You know those days between Christmas and New year? When it feels empty because nothing's happening, but at the same time, it feels like we have to get ready for something. We just keep wondering what that something is, until we find ourselves waking up one morning and it's already the start of another year.

Kio feels just like that.

But he quickly realized that he should not waste any more time doing nothing. He first decided to find out more information about Asher's past relationship without the others getting suspicious. It wasn't easy since he kept reminding himself to be careful. Not until Gun suddenly invited him to eat out with Enzo one morning, on the twenty-eighth.

"Aren't you shooting anything these days, Zo?," he asked while Gun was by the counter, ordering.

Enzo looked up from his phone, "I have no work as of the moment, but I'm considering an offer. Some teen mystery drama..."

He nodded, "your previous one was really good, I used to watch it with Ash."

His companion laughed, "I'm sure I ain't the reason why you two were watching it."

Gotcha.

"Well for Ash, yeah, you're not," he playfully uttered. "Ahh... the idiot was so in love with her, who would've thought?"

"It happens, especially in our line of work. Still, they were together for two years, that's impressive if you ask me. And they weren't caught by anyone, I should ask him for tips."

He came home that day with additional knowledge about Asher and his ex. They've been together for two years, broke up the last day of Eunjung's taping for the drama and only a month after, the girl was already seen dating the co-star she supposedly caught feelings for.

Ash handled the breakup maturely but there were noticeable changes in his attitude. This information didn't come from Enzo, but from his private messages with Haneul. He found lots of their past conversations where he asked him for suggestions of what he can do to cheer up their heartbroken friend.

When he was satisfied with what he knew, and obtained the information he needed to justify his decision of helping Lilac, that's when he finally stopped prying. All he needs to do now is wait for Ash to ask him how Li got his number. When that happens, it meant the girl already made her move.

He sighed and smiled to himself, gazing at the hourglass displayed meters away from him.

"Do it baby, text him. As long as you're happy, I'll be fine," he absentmindedly whispered. He stared a bit longer before looking back down the sheet of paper in front of him.

He is spending his remaining free days rewriting the songs he wrote for her back in the original world. He submitted a few to Yohan back then, and even recorded two, but they always end up incohesive with their album's overall concept. Though a number of his songs are already released, it's always the ones he wrote for the members or the fans, and not for Lilac.

The leader once talked to him about it. He probably noticed he's starting to feel bothered about the constant rejection.

"You tend to get too deep and personal with your songs for your girlfriend," the guy gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Well yeah, we have more personal songs with deeper meanings than the ones you wrote, but I think Chief is still being careful when it comes to you. Once we released these songs with these lyrics, and with your name on the writing credits, what do you think will our fans think? Just wait a bit more."

"They'll think it's just a typical love song," he shrugged.

Yohan shook his head, "trust me, what you wrote are not just typical love songs. Whenever I read those lyrics, I sometimes can't help but wonder how can one person love someone this much. And among the members, it's you Ki-Ryeong—the youngest—who is experiencing this type of love. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling and thinking this way."

Since then, he would keep writing songs for Lilac but will only submit the ones he wrote for the fans. He once tried putting double meanings on his lyrics, and there are actually songs with those that made it through.

He decided to try doing it again, especially now that they're preparing for their comeback for the first quarter of next year. He's going to leave something here, at least, before he goes back to his world. More than a month already went by, one day he might just wake up and his time's already up. He needs to start being more serious and not easily get swayed by emotions.

"You wrote this?" Yohan unbelievingly asked the next day, after the first close-door meeting for their comeback. He followed the leader to his own studio in the company building, and presented his written lyrics to him.

"Of course," Kio chuckled a bit.

The former glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, "I didn't expect something this deep from you. You used to only write about your youth, the fans, or us... this is..."

He can clearly see a bit of uneasiness on Yohan's face. He knew the guy must be connecting what he wrote to his recent mood and actions. Fortunately, the eldest chose not to ask about it.

"Your Eyes Tell," Yohan read, "let's try recording it."

"What do you think? Can this be included in our next album?"

"We'll see... you should try suggesting it during the next meeting."

.°•⏳°.•

He finished recording late in the afternoon and was alone inside the elevator—waiting for it to arrive down the basement parking—when he felt his phone vibrate. He fished it out his back pocket and saw an incoming call from Yulhee.

His brows instantly furrowed, "is there something wrong? You never call me..."

The girl audibly sighed, "you'll thank me once I tell you why I called."

He just scoffed in response, the same moment the elevator dinged.

"Are you outside?," she immediately asked, probably hearing the sound.

"I'm in VN, but am on my way home. Care to tell me why you called?" He stepped out of the lift and brought his key fob out, pressing it once. In no time, the sound of his car being unlocked echoed throughout the wide parking space.

"Perfect! You can pick up Li from the gym then."

His steps stilled, "what?"

"You see, Lilac, Bora and I was supposed to hang out this afternoon. We planned it way before, but Bora suddenly got an unexpected schedule today so she took a rain check yesterday. Li and I still decided to meet up, and I was supposed to fetch her from the gym with my manager. But just minutes ago, I was summoned by Chief in his office."

