“Have you ever believed in fate?” Do you think it can be real if I wish to marry my Idol? Jia was thinking so deeply to the point that she was full of questions, yet she couldn't answer them. Her hair is messy. She is lying in bed. While looking at her phone. Her eyes are focused on one thing, and that's the photo of her childhood friend, Hae-joon. Who's now a famous idol from the group called Crescent Fate.

She sighed “Why am I thinking like this?”

Jia's sight remains fixed on the phone. While the reminiscence of the fresh old days played in her head. She missed the boy, the boy who gave her assurance that he would come back after ten years. And yet he didn't fulfill his promise.

“It's been 10 years... And yet, I still didn't move on.” Jia’s lips form a bitter smile, and the crack in her voice is clear.

Under the tree, 10 years ago. That day, I was waiting for you on the corner of the tree... It was cold at that time. And it took me five hours to wait for you late at night... Yet, a single glimpse of your shadow didn't appear.

After an hour of waiting, I still waited—waiting for the longing of missing you. I sat in the corner and leaned my head against the trunk of the tree. I tried to close my eyes to rest, but my whole consciousness was wide awake. Being in that state of rest allowed me to comfort myself.

“Will you still come…?” I mumbled.

After the following hour of waiting, I almost fell asleep, yet Hae-joon didn't show up at our meeting place. In that moment reality hit me—reality that my dear best friend wouldn't show up again.

I lifted my head that had been leaning on the trunk of the tree for an hour, and whispered something into the wind. “Maybe you already forgot about me…” I smiled bitterly from the pain.

After that long flashback in my memories, I got up from my messy bed. And walked towards the living room. My expression at that moment was bright, full of joy and merriment. I checked my daily list on my phone. But before I had even gone halfway through the living room, I stopped when I received a message from my friend, Jinhee.

@Jinhee
“Are you open for part-time today?”

I got happy when I received that text from Jinhee, because I know I can earn money from that. I was momentarily delighted and quickly gave her a reply.

@Jia
“Sure! Where is it? And what kind of job?”

I immediately asked that question to ensure that part-time job, just in case I couldn’t handle the work and I was just accepting things blindly.

@Jinhee
“Server and cleaner at Blackcoffee.”

@Jia
“Is that the one near KOSMOS Studio?”

My heart was pounding fast because of nervousness, I was hoping that cafe is not far from that studio. I whispered a prayer, hoping it would be near. Maybe I might see him there—just maybe. “But, hopefully…” Jinhee took less than 10 seconds to answer my question.

@Jinhee
“Yup!”

I literally jumped in joy when I received that answer from Jinhee. I couldn’t explain it, but it felt like my whole brain was celebrating because of her answer.

@Jia
“Alright, I’ll accept it! What time is it?”

The excitement on my face was unimaginable, I didn’t hesitate to shower and eat, even though Jinhee hadn’t answered my question yet.

@Jinhee
“Go here before 12PM.”

Not even 12PM when I arrived at Blackcoffee Cafe, the inside of it smells like coffee beans that had been shredded, and the dust of it carried by the wind. “It smells so good!” I said as I entered.

Jinhee immediately greeted me, already wearing an apron. “Oh, you’re already here! You’re kind of early, aren’t you? Wasn’t it supposed to be 12? Why did you arrive at 11?”

I fakely laughed at her, knowing my real agenda here. Might be a bit odd if I were to tell her. “N-no reason! I just left early, you know, so I wouldn’t get stuck in traffic.”  

“Hmm, Is that so?” She gave me a suspicious glare, even raising an eyebrow at me. She looked like she didn’t trust my explanation.

“I swear it’s true!”

“Okay, okay! I believe you.” She laughed and continuesly on what I said, as if she was enjoying teasing me.

Not long after she finished teasing, she handed me an apron just like hers. “Here, wear this!” I immediately got the apron from her hand and wore it around my neck and tied it at my back.

“Let’s go! So I can explain to you what you’ll be doing.”

