A gentle tap on her shoulder shook Baeri out of her daydream and switch from void air to her right where a classmate of hers sat. “You should really pay attention, he’s telling about the competition,” she whispered and nodded at the teacher that stood in front of the class, speaking animatedly about an art competition that was a great hype whenever it came around. Baeri was never really interested in the whole event because to her it was just one big creation of unnecessary rivalry that always ended in one person actually winning, with the rest hating that person for the rest of the year.

 

Baeri nodded at the girl with a faint smile and looked to the front again as she pretended to pay attention, but of course, this wasn’t the case. The break had already passed - faster than every student wanted - and left the young adults with utter desperation settled in their core; a longing for the good old days when they were still free spirits and not chained down by the rusty chains of education. So Baeri felt nothing but tired and exhausted because even this well-deserved break didn’t give her any chance of resting as she still had to work on her art projects and her mother didn’t stop with giving her new chores that would probably break her back one day.

 

It was soon that the teacher ended the class with a last homework assignment, which of course resulted in the students groaning like their life depended on it. Baeri let out a relieved sigh when they were dismissed because she felt like she was nearly suffocating in that room because of the endless words and phrases their teacher spat their way. Rest, rest, rest, Baeri kept chanting in her head when she walked through the corridors of the new building and, to her own surprise, ended up on the first floor again.

 

The muffled sound of music that played behind the walls sounded through the empty hallway and instantly met with Baeri’s awaiting ears. With a mild smile, the student looked through the mirrors next to closed doors of the practice rooms and watched how vigilant dancers slid over the floor and moved in a synced manner. The groups were mixed and probably contained students with different levels of technique because Baeri caught some of the students going too fast or being a beat too slow; which surprised her because she hadn’t noticed that at first glance.

 

Baeri smiled at the realization that her dancer’s instinct still hadn’t left her and continued walking through the hallway until she reached a familiar door. Unknowingly, she slid through the entrance and shut the door behind her with a low thud. The sound of utter silence surrounded the short student, making her feel like she was the only person in the world - and she liked it. Stepping further into the practice room, Baeri inhaled deeply and let the scent of disgusting cleaning oils her lungs. “It has been a while, hasn’t it,” she smiled to herself and sauntered over to the back wall, where she dropped her belongings before plopping next to them on the floor.

 

She started searching for her sketchpad and pencil case and began scanning her drawings when she found them, until she reached a half-finished page that she dreaded to see. A long sigh escaped her lips but that didn’t let her lose the miniscule amount of her wits that she still held before she placed the charcoal-tip of her pencil against the paper and started drawing.

 

Drawing calmed Baeri. You could call it a sense of therapy whenever she felt down or just too stressed out to function properly. It took her mind off of things but it also managed to drive her crazy to a point that she even snapped a pencil once because of the frustration that resulted from having no inspiration or the idea didn’t come out as great as she wanted. Like now, drawing felt like an occupation, rather than a nice leisure activity because she had to finish her school project. Still, Baeri made sure that she put in her all and tried to see the bright sides of this little task.

 

It’s a hard thing to do, though, when your mind is so overshadowed.

 

Again, a sigh escaped from Baeri’s lips when nothing came out after she placed the pencil against the paper and, with a sound of frustration, threw it in the joint of the book before leaning her head against the wall she sat against. “Damnit,” she muttered as she closed her eyes and lightly shook her head to herself.

 

“You!” a sudden voice in the room sounded and effectively caught Baeri’s attention. She shot her head to the entrance of the door and met eyes with a surprised male who stood in the opening. “Me!” Baeri replied without much thought and a small smile on her lips when she saw the boy enter the room more. She felt a familiar heat creep up her neck but she refused to acknowledge its existence and averted her eyes momentarily to check the boy’s gear.

 

With his jacket stuffed in the hoop of his bag straps, his backpack hung awkwardly from his shoulder and crumbled his baggy shirt a little at his hip; his white and blue beanie sat comfortably on his head and covered most of his head but Baeri noticed his bangs peek out from under the thick material. Light brown hair covered his forehead and framed his lightly reddened face nicely - probably because he came from outside where it was into the degrees of minus.

