Haesoo gulped. This was the time to talk and she couldn’t feel at all. Her mind began to recall the check-in lady telling her the instructions on stage.

“Say you’re a walk-in, and tell him your name and age. He’ll ask the questions so just follow his lead from there.”

“U-um… I’m a… walk-in..? And, uh, my name is Kim Hae…soo. Yeah, uh- I’m, I’m 18 (Korean Age) this year.”

Her stuttering evoked a small smile from Yang Hyunsuk. Maybe. It could’ve just been his default face, really. But, the look itself somewhat calmed Haesoo.

Chill, weirdo. Take it easy. Sing like it’s with Chanwoo.

“What talents do you have?” he asked, eyes studying her profile on the table.

“Well, um… I’m… I can… I mean, I’m good at basketball, I guess…” she trailed off when she saw Chanwoo slap his forehead, followed by a few giggles through the theatre, including one from Yang Hyunsuk.

Three iKON members she recognised as Bobby, Junhoe and Yunhyeong were giggling uncontrollably on Chanwoo’s row. She saw Chanwoo mouth at her something about singing and then she remembered that Yang Hyunsuk had been asking about her musical talents. Haesoo flushed in embarrassment. What a bust. Basketball? Really!?

It was embarrassing, but the girl tended to put in more effort in the presence of humour and an easygoing atmosphere, which was precisely what she had unintentionally evoked from the theatre’s audience with her unconscious gag. She relaxed a tiny bit, now slightly more confident and comfortable.

“Ahaha...right…jokes aside, well, I came today to sing.”

Haesoo cleared as the theatre went silent. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine a smiling Jung Chanwoo in front of her, like they were in middle school again.

Chanwoo sat on the swing and was going back and forth, and she was standing right in front of him, entertaining him with her favourite song. Chanwoo harmonised, his eyes remaining on Haesoo. It was all she thought of; and nothing else.

And then she sang.

Iyureul mollasseo,
Wae naega byeonhaenneunji
Hancham saenggakhaesseo,
Neowa… na mannan ihuro
Na byeonhan geot gata,
Aju manhi… mariya
I norae deullini oh~

As Haesoo continued singing, she began to relax and enjoy the song as it is, delivering as perfectly as she remembered it to be when she used to sing it with Chanwoo. With her eyes closed, she couldn’t witness the spectacle of the audience in which they were completely captivated by the passion she exerted. Of those people, Chanwoo was one of them.

The boy stared in awe at his best friend. Kim Haesoo. She was the rude loudmouth of a girl who he always placed pride in. He always knew she was good. The girl was not only a sincere soul who helped a lot people behind the façade of her seemingly uncaring way of talking. She also (quite surprisingly) fared in whatever she had a hand in.

But, the greatest problem about Haesoo was that she hated everything she was good at, explaining why her grades took a toll from her uninterested nature. But, the more prominent weakness was music. This was because music brought dark feelings to the girl. She learnt the piano, had a hand in violin and spent 8 years in ballet, but these experiences ended on a morbid note, in which Kim Haesoo had to undergo an operation for her damaged arm, leaving her unable to dance or make any music during the healing period.

This period was the darkest, when she had nothing to turn to anymore except Chanwoo, when her parents decided on the split. Her father, the source of the endless love for music that she was brought up with, moved out and married the woman he was cheating with.

Haesoo didn’t show it then; she still hasn’t shown it now. But Kim Haesoo was hurt. She’d emphasise that it was “adult matters”, nothing she should concern herself with as long as her parents continued to treat her right.

But the very fact that Haesoo avoided touching music after the healing period was the ultimate proof that she never really forgave her parents for the divorce.

And yet, there she was, on stage. She was singing her heart out. And Chanwoo knew she was doing it with him in mind. He was so proud that he could bring the best out of Haesoo just by being in her thoughts and his heart soared when he saw Yang Hyunsuk smile in awe.

Everyone, even emotionless Hanbin, was moved by the sweet voice that covered 4men perfectly. The notes weren’t hit perfectly, though still sweet, but Haesoo’s colour that outshined the 4men vibe was the key of the performance. She had her own colour.

That dream still was real, after all.

And Haesoo could feel it. Chanwoo was right. Haesoo always hated when he was right, because big things happened when Chanwoo told the truth.

*******

The performance was clean and Haesoo found her way to the seating she was supposed to head to. Her hair was still standing from her own performance, unable to forget the sweet feeling of falling into her fantasy while singing. It was like the sweet memories were being relived, the ones she suppressed stupidly. The good times.

Haesoo sat herself next to the rude girl, still smiling to herself.

The girl smirked. With her eyes still on her lyrics sheet, she spoke.

“You met the bar I set, huh?”

When Haesoo heard this, she couldn’t help the smug look that came onto her face. “Of course. It’s the least I can do when the bar was set modestly low.”

The battle of wits was real, but the rude girl kept her cool, flipping to the next page. “We could stick together, or we could act like savages too. It’s a decision based on how we want the journey to the big stage to be like.”

Haesoo only smirked before she rested on her back, looking up to the ceiling of the theatre. It was funny how the girl thought Haesoo was staying that long. It was ironic that the two successful auditionees achieved their success for very different reasons.

Haesoo scoffed. “You know what we both really want to say; let’s just go with that.”

The girl smiled a small smile, acknowledging that Haesoo’s choice. Rivals, it’ll be, then.

Yet, there remained a beautiful feeling of success. Haesoo could almost smell the sweet future of her daily dose of Chanwoo, just like how it used to be and how it would continue to be.

Once the auditions were wrapped up, Haesoo ran around to look for Chanwoo for his take on her audition, but iKON was already leaving. The girl sighed as she looked at the retreating back of her best friend. No goodbyes, then. So quickly, her best friend was already a busy boy, a man-to-be.

After some more waiting, the candidates were finally released. By then, it was night time and Haesoo was starving. The girl walked out of the building and took a deep breath as she watched the busy road before her. Life for everyone was going on as per normal while hers was a mess.

“What did I just do, really?” she clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes, looking up to the sky.

A part of her still hasn’t processed her own decision an hour ago. What was meant for her to meet Chanwoo and have a proper talk turned into an impromptu performance, one after years and years of solely avoiding it, added the fact that she even saw and talked to Big Bang’s Seungri that day. SEUNGRI! Let’s not forget her seeing G-Dragon in real life and not behind the TV screen.

She took a look at her watch and saw how it was already 7pm. At that moment, her handphone vibrated from inside her pocket. Haesoo immediately took it out to check her notifications.

I’m here.

Where are you?

You’re late.

You forgot, didn’t you?

.

The texts almost seemed endless.

But then it hit her. “Ahhhhh. I’m so stupid, seriously.”

A day ago…

“Yah, Jishoe. You and me tomorrow. 6 o’clock, same place. Don’t be late~”

Haesoo had completely forgotten about the meeting with Jisoo that she had suggested. She’d set up the session initially so she could spend the time as a distraction from the whole Chanwoo fiasco. Her thoughts were muddled and all she needed was to sweat it out and relax with someone who didn’t mind not commenting on her state.

But the meeting had completely slipped her mind after the whole day’s events and an hour had conveniently passed since the time she set.

As Haesoo ran to the court that was about a kilometre away, she found that her calls were going straight into voicemail.

A part of her worried that Jisoo might’ve been pretty pissed, but common sense told her Jisoo would’ve just brushed it off and headed over to the gym or stayed and played by himself. He wasn’t that petty to be pissed at Haesoo for forgetting their meeting. Yet, the worry didn’t leave her.