Yoongi couldn't work.

He had been playing around with his keyboard with a tune on the loop.

He was still curious.

He was curious about Jae and how she ended up working there. As a cleaner to boot. He had nothing against cleaner, but knowing her background, he couldn't help but wonder. The thought had been nagging him since the day they bumped into each other at the dance studio.

She was always following him back then.

He couldn't go anywhere without seeing her when she was home for summer holiday that year. It was a year before he landed the audition for Big Hit. He didn't know her well enough but he knew her brother, Ahn Chin-Hwa. They were both orphans and they were born several years apart. They were well off too. He didn't know much, but her brother was doing well with his business. He had some restaurants, cafes and he had just started a music company. Yoongi thought he was quite respectable when he worked for him, until he was conned and ripped off.

Which lead to the accusation.

He knew it was bad reaction. He was just shocked to see her there and there was a mix of emotions, solely towards her brother. It was actually years since he that happened, but it was still raw.

He sighed.

His laptop was safe. There were a lot of songs in there that he hadn't manage to upload to his cloud storage. The first thought that came to his head was, not again. It was kind of like a self-preservation, even though Jae was not the culprit. His beef was with her brother, not her.

About Jae.

She was actually a musical prodigy. He knew she went to an art school in the US but he didn't pay much details as to where. He knew she performed at Carnegie Hall when she was 10 – The whole town was buzzing about her accomplishment. The news was even covered nationally. That was a huge feat for anyone to actually perform there solo. In one of her letters to him, she said she wanted to get into Juilliard.

He wondered if she did.

She said she was already in Seoul since 4 years back.

Some prodigies usually got in Juilliard and were done with the programme before they hit 20s.

If she didn't, what did she do when she stayed in Seoul?

If she did, why did she ended up here, working a menial job?

Shouldn't she be out there playing in a grand show or even have her own solo concerts?

Yoongi gave up working.

He looked at the clock and saw it was 2 a.m. He decided to walk to clear off his head. The streets was practically empty and despite the late hours, it was safe for him to go out. The alleys were equipped with security cameras to ensure the safety of pedestrians.

The night was cold and breezy. Yoongi pulled up his hoodie and began his walk. He went aimlessly for half an hour until he saw a 24 hour convenience store. He had not been there before at night time. Stopping by for a cup of ramyeon would be nice, he thought. The privacy at the late hours is refreshing

He went straight in and headed for the ramyeon aisle with a basket. He took a big bowl of instant noodles, a pack of instant rice, hard-boiled egg, kimchi, a fish cake and a can of beer. He surely missed Korean convenience store when he was away. Not that he could frequent the store that often. The fans would be flocking up on him even if he try to do mundane, day to day business.

"Is that all?" asked the cashier politely.

Yoongi's head went straight up and stopped taking his things from the basket as he heard the question. He thought his eyes or his head was playing around with him as lo and behold, Jae was the one behind the counter.

"Is that all, sir?" she repeated again, sounding annoyed.

He blinked. Yoongi thought the mirage was so real that she even sounded quite peeved.

"Yes, I am real," she said again as she started scanning his food. He didn't realize that he said his thoughts out loud.

"You work here?" he asked.

"No, I am just here as a hobby," replied Jae sarcastically. "What does it look like?" she continued and told him how much he had to pay. He was about to open his mouth but stopped. He gave her the exact amount and brought his food to the hot water and microwave section. He had so many questions in his head but he just didn't know how to start. The best thing to do at that moment was to do what he planned to do.

Eat.

He finished his food in record time and he barely remembered the taste. The store was empty, just with the sound of the television acting like a white noise in the background. Jae was not even watching it. She was sitting at the counter, looking at her phone pretending he was not there. Yoongi took a deep breath and went to the counter.

"I'm sorry," he said. Now that was easy wasn't it? He praised himself.

Jae blinked and looked up. "For?" she asked. She was not going to make it easy on him.

"Sorry for being an ass last week and sorry for making you clean up my whole mess and still be an ass while you were on it," he blurted.

