“And there he goes again,” Yonghwa said as he watched Kikwang running towards Hyosung. “This boy, just can’t stay put,”

“Haih, I guess no ice-cream for me today then..” whined Yoseob.

“Guys, I think it’s about time I went back to my schoolmates,” IU said. “Yoseob-ssi, next time when you and your brother are free, call me. We can go and have ice-cream together,” IU said with a smile before leaving for her schoolmates.

“Well then, I guess that just leaves the 6 of us!” Joon said brightly.

“Sorry, it’s getting kind of late,” replied Seohyun. “I think it’s about time I went home. Bye guys,” Seohyun said before heading home.

“Yeah well, I have to go meet Bongsun-ssi right now,” Yoseob said. “Then I’m probably going straight back home,”

“Ceh, you’re no fun,” whined Joon. “Still, there’s still 4 of us,”

“Make that 3,” Yonghwa interrupted. “I have to go home now, I still haven’t finished the song we’re gonna use for the music festival,”

“So there’s just 3 of us?” Joon said, disappointed.

Soyeon looked at Joon from top to bottom. “That’s okay, I think I’ll go back home too,”

Min also gave Joon a quick glance “Yeah, I think I’ll go with Soyeon,”

“Ya, are you guys leaving me alone?!” yelled Joon. “Ya!”

***

Yonghwa was leisurely on his way walking towards his home, listening to his iPod, regretting the fact that he chose to leave his bike at home for the day. On his way there, he saw Seohyun walking alone from a distance. ‘Oh? What is she doing here?” he thought, before jogging slightly to catch up to her.

“Seohyun!” Yonghwa yelled before he reached her.

Seohyun turned back to see who was calling her. “Oh? Yonghwa-ssi,” Seohyun said, slightly surprised.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Yonghwa asked her when he caught up to her.

“Hmm? Ah, this is my way back home,” explained Seohyun.

“Oh? I guess we can walk together for a while then,” Yonghwa said, as they walked together. “This is also my route back home,”

“Really? Wow, what a coincidence!” Seohyun said brightly. “Emm, Yonghwa-ssi, where exactly do you live?”

“My home’s in Apgujeong, why?”

“Wow! That’s where I live too!” Seohyun said, amazed. “But, Yonghwa-ssi, how come I’ve never seen you taking this route before?” asked Seohyun.

“Well, It’s not like you had a lot of chance to see me anyway,” Yonghwa replied. “I come to school pretty late, and I usually stay there until late in the evening, for band practice and all that,”

“Oh,” Seohyun nodded her head thoughtfully. “How come you’re not staying back there today?”

“Today’s practice was cancelled,”

“Why?” Seohyun asked, slightly shocked.

Yonghwa chuckled slightly seeing her reaction. “It’s because I haven’t finish the music sheet for our song,”

“Oh..” Seohyun said. “Wait, you write your own music?”

“Yeah, of course I do,”

“Wah.. you’re really amazing Yonghwa-ssi,” Seohyun said. “Your songs must be really great,”

“Not really,” Yonghwa said humbly. “Would you like to listen to one of them?”

“W-what? Are you gonna play your guitar here? In the street?” flustered Seohyun. “No, no, it’s okay. You don’t have to go through all that trouble,”

Yonghwa gave a light chuckle. “Relax, I wasn’t planning to,” he smiled. Then he took out one of his earphones and and offered it to her. “Here, would you like to listen to it?”

“Ah, earphones..” Seohyun mumbled, slightly embarrassed. “T-that’s okay, I wouldn’t want to trouble you,”

“No really, it’s no trouble at all,” insisted Yonghwa, still offering the earphone to her.

“O-okay,” Seohyun said shyly, taking the earphones from Yonghwa and putting it in her ear. They walked in silence just like that, for a few minutes, listening to the song.

When the song finished playing, he turned to ask her. “So, what do you think?”

Seohyun gave the earphones back to Yonghwa. “It’s great,” Seohyun thought. “What was the song called?”

