A few weeks passed, and the rumor began to die down.

Nothing had happened so far, but Hyun Ae kept herself on alert mode. Not to make the others worried about her as it bothered her too.

After placing a cute chocolate tart, finished with chocolate shaves, she picked up the ceramic plate, placing it onto the serving tray with a dessert spoon on a single napkin. Then she made her way to the corner of her café, where someone was busy with his pencil and notepad.

"Hi," she whispered, loud enough for him alone to hear the call.

"Oh, hey Hyun Ae," Namjoon smiled, inviting her to take the seat across from him. She chuckled as she took the seat, slowly placing down the tray on the table in front of her.

"So... How's work?" she began to ask.

"Improved. Ever since you let me hang around here, it helps me day by day."

"I'm happy to hear that. So..."

She picked up the dessert and the spoon from the tray, and then placed the tray on the other table next to her. She slid the dessert towards him with a smile.

"It's on me. I made this myself and there's only one of this today, so you must accept it."

"Well, thank you," Namjoon softly laughed, as he took the spoon and cut a small piece of the tart.

"How is it? Is it okay?" she asked with anticipation.

"Are you kidding me? This is amazing!" he laughed, taking another scoop as he asked. "How are you doing these days?"

"Fine. Happy. Excited. The proposal got approved, so this café is in the process of upgrading to the next level."

"Oh, so you're really turning it into a restaurant?"

"Yeah. Not a really big one. Just... a small one. Since this isn't really a big place, to start with."

"Well, you can look for a bigger one."

"I'm not sure where I would find it."

"I'll help you," Namjoon offered, taking another bite of the dessert. "Maybe you can try a location where tourists always visit. Aside from here, maybe in Dongdaemun, or Mapo. Or Hongdae."

"You're right. I'll check around those areas," Hyun Ae nodded her head in agreement with her hand on her chin, thinking.

After a short moment, she looked back at Namjoon, who was watching her with eyes full of worry. "What?"

"Are you okay, with all this... stuff that had happened to you? These sasaengs plotting to look for you?"

"What do you mean? I'm fine with all of it. Plus, those sasaengs are just like 1 out of 100. And ARMYs always take care of each other, you should know that."

"I was just... You're a different kind of ARMY than the others, YOU should know that" he pointed out, looking down at the half-eaten dessert. "Maybe one day, you get sick of all of these and then eventually avoid us-"

"Hyun noona!" A voice called out to Hyun Ae, getting her attention.

"Oh um... Hyun Wook's calling me. Sorry, I'll be right back," Hyun Ae excused herself, as she quickly stood up and grabbed the tray as kept on bowing her head to him.

"It's okay, just go," he smiled, giving her little nods before she left him behind.

These feelings... Does it even exist? Namjoon thought to himself and continued to write quick notes in his book.

Hyun Ae stomped her feet against the wooden flooring as she made her way to the front counter, where Hyun Wook was.

"What is it?!" she whispered through her gritted teeth, clearly mad with her brother.

"I'm hungry~" he whined, tapping the countertop with his finger, weakly.

"You- Urgh, you've interrupted me just because you're hungry?! It's your lunchtime, so go out and eat! You're an adult!"

"I want that tteokbokki you bought last time, but I don't know where it is."

"I can give you the location-"

"Pleaseee~ Get it for me~" Hyun Wook immediately clasped his hand together, begging. Exactly hitting his big sister's soft spot.

"I can't believe you," Hyun Ae sighed, finally defeated by her brother. She walked around the counter and picked up her bag from the drawer in the corner.

"Hehe. I love you noona!" Hyun Wook giggled, patting her shoulders happily.

"For someone who is younger than me, but looking like a bodyguard. Are you trying to act cute? Sheesh! Be grateful I'm soft because it's you, you lazy bum," Hyun Ae chuckled, pinching both of his cheeks, unaware of Yoon Hee watching and giggling at the sight.

"He's cute, right?" Hyun Ae asked Yoon Hee, who then immediately nodded.

Before Hyun Ae left the shop, she glanced at Namjoon, and as if he sensed it, he looked up from his book to her. Using gestures, she informed him that she had to go out, and then he nodded in his response and waved at her.

