No One's POV

For the past 5 days, Soyoung had been going over to Luhan’s house to work on their so-called projects for the showcase, not that the parents minded at all. Half of the time, the parents weren’t even home due to their business work. Luhan and Soyoung couldn’t technically go over to Soyoung’s place because she didn’t have a studio like Luhan. They needed his studio to make changes to the music if they ever needed to change it.

 It was funny how they started seeing each other more often in the hallways at school too. They even conversed more, here and there, but of course, it was only about the Showcase.

She even came to notice that Baekhyun does wait for her every day, too, and she gladly hangs out with him before he goes to class. The two also conversed about the project a lot, since the two are in the same department. She learned that Baekhyun was going to be covering a song with a couple of his and Luhan’s friends.

While Soyoung helped Luhan paint his painting, Luhan helped her on the lyrics. They sat by each other and helped out with both projects. Sometimes Soyoung would ask Luhan if adding something in was okay and he’d give her feedback upon the painting. Well, he barely does, but still.

On the other hand, Luhan would ask Soyoung several questions about the lyrics and what she wanted the message of the song to be. It came out to be not stressful at all, and even if none of them would ever admit it to each other, they liked this idea of working together.

“Okay, I’m done with the painting,” she proudly announced as she set down her brush. It was tiring, to be honest, because she wasn’t sure if Luhan would like it or not. “It just needs to dry.”

“Really? Thanks. Now can you come here and focus on the lyrics. I’m not sure how you’re liking the lyrics I wrote,” Luhan spoke without looking over at the painting. Soyoung sighed and scooted closer to the male and peered over his shoulders.

When she read the lyrics, her face was flushed with red. *Who knew Luhan can be so cheesy?*

Sure enough, the lyrics gave off a feeling of needing to blush, but it was also blissful, Soyoung concluded. It wasn’t meant for a happy song. It wasn’t a heart-breaking song either. It was a song of eternal love, no matter the situation.

Soyoung felt bad, to be honest. She hadn’t really help Luhan out much with the lyrics. She did, in a way, but she always added in other ideas that totally switched the scenario around. She doesn’t blame Luhan if he becomes frustrated if she doesn’t like the lyrics he wrote. But of course, that won’t happen, because Soyoung loved the lyrics. It was heart-warming in a pathetic way. It was such a swaying passage that makes total sense thus the reason for her loving it.

Luhan glanced at her before looking back down at the paper. “Stop staring at it and tell me about it. How is it?”

Soyoung swallowed, stuck at words. “It’s… It’s not bad. I like it.”

“Will you be satisfied with showing this?” he wondered, because that was all that he cared about. If she was satisfied with performing it or not.

“Of course,” she smiled. “As long as you’re satisfied with showing your painting.”

Luhan glanced at the painting before breaking out. “Is that me?!” He literally shouted, causing Soyoung to jump from the unexpected volume. She slightly nodded and suddenly, she didn’t like the painting anymore. “Is that seriously me?” He whispered in disbelief.

I DO NOT own the 2 separate artwork nor did I draw them. I've only taken them & edited them to create this. Credit goes to rightful owner!

“Yeah,” she muttered.

Luhan could feel the insecurity glowing from her. Immediately, Luhan broke into a grin, surprising the female. “I love it.”

His honest words threw Soyoung back as she had not expected that. *He loves it? … Is this really the Luhan I know?*

“Um… Thanks,” she mumbled.

Luhan chuckled upon seeing her devastated state. “I really do like it. How do you manage to draw me so well anyways? I mean… I kinda look weird with those antlers, not that I’m complaining but…. Whoa. How do you even paint like that? Is that why you took days on it? I was wondering why you would need to keep touching it.”

“So you like it?”

He gave her an ‘are-you-kidding’ look before grinning. “Didn’t I say that like two to three times already? I love it. Seriously. How do you even paint like that? It looks so… computerized instead. But I thought we were doing a descriptive painting on music. Why did you … suddenly paint me?”

The question caused the female to smile brightly. “Well, we were going on music… but along the way as I tried out some music themes, I came to decipher some things and I came up with this idea. I decided, since it’s about you anyways, why not just paint you? And so I did.”

“Okay…” Luhan carefully looked over the painting. “But what did you even decipher, or whatever, to come up with this idea? And what’s the message of the painting? It looks nice and all, but I really don’t see a message here.”

