WORRIED

The two were now on their way to the scattered brushes to pick them up.

“And here’s the pai—“ Seulmi was holding up the paint palette (a very common weapon of hers) ready to smother Hyerin with it, but as she was, she caught sight of the two boys so she hid the palette back in the room.

“Oh! Hyerin-ssi!” Chanyeol spoke first.

“What happened?” Baekhyun asked as he went down and collected the brushes.

“Uh, I-uhm.” Hyerin stuttered.

“She got lucky.” Seulmi poked fun.

But fortunately, the boys didn’t hear.

Hyerin got on the ground and started picking up the varied sizes of brushes scattered about the floor.

After having collected all the brushes, Seulmi bitterly accepted them and put them back in the box.

“So, do you guys want to come with us? We’re going to that café around the corner!” Chanyeol invited.

“Do you guys still have a lot to do?” Baekhyun added as if he’s also eager for them to come along.

“A-actually…” Hyerin had formulated a full excuse plan.

Seulmi stepped in front and spoke, “Actually, we’d love to! We have a 2 hour free period!”

“Great! Let’s go!” Chanyeol cheerfully skipped forward.

Baekhyun followed and the two girls bickered behind.

“What are you doing?!” Hyerin said between gritted teeth.

“We are putting my findings in application.” Seulmi simply replied and swung her arm around her friend.

“Annyeong haseyo, ahjumma!” Baekhyun greeted the lady when they entered the café.

“Oh, it’s you boys! Come in! Come in! I see you brought friends!” the kindly lady guided the four of them to a booth.

“Gomawo!” Chanyeol said before she walked off.

“Let’s leave our things here and order!” Chanyeol began.

The two boys scurried to the counter and stared at the wide menu board filled with different types of coffee and bubble tea.

“Alright, we begin the experiment, now!” Seulmi triumphantly/weirdly announced to her anxious companion.

The two girls stood next to Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

“What would you like?” Baekhyun suddenly turned to Hyerin.

“Uh…I-uh…” she mumbled. Hyerin turned her attention to Seulmi who was strangely pointing her finger downward.

“Look at his feet!” she mouthed the words to Hyerin.

So Hyerin did indeed look down.

Baekhyun’s sneakers were pointing to Hyerin’s shoes.

Strangely enough, Hyerin didn’t hesitate to test her friend’s theory. She took tiny steps to the right just to change her full position. And to her surprise, Baekhyun’s feet followed to pointing right where Hyerin was currently standing.

Not waiting for another moment, Hyerin once again took tiny steps to the left to see if Baekhyun’s feet would follow. And of course they did.

“Uhm, Hyerin are you okay?” Baekhyun obviously sounded confused.

Thinking that she must’ve looked like a total idiot for what she did, Hyerin exhaled and answered, “I-I’m fine. Why don’t you ask Seulmi what she’ll have?” she slowly walked away.

But as she did, she still snuck a peek at Baekhyun’s feet.

They were still pointing in her direction even as she was already walking away.

“That was so strange.” She claimed to herself.

“Seulmi-ah! You should try the bubble tea!” Chanyeol chirped next to her.

Seulmi looked at the guy and of course down to his feet. They were indeed pointing at hers.

“Hm, yyeaahh… I guess I wiilll…” she said slowly as she went around Chanyeol and headed for the clerk. And as she did, his feet clearly pointed towards her path.

All the time, Seulmi was just looking down so when she did arrive at the counter, she lifted her head and oddly smiled at the guy.

“Yah, hyung. Did we say something wrong?” Chanyeol nudged the equally confused Baekhyun.

“A-anni. I don’t think we did. What are they looking at?” the latter further inquired.

Chanyeol managed a shrug.

“Thank you, miss! Your order will be brought to you in a minute!” the kind clerk smiled at Seulmi.

Seulmi walked to where they all originally sat and went next to Hyerin.

“That was so stupid. You made us look like morons.” Hyerin stared at the table as she spoke to Seulmi.

“Yeah, I know. I bet they thought we were retarded or something.” Seulmi was in the same position as Hyerin.

Soon after, the two boys headed back to them.

“Hyerin-ssi, you didn’t order anything?” Chanyeol shyly asked.

“I ordered the bubble tea for the two of us.” Seulmi spoke.

