[A/N: Ok, so here we have this groundbreaking chapter and I'm so excited for you to read it!]

As soon as October started it passed. The leaves have fallen entirely from the trees leaving everything grey and dull. It was getting dark very quickly and the weather made everyone feel less optimistic. In fact, Kihyun wasn't optimistic at all. Because it was November already all of their professors started to remind them that they have to start writing their bachelor's thesis. So Kihyun started to panic. He had submitted all the required applications at the dean's office and the dean had approved the topic of his thesis so he really had to start doing something. At the beginning of the academic year he wondered why the senior students had so few classes but now he understood. When it all piled up he basically had no free time. He even stopped seeing Jooheon, Minhyuk and Hyungwon during the lunch breaks because he was studying all the time. However, there was one upside. Now he had no time to think about all the people who were getting on his nerves. Gunhee was spending too much time with Jooheon? Pff, who cares. Minhyuk was being too loud? It was ok as long as he wasn't near Kihyun. Yoosu couldn't stop talking about how awesome he is and what his grandfather did for him? Well, cool for him. And even Dasom's mother finally gave up and stopped calling him. The only thing which was almost equally as draining as writing the thesis were his rehearsals with the freshman kid. Kihyun realised that maybe, just maybe, he had judged him wrong at first but now it was too late to apologise. [A/N: timbaland_apologize_ft.onerepublic.mp3 Lol sorry for that lame joke I gotta go.] He really did have a bit of talent but Kihyun seriously couldn't get why he chose a musical school. He seemed very out of place here and had little interest in classical music. He was good only at playing the guitar. Now the younger boy treated Kihyun dryly at best. Not that he was surprised. They didn't speak too much because it always led to arguments and most of the time Changkyun ignored him and that made Kihyun even angrier than he was before. Now he slowly started to understand how it is when someone looks down on you. He wanted to know why Changkyun was like this but he was too proud to admit that he was wrong and the ginger kid didn't seem to give up any time soon. It seemed that Changkyun had made it a point of honour to treat him the same way he did treat him before.

~*~

When December has started Kihyun had a decent part of his thesis written so he could chill out a bit. His friends, however, were frantic. Hyungwon wrote only one page, Minhyuk didn't even start and Jooheon actually wrote more than Kihyun but he suddenly thought that he didn't like his topic and started to panic but it was too late to change it since everything had been approved in October. One day Gunhee and Kihyun had to comfort him because he started crying after one of their lectures. Kihyun decided to stay with him even though he had a rehearsal with Changkyun half an hour later. Jooheon couldn't calm down so he sat there patting him on the back feeling totally awkward. He wasn't used to dealing with crying people. Kihyun wasn't an emotional person so he couldn't understand Jooheon's reactions at times. He was so worried about him that he didn't even notice that Gunhee had disappeared.

"Jooheon, it's not the end of the world." - he said turning his head in the boy's direction trying to get his attention but the blonde continued to snuffle - "Jooheon, seriously, you're doing well." - he assured him and his back lightly - "You've written three-quarters of your thesis and we still have five months. You have more than enough time to polish it. See? You'll be good."

The blonde nodded his head slightly giving a sign that he was actually listening to his words but he didn't look convinced. He wasn't crying anymore but he still looked miserable. Kihyun squizzed his arm when he was suddenly startled by a loud gale of laughter. He looked up and noticed that Gunhee came back with Changkyun and they were both in a playful mood. Kihyun could already feel his blood pressure rise. How could Gunhee be such a to leave his supposedly best friend crying to go look for someone else God knows why? He wanted to bawl him out but he didn't have the opportunity to even open his mouth.

"What did you do to him?" - asked Changkyun sneering and gestured to Jooheon who sat hunched next to him.

"What did I do?!" - he yelled after the meaning of this words clicked - "Why the hell do you think that I have something to do with that?!" - he felt terribly offended.

Changkyun never dared to speak like that to him before. Not even mentioning that he misunderstood the whole situation.

"I don't know..." - mumbled the ginger rolling his eyes - "Maybe because you always hurt others feelings?"

Kihyun got up from the bench. His face was flushed.

"I was trying to comfort him when this prick..." - he ground out pointing to Gunhee - "...vanished into thin air instead of helping me."

He made a step into Changkyun's direction when Jooheon grabbed his arm.

"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you two?" - he asked in unbelieving tone and pulled Kihyun's arm harder to make him sit on the bench again - "Please, stop it. You're ridiculous. I'm speaking about you both, Changkyun." - he added after the ginger snorted - "Kihyun did nothing wrong. He's telling the truth. Now stop it and go make up."

They both glared at each other and they didn't even budge.

"Please shake hands or else I'll stop talking to you." - the blonde threatened them - "Oh, and you, Changkyun, have to apologize. It's not nice to accuse someone of something they didn't do."