 

“You were here last week too,” the boy spoke up again when Baeri’s eyes trailed down his sweats-covered legs to his red sneakers. The student frowned at the boy’s comment and let out a small chuckle. “Well yeah, considering that I attend this college it’s not really a surprise.”

 

Beanie-boy’s lips pulled into a slight frown as if he were in thought but soon they played a cheeky grin when he dropped his bag next to Baeri’s after he had approached her. “I haven’t seen you here before so it kinda is.”

 

Silence reigned after this because Baeri realized the boy was right and nodded at him with a small touché before looking down at her work again. Her heart dreaded again when she saw the unfinished work and let another sigh slip past her lips before she took her pencil into her hand again. “I’m Mark,” the voice of the boy reached Baeri’s ears again and made the same blush from before reappear again because damn, his voice was pretty deep. The student could beat herself up for not noticing earlier but played it off as another form of confusion on her face.

 

The brown-haired boy noticed her expression and Baeri swore she could see him begin to feel a little flustered, but pretended she didn’t notice it. “Mark Tuan,” the boy placed his hand on his chest but this only made Baeri laugh because it seemed like he were speaking to a child and had to use gestures to make himself understood. But following along, the student also placed her hand on her chest as she laughed to herself. “Kim Baeri.”

 

Mark nodded at this and even bowed lightly at Baeri; again making the latter laugh a little at his behavior but she managed to muffle her sounds with a random cough. Feeling a little more lighthearted because of the interaction, Baeri twirled her pencil in between her fingers once before continuing with her drawing.

 

Nothing but the sounds of two human beings breathing together entered the artist’s ears but, for once, it didn’t particularly bother her because she felt relaxed.

 

Mark watched on how Baeri focused on the book on her lap and took some uncollected steps forward. He continued to slowly approach her because he didn’t know what else to do and leaned against the wall to take a look at what Baeri was doing. Gracious curls in contrast with sharp lines covered the once white background that was a page in Baeri’s sketchpad. It was after a few seconds that he started to see a female face with flowers in her hair. To say that Mark was impressed might have been the understatement of the year. “That looks pretty good.”

 

Baeri looked up surprised when she, yet again, heard Mark's voice but this time he seemed to be a lot closer than before and stretched her neck to look at the boy, who just returned her gaze with a somewhat goofy smile. “Thanks,” she replied casually. She didn’t mean to sound so not completely affected by his words but since the girl was always complimented on her skills, it became a habit to do so because it was always the same; always the you're so talented or that's looks so great that had lost their charm.

 

Again, there hung a pregnant silence between the two that didn’t bother Baeri as much because she was too occupied to notice what was going on in the room. Mark shuffled a little uncomfortable because obviously he had thought that his comment would lead to some sort of a conversation - but it didn’t. “Are you in the arts program?” he tried again and bit his lower lip to hide his nerves that were starting to get painfully obvious. He wasn’t much of a speaker; he liked to express himself through his body, as wrong as that may have sounded but he knew by far that he was not good with words.

 

Mark may have seemed like a smooth-talker with slick phrases in the beginning but once the boy would open his mouth, it would end up in one train wreck after another.

 

“Look, no offence but I usually don’t talk when I draw,” Baeri spoke up with a hint of irritation meddling somewhere between her words. Mark was rendered speechless because of her retort because he hadn’t meant to annoy the girl he had just properly met. “Were you planning on using this room?” Baeri continued as she momentarily let her eyes glide over the otherwise empty room before returning to the male’s slightly confused eyes. “Uhm well yeah but if you want–”

 

“It’s okay, I’ll just go,” Baeri smiled up at Mark and started to pack her stuff. “I’ll leave you to it.”

 

Her pencil was carefully placed back in her pencil case but just when she was about to stuff her sketchpad in her bag, that deep, addicting voice of Mark echoed through the room again. “No, it’s fine! I’ll just start my practice with you since you were here first, if you don’t mind,” he quickly interrupted the girl’s actions with slight panic clearly written on his face. This feeling was soon wiped away when Baeri dropped her hands - which were still floating in the air because of Mark’s interruption - back to her lap and surprisingly resulted in him playfully zipping his mouth at her. “And no more talking.”

 

Baeri hesitated for a moment but seeing the genuine look on the boy’s face left her with no other choice but to cave. “Fine.”

