“What are you doing?”, your friend queried right after your professor left you for study hour.

“Design?”

“Design for? Poster?” she furrowed her brows and you nodded “For what?”

“My brother and his bandmates will perform in the upcoming event in our town. And I offered to do the poster design for the event, too. You should come”

She raised a brow and gave you a knowingly look, “Your brother?”

You shyly pouted and shrugged your shoulders. She’s been asking you about what’s going on between you and Dowoon but you never gave her an answer. There’s nothing anyway. Maybe?

It’s been almost three months since you stormed out of the studio and left the band startled by your sudden outburst. Now, you’re more confident about yourself and your works. You finally decided to fly out of your cage.

You shared your works to the band; you started to take part in your group projects and school activities with your talent, too—which you never dared to do so before. You helped the band find gigs and make creative decisions. You became their ‘manager’ which started off as a joke and just to tease you.

A small ruckus outside your classroom caught your attention few hours after. There you saw the figure of the ‘mysterious guy’ that everyone thinks of but you see him as a soft and passionate guy.

Why do a lot of girls like ‘mysterious type’ of guys? You thought to yourself as you think about the moments you’ve shared together and how playful and mischievous he actually is. Everyone thinks that he rarely speaks when he’s actually loud and always jokes around, always pull a prank especially on Wonpil.

You were brought back to the present when your friend nudged you. “He’s gonna melt and you wouldn’t want that, would you?”

You exhaled a sharp breath and rolled your eyes before you get up from your seat, get your bag and pace toward the said young man. You can see his uneasiness with all the girls around him, bombarding him with questions about their upcoming performance, and trying to give him gifts.

If it was your imagination when you saw his eyes light up, the moment they were casted on you, or not, it made your heart skip. Brushing it off, you continue to walk your way through the girls surrounding him.

“Excuse me ladies, but we got an appointment”, you tightly smiled the moment you faced them before grabbing Dowoon’s wrist and get out of the small crowd.

“You didn’t have to wait for me outside our classroom”, you stated when you went of the school premises.

He just shrugged. “What’s the appointment?”

You bit your lip and avoided eye contact. “Drum session?” You didn’t have to turn your head to look at him to know he’s smiling from ear to ear.

“Oh, I thought it’s the band practice”

You cleared your throat “Well, of course there’s that. But we still got, more or less, 2 hours before the practice. Brian said he’ll be a little bit late so Chicken and Bear decided to go to arcade.”

“Chicken and Bear?” he asked confused.

“Jae and Sungjin.”

He chortled a little “Oh yeah, you always call Jae ‘chicken’ and Wonpil always ask Sungjin if he’s a bear”

He was murmuring something few minutes after but when you asked he seemed to be perturbed. He said it was nothing and he was just memorizing something for their test. You know it’s something else because you always notice him indistinctly muttering to himself. It’s been quite a while now but if he doesn’t want to say it to you, you just let him be. You didn’t want to poke your nose to someone else’s business.

“You remember how to count for the sixteen beat in 4/4 time signature to make it easier?”, he asked you when you’re already seated on the drum seat.

“Mhm”, you nodded confidently “One e and a two e and a three and a four e and a. And put accent  or emphasis in every number”

He nodded proudly and motioned you to play “Show me a basic 16 beat groove”

You played right away. Hitting the hi-hat in every count, the snare in two’s and four’s, the bass drum in every one’s, three’s and the ‘and’s’ after the three.

He made you play another groove after four rounds of the first one. Now you’re doing almost the same groove, only that you’re stepping on the pedal of the bass drum in every numbers—one, two, three, and four.

“Okay. Let’s do now an eight beat groove with variation on bass” he demonstrated and you observed intently. You were counting in your head as you keep an eye on how he plays. One and two and three and four and—you continue as you try to focus more. As usual, he was hitting the hi-hat in every count but he seems to be stepping on the pedal of the bass outside the counting. It sounded like tug-tss-tug-tak-tss-tug-tug-tss-tak-tss

 “You got it?”

“You put a delay on the bass?”, you asked confused.

“It’s kinda like that. I just put a variation. It’s like putting together the counting of eight beat and sixteen beat” seeing you confused, he elaborated more “What’s the difference between the counting of eight beat and sixteen beat?”

“The ‘e’ and the ‘a’”

He nodded in agreement. “So you use the counting for the eight beat but you add ‘e’ or ‘a’ to where you decide to put the variation.” He took a glance on you to see if you understand “In my case earlier, I put the variation on bass before the ‘two’ and ‘three’. The counting was ‘one-and-a-two-and-a-three-and-four-and’, I stepped on the pedal on ‘a’ before the two then on the other ‘a’ and ‘three’. So you hit the hi-hat in every count using eight note; so that’s except every ‘a’”

“One-and-a-two-and-a-three-and-four-and?” You repeated for clarification and he nodded “So, hi-hat on one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and; I step on the pedal before I hit the snare, then two step on it after the second ‘and’; bass-and-bass-snare-bass-bass-and-snare-and”

He made you try it for a couple of times. You allowed yourself to be wallowed in getting how to add a variation while Dowoon was also indulged in staring at you. When you thought you got it and looked up to him for confirmation, he only has his eyes glued on you that you had to clear your throat to make him come back to his senses.

