7:30pm.

It has been two hours and thirty minutes since she arrived at Zen's rehearsals and she has been watching him do the entire program thrice now. She had to admit, Zen, as an actor, is very unappreciated. She might be biased or she might not be, but he pulls in people in his performances. His character was a sensual villain who was so thirsty and blinded by greed for power. In real life, he was the most gentle giant people have ever seen. However, when he acts his role in this play, Cara could feel goosebumps climb all over her body as he watches him get immersed into his character that she can no longer recognize the Zen she knew. When he acts out his character, Cara do not even know if his current personality ever existed at all. She was excited to see the program polished and performed in front of many audiences. She really believed this was Zen's key to stardom. She can feel it.

She was carrying cloths of different lengths as she left the crew to have dinner. She was on her way back to the corner where she helped out the custodians finish the costumes made to be worn by the actors and actresses. She enjoyed helping out but the crew were reluctant of letting her help since her stature is greater than that of Zen's crew. She didn't seem to mind helping, so she forced them to let her help them. They had no choice but to oblige her since Zen also suggested to let her do what she wants.

A small smile was pasted on her lips as she placed the cloths down the table and she rubbed her hands together. She looked around the place to see if she could do some tidying up of things until her eyes landed on the piano placed at the leftmost part of the stage. She slowly laid her hands at her sides as she tilted her head to the side as she stared at the piano.

I want to play. She thought.

She may have been too busy to play, but she never forgot her passion for music. She frantically looked around to see if there were people who were out of the backstage already. She could still hear the faint laughter of Zen and other actors behind the stage. She sighed in relief and she slowly made her way to the piano. She could feel herself become giddy as she approached the piano. She missed playing so much that when she sat on the piano hair, she could only smile so widely and she lightly caressed the keys.

Cara felt like she was a little child again. She looked at he music sheets piled on the piano and she picked one song which has a duet on it. She read the arrangements of the notes as her left hand absentmindedly positioned itself on top of the keys . Her hands were shaking as if she longed for this time to come. As she stared at the musical sheets, she was so drawn to the lyrics and she could already imagine the flow of the tunes in her mind.

Another gush of excitement filled her and she immediately placed the musical sheets on the stand, she looked at the first note, she positioned both of her hands on the keys, and she started to play.

Zen was having dinner with his crew when they all suddenly turned quiet. One of his colleagues tilted his head outside as if he was hearing something.

"Did I just hear somebody playing the piano?" He noted. Everybody looked shocked as they all stared where his friend was staring at.

"Not just playing the piano, but somebody's playing 'Sinister's Duet'!" His female crew said.

Sinister's Duet is Zen's piece who he'll be singing with his female lead. This was the song of sorrow for when the female lead gives up on his character. It was the most emotional song in the play since this is where the villain realizes that he was blinded by greed and he forgot the existence of the female lead's love for him.

"Somebody's singing the lyrics!" They all hushed as they heard a faint voice of a woman singing the song as she played.

"Don't tell me the haunted stories over this theater's... true?!" One gasped.

Everybody looked flustered. The director shook his head as he slowly approached the side of the stage to take a look at who was playing the song. Everybody followed suit.

Zen scanned the crowd, looking for Cara so that he could hold her or be with her if ever there was a ghost. He chuckled softly when he remembered that she wasn't scared of these kinds of things. In fact, she was a fan of these. However, his heart skipped a beat when he cannot find her amongst the crowd.

Where was she?

Suddenly, as he heard the singing of the girl in the piano, he had a suspicion... Was she playing the song?

He slowly approached the other side of the stage, opposite to where everybody was gathered so that he can fully see who was playing. As he approached the other side, his heart went to the voice of the girl singing and her exemplary prowess in playing the piano. His feet quickly stopped and his eyes widened and he even forgot to breathe when he saw her before his eyes.

In front of him, on the other side of the stage, he could see his colleagues were open mouthed and they were surprised as much as he was at what they saw. The director was the only one who was looking at the pianist so lovingly as if he knew that the piece was meant to be sung by the pianist alone. What has caught him off guard was this woman who was playing.

Cara had her back on him, but he knew she was feeling the song. He was so caught off guard that all he could to was stand there and listen to her reach the high notes in the song and she sung them as if it was meant for her. Then and there, Zen realize dhow wonderful this woman is. He could feel himself get excited as he took in that she was singing a duet... his duet.

He couldn't help himself, he wanted to sing along.

She was nearing the beat part of the song. As she pressed the keys and as she sung the first line to his favorite part, he closed his eyes as he answered her song and revealed himself behind the stage.