Soyoung rolled her eyes in a kidding way. “Of course you wouldn’t see the message.” She shifted and scooted nearer the painting, overlooking it with a soft gaze before explaining. “When I asked you some questions about music to get an idea of what the painting should be, I realized that your personality changes. You seemed more calm and free and especially the fact that you practically shined while talking about music. It’s something you love.” She pointed to the right side, the Luhan with the antlers. “It’s brighter than the other side and in this one, you smile. While the other side shows more of a dark side and you don’t smile. I tried my best to shadow you. A bigger version and a smaller version and made the bigger version more faded. The smaller version of your dark side represents yourself, being under the shadow, which is your bigger version. When you’re not allowed to do what you want and you don’t feel free, you don’t smile and you often seem to be in a darker world. You suddenly feel like you don’t matter anymore thus the reasoning of having yourself overshadowed… I hope I made sense.”

Luhan nodded slightly, still in awe by the painting. “It makes perfect sense, although it was kinda hard to follow your words. It was confusing, but I caught on. So explain, what’s with the antlers?”

Soyoung gave a small laugh. She knew that question was coming. “Why do you think it’s there?”

Luhan took a minute to think before a broad smile made its way to his face. “Did my mom tell you, or did you just figure it out yourself?”

“That ‘Lu’ means deer and ‘Han’ means Fawn? Yeah, she told me,” Soyoung bit her lower lip. When she had first heard the information, she was surprised and very touched. Although it wasn’t her name, she saw it as that the name perfectly fits him. It gave Luhan a cute appearance even though he came out to be fierce and strong. “You know, it’s a really cute name.”

“Oh god,” Luhan muttered as he sighed. He knew that was coming. “It’s not cute,” he denied. “But whatever. So why did you have to put the antlers there just because of my name. If you’re gonna make it reflect each other, wouldn’t you have drawn the symmetrical?”

Soyoung shook her head with a sly smirk. “There’s a catch to your ‘deer’ side. You see, when you’re in the darker state, you’re only allowed to be in one’s shadows and you can’t do what you want. Your ‘deer’ side, or the brighter side of this painting represents that you’re free. It represents that you can b anything you want to be and it shows that you don’t have to stick to one thing.”

Luhan nodded his head slowly, catching onto her explanation. *Wow. She’s pretty smart…* “I see. It makes perfect sense.”

“Does it?” she questioned. Again, Luhan could see the insecurities within her.

“It really does,” he assured her. “You did it perfectly and it’s easy to describe. The idea isn’t hard to grasp on to. How about we grab a go on your lyrics? We’ve got the lyrics down, but now, we need a melody.”

“We do?” Soyoung had thought that he had that covered. She was correct.

Luhan brought a hand to his nape and rubbed it in a shy manner. “Well, we already have one but… You’re the one performing, so I need your opinion on it. We have to make sure you’re comfortable singing the melody to the instrumental so you can be confident when performing.”

She sighed in relief. “For a minute there, I thought you don’t have it done. I’m supposed to perform it in on the coming Wednesday. I almost had a panic attack.”

Luhan chuckled at her words before he took her wrist and dragged themselves over to his studio. “Let’s get to work then. I’m going to sing it first so you have a feel of what the melody is like. Then I’ll help you with it afterwards and we’ll go little by little so you can grasp onto the song. Are you ready?”

Since the time he spoke of ‘singing’ Soyoung zoned out. She was to sing to him? She’s really going to have to sing? But she’s not good at singing. She’s horrible at it. That was one of the reasons why she didn’t the path of music in the first place.

Luhan clicked the play button without an ‘ok’ from the female. Immediately, beautiful music followed and before she knew it, Luhan’s soft voice filled the room.

His voice.

Luhan’s voice.

Luhan.

All Soyoung could think of right now was the human being right by her side as of now. All she could see was the human being right by her side. The person she used to despise of was by her side, letting out the most gentle sound she’d ever heard.

His voice.

Luhan’s voice.

She never thought there’d be a day when she’d praise him. She never thought there’d ever be a day when she’d hear him sing and actually enjoy it. It’s amazing how his voice could feel her ears with happiness, even though the song portrayed a different feeling.

His voice.