 

Without another word, Mark his feet and grabbed his bag which he had placed against the wall before he walked over to the stereo system at the other end of the room. Baeri watched Mark’s retreating back for another second until he stopped at the mirrors, when she fished her drawing pencil from her etui again and searched for the right page in her sketchpad to continue. Mark threw a quick glance over his shoulder to see Baeri concentrating on her work again before he starting digging through his bag for his phone, so he could connect it to the speakers.

 

He was happy that Baeri didn't make a huge problem out of the situation; he had noticed that she was quite reserved but had a hidden sassy side that would peek out through the cracks of her seriousness. He didn’t know what it was but he felt comfortable in this situation. Frowning to himself, Mark plugged his phone in, earning a loud static sound because of it that made him jump in surprise. He winced awkwardly when he realized that he had made a dumb mistake and turned to see if Baeri had noticed anything.

 

Her head was still bowed down to his surprise so he slowly started to make his way over to the girl. “Baeri, I’m sorry to disturb you again,” he began carefully when he was close enough and pulled the beanie that sat on his head down a little. Baeri looked up at the male again with a curious look and tried not to hit something because of the cute expression the boy had on. “I just remembered that I will have to play music,” Mark continued with an unsure expression, visibly embarrassed by his mistake, and quickly glanced at the girl’s drawing before switching back to her. Baeri was rather amused by the situation and showed him a smile to somehow ease his obvious nerves. “I got that.”

 

Mark stared at her for another moment to recall their conversation from just now where she had clearly stated that she rather didn’t talk during her drawing. It was quite contradicting to now because he was going to play music that would contain lyrics, thus talking. “Are you s–”

 

“Yes I am, Mark,” Baeri interrupted - momentarily surprised of how easily the name flowed from her lips and cocked her head at him. “That I don’t speak, doesn’t mean that I don’t listen to music,” she smiled at him assuring. Mark let his nerves flow from his body when he heard this and chose to let the situation be. Kim Baeri was quite the stubborn one, too. “Ok then,” Mark replied with a nod and a smile before he turned for the sound system again to start his practice. This time, Baeri did not look up another time from her pad because the smile Mark had just given her was prone to make her blush madly, even though she had just met the guy.

 

Her fingers tightened around the pencil she was holding when a soft melody began to play from the speakers. Sweet harmonies traveled to Baeri’s ears; stealing the last bit of concentration that was left in her body as she was completely taken over by the lyrics. Her lids slowly fell until she was surrounded by absolute darkness when the words that danced through the air gently crept over her skin, gradually entering her and soothing her tense muscles. Baeri didn’t know how long this moment of bliss lasted but when she opened her eyes, she was sure that she had been sent to a place that was better than reality.

 

Mark moved with impetuous grace.

 

It was as if his limbs were made of water but the moment a certain beat hit, they locked. With every drum of the bass that reverberated through the wooden boards of the floor, Mark’s lean stature glided through the still air of the room. He used all of the space that was offered to him – coloring it with his feather light presence. His eyes were closed, giving him a serene expression as he let himself go with his lips set into a faint smile.

 

Baeri swallowed momentarily, a feeling of surprise rippling through her when she felt a lump being forced away down . Dancing was one of the things that could move her to tears – there was nothing she found more beautiful than the expression of feelings through the body. Mark had managed to make her feel how he felt, as if he was telling a story that was only meant for her ears and eyes.

 

Her lips curled into a soft smile as she rolled her pencil between her fingers before flipping to a blank page in her sketchbook.

The tip met with the paper as a silent answer to his feelings.

 

 

 

 

Taking a careful sip from her coffee, Shindae let the hot beverage slide down to warm her body a little to help her survive in the cold that reigned outside. The comfort of the small cafe she sat in really helped too but the person that kept her company was the real reason her heart felt at ease. The petite girl had her fingers curled around an equally large cup of warmth as she glanced outside with a peaceful smile. “Isn’t he taking a bit too long?” Baeri asked and glanced to her friend that sat in front of her. The latter, however, just waved the comment away and took another sip from her drink. “He had to make a stop somewhere or whatever. I don’t really care anyway because we haven’t had any girl-talk in so long!”

