What was Namjoon doing here next to her, looking at her with concern? She gaped as the feeling came back in full force again, this time with a second emotion shooting in from the outside and mixing with it.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm fine. I just really need a taco apparently," she gasped, taking the water he'd offered her and drinking it thankfully.

Namjoon's chuckle faded as In Hae drained the entire glass, gasping for air loudly as she pulled the cup from her face and dropped it on the table.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly as she wiped her mouth, trying to shield her face from him as she did so. "I don't know what's gotten into me. I had the strongest craving for tacos I've ever had 20 minutes ago."

"You better order one fast," Namjoon smiled, sitting next to her and tapping the menu. He pulled a coffee mug that had been sitting a few places away closer to him with his long arm and took a sip, waiting patiently as In Hae looked through the menu, turning each page impatiently and then back again.

"This is ridiculous but I don't want anything on here," she said sheepishly, pulling the menu up toward her face and peaking at him from behind it. Namjoon laughed.

"Go for the waffles. Bacon, eggs, cheddar and hot sauce on top."

"Here?"

"Of course. It's great. I come here for the coffee." He took a sip for emphasis. In Hae smiled.

"Wait," she started. "Do you live near here?" She'd been all over the place last night and hadn't placed his apartment complex in context.

"It's a subway stop away," he said. "And a few blocks. I really like it. Plus the owner's my friend Jin's wife."

"That's a good reason," In Hae said. A woman came up and took her order. In Hae pointed at the woman as she retreated to the back and gave him a questioning look. He shook his head.

"She's not working today. She's on maternity leave." In Hae nodded. There were three other groups in the place besides them, one a small family and the other two solo diners.

"I guess the word about the coffee and waffles hasn't spread, huh," she said.

"Just on the weekday mornings. The weekends get busy. I'm Namjoon, by the way."

"I know," In Hae said before she could stop herself. Namjoon gave her a surprised look and she stuttered. "I mean, you're, uh, you're Namjoon. The rapper."

Namjoon's face lit up and he looked down at his coffee, the dimples deep in his face as he smiled and looked back up at her. "You've heard of me?"

"Yeah, yeah, your stuff is great. I didn't like rap before but your stuff really opened a door for me." In Hae cursed at herself internally for her slip-up. Of course she knew him, but only because he'd introduced himself yesterday.

"Wow, this is great. Thank you so much, I've never met a fan before. I have a small following, but I'm hoping to get some reach in the next year with a new group I'm working with. Wow, this is…which songs do you like?" In Hae felt a stab of nervousness with the last question. She was having a hard time distinguishing what emotions were coming and going and swirling around her brain at the moment. The warm, full sensation had calmed a bit, but she still hadn't been able to block it, and it was messing with her ability to distinguish one feeling from another. Nervous anxiety was easy to spot though.

"Oh how can I pick," she said slowly. "I've liked a lot of your most recent stuff. Um, which one has the most meaning for you?"

Namjoon launched eagerly into a monologue, rambling and passionate, about his music and the fear, insecurity and hopes behind his songs. Despite never having heard one note or line from any of them, In Hae couldn't help smiling.

She leaned her cheek against her hand as her arm rested on the counter. She hadn't even noticed her waffle had come before Namjoon stopped and rubbed his neck self consciously.

"Sorry, I've been keeping you from your food. Is it cold? Do you need your coffee warmed up? You've been so polite."

"Polite? What are you saying? You're fascinating. I mean, what you're saying is fascinating," she shook her head and leaned over her waffle, quickly cutting off a large piece with her fork and sticking it in her mouth to keep herself from talking more. He smiled, watching her chew.

"I didn't get your name."

"Oh. I'b ihd hay," she said, struggling between bites. She shook her head, chewed quickly and swallowed, the lump going slowly down her throat. She took a sip of coffee before trying again. "I'm In Hae."

She turned. Now he was the one with his head resting on his hand as he leaned toward her. "How do you spell 'hay?'"

"H-a-e. Why?"

"That's the Chinese spelling. It means 'the sea.'"

"That's something really random to know."

