The Fridge

The Heaven Entertainment Building – 7th Floor Cafeteria

2:47 AM

The building was asleep.

Most of it, anyway. The practice rooms were dark. The executive offices were empty. The security guards were on their rounds, dutiful but bored, their footsteps echoing through corridors that had seen too many exhausted trainees and too many sleepless nights.

But on the 7th floor, in the small cafeteria that was supposed to be locked after midnight, a war was being waged.

Not a real war. Not with weapons or armies.

Just a girl. A refrigerator. And an overwhelming, desperate, life-or-death craving for ice cream.

Ellisa Jung known to millions as Elii, the nation's beloved fairy, the center of Five Angels, the girl whose face was on billboards across the country was currently losing that war.

She had both hands wrapped around the refrigerator handle. Her feet were planted against the stainless steel door. Her entire body weight was pulling backward.

The fridge didn't budge.

It was locked. Of course it was locked. Standard protocol after a trainee tried to steal all the ice cream during a diet crackdown last year. Every refrigerator in the building was locked after hours. Every single one.

Except she was desperate.

"Come on," she hissed, voice muffled by the oversized hoodie pulled over her head. "Just open you stupid"

She yanked harder. The fridge wobbled but held.

Her body was screaming. She'd been practicing for fourteen hours straight. Her muscles ached. Her feet throbbed. Her throat was raw from singing the same high note fifty times. And all she wanted all she needed was one scoop of something cold and sweet and forbidden.

It had been six months. Six months of sweet potato diets and chicken breast and no sugar. Six months of Manager Kang watching her like a hawk, confiscating snacks, reminding her that "the center needs to maintain the image."

She was twenty years old. She'd debuted at eighteen. She'd worked her entire life for this.

And right now, she wanted ice cream.

"I'm going to cry," she announced to the refrigerator. "I'm literally going to stand here and cry. Don't test me."

The fridge remained unmoved by her argument.

She rested her forehead against the cold metal. Closed her eyes. Let out a long, pathetic whine that would have shattered every Cupid's heart if they'd heard it.

"Please," she whispered. "I'll do anything. Extra practice. No sleep. More diets. Just... one. One tiny ice cream. I'll even eat the diet brand. The one that tastes like cardboard. I don't care anymore."

Silence.

The fluorescent lights hummed above her. The building settled around her. Somewhere far below, a security guard whistled.

And then

Footsteps came.

She didn't hear them at first. She was too lost in her misery, too focused on the cold metal against her forehead, too busy calculating exactly how much trouble she'd be in if she somehow broke the lock herself.

But then the footsteps got closer. Steady. Measured. The kind of footsteps that didn't rush for anyone.

Not a trainee, her brain registered. Trainees shuffle. They're always tired. These are...

She lifted her head.

Turned around.

And felt her soul leave her body.

Min Jae stood in the doorway of the cafeteria.

Twenty-six years old. CEO of The Heaven Entertainment. Heir to the Min Group conglomerate. Net worth estimated at ₩8.2 trillion. Called "The Ice Prince" by business media. Called "The Sphinx" by anyone who'd ever tried to read his expression.

He was dressed casually for him dark trousers, a black sweater, his hair slightly disheveled like he'd been running his hands through it. But even "casual" for Min Jae looked like something out of a magazine.

And he was staring at her.

Ellisa's brain short-circuited.

Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. No sound came out.

He didn't speak either. Just stood there, looking at her. Looking at the refrigerator she'd been assaulting. Looking at her forehead still pressed against the metal moments ago.

The silence stretched.

Say something, she screamed at herself. Anything. He's your CEO. You should bow. You should apologize. You should…

"You're awake."

His voice was quiet. Low. Measured. Like everything else about him.

Ellisa's throat made a sound that wasn't quite a word.

He walked forward.

Not toward her exactly toward the coffee machine in the corner. He pressed a button. Watched the machine whir to life.

"Coffee," he said. "The machine on my floor is broken."

She stared at him.

He's explaining himself. The CEO is explaining why he's in a cafeteria at 3 AM.

"You" Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat. "There's a vending machine by the stairs. It's terrible, but it's hot."

He glanced at her. "I know."

He knows. Of course he knows. He knows everything that happens in this building.

The coffee finished. He didn't take it. Just stood there, cup in hand, looking at her with an expression she couldn't read.

Then his eyes moved to the refrigerator.

Locked. Immovable. Defeated.

"The fridge," he said.

"It's" She swallowed. "It's locked. After hours. No one's supposed to I was just I couldn't sleep I thought maybe "

"You wanted ice cream."

It wasn't a question.

Her face flushed so hot she was surprised the fire alarms didn't go off.

"I yes. I mean, no. I mean, I was just"

"You were banging your head against it."

"...I was lightly tapping."

"You said you were going to cry."

The words hung in the air.

He'd heard her. Of course he'd heard her. He'd probably heard everything the whining, the begging, the pathetic one-sided conversation with kitchen appliances.

Ellisa wanted to die.

"I was that was I talk to myself when I'm alone," she managed. "Which you weren't supposed to hear. Because you're not supposed to be here. At" she glanced at the wall clock, "almost three in the morning."

He looked at the clock too. Then back at her.

"I know."

He knows. He always knows.

She was going to pass out. Or throw up. Or both.

But then

He set down his coffee.

Walked past her. Kneeled in front of the refrigerator.

And pulled a small multi-tool from his pocket.

Ellisa watched, frozen, as he inserted it into the lock. As his fingers moved with precise, practiced efficiency. As the lock clicked open.

The refrigerator door swung forward.

Cold air rolled out, carrying the sweet smell of vanilla and chocolate and strawberry. Inside, neatly organized on metal shelves, were rows of ice cream. The good kind. The expensive kind the company bought for special occasions.