 

Baeri was still a little hesitant, very well aware of Shindae’s feeling of irritation boiling in her seemingly indifferent words. “Are you sure?” she asked again for good measure but again got waved away. “Eh, he’ll survive, he’s a big boy,” Shindae sighed before setting her cup on the wooden top of the table to entwine her fingers together. “So how has my Bae been? I heard that you moved to a new building?”

 

Fleeting images of the dull but huge brick building arose, together with the hidden memories of a certain male which were totally uncalled for, if you asked Baeri. “Fine I guess. I mean, if you ignore the fact that it’s so old that it might collapse somewhere in the near future,” the younger shrugged and sipped her drink. Shindae let out an amused laugh as she leaned her arms on the table. “I love how dramatic you are about these kinds of things.”

 

Baeri frowned with a slight pout playing her lips. “Excuse me but I’m not dramatic - I’m realistic.”

 

“Right,” Shindae playfully mirrored her expression and winked afterwards. Baeri’s pout didn’t leave, however, and remained to make her lips seems fuller than they truly were; continuing to amuse the elder at the table. “It seems like something is bothering you, Bae,” Shindae cocked her head with a knowing smile, resulting in her shoulder-length hair to fall to the side she leaned to. Always when the younger would feel troubled or needed advice, that very pout that rest on her lips would appear as a silent red flare.

 

The artist averted her eyes to her cup of coffee and rubbed her fingers over each other as she recalled her meeting with Mark this morning. Even though their encounter had been fairly simple and could’ve been forgotten as a live snapshot, the boy with the brown hair remained in her head and played around with his piercing eyes and beautifully full lips.

 

It wasn’t exactly bothersome but it wasn’t entirely appreciated either.   

 

“I met someone this morning,” she began in a small voice and looked up, only to meet with Shindae’s wide smile. “And who is this lucky someone? A guy, I hope?” she nudged Baeri’s lower arm with a grin, which resulted in an equal one to replace Baeri’s pout. The latter gave no answer but she didn’t need to because the expression the younger wore was enough to tell her that this particular meeting had left quite the impact on her friend.

 

“Hey babe, sorry I’m late,” a raspy voice interrupted the two girls before Baeri could properly answer. A scowl settled on Shindae’s face when she recognized it and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Didn’t expect anything else, to be honest.”

 

Jackson chuckled and pressed a kiss to his girlfriend’s cheek, whispering a sorry into her ear when he had leaned in before he turned to the girl opposite from Shindae. “My girl, how’ve you been!” he asked enthusiastically and smoothly slid over to Baeri to also give her a friendly kiss. The girl, however, didn’t immediately answer because her eyes were too focused on something that was behind the male that just greeted her. Jackson noticed her wandering gaze and turned to face the male behind him.

 

“Oh, almost forgot about you!” Shindae’s boyfriend laughed and wrapped an arm round Mark’s shoulders. “You already know the beautiful Shindae, obviously,” he continued when he didn’t notice the equally surprised equally surprised expression Mark wore, and pointed at his girlfriend.

 

“And this is my other main woman in life, Ki–”

 

“Kim Baeri.”

 

Jackson taken aback by this knowledge and confusedly changed attention to and fro. “You know each other?” he asked with a frown and finally settled with looking at Baeri. “Yeah! Well, not really but we’ve met before,” the girl answered with her eyes still on Mark before she met with Jackson. “But I could ask you the same question,” she added with the same confusion that was written on her face as before.

 

“Yeah, what a small world,” Shindae interrupted sarcastically and impatiently motioned for the boys to sit down. “Now please sit and be quiet - Bae was about to tell something interesting.”

 

Baeri’s eyes started blinking double-time because she realized that she was about to tell about Mark before the two men had joined them. He was in fact present at the moment so she subtly shook her head at Shindae to divert the subject to something else. It was too late, though, because Jackson’s ever present curiosity had gotten the best of him. “Oh, I’m up for interesting!” he enthusiastically jumped in as he took a seat next to Shindae - motioning at Mark to sit next Baeri - and casually wrapped his arm around his girl. “What’s it about?”

 

“Something about a boy - ow!” Shindae began but cursed when something hard hit her shin. Baeri had kicked the elder and widened her eyes knowingly at her for her to stop whatever she was planning. Shindae frowned at Baeri’s weird behavior when she saw her momentary glance at Mark and subtle of her head at him. She just mouthed a confused what with a frown and lightly shook her head in confusion. Baeri groaned in head, frustrated that her friend still didn’t get the message so she chose to take matters in her own hands.