I nodded in response. We walked toward the counter, and there she explained what I needed to do. But while she was explaining things to me, I asked her a question.

“Wait, wait, wait! I have a question?! Do people from KOSMOS ever come here?”
“Employees? Yeah, there are some.” She was a bit puzzled by my question, but it wasn’t obvious that I was looking for someone.

“No! Like handsome ones?”

“Ohhh, celebrities!? Yeah, there are.” She answered.

I was a bit disappointed because she still didn’t get what I meant. “No! L-like bands or something?”

“Oh please, stop pretending! Crescent Fate, right?” A smile formed on her lips when she realized she got the right answer. “Who’s your bias?” she quickly followed up.

“Ah… N-no one! I’m not a fan of that group.” I immediately denied it. “I-I just asked.” I couldn’t look her in the eyes because of embarrassment.

"I guess…” She tried to hide her laugh when she said that. I probably looked like a crazy person from the speed and amount of questions I asked.

“W-what you mean? Do they buy here? Every day? Often? Rarely?”

“Well, how would I know? I don’t know, find it yourself.” Her smile stretched from ear to ear, like she was hiding something from me. “Anyway, your job here is just to serve and clean.”

She was about to leave when I stopped her by grabbing her hand. “W-wait! How did you even get me this part-time job?”

She looked in my direction and answered the question. “Nothing special, I just know the manager of this store.” She gave me a casual reply and walked away to return to her spot as the one who makes coffee.

It was peak hour, and the store was full of customers. I had been handing out their orders nonstop. I was already tired, but it was worth it because most of our customers were Crescent Fate fans.

“Do you think we’ll see them here?” whispered two girls while sipping their frappes at the side.

Oh, I wish I could see them too. I whispered underneath my breath.

While I was cleaning the table in the corner, Jinhee’s words still haunted me because of curiosity. They kept bugging my head like a broken record.

Why does it look like she’s hiding something from me? I murmured in my mind.

I shook my head, trying to erase my attention from that thing, so I just listened to the customers talking. Almost all of them had the same topic.

They were all talking about their bias, their favorite music, and the last one and most controversial topic was: ‘Who is the hottest?’ Some of them were even arguing just to prove that their bias was the best in that conversation.

“Jinhoo is hotter! Did you see his blog? He was flexing his biceps while working out.” boasted one girl to her friend.

The other didn’t back down and bragged about her bias too. “Jinhoo? Please! Kangwoo’s hotter because he recently flexed his abs while dancing on stage.”

After the two spoke, another one chimed in. “Stop it! For me, it’s Hae-joon! My bias is hotter—his voice is amazing even without abs. That’s okay. At least he’s a green flag.”

When I heard those words from the girl defending Hae-joon, I slightly raised an eyebrow.

Green flag? Really!? Your ass. I chuckled when I said those words in my mind. Knowing the real personality of that person always makes me sick. Duh! He snubbed me 10 years ago. So it makes sense if I’m bitter at him.

The only reason I want to see him again is so I can ask why he didn’t show up ten years ago. I just want some clarification so I can live peacefully. Because every time I sleep, that memory from ten years ago always torments me.

But since he is already an idol, I think it’s kind of impossible if I wanted to meet him. I mean, he is a popular and known person. So it’s really impossible to cross our paths again.

“I think even God himself didn’t want us to meet.” I smiled painfully with my sorely words.

“All these fans of his who are here in this cafe haven’t even seen him yet, and I—someone who only gets part-time jobs—what chance do I even have?” I whispered.

I no longer cared about the things I said out loud, but there was still a sting that flowed through my heart every time I thought about those things.

Maybe he really has forgotten me. I repeated those same words, words I’ve been saying for ten years now.
I lifted my eyes from the table I was cleaning and diverted my gaze to the outside. 

I looked at KOSMOS Studio. The studio where my “Boyfriend—I mean, Boy-friend!” works.

“Will we ever meet again… Hae-joon?”