"And why did you choose to call me? What about Gun? Much better, just tell her the truth. She can call her manager to pick her up instead."

He can't deny the small spark of excitement in his chest with the thought of seeing Lilac, but he needs to start doing things according to his plans. He can't fuck everything up now that he's finally starting what he came here for.

"Come on! I'm actually helping you out here!"

He could imagine the girl rolling her eyes, and can't help but do the same. They're like siblings bickering. Back in his world, he was never close and had never interacted this much with the girls of their rather elusive circle. He now finds having a little sister figure quite amusing.

"When did I ever say I need help? I told you, it's not what you think," he said exasperatedly.

"Whatever, I won't tell Li I won't be able to come. She'll probably wait for me for hours and—"

"Fine, fine! I can't believe you're actually planning to do that to your friend!"

"Of course not, I'm just provoking you, stupid. But it's effective... now go! I'm going to text you the address. The building has a private exit so you can park there without anyone seeing. Don't even attempt calling someone else to do it, or I'm going to tell everyone the real reason why we had a Christmas party. I'm rooting for you! Bye!"

He wasn't able to protest anymore because the girl didn't waste any second to hang up. Kio massaged his temple and continued walking towards his car, the thought of seeing Lilac after almost a week still taking its time to sink in.

"Damn," he finally uttered once he's on the driver's seat. "Alright, let's just pick her up and drive her home. That's it. That's the only thing you're going to do Ki-Ryeong."

.°•⏳°.•

Faint knocks resounded inside his car, making him turn to the passenger window. His heart instantly did its initial reaction whenever he sees her; beating harder against his chest. A frowning Lilac greeted his sight as he slid down the windshield.

"Ahn Ki-Ryeong? Why is it you?," she tilted her head confusingly.

"Chief called Yulhee for an emergency meeting, so she asked me to fetch you," he explained. "Hop in."

He watched the girl as she warily glanced around, before opening the door at the back and placing her gym bag on the back seat. She then went to the passenger's, opened it and took the seat. Once her seatbelt is fastened, Kio immediately drove out.

There was a few minutes of awkward silence, and he can't help but tighten his grip on the steering wheel. When was the last time he's with Lilac inside his car? He can't even remember. It felt so long ever since, when it must've been only a couple of months ago. The only women who were able to ride his car were his mom, Lilac and her mom. No one else. He doesn't know if it's the same in this world, considering the other Kio's personality.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly broke the tense silence. "Yulhee should've just called me, she even bothered you to do this. I'll talk to her tonight."

"It's fine," you're not bothering me at all. "Our apartments are in the same neighborhood anyway."

"How did you know?"

He nearly flinched, but immediately masked it with a faint cough, "Gun mentioned it once."

Good thing it was still the same apartment she bought in the other world so it's relatively close with his—just a ten-to-fifteen-minute drive away.

Lilac nodded and they were surrounded by silence again.

"It's snowing a bit harder today," the girl commented after he turned the wiper on. "Hmm... there are more accidents nowadays because of the weather. You should be careful when driving."

He unconsciously released a shaky breath, the memory of his nightmare resurfacing inside his mind—her accident.

"You should always ask someone you know to drive you, don't ever take a cab. There are some cab drivers who don't care about the slippery roads," he hurriedly reasoned out.

Lilac giggled, "don't worry, I always have my manager or you guys. Gun or Soonho picks me up sometimes, and we'll eat out."

That's right. I should'nt have hesitated when Yulhee asked me this favor. Lilac could have ended up taking the cab and...

"If ever there's a situation like this again, you can call me as well."

Fuck, did I just say that?

"Huh?," she sounded shocked, but he really can't blame her.

"I mean, if Gun is not available... or Soonho. I can be your third option."

"Oh! Okay, I'll remember that," she smiled.

In no time, they arrived at the apartment complex's basement parking lot. Lilac was about to thank him when they noticed a line of cars entering, followed by more.

"That's weird," she absentmindedly commented. She then quickly slid down the window when one of the security staff was about to bypass the car. "Excuse me, Sir!"

"Ma'am?," the man bowed and she did too with her head.

"Is there something wrong? There are more cars than usual."

"There's a sudden snowstorm outside, Ma'am. The management decided to allow some vehicles to stay here for safety."

"Is that so? Okay, thank you," she bowed again and when the man left, slid the window back up.

Kio can't help but close his eyes. When will fate be done playing with him? Seriously.

"You should go upstairs," he looked at his companion and smiled reassuringly. "I'll wait here like the others."

Lilac frowned, "do you really think I will leave you alone here? Despite our past animosity, I'm not that heartless, okay? You should come up with me, let's go."

He somehow expected that response already so he was prepared. He smirked, this is the time when the other Kio's reputation comes in handy. "You're really going to invite a guy like me in your house, when you're living alone? Lilac... you trust me too much."

Unexpectedly, she rolled her eyes. "Shut up, we're not even attracted to each other that way. That won't affect me, you're gross, my goodness! And I'm not even living alone, I have my kids waiting for me upstairs. Come on, but cover yourself first, we can't have our faces all over the headlines tomorrow morning."

Shit, why do I even botherplanning when everything doesn't even go according to plan? Are you the onedoing this to me, old man? Am I a joke to you?!