Chapter 7

Saela

“This fried chicken is delicious,” I sing before hitting my head on the keys; immediately regretting it afterwards. My head already hurts trying to force a beautiful bridge out of my tired body. The notes all sound wrong when I play them, and none of the chord patterns I pick sound good enough. I try playing the whole song through, but I come to a complete stop when I should be improvising something. I slide off the bench onto the floor, taking another break; and lay looking up at the ceiling. I stare at it until the texture starts to look like faces and shapes then grab my phone for mental support. It’s the only thing in this room that won’t look down on me for being a failure. I unlock it, relishing in that comfortable clicking, and see a message. I roll my eyes when I see that it’s Woohyun. But it does provide a distraction from my current problem so I read it.

“I saw the show and you STILL never said who your favorite was! (>.<)/,” he said. The angry face attached to the end of his sentence confirms my prediction of his reaction. I snort and start to type a snide remark about how I’m sure yet but it’s definitely not him, but stop when I think of something.

“Do you want to be my favorite?” I type and send it quickly before I regret it. As I stare up at the ceiling again waiting for the reply the textured faces sneering down at me, I feel a bit of anticipation prickle on my skin. Why do I feel excited? I wonder and jump when my phone buzzes suddenly on my stomach. I unlock it and read the message too fast the first time and don’t actually remember what it says so I have to read it again.

“I already know I am. ^-^,” He added a smug face; one that if he made it in real life I would hit him for. “But if I wasn’t, then yes. I would want to be your favorite.” I smile at my phone for a second before sticking my tongue out at one face above me and typing out a response.

“If you help me write an amazing bridge for our song, I’ll definitely admit that you’re my favorite.” I try to imagine his face when he reads this. Probably smug again, I think. I start thinking about his face and roll over when I realize what I’m doing to shake myself. I get back up and sit on the piano bench, playing some random song to pass the time. I jump again and sigh at myself for being so skittish when my phone buzzes on the piano.

“Where should we meet?”

I laugh at his response out loud and wonder how much of an idiot I look right now. This time I flip off the faces around me. I’m getting out of this place, I shudder and decide to meet him. We text back and forth for a couple minutes (I don’t even have to wait long between texts because it’s already 11 and he’s probably doing nothing but lounging around right now) and we figure that we’ll meet at the Woolim building. I throw my crumpled pieces of staff paper into the trash, eat the last piece of fried chicken from the take out box, and scrawl a note for Unnie and Jae before I slip out the door. I figure that since I have to get this song done, Unnie won’t care how I do it. I nod at my justification, satisfied with my reasoning. It’s warm outside the house; I wish I hadn’t changed into sweat pants after dance. My phone buzzes in my pocket letting me know that Woohyun is already there and I speed up, walking briskly towards their building. I’m thankful it’s close to Unnie’s house since my calves are sore from dance.

Woohyun is leaning up against the outside of the building, probably trying to look cool when I round the corner. He waves nonchalantly at me and I shake my head. He’s so cute, I think before I actually think about what I’m thinking. I need to be focused, I remind myself. Besides. Sungjong is so much cuter than him.

“Hi,” he says, smiling and opening the door. I sneak a quick look just to confirm that Sungjong is cuter and nod to myself. He raises his eyebrows at me, probably judging me for the awkward glance. “So I’m going to want a record of the fact that I’m your favorite.” I look back at him with narrowed eyes as we enter the building and he laughs. “Maybe later?” he suggests and I raise one eyebrow. He just smiles.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s here,” I look around, the lights are on but there’s no one at the front desk and no people moving through the halls like usual. I feel a nervous prickle on my skin, but ignore it. At the moment I’m too tired and frustrated with my lack of a bridge and my thoughts of his cuteness (or not) to care.

“Someone’s always here,” Woohyun shrugs and opens the door to the conference room. I wonder why we’re in here, but then he stops in front of a chair and pulls up the bottom of his sweatshirt. I almost gasp, but then realize what he’s doing and play it cool. I lean in the doorway and wait for him to take off his sweatshirt.

“It’s hot,” I tell him as he throws it on the chair and takes off another button up shirt. “Why are you wearing all of those clothes?” He laughs and throws it on the table.

“I have no idea,” he shrugs and slips past me back into the hall. I shake my head again, wondering why he put them in there instead of the practice room. I turn around and follow him slowly to the practice room, my whole body dreading to attempt the seemingly impossible again. He’s already sitting at the piano bench when I get in there and I take another look over him. Yep, I agree with myself again for no apparent reason, Sungjong is way cuter. I go over to sit next to him. He asks what we have so far and I play it for him, exempting the words. When he realizes I’m not going to sing, he frowns and tells me that I have to. I grudgingly start over, focusing on playing the right keys and singing the right notes with my tired voice. I’m conscious of Woohyun’s eyes flickering between my hands and my face as I play and of the fact that his white t-shirt that was hidden under his other shirt and sweatshirt is a V-neck. But that doesn’t matter. It feels weird to be playing it for him and I feel oddly and uncharacteristically nervous again. I stop at the hiatus that should be the bridge and turn to look at him. He’s smiling and it makes me feel a little less tired and worn down.

“I really like it,” he says, attempting to find the chords I just played but missing them entirely. I laugh as he shrugs; apparently he wasn’t paying as close attention to my hands as I thought he was. “So you just need a bridge now?” he asks and I nod. “Give me your phone,” he says holding out his hand suddenly. I look down at it, narrowing my eyes.