"Be safe, Hyunnie noona!" Hyun Wook said, waving his hand at her as she finally left the shop.

***

"Phew! That was... a long queue," Hyun Ae exhaled as she stepped out of the full tteokbokki shop. She looked to her side, where there was still a long line in the queue.

Shaking her head, she glanced at the plastic in her hand. One serving of tteokbokki for her brother. "Well, I got it anyway."

She began to walk by the sidewalk, on her way to the subway station back, when suddenly she was stopped by a group of three high-school girls with their black masks on.

Oh no, Hyun Ae gasped inside, immediately hugging the food closer to her chest as she took a step back, realizing her current situation.

"Found you," the girl in the middle said when the other two suddenly linked their arms, each on both of Hyun Ae's arms. They began to drag her towards the nearest small alley by the sidewalk.

"W-W-Wait, hey! Let me go! Let me go-"

"Shut up!" the same girl hissed as she grabbed Hyun Ae's neck tight, making her short of breath instantly.

Oh no, I'm screwed.

*

"Ah!!!"

Hyun Ae shrieked as her knees scraped the road surface. As she propped herself up by her elbows, she took a glance at her side, just to see the take-out she had earlier was ruined.

She turned and sat up, pushing herself back against the wall behind her as she asked the young girls.

"What do you guys want from me?!"

One of them stepped forward and crouched down in front of her. Then a hand reached out to Hyun Ae's collar, grabbing it.

"We want you to STAY AWAY FROM OUR YOONGI OPPA!" the girl warned, slapping Hyun Ae's left cheek with her other hand.

Ah... the sasaengs, Hyun Ae thought to herself as her head hung weakly to one side. And before she could turn to face the girl, something hard hit her head.

An egg was thrown on her head.

"Throw more on her! She deserves it!"

And on that command, one by one, eggs were thrown at Hyun Ae, who was trying to protect herself with her arms up over her head, crying as she screamed.

"STOP, PLEASE! THOSE AREN'T TRUE! IT WAS ALL EDITED!"

"Just because you're their so-close friend, that doesn't mean you can hook up with my Yoongi oppa. Understand?"

Sobbing, Hyun Ae looked up at the girls as she pushed her ruined hair back, getting a clearer vision of her attackers.

"Is it wrong, for me... and other people being their FRIENDS?! I don't understand all of you, sasaengs!" Hyun Ae shouted, anger filled her mind, body, and soul accompanied by her tears.

"She irritated me!" the same girl angered, suddenly dashed towards Hyun Ae, giving her another slap on her cheek, before grabbing a handful of her hair.

"Hey, that hurts!" Hyun Ae cried, trying to free her hair from the sasaeng's grip, but it was no use when one of them was holding her arms firmly.

"Take it from my bag, quick!"

The other girl followed what the other one commanded, and pulled out scissors from her backpack.

As the scissors were passed to the one with the hair in her hand, without hesitation, she began to snip Hyun Ae's hair.

The more Hyun Ae struggled to free herself, the more her hair got cut. She cried for help, but it was almost no use. And suddenly, someone shouted from behind the three girls.

"YA!!!"

All of them, including Hyun Ae herself, turned their heads towards the end side of the alley. There stood a guy in a white shirt and black pants, looking super furious.

"Hyu-Hyun Wook..." Hyun Ae whispered, trembling as she saw her brother there, feeling glad.

But that changed almost immediately when she saw a glint of metal in his right hand.

"He's got a knife..." one of the sasaengs pointed out, pulling the rest away from Hyun Ae and their full attention was on Hyun Wook now.

"Hyun Wook, put that away! Please, put it away for me," Hyun Ae immediately begged when her brother began to dash towards the sasaengs with the small knife in his hand.

"Go, run! Please, if you want to be safe," she told the sasaengs, sending them away quickly before Hyun Wook could get them.

All three of them quickly fled, and at that moment he threw his pocket knife to the side of the alley and began to hug his sister.

"Hyun Wook!" Hyun Ae heavily sobbed into his shoulder, finally feeling safe in her brother's protective hug.

"Noona! Sorry, I'm late! What have they done to you?" he asked, worried as he continued to calm her down by stroking her head. Still sobbing, Hyun Ae pulled away from him.

