" ɪ ʀᴇᴀʟɪꜱᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ. "
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Raina, after that night. Had spent that last week trying to distract herself. She had spent the following hours drinking and thinking after K left, the whiskey calming her down. She had spent the last week calling Jaehyun, Changkyun and Jihyo every night to talk about everything. Knowing if there was any time she need their guidance and advice, it was now.
The morning after Raina had blown up at K, Heeseung came and apologised. The man felt guilty for putting Raina in that situation when she wasn't ready, but Raina smacked the back of his.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. None of you do. He was your friend, our friend, before he was anything else." That is what Raina said to him, and she meant it. Heeseung wasn't the one who let K walk into her room, that was her. None of the guys should feel any sort of guilt for reconnecting with their friend.
"Umm Raina Park?" A familiar voice sounded, Raina looked up from her book to see Haru standing in front of her. Raina sat in a cosy corner of the cafe the two first met, a book in her hand and an empty cup placed on the table. Raina smiled politely, feeling a little awkward now knowing that Haru is a friend of K's and the woman wondered if he knew who exactly she was to K.
"Haru. It's a pleasure to see you again." Raina greeted softly, Haru chuckled.
"It seems like I can't escape you." He teased, running a hand through his hair. Raina eased up and laughed along with him, the woman motioned to the seat in front of her with a smile.
"Please sit." Haru smiled gratefully before taking a seat in front of the idol.
"Been busy I see." Raina commented, motioning her head to the bags of groceries laying beside Haru, just under the table.
"Yea, my roommate is away for a bit while my little brother and some friends stay at our place. So I have to stock up, god knows they'll eat all of it within the first day." Raina hummed and giggled.
"Yes, from my experience living with 7 other males is disastrous." Haru laughed and leaned forward.
"Tell me about it. How is it? living with your group members? the high life?" He asked curiously, Raina smiled at his curiosity.
"Living with the others is basically just living with 7 overgrown children. They annoy me, irritate me but in saying that...With them, there's never a dull moment. I love them. And as for the lifestyle, it's tiring, being in the spotlight pretty much 24/7, working every day for hours, the meetings, the practice, the crowds. It's tiring." Raina explained, a small smile on her face, Haru squinted his eyes and looked confused.
"Then why are you still in that lifestyle? If I may ask of course." Raina laughed at Haru's change from confusion to panic, thinking he intruded too much into her life. Raina leaned back in her seat, the smile still on her face.
"This lifestyle, as tiring and as problematic as it is. It's my dream, to make music, to connect people from all different walks of life through the music we make, to inspire people to follow their own dreams, to give people an escape from reality, to give them hope. Those are the reasons I make and do what I do, and although yes, the fame, the money, it's nice. The lavash apartments, travelling the world and having crowds of people screaming your name, all of it is nice. But...It's not why I'm making music, I don't care about my fame or the money because I can live without all of that, but I can't live with music. So, even with all the negativities that come with this job, I wouldn't trade it for anything." Haru stared at Raina with gleaming eyes as she spoke so passionately about her life as a musician, and he understood why Raina had such a big following. It's because of her passion, her honesty, and how genuine she is. His admiration for the woman in front of him grew bigger. Haru let out a low chuckle causing Raina to look at him, he noticed her look and shook his head with a smile.
"Sorry. You just remind me so much of my best friend, he speaks about dance the same way you talk about music." Raina imminently knew who he was referring to.
"Your friend...Was he the one that won the marathon competition?" Raina asked slowly, unsure if Haru knew that K and her knew each other.
"The exact one. He was actually a trainee in Korea for a while, I don't know much about his time there but from what he has told me, he went on a survival show but unfortunately didn't make it. He told me the reason he quit and left Korea is that he knew that his age would hinder him. I'm sure you're aware that most Korean music companies tend not to debut anyone older than 20 nowadays, I guess he didn't want to keep going knowing he wasn't going to make it. And although I know his reasoning for leaving, I never understood why he left. Because even now, years after, he spends most of his days in a dance studio, he went to university and studied music production, everyone in his life can see he is still passionate about dance and music which is why I can never bring myself to truly understand his decision." Haru explained and Raina swallowed hard, her hands clenching into fists under the table, she didn't know how to feeling, hearing Haru talk about K.
"...Does he regret it? Leaving?" Raina asked hestiently after a moment.
"I believe he does. Maybe not quitting the Korean music industry, but leaving behind the people he did and how he left them. He told me he fell in love with someone, he never told me her name but I know that when he left her, he left a part of him with her." Haru answered, unaware that Raina was the girl he was talking about. Raina nodded with a faraway look in her eyes, Haru chuckled once again and shook his head.
"There was this one time, a year after I met him, we were both drinking on the balcony of my apartment, he stared up at the stars and said "someone very special once told me that no matter where we are in the world, we will always have the stars to connect us to our loved ones" I knew he was referring to the friends he made in Korea and the girl he fell in love with." Haru said, Raina felt her throat close up, she remembered saying that to him back in I-LAND after Taki was eliminated. Raina was about to speak but the sound of her phone ringing stopped her, Raina looked at her phone then back at Haru.
"I'm so so sorry but I have to take this." Raina apologised, Haru quickly shook his head with a smile.
"Don't apologise, I should be going anyway. Have a good day Raina, stay safe." Raina smiled and bowed her head as Haru stood up.
"You too Haru." Haru grinned and walked away before Raina answered her phone.
"Sunshine, what's up?" Raina could hear Jake and Jay in the background.
"Sorry noona, but Taki is here right now, we're in Jay's room." The mention of Taki's name caused Raina to light up.
"Oh! I'll be right there!" Raina said before hanging up and quickly gathering her things up, but as she went to pay for her drink and waitress shook her head with a smile.
"The gentleman that was with you already paid, and he said to give this to you." Raina looked down to see a napkin, black ink imprinted on it.
I hope to hear from you soon Raina Park - Haru
Along with the message was his phone number, Raina grinned and shook her head. Raina thanked the waitress and made her way back to the hotel, her heart and mind a little lighter.
"Taki!" Raina yelled the moment Jay's door opened, Taki grinned and hugged the older woman tightly.
"Wow, what are we? Ghosts?" Jay said sarcastically, Raina rolled her eyes still grinning and skipped to Jay, hugging him and placing theatrical kisses on his cheeks.
"Jay! My one and only! Oh how my world was dull until you graced my poor unfortunate soul with your magnificence!" Raina yelled dramatically, Jay groaned and pushed Raina away by her forehead.
"Okay okay! I get it you freak." Raina laughed and went back next to Taki, the two stood a bit away from the group.
"Noona...they. They told me about K." Taki said quietly, anxiously fiddling with his own fingers.
"...Is it true? He's here?" Taki asked softly. Raina bit her lip and looked at Taki softly, his eyes staring back at Raina. She knew he missed K as much as they all did.
"Yea...He's here Taki." Raina said softly before nodding over to Heeseung.
"Heeseung has K's number, if you want it just ask him." Raina said with a smile and although Taki was ecstatic, he hesitated for a moment, K might have been a big part of Taki's life but he hurt Raina. Raina sensed his hesitation and shook her head and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Just like I said to the other. K was our friend before he was anything else, I know you guys are being considerate of me and I'm grateful for it. But what has happened between K and I stays between him and I. Go, catch up with him Taki, I know he misses you as much as you miss him." Raina said and Taki smiled before practically sprinting to Heeseung and asking him for K's number. As much as K has hurt her, he was important to the others and deep down K was still important to Raina, she knew that but she wasn't going to accept nor admit it.