"Apology accepted, especially on being an ass. The clean-up part was my job. No apology needed," Jae decided to just let it pass. It was awkward enough to be working near to him. She just wanted to get it done. She only needed the money. That was all. Having a pleasant workplace with good pay was fine. It was not extravagant, but it was enough.

"Honestly I have so many things to ask," he admitted.

"I can tell," replied Jae. It was obvious. He nearly backtrack to the counter on his way to the eating station when he finished paying for the food. He was about to say something but stopped in the middle and returned to his intended destination. If she was not still mad at him at that that time, she would have thought he was adorable. Not that he needed to know that. "We were not even friends before for you to ask me questions other than the common - how are you or have you eaten that sort of stuff," she continued.

"But you were following me around back then. You even wrote to me, you said you like me. That sure means something," Yoongi reminded her.

Jae went red to her roots. Did he have to do a flashback now?  "Can we please not go there? I was a stupid kid and besides, those letters were one sided. You never replied anyway." Jae clamped her mouth shut. That last bit made her sounded really disappointed. She was, but she realized at some point of her infatuation, she shouldn't expect that much. Especially after the stunts she pulled, he was probably frightened to death. She was probably his first sasaeng fan and she was not proud of it.

"You were surely unforgettable," he added with his gummy smile.

"Are you here to rile me up after that apology?" Jae asked.

"Sorry," he apologised again looking a bit flustered. She started to feel bad for him. He was dying of curiosity for sure.

"How about we take this one day at a time. I am not prepared to play 20 questions with you," she admitted.

"That sounds fair. Truce?" he asked.

"Truce," Jae nodded. "You can ask me 1 question a day. I know you have a lot. Just ask the one that you wanted to know for that day."

"Only 1? Come on. 3," he bargained.

"No. 1."

"Don't be stingy, I'll ask you 3 that really counts," he tried again.

"That's still a lot. 1."

"You're one tough cookie. 2 and I promise I'll help you clean up at the office," he promised offering his hand.

"Deal," she agreed and shook on it.

"When I can," he added.

"You're a cheat!" she objected.

"No, backtracking. It's a done deal," he defended.

"No, it's not," she shot back.

"Yes, it is," he replied again.

"No, it's not," she was adamant.

"No, it's not," Yoongi maneuvered.

"Yes, it is," replied Jae without thinking.

"Thank you for agreeing," Yoongi smiled, knowing he won this round.

Jae bit back, realizing what she had just said and lifted her hands in defeat. "No reneging on the deal again after this," she warned.

"So, I can ask you anything?" he asked.

"Yes. Anything," she clarified.

"Anything at all?" he asked with a bit of mischief. Jae was caught off guard.

"Any questions that will not cause any thrown objects or murder," she looked at him sternly.

He nodded, "Fine. So can we start now?"

"Sure. Fire away," she said.

"What's your number?" Yoongi patted himself mentally for being a smooth operator. "That doesn't merit a thrown object or murder," he reminded her when she hesitated.

"What's yours? I'll call you straight up," she offered. He told her his number and she dialed it straight away. Yoongi smiled and saved it. "Next question?"

"What time do you get off?"

"Shift ends at 6. Then I go home."

"Wait, I thought you work daytime at Big Hit."

"I do. I'm a part timer so I get in at 12," she explained.

"Don't you sleep at all?" asked Yoongi.

"That's question number 3 and I have the right not to answer it," Jae answered smugly.

"Aww, come on. First day bonus round, please?" he pleaded.

"You already got a bonus answer when I told you about my working hour," she reminded him.

"You're really stingy," he complained.

"Thrifty, yes. Stingy, no," Jae clarified smugly.

"I gotta go now," said Yoongi as he looked at his watch.

"Walk safe."

"You too," he said before leaving the store.

He walked back to the studio smiling.

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

Author's note:

1. Juilliard School is a prestigious Art School in New York with art programme that covers drama, music and dance. Getting in is tough as students have to go through auditions and only a 100++ students were accepted yearly. Those who auditioned are talented people whose age are between 8 to 18 years old.

2. Carnegie Hall is considered the most prestigious of all in the United States when it comes to classical music. Like Juilliard, it is also located in New York.