“Uhm, we’ve been meaning to ask you guys… Did we do something wrong?” Baekhyun leaned closer to the girls.

“Hm? No, why would you think that?” Hyerin replied softly.

“You won’t look at us before…” Chanyeol trailed off.

Seulmi snorted her suppressed laughter.

Hyerin elbowed her in return. “I-ignore that. That was us being weird.” She shrugged.

The two slowly nodded their heads.

“Here you are, bubble teas for everyone! Enjoy!” the waitress laid down the beverages.

Seulmi grabbed her drink and started sipping.

“So, if Seulmi’s major is paiting, what’s yours, Hyerin-ssi?” Baekhyun started.

Hyerin was about to respond when Seulmi spoke, “Oh, feel free to call her Hyerin. She prefers you don’t use formalities.”

Hyerin eyed her friend. “Piano.” Hyerin gave an awkward smile. “I focus on the piano.”

“Hey! Baek plays the piano too! He became obsessed with a girl playing the piano too!” Chanyeol blurted the information.

“Yah!” Baekhyun scolded the guy.

Seulmi shot Hyerin a very insinuating smile.

Hyerin faked a chuckle.

“What makes this ‘mystery girl’ so special, then?” Seulmi directly asked as she gulped down what she had in .

Baekhyun took in a deep breath and spoke, “It was the way she played the piano and sang the song. There was nothing more to it. It felt like she sang because her heart tells her to. Her voice was something I’ve never heard before and the way she played made me feel like I could just play along as she sang.” He stared at his drink.

“I know I sound cheesy and inappropriate now, but that’s just how it is.” He said and shrugged.

“Keke, don’t worry Baek, we’ll find her.” Chanyeol patted the guy on the shoulder.

Seulmi nodded because she heard all that she needed to. She leaned back to her seat and looked at Hyerin.

To Seulmi’s surprise, Hyerin looked so uncomfortable. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and her breathing pattern was off. Hyerin looked pale but her cheeks were flushed.

“Hyerin-ah, you okay?” Seulmi whispered.

Hyerin blinked and gazed at her friend. “I-I can’t..” she mumbled.

“Hyerin? I-is something wrong?” Baekhyun asked as he had noticed the troubled girl.

Hyerin showed a crooked smile and replied, “Oh, I’m fine. I just.. I-uh I remembered that I had to do something back in school. I-I better go. I’ll just take my drink. It was nice spending time with you two!” she dashed for the door.

“Iii”mm going to make sure she’s fine.” Seulmi smiled and left the two boys.

Once outside and far from the café, Seulmi caught up to Hyerin.

“What was that all about?!” she yelled.

Seulmi ran closer to Hyerin who held onto her drink.

“What happened back there?” she asked again.

Hyerin held onto her forehead and slowly shook her head.

“WHAT?! WHAT?!” Seulmi grew impatient.

“I can’t deal with that!” Hyerin blurted out.

Seulmi raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her waist.

“I can’t face a guy like that, Seulmi-ah! I-I don’t know if I should feel sorry for him or let him suffer… I-I… GAAH!” Hyerin let out her inner frustrations.

Seulmi was taken aback so she took another minute to gather herself and just let Hyerin be.

“Who on earth can handle that type of situation?! The guy is obviously sincere and determined to find a girl whom he doesn’t even know! But it’s what he said that did it. I felt horrible for doing that to him. I mean I didn’t intentionally do that to him! He listened in while I was practicing for petesake!” Hyerin’s words became harder and harder as she let them all out.

“Listen, you have to calm down.” Seulmi held Hyerin’s shoulders.

“Like you said, this wasn’t your fault. He’s the one who wants to find his girl, so let him.” Seulmi explained.

Hyerin’s brows furrowed as she just blinked at her friend.

“Fate will give him what he wants! You don’t have to interfere with the hands of fate! Just calm the hell down already!” Seulmi finished.

Hyerin gazed at Seulmi.

A moment of silence ran by.

Then…

“Pfft! Hands of fate?!” Hyerin cackled.

“Oh, haha… Very funny…” Seulmi mocked. “You were freaking out! I can’t think about what I’m saying all the time.”

“Oh, but that was precious!” Hyerin hooked her arm with Seulmi’s.

“Tch, you’re cruel. You’re quiet, but you’re cruel.” Seulmi said.