“The last time you took my phone, you set the background to a picture of you,” I remind him and he laughs. “And it wasn’t even a good picture.”

“I promise I won’t change anything,” he says and I believe him. I unlock it and hand it over to him then watch as he pokes at the screen for a moment. He better not be posting anything, I think, ready to snatch my phone back at anytime. Luckily and to my relief, he sets it down on the piano and a song comes out. He skips to the bridge of the song and we sit there and listen. Although I’m watching him curiously more than I’m listening.

“What are we doing?” I ask, when the song ends and he goes back into my playlists.

“We’re going to look through your music and get inspiration,” he says, scrolling down the long list of songs all stuffed onto my phone. “What songs do you listen to most?” I show him and we listen to the bridges of all of them, taking notes and brainstorming what makes them good and what makes them bad. Woohyun knows almost all of the music on my phone and I’m surprised when he sings along with me. I play a few English songs for him and then I’m just showing him my favorite songs and I forget about our task. When I completely forget what I’m doing and click on a song that I suddenly want to hear, I flip out and try to switch it. The piano has already started and he notices right away. All I can do is yell unintelligible words to try and drown out the sound of my favorite song.

“Is this my song?” Woohyun laughs, snatching my phone off the piano before I can save myself. “You were going to play me my own song?” He asks, laughing loudly and I hit his arm for laughing.

“It was an accident,” I frown. “But I do really like that song.” Woohyun smiles and turns it up, singing along with himself.

“You look stupid,” I tell him as he harmonizes with himself and dawns a depressed expression like he’s singing the sorrowful song for me. “Really,” I say and reach for the phone. I’m not really sure why, I’ve always wanted to hear him sing this song live, but my chest feels tight when his eyes turn sad. He grabs my hand locks eyes with me; forcing me to watch him as he sings the last part of the song. My chest only gets tighter. I join in my harmony to the end of it to dispel some of the awkwardness I feel building up with the pain and he smiles. There’s a second when all I can do is look back at him and let a rogue smile out on my lips. When the song switches to Be Ambitious by Dal Shabet, Woohyun laughs out loud and I blush, wriggling my hand out of his grasp and clicking the next song.

“Why shouldn’t we listen to that song?” he asks, knowing full well why I changed it. The next song that comes on sends my heart rate through the roof again and I grab the phone to pause it completely. The Art of Seduction by Heo Young Saeng is not the song I want on right now but it sends Woohyun into a fit of laughter. I frown at him again, wondering why my phone hates me.

“Maybe we should actually start writing now,” I suggest, closing my phone and throwing it on the ground lightly. I’m kinda pissed it betrayed me. “My phone’s pretty much dead anyway,” I shrug as the 10% battery notification appears for the third time. Woohyun agrees even though I can tell he wants to see what song will come up next.

We start talking about the songs we liked the most and before I know it, my hands are moving across the keys, playing something I’ve never heard before and that pain in my chest is a distant memory. Woohyun gives me a few suggestions and I try them out, becoming less tired the better it sounds. When we have the piano part (I’m surprised I wrote something that sounds so pretty) Woohyun encourages me to start singing the song again from the beginning to find lyrics to match. It works this time and with a few fixes here and there, the bridge is complete. He doesn’t have to help me with that part either. He just nods and smiles encouragingly as I sing whatever comes to mind. I wonder when I became comfortable singing for him but realize I should have been in the first place. When I play the whole song through, Woohyun is able to sing along since I’ve played it so many times. I feel that it’s finished and throw my arms around him in excitement.

“Thank you so much,” I say to him and he puts his arms around me. I sigh, feeling suddenly tired and comfortable. My arms contract on their own and he put his head on mine; I can’t help but close my eyes. Then my phone buzzes a long dying buzz and we both jump. I distance myself from him as I pick up my phone and watch the screen as it dies. “We should probably go home now,” I suggest, probably uttering the most awkward sounding sentence of my life. My voice feels funny in my throat and I stand up, not satisfied with the distance between us yet. He nods, not saying anything but considering me with his brown eyes. Why am I thinking about the color of his eyes? I want to hit myself and I reach for the sheet music just to do something. I turn around and head for the door, my mind racing but not thinking anything logical. I must be really tired, I conclude as I turn the handle. Only the handle doesn’t turn. I try again, gripping it with both hands, but it doesn’t turn.

“Woohyun?” I say shyly, hoping I didn’t break the door and turning to look at him on the piano bench. Surprisingly he’s already standing behind me.

“What?” he asks softly, coming closer to me. His serious expression brings back that chest pain in a second and I breathe before answering.

“Um, the d-door won’t open,” I stutter, sliding out of the way, feeling the distance close. His face changes from serious to confused as he steps up to the door and tries. He yanks it a few times and then starts to laugh. “What?” I ask, going over to him, hoping there’s just something stupid that I missed that’s keeping the door closed.

“It’s locked,” he says, turning to me with an apologetic look. 

           So Woohyun and Saela are locked in and Saela's phone is awkwardly suggestive.... I think it's a great combination! Good formula for sucess right there, if you know what I'm saying ^o^.

        It's a short one this time, not meant to be a tease or anything, but I liked the thought of ending it there. Seemed good. Well that's it for this today, I'll update soon!

  BTW: This is what Saela did to get her phone back. Yep. She's that graceful. What a boss.