"People judge you just because you're dating someone that's not the same ethnicity as you. Kinda sick if you ask me. So let me get this straight. It's okay for me to have a diverse group of friends, but it's not okay for me to date one of them? Is my relationship affecting you? Is it physically harming you? No." -Tay

 

   “Can someone tell me what just happened, here?” Tamera asked, breaking the tense filled silence. “Why did she leave?”

     Bianca shrugged.

     “I have no idea, but she clearly wants to be alone so let’s just leave her be, for now. Hopefully, whatever the problem is, it will work itself out.” Bianca reached for her phone when she noticed the abandoned rose on the table. “Looks like we’ll be playing Cupid today. Tamera can you translate this message to Kai for me?”

     The woman nodded.

     “Sure. What am I saying?”

     “Can you explain to Kai that this rose was meant for him? Mercedes didn’t mean to hurt his feelings last night and that she asks for his forgiveness.”

     “Wait, what happened last night?”

     “Honestly Tamera, this is neither the time nor the place to discuss this.”

     The other replied sternly.

     “Alright alright. I’m ready when you are.”

     Bianca rephrased the apology and Tamera translated it to the best of her ability, making the waiter’s eyes grow wide at her words.

     “R-really?” Kai couldn’t see Mercedes as the type that cared enough to apologize. “Why couldn’t she tell me this herself?” The waiter asked the other two who only stared back at him in silence. “Nevertheless, I accept her apology.” Kai gently lifted the rose from Tamera’s hands and looked back at the glass doors where Mercedes left earlier. “Excuse me for a moment, ladies.”

     Jongin left them in search of his boss.

 

~*~

 

     Amongst the quickening rush of customers, a young Korean woman in her early twenties with wide brown eyes and long wavy blue hair went unnoticed by the buzzing staff as she walked through the café, eyes roaming the interior for a certain barista that she absolutely adored.

     Yixing  stepped out of the kitchen and grimaced when he spotted the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

     Out of all days, did she really have to make an appearance today? He knew that something bad was bound to happen unless he acted quickly.

     “Is there something that I can help you with, Miss?”

     Lay asked with fake concern.

     The blue haired woman didn’t even bother to look up at the manager.

     “I’m here for Minseok-oppa as always, is he here by any chance?”

     “No. If you’re here to harass my employees, then please leave.”

     The younger of the two scoffed.

     “Don’t you have something better to do besides being a burden to me? I only came to speak with him.” The woman snapped as she passed Yixing, failing to notice the growing smirk on his face. “Go be a manger for once, and leave me alone.”

     “You know, he has a girlfriend…” Lay trailed off, relishing the sudden hesitance in her steps before she stopped completely and faced him with an angry scowl. “So, I hope that you weren’t planning on confessing to him or anything. Oh, and before you ask, yes. She’s tall, exotic, and has a killer body. Let me sum it up for you.” Yixing offered snidely. “She’s completely out of your league, little girl.”

     “No way.”

     Yixing grinned.

     “Way. Oh, there she is now.” The manager said as he pointed to one of the stunning foreign women at table fourteen. “Beautiful isn’t she? From what I hear, she’s not too shabby with Korean either. See how you don’t compare?”

     “Oh please, she’s fat!” The girl insisted as she looked the other over from head to toe. “If this black whale wants a battle then she’s got one!”

     The woman rolled her eyes and stormed out of the café, but not before she bumped the laughing manager on the way out.

 

~*~

 

     “Junmyeon? Sorry to interrupt you, but I seriously need a favor.”

     The said man looked up at his employee from his computer.

     “What is it, Jongin?”

     “I kind of need you to cover a table for me.” The younger inwardly cringed as his boss looked him over. When Suho spotted the rose in the pocket of his vest and a red ribbon tied around his wrist, he wanted to question the other about it, but thought better of doing so. “Please? I promise that I won’t take long.”

     The older man sighed.

     “Go ahead Kai, but hurry back.”

     Jongin smiled at Suho brightly before he hurried out of Suho’s office.

     “Wait Kai! You never told me what table I’m picking up for you!”

     “It’s table fourteen. Good luck!”

     ‘Luck?’ Junmyeon scratched his head. ‘Why would I need luck?’

     As the store owner opened the door, he could only gawk at the chaotic scene before him.

     More customers entered the café, forcing both Wooyoung and Sehun to work harder in Kai’s absence and it looked as though Lay had his hands busy with a troublesome blue haired woman that didn’t appear to be happy at all.

     Deciding to ignore the entropy for a moment, Junmyeon breathed deeply as he made his way to Kai’s unfinished table when his eyes widened in shock.

     These very familiar customers were the girls that he saw at the club last night.

     And suddenly, Junmyeon felt as though he had been set up rather than just doing a favor for an employee.

     Throwing his shock aside too, he stood before them and took Kai’s position as their waiter. As soon as he got there, however, the long haired woman yelped in surprise.

     “What the heck happened to my phone?! Why is everything in Korean?” Bianca frantically searched through her phone to find a way to reverse the alteration. “I can’t read this, any of it!”

     Suho really wished that he paid attention to his English teacher in high school because he could only make out a few words of the woman’s distress, but it was fortunately enough for him to understand what the problem was.

     Bianca hadn’t even realized that there was another person besides her and Tamera at the table until a hand appeared before her.

     “May I try?” The store owner asked in very accented English. Surprised, Bianca handed him her phone. She was curious to see what he would do. “English setting?”

     Bianca nodded and Suho started working on the gadget.

     Now, he wasn’t exactly a phone specialist, but he remembered his cousin’s constant bragging over how he successfully managed to swap the native language on his phone to English.