"I heard it once in middle school. I don't know why I remembered that," he paused. "It's pretty. The Korean spelling means graceful. They both fit."

In Hae laughed. "You're going to say that after I ran in here and chugged a glass of water in front of your face?"

Namjoon laughed, his eyes scrunching and his dimples gracing his cheeks again. "You did it gracefully. And the sea is full of water, which you are now." In Hae laughed harder, snorting involuntarily, causing them both to have a fit.

Finally recovering, In Hae asked the waitress for another fork and offered to share her waffle with him. He accepted the offer, and they devoured it together as they talked. An alarm on Namjoon's phone sounded, breaking their conversation.

"Oh," he said, pressing a button and cutting the music for the alarm off. He looked at In Hae and stared for a beat, sighing through his nose softly. "I have to leave for a meeting."

In Hae flinched. "Ah, right."

He hesitated. "Do you want to come with me? I mean, if you're not busy. You probably are, with work or friends or life or hobbies or a boyfriend or…"

"I don't have a boyfriend," she blabbed. "I mean, no, I'm not busy. I don't have anything. My job is complicated, so my schedule is free at random times." That was an understatement. She shook her head. "I'd love to come, if it's not going to be an imposition."

"Not at all, you can either sit with us or get more coffee or food and wait or anything really. It really won't be weird, they're pretty laid back. We'll just be talking about the upcoming mixtape and a larger album we want to release before the year's over."

In Hae smiled and nodded. She fought with Namjoon over the bill, finally succeeding in slapping her credit card to the waitress before he could, smiling triumphantly. Namjoon rubbed his brow and smiled back, threatening he'd get her next time.

"You can try, but I'm quick. Remember that," she said, tapping her temple twice with two fingers before reaching over and tapping his temple twice with the same fingers. When she did that, Namjoon flinched and squinted briefly before smiling again.

"Let's go," he said. They walked side by side, their hands grazing each other every so often as they moved. Every so often, In Hae would catch him looking at her strangely. She would catch his eye and he would quickly avert his gaze to his feet or up ahead. She could take it as flirty or suspicious or a mix of both, but she couldn't quite get a read on him, and so she chose to ignore it. The feeling inside her stomach was overwhelming other incoming feelings.

They arrived at a hole-in-the-wall burger joint, the walls a yellowed color that may have once been creme or a brighter yellow, depending on how you looked at it. Despite it's small size, the place was more full than the taco joint had been, a customer at every table. Namjoon looked at a text and gestured for In Hae to follow him into the back. Two men sat at the table, a short, blonde man with full lips and a puppy-dog look about him and a sunny looking man with bright eyes. In Hae picked up a contagious excitement from him.

"Hey guys, this is In Hae. In Hae, this is Jimin and Hoseok." She shook hands with both.

"Sorry to crash your meeting, I would take a seat outside but it's a bit crowded," she said as she took the seat Namjoon had just scooted out for her. Hoseok poked Namjoon's ribs as he sat down, eliciting a silent rebuke from Namjoon, whose face had turned red. Jimin laughed and handed In Hae and him two menus.

"Let's get started," Hoseok said in a mocking tone as he pressed his hands against a table and made his voice deep and booming. "But seriously. We have a few things to discuss, a timeline. We've set up a time for next week to get things finalized with the label and after that we'll set the mixtape up for download. We do have a few more details to discuss."

They launched into a discussion heavily reliant on context that In Hae didn't have in order to understand. But it was pleasant to hear the banter of people used to working together, and it was familiar and normal and comfortable. In Hae enjoyed listening. Before she knew it, the plates had been cleared and Jimin and Hoseok were standing, shaking hands with them both, and exiting with a "nice to meet you" and a smile from each. Namjoon turned to In Hae.

"I'm glad you came," he said as he put his share of the tip on the table.

"Me too," she agreed. They stood still, observing each other briefly, before Namjoon opened his mouth again.

"Hey, uh…" He was cut off when the ground thundered and the wall shattered, the bricks falling away and exposing the alleyway behind the restaurant. In Hae pulled Namjoon down and behind the shelter of the table as she pushed it over to act as a wall as the bricks flew. A figure appeared in the rough doorway left by the explosion.

