Seohyun stood off to the side and waited. She closed her eyes and listened to the orchestra play. She listened to the music and let herself be taken away by it. Its ups and downs, they took her with it and she thought for a moment that she was one with the music. It was easier to gather up her courage with every building note. Her mother had once told her that the hardest part to make any choice wasn’t living with the consequences, it was just simply making the choice. The rest could be overcome no matter what as long as you wanted it badly enough.

So now she was making a choice.

The music stopped and even from behind the stage she could hear the rupture of applause. She stepped out from the shadows she had been hiding in and waited. One by one dancers filtered in, bright smiles and the sheen of hard work surrounded them. Her pulse quickened as she waited and then she saw him. He was being congratulated by someone important, maybe the director? She didn’t know, but she was happy for him. He gave the man a small smile and brushed invisible dust off his chest, a habit that he had done for as long as she had known him when he was nervous.

The man stepped away from him, giving him one last handshake and she watched as Jongin’s shoulders relaxed. He turned to grab his things and caught sight of her. He stopped and she could do nothing else, but stare. She saw the hesitation in his steps as he walked towards her until he was close enough that all she had to do was reach out for him.

“Let me get changed” He said, his voice hurried and awkward.

She barely got the chance to nod before he ran off. It didn’t take him long at all to get changed and he felt his heart drop at the fact that she was gone. He ran down the steps and nearly crashed into her coming back up, two cups of coffee in hand.

“Where are you going?” She asked, nearly stumbling down the stairs.

He grabbed her arms to steady her and shook his head.

“I… thought you left” Jongin said nervously, Seohyun looked up at him, all nervous and laughed.

“I just grabbed us some coffee. I didn’t think you were going to be this fast” She said simply, her lips forming into a smile as she handed him the cup, “Is there some place we can talk?”

Jongin tried to study her, he tried to see where this was going, but to his misfortune she was well guarded. Her face was calm, but he heard the hint of hesitation in her voice. He wanted to tell her that they could talk later, he wanted to put off the impending bad news for as long as possible. As long as he didn’t let her say it, then it wasn’t happening, right?

“There’s a vocal practice room downstairs” He offered instead, “It’s empty after performances. We can go there?”

She nodded and followed him in silence.

Just do it Seohyun. You’ve made a choice, just follow through.

The room was nice and simple. She followed him in and sighed as he closed the door behind him.

“This is weird isn’t it?” He started, “I don’t remember ever being this weird with you before”

“You didn’t remember much of anything before this” She said jokingly.

He laughed and she relaxed a little. She took a sip of her coffee and placed it down on the small table off to the side.

“I found this” She said, reaching in her bag and pulling out his notebook.

His eyes lit up with recognition and he took it from her gladly.

“Did you… read it?” He asked quietly.

She must’ve looked guilty so she didn’t even bother to lie, “I did. I’m sorry”

He shook his head, “No, that’s ok. I wanted you to read it. This is… me. I mean it was me, before I r