     It didn’t take long before the store owner performed a factory reset on the Nokia Lumia 365 and finally handed it back to her.

     Bianca unlocked her phone and was relieved to see that everything was as it should be, in English.

     “My phone, you fixed it, thank you so much!”

    The woman smiled as she simultaneously hugged him.

     Suho was stunned for a moment, but he found himself wrapping his arms around her, as well.

     Tamera couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Maybe Bianca didn’t quite understand the rules of PDA in Korea, but the man looked about ready to explode in embarrassment. She had never seen that shade of red on a person before!

     “Um, Bianca?”

     The said woman glanced over her shoulder at the other.

     “What is it?”

     “I think you might need to let go…”

     Bianca looked up to a very flustered Junmyeon and thanked him again before she released him from her grip.

     “Aish…” The store owner rubbed the back of his head in a cute manner before he dropped off their check and retreated to the kitchen to calm himself down.

 

~*~

 

     Strewn about the park that she had found were red and pink flowers that had fallen from the trees above, portraying the romantic atmosphere of the holiday.

     But the quixotic scenery did little to make her feel loved at all. In fact, she felt as if Valentine’s Day was against her.

     She felt betrayed.

     Memories of her college years came flooding back to her at an unexpected pace, reopening wounds that she thought had healed long ago.

     Mercedes let herself rest among the swaying grasses under a shady tree and closed her eyes, trying to make herself forget about her past when she heard leaves and twigs snap under nearing footprints.

     Her eyes met Kai’s before she turned her back to him, opting to look at the tree rather than him.

     “What are you doing here? I thought you were working.”

     “I took a break.” The man replied as he sat down next to her, noting the awkward atmosphere between them. “I uh, got your apology gift…thank you.”

     “Why are you thanking me? I couldn’t even apologize to your face.” Mercedes mumbled from behind her hands. “I should be the one, thanking you.”

     Kai sighed.

     “I told your friends that I accepted your apology, so I won’t go back on it. Even if it didn’t come from you, but I do have a question and I think that you owe me an answer.”

     Mercedes raised an eyebrow.

     “Oh really, now?”

     “It’s the least that you can do.”

     He clarified and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

     “Fine. Shoot.”

     “Why do you hate Asians so much? Who hurt you to make you feel this way?”

     “No, no. I owe you one answer, so pick a question.”

     Kai chuckled.

     “Alright, the first one.”

     Mercedes shrugged.

     “A few years back, you wouldn’t believe that I was actually a very open-minded girl. Race made no difference to me and at the time, love had no boundaries.” A cool breeze blew over the two of them and Mercedes let the air glide between her fingers. “I met this sweet Asian guy and I fell for him instantly and pretty soon, we started dating. We were happy, but one day he...he hurt me in a way that changed the way I saw these people forever and I guess that I never got over it…I just don’t trust Asian people, anymore.”

     Mercedes finished, making sure to leave out any specifics that would give anyone away. She was hoping that Kai hadn’t noticed.

     ‘So she really is just damaged.’

     Kai thought as he looked down at her.

     “There isn’t more to the story?”

     The other asked, causing the woman to panic for a moment, but she recovered like a pro.

     “Sorry kid, but it’s your own fault.” Mercedes smirked triumphantly. “You never said that I had to give details so…”

     A similar smirk showed on Kai’s face as his and Mercedes’ gazes connected once again.

     “Oh, I see. Nicely played.”

     “Thank you. Now I have a question for you.” Kai gave her his undivided attention. “Why do you care so much about what I think? And be specific.”

     “Yah…”

     “I answered yours.”

     “Yeah, but I deserved an answer.”

     “Then can you do me a favor and return the gesture?”

     Kai laid back on the grass and stared up at the sunlight that filtered in through the leaves and flowers along the branches above him.

     “Long story short, I’m intrigued by you. I really don't know what else to say, other than that.” Liar, but he would be a fool to tell her the whole truth. “Listen, I know that you don’t really like Asians, but is it possible for us to just be friends? Believe it or not, all Asian people are not the same. So what do you say?”

     Mercedes plucked a blade of grass from the earth and twirled it between her fingers.

     “I guess I can at least, try.” The woman smiled radiantly, making Kai’s heart flutter at the action. “Sure, Kai.”

    

 

~*~

 

     Suho had returned to table fourteen once again to check on them when he noticed that Bianca was once again tapping along the screen on her phone in a furious manner while she stared at her phone in horror.

     “Oh no, this can’t be happening…where are all of my contacts? They can’t be gone, there’s just no way…”

     But that category in her phone was empty.

     Taking a huge risk and fighting the blush that slowly crept along his cheeks, Suho carefully slipped the phone out of her hands and typed something prior to returning the device to the now speechless owner and removed some trash before leaving yet again.

     “What happened, Bianca?”

     The other woman said nothing. She just turned her screen to Tamera and the woman immediately started squealing in delight.

     Listed under contacts was a new number and above it was the name; Kim, Junmyeon.

 

Author's Note: Alright, so the rest of Mercedes' problem will be revealed soon because I need that drama for a little later on, trust me when I say that it was pretty low how this guy did her. And just so you know, I've already introduced her ex in the story. Also, I want to thank all of my subscribers and people who have been commenting and upvoting this story. I am truly grateful for all of you guys! Btw, I also have a story called 'The Parity Principle' and I'm also paired up with an amazing ambw fanfic writer, TheSecretFanGirl1992.  If you're into black girls with elemental powers and VIXX, then this story is definitely for you! It can be found on my page in the Co-authored section.