The figure coughed, waving the dust from his face, and In Hae recognized the deep tones of the Troublemaker. \

"I hope you've had your fill, it's time to go now," he said, finally recovering himself.

In Hae peaked over the table, quickly pulling her dress down over her legs and hoping Namjoon hadn't seen her exposed upper thigh. The Troublemaker hadn't bothered to wear a disguise this time around. He wore his business suit, the black tie and white shirt he was accustomed to wearing while operating his business from the top floor of V Tower.

"Taehyung, what brings you here," she yelled. She knew what he was doing there, but she couldn't resist the banter, especially when she knew how much he hated when she, his nemesis, called him by his real name.

He sighed, his deep voice growing closer as he approached the table. Why oh why had she worn a dress? She reached into her purse and slipped on the taser glove.

"I didn't know you'd be here, Hae Hae." In Hae grimaced. Touche, Taehyung. "I won't be taking you along, but that's alright. It's better you're here. I can send you off with a beating before I go."

"You don't want a kiss instead?" she quipped.

His handsome face smirked, then scowled. "Don't tease me like that, In Hae, it's no fun."

"No, here, I'll really do it. You just have to close your eyes and lift your chin up for me."

"I don't think so."

"Okay, I guess I'll just have to do it anyway." She launched herself over the table, reaching out to Taehyung with her glove charged. Before she could reach his throat, he grabbed her wrist and punched her stomach with his other hand in one motion, holding her there as she gasped, the wind knocked out of her.

"Was that desperation? You really are a bit useless, no real power. You should have just become a psychiatrist or a police officer or something and been done with it. You'd be a handy human lie detector." In Hae looked up and saw his eyes begin to change color. He was changing the weather. Dammit, she thought. He could bring lightning down at any second.

She pulled him toward her suddenly and brought her knee up forcefully to his crotch, eliciting a groan as he staggered back and released her wrist. "Ugly one and two, come on out," he gasped, holding his frontal nether regions. The sad man appeared from behind the wall as well as another person. In Hae couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman because it was covered in rubbery looking balls.

"Oh, I call him Bombardier. Those warts are explosive. It's how I got in here. A bit disgusting. But useful," Taehyung offered.

The Bombardier pulled one of the growths off and threw it at In Hae. She dodged. The growth hit the ground, causing a localized explosion and catching In Hae's heel in its heat. She held back a yelp as her ankle grew hot and pieces of brick pelted her legs.

"The more he uses, the larger the explosion. That one was like a BB pellet. Not lethal, but it hurts." Taehyung was standing back, enjoying the sight of In Hae struggling.

In Hae picked up a large brick and one half of another, running at the group, dodging another blob and throwing the first brick right at the Bombardier, missing, and hitting the sad man in the shoulder instead. He flew at her with his cloak outspread, and she rolled out of his way, right onto her injured shoulder.

She cried out involuntarily, recovering quickly, and threw the other brick half at the Bombardier again. This time the brick grazed one of the warts on his shoulder, causing it to pulse and grow slightly before it popped. The small explosion triggered the others to explode. In Hae jumped behind another table as the force from the explosion propelled her in the air. She saw fire and more brick pieces shoot over her head as she just barely missed them and landed hard behind the table. She peaked over. Taehyung had jumped to the corner and covered himself in a thick layer of fog and rain, bypassing the fire. The Bombardier lay on the ground, sizzling but alive, and the sad man was…

In Hae turned in time to see blackness envelop her. The daytime turned to dark, and the air grew stifling. She heard the sad man's voice somewhere distant, making her drowsy as she tried to make out any real words. But it was muffled. And it was so warm in there. Hard to breath. Very hard to breath. She gasped. There was no air, and it was so warm. As she felt her brain shutting down, she heard a muted blast from somewhere outside the pitch darkness and a cry, then Taehyung's voice. As suddenly as the darkness had enveloped her, it pulled back. Her vision was fuzzy, and In Hae couldn't make out what was going on as she tried to push herself up to look. Someone else pushed her head back down and covered her with their body. A sharp wind pulled whatever breath In Hae had managed to get into her lungs away from her, and she blacked out.

