They walked down the campus in silence. Jongwoon was the kind of person who preferred not to talk on his own initiative and although Hyukjae was the opposite, he had decided to keep silent during their walk, to be able to enjoy Jongwoon's company. He felt an atmosphere that maybe for someone else would have been uncomfortable, even for him at any other time; being an hyperactive and talkative person, a silent environment wouldn't suit him. Definitely, it wasn't his style. But his interest in Jongwoon was genuine, and he knew that in order to get to understand him, he had to know him first and the way to do it was paying attention to him.

They finally arrived to some stairs, almost completely deserted, except for some students a few meters away. It was one of the days when almost all the students left school early and it was not their exception, but if he could take advantage of that moment to talk with Jongwoon, he would not run, as he does every day, to his house looking to get some rest.

They took a seat next to each other, keeping a respectable distance that Hyukjae didn't want to break, despite being usually less reserved.

“How are you going with the exams?” To his surprise, Jongwoon was actually the first to speak.

“Pretty good,” he nodded. “The only thing that got me on my nerves was singing, but thanks to you I managed to get a better rating than in the past.”

“It was all your doing,” the elder said before Hyukjae could begin to thank. “Do not say otherwise.”

“How could I not do it?” He questioned. “It was only possible thanks to you.”

“You just needed a little guidance,” he admitted. “But the talent is yours.”

Hyukjae couldn't help but blush at the comment and tried desperately to hide it by changing the direction of the conversation a little to prevent Jongwoon from focusing his attention on him.

“What made you study music?” He asked, quite interested. “Well, this profession,” he corrected himself, because music was not the only thing they studied, but a mixture of various arts.

Jongwoon didn't respond immediately, he took, instead, a moment that could have spanned from a couple of seconds to several minutes, Hyukjae didn't know, because the time seemed not to pass properly and if it did, it didn't matter, because he was grateful to share it for that occasion with Jongwoon.

“Well, I've always liked music a lot, I think it's a very interesting and complex way of communicating, and it's easy for me to sing and act, so I didn't think it was a bad idea to try to dedicate myself to this, anyway I have a whole life ahead to do and explore more things.” Hyukjae parted his lips unconsciously, as if gawking at his words and only closed them when Jongwoon kept talking. “There are things like dance and rap that are not natural to me, but they are part of the process and I am pleased to make an effort to maintain a certain level, even though it is clearly not one of the best.”

“Oh, that's great,” Hyukjae forced himself to say. “I mean, the fact that you don't give up even though you know clearly that there are things that don't go as well as in others. Although, I must admit, it seems impossible to think that you are not good at something.”

Jongwoon shook his head with a reluctant smile.

“It's pretty credible, actually,” he contradicted. “If something of that goes well to me, it's more from effort than talent.”

“But your voice is great,” he flattered. “And nobody will take that from you.”

Hyukjae saw how a shy smile illuminated Jongwoon's features making him look more attractive. His profile was, without a doubt, a sight that was worth it.

He noticed then that he seemed to be very different from him, from how little he knew him, he could see that they didn't agree on many things. And that was what seemed special to him. His attraction to Jongwoon was precisely that: what they didn't have in common.

“Thanks...” Jongwoon whispered in a tone that Hyukjae could not decipher.

The silence returned for a few seconds, in which Hyukjae wondered if it would be prudent to dig a little deeper into his personal life. He decided after a thousandth of a second that it was worth asking, after all he was Hyukjae, being reckless was part of his nature.

“Why did you move?” Jongwoon shot him a confused look, clearly taken aback. “You told me you came from Cheonan.”

“Oh, partly because of my parents' work,” he replied. “But mostly because I wanted to enter this school.”

Hyukjae nodded and asked, “Were you born there?”

“No, I was born here but my parents moved to Cheonan as soon as they considered me fit to travel.”

“So you practically haven't lived here,” the blonde said.

“Well, no,” he shrugged. “What about you?”

“I am from Gyeonggi-do. I lived there until I entered highschool, that's when I came directly to study here to have a place in the university.”

“So you have been in this school since high school?”

“I was here only the first year and I had to go to another school because my family could not continue paying the rent of the house in which we lived and the next one that we got was quite far, so I studied the last two years in another place,” he said without hesitating too much, he felt that he had nothing to hide from Jongwoon and he knew that in order to know him, he had to make himself known too.

“Oh and then you came back,” Jongwoon said but Hyukjae nodded as if answering a question.

“That's right,” he paused before casting his next question. “And... are you dating someone?”

Jongwoon opened his eyes at the question.

“Mmm... no.” He denied it.

“I thought I had seen you on some occasion with a girl,” he brought to mind the image of Jongwoon embracing a woman through the window of the music room.

“Well,” he hesitated. “In that case, I suppose you could consider her a former partner.”

“Was she your girlfriend?” The question escaped his lips before his conscience could register it and he mentally hit himself for his imprudence.

“No,” he answered. “You see, when I came to this school this cycle, I was alone because I was the new guy and she was the first one to approach and talk to me, she made it easier for me during the first days and with a little time she began to get closer to me, until she told me that she liked me. So it can be said that we were together, but nothing official.”

“She seems to be very nice,” Hyukjae admitted a little against his will, but telling the truth, he had interacted with that girl just a little during rehearsals and could tell that she seemed to be very sweet.

“That's what it seems,” he agreed. “But believe me, once you know her, she's not.”

“Huh?”

“Only, it's not as tender as she looks,” he explained poorly and Hyukjae decided not to dig deeper into the subject.

“I'm sorry,” he said to finish. “But if for some reason she didn't appreciate your value, I'm sure it's because she lacks neurons that make her think. You are a very charismatic guy.”

Jongwoon turned his face to avoid meeting Hyukjae's eyes, for Hyukjae knew he had managed to make him nervous and smiled triumphantly when he noticed a touch of pink on the black haired man's cheeks.

“Thank you, Hyukjae,” he barely murmured. “But in this aspect of life, I'm afraid I have no luck.”

“I doubt it, there must be someone who dies for you.”

I am that someone.

“I don't know...”

“You just have to wait for it.”

And I promise it will be worth it.