The Café

UNRAVELED THREADS

3rd PERSON's POV

The sleek glass doors of JYP Entertainment loomed ahead as Y/N approached them, her ID badge hanging from her neck. The nerves she felt on her first day as a nutritionist had settled into a quiet rhythm, but the excitement of working in such a high-profile environment never quite left. She had already met a few artists, each with their unique quirks and demands, but there was always one person who stood out—the one who made her pulse race with an inexplicable tension.

Chris.

It had been weeks since the apartment party where they first connected, their banter laced with chemistry never really acknowledged aloud. Every time they met, a flicker of that night hung between them, unspoken yet undeniable. There was something about him that put her at ease—the way he mixed his playful, goofy personality with an almost fierce protectiveness. And yet, it was that very mix that kept her on edge, always wondering if today would be the day something would break between them, something deeper than friendship.

Today was no different. As she stepped into the staff lounge to grab a quick coffee before her next consultation, she found him leaning against the counter, waiting for the machine to finish brewing.

CHAN's POV

The moment I walked into the staff lounge, I could sense her before I even saw her. 

Y/N. 

There was something about her that always pulled my attention, even when she wasn't trying. Maybe it was the quiet way she held herself, or the way her eyes lit up when she smiled, even though that smile didn't always reach her eyes.

And recently, I'd been trying to figure her out. There was so much more to her than what she let people see.

I leaned against the counter, waiting for the coffee machine to finish, and sure enough, she stepped in a few moments later, that familiar calm masking whatever story she was carrying inside.

"Hey, stranger," I said, keeping it light. "I was starting to think you were avoiding me."

Her laugh was soft but not forced, and as much as I enjoyed the playful banter, I couldn't shake the feeling that something deeper was going on beneath her surface. 

"Avoiding? Me? Never. I've just been... busy."

She said it so casually, but I'd learned enough about her by now to know when she was deflecting. 

"With work, or with avoiding me?" I teased, trying to keep it light, but I was curious—had I crossed a line somewhere?

"Work, obviously. Believe it or not, some of us have responsibilities," she shot back with a playful roll of her eyes, but the tension between us lingered. It always did.

I couldn't help but push a little more. "So, dinner later? Or are you too busy avoiding me?"

She hesitated, and I could see it—the uncertainty in her eyes. I knew she felt it too, that pull between us, but every time we got close, she seemed to retreat behind some invisible wall. And I wasn't going to push her before she was ready. Still, I couldn't help hoping that maybe today would be different. Maybe today she'd let me in just a little.

"Maybe," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. And just like that, the moment passed, the wall still standing between us.

Then her phone buzzed. She glanced at it, and everything changed. The color drained from her face, her posture stiffened, and the light that usually flickered in her eyes dimmed.

Something was wrong.

She stared at the screen for a moment before declining the call, but whatever had just happened, it hit her hard.

"Y/N? You okay?"

I knew the answer before she even spoke, but I needed to give her the space to answer however she wanted. Her smile was forced, her voice a little too quick. "I—yeah, I'm fine."

She wasn't fine.

I watched her carefully, the way her hands shook ever so slightly as she tried to brush it off. "You don't have to pretend with me," I said softly, trying to let her know that whatever was going on, she didn't have to hide it from me. Not anymore.

For a moment, she didn't say anything. I thought maybe she was going to shrug it off, just like she always did. But then, something in her shifted, and she spoke. "I don't... I don't talk about it often."

My heart clenched at the vulnerability in her voice, but I stayed quiet, waiting. I knew she needed to say this at her own pace.

"There's a lot from my past that I've kept to myself," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "And it's not easy for me to... open up about it."

I wanted to reach out, to hold her, but I stayed still. She needed space, not someone crowding her. So I waited.

"There was someone—Jake," she continued, the name laced with bitterness. Whoever this Jake was, he had done something to her. Hurt her in a way that still echoed in her voice. "We were together for a long time, and things were... complicated. He wasn't a good person, and I didn't realize that until it was too late."

The way her hands twisted together, the way she couldn't meet my eyes—this wasn't just a bad breakup. This was something deeper, something that had left scars.

"He hurt me in ways I wasn't prepared for, and I've spent a lot of time trying to recover from it. It's... why I've put up walls."

There it was. The reason for the distance, for the walls she had built around herself. My chest tightened at the thought of anyone hurting her like that. I wanted to ask more, to know exactly what he had done, but I couldn't. Not yet. She wasn't ready for that.

She paused, her voice faltering. "There's more to it, things I don't know how to talk about yet, but... that's why I've been distant. Why I can't just jump into this—whatever this is—without feeling scared."

It all made sense now—the hesitation, the way she would pull away whenever things got too close between us. It wasn't about me, it was about the pain she was still carrying from the past.

I swallowed hard, pushing back the anger I felt toward the guy who had put her through this. This wasn't about him. This was about Y/N, about what she needed.

"You don't have to explain everything," I said softly, keeping my voice steady. "I get it. You've been through a lot, and I'm not asking you to rush into anything. I just want you to know that I'm here, no matter what."

She looked up at me then, and I could see the relief in her eyes. It wasn't much, but it was something. A step forward.

She gave me a small smile, one that felt a little more real. "Thanks. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't met you."

I smiled back, trying to lighten the moment. "Probably avoided me at the next party."

Her laugh, soft but real, was like a balm to the tension between us. It wasn't a solution, and I knew we still had a long way to go, but in that moment, it felt like we were finally moving forward. Like maybe, just maybe, she was starting to let me in.