A voice, familiar, reached her in the gloom of her mind. Slowly, In Hae's eyes opened, and she saw Namjoon, his eyes wide and his plump lips open as he mouthed words she couldn't quite make out. His face was close to hers, and she could feel his hands on her, one on her shoulder and one behind her head. She inhaled sharply, and with it came the sound and the realization that she was in the back room of the burger joint, the hole in the wall still there, the rubble, and a group of confused people looking in from the doorway.

She pushed herself up, grabbing her shoulder and yelping as she did so.

Namjoon helped her sit the rest of the way up. Her dress had scorch marks on it, and she saw a few burns and cuts on her legs.

"What happened?" In Hae said, her voice raspy. Namjoon pushed her hair gently out of her face, examining her features as he checked for further injury.

"Are you alright? Can you see? Does your head hurt? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine," she said. "Fine enough." He scooted himself closer to her, guiding her between his legs and curling his knee so she was propped up against his leg as he grabbed her face and turned it gently this way and that.

"I'm okay, I can tell. My arm and these burns and cuts will need some bandages, but other than that I'm alive and ok."

He sighed, pulling her into a hug. "Why didn't you tell me you were the burglar in my apartment last night?" he whispered. In Hae breathed into his neck, not wanting to pull away. The warm, full feeling in her stomach pulled her toward him, but her brain prompted her body away. She looked at him. "We need to go somewhere we can talk," she said. He nodded, helping her to her feet.

Together, they hurried out the hole in the wall, ignoring the crowd standing in the entryway. In Hae felt bad, but she couldn't talk to the police right now. She knew they'd be looking. It was a good thing they all paid with cash.

They avoided the street, walking between buildings whenever they could, until they came to a dive bar In Hae knew well. The bartender who seemed to be always working was a deviant himself. His vision was impeccable. 20/20 in both the center of his vision and in his peripherals.

"Andy, could I get a whiskey. 90 proof. It doesn't matter what kind," In Hae said tiredly as she shuffled in, leaning on Namjoon as he helped her to a booth.

"Same," Namjoon said.

He sat her down in a booth in the corner and went back to the bar briefly, saying something to Andy and returning to sit next to her with a first aid kit.

"Good thinking," she gasped. He pulled her legs up on top of his lap, turning her body gently and leaning her against the wall. She winced as he tenderly glided his hands over the cuts and burns. He opened the kit, removing neosporin and bandages, and gently applied them to the wounds. In Hae took the time to look over his features and body. She couldn't see a mark on him.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked. He paused briefly, looking at her. He scowled, thinking, before shaking his head and continuing with his cleaning and bandaging.

"Ah, how could you come around in a dress like this when you knew something like that might happen? You could have worn jeans at least. It could have been so much worse, ah."

He continued to scold her, his tone harsher than his touch. In Hae stared at a painting of a wine bottle on the wall, trying to suppress the smirk tearing at the corners of her mouth. Namjoon left her once more and returned with what looked like pieces of cloth as well as their drinks. The drink was no sooner placed on the table when it was grabbed, making its way to In Hae's mouth.

She gulped it eagerly, her zeal halted by the burn in her throat. She let her mouth adjust to the feeling as she breathed the fire down her throat.

"Which shoulder is it?" Namjoon asked, leaving his drink untouched.

She turned her left shoulder to him and continued sipping her drink as he gently made a sling around her neck and slipped her arm through it.

"How's that feel?"

"Better," she said. She put her drink down and turned to him. "Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere? How is that possible? What happened after I, or, after the sad man enveloped me, I guess you could say."

He scratched his head and touched the back of his neck, staring at the table.

"I'm not completely sure," he admitted, finally picking up his drink and hesitantly letting the liquid touch his lips as he inhaled a molecule of liquor.

