Chapter 1

“So tell me mister, do you remember when we first met?” the blonde smirked as she looked up from her own coffee cup.

Taeyeon rolled his eyes as he looked at his wife, “Do you think I could ever forget how intimidated you made me feel?”

A punch was thrown at Taeyeon’s arm, earning a loud hearty laugh from him. “Shut up... I wasn’t trying to be intimidating...”

“I know... it’s just the Sica effect,” he grinned as he reached over to hold her hand. “But I’ll tell you this, I was upset I wasn’t able to come to any other basketball games to be able to play beside you,”

“You’re sweet,”

2012-2013

A tall pudgy middle age man stood in front of the bleachers with a microphone in his hand and a white binder. He looked at the basketball game hadn’t started yet, but it was a game they were asked to play at. It was SM North versus Stardom High boys varsity game.

Taeyeon stood with his saxophone in his hand looking at the binder full of music. He wasn’t sure why exactly he was doing here. It was his sophomore year, the year he decided to get back into playing his instrument. He barely had any friends, but here he was at a basketball game playing in the pep band. Scanning at the people a step below him, he finally remembered why he was here.

There she was a young teenage girl with long black hair. She was a freshman that everyone knew of. The young girl was a clarinet player who was talented in playing her instrument. Everyone applauded her talents because she was the only freshman of her class to be in the Wind Ensemble, the most selective and talented band in the high school. Her name was Tiffany Hwang, and she was Taeyeon’s crush.

Taeyeon scanned around as he observed her interact with her group of friends. She was slightly awkward, but had a lot of friends. What caught her eye was that she spoke mostly to the girl beside him. She was blonde, who played the saxophone too. Strange... because he had never seen her before. Not that he knew everyone, but he doesn’t remember seeing her part of the saxophone section during marching band.

“The middle schoolers will be here to join us, remember to be friendly!” said the band director through the microphone.

It wasn’t before long the announcement, Taeyeon’s attention shifted from the girls beside him to the middle schoolers that were making their way towards them. What had caught his attention was Tiffany’s voice squealing over twins that had arrived. His eyebrows furrowed as he scanned the area below for twins. To his dismay he found no twins. It didn’t take long for a short middle schooler carrying his saxophone stood beside Taeyeon.

Being the nice person that he was, Taeyeon gave the middle schooler his warmest smile, “hey, welcome to North!”

The middle schooler was somewhat awkward and just gave Taeyeon a nod. Taeyeon being the older of the two took this to another level by trying to start up a conversation. “So... I’m Taeyeon and you are?” he questioned slowly as he watched the latter fumble with his instrument.

“I... I”m Yul,’ he slowly smiled.

“Well I’m glad that you were able to come,”

A nod.

Taeyeon took this as an initiative to look away and flip the pages of his binder to the music that was going to be played. He was distracted by Tiffany who tugged on the bottom of his shirt. He felt his breath hitch and his heart melt as he looked down on those dark brown orbs. Her eyes made him melt on the inside, but he kept his strong facade as he looked at her in the eyes.

“That’s the twin!” Tiffany squealed as she pointed to the kid he had just met. “He’s so cute, and he’s a great saxophonist!”

Taeyeon felt like he wanted to go punch Yul in the face now. How could this kid have the attention of the girl he liked, when he was older than her. He just nodded his head at Tiffany before playing the quick bleacher feature. Poor Taeyeon couldn’t even play his music well because he was too distracted. He ended up just shrugging Tiffany’s comment off since, she wouldn’t like him anyway.

“So.. what grade are you in?” questioned Taeyeon as he looked at Yul.

“I’m.. I’m an eighth grader,” he smiled taking a quick glimpse of Taeyeon before looking down at the game.

“Sweet. I’m a sophomore. I guess I’ll be seeing you here next week,” the older one said as he faced his music again.

The band didn’t play for awhile since it was such an intense game. Taeyeon continued to take quick glimpses of the girl who somewhat stole his heart, but felt upset since she was now talking to Yul. Looking around, he made eye contact with the blond girl beside him. He made her shudder at the icy aura that she gave off. She wasn’t scary, she was just rather intimidating. Maybe it was her or maybe it was the fact that she was one of Tiffany’s close friends.

“H-How come I have never seen you around?” questioned Taeyeon trying to start a conversation.

“I play flute, I just know how to play the saxophone as well,” the girl smiled.

When the girl smiled Taeyeon was somewhat dazed by her smile. It was cute, but it could never compare to Tiffany’s eye smiles. “Oh? Really? That’s cool. The saxophone is a better instrument,”

“Hahaha I guess it is,”

“I’m Taeyeon,”

“I’m Jessica, pleased to meet you.”

“It was nice meeting you too,” Taeyeon couldn’t help but smile as he looked at her. He was going to admit it, she was cute. He wasn’t into blondes all that much, but she was something. Nothing compared to his Tiffany Hwang of course.

A few more songs were played during the first half of the game. It was now half time and the cheerleaders were dancing in the middle. The students of the pep band were now seated watching the cheerleaders out of respect. Taeyeon took this to make small talk with the eighth grader beside him. It wasn’t much, but the conversation didn’t really go anywhere.

He turned to his right to face his newly found companion. Taking a deep breath he faced Jessica, “So... if you can play the saxophone... why didn’t I see you during marching band season?”

“Oh... uh... swimming,” she shyly said trying to avoid his eyes.

“Oh.. that’s cool,”

“Yeah,”

“I seriously thought you were cute,”

“You’re such a liar Kim Taeyeon. You were too distracted by Tiffany,”
 

“No I was not!”