 

“So Mark, you know these guys too?” Baeri asked as she supposedly very smoothly changed the subject. The male was taken by surprise, though, when he notice that the attention was on him all of a sudden and eyed the couple for a second before answering. “Yeah, we actually went to the same high school, with them being in higher grades,” he smiled when he felt a little more confident and eyed Jackson for a moment. “Please don’t remind me,” Shindae muttered and covered her face when she was once again reminded of the fact that Jackson was a year younger.

 

“Aw babe, don’t be like that. You always say that you don’t even feel it,” her boyfriend commented and cutely nuzzled her neck. Shindae couldn’t appreciate his comment, though, and smacked his arm. “Dude!” the girl hissed under her breath and started bickering with Jackson, which eventually turned into subtle scolding. Mark and Baeri just looked on how the couple exchanged heated words - more like Shindae threatening to seriously smack him if he arrived late again, with Jackson pouting like a young child for forgiveness.

 

“We met when I was in second year, with Jackson in the third and Shindae in the fourth. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before they graduated but we stayed in touch ever since,” Mark continued and glanced at the bickering duo with a small smile. “They’re great friends.”

 

Baeri nodded in agreement as she watched his full lips curl up and cleared for a moment. “How do you know them?” Mark asked after he switched his attention to Baeri again. It was a no-brainer for the girl because it had been quite special how she was introduced to the still bickering couple. “Jackson was in the same grade as my brother, Jihoon, throughout high school. They were, and still are actually, good friends so I got to know him, and later, Shindae too through Jackson.”

 

The fact that she felt attracted to Jackson at first sight was tactically left out of her explanation. Blame her raging hormones for it at that time.

 

“What are you two whispering about?” Shindae interrupted with playful wiggles of her eyebrows. Mark smiled at Baeri before he let out an exasperated sigh and playfully rolled his eyes. “About how we manage to survive being friends with people like you.”

 

At this, Shindae gasped offended and held her hand over her heart. “Rude.”

 

Both Mark and Baeri laughed at this with Jackson grabbing his chance of getting on his girlfriend’s good side. “I still love you,” he tried and entwined his fingers with Shindae’s but the latter couldn’t appreciate it as much as Jackson had hoped. “Oh shut up! Don’t think I forgot all about you, mister,” Shindae grit through her teeth and sneered at him, making him pout. She shook the comment and irritation off before she turned to the two that sat opposite from her with a cocked eyebrow. “How do you two know each other, anyway? I would’ve thought we would bring two strangers together.”

 

Baeri was about to answer but Shindae interrupted her when she recalled that Mark was a dancer and told them about building relocation, same as her female friend. “You are in the same building now!” she snapped her fingers with raised eyebrows. Both nodded in response with both also taking a quick glance to their side. “You seem to get along pretty well, too,” Jackson commented when he saw the little exchange of glances and winked at Baeri with a knowing smile, making her blush lightly.

 

The meeting they had in the morning slowly came drifting back again into Baeri’s mind, only deepening the shade of red on her cheeks. Mark chuckled as he too recalled their encounter and straightened in his seat to lean his arms on the table with a somewhat smug smile. “She actually shot me down when we met again this morning,” he answered and glanced at Baeri. Again, the girl just averted her eyes because she felt like if she would look him directly in the eye, her heart would undoubtedly jump out of her chest.

 

The artist didn’t know what it was but in a way, she felt strangely comfortable around the brown haired dancer. Yes, whenever Mark would look at her, she would feel strange butterflies fluttering in her stomach and her blood pound in her ears, but she felt at ease. Normally, she would be a lot more apprehensive when meeting new people and look first before initiating any contact with the strangers. When Baeri wanted to explain the situation, Shindae’s composure changed in an instant from annoyed to ecstatic.

 

“Oh really now?” she asked with a honey-sweet voice as she eyed Baeri knowingly. “Do elaborate.”

 

Baeri sighed and shook her head at Shindae while Mark just let out another soft chuckle. The start of friendships was always an awkward process because you never really knew how far you could go with that one person. This afternoon, however, was an exception.

 

It was safe to say that Baeri had a great third meeting with Mark.

 

---