[No-Ah]
Being a volunteer was supposed to be simple.
In theory.
In reality, No-Ah had spent the last twenty minutes carrying boxes from one end of campus to the other because someone had misplaced half the festival supplies.
Again.
She adjusted the stack of programs in her arms and turned a corner behind one of the campus buildings.
The pathway was empty.
Finally.
Peace.
Silence.
No screaming.
No crowds.
No students asking if she'd seen Kei.
No—
A hand suddenly appeared from behind the wall.
No-Ah nearly launched the programs into orbit.
"What the—?!"
A familiar laugh followed.
"Oh, that was better than I expected."
No-Ah whipped around.
"KEI."
Kei leaned against the wall.
Entirely too pleased with himself.
Dark hoodie.
Baseball cap pulled low.
A staff lanyard hanging around his neck.
Somehow.
"Are you insane?"
"A little."
"You can't just appear behind people."
"I just did."
No-Ah looked around immediately.
Empty.
Good.
Nobody had seen.
The last thing she needed was students discovering their university's guest performer was hiding behind buildings talking to her.
"Your university was terrifying."
"What happened now?"
"One student offered me a thirty-page presentation."
No-Ah sat up.
"A presentation?"
"About why I should become her best friend."
"..."
"There were charts."
"No."
"There were charts."
"Yeah right. What are you doing here? "
"Hiding."
"From?"
"Everyone."
"You're a celebrity."
"Exactly."
Kei pointed toward the distant crowd.
"Do you hear that?"
Screaming echoed across campus.
No-Ah nodded.
"That's why I'm hiding."
"You have security."
"I escaped."
"...You escaped."
"I escaped."
No-Ah stared at him.
He looked remarkably proud of that fact.
"Your manager is going to kill you."
"Probably."
"You should go back."
"In a minute."
Kei glanced at the programs in her arms.
"Volunteer duty?"
"Unfortunately."
"How noble."
"It's free labor."
"Even more noble."
No-Ah rolled her eyes.
Then paused.
"So why are you here?"
Kei looked at her.
Like the answer was obvious.
"I was bored."
No-Ah stared.
"..."
"..."
"You escaped professional security because you were bored."
"Yes."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"Thank you."
"No, that wasn't a compliment."
"I'll take it anyway."
Before No-Ah could reply, voices drifted from the nearby pathway.
Students.
Getting closer.
Immediately, both of them froze.
"Oh no."
Kei glanced toward the corner.
The voices were getting closer.
Too close.
No-Ah risked a glance around the corner.
A group of students.
Heading straight toward them.
Her stomach dropped.
"Kei."
"Hmm?"
"We need to hide."
"I am hiding."
"You are standing in plain sight."
"I prefer the term—"
"No."
Before he could finish, No-Ah grabbed the front of his jacket and shoved him behind the wall.
Kei stumbled backward.
His shoulders hit the brick.
"What are yo—"
"Shush."
Footsteps.
Right around the corner.
No-Ah's eyes widened.
Then, to her horror, she saw the look on Kei's face.
The look.
The one that meant he was about to do something stupid.
"Don't."
His grin widened.
"Kei."
He opened his mouth.
No-Ah immediately slapped a hand over it.
Silence.
The footsteps continued past the alley entrance.
Students talking.
Laughing.
Completely unaware.
Good.
Perfect.
Exactly what she wanted.
Unfortunately—
She was now standing directly in front of Kei.
One hand still pressed over his mouth.
The realization hit her all at once.
Oh.
For several seconds, neither moved.
The students' voices slowly faded into the distance.
The danger passed.
No-Ah finally exhaled.
Then froze again.
Because Kei was looking at her.
Specifically at the hand still covering his mouth.
"..."
"..."
Slowly, very slowly, she started to pull away.
Before she could—
Kei caught her wrist.
Not tightly.
Just enough to stop her for a second.
Then he gently lowered her hand.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"I wasn't actually going to scream."
No-Ah stared.
"Yes, you were."
"I was considering it."
"That's the same thing."
"No, it's a much more responsible version."
No-Ah yanked her hand back.
"You are impossible."
"And yet you saved me."
"I was saving myself."
"Sure."
The grin returned.
The annoying one.
The one that made her want to throw something at him.
Which was good.
Because it meant things were back to normal.
Or at least as normal as anything involving Kei could be.
"You done freaking out? "
"I wasn't. "
☆ ☆ ☆
The festival ended.
Students flooded out of the courtyard, still talking excitedly about the performance.
About Kei.
About the VIP treatment.
About the girl who had somehow ended up on stage.
No-Ah slipped away before anyone could stop her.
The evening air felt cooler outside the crowd.
Quieter.
For the first time all day, she could actually hear herself think.
She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and headed toward the main campus pathway.
Then stopped.
Someone was standing ahead.
Yun-Ra.
For a second, neither of them moved.
The noise of the departing students faded into the background.
Leaving only the awkward distance that had existed between them for weeks.
No-Ah opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Yun-Ra looked down at the collection of bags hanging from her arms.
Albums.
Merchandise.
VIP gifts.
Enough to make every Kei fan on campus jealous.
Then she looked back up.
"You asked him to do that."
It wasn't a question.
No-Ah rubbed the back of her neck.
"A little."
Yun-Ra stared.
"A little?"
"Okay."
No-Ah sighed.
"Maybe more than a little."
Silence.
Then Yun-Ra laughed.
A real laugh.
The first one No-Ah had heard from her in what felt like forever.
Something in No-Ah's chest loosened.
Yun-Ra shook her head.
"He's ridiculous."
