Chapter 1(3)

Ji Woo didn’t have any broken finger, nor did she have any real problems with her hand. In fact, when they arrived to the hospital and entered swiftly and unnoticed she had already told him that the pain had subsided a lot, showing him how she was now able to flex her fingers without flinching. But he wouldn’t have it. When the doctor insisted that she could go home with a prescription of some ointments and anti-inflammatory pills Chanyeol insisted back, saying it was better if she got an IV with the medicine and just rest for the night. The doctor had blinked, taken aback , and told him there really was no need for that, but Chanyeol, through his stubborn wits and playing unfairly with the card that she was a pianist had gotten what he wanted, had won.

She had ended up in a hospital bed with an IV drip that had to end before she could leave (according to the nurses) which would take about 2h-3h. But worst was that Chanyeol had apparently insisted that he would pay for a VIP room for the whole night. She had tried to rebuke the offering with a stern face and a bit of desperation lacing her reprimanding tone, without even noticing they had started bickering in front of the hospital staff as if they were old acquaintances. Eventually she had dropped it and accepted it as soon as she realized how jumpy he was from being in space with so many people around. Chanyeol, Ji Woo, had thought then, was probably scared out of his wits that someone would notice him, snap a picture of him or even addressed him as the popular icon that he was. He had kept his snapback and mask at all times except when he entered the doctor’s room. 

That was how she had found herself laying in the bad, navigating the web with earphones playing Smetana’s Die Moldau in the background of her thoughts. Poor Chanyeol who had ended up in such an awkward situation, stuck with her because of their annoying mutual friends. She had always thought idol celebrities were totally unachievable people before she entered K-Arts, even if she didn’t really pay much attention to it. After entering university she had actually met some people with the status and they were actually very normal people her age who to say the truth had about ten times the work a college student had with just college. She actually thought they had a lot of merit. But she had never really befriended one before and when her sunbaes told her that they had been in high school with Park Chanyeol (especially the girls, who were the proudest of their friend because they could brag all they wanted to their other girlfriends, that Park Chanyeol had spent his high school years eating lunch with them in their homeroom) from EXO her reaction had been close to none because while she unavoidably had heard of them, as with most of the kpop scene she had never actually get interested in it.

But now, while skipping from webpage to webpage and when the song ended and she did not immediately chose another, empty silence filled the room and Ji Woo decided to check Chanyeol internet profile.

She felt like a stalker at first and felt herself heat up as soon as she wrote his name, even throwing a look around even though she was perfectly aware of her being absolutely alone.

According to the internet, Chanyeol came from a happy family, was pretty much happy and laughing even if he was crying, liked the color black, and was older by two years than her. He belonged to something called a beagle line though she wasn’t sure what that was, was very entertaining, had starred in some variety shows, his first love had been when he was twenty years old with a girl from church, he loved pets and cute stuff though he was allergic to cats and really liked ferrets and was very self-confident about his image and had apparently learned to love his ears even after being bullied because of them when he was younger. His ultimate bias (and apparently, love-line partner) was someone called Park Sandara from 2NE1 (which she actually knew because she did really beautiful pictorials in Vogue girl and Elle) However, most shockingly, that wasn't his only love-line...there was also... his roommate and best friend (as Chanyeol, himself, had described him) Baekhyun! Who was possibly two-timing SNSD Taeyeon?

She was confused and suddenly didn’t know what was fan’s speculation and what was really true and it was a little frustrating. And before she could think of how the sum of (believable?) information she had collected did nothing to offer insight of a person’s real self, how it all amounted to superficial facts, Chanyeol entered the room. In his large hands there were convenience store bags full of goodies.

“Hey”

He smiles softly not to bother her and Ji Woo felt her face heat up again. What was wrong with her? Most of the times she was pretty oblivious to boys in general. Chanyeol, on the other hand, was the kind of boy, Ji Woo thought, that was impossible not to notice. He had distinctly beautiful features, 185cm and a kind of goofy, happy disposition that lit up his presence. Even his ears were cute and called attention unto him.

“I brought lots of snacks, since the doctor said there was no problem with eating them”

She couldn’t help but to roll her eyes a little and laughing a little too nodding meanwhile.

“What were you doing?”

“Actually…”

But before she could reply he had already set the bags on the table in the middle of the room and set his eyes on her iPod which was turned off by her nightstand, phones still attached.

“Oh, were you listening to music? Can I listen to it too? I never really paid much attention to classical music before.”

All she could remember was the crystalline sounds of Die Moldau playing in her head before and nodded with a semi-shrug of her shoulders. It was only when he unlocked the device that she suddenly remembered that web search she had done (actually, web stalking sounded more accurate). She could have been so flustered that she could barely speak, at least she thought she would’ve. But  as soon as she remembered what Chanyeol would find when he unlocked the device, he had already done it and his complexion got one shade darker with embarrassment (there had been something about him and Baekhyun at the end of his profile in that specific last webpage)… Because of that instead of dying of embarrassment herself, there was just coy sheepishness filling her cheeks with red too and casting her eyes down as she cupped her own cheeks and confessed that she felt weird near him and almost obliged to know what she ended up describing as common knowledge. Chanyeol had answered with a smile that there was no really common knowledge to a person. How could his likes and dislikes be a subject of common knowledge? He had asked.

He was blaringly beautiful even with his skin’s little imperfections covered with bb cream, hairs out of place and escaping the snapback that pulled them back, with his mischievous smile but soft big eyes and hands that fidgeted with her ipod as he listened to Smetana. He was like a real-live piece of art in her eyes and in that stilled moment, Ji Woo couldn’t help but think that all those things in the internet about him, though some of them might be true, were impossibly reducing of one’s character. Just by watching him quietly while half-sitting in the unnecessary hospital bed she knew that Chanyeol couldn’t be just that, even if he was all that.

That night amongst countless text messages they both received from their worried friends (and in Chanyeol’s case, manager and group members) they had chatted away the hours it took the iv drip to end.

“So, you study in K-arts? Wow that was amazing. If I hadn’t been able to enter SME I would really like to have entered the Music School there. Actually, our leader hyung was enrolled there before our debut,”

She perked up a little after hearing that. Ignoring totally that leader hyung stuff she focused on his plan B confession.

“Really? Which Music Dept. would you have liked to enter? Vocal Music?”

“Uh… Me?” there was a pregnant pause and small silence started feeling the atmosphere around them both. His cap had been abandoned at the little table and Chanyeol pushed his hair back with his big hand, followed by one big smile that lit up the silence and filled it up with his presence.

“I might have thought like that by the end of high school, when I was younger, but if I enrolled now… probably the Composition Dept.”

That had surprised her. Though she had read somewhere that he liked writing songs, liking to write songs wasn’t exactly the same as wanting to actually get an education solely focused on it. Though he seemed to be just a happy fellow, there really was so much more to him.

“You’re a piano major right? When did you start playing?”

“Around… four?

“Four years old? Wow.”

“Yes,” She raised her hand to show him her calloused long fingers, her slightly protuding knuckles and bony structure of her hand, making a s