"My heart is torn for it was always left with you..."

Cara jumped as she heard a man's voice boom as he sung the lines that was supposed to be sung by the male part in the musical sheet. Suddenly she stopped playing as she looked up from the piano and she saw the entire crew looking at her. But the voice of the man wasn't in front of her. It came from behind. She suddenly felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand up as she felt a male presence right behind her. She didn't want to look behind her for she knew she will die of embarrassment. She could feel herself go warm as the crew chanted "More, Cara. Sing, sing, sing..."

Oh god.

She didn't want this. She started to feel so warm she covered her face as she shook her head.

"I'm so sorry! I-I just wanted to try the piano. I g-got c-c-arried away- Ah!" Cara suddenly screamed as she could feel the man seat right behind her and she could feel his warmth on her.

Too close. He was too close!

She jumped again as she felt his arms slip behind her as he positioned his hands on the keys. She was so flustered that she noticed his hands here just below her breasts.

"Z-Zen!" She started but she turned silent as his lips were at her ears and he whispered, "Shhhh. Come play with me. Let's finish my duet." She was so enthralled by the baritone of his voice that she forgot her hands were clenched at her lap and she only noticed their position when she looked down as he reached for her clenched fists and he held her hands. His legs were right beside hers. She was literally in between his legs. Their position was so intimate that she could feel his erratic heart beat at her back. She could hear the crowd cheer as they asked for more.

"Sing with me, Cara. Sing with me." He whispered as his thumbs drew small circles at the top of her palm. She slowly unclenched her fists as he held them and slowly led her shaking up to his lips and he placed chaste kisses on both and he slowly placed them down on the keys as he positioned them as they prepared to play the duet. He pressed the first keys signalling the start as he waited for her to start playing. She was hard as rock and she could feel things stir in her. She was blushing hard and she could feel something twist in her belly and into somewhere farther down. She looked up at him as he placed a kiss at her temple. A silent plea to sing with him.

Goddamn this boy why must he be so fucking convincing?!

He smiled as he slowly urged her on to play.

And she did.

It was already 9pm when Cara was able to get home.

She rubbed her hands together as she fumbled inside her bag for her keys. Today was apparently a very tiring day, but she had fun. After she and Zen sang the duet, their director wasted an hour and thirty minutes to actually convince her to be an understudy or even be a part of the musical production for Zen's show. The proposition was so nice however she didn't need another job when she was handling three already.

She slowly opened the door to her apartment and she opened the lights and an empty room greeted her. She looked at her door to see if there were mail from somebody and she saw a couple of pink and blue envelopes piled up on her doorstep. She crouched down as she fully entered her house and she absentmindedly kicked her door shut with her foot as she scanned the letter she received. They were from her brother and sister, sending her different pictures of their families and again, another invite to their place. She also received a letter from her parents, asking her how she was; if she was eating right. She removed her scarf and her coat as she juggled reading the letters and getting herself on the couch.

As she slumped on the couch, clad with only her work clothes and stockings, she finally opened a strange looking letter. She haven't received anything like this before. Her hunches were telling her that it's something dangerous, but she pushed her feelings aside and opened the letter. When she opened the letter, what she saw made her skin crawl so much that she forgot where she was. She could only look at the letter. The message was written by a female, the loops and elegance of the handwriting was indubitably from a female hand. However, the elegance of the handwriting made her all the more scared because she knew that the writing was from somebody she wished to ignore; somebody she wished to forget.

Please, forgive me. For the last time.

She cannot, or will not allow the past to scare her this way. It wasn't a threat. It was a sincere apology, but something that she didn't need. She knew it wasn't her fault. She too, was just played by the same emotions she felt a year ago and she couldn't blame her for feeling something so inevitable. She never had the chance to have a closure of even a proper confrontation. She wasn't able to; she didn't want to; she couldn't. She thought that her silence would speak the loudest retort to the both of them before. She didn't need additional drama when her mental health were so tattered that she no longer had pride left to show or to even showcase to anybody. She literally had nothing left from her except her virginity. It was all she could save. All the love, all the sacrifices, understanding and change she could bring upon herself were unleashed during the longevity of that particular time. She was stupid. They all were.

She only had herself to blame.

She closed her eyes and she took deep breaths as if she needed to calm herself down. She slowly crumpled the paper and she threw it somewhere across the room. She looked up at her ceiling, thinking about what was she needed to do.

"Ah. I'm on vacation leave." She murmured. She thought about going back to drawing or to playing music, however she was too tired to start to do that tonight.

