes. After fixing her stuff, and changing her clothes, she closed the lights and went outside the the locker room. She was supposed to go downstairs when she heard a repetitive odd sound from the glass window of the second floor. The lights were closed. She wanted to turn on the lights, but she was not able to do it. Taeyeon was taken aback. She stood frozen. She paused from taking another step.

The continuous loud sound coming from the glass window made her be suspicious about something going on. It was quite odd since she was the only one left at the café. No one was left, except her. After a few minutes, the odd sound from the glass window stopped. She sighed in relief, but when she turned back to take another, a loud sound of breaking glass resonated throughout the second floor. Her eyes widen in shock.

"What the!" She exclaimed, but her voice descended as someone pulled her back and covered . Taeyeon tried to struggle, but the force of the one who pulled her was stronger than hers.

She was scared, but tried to calm herself. She was not able to move because of the strong grip of that unknown person. Since she felt very tired during that time, she was not able to fight back. She was dragged inside the locker room where all the lights were also closed.

"Could this person possibly be a~ ~ kidnapper, drug syndicate member, murderer or burglar? Oh my gosh! Eotteokhae? This person's strength is too much. I want to kick the hell out of this person, but I cannot. Will my life end just like this in the hands of this person? Oh God, please help me." Taeyeon shut her eyes.

Everything was dim because the lights were closed. Suddenly, she felt that the hand which was covering loosened up, and the other hand which was holding her waist released her from the strong grip. She was quite surprised. Taeyeon could not see that person's face, not only because the lights were dim, but also because her back was bumping onto that person's front. She could feel the fast pace of his heartbeat. She actually tried to move, so that she could see his face, but she did not when the unknown person spoke up.

He said, "Let us just stay this way for a while. Those men might see us." She was surprised to hear a familiar voice of a man.

Taeyeon stuttered, "You~"

She turned her head back slightly to see the face of the man behind her. Her face was furious and anxious, but softened up when she saw the face of the man. His image was not clear in her sight since the lights were dim, but she tried to recognize some of the viewable features of his face.

"Annyeong, Taeyeon-ssi." He said with a very low voice.

She heaved a sigh. Taeyeon sighed in relief. "Oh god, it is you! You scared the hell out of me." She muttered with a slightly high tone in her voice.

She halted for a matter of seconds when she realized that she was being impolite to the man. It was good that the lights were closed since her face was madly blushing with embarrassment.

"Ah~ No, no. I am sorry. I was just scared, Sunggyu-seonsaengnim. I am sorry." The young woman bowed her head down. She backfaced him again.

He chuckled silently. The man tried to lower his voice down saying, "Oh no. I should be the one who should apologize, Taeyeon-ssi. I scared you because of my action. By the way, why are you calling me 'seonsaengnim' again? I told you, I am Sunggyu."

"Oh sorry~"

"Stop apologizing. It is not the time for you to do that, Taeyeon-ssi." He said.

"Okay. Should I turn on the lights, Sunggyu-ssi?"

He shook his head, and said, "Nope. Those men might caught that we are in here."

"Okay. Who are those men?" Taeyeon asked in a low voice. She was puzzled.

He whispered in her ear, "Those are burglars."

Her eyes widen with surprise. "Aigoo!" She almost exclaimed from the top of her lungs, but Sunggyu covered .

"No, no, no. Please do not shout. You know, we might get caught."

She just nodded her head unconsciously. Deep in her thoughts, she said, "Wait~ wait. Why are we hiding then? We should do something to stop those rascals! Oh god~ Don't tell me~ Sunggyu-ssi is a~ coward. But~ This is not I am perceiving him to be. I think violence does not exist in his vocabulary, but still I see him as someone~ Ughh nevermind! Aish! Kim Taeyeon, brush off those useless thoughts! Stop being judgmental!"

The moment he uncovered , Taeyeon said, "Sunggyu-ssi, will we just stay like this until the moment they leave? Oh no, I will stop them. I will beat those guys. I will go out now."

He shook his head, and answered back, "Anio, please do not do that. They are professional burglars."