Only his voice was audible for her. Only he was visible to her at this moment. Only Luhan. Even though, in the past, he had seem like a jerk, right now, he wasn’t. Even though he once had her hating him, right now, she doesn’t. Even though, in the past, he had made her upset, cry, and even hurt her, right now, she was glad it all summed up to this. He was handsome, she always knew that, but there was never  a time like now that made it stand out more than other times.

By the time the male was done singing, Soyoung had snapped back to reality. Horror crossed her face.

*Oh no! I wasn’t paying attention! What if he asked me how it sounds? What if he asked for feedback? How am I supposed to answer--*

“I’ll sing it one more time,” Luhan interrupted Soyoung’s thoughts, causing her to become puzzled. Luhan smirked. “You weren’t paying attention. It’s fine. All girls were like that too.”

Soyoung scoffed, but didn’t say anything back. She could see why the other girls were like that… But she wasn’t just any other girl. She was the girl that had said she wouldn’t fall for Luhan and she will keep her words. She hadn’t fallen for him so it’s still safe for her to look at him. *Who knew he could be so cocky...? Oh wait, I did. Haha.*

Again, Luhan began singing and this time, instead of focusing on his appearance and his voice, Soyoung paid more attention to the lyrics and the construction of the melody. A smile crossed her face.

*Hey, that’s a beautiful melody.*

After finishing his part and having Soyoung give back feedback, the two immediately got working on changing up parts of the lyrics for Soyoung’s comfort and did tiny changes to the instrumental. Although it took hours, they were pleased with how it came out. Plus, it was a good thing for Soyoung. She got to hear Luhan sing all over again. And again. And again. And. Again.

But she didn’t mind. She loves hearing his voice—when he sings, that is, but of course, she’ll never admit that.

“It’s your turn to sing,” he looked at her and immediately, he was brought onto the fact that the female was afraid of singing. In fact, she looked horrified. Luhan looked Soyoung in the eyes. “Are you scared?”

“Huh?” Soyoung stuttered. She didn’t want to admit it, but she really was. “Um… Of course not.”

Luhan gave her a flat stare. “Really now?”

Soyoung, who felt uncomfortable under his gaze, averted eyes.

Luhan smiled a friendly smile. “I don’t bite. The most I can do is help you to improve on this song so you can perform well in front of others. And plus, it’s just me. No one else. You don’t’ have to be scared.”

“I said I’m not scared,” she denied before taking a deep breath. To be really honest, she had memorized the lyrics already. Hearing Luhan sing it over and over really did help. And same goes to the melody. She was fond with it also. The only problem was where the beat lies within the lyrics.

“Then show me,” he commanded, handing her the final lyrics they both written.

Soyoung hesitantly took the lyrics and cleared . *Oh gosh. Please, someone help me.*

Soyoung opened , about to let out a string of lyrics with her melodious voice, when the doorbell rang. She quickly closed and looked over at Luhan. He looked confuse as ever and she could tell what he was thinking.

*Who on earth is here?*

“I’ll be back. You should practice on that because by the time I come back, you’re singing,” he said swiftly as he left the mini studio and his room.

Relief washed over Soyoung. She had never felt so nervous before. Never. And the reason to that is because she had never sung in front of just anyone before. The only people were her parents. Not even Zico nor Kyung has heard her before and knowing that Luhan would be the first made her feel some sort of unpleased feeling. For some odd reason, she didn’t find it fair that he would be the first outsider to hear her sing.

“You never pick up your calls!” a familiar male voice boasted from below.

Soyoung’s eyes widened immediately. *Isn’t that—*

“Yeah, and you don’t even text back.”

“So you were home all along, huh?”

“What were you doing?”

Soyoung knew who those voices belonged to. She knew very well, even though she didn’t know the people themselves that well.

“I was doing my painting for the showcase,” Soyoung heard Luhan answer the males. “Now if you’d excuse yourself, I need to get back to work. You may leave.”

“Leave?!” She heard someone guffawed. “Naw. We can’t just leave. We came for a reason.”

“For what reason is that?” Soyoung could hear the annoyance in Luhan’s voice. Because he had left his room door open wide, she could hear their voices clearly.

“Well, you see, we need to work on our projects for the showcase too.”

“We all need to use your studio.”

Soyoung’s eyes widened even more, panic kicking into her. *Oh no. Oh no! This is bad!*

“Go use Yixing’s studio!” Luhan retorted immediately. “I’m using mines.”

Soyoung relaxed a bit. *Nice save—*

“But you said you’re working on your painting.”

