#&.starters

@menacewest​

rei dipped her head slightly in a polite greeting as she waved at the girl. “ah, annyeong. it’s nice to see you again.” the first time the two had met, rei was intervening on anti-fans being rude to the fansite operator. ultimately, it was like gaining both a new fan and friend herself. occasionally, rei would invite the girl to sit in on lunches at the broadcasting station during her layover periods until her following schedule. and today was one of those days. “so, how have you been? how’s your site going? are you planning to expand anytime soon?” she asked as she motioned for the girl to take a seat at the table with her. 

rei bit down on her bottom lip as she read the headline about herself. she had read thousands of negative comments and articles about herself over her six years as an idol; for the most part, they didn’t bother her but for some reason this one struck home with her. rei had deep seeded issues she had to deal with, and she was aware of that, but it didn’t give anyone the reason to point it out. she was in the public eye, yes, but it didn’t mean she deserved her entire livelihood poked and prodded at as if she was a test subject. no, she was human. and while she wasn’t the most open person, everything about her was genuine. to read something about her faking everything about herself, including her emotion trauma, was simply too much. tossing her phone across the table, she sat there silently with her hands in her face in her hands. 

“oppa, what ever happened to that song you were supposed to write for me?” she asked as she idly bopped her spoon up and down in her milkshake. looking up at him with light eyes as she tilted her head, a soft ‘hm’, emitting passed her crimson stained lips as they curled into a small smile. “what about it, huh?”

“oh wow, i can’t believe you’re alive.” rei’s eyes brightened up slightly for a moment before turning back to the usual state. “it’s been what? two weeks without contact,” she recalled as she reached out for her coffee. “what, did you get a significant other? were you behind that bank heist that happened last week? oh, did you kill somebody--you didn’t make their kid watch did you?” she asked him with a tilt of her head. as outrageous as her questions seemed, they weren’t entirely something out of the norm for her. really, rei didn’t put anything past anybody, so who knows (though, more than likely it wasn’t true of course).

without forewarning, the two agents had been plucked from their daily schedules that day to be tasked with organizing the storage room before lunch. hani, who had been particularity close to figuring out a tricky code, was to say-- very displeased with the sudden change of plans. 

“you know, i’m perfectly fine. they’re just overreacting. you can probably just let me go...” she trailed off, wincing at the sharp pain that came from her split lip.