Then the day of the competition arrived. Sungmin had no class that day so she stayed with the band. The others were out watching the other bands perform from the backstage, except for Kyuhyun. She had found him in the deserted waiting room, all by himself.

"Are you sure you don't wanna see?"

He had jumped when he heard her. "God you and your ninja skill. Don't creep up on me like that. No, I'm fine. You go and watch."

She saw that he had the music sheets laid out before him and was studying it one last time. A bottle of water stood nearby, from which he religiously took a sip from every minute, just how he always did when he was preparing himself for a performance. She drew a chair next to him. "Are you nervous?"

"A bit."

Kyuhyun had tried to concentrate on the music sheets, but he was suddenly aware that they were alone. He was torn of not wanting to be alone with her, and wanting more than anything exactly that.

"You'll do great, as always." She had touched his arm, a reassuring gesture, but the effect was the opposite. Kyuhyun tensed, his heart rate raising.

"What if... I lose." He stared at her hand, feeling every millimeter of her touch on his skin. He wanted to reach out and hold it, so much, that his knuckles began to turn white from gripping the water bottle a little too tight.

Losing meant not just the competition. But to himself. He had wanted more than anything to tell her then and there that he loved her. The hell with their friendship. The hell with Yesung. Even the hell with the competition.

"Aish, Kyu. Thinking such negative thoughts wouldn't help a thing. Where's the spirit? Don't make me denounce your Rocker Kyu title and change it into Coward Kyu. Kyuward? Eh, that's too... weird."

Kyuhyun turned to face her, unsmiling. Sungmin had just noticed his outfit. The one he wore for the stage. Black leather pants, black boots, a black long sleeved shirt with rips from through he could see the grey tank top he layered underneath. The sleeves were rolled to below his elbow. His wrists and fingers were embellished with pointy, studded, metal cuffs and rings.

Kyuhyun always had another side of him. The side that she knew so well in her daily life, the avid gamer, sometimes annoying, slightly dorky, with quick wit that always ready to make her laugh. And the on-stage Kyu, the dark, charming, mysterious persona with a captivating voice.

"Funny you should say that. Maybe I do deserve that new nickname."

"Hey, save the y pained brooding look for the stage. It's time for you to unleash the Rocker Kyu into the screaming fangirls outside." Sungmin gave him a wide smile, tapping his shoulder. Kyuhyun just looked at her, unamused.

"But... Wait. Rocker Kyu is missing something." Sungmin was staring up his eyes that made him moved back and tensed in his seat. "Hold on..."

"What are you doing?"

"Don't move." She grabbed a kohl.

He had forgotten this one last finishing touch. Sungmin moved her chair closer and cupped his chin. Kyuhyun, for some reason, was squirming in his chair. "Kyu, stay still, or I'm gonna poke an eyeball." He swallowed then closed his eyes and she slowly lined around his eyelids.

Sungmin had forgotten that Kyuhyun had beautiful long lashes. They weren't really noticeable from a distance, but up close, you could really see them. He also had a really nice profile, which she didn't think he was really aware of. A nose that curved perfectly into his upper lip and down his lower lip.

His lips. She still remembered how they had tasted like, the feeling when they brushed over hers, as vividly as if it had just happened a second ago. It was nothing like she had ever experienced, and it had redefined her perspective. It wasn't just a kiss, it was everything of that moment.

She had wondered, shortly after, about what he had said. About kissing the right person. He was right, after all. She wasn't in love with Yesung, probably hadn't for a long while. It was just that she had just grown accustomed to his presence, like a routine. But when Kyuhyun had kissed her... It was like something just... clicked. Like she had found something she never thought she had lost before. She finally got what he meant.

Kyuhyun was that person. The one that made her heart leapt and banged itself against her chest, that's him. She broke up with Yesung the following week after that.

"You know, I haven't told you. I've broken up with Yesung."

He suddenly grabbed her hand and his eyes flew open. "What?"

"I broke up with Yesung. You've been so busy so I haven't got a chance to..."

"But why?"

"Because you were right, I wasn't in love with Yesung, I'm–"

The rest of her words were muffled by his lips. This time was different from the their first kiss. It was urgent, desperate, a battle and a downpour of passion and yearning that had been bottled up for so long. His heart had felt like it was exploding. Right then and there. All what he had been containing and pushing under for the past weeks came in floods.

Until Sungmin suddenly pushed him away, "What the hell are you doing?"

Kyuhyun blinked in confusion.

"Just because you kissed me once, or you thought 'hey, she just broke up, she must be vulnerable', you think you can play and mess around with me like this? For God's sake, I'm your own friend, Kyu. You're really going too far. It's not funny anymore." Sungmin got up and walked out.

"But I wasn't..." It was no use. The door already closed and he could only stare at it, dumbfounded.

. He got up to run after her, but the door opened and his band members streamed inside. "Get prepared, Kyu, we're next." He asked them where Sungmin was and they told him she had gone out to watch them from the front view of the stage, among the audience outside. "I need to speak with her." He went for the door, wondering how he was supposed to look for her among hundreds of people, but Donghae grabbed him, "Kyu, seriously, not now, we have no time." "But hyung..." and Donghae already shoved him a guitar.