“I think I got it?”

If he was surprised or taken aback, you don’t know. But before he could ask you to repeat it so he could check, Jae, Sungjin and Wonpil arrived. Jae sensed the small awkwardness and threw both of you a knowingly glare.

“Something’s fishy here”, he commented.

“Hm? Did someone eat fish here or something?”, Wonpil innocently asked which made him gain another tease from Jae that he’s stupid.

Several days of non-stop practices came. You’d still catch Dowoon whispering to himself every time he’s alone and be startled every time he becomes aware of your presence but you shrug it off as always.

At the day of the event, you needed to be there as early as possible to help with the set up and everything.

“Sorry, the event organizer needed to talk to me.” He was once again startled by your existence. He was uttering something again. Thinking of how not to make him uncomfortable you decided to ask about the others’ whereabouts.

“I don’t know. I also thought they’d be here by now. They said to come here by around this time”

You nodded and took a breath. You took a step and turned your back to go to the stage and check everything but he abruptly held the hem of your shirt to stop you from walking away.

You confusedly take a step back and faced him. He kept on mumbling. With forehead creased, you asked “Is there something bothering you? Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Uh-uhm…” He bit his lower lip and caressed his nape. He’s ears are slowly becoming red. He’s stuttering and you couldn’t get a clue to whatever he wants to say.

Heaving a sigh, you tapped his shoulder “What is it? Tell me. If you don’t have something to say, I’ll go ahead and help with the preparation”

Just when you’re about to turn your back again, he finally let out the thing he has been keeping and has been wanting to tell you.

“I like you!”

You suddenly forgot what it’s meant to breathe. Your jaw dropped, eyebrows raised as he turned into a total tomato.

He scratched his back, a bit disappointed of the outcome. He’s been practicing how to confess to you but nothing went as planned and he just blurted it out.

You didn’t know how to react. He turned his back right away and took strides, trying to run away. Just when you’re about to tell him you feel the same way, a loud voice aded the area.

“What’s good ladies and gents! Today is D-Day!”

You exhaled softly. Only then you realized you were holding your breath.

Not minding Jae, Sungjin set his eyes on you and Dowoon. “Did something happen here? Dowoon looks like he’s about to escape from an embarrassing situation and you look like you’re surprised but pleased”

As much as you wanted to hide what you feel, your lips won’t seem to obey you as they continue to paint a grin on your face.

Jae approached you right away with narrow eyes. “Did you—“ he took a glance on Dowoon and then back at you. Tilting his head a bit, he decided not to continue his sentence but put his arm around Dowoon’s neck instead. “Come one, let’s just set things up, sound check and everything”

You don’t know if your eyes have their minds of their own or you really wanted to follow his figure. Sungjin whistled and wiggled his eyebrows when he walk passed you and Wonpil give you a knowingly smile.

When they’re all on the stage to prepare, you called him out. He halted; Jae’s arm is still around his neck. Not minding your brother, you decided to tell him that it’s mutual “Me, too!”

He seemed surprised but couldn’t hide the euphoria he’s feeling. His lips stretched out, smiling broadly. He became red once again.

“What was that?!” Jae butted in “What do you mean by you, too?!”

You shrugged your shoulders, Sungjin dragged him away from Dowoon and you turned back while he continued to get your attention.

The event started few hours after. They’re gonna perform three songs; one that you wrote and two of their own.

I like you
I tried to hold back
But I can’t anymore

When Brian sang the chorus of their last song, Dowoon’s eyes pierced on yours. He couldn’t help it but smile instantly; getting his ears red as usual. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself.

“Did something happen? You look like a lunatic smiling to yourself” Your friend suddenly showed up to your side and nudged you.

“Something really good”, you grinned. She seemed to be surprised by your response because you used to always ignore her remarks.

You talked with the organizer few moments later. And when you turned back to go the band that just finished their performance, the figure you’re eager to see was already in front of you.

“Hi”, he greeted with a big smile.

Putting your hand in your back pocket, smiling wide and shyly, you responded “Hello”

It all started with that simple greeting. He’d always say ‘hi’ and you’d always respond with a ‘hello’. It seems like saying it again after a long time means another start of something.

Aight! It's done. Didn't proofread so excuse the mistakes. Just made the ending simple.