He sounded calm. Taeyeon was baffled with the way he was spoke up. If he was really a scaredy cat, then his voice would sound so scared, or by any chance, was he planning to do something? What was he trying to do? Another possibility is if he sounded too calm, he might just actually be pretending, so that it will not be embarrassing in front of a girl like her, but she shrugged the thoughts off.

It went into a moment of silence. The only thing that was heard was their heavy breathing. After a few minutes, he spoke up, "Just do as I say, please."

She nodded her head and hesitantly uttered, "But~" Taeyeon tried facing him again, but Sunggyu held her shoulders tightly, so she remained backfacing him.

"Aish! Do not be stubborn. Just stay still." He calmly whispered.

His voice gave her a chill in her spine. It was low yet hoarse, and it became a sweet cadence which resonated in her ears. After a few seconds, the young lady realized how close her body to the lad. She felt very nervous when she realized this fact. She felt ashamed of being in an awkward position with the lad. His left arm was on her waist, and the other was covering . Once again, she blushed madly.

The burglars started banging outside the door of the locker room. One of the men threatened, "Who is there? Yah! Open the door or I will shoot your head, and let your brain explode!"

The two who were inside the locker room stood still. They were not moving at all.

"Sunggyu-ssi, they are trying to open the door. What should we do?" Her voice sounded too shaky.

He her hair slightly, and tucked some of her hair strands behind her left ear. Sunggyu replied back, "Nae, I know."

'How could he remain calm at times like this? Omona!' Taeyeon was really surprised to see him being so calm. "So, what should we do now?"

"Calm yourself, Taeyeon-ssi. Once I finished counting from one to three, you should do as I say. Arasseo?" He loosened up the grip from her waist, and removed his hand from covering .

The lad took a few steps towards the door. Taeyeon sensed that Sunggyu was no longer behind her, and was holding the door knob which made her feel more anxious.

'Oh no! Will he be abandoning me here? Aigoo! Tteonajima, Sunggyu-ssi. Please! But, why am I scared, by the way? I should not be scared.' She anxiously thought to herself.

He calmly mumbled, "One, two." Sunggyu held the doorknob tightly. "Three!"

Soon, he grabbed her left hand tightly, and pulled her along with him out of the room.

Flustered with what he did, she muttered,"Omona!"

The door was opened with a loud bang. Three men whose faces were covered with black bonnets stood in front of them. Both of them went out of the room. The men were holding knives and bats. 

One man hissed, "Oh so, there are two of you inside that room. Oh young man, I see that you are with your girlfriend. I wonder what took you so long to open that damn door! Aigoo! Aigoo! Well, it seems that you two are making out in that room. Ohhhh~ That is quite naughty! Oh, did we disturb your good time with each other? Don't tell me that we are being ers?" The three men laughed crazily.

She was standing behind Sunggyu. Taeyeon fumed in anger, so she was not able to hold up her temper and blurted, "Hey you, bastards! He is not my~ my boyfriend! How dare you talk to him like that? He is my boss! You ugly sons of a~"

She was about to cuss them, but Sunggyu looked at her. His stare shut up. It was gentle yet intimidating. She just pouted in defeat.

The three men was pissed off. "You woman! I did not know that a beautiful woman like you has a dirty mouth!" The tallest man among them yelled in disgust.

He was supposed to slap her, but Sunggyu who stood in front of her, blocked his hand from laying a finger on the woman behind him.

One of them exclaimed, "Oh what an overprotective boyfriend! Oh oops~ This girl said that you are her boss. Is that even true? Or is it just a sort of a ty excuse?"

Sunggyu did not utter a word from his mouth. "Or there may be a possibility that you who appears to her boss is having a romantic involvement with this woman who happens to be your employee, right? Oh hell! I thought those kind of circumstances only happen in television dramas or movies!" The oldest man among the three bickered around to annoy Sunggyu and Taeyeon who did not move even a bit.

One of the men remarked,"Oh anyway, it seems that you, young man are rich. You are wearing a Raf Simons coat, a Patek Philippe watch, and a pair of John Lobb shoes. It is definitely undeniable that we can get something from a rich man like you! Hey, pretty lady! Are you not planning to get something from that lover of yours? He is rich, and you can get anyth