"That's what I said."
"He gave me six albums."
"I counted."
"Why six?"
"I didn't ask."
"Good."
Another laugh.
The silence that followed felt different.
Not uncomfortable.
Just...
Careful.
Like both of them were standing on a bridge that hadn't quite finished rebuilding yet.
Then Yun-Ra's smile faded slightly.
Her fingers tightened around one of the bags.
"I was really angry."
No-Ah nodded.
"I know."
"I know you didn't do anything wrong."
The words seemed difficult for Yun-Ra to say.
"I just..."
She looked away.
Then back again.
"When I saw you spending time with him, I got jealous."
No-Ah blinked.
Yun-Ra groaned immediately.
"I know. It sounds stupid."
"It doesn't."
"It does."
"It doesn't."
Yun-Ra rolled her eyes.
Then her expression softened.
"I missed you."
No-Ah's throat tightened.
Because she'd spent weeks wondering if things could ever go back to normal.
And suddenly—
There it was.
The answer.
Simple.
Honest.
"Me too."
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Yun-Ra stepped forward.
And hugged her.
No-Ah froze.
Completely.
For approximately two seconds.
Then hugged her back.
The familiar feeling nearly made her emotional.
Which was unfair.
Because Yun-Ra immediately ruined it.
"If you ever become friends with another celebrity without telling me again—"
"No."
"I'm serious."
"No."
"I'm filing a complaint."
"No."
Yun-Ra laughed into her shoulder.
And somehow—
Everything felt normal again.
☆ ☆ ☆
Later that night.
No-Ah collapsed onto her bed.
The day's events replayed in fragments.
The concert.
The stage.
Yun-Ra.
The hug.
For the first time in weeks, the tight knot in her chest was gone.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Then started ringing.
No-Ah glanced at the screen.
Kei.
Of course.
She answered.
"What do you want?"
"That's a harsh way to greet the hero of the story."
"You pointed a camera at my life."
"And yet your friendship survived."
No-Ah rolled onto her back.
"I still haven't decided whether to thank you or file a complaint."
"I accept gratitude in many forms."
"I'm hanging up."
"I totally forgot to t addell you about the concert."
No-Ah closed her eyes.
There it was.
The reason for the call.
"The deal was real?"
"You thought I spent an entire afternoon repairing your friendship for free?"
"You enjoyed every second of it."
"That doesn't mean I work pro bono."
No-Ah groaned.
Through the phone, she heard him laugh.
"You're coming."
"I said I would."
"You sound unhappy."
"I am unhappy."
"Good. I'd be concerned otherwise."
No-Ah grabbed a pillow and hugged it.
"You planned this from the beginning, didn't you?"
"The friendship repair?"
"The concert."
A pause.
Then:
"...Maybe."
"You did."
"I had faith in my abilities."
"You manipulated me."
"I helped you."
"You manipulated me while helping me."
"Details."
No-Ah couldn't help smiling.
Unfortunately, Kei seemed to hear it.
"You're smiling."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"You can't hear a smile."
"I know you."
The answer came so casually that No-Ah didn't know what to do with it.
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then Kei cleared his throat.
"So."
"What."
"How's Yun-Ra?"
The question surprised her.
Not because he asked.
Because he sounded genuinely interested.
No-Ah looked up at the ceiling.
"We talked."
"That's a start."
"We sorted things out."
"Good."
Just one word.
No teasing.
No joke.
Good.
She found herself smiling again.
"She liked the albums."
"I would hope so."
"There were a lot of them."
"There were."
"Six?"
"Seven."
"She said there was six."
"Six looked incomplete."
No-Ah stared at the ceiling.
"That makes no sense."
"It made sense at the time."
"I don't believe you."
"Fair."
The conversation settled into a comfortable rhythm.
The kind that happened when neither person felt rushed to fill the silence.
Then a thought occurred to her.
"Wait."
"Hm?"
"When is the concert?"
"You don't know?"
"You never told me."
The silence on the other end was immediate.
Then:
"...I may have forgotten that part too."
No-Ah nearly dropped her phone.
"You blackmailed me into attending a concert you don't even know?"
"It wasn't blackmail."
"It was absolutely blackmail."
"It was motivation."
"Kei."
"Fine, fine. I'll check. "
A moment.
"It's next Saturday."
"Finally."
"See? We're making progress."
No-Ah sighed.
"You're impossible."
"I've been told that."
"Frequently?"
"Almost daily."
"That doesn't concern you?"
"Not particularly."
Of course it didn't.
For a moment, all No-Ah could hear was the faint background noise from his side of the call.
Someone speaking in the distance.
A door closing.
Life moving on around him.
Then:
"You sound tired."
The observation caught her off guard.
"A little."
"Long day?"
No-Ah let out a quiet laugh.
"You invited my best friend onstage in front of thousands of people."
"Right."
"Then told the entire university I was responsible."
"Right."
"And now half the campus thinks I know you."
A beat.
"You do know me."
No-Ah opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
Because annoyingly enough—
He had a point.
The silence that followed felt different.
Lighter.
Easier.
Then Kei ruined it.
"Anyway."
"No."
"What?"
"That sounded dangerous."
"It wasn't."
"It was."
"It wasn't."
A pause.
Then:
"...What are you wearing to the concert?"
No-Ah immediately disconnected the call.
The phone buzzed almost instantly.
Kei
you're very predictable
A second message appeared.
see you saturday
A third.
and wear something nice.
No-Ah stared at the screen.
Then, despite herself—
Smiled.
And for the first time in a long while, everything felt a little simpler.
☆ ☆ ☆