He scoffed as you stepped towards the center of the room, head held high. He rolled his eyes in arrogance, silently challenging, no daring you to be better than me. Please. As if a newcomer could really be as amazing as the teacher claimed. 

 He hated when people got special treatment just because of their background, hated to be tossed to the side when he was the one that had worked so much harder than you.

 But all these thoughts flew out the window as you opened your mouth to sing. He forgot where he was, who he was. Suddenly, all that mattered was you. 

 There were no words to describe what he heard, the melodic sounds that met his ears, the harmonies weaving in impossibly intricate ways. 

 He stand corrected. Maybe someone had finally stepped up to plate and beaten him at his own game.

 When she finished, their was a beat of silence in which everyone could only stare at her in awe. Even the teacher had no words of advice for once. 

 He started to clap slowly, dragging out the thumps of his palms so that an air of tension suddenly filled the room.

 “Not bad, rookie,” he said, a slight smirk on his face. “Not bad at all.”

 You blushed, looking down at the ground. “Thanks…umm I didn’t quite get your name?”

 “Call me Kyungsoo,” he shrugged and the rest of the class gasped. All of them knew him as D.O. and no one called him by his real name. Ever.

 Not that there was some unspoken rule about never calling him by his name but names held power. And the class would really rather not be considered inferior to him in any more ways.

 “________,” you replied, holding out a delicate hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

 “Likewise,” he shook your hand, replying in the same stiff manner that you found strangely endearing.

 ~.~.~.~.~

 It took a few months for D.O. to finally accept that someone had bested him, although he remained the best male vocalist in the group, your voice was far beyond what he thought was humanly capable. 

 He debated whether he should ask you for some help with his voice but decided he was way too proud for that and he would be declaring himself the loser in this secret game of his. 

 You had no idea that he thought this way, believing that he was the true star of the class, never once complaining about anything, pushing through sickness to perform his best every single time.

 Behind the scenes, you admired him for his strength, his passion. Day by day, you realized you had slowly fallen in love with him. 

 And although he never really said anything to you, well he never really said anything to anyone, the way his eyes would linger on you across the room with a curiosity that you couldn’t even understand, was enough. 

 You had come to terms with your feelings for him. 

 So you were delighted when the two of you were assigned to be duet partners for the upcoming winter musical. You had to restrain yourself from jumping up and down and instead managed to throw a small smile his way.

 You were surprised that he was glaring at you so fiercely when you looked over. Were you that bad of a singer that he really didn’t want to sing with you?

 After class he stormed up to you, the look in his eyes making you shiver. He may not be the tallest guy but he was still taller than you and right now, he seemed to tower over you.

 “Don’t think that