Miram laid half-dead in her room that night. She suddenly thought of Jake, and the very time they almost first met. She thought of his warm smile and his puppy eyes, singing to her at one of his concerts with ENHYPEN, She thought of everything they could do if Yeji hadn’t had separated them and would meet officially.

But Yeji was in the picture not long after. She thought of her stealing him away. Saddened, Miriam woke up. She tossed and turned, trying to get back to fall back asleep, but she can’t stop thinking about her crush with Yeji and not with her.

“He can’t tell that I can’t breathe!” she sobbed.

She was deprived of sleeping. She was too overwhelmed and anxious about tomorrow. But eventually she calmed down and went to sleep. Only to be woken up an hour later for school.

Miriam was still drowsy from the lack of sleeping last night. She could not believe that she had stood up all night worrying about Jake and Yeji together. She kept dozing off in class. But every time, she envisioned Jake and herself together and happy.

Yeji, the stuck-up, noisy gossip, had entered our study hall session and said,

“Students, two of our best classmates are performing a piece at the Sydney Opera House this week, with Jake Shim on the violin and Bangchan, who is on the piano, needs a page turner. But the problem is, no is available for this kind of support. Can anyone here lend a hand?”

Miriam rolled her eyes.

“Lunch is provided!”

“So what?” scoffed a student, “A lot of us can earn more by just moving bricks for half a day. I mean, how and why would we be willing to go?”

And then, Miriam raised her hand up in the air.

“I’ll go! What’s the date? What time? And what should I wear?”

The bus arrived and the student orchestra and Miriam boarded. It was a struggle to find a seat. But she saw Yeji and her group of friends, sitting in a circle. She scoffed; Miriam was so distracted, she bumped into Jake.

He pretended to grimace.

“Please, be careful!” He said. 

“Sorry. Can I sit there?” said Miriam.

“My violin is worth an arm and a leg.”

She raised my eyebrows.

“More than me?”

“More than you.”

If you don’t have a place to sit, then you have to do what you have to do, Miriam thought.

She had to hold Jake’s violin for him! She was glad to sit with her crush. But she felt uncomfortable that she had to hold his expensive violin.

I have to say, she thought again, This isn’t too horrible.

After arriving at the Sydney Opera House, everyone of the students in the orchestra tuned their instruments including Jake himself. Since the whole student orchestra was there with him and Bangchan, they had their performance first.

Miriam watched as they prepared for the performance. She saw Jake sitting with Yeji, since they were the first violinists. Miriam frowned completely. They announced Bangchan’s name. And Miriam was shaking uncontrollably. But then, she felt her hand being touched by Bangchan’s.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, “Everything will be all right. You’ll do well. I’ll signal you when to turn the page.”

But Miriam became nervous again. She kept a terrified expression as she walked on stage and sat down next to Bangchan, applying the music sheet on the spot of the piano.

As Bangchan began to play Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto, I glanced at Jake, playing his violin beautifully. She then smiled. As she envisioned herself in Bangchan’s spot, she wondered if Jake would really watch her performance and play a classical instrument.

But she was distracted, and Bangchan gently patted her head to turn the page. And so she did, but she was startled and her heart began pounding.

After the concert, Miriam  ran back to the auditorium to fetch the music sheet. But then, on the way, she bumped into Jake. She noticed his music sheet had dropped. But he picked it up before she did. Their eyes met.

It’s her, he thought, It’s the new girl. But… Yeji told me not to talk to her.

He scrunched up his face. Miriam knew it was a bad sign. But she quickly ignored it.

“What are you doing?” he snapped.

“Oh,” Miriam stammered, “I was just fetching Bangchan’s music sheet. I