"I was hiding behind the table pretty shaken up," he said sheepishly. "I…I didn't know what was going on and I was scared. But then I saw the really depressed looking guy become like a black tent and envelope you and I got really angry. I stood up and jumped over the table and sort of looked at him. That guy, uh…"

"Taehyung? The Troublemaker?"

"Yeah, him." He paused. "Were you really going to kiss him?"

"No, come on," In Hae stuttered. "We have a long history, it's called banter, I was putting myself above him."

"Uh, anyway, I sort of, everything started to vibrate around me. It's almost like I stopped breathing and started to radiate heat, and each wave of heat was like a hand, reaching. I felt like if I wanted to any one or all of those hands could reach out and touch anything I wanted it to. I imagined them grabbing some of those weird little balls from the bomb guy who was passed out and pressing them to Taehyung and the depressed guy. And then all of a sudden, it happened, exactly as I pictured it. There were explosions and suddenly they ran away. He looked surprised. They both looked surprised. But then the Tae guy. He smiled at me, as he was leaving, he smiled and disappeared. Then I ran over to you and you were gasping and we ran away. All those people saw."

He'd been fiddling with his drink and looking at the liquid as he swirled it around, and now he looked at In Hae.

"What's happening to me?" His voice shook, and his brow trembled slightly. In Hae pressed her lips, feeling his confusion and anxiety in her own chest. He looked up as he felt her wrap the fingers from her good hand around his arm, squeezing comfortably. His eyes locked with hers, the dark amber of his gaze searching her face before he grew self-conscious and looked away, back at his glass, which he lifted to his lips again, drinking deep this time. A dimple emerged on his cheek once again as he smiled nervously and began to drink.

As In Hae stared at the dimple, the feeling, the Kahlua, burst like water breaking through a dam in her stomach, spreading to her limbs and filling her brain. Without realizing it, In Hae pushed herself up to her knees, ignoring her arm, and turned to him in the booth, bringing her face up to Namjoon and causing him to splutter the whiskey he'd drunk back into his glass, setting it down hard as he swallowed and looked at her, leaning back. He breathed out harshly through his mouth, staring from her eyes to her lips as she did the same just inches from his face. Namjoon brought his hand to the back of her head in the same instant she brought her lips to his, tasting the whiskey on his breath and feeling the thrill rise in his stomach as it jumped into her chest and mixed and mingled with the warm, sweet feeling, creating something new altogether, like someone had set off firecrackers in a pool of water.

In Hae closed her eyes, moving from his bottom lip to his top, swiping it with her tongue and she deepened the kiss and made him sigh. It felt like lines of electricity running over her face and through her hair. She felt Namjoon bring her into his chest, his arms wrapping themselves around her waist. He was so warm. Radiating even. She pulled herself away gently, looking at his eyes.

There was a gleam in them as he slowly opened his lids and gazed at her. Then they both started. They weren't in the booth anymore. In fact, they seemed to be in someone's apartment. A dingy, dirty place that smelled like the windows hadn't been opened in months.

"What?" In Hae muttered.

"Uh," Namjoon pulled her and himself up from their knees to a standing position. "I thought I felt like we were floating or flying. Or something. I couldn't feel the seat anymore. But I didn't think…what?"

Suddenly the door to the room burst open. Andy the bartender looked at them both, angry.

"I know you had a tough time, In Hae, but tell your boyfriend not to take you through the ceiling and into my bedroom when you're in the mood. This isn't a motel!"

They both gaped at him.

"Sorry, Andy, it wasn't on purpose, we're coming down," In Hae said apologetically. They quickly walked past him through the door and down a dingy set of stairs, back to the familiar bar, their two drinks still sitting where they'd left them. In Hae and Namjoon sat back down, silently attending to their drinks. Namjoon broke the silence.

"Was that you?"

"What?" She jumped. Her chest was a flurry of different emotions and she couldn't settle them down. She'd been focusing on pushing them back and failing when Namjoon spoke.

"The ceiling thing." He pointed up with his finger and smiled hesitantly, looking at her sheepishly.

She bit her lip. "No, it's not me. I can only…I feel what other people are feeling. That was…I have to tell you something."