Lay seemed indecisive as he wanted to ask more questions, but the look on Chen’s face forced him to shut up. He didn’t probe any further as he realized that it wasn’t the perfect time to have this conversation with Krystal and Sulli around.

Rather reluctantly, he nodded at Chen and made his way towards their table. Chen sighed in relief before he smiled sheepishly at Krystal who was eyeing him suspiciously. He then urged them to follow Lay to the table before he, himself, started walking too.

They all took a seat around the table with Chen and Krystal sitting beside each other. Krystal’s eyes landed on the two who were facing her, and she eyed them with thoughtfulness. Their names sounded slightly familiar to her, yet she couldn’t pin down where she’d heard them.

She knew that they went to her same school, but she never really memorized any of the other students’ names except for the ones whom she shared class with, and she was sure that she never had any class with them.

Krystal suddenly spoke when a thought popped inside of her head. “Lay, aren’t you the leader of the dance class?” 

He smiled at her and only nodded as a reply.

“Really? Can I come see you dancing some time?” She asked hopefully, and her eyes twinkled with excitement at this idea. “Of course, we have practice tomorrow after school, will you be free?” She nodded enthusiastically and couldn’t stop the wide grin from breaking onto her face.

She then looked at Chen who was staring at her with widened eyes. Her eyebrow rose questioningly at him before she spoke. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Her question seemed to snap him out of his trance, and he shook his head vigorously. “You know… him?” he asked incredulously while he pointed his finger at Lay as he couldn’t yet register this revelation.

“Of course, everyone in school talks about his remarkable talent.”

Chen only nodded at her answer as he was yet too stunned to say anything else. *So what does that supposed to mean?* he silently asked himself.

Krystal didn’t avert her questioning gaze from Chen. She didn’t know the reason behind his surprise; Wasn’t it normal for her to know one of the most popular kids in school?

“Are you interested in dancing?” She finally tore her eyes away from Chen upon hearing Lay’s question.

“I was a dancer before, but it’s been quite a while since the last time I danced.” She looked nostalgic while she talked as she remembered the times when she used to attend her dance practices. She’d loved to dance as she always felt liberated whenever she let her body sway with the music.

“Why don’t you join our class then?” Chen and Krystal snapped their heads towards Lay in surprise. Krystal looked at him with eyes filled with glee while Chen looked like he could murder him in any second.

“Can I? Oh my God I’d love to!” Krystal squealed in delight. She lately needed something that will take her mind off things a bit, and there was nothing more thrilling than the idea of dancing again.

Chen’s gaze softened when he noticed how happy she looked, and he couldn’t stop his own smile from forming on his face. True, he still wanted to murder Lay for his offer, but he couldn’t deny the fact that it was refreshing seeing Krystal so eager and happy about something.

“So… Chen… Aren’t you going to join us? I mean, the three of us will be there.” Okay, now he really wanted to kill Lay, and he was thinking about the most merciless ways for him to suffer to death.

Lay squirmed in his chair because if looks could kill, he was sure as hell going to burn to ashes from the way Chen was looking at him.

“Yea Chen, it’ll be exciting.” Krystal was sure that her facial muscles were starting to hurt from the way she was smiling broadly, yet she couldn’t get rid of her foolish grin. The whole thing seemed too exhilarating, and the idea of sharing it with Chen made it whole lot better.

Chen diverted his murderous gaze from Lay and looked at Krystal who was staring at him in hopefulness as she impatiently waited for him to say something. He really wanted to say no, but he felt trapped under her gaze. He knew that he’ll regret it later, but he sighed deeply before he rather reluctantly nodded. “I’ll come to watch you guys tomorrow. Maybe I’ll change my opinion by then?”

“Why don’t you want to join us?” Krystal couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s not that I don’t want to… I just can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a crappy dancer.” Lay beat Chen into answering her question, but he regretted it as soon as he realized what he’s just said.

Chen closed his eyes in annoyance, and he breathed in a deep breath as he tried to control his furiousness that was escalating quickly.

“We can learn together. I mean it’s been quite a while, so I’ll probably be as crappy.” Krystal smiled reassuringly as she tried to persuade him into saying yes.

“Fine… but if I heard any of you laughing even once, I’m out.” He deadpanned.

They all tried to look serious while they nodded, but they eventually failed as they couldn’t stop their lips from curving up into smiles.

Chen shook his head lightly at them as a sigh escaped his lips; he's sure as hell going to regret this later.

The four of them spent more time in the coffee shop to discuss their assignment and its preparations. Luckily, they all had quite few songs that they loved in common, so it’d made them easy to choose the concept of their song.

Apparently, Lay was beyond good in playing many instruments and had already composed a couple of instrumental songs before which Sulli vowed were great. Consequently, he decided that he’ll be responsible of composing the song’s melody with the help of Sulli leaving the story’s backstory and lyrics to Chen and Krystal.

Krystal wasn’t so thrilled with the idea of writing the lyrics for she didn’t believe that she’ll be able to create something that was great enough to leave its effect on everyone. Surely, with all the books she’d read, her writing style was changed drastically to better however she was far from being called a writer.

She knew very well that the song mostly rely on the lyrics, and no matter how good the song sounded, if the lyrics wasn’t great, the song will be ruined for its meaninglessness.