She stared.

"You just"

"Pick one."

"What?"

"Pick an ice cream. Before the cold air escapes."

She didn't move. Couldn't move. Couldn't process that the coldest man in Korea had just broken a refrigerator lock for her.

Min Jae sighed. Reached in himself. Grabbed a chocolate-coated bar with nuts on the outside the one he'd seen her eat once during a variety show recording, the one she'd described as "literally the best thing in the entire world."

He held it out to her.

"Here."

She took it automatically. Her fingers brushed his. Neither of them acknowledged it.

"This is" she looked at the ice cream, looked at him, looked at the broken lock, looked back at the ice cream. "You're not going to tell Manager Kang?"

"No."

"Why?"

He stood up. Brushed off his pants. Met her eyes directly for the first time that night.

"Because you've worked six months without a break. Because your body fat percentage is lower than medically recommended. Because you collapsed during soundcheck last month and still went on stage."

Her breath caught.

"I know everything that happens in my building, Ellisa-ssi. Including when my artists are hurting."

Something in his voice shifted when he said her name. Something almost soft. Almost human.

She stared at him.

He knows my name. Of course he knows my name. I'm the center of his biggest group. I'm

Why is he looking at me like that?

"Eat it," he said finally. "I'll wait."

"You'll wait?"

"If you eat it here, no one will see. If you take it back to your dorm, someone might notice. And Manager Kang checks the dorm refrigerators every morning at six."

He'd thought of everything. Of course he had. He was Min Jae. He didn't miss details.

Slowly, she unwrapped the ice cream.

Took a bite.

Her eyes closed immediately. A small sound escaped her throat not the whining from before, but something softer. Happier. A noise of pure, unguarded contentment.

When she opened her eyes, he was looking away.

He'd walked to the counter. Leaned against it. Pulled out his phone like he was reading emails.

But his shoulders were slightly less stiff. His jaw slightly less tight.

He was... relaxing.

For her.

"You're really not looking," she said after a minute.

"I'm working."

"You're pretending to work."

He didn't respond.

She ate slowly, savoring each bite. The ice cream was perfect cold and sweet and exactly what she needed. The chocolate melted on her tongue. The nuts added crunch. For the first time in months, she felt human.

"CEO Min?"

"What."

"Thank you."

He glanced up. Just for a second. Long enough to see her face flushed, happy, ice cream mustache on her upper lip.

"You have chocolate on your nose," she said.

He touched his nose instinctively. Found nothing.

Her laugh bubbled out before she could stop it. "Gotcha."

Min Jae, youngest chaebol heir in the country, Harvard dropout, the Ice Prince of Korean business, felt the corner of his mouth twitch.

He didn't smile. He never smiled in public.

But in this empty cafeteria at 3 AM, with a girl who'd just tricked him into checking his own nose...

Something cracked. Just slightly.

She finished the ice cream. Threw away the wrapper. Wiped her mouth with the back of her hand like a child.

"Okay," she said. "I'm done."

He pocketed his phone. Straightened.

Walked toward the door.

Stopped beside her.

"You can have ice cream sometimes," he said quietly. "One a month. Tell Manager Kang I authorized it."

Her eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Really. But " he looked down at her, and for once, let her see something real in his gaze. "Don't tell anyone about tonight. About the fridge. About me being here."

She nodded quickly. "I won't. I promise."

He believed her.

He walked out without another word.

Behind him, she stood alone in the empty cafeteria, touching her lips where the chocolate had been, wondering if she'd imagined the whole thing.

---

The Next Morning – 7 AM

Manager Kang found the refrigerator door slightly ajar.

Checked the lock. Found it broken.

Spent twenty minutes reviewing security footage, convinced a thief had broken in.

The footage showed nothing.

Because Min Jae had already deleted it from his phone at 3:17 AM, before he even left the building.

He'd also added a note to her personnel file: "Ellisa Jung – authorized for one ice cream per month. Medical exemption."

No one questioned it.

No one ever questioned Min Jae.

The Dorm – Later That Day

"Elii-yah, you're smiling."

Ellisa looked up from her phone. Dani was staring at her with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not smiling."

"You're literally smiling at the wall."

"The wall is funny."

"The wall is a wall."

"Walls have humor. You just don't understand wall culture."

Dani's eyes narrowed further. "Something happened. You've been weird since yesterday."

Something happened, Ellisa thought. The coldest man in Korea broke a refrigerator lock for me because I wanted ice cream.

"Nope," she said. "Nothing. Just tired."

"You're lying."

"I'm fine and lying. Same thing."

Dani shook her head but let it go.

Ellisa looked back at her phone.

No new messages. No calls. No proof that any of it had been real.

But she could still taste the chocolate.

And somewhere in the back of her mind, she could still hear his voice.

"I know everything that happens in my building, Ellisa-ssi."

"Especially when my artists are hurting."

She smiled again.

Definitely at the wall.

Definitely.

Meanwhile – 15th Floor

Min Jae sat at his desk, staring at a contract he'd already read three times.

His mind kept drifting to the cafeteria.

To her forehead pressed against the fridge.

To her whine, desperate and pathetic and strangely endearing.

To the way she'd laughed when she tricked him.

To the ice cream mustache on her upper lip.

He picked up his phone.

Her contact was already there. He'd added it months ago, after she collapsed during soundcheck. "Emergency purposes," he'd told himself.

He stared at her name.

Ellisa Jung – 5 Angels – Maknae

His thumb hovered over the keyboard.

Then he set the phone down.

Picked it up again.

Set it down.

One ice cream a month, he'd told her. Medical exemption.

It was the first time he'd ever bent rules for anyone.

He had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.

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