The two girls headed back to school.

“So, what do you plan to do now? We have like another vacant hour.” Seulmi turned to Hyerin.

“Hm, I think I want to practice.” Hyerin answered. “Plus, this time, we know he won’t accidentally hear me again.” She added.

Seulmi snorted but followed Hyerin anyway.

When they arrived at the music room, it was quiet and empty. All the other students were still in class so they had the music room all to themselves.

As usual, Hyerin headed for the piano in the middle of the room and ran her fingers across the black and white keys.

“Will you play Heaven by Ailee?” Seulmi began. “For me...?” she continued as she did aegyo on Hyerin.

Hyerin gave her a look.

“Comeee ooonnnn~ He heard it! How come I can’t?!” Seulmi whined.

“Because. That’s why.” Hyerin simply stated.

“Tch, I at least need a proper reason.” Seulmi muttered as she crossed her arms.

Hyerin took in a deep breath and spoke, “Because I’m not prepared to let anyone hear me sing that song.” She kept her gaze on the ground. “He just accidentally heard it.”

Seulmi blinked at how reflective her friend was being.

“Y-Yah, I didn’t mean to…Uhm it’s fine.” Seulmi spoke softly feeling reluctant about what she said.

“Thanks, Seulmi.” Hyerin gave her a smile.

“Yeah, yeah… Just do it when you’re prepared.” Seulmi made air quotations.

Hyerin went for one of her usual songs. It’s Me by Sunny & Luna.

(insert link to song)

It was one of the official soundtracks of the K-drama, To the Beautiful You.

Hyerin liked the melody and the lyrics as well, so she used the song to rehearse with. It helped that Seulmi sang some of Sunny’s parts. Since the song was a duet, the girls had a great time singing as Hyerin played on the piano.

The song gave a light mood and made them forget what had just happened so they just enjoyed each other’s company and sang to their heart’s desires.

“’Gotcha.” a guy stated in triumph as he smiled listening to the voices singing in the music room.

(Who was he? Who heard them? Read on! :D)

The two were now on their way to the scattered brushes to pick them up.

“And here’s the pai—“ Seulmi was holding up the paint palette (a very common weapon of hers) ready to smother Hyerin with it, but as she was, she caught sight of the two boys so she hid the palette back in the room.

“Oh! Hyerin-ssi!” Chanyeol spoke first.

“What happened?” Baekhyun asked as he went down and collected the brushes.

“Uh, I-uhm.” Hyerin stuttered.

“She got lucky.” Seulmi poked fun.

But fortunately, the boys didn’t hear.

Hyerin got on the ground and started picking up the varied sizes of brushes scattered about the floor.

After having collected all the brushes, Seulmi bitterly accepted them and put them back in the box.

“So, do you guys want to come with us? We’re going to that café around the corner!” Chanyeol invited.

“Do you guys still have a lot to do?” Baekhyun added as if he’s also eager for them to come along.

“A-actually…” Hyerin had formulated a full excuse plan.

Seulmi stepped in front and spoke, “Actually, we’d love to! We have a 2 hour free period!”

“Great! Let’s go!” Chanyeol cheerfully skipped forward.

Baekhyun followed and the two girls bickered behind.

“What are you doing?!” Hyerin said between gritted teeth.

“We are putting my findings in application.” Seulmi simply replied and swung her arm around her friend.

“Annyeong haseyo, ahjumma!” Baekhyun greeted the lady when they entered the café.

“Oh, it’s you boys! Come in! Come in! I see you brought friends!” the kindly lady guided the four of them to a booth.

“Gomawo!” Chanyeol said before she walked off.

“Let’s leave our things here and order!” Chanyeol began.

The two boys scurried to the counter and stared at the wide menu board filled with different types of coffee and bubble tea.

“Alright, we begin the experiment, now!” Seulmi triumphantly/weirdly announced to her anxious companion.

The two girls stood next to Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

“What would you like?” Baekhyun suddenly turned to Hyerin.

“Uh…I-uh…” she mumbled. Hyerin turned her attention to Seulmi who was strangely pointing her finger downward.

“Look at his feet!” she mouthed the words to Hyerin.

So Hyerin did indeed look down.

Baekhyun’s sneakers were pointing to Hyerin’s shoes.