“I’m a loner,”

“I see,” Seohyun said. “Why can’t you just enter the festival with this song?” asked Seohyun.

“We can’t, I’ve already used that song for last year’s festival,” explained Yonghwa.

“Is that the only song you have?”

“No, I have a lot more songs. Would you like to listen to them?” asked Yonghwa.

“Sure. I mean if it’s not too much trouble..” Seohyun said slightly.

Yonghwa smiled and gave her back the earphone. Again, they listened to the music silently.

After the songs was finished, Seohyun turned towards him. “Wow, were all those songs written by you?”

Yonghwa nodded at the question.

“That’s amazing!” exclaimed Seohyun. “Why can’t you just use one of those songs?”

Yonghwa smiled slightly hearing the praise. “Well, I don’t know, I guess I just don’t think that it’s the one. I think I could still make a better song for the festival,”

“Really? I think those songs were really good,” mumbled Seohyun.

“Which one do you like the most?” asked Yonghwa.

“Hmm? I think I like that last song the most,”

Yonghwa checked his iPod for a moment. “It’s ‘LOVE’,”

“P-pardon?” stuttered Seohyun.

“The title,” Yonghwa said. “The title of the song is ‘LOVE’,”

“O-Oh..” stuttered Seohyun, blushing slightly.

“Hmm?” Yonghwa puzzled, looking at her. “Oh! You thought I was.. Haha,” Yonghwa laughed at Seohyun, who was turning redder. “Sorry, sorry, I guess it did sounded like a confession,”

“N-no, it’s okay,” Seohyun said.

They continued to walk slowly towards their home.

“Seohyun, now that you’ve mentioned it, who will you be performing with during the music festival?” asked Yonghwa.

“Min-ssi already asked me to join her group, but I don’t know, I’m worried that I’m going to become a hindrance,” Seohyun said, sounding slightly sad.

“I see,” Yonghwa thought for a moment. “Hey, how would you like to join us, the band I mean,” Yonghwa asked her. “Having a new girl member in the group should spice things up a bit,”

Seohyun was surprised at the suggestion. “W-what? N-no, that’s fine, you don’t have to trou-”

“It’s really no trouble at all,” insisted Yonghwa. “I’m serious, we could use a new member like you in our band,”

Seohyun thought for a moment. “Then, what about Min-ssi?”

“Don’t worry about her, I’ll handle her,” assured Yonghwa. “So, are you in?”

Seohyun thought for a while in silence. “O-okay, I’m in,”

“Great,” Yonghwa grinned. “Now we still have to figure out what position you’ll be in the band,” Yonghwa thought. “Can you play the guitar?”

“No, I can’t,” said Seohyun.

“Drums?”

“N-no,” Seohyun said, sounding disappointed.

“Hmm, can you sing?”

“Uhm, not really, but I’ll give it a try,” Seohyun said slowly.

“Great! Could you sing right now?”

“Huh?” said Seohyun, slightly surprised. “Uhm, y-yeah, sure”

“Okay,” Yonghwa said calmly.

Seohyun started singing her favorite song ‘Lucky’. As soon as she finished singing, she turned towards Yonghwa. Yonghwa was gaping there, speechless at what he just heard.

“Yonghwa-ssi, was that okay?” Seohyun asked slowly.

“T-that was.. That w-was, amazing!” stuttered Yonghwa.

Seohyun turned red upon the compliment. “R-really?”

“Yeah!” exclaimed Yonghwa. “Woah, we’re really ‘lucky’ that we’ve got you in our team!”

Seohyun’s cheeks were already blushing madly.

“Alright, now that we’ve got you, there’s no way we’ll lose,” Yonghwa said. “You’ll be our, secret weapon,” Yonghwa smiled confidently. “But, Seohyun, I didn’t know you were a fan of Jason Mraz,”

“We-well, I’ve been listening to his songs for a long time,” blushed Seohyun. “You could say I’m a very big fan of his,”

“Really?! So am I!” exclaimed Yonghwa. “Wow, who’d have thought we’d have so many similarities,”

“Y-yeah..”

