The busy hallways and the random strings of music coming out from everywhere was familiar. But the familiarity ends there. The walls are cream-colored instead of the light blue paint he was used to. The opera music that was usually mixed with the sound of the instruments was replaced by the sound of dance music. This school offers a Dance course instead of the Classical Opera course.

Taekwoon walked the hallways with his head low. His height was already noticeable enough, he doesn't need people staring at his face, too.

One particular door, Taekwoon noticed, was swarmed with females and males alike. There was dance music coming out from it so he assumed it was an early practice for Dance major students. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to sneak a peek as to how practice goes on in this school.

Even if he's a Vocal major, the school still requires them to take a course in each of the field. So despite not having any dance lessons before, he was still required to take the dance class.

As he stood at the back of the crowd, thanks to his tall height, he saw through the small glass window, the figure of a single person. A male student. His back was to the door but the mirror wall in front of him allowed the audience to see his face. He looked serious and determined. The sharp look in his eyes matched the fast beat of the music. It wasn't just dancing, it was a full out performance. Despite just watching for not more than 15 seconds, the dancer in the room was able to impress Taekwoon and a sense of respect welled up in him.

The music came to a finish and Taekwoon was quick to take his leave. He doesn't want to be caught up with the crowd that were obviously waiting for the dancer to come out of the room.

With not much difficulty, he found his classroom for his first class that day. At least he has vocal class first and not a dance class. He can survive this.

As he pushed the door to the classroom, the sound of someone singing in a quiet voice can be heard. It wasn't hard to search for the owner of the voice. A male student sitting at the back of the classroom has his eyes closed with his earphones on. His voice was lower than Taekwoon's and thicker, but it was unique in its own way.

Taekwoon recognized the end of the song and quickly looked away. He didn't want to be caught staring.

To his relief, class was fairly simple since it was just the first day of school. Thankfully, he transferred during the start of the school year so there was no need to introduce him to the entire class with a huge sign above his head that says "The New Kid". Sure, there were some looks directed at him but since his classmates all knew each other, no one bothered Taekwoon at all.

Well, that held true until they were dismissed and the sound of someone's name being called came ringing in the classroom.

"Lee Jaehwan! You better not be hiding from me!" The voice got louder as it came closer and Taekwoon was shocked when a figure suddenly hid behind him. He looked back to see who it is and to maybe tell them to quit hiding behind him, but before he can even get a clear look at the person, it talked in a whisper that only Taekwoon would hear.

"Don't look! Just let me hide here until he leaves."

The voice was familiar and he immediately recognized it as the voice of the student singing earlier. With a sigh, Taekwoon continued to just stand there and ultimately granting the other's request to hide.

In the next second, someone barged inside their classroom. Again, it was a familiar face. The dancer, Taekwoon thought. Somehow, he looked softer, less intense, and a lot approachable. But his presence was still strong, it was impossible to ignore him. He stood at the doorway and scanned the room, obviously looking for something or someone.

When his eyes landed on Taekwoon, he stopped. It wasn't obvious on his face, but Taekwoon got really nervous when that person came marching to his direction. Will he get in trouble for helping hide someone?

Upon closer look, he noted that the person was slightly shorter than him, but he's still on the tall side. He wasn't as wide as Taekwoon, too. Actually, he looked really slender and fit.

"Hello. You're a new student, aren't you? I'm Cha Hakyeon."

It was a shock. This person - Cha Hakyeon - was the first one who outright approached him and introduced himself. Taekwoon knew this type. Hakyeon is one of those social butterflies who knows everyone. The exact opposite of him.

"And you are?" Hakyeon said in a softer tone. His voice was nice, too. If Taekwoon didn't see him dance earlier, he would surely assume that he's a Vocal major just like him.

"...woon"

"Pardon?"

"Taekwoon. Jung Taekwoon."

Hakyeon immediately flashed a wide smile seemingly not bothered by Taekwoon's clipped response.

"You have a really nice voice. No wonder you're in the same class as Jaehwan."

Taekwoon had heard a lot of things people tell him when he speaks for the first time, like "Your voice is small, huh?" or "Wow, you have a high voice even though you're tall." or "Your voice doesn't suit your face." It was the first time he heard someone compliment him during the first exchange.

"And you're really tall, too." Hakyeon patted his shoulder casually and tilted his head up, as if estimating his height. "How tall are you? Jaehwan will have no problem hiding behind..." He didn't finish what he was saying and just quickly made to grab around Taekwoon's back. But Jaehwan made a run to the other side so Hakyeon used his other hand to grab the escaping male, unintentionally hugging Taekwoon by the waist.

"I told you not to skip dance class!" Hakyeon said in a nagging tone.

"Why do you have to be in my class? You're already done with the elementary classes!" Jaehwan complained in return.

"I'm taking it for additional credits. I'd be a student teacher, not your classmate."

"You're worse than the instructor!"

"Uhm..."

The arguing duo both turned to the owner of the voice. In the middle of it all, Taekwoon got stuck on between them, thanks to Hakyeon keeping Jaehwan in place behind him. It was an uncomfortable position and Taekwoon had lost the opportunity to slip away unnoticed like he planned to.

"Ah. I'm sorry." Hakyeon said, but made no immediate movement to untangle himself and Jaehwan from Taekwoon. "Stop it, Jaehwan. You're making Taekwoon uncomfortable!"