Strangely enough, Hyerin didn’t hesitate to test her friend’s theory. She took tiny steps to the right just to change her full position. And to her surprise, Baekhyun’s feet followed to pointing right where Hyerin was currently standing.

Not waiting for another moment, Hyerin once again took tiny steps to the left to see if Baekhyun’s feet would follow. And of course they did.

“Uhm, Hyerin are you okay?” Baekhyun obviously sounded confused.

Thinking that she must’ve looked like a total idiot for what she did, Hyerin exhaled and answered, “I-I’m fine. Why don’t you ask Seulmi what she’ll have?” she slowly walked away.

But as she did, she still snuck a peek at Baekhyun’s feet.

They were still pointing in her direction even as she was already walking away.

“That was so strange.” She claimed to herself.

“Seulmi-ah! You should try the bubble tea!” Chanyeol chirped next to her.

Seulmi looked at the guy and of course down to his feet. They were indeed pointing at hers.

“Hm, yyeaahh… I guess I wiilll…” she said slowly as she went around Chanyeol and headed for the clerk. And as she did, his feet clearly pointed towards her path.

All the time, Seulmi was just looking down so when she did arrive at the counter, she lifted her head and oddly smiled at the guy.

“Yah, hyung. Did we say something wrong?” Chanyeol nudged the equally confused Baekhyun.

“A-anni. I don’t think we did. What are they looking at?” the latter further inquired.

Chanyeol managed a shrug.

“Thank you, miss! Your order will be brought to you in a minute!” the kind clerk smiled at Seulmi.

Seulmi walked to where they all originally sat and went next to Hyerin.

“That was so stupid. You made us look like morons.” Hyerin stared at the table as she spoke to Seulmi.

“Yeah, I know. I bet they thought we were retarded or something.” Seulmi was in the same position as Hyerin.

Soon after, the two boys headed back to them.

“Hyerin-ssi, you didn’t order anything?” Chanyeol shyly asked.

“I ordered the bubble tea for the two of us.” Seulmi spoke.

“Uhm, we’ve been meaning to ask you guys… Did we do something wrong?” Baekhyun leaned closer to the girls.

“Hm? No, why would you think that?” Hyerin replied softly.

“You won’t look at us before…” Chanyeol trailed off.

Seulmi snorted her suppressed laughter.

Hyerin elbowed her in return. “I-ignore that. That was us being weird.” She shrugged.

The two slowly nodded their heads.

“Here you are, bubble teas for everyone! Enjoy!” the waitress laid down the beverages.

Seulmi grabbed her drink and started sipping.

“So, if Seulmi’s major is paiting, what’s yours, Hyerin-ssi?” Baekhyun started.

Hyerin was about to respond when Seulmi spoke, “Oh, feel free to call her Hyerin. She prefers you don’t use formalities.”

Hyerin eyed her friend. “Piano.” Hyerin gave an awkward smile. “I focus on the piano.”

“Hey! Baek plays the piano too! He became obsessed with a girl playing the piano too!” Chanyeol blurted the information.

“Yah!” Baekhyun scolded the guy.

Seulmi shot Hyerin a very insinuating smile.

Hyerin faked a chuckle.

“What makes this ‘mystery girl’ so special, then?” Seulmi directly asked as she gulped down what she had in .

Baekhyun took in a deep breath and spoke, “It was the way she played the piano and sang the song. There was nothing more to it. It felt like she sang because her heart tells her to. Her voice was something I’ve never heard before and the way she played made me feel like I could just play along as she sang.” He stared at his drink.

“I know I sound cheesy and inappropriate now, but that’s just how it is.” He said and shrugged.

“Keke, don’t worry Baek, we’ll find her.” Chanyeol patted the guy on the shoulder.

Seulmi nodded because she heard all that she needed to. She leaned back to her seat and looked at Hyerin.

To Seulmi’s surprise, Hyerin looked so uncomfortable. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and her breathing pattern was off. Hyerin looked pale but her cheeks were flushed.

“Hyerin-ah, you okay?” Seulmi whispered.

Hyerin blinked and gazed at her friend. “I-I can’t..” she mumbled.

“Hyerin? I-is something wrong?” Baekhyun asked as he had noticed the troubled girl.