Chen’s broad smile, on the other hand, showed how excited he was to write the lyrics. Sure, his writing wasn’t that good, but he knew very well that if he chose a topic that he could relate to in away, the right words will come to him naturally.

So after a lot of reassurance from Chen, Krystal, although rather reluctantly, finally gave in and agreed to help.

The sun has long set, and the baby blue sky has turned into a sea of blackness, yet they were too immersed in their discussion to notice the clock that ticked by rather quickly. It wasn’t until late at night that they finally decided to go home and rest for they were tired after this long day.

After bidding their farewells, they parted ways leaving Chen and Krystal to walk home together. Krystal tried stubbornly to refuse his offer at first, but he ignored her and started walking nonchalantly towards her home leaving her obligated to follow him. 

They walked in comfortable silence at first as they enjoyed the quietness and peacefulness of the night, but the reticence was soon interrupted when Krystal made a comment about how nice his friends were in which he replied with a nod and a widened smile.

“They looked like they had a crush on each other though.” She smiled when she recalled how she’d caught them stealing glances at each other quite few times.

“A crush?” He asked incredulously like he couldn’t believe what she’d just said, and he paused for a minute as he looked at her with widened eyes. It wasn’t until he noticed her questioning gaze that he continued. “No… this wasn’t called a crush. It’s practically called love in the cheesiest way possible.” He cringed slightly and faked disgust.

“Wait, they’re already a couple?” She laughed.

“And they bicker like an old married one must I add.” Krystal’s laughter doubled at his reply.

“So what’s their story?” She managed to ask when her laughter died down and managed to compose herself.

“Pretty much the same boring one. They were in love with each other; everyone knew but them, and neither of them had the courage to confess.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“And that’s when you came in, right?” She smirked.

“Nope, no one interfered in their relationship. After seven years of friendship slash love, they finally confessed.”

“What triggered it then?”

“I really don’t know…  I guess they just finally realized that one’s life was too short to waste on fear.”

“I think this’s just your depressing perspective… Maybe one of them couldn’t endure keeping his feelings to himself anymore… Maybe they finally realized that their love was more tremendous than to keep it bottled up.”

“You speak like you’ve fallen deeply in love before…” He paused indecisively for a second. “Have you?” He whispered hesitantly.

“No… never. I’m just a er for romantic novels.” She smiled before continuing. “Have you?”

He mirrored her smile, but Krystal noticed that his eyes showed a hint of sadness before he turned his head away to avoid her gaze. She waited patiently for his reply but soon realized that he wasn’t giving any. She wavered about repeating her question again, so maybe this time he’ll answer her, but she eventually decided against it.

Silence fell upon them again, and the only thing that they could hear was the soothing sound of rustling of leaves as they swayed by the wind. They were walking down a dim-lit and quite street; one where cars rarely passed. Chen’s steps came to a halt abruptly before his eyes squinted slightly at something. 

He then suddenly started walking towards a narrow alley that lacked illumination, but Krystal didn’t budge from her place as she was slightly scared from its darkness.

“Chen, where are you going?” She whispered slash yelled at him, but he didn’t answer her and continued to walk.

Krystal worriedly looked around her surroundings as a shiver ran down her spine. She impatiently waited for Chen for few minutes before he finally spoke. “Krystal, you need to see this.” He walked out when he didn’t hear her coming only to see her rooted in her place. “Are you perhaps afraid of the dark?” He quirked his eyebrows teasingly.

“It’s not the dark; it’s the fact that I don’t know what hell we can find in there. It’s already late, and I don’t know who wanders around the streets around this hour.” Her voice quivered a bit as she spoke, and she took a step back out of fear.

“Rebellious teens obviously.” He smirked as he gestured between them. “And you’ll be really surprised about what you’ll find in there.” He sighed when she shook her head, but he then added. “Well, we can stay here all night, or you can come with me, so we can leave.” He deadpanned.

Krystal alternated her gaze between him and the damned alley in uncertainty, but she eventually took a deep breath and started walking half-heartedly towards Chen who was staring with aumsement. 

When she finally reached him, he didn’t hesitate to take her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Warmth shot through her, and her satistfied smile never abandoned her face as they walked with small steps. Even when the light was slowly fading away, she felt safe and protected for he didn't loosen his tightened grip.

Chen finally stopped in front of a huge wall, and Krystal’s eyebrow rose questioningly as she waited for him to explain his fascination about the drawn locks.

“You don’t get it, do you?” He smiled when she shook her head. He then returned his gaze towards the wall again and began explaining. “There’s something called a love lock bridge where couples carve their names on a lock and hang it on the bridge’s railing to show their love. It’s located in several countries, but unfortunately ours is so far away from here. So I guess people decided to create their own one here.” He smiled sheepishly as he pointed at the few locks that were drawn with initials written inside.

So many locks were drawn, and so many initials were written with various colors that it looked like a messy drawing; an extraordinary messy drawing.

“This’s always been on my bucket list for quite a while, you know?” He spoke after a while of silence while he looked at her.

“I’d like to see that list one day.” She looked hopefully at him.

“Who knows, maybe we’ll get to do it together one day.” He smiled.

“Yea… maybe we will… one day.” 

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