“Our lives were just beginning, our favorite moment was right now, our favorite songs were unwritten.” ― Rob Sheffield, Love is a Mix Tape.

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“Guys,” Lee Hongki in a sharp breath, “Today is the day. Well, I shall say… Tonight is the night.” He cleared his throat.

Hongki faced his classmates who had identical horrified expression on their faces, “Tonight, we’re going to perform what we have been practicing during the last month.”

His eyes flew to his friends, “Lee Jonghyun!” He pointed at Jonghyun, “Fix your tie! It looks awful!” The mentioned guy groaned and fixed his tie sloppily.

Hongki continued, “Nam Jihyun! The ribbon on top of your head looks weird! Fix it or simply… don’t use it!” Nam Jihyun pouted and pulled the ribbon off of her hair.

“Choi Jonghun! Your tuxedo is kinda crinkled! Fix it! Kwon Yuri! Um… For Kwon Yuri…” He suddenly looked embarrassed, “You look pretty…” 

Yuri’s face turned crimson in embarrassment, “Stop it!” She whispered to Hongki, while the latter only grinned.

Sooyoung was standing nervously among her classmates, Yuri on her left. She unconsciously grabbed Yuri’s hand, “Yul…”

“They are already here?” Yuri asked her and Sooyoung nodded, “I don’t think I can perform…”

“Yes you can, Choi Sooyoung,” Yuri cut her words; “You’re good, you’re talented, you’re a great violist, and now you’re going to show them that.”

Sooyoung smiled a little upon hearing Yuri’s words, “Thank you, Yul. It means a lot.”

Yuri nodded and gave her a grin in return, “Now will you excuse me, my fellow clarinetists are doing some warming up. They’re hopeless without me,” She shrugged and Sooyoung laughed, “Okay, awesome.”

When Yuri left, Sooyoung started to feel anxious again. What if I messed up out there? She thought; what if I forgot everything and they are watching and… Suddenly she felt that something, no, someone, held her right hand tightly, as if reassuring her that she would do just fine. She shifted her head to her right and saw Luhan was standing there, his hand holding hers.

He threw her a grin, “You alright?”

When Sooyoung went speechless and gave him a horrified look, he chuckled, “Don’t worry too much. You’ll forget everything if you do.”

Sooyoung frowned, “They’re out there, I… I just can’t…”

“My grandma used to tell me this,” He continued, as if he didn’t hear her answer, “When you’re on stage, pretend that no one is watching and just do your best.”

Sooyoung sighed, “How am I… But they’re out there!”

Luhan gently intertwined their fingers and gave her hand a squeeze, “Just… think of them as… as potatoes, okay? Potatoes, vegetables, harmless. They can do nothing to you. See their heads only and imagine them as Mister and Missus Potatoes. Easy, huh?”

Sooyoung’s imagination flew to Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head from Toy Story and she laughed, “Out of all vegetables, why potatoes?”

“You should ask my grandma about that, but sorry to say, she’s in China. So… you can go with me to China sometime in the future and ask her by yourself. But she can’t speak other languages, well, other than Chinese, so maybe I’ll be your translator. Or… you can start learning Chinese.” Luhan stopped his speech and gave her a toothy grin.

Sooyoung shook her head in amusement, “Okay, take me to meet her sometime. I’ve never been to China before,” She giggled.

“My pleasure,” He answered, “After this semester ends, I’m going to take you there. Make sure you’re free during our semester break for maybe… A week or two?” He wrinkled his forehead.

Sooyoung laughed again, “Nice joke.”

“But I’m not joking!” He gave her an innocent look.

“Guys! Our class’ performance is up next!” Hongki suddenly yelled and Sooyoung gasped.

“I have to get ready!” She mumbled. She shifted her head to face Luhan and saw the boy was giving her a supporting grin, “Good luck, Choi Sooyoung.” He softly released her hand and ushered her to get ready with her fellow violists. Sooyoung threw him a thankful smile and walked towards her friends. Her hand felt weird without his warm one clasping it, and suddenly she missed the feeling of his strong yet gentle grip on her hand.

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“We did it, guys! We did it!” Hongki flew his fist to the air and jumped, “We did it!”

The crowd erupted in laughter as they hugged each and every one of their class. Nam Jihyun sobbed as she hugged Han Sunhwa, Lee Kikwang wiped his fake tears while shaking hand with Lee Jonghyun, and Yuri was flabbergasted because Hongki just hugged her.

“We did it, Yuri!” He grinned happily.

Yuri raised her eyebrows, but smiled afterwards, “Yeah, we did it. You were pretty cool as a Concert Master, Hongki.”

Hongki’s eyes widened in pure happiness, “I can’t believe that you just praised me! Thank you, Yuri!” He hugged her again and Yuri could only roll her eyes.

Sooyoung laughed upon seeing Yuri and Hongki antics, she didn’t realize that a certain guy was standing behind her the whole time. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned back, only to face a grinning Luhan.

“How were the potatoes?” He asked her and she replied with a laugh.

“It worked!” Sooyoung grinned, “Your Mister and Missus Potato worked! Thanks!”

“You should thank my grandma about this,” He wore a silly swanky expression on his face, and earned a smack on the shoulder from Sooyoung.

“Ouch! That hurts!” He complained, “What if I got wounded due to the huge amount of shoulder-hitting-from-Choi-Sooyoung and I couldn’t play the piano well during the performance?”

Sooyoung stuck out her tongue playfully, “You always exaggerate things, don’t you, Luhanney?”

Before he could retort, a voice chimed in, “Your performance is the last guys, after this one. Make sure you’d do well.” Hongki gave them a look, “Warming up sounds nice, doesn’t it Choi Sooyoung, Luhan? Instead of being lovey dovey here like a pair of…”

“Okay, okay,” Sooyoung rolled her eyes, “We’re about to do some warming up, actually. Come on, Lu,” she took Luhan’s hand and led their way to a corner where they left their bags.

“That Lee Hongki,” Sooyoung mumbled and reached for the scores for their duet, “…Is always annoying. I know he’s the class rep but still…” She sighed, “He’s so bossy! And that’s totally... ugh.”

Sooyoung slumped down in a chair nearby and Luhan did the same. She handed him the scores, “Do you want to take a final look?”

Luhan shook his head and Sooyoung tilted her head, confused, “No? I guess I’ll take a look at this on my own then…”

When she was analyzing the scores for the last time before the performance, Luhan suddenly said, “Remember you promised that you would treat me sundubu jjigae if our performance went well?”

“I… did?” Sooyoung’s forehead wrinkled in confusion, “When did I…”

“You did!” Luhan said, “You said the sundubu jjigae near the bus stop is so delicious and you’ll treat me! All I can eat!”

Sooyoung snorted, “I didn’t say all-you-can-eat!”

Luhan grinned triumphantly, “Gotcha. You remembered. Is that promise still on the table?”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, “A promise is a promise. Of course. Just promise me you’d do well tonight,” She eyed him, confused, “Why do you suddenly bringing that up anyway? Just before the performance…”

“Well… It simply means I will still have another day to spend with you after all of this ended,” he grinned and Sooyoung went speechless.

“Sooyoung! Luhan! You guys are supposed to be in the backstage now! The current performance is about to end soon!” Jihyun suddenly called them from across the room and Luhan stood up.

“We should go,” he said and he offered her his hand, which she took with a small smile. He noted that she blush