She slowly let herself slip away from the couch and she stood to go to the bathroom to wash herself up. The warm water woke her up in her nostalgic reverie and she felt comforted about it. She slowly lowered herself in the tub as she thought about today's happenings and she suddenly blushed. She could still remember Zen's embrace as they were playing and singing the duet. She felt so wonderfully sublime during the short time they sung that song. His voice mingled best with hers as they did the blending for the song and everybody was in awe on how wonderful their musical chemistry was. All throughout the time they were singing, Cara was only aware of Zen's presence around her. Each time his hand moved to the other keys, his knuckles lightly brushed her breasts and it made her feel tingly in places that she shouldn't feel tingly at. She knew Zen was too much of a gentleman to take advantage of their position during that time, but if he was aware of what happened or if he was even bothered, she didn't know. Zen was so immersed into the song that he just had his eyes closed as he played the piano and as he sung with her. Their positions gave way for more lewd movements from Zen; however, aside from the light brushes of his knuckles underneath her breasts, he made no other move. It might primarily be because her breasts must be a bit huge that's why the brushing was unavoidable.

She stared at her naked breasts as she submerged in the tub. She felt a lot more heated when she kept on thinking about his warmth, his leg so close to hers, he was almost embracing her, they both knew.

But why was she so flustered?

For all her virgin life, she was never this sexually excited, but when it was Zen who was near, she was so confused and she felt tingly all over that she was scared.

"GAH!" She dipped her head into the water. She rose up after and she tapped her cheeks over and over again as if she wanted to wake herself up from thinking about Zen.

"You've been thinking about him all week. Stop it." She warned herself. She sighed as she took herself out of the bath and she wore her pajamas, dried her hair and then she finally dumped herself in her bed.

She wanted to go in the RFA chat but she was too tired. She thought about how happy and fortunate she was having these people by her side. She smiled while she drifted off to sleep.

"Somebody! Somebody, please! Help me!" the woman's voice was quite familiar. She was frantically banging her window, her doors, as she asked for help. Zen can feel heat in his surroundings, he could feel something burning.

"Zen! Help me!" her hands were outstretched, she was so desperate of getting out; why ever was she so desperate to get out, he had no idea. He had this feeling of fear drain him as he searched for the owner of the voice.

"Help! Somebody..." the voice grew faint. As if the person disappeared.

Zen shook out of his dream, gasping for air. The room was so cold but in his dream it was so hot. He tried to remember the voice and suddenly he felt his color drain from his face as he realized to whom the voice belonged to.

It was Cara's.

He quickle grasped his phone on his bedside table and dialed her number but his calls were directed to voice mail. He knew he was being paranoid, but his dreams weren't wrong. He knew something will happen. He logged on the chat since she usually chats with Saeyoung and the others this late. However, when he logged on, she wasn't around.

/ Zen entered the chatroom /

Saeyoung: Heya Zen!

Zen: Is Cara here? Was she online this evening?

Saeran: No, actually, she wasn't. We were wondering why. She didn't even leave us a good night message.

Zen: Damn. I've been trying to call her and she isn't answering. I'm scared. I dreamed of her screaming for help. I don't know why but i feel fuzzy.

Saeyoung: Oh... I have a bad feeling about this. I sent her a message two hours ago that we'll visit her since we miss her and she hasn't replied.

Yoosung: Maybe we should check out if she's okay?

Saeran: Hyung, let's go. I don't feel right about this. Something's unsettling.

Saeyoung: Alright, we'll go now. Grab your coat. Yoosung, we'll fetch you. Get ready.

Zen: Hurry. I'll also go to her.

Seayoung: Alright. Be careful.

/ Zen left the chatroom /

/ Yoosung left the chatroom/

/ Saeran left the chatroom /

Saeyoung: Jumin! Jaehee! Please send company to Cara's place. we don't feel great about this...

/ Saeyoung left the chatroom/

Zen opened his lamp and he quickly put on his jacket and he looked for his motor's keys. He was so scared he didn't even care if he was on his way to Cara's place in his pajamas.

Please, please let her be okay.

Everything feels so hot.

Her mind was telling her something but she was too tired, too weak to wake up. She inahled something acrid and she started to cough. Why does she feel like she was burning up?

Did she forget to turn down the thermostat again? The heat she was feeling was something different... as if something was-

She gasped awake as she sat up on her bed and she saw that her room was so smokey that she couldn't see anything anymore.

"No." was all she could say as she realized what was happening.

Her apartment was on fire.