"You're the one hugging someone you just met!"

"Would you just quit struggling and just attend the class!"

When it appeared that neither of the two was willing to give up, Taekwoon was left with no other choice but to force himself out of the tangle. He assumed tearing off Hakyeon's hold on him would be easy since he's obviously bigger than him but he got it completely wrong. A slight push didn't budge Hakyeon's hold at all. So with a bit too much force, he finally managed to tear Hakyeon off.

He wanted to apologize but he really isn't comfortable with talking to anyone in this school yet, so he just did a light bow and went off.

Taekwoon thought he had reached his quota for interactions that day, but just a few seconds before the start of his second class, the two males that he left in his last classroom came walking in. Or rather, Hakyeon is dragging a struggling Jaehwan in class.

"Oh Taekwoon-ah! This is your class, too?" Hakyeon asked in a too familiar tone. He was already calling Taekwoon like they've known each other for long even if in fact it was only a few minutes ago when they got introduced.

He wanted to tell Hakyeon not to act too familiar with him, but then it would require him to talk a lot and he wasn't really good with that. Plus, he didn't really want to offend him more since he just used force on him earlier even if technically it was their fault and not Taekwoon's.

"Is this your first dance class? No need to worry, I'll take care of you." Hakyeon said and just casually patted Taekwoon's back.

It wasn't obvious but he shied away from Hakyeon's touch. It was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. And really, it's his first time dealing with someone like Hakyeon first-hand. And people like Hakyeon is just troublesome.

"Wonshik-ah! I'm leaving Jaehwan to you." He called out to another tall male at the far end of the room. This person doesn't look as approachable as Hakyeon. He actually looked scary, like he's looking at everyone in a bored fashion. But the way he slowly approached them from the other end of the room made Taekwoon rethink his first impression of him.

"First day escape: FAILED!" He declared in a low energetic voice. Jaehwan just stomped in place while Hakyeon gave him one final glare before moving to the front of the class.

"Before the dance teacher comes, grab a partner and we can start warm up. Do proper stretching after you've changed into your practice clothes. Okay. START!"

Taekwoon was about to leave to get changed when someone grabbed him by the arm. "Find yourself a partner or you'll end up with Hakyeon-hyung." Jaehwan said in a quick whisper.

He only gave Jaehwan a confused stare before Wonshik had dragged him away to change. Also, it wasn't like Taekwoon could help it. He was new and knew absolutely no one, so of course he would end up the one without a partner and therefore he got Hakyeon in the end.

"I'll take it easy with you, so don't worry."

Taekwoon was wise not to believe it. Hakyeon's flexibility standards is far too high for a beginner like him. Also...

"Bend your knees a bit more." Then comes Hakyeon's guiding hand on Taekwoon's knees. It was really umcomfortable but he couldn't complain. He's the one that needs help so he's in no position to tell Hakyeon otherwise.

"See? You survived!" Hakyeon announced to a clearly panting Taekwoon.

"Yeah. But I think I dislocated all my joints." He replied absently.

Hakyeon let out a light laugh and commented "So you talk more when you're tired, huh."

At that, Taekwoon buried his head to his knees. It's true that his mouth seems to run a lot more freely when he's tired, but he didn't expect anyone to be able to notice that so soon, especially not Hakyeon.

"You did well, Taekwoon-ah." Hakyeon said, then promptly ruffled Taekwoon's hair, which he has no more energy to even think of swatting away.

Thankfully, the instructor came before Hakyeon can comment on anything else.

The class wasn't that hard, but Taekwoon understood why Jaehwan detests being in class with Hakyeon. He's a perfectionist. What makes it worse is that he has the right to be. The way he executes such simple movements with such grace charms even their dance instructor. There was also the clear change in the aura of his eyes. The warm and approachable Hakyeon vanished the moment the music came out of the speakers. There was only the intense look in his eyes that demands everyone's attention on him.

"I can sense you'll get better with practice." Hakyeon was once again back to his position next to Taekwoon after turning off the music.

Everyone was sweating profusely, but Taekwoon was the only one on his back on the floor. It was obvious that he's new to this. It would have been understandable if the instructor would come to him frequently to correct his movements, but Hakyeon had volunteered to stay next to him and thus avoiding that particular scenario. Taekwoon didn't know if it was on purpose, but because Hakyeon was next to him, he didn't get any unwanted attention by getting pointed out by the instructor. Hakyeon was correcting him even before anyone notices.

There was an arm extended to him to help him get up and surviving class with Hakyeon touching here and there to correct him, Taekwoon got more or less used to it. Without thinking much, he grabbed the hand and pulled himself up.

"Ah! We didn't even shake hands!" Hakyeon declared.

Taekwoon was confused for a moment, but then his hand was adjusted on Hakyeon's grip until he realized they were shaking hands.

"Nice to meet you, Jung Taekwoon. I'm sorry, I even forgot to shake your hand earlier. That was really rude of me." Hakyeon said in a sorry tone.

Taekwoon was sure Hakyeon shouldn't be that sorry over it. He had totally done more than a handshake.

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Akira: Yow! Haha just character introduction I guess :) But the story will come rolling now! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and watch out for the next chaptet to be posted as soon as I'm done with it.

Chapter 3: Cotton Candy