Apparently, Jooheon suddenly believed that he was a mediator. Kihyun got up first and walked up to Changkyun hesitantly but the younger boy was standing there kicking his heels nervously. There was a longish moment of silence when the younger boy finally opened his mouth.

"I'm s-sorry." - he stuttered out finally and they shook hands but Kihyun squeezed his hand firmly.

"You may kiss the groom." - said Gunhee under his breath when they were still holding hands.

Everyone heard him.

"What did you say?!" - screeched Kihyun turning into his direction but Jooheon yanked his shirt before he even had time to make a move.

"Oh my ing God, what's wrong with yall today?" - said the blonde shaking his head - "Whatever. I don't care. I can't take it anymore. I'm leaving." - he glared at them and did what he said.

The three of them stared at him in pure shock as he disappeared around the corner. They stood in silence for a few seconds when Gunhee suddenly spoke.

"Aren't you supposed to go somewhere?"

"What?" - asked Kihyun and Changkyun in unison and exchanged looks.

"Rehearsal. Does that tell you anything?" - said Gunhee rising his eyebrow.

Kihyun sighed. How are they supposed to rehearse together after something like that?

"Ok, let's go." - he mumbled and started walking.

They were already ten minutes late. He noticed that the younger boy followed him reluctantly.

"So what are we going to do now?" - asked Changkyun as they were walking downstairs to the basement.

"What we are going to do now?" - parroted the brunette - "Practice." - he said curtly - "What have you thought?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the ginger roll his eyes again but he didn't say anything. They entered the practice room and started to prepare in silence. They had been doing the same routine for so many weeks already that they got used to it. They got used to being quiet and doing what they had to. They played nonstop for about one hour until Kihyun felt that they had the piece more or less polished. They still had more than a month till the concert and he was quite confident that it would go well. Kihyun started to feel very tired after a whole day of classes and he couldn't focus anymore. His mind started to wander. He was brought back to the reality when he heard Changkyun clear his throat.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to practise?" - he asked reproachfully.

"Yeah, you're right." - he mumbled - "But it's almost time to finish, anyway." - he added gesturing to the clock - "By the way, I was wondering why did you choose to go to a music school?" - he finally got the guts up to ask him the question that was bothering him.

Changkyun looked at him narrowly and crossed his arms.

"No, seriously, I wanted to know that. It's not a tricky question, I mean it sincerely. Do you even like classical music?" - just as he had suspected before, Changkyun thought that he wanted to make fun of him again but it wasn't the case this time.

Changkyun made a wry face.

"Why are you so interested in my life suddenly?" - he asked suspiciously.

Kihyun sighed feeling defeated.

"Just as I told you, I was wondering." - he said dryly - "What? Can't I ask something I'd like to know?!" - he asked after the ginger threw him a doubtful look - "You don't seem very interested in what you're doing." - he added almost inaudible after a pause.

After Changkyun heard that and his eyes widened.

"Well... you guessed it." - he said coolly.

Kihyun stared at him.

"Wh-what?" - he stammered.

"You're right. That's not what I want to do in the future. I don't want to be a classical musician." - Changkyun said that calmly but he could feel that everything was getting tense - "It's not like I hate it but it's not my dream."

Kihyun was speechless. It wasn't the response he had expected.

"Um..." - it was only sound that he managed to make - "Er... Don't take it too personally but why are you here, then?" - he asked.

Changkyun threw him a cold glare.

"Why do you keep asking me? Why should I unbosom myself to you?" - the kid didn't believe in his pure intentions and he couldn't blame him for that - "I may as well ask you why you are a year older than you're supposed to be." - he said that casually but Kihyun felt as if he was going to faint.

How the hell did he find out?! Kihyun wanted to scream and run away from the practice room. He gulped but at the same time, he had decided that he had to speak in order to earn his trust. This time his curiosity was stronger than his pride.

"I'll tell you but you speak first." - he said feeling nervous - "I swear that I'll tell you." - he added after Changkyun sighed theatrically.

"Promise." - demanded the ginger - "And promise that you won't tell anyone."

"I promise that I'll tell you why and that I won't blunder out your secret." - he said in a formal tone.

Changkyun rubbed his temples clearly trying to gather his thoughts.

"Ok... So, it's quite a long story. My parents wanted me to become a lawyer, just like them. We're a family with a long tradition. I know only one uncle who decided to be an IT specialist but the family immediately dubbed him the bad apple. When I was in middle school I told my parents that I wanted to be a rapper and they weren't happy. They, in fact, had told me that it was a bunch of bollocks and they thought that I'll finally get over it but that never happened. I started to rap and record myself in my free time back then and I also started to learn how to play the guitar from the Internet. I brought the case back this summer when I had to choose a university and they were clearly disappointed. I told them that I didn't want to study law and that I had a plan to take part in a TV show and they of course opposed to that. I wasn't going to give up. I didn't send any university applications as they wanted. I started to prepare to take part in one of those shows instead. One day my dad came to me and told me that I can go to the TV on one condition: that I'll get a proper musical background. So I