Yonghwa thought for a moment. “Hmm, that ‘Lucky’ song you just sang there was great,” Yonghwa told her. “How about you and me do a duet cover of that song?” suggested Yonghwa.

“H-huh?” Seohyun sounded surprised again. “M-me? Do a duet with y-you?” stuttered Seohyun.

“Yeah, I think it’s a great idea,” Yonghwa said confidently. “In addition to the song that I’m writing right now, we’ll sing ‘lucky’ as our intro. Is that okay?”

“S-sure,” Seohyun replied shyly.

“Well now that I know you’re gonna be singing with me, this’ll make it a little bit more complicated to finish the song,” Yonghwa thought.

“Ah, does it?” mumbled Seohyun. “I’m really sorry,”

“What are you apologizing for?” smirked Yonghwa. “I’m the one who wanted you in the team, so it’s my fault really,” assured Yonghwa. “But still, I think you’re gonna have to come every once in a while to help me out, I still don’t know your limits. How high and low can your voice go and all that,” explained Yonghwa. “It’s really important, in order to organise the song’s arrangement,”

“Y-yes,” replied Seohyun shyly. “Yonghwa-ssi, you really seemed to love music don’t you?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. I do,” replied Yonghwa with a smile. “I think of music as my life. It’s my way of expressing myself, and relaying a message to others. It’s how I communicate,” Yonghwa said brightly.

Seohyun smiled upon hearing his answer. “That’s nice,”

“Seohyun, anyone ever been to your house before?” asked Yonghwa.

“Yeah, Kikwang-ssi once sent me in front of my house on his bike,” answered Seohyun. “Oh, that’s right, Kikwang came to my house once,” Seohyun realized. “He never told you that my house was close to yours?”

“Nope,” Yonghwa answered. “But that’s normal actually, that kid’s a real fool,” joked Yonghwa. “I’m telling you, when we were kids, he always got lost on his way back home,” Yonghwa continued. “If it wasn’t for Yoseob, he’d probably be living like ‘Tarzan’ in the middle of the jungle,”

Seohyun couldn’t help laughing at his joke. Then Yonghwa suddenly stopped walking.

“Seohyun, how far is it still, to your home?” asked Yonghwa.

“Hmm? It’s close, about three to five minutes walk from here,”

“Is that so?” Yonghwa said. He then moved in front of Seohyun, and crouched slightly.

“W-why?” asked Seohyun.

“Kikwang brought you back with a bicycle didn’t he?” Yonghwa answered calmly. “Well, I left my bike home today, so instead, I’ll carry you on my back,”

“Wh-what?” Seohyun said, surprised. “N-no, that’s not necessary, Yonghwa-ssi,”

“Come on, I insist,” insisted Yonghwa.

“I don’t think it’s appropr-”

“I’m gonna be really hurt, if you don’t agree,” Yonghwa said.

“F-fine, but I’m sorry if I’m a little bit heavy,” Seohyun said, blushing madly. She then wrapped her arms around his neck, and hopped on his back.

“Aigoo! You’re really heavy!” exclaimed Yonghwa playfully. “What did you eat?”

“Ah, ah, I’m really sorry, Yonghwa-ssi! I’ll get off now!” Seohyun apologized hurriedly.

“Haha, no, no, I was just joking around,” Yonghwa laughed, pushing Seohyun slightly upwards.

On the way to her home, Seohyun thanked him. “Yonghwa-ssi, thanks for inviting me into your band,”

“What are you talking about,” joked Yonghwa. “I’m the one who should be thanking you for joining our band,” added Yonghwa. “Ya, you should really stop calling me Yonghwa-ssi.. You do know that we’re both 18 right?”

Seohyun giggled slightly. “Oh, and thank you, Yonghwa-ssi for giving me a piggyback ride,”

Yonghwa gave a sly smirk. “What are you talking about? Ya, you’re gonna give me a piggyback ride too tomorrow you know, as payback,”