“Thank you for coming,” Hana chirped, standing by the doorway as the last few customers made their way out. The servers all took turns closing up shop, and since Yixing wasn’t around, Hana was next in line – which meant she had to stay behind until everyone was gone. Jimin and Namjoon were arranging the tables and chairs, while the rest of the servers were already at the lockers, getting ready to leave.

Hana felt a hand in her arm and she turned to look at the middle-aged woman who was smiling brightly at her. “You’ve got a lovely voice,” she said. “I hope I hear you sing again, sweetie.”

Hana bowed shyly and muttered a timid thanks as she ushered her out the door, adding a little wave goodbye to the nice woman and two young ladies who Hana assumed were her daughters. Heaving out a tired sigh, she finally shut the glass doors and flipped the ‘OPEN’ sign to ‘CLOSED.’

She happily dusted off her hands and turned back to the counter with a huge smile on her face. Her body was exhausted – five hours at the mall, six hours of working, and an impromptu gig was bound to do that to a young girl. But Hana was still in high spirits. What started off as an awful day turned out to be one of the best ones in recent memory.

She ended up singing three songs before Gikwang came onstage to whisper that President Yang had left. She was more than relieved to hear that, because even though she really missed singing and playing, she was out of practice. She’d hoped her mistakes weren’t too obvious, but judging by the lack of tomatoes thrown her way during her performance, she probably didn’t do too bad.

“We’ll just finish up here, Hana,” Jimin called out to her from the other side of the cafe, and she just gave him a curt nod with a thumbs up in reply. She noticed that the bar was empty, so she figured the baristas must also be preparing to leave. She took a seat on one of the bar stools, her head automatically dropping to the surface like deadweight. She couldn’t wait to go home and collapse on her bed, but she had to hang around until Jimin and Namjoon were done.

He just left again, Hana thought when she detected Seungyoon’s absence after a quick scan of the cafe. She recalled when he disappeared right after finishing his set two weeks ago, too.  Like they initially agreed upon, Seungyoon took over the stage as soon as President Yang was gone. But Hana found it odd -- the look he wore as she was giving him back his guitar in front of the audience. You see, Seungyoon had a trademark look around Hana: a disapproving expression that made her aware of how much he didn’t like her – a feeling they both share, since she didn’t like him all that much, either.

But this time, Seungyoon’s expression was different. To her, it looked like a combination of suspicion and curiosity, because his eyes seemed to probe into hers for answers to his unspoken questions. It made Hana feel strange, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it since they were literally under the spotlight, in front of the audience. She just quietly slipped out after handing Seungyoon his guitar.

As usual, he was charismatic and charming all throughout his set that the audience soon forgot she even sang before him. Hana was probably the only one in the crowd who was a bit disappointed that he sang all covers and didn’t include any of his original songs. Which was the opposite of what she did. She sang all original songs, which probably explains why the audience didn’t react to her as much as they did to Seungyoon. Not that it was surprising. He’s a trained performer after all, and he’s also pretty famous. Maybe he was right. I should have sung something popular.

When she saw Namjoon and Jimin clean up the last table, Hana reluctantly hauled her body up to sit upright. She jerked back and nearly blurted out a curse when she was suddenly face to face with Seungyoon, who looked equally dumbfounded by her reaction.

“Damn, you scared me!” Hana clutched her chest as she tried to even her breathing. She might have been overreacting a little bit, but it was like being caught snooping: thinking about Seungyoon and then realizing he’d been standing there all along. She leaned forward and peeked down at the bar. “Have you been there all this time?”

“Hmm. I was arranging cups and glasses,” he shrugged, glancing down the bar briefly before meeting her eyes.

There it was again – the same expression he had on earlier. It looked like he wanted to ask her something, but he was just staring at her as though she was a math problem he couldn’t solve. Okay, this isn’t awkward at all. Thinking he was probably just waiting for her to say something first, Hana scrambled for words in her head. But she was drawing a blank. What was she supposed to say to him? Technically, they still disliked each other (as far as she was concerned) and just because they worked together this one time doesn’t make them friends. God, no! So nothing she could say to him now would ever feel natural to him or her.

 Alright, this staring contest is over.

