"Have you gone crazy?"

Jinhwan sits at the edge of his bed. A few feet away from him is his roommate pacing back and froth in the room, frantically lecturing him about the way he has handled the situations at hand a few hours ago. With shoulder slouched, he remains in absolute silence as his friend goes on.

"I know he has been dubbed a prodigy and the next Jiyong sunbaenim but he is still a freshman, Jinhwan. A freshman who has joined the university just a few months ago. And no final year collaborates with a freshman especially for their final performance. I am sure he doesn't even know the level of competition the final year students go through. He has never seen one. This is suicide. Do you understand the amount of risk you are taking here Jinhwan?"

The person in the question groans, squeezing his eyes shut and dropping his head onto his hands. The headache is back. He does not want to retort back at his friend nor ignore him because for once he knew Yunhyeong was right. What was he even thinking?! He was certainly not sane at that moment. He has let his ego get the better of him and led him to accepting Hanbin's offer to help. Only after he had told Yunhyeong about it and seen his expression had he realized the degree of mistake he has committed. It was not only risky but just as his friend has put it, it was simply suicide.

He knows that lately he hasn't been paying a lot of attention to his academics and he has been avoiding his responsibilities by wasting precious time trying to mend his broken heart but he was not delusional to see how important the final performance is for any final year student. It is the one last chance to give it all your best and prove your worth. It is the one performance that will determine your career for the rest of your life.

"Jinhwan, you better turn him down. Now" Emphasizing on the last word, Yunhyeong puts an abrupt end to his train of thoughts. He hears soft footsteps taken on the floor and lifts his head from his hands, looking at Yunhyeong standing in front of him, handing him his phone. "It is for your own good"

Jinhwan sighs as he picks up the phone thrown on his lap and unlocks it. For once, he will listen to his roommate. It is for his own good. His thumb types a fast and short message. He takes a heavy breath and lets guilt take over him as he tabs the send button.

Hanbin stares off at the white painted ceiling, his head resting on the soft mattress of his bed, a smile plastered on his face. It wasn't the plain white ceiling that he sees in his eyes but a particular someone that had always managed to peak his interest. The smile on his lips widens as he reminisces the surprised look on the petite boy.

*

"I can help you", Hanbin breathes the words out over the man underneath him, Jinhwan furiously blinking at him.

"Help me with what?", Jinhwan asks with a small voice, staring back into the black orbs of the man hovering above him. He has beautiful eyes.

"Producing the original score", Hanbin answers, grinning.

"You are joking, right?", Jinhwan's face goes stern.

"No no. Really. I swear. I can do the production", Hanbin assures hurriedly. "I am being dead serious here. I always keep my words. You can trust me."

Jinhwan doesn't buy it and continues his suspicious stare at him but Hanbin doesn't flinch. Hanbin stares back straight at him, a part of him hoping that his sincerity could be seen through his eyes, the other part just too consumed in those pretty slanted eyes. So he keeps his stare glued on the smaller male and sees Jinhwan finally blink and look away. His eyes lazily travelling around from left to right and back at Hanbin's.

"Can you get off of me now?"

"Huh?...oh!" Hanbin exclaims loudly as he realizes that they were still on the floor with him on top of Jinhwan. He quickly pushes himself off the floor by his hands and gets his weight supported on his feet again.

"Sorry", Hanbin apologises shyly, offering a hand to Jinhwan, who doesn't hesitant to take it. His small hands are soft and tender under Hanbin's large and bony ones and Hanbin's heart swells at the little skinship but it doesn't last for long as Jinhwan takes his hand back to dust himself off of any dirt that had found it's way on his jeans.

He looks up at the younger male who is standing just a feet away, intently waiting for a reply. Chewing his lower lips, Jinhwan spares a last look at the wooden door at their side and he lets out a sigh.

"Ok"

*

Hanbin couldn't believe that Jinhwan had actually agreed to it. He was in the same space as him, held a conversation with him and now he will be working with him. It seems almost surreal. Jinhwan's adorably confused, indecisive look plays in his mind and he lets out a low breathy laugh, unaware of the presence of another in the room, and a pillow comes flying towards him, hits him right on his face.

"Stop laughing all by yourself, you creep" he hears his roommate grumble. His blissful journey down memory lane coming to a end and he cast a narrow look at his lanky friend.

"Just ignore me the way I ignore you". Hanbin lifts himself off the bed and settles on his . A message tone beeps from his phone and he reaches for it from where it was placed on the table. His roommate's rude retort reduces to the background as the message registers into his head.

Need to talk. Meet me tomorrow after class. 

The text is casual, short, on point and Hanbin knows it's clearly only about the score but he let's himself dream a little, just a little.

"Oh god. You are doing it again. What are you so happy about?"

Hanbin slides off the bed and shoves his feet into a pair of red converse. He grabs his jacket that was hanging messily on the head of the chair and the backpack that was dropped on the table.

"Where are you going at this time of the night?"

Light footsteps patters on the stone pathway as Jinhwan makes his way to the music department yet again. He has made up his mind. Yunhyeong is right. He needs to start taking his life seriously. He will turn down Hanbin's offer and go find someone else with more knowledge about the competition. He will straight up get to the point, no beating around the bush, no hard feelings. Honestly, he is a bit embarrassed of his fickle mindedness, and wishes that he hadn't swayed, but now certainly wasn't the time for wishing. He will just have to it up.

"Hyung. Jinhwan hyung"

Jinhwan had just put a foot on the front steps of the building when he heard the voice calling him and he is sure it wasn't from the inside. He looks around, cranking his neck from left to right. His eyes catches a figure standing further away from him at the lawn set at the side of the building. It's Hanbin and he is waving at him. Jinhwan adjusts his backpack while he walks up to him.

"Good morning hyung", Hanbin cheerfully greets him.

"Yeah...morning..."

"You wanna take a seat" Hanbin points at the wooden bench beside the maple tree.

"No, it's fine", Jinhwan declines. He doesn't have time to sit around and chat. "Listen...about the score-"

"Oh yeah I have some samples ready" Hanbin cuts him off and Jinhwan finds it mildly annoying. "I was wondering if you could give it a listen and tell me what you think about them. Then we could go from there depending on your taste".

Oh god. It's only been a day and he already has samples ready. 

Jinhwan shook his head. "No listen. I can't take your help anymore"

Hanbin simply blinks at Jinhwan. "What?"

"I bet you are good at what you do but this is my final performance and you, I am sure, haven't see what year