"Next time... Next time, no sharp objects. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"That was just to scare them away. And why aren't you defending yourself? I thought you know how to fight."

"But I don't attack girls! And they're still in school-"

"Even if they got weapons? Noona, you're defending yourself! You're under attack. You have the right! You can't be like this all the time!"

"But, they are just minors!" Hyun Ae said, sniffing as she wiped her eyes with her hands. Then she looked to her right and spotted the ruined take-out. "I-I-I'm sorry... Your lunch is ruined-"

"I don't care about that. You are more important to me, Hyun noona. You are irreplaceable. I can lose everything in this world, but not you, mom and dad."

His words made her cry again, and he went to hug her again. And they stayed like that for a moment, sitting by the side of the road, while hugging each other.

"You're okay now?" Hyun Wook asked, and he got a nod from her. He stood up first, before helping his sister to get back on her feet. "Let's go. Let's get yourself cleaned up."

Thank goodness, the subway station wasn't that far. As they made their way to the station, people were staring at both of them.

Most probably because Hyun Ae was showered with raw egg yolks all over her hair. In return, Hyun Wook would begin to stare daggers at each person who had looked at his sister with a weird look.

After both of them tapped in their transportation cards at the gate, Hyun Ae speed-walked towards the nearest toilet she found while her brother waited outside.

A few minutes later, she walked out of the toilet with her now-cleaned hair.

"What have they done to your hair?! It's uneven now! These girls are cruel!" Hyun Wook said, pushing her hair to her right so the uneven hair wouldn't look obvious as it stayed rested on her right shoulder.

"That's why I shouldn't mess with the sasaengs-"

"No. They messed with your private life. They need to be taken away by the police."

"By the way, how did you find me?"

"Tracker," Hyun Wook simply answered, showing her the screen of his phone, which clearly showed her the map of the area. "I found it weird when I saw the tracker beeping in a small alley. And I just found out that the tteokbokki shop isn't really that far though, that's why I left the shop just to look for you at that shop."

"Well, I won't complain. You saved me, anyway. Thank you," Hyun Ae smiled, as they went down the stairs where the subway platform. She was walking towards the platform that was supposed to bring them back to Hakdong, but she got dragged away to the other platform.

"Hey, it's this platform," she told Hyun Wook.

"We're going somewhere else. Cheongdamdong," he stated, pointing his finger at the subway map.

"For what?"

"Getting you a makeover. That hair needs some professional touch!"

***

Two weeks passed by. Since the day that Namjoon saw Hyun Ae leave the café to buy her brother's lunch, he hadn't seen her yet. Even though he went to the shop like always, never missing a day, he never saw her.

Whenever he asked Hyun Wook about it, he just answered that she was busy with a new project and preferred spending some time alone to get inspiration.

Namjoon took the day off as he realized that his brain couldn't process properly when the thought of Hyun Ae's sudden disappearance mingled in his mind.

In a proper disguise form, he relaxingly walked into the Starfield Library and let out an exhale, looking around at the breathtaking view of the massive library.

He looked around; tourists from many places taking pictures of the location made him smile and proud inside.

He continued to look around as he walked towards the middle of the library when he spotted someone familiar at one of the studying tables on the second floor.

He squinted his eyes, trying to make out the person as his hand rummaged into his jacket pocket, pulling out his phone.

"Hey, Hyun Wook. Um, I wanted to ask you something."

*

Hyun Ae gnawed the end of her pencil as she stared at one of the pages of a random interior design book that she had randomly pulled out from a bookshelf. She stared at the clear, blank page in front of her, waiting to be scribbled on.

Then she slammed down her pencil on the table, grunting.

"Ugh, my architectural head is not working! Hah! Ideas, where are you?"

"Take a break, girl. That'll help," suddenly a familiar voice spoke. Hyun Ae immediately turned at the voice, and her eyes widened at the view of the person.

"Long time no see, Hyun Ae," Namjoon smiled, and his dimple appeared.

*********************************************

To end this chapter, lemme show a photo of me at the YNWA bus stop during my 2019 Korea Trip ^^

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Borahae, Nana <3