At the risk of appearing rude, Hana jumped off the stool – the movement so abrupt that her knee hit one of its legs. She let out a graceless grunt that she figured was the least feminine sound to ever come out of a girl. Great, Hana! Your best move yet, she scolded herself mentally before quickly shuffling away to the employees’ locker room in embarrassment. In her frenzied state, she missed the amused smirk that happened to appear on Seungyoon’s face as she was leaving.

She decided to forget the display of idiocy in front of Seungyoon, but not without cringing and muttering a curse to herself a few times on her way to the lockers. She was still wearing the white dress, and for a moment, she considered changing into something more comfortable for the walk home. But she was too tired, so she just shoved all her things in her backpack and turned to the shopping bags on the bench. “This will be a struggle,” she sighed and picked them up, doing her best to carry all of them with her two hands. Where are all those escorts when you need them? She laughed to herself with the reminder that her Paris Hilton days were over.

She came out of the locker room just as Gikwang was coming out of Ha Neul’s office. He was already changed and ready to go, but judging by his outfit – it didn’t seem like he was going home yet. “Hitting the club?” Hana asked.

“That’s right! Music night was saved, thanks to you! I think that’s worth celebrating,” Gikwang grinned, reducing his eyes into arched slits while he ruffled Hana’s hair.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to mess with a girl’s hair!” She shot him a playful glare.

Gikwang let out a chuckle and combed Hana’s hair with his fingers, mumbling an insincere apology. At that moment, Seungyoon appeared beside him – wiping his hands with a small towel. Hana hastily took a step back before Gikwang could finish making her head look presentable again, dropped the bags on the floor and fixed her hair, herself.

Seungyoon didn’t even seem to notice her presence since he turned to Gikwang right away. “Namjoon and the guys just left,” he pointed to the door and gave the older guy a once over. “Are you going out?”

“Yeah. Bora’s waiting for me,” he winked suggestively and took a glance at his wristwatch. His eyes rounded. “Oh , I’m late!” He was about to scramble out when he noticed Hana’s bags on the floor. “Are you walking home again? With all these stuff?”

She picked them up with a bit of effort and gave him a nonchalant nod. “Yeah.”

“Andwae! It’s almost midnight, you can’t walk alone,” Gikwang looked at his watch again. “I’d bring you home myself but Bora…” he trailed off when his eyes wandered to Seungyoon. He put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Ya, Seungyoon-ah, walk her home.”

“WHAT?” They both chorused, looking at Gikwang with alarm.

“Sunbae, there’s no need for that! Really!” Hana was the first to exclaim, waving her fists at Gikwang who stepped back to dodge the bags that threatened to hit him in the face. She stole a sideway glance at Seungyoon who also looked uncomfortable with the suggestion.

“Ha Neul hyung’s not here, so you’re my responsibility. I can’t let a high school girl walk home alone! You said your house is near, I’m sure Seungyoon won’t mind. Isn’t that right, Seungyoon-ah?”

Seungyoon rubbed the back of his neck. “Hyung, it’s kind of—“

“What? Do you have a girlfriend waiting for you, too? Because look – mine’s calling me right now,” he raised his phone screen in front of Seungyoon’s face.

“Sunbae, I’m sure he has other places to be,” Hana insisted. ‘And yes, I’m pretty sure he has a girlfriend waiting for him,’ Hana was tempted to add but she decided against it. “I’m perfectly capable of going home by myself. I do it all the time, it’s totally okay!”

“Not it’s not,” Gikwang argued, distracted by his phone screen. Hana didn’t know Bora but if Gikwang’s worried face were any indication, she seemed to be the dominant one in their relationship. “Seungyoon, I gotta go. Bring her home, do you hear me? Kanda!” He dashed to the backdoor without even looking back, leaving the two with dazed looks.

“Wow. He really just left,” Seungyoon shook his head and walked past Hana, pushing the door to Ha Neul’s office open.

Hana exhaled, relieved that Seungyoon didn’t seem to have any intentions of following Gikwang’s instruction. The horror of having to endure an awkward walk home was something she’d rather not face.

She put the bags down near the counter, and began checking if all appliances have been plugged off before switching off all the lights. Only the light coming from Ha Neul’s office remained, allowing Hana to see even in the dark. She grabbed the bags again and peeked into the office where Seungyoon’s back was turned to her. He seemed