❥ Chapter Five

            It’s been about a week since I started going out to that bench every morning, just to see if she, Mitsuki, would be there.

            I don’t know why I became so desperate. I don’t know when it started. But in just that little time I spent with her, it seems as if Mitsuki’s already captured my attention.

            And yet, out of all the days I was out there, I only saw her that one time, and not again. So maybe I should’ve given up. But something willed me to go back.

            At four in the morning on a Saturday, I walked towards the bench again, without expectations. And there she was, sitting with that guitar sitting in her lap, her eyes closed as her fingers drummed against the instrument.

            One of her eyelids slid open. “Good morning.” And she closed her eye again.

            “Good morning.” I couldn’t stop the smile from creeping up on my face.

            “Couldn’t sleep again?”

            “You could say that.” Not like I set an alarm for three thirty this morning or anything.

            She quietly sighed before sitting up all the way and opening her eyes. “Finish that song of yours yet?”

            “Not quite.”

            “Will you let me help you?” There was no smile on her face, just like before, but there was something urgent in her voice. “I need a distraction.”

            I nodded and immediately sat down next to her.

            By her side was a small messenger bag, which held a notebook and some pencils. She pulled them out and set them down in front of me.

            “I was hoping you’d come today,” she muttered.

            “Why’s that?”

            “Because I can’t write songs on my own right now. Not with this state of mind, and not with my professor complaining about all of my lyrics,” Mitsuki replied, holding her pick to her guitar strings.

            I hesitated as she shifted to face me. “Why would he…?”

            “I’m… I guess I’m just too depressing for him.” She bitterly smiled. “Do you remember the chords I used last time?”

            Shaking my head, I quickly said, “I don’t play the guitar, so I don’t really know.”

            “Do you remember what it sounded like?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Hum.”

            “What?”

            “Hum the tune. I’ll know which chords they are.”

            She waited for me to hum, and though I felt ridiculous for humming it out, it worked out for Mitsuki, because she immediately began to play out the same melody.

            “That right?”

            “Yeah… Should we write this down?”

            Mitsuki nodded and quickly jotted down the notes on the staff paper. “Wanna write the lyrics under?”

            “S-Sure.” I was surprised at the quick rate she worked at as I scrawled out the lyrics. I’d never written a song so fast. It was almost like she was rushing, but she wasn’t at the same time. Maybe she was just a fast worker, but the speed was like driving fast in a convertible: breathtaking and exhilarating. I didn’t think writing songs could be so… exciting.

            I mean, yeah, I’ve written a ton of songs with Yun and Sam, but it was always just me goofing off and occasionally offering a line or two of lyrics while they actually worked.

            Mitsuki would play out a few chords every few seconds, testing how they would sound with the lyrics. Every once in a while, she’d shake her head and start another sequence of chords, trying to find one that sounded alright. In the mean time, I just waited, looking over my lyrics to see if there was something I should change.

            She reached forward with her pencil and pointed to a few words. “Can you make these into one or two less syllables?”

            “S-Sure.”

            Handing me her pencil, she continued to move down the lyrics, trying to fit more chords with different words.

            I gripped the pencil and scratched out a few words, trying to think of some that would fit in better. “What… notes did you want to use for this line?”

            Her eyes darted back to the line of lyrics. She paused for a few seconds before sliding her fingers up to a different position and playing a few chords with her other hand. “That sound okay?”

            “Y-Yeah… I’ll try to make the line fit.”

            The corners of her lips lifted barely a millimeter as she nodded before it fell and she was back to scanning over the lyrics.

            We continued like this for maybe two hours, or at least, until students started to walk out of the dorms.

            When a small group of people passed by, Mitsuki immediately stopped playing, her fingers pulling away from the strings of her guitar.

            “Let’s stop for today,” she muttered. Standing up, Mitsuki quickly slipped her notebook into a pocket at the front of her guitar case. Gently, she pulled the pencil from my hand and tossed it into her case as well before securely placing her guitar into it. “I’ll see you some other time… Teo.”

            “Wait!” I scrambled up from the ground, dusting of my hands of the dust from pushing myself up.

            Mitsuki waited for me to continue, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt.

            “I… I was wondering if you’d wanna come by to my friend’s studio… We work there every week, writing or rehearsing music.”

            “You know... you’re basically inviting a stranger to invade the space of your friend,” said Mitsuki.

            “You’re not a stranger. We know each other’s names, and we just sat here for a couple hours writing music.”

            “But we know nothing about each other.” She quietly sighed before stepping back a bit. “Maybe when we know each other better, then it should be alright for me to accept your invitation. For now… I’ll see you when I see you.” Without another word or proper goodbye, Mitsuki already turned to leave, heading back to her dorm.

            I sighed before falling back to the ground. Mitsuki… was surely an unsocial person. At the sight of people, she stopped playing, and at the sound of invitation, she immediately rejected. Maybe she was right, we were strangers. But a chance to hang out was a chance to get to know each other right?

            Leaning back against the bench, I folded my arms and stared at the half full courtyard. Why was I so focused on this one girl when there were so many people around me that I could hang out with? There were so many other people here that would probably be more open to getting to know someone, so many others who weren’t so mysterious. Yet, I was drawn to this small, quiet girl that has only written music with me and held one conversation with me.

            Maybe it was because… she read me so well during that conversation we had. It was as if she knew me so well already… And maybe it was because she has that same look in her eyes… the same glint of sadness in her eyes is the exact same as the one in mine. Was it because I want to know someone who really understands me? Someone that might be able to pull away the pain, and who I can do the same for?

            And despite my doubts that she’ll even want to have anything to do with me after we finish writing this song, I can already feel the determination inside of me to form something between the two of us.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello there! How did you guys like the chapter ^^? I'm sorry if there are any grammatical errors; I didn't have any time to proofread this at all T.T. And following that, I don't know how often I'll be able to update now, because of too much homework, no time, etc. etc. I hope I'll be able to update once every week, but if I can't, I'll definitely update once every two weeks! Thank you guys so much for reading ^^! See you guys next week (hopefully!).

~DespisedSecret

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