Hyerin showed a crooked smile and replied, “Oh, I’m fine. I just.. I-uh I remembered that I had to do something back in school. I-I better go. I’ll just take my drink. It was nice spending time with you two!” she dashed for the door.

“Iii”mm going to make sure she’s fine.” Seulmi smiled and left the two boys.

Once outside and far from the café, Seulmi caught up to Hyerin.

“What was that all about?!” she yelled.

Seulmi ran closer to Hyerin who held onto her drink.

“What happened back there?” she asked again.

Hyerin held onto her forehead and slowly shook her head.

“WHAT?! WHAT?!” Seulmi grew impatient.

“I can’t deal with that!” Hyerin blurted out.

Seulmi raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her waist.

“I can’t face a guy like that, Seulmi-ah! I-I don’t know if I should feel sorry for him or let him suffer… I-I… GAAH!” Hyerin let out her inner frustrations.

Seulmi was taken aback so she took another minute to gather herself and just let Hyerin be.

“Who on earth can handle that type of situation?! The guy is obviously sincere and determined to find a girl whom he doesn’t even know! But it’s what he said that did it. I felt horrible for doing that to him. I mean I didn’t intentionally do that to him! He listened in while I was practicing for petesake!” Hyerin’s words became harder and harder as she let them all out.

“Listen, you have to calm down.” Seulmi held Hyerin’s shoulders.

“Like you said, this wasn’t your fault. He’s the one who wants to find his girl, so let him.” Seulmi explained.

Hyerin’s brows furrowed as she just blinked at her friend.

“Fate will give him what he wants! You don’t have to interfere with the hands of fate! Just calm the hell down already!” Seulmi finished.

Hyerin gazed at Seulmi.

A moment of silence ran by.

Then…

“Pfft! Hands of fate?!” Hyerin cackled.

“Oh, haha… Very funny…” Seulmi mocked. “You were freaking out! I can’t think about what I’m saying all the time.”

“Oh, but that was precious!” Hyerin hooked her arm with Seulmi’s.

“Tch, you’re cruel. You’re quiet, but you’re cruel.” Seulmi said.

The two girls headed back to school.

“So, what do you plan to do now? We have like another vacant hour.” Seulmi turned to Hyerin.

“Hm, I think I want to practice.” Hyerin answered. “Plus, this time, we know he won’t accidentally hear me again.” She added.

Seulmi snorted but followed Hyerin anyway.

When they arrived at the music room, it was quiet and empty. All the other students were still in class so they had the music room all to themselves.

As usual, Hyerin headed for the piano in the middle of the room and ran her fingers across the black and white keys.

“Will you play Heaven by Ailee?” Seulmi began. “For me...?” she continued as she did aegyo on Hyerin.

Hyerin gave her a look.

“Comeee ooonnnn~ He heard it! How come I can’t?!” Seulmi whined.

“Because. That’s why.” Hyerin simply stated.

“Tch, I at least need a proper reason.” Seulmi muttered as she crossed her arms.

Hyerin took in a deep breath and spoke, “Because I’m not prepared to let anyone hear me sing that song.” She kept her gaze on the ground. “He just accidentally heard it.”

Seulmi blinked at how reflective her friend was being.

“Y-Yah, I didn’t mean to…Uhm it’s fine.” Seulmi spoke softly feeling reluctant about what she said.

“Thanks, Seulmi.” Hyerin gave her a smile.

“Yeah, yeah… Just do it when you’re prepared.” Seulmi made air quotations.

Hyerin went for one of her usual songs. It’s Me by Sunny & Luna.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL4BeT0pC2E) (A/N: Hello readers~ Keke, please please please pleeeaassseeee listen to the song. It's really great and I'm sure you'll like it! Thank you!)

It was one of the official soundtracks of the K-drama, To the Beautiful You.

Hyerin liked the melody and the lyrics as well, so she used the song to rehearse with. It helped that Seulmi sang some of Sunny’s parts. Since the song was a duet, the girls had a great time singing as Hyerin played on the piano.

The song gave a light mood and made them forget what had just happened so they just enjoyed each other’s company and sang to their heart’s desires.

“’Gotcha.” a guy stated in triumph as he smiled listening to the voices singing in the music room.

(Who was he? Who heard them? Read on! :D)

Hi readers! Here's a late update but I still hope you like it. Please do keep reading the story and enjoy!! :D