Soyoung immediately took back what she had thought. That was not a nice save. Not at all. She never knew he could be such a bad liar when it came to last minute situations. She could hear footsteps approach the stairs before Luhan stopped them.

“Go use Yixing’s!” Luhan commanded once again.

“Lay’s studio broke down. Why do you think Lay’s here with us?”

“Sorry. Technicians are work on it right now. You don’t mind if we intrude, do you?”

“In fact, I do.” Luhan spoke. “I can’t stand sound when I’m concentrating hard on something, so you being here when I’m working hard on my painting won’t benefit me at all.”

“Didn’t you just say that you’re using your studio?”

“But he also said he’s working on his painting.”

“If you can’t stand sound, how the hell do you even produce your music?”

“You’re responses are getting sort of suspicious.”

“Are you hiding something from us?”

In total, Soyoung counted a max of 5 voices, excluding Luhan’s. She sighed quietly. She should have left for home earlier. Damn.

She had only stayed this late, meaning 9 PM, because it was a Friday and she didn’t think she’d need to go home since her parents aren’t even home. She didn’t think that Luhan would have guests.

Luhan bellowed a stout laugh. “You guys are funny. Why would I be hiding anything from you all?”

“Making up stupid excuses that don’t explain anything and preventing us to use your studio. Yeah, it’s not suspicious at all.”

“Oh, don’t forget the fact that he’s not letting us go upstairs to his room.”

“Perhaps… Luhan, are you hiding a girl?”

Soyoung’s chees flashed red. He sure was right, whoever had said that. *Wait… Isn’t that Baekhyun?! Baek’s here?! Then that makes 6 people that are here, not 5.*

“Are you kidding me?” Luhan’s voice of laughter was, once again, heard. “Me, hiding a girl? Since when do I ever do that? I’ve never had a girl in my room before. Even when I lived in China.”

Murmurs of “that’s true” sounded downstairs, which only caused Soyoung to become more rigid. *So I’m the first ever?!*

“Come on, Luhan. We really need to use your studio and we don’t know when Yixing’s studio will be fixed. We have to get this thing done by this Wednesday.”

“Why don’t you all just cover a song or something?” Luhan’s eye rolling was obvious by this time and Soyoung knew it.

“Well, some of us are, but we want to perform during the Showcase so we thought of remixing the audios.”

A loud and clear sigh was given by Luhan. “Fine, but when you get up there, don’t make a big fuss or else I’m throwing you all out.”

Rounds of cheers went around as everyone bombarded the stairs. On the other hand, Soyoung’s heart accelerated faster by the second. They were going to find her here and they were going to make fun of her. Make fun of Luhan. Make fun of them. They were going to tease the two about it.

Although Soyoung didn’t know the EXO guys well, she knew enough about the fact that they liked to tease a lot. She found that out at the previous Party—Kyung’s Hello Party and Yun Yi & Mei Lien’s Good Bye Party.

The first one into the studio room stopped abruptly, screaming his head off upon seeing the female sitting there. Everyone stopped in their tracks as they covered up their ears from the high-pitched shriek.

*Who knew Chanyeol has such a high scream?* Soyoung almost wanted to laugh, but she couldn’t, because she was too stunned upon seeing all eyes on her.

“Soyoung?!” Everyone chorused together.

From behind, she could see Luhan’s face palming.

An awkward smile approached her face. “Um… Hi.”

Author's Note♥:

Because it's Christmas, I wanted to update, as a gift. I know, it's a lame gift, but I wanted to give it to you all because you're all so patient when I don't update on time & you guys never rush me, so thank you! I also want to thank all of you for subscribing & or reading JUST Common Sense. I really appreciate the love you all give, just by reading it & giving it a chance! Every chapter, I gain more readers & subscribers & that already tells me enough that people really are giving my story a chance, so thank you so much! Also, many thanks to my commentors! I don't have much commentors, but atleast every chapter, one person comments & that already motivates me to write my next chapter! Thank you, again, & Merry Christmas to all!

**I've created a separate blog post to explain Soyoung's point of the painting better, I think, so if you weren't catching on with her, go here: The Explanation of '2 Sides of Luhan'.

Thanks to apathy.com;poster❜ for this beautiful poster!

Don't forget to COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE & OR UPVOTE on your own will. I'd very appreciate it though ;D

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