In the end, Minhyun didn't touch the piano that allowed him to relax. He just sat there, staring at the piano made of wood covered with black paint that was chipped off from age, too many thoughts running through his mind for even him to comprehend what he was thinking. A sigh escapes his mouth as he figured that it was useless to keep sitting there for the entirety of lunch so he pushed himself back up only to feel the fabric of his uniform sticking to his side. He reaches over to touch it before wincing and realizing that his bandages unravelled as the end of it was peeking out from underneath of his dress shirt.

He sighs again as he knew that he needed to go to the nurse's office to change his bandages; however, when Minhyun opens the door, he didn't expect to smell nail polish and hear muffled music, looking to the side of the entrance to see that Ren was sitting there, painting his nails, his headphones on.

"Wha...?" the question died in his throat as he didn't comprehend as to why the blond was here, just painting his nails as though he was at home or something.

"The paint was chipping off," Ren stated, keeping his gaze on his nails before blowing at it after the last of black. The blond didn't wait for him to say anything, simply putting the brush back into its container, screwing it shut, and stuffing it into his pocket before pushing himself to stand up.

Minhyun wavers as he wonders what could possibly be going through his mind before slowly turning to head to the direction of the nurse's office, listening to the blasting yet muffled music behind him.

He didn't understand.

Every now and then, he had- no, needed to glance back, check for anything but every glance was only the same image: white headphones on blond hair pulled into a short ponytail with a stoic face staring at the ground Minhyun stepped on.

He couldn't deal with the fact that Ren continued to follow him after that outburst so he had to slow to a stop right before the door to the nurse's office and turned to the blond, who meets his gaze to question him. Minhyun gestures to his head for Ren to take off his headphones, the latter doing so and turning off his blasting music. The taller took in a deep breath before asking, "Why?"

"'Why' what?" Ren tilted his head, an innocent gesture even with that non-expressive face.

At that, his thoughts had to calm down before he could settle on a single question that pushed him more.

"Why aren't you hurt?"

The blond blinked at him with those large eyes before looking down and reaching out to grab Minhyun's hand, making him jolt in surprise at the sudden contact. His slim fingers held Minhyun's bandaged hand softly, pull at it before laying it firmly against the blond's left-side of his chest. Minhyun didn't understand, his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion as he stared at those freshly painted fingernails that held his hand before realizing something.

Ren's heartbeat.

Contrary to his stoic expression, his heart was beating quickly to the point that Minhyun thought of music sheets that lacked a bpm on it for some reason. Either way, his heart was beating quicker than the average heartbeat.

Ren was anxious.

Slowly, Ren lets go of his already light grip, leaving Minhyun to slowly retract his hand in response. There was a moment of silence before Minhyun opened his mouth to say something only to be interrupted by Ren, "Let's head inside to wash your cut and change your bandages. Your blood is starting to stain your shirt."

The school day went oddly quicker than normal for Minhyun, as though he was experiencing a 'normal' life for once; well, as normal as he can get what with Ren still following him around and such. Still, even with the odd blond, his life felt at peace for once.

"We're going to Baekho."

It took a moment for that to register into Minhyun's head before his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion and he looks up from his desk to Ren, who unwrapped a a piece of gum and threw it into his mouth. The blond chewed and blew a bubble to pop before answering his confused stare, "I said it this morning that we would go to his practice today, remember?"

"Oh..." was all that Minhyun could answer with.

After packing up, he reluctantly followed Ren outside of the main school building where most classes were held, making the excuse somewhere in his mind that if he were to ditch the androgynous boy then he would just arrive at his house again. He watched Ren from behind, how even as he wasn't even staring at his face the blond's aura oozed with pride what with those confident strides in his walk with those bright reddish-pink shoes. Funny how his aura screamed 'prideful' yet his face would show nothing.

"Take off your shoes before you enter or else Baekho will yet at you." at those words, Minhyun realized that they reached a traditional wooden building meant for the more Korean-original activities. He followed Ren in taking off his shoes and placing them by a pair of worn out sneakers that were already on the mat outside.

Ren slid open the door, the sound of a sword being swung quickly into the air echoing throughout the large and empty building that was covered by blue safety mats. When Minhyun had finally walked into the building, the first thing he noticed was the back of Baekho in a traditional fighting outfit fit for kendo, swinging a bamboo sword in precise movements, the art of fighting seeming almost elegant for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" Baekho turned and asked curtly, ruining that so-called moment of elegance.

"I told you this morning," Ren stated simply before blowing another bubble with his gum to pop.

Baekho grimaced at the blond, sparing a glance (maybe a glare) to Minhyun, who jolted and looked away before he could meet gazes with the intimidating student. In a tired manner, Baekho states, "Make it quick."

"Does a couple weeks count as quick?"

"Ugh, I should've known better."

"I mean I'm guessing it's gonna take a couple of weeks. I just need you to train Minhyun."

At that, Minhyun turned back and blurted out, "Excuse me?!" and only received a raised hand from Ren, signalling him to keep quiet and pay attention to Baekho instead. He looks back and sees how the intimidating student looks troubled at first, eyebrows scrunched up in thought as he scratches the back of his neck with the hand that didn't hold his bamboo sword before letting out a sigh, "Fine." Baekho then proceeded to toss his sword over to the side before changing his position to the starting position for taekwondo and facing Minhyun, "Show me what you got so far."

"Oh yeah, he's injured already, so you're gonna have to wait for a few days," this would probably be the only time that Minhyun was this grateful for Ren's presence.

Baekho only sighed again in response as he dropped his pose, "You really know how to push people's patience," and Ren nonchalantly shrugged, as though he wasn't talking to the most intimidating student of the school campus.

"That's all." Ren ended their conversation easily after blowing another bubble to pop as he began to head to the door, signalling with his hand with nails that now had dry nail polish for Minhyun to follow him. He hesitated when he saw that Baekho looked like he wanted to voice out something but held back, turning his back away from the two to pick up his bamboo sword and continuing to swing at his imaginary opponent. Minhyun slowly turned away, following after Ren, who was currently putting on his shoes.

"Have you eaten yet?" the androgynous boy asked when Minhyun joined him after closing the door behind him to put on his shoes.

"No," he answered shortly, a meal not really being the thing on his mind right now. No, it was about a dozen things buzzing around his head waiting to be spoken out loud. Those thoughts stopped buzzing when the color of bright sky blue foil with gold accents appearred in his vision, blocking the sight of his shoes. He looked up a little bit, seeing that it was actually a lollipop.

"I don't have any more money on me."

Minhyun finally lets out a sigh he didn't know that he was holding back, reaching up to push the lollipop back towards Ren, "My appetite isn't really up for anything," before reaching to tie his shoelaces. He figured that their conversation was over before he was abruptly stopped with what the blond boy said next.

"Don't be dumb. You need to eat."

His eye twitched in annoyance at hearing the first sentence, looking up to glare at that stoic face, "Excuse me?"

"You need food to heal better," Ren stated in that monotone voice.

"What, so Baekho can beat my quicker?"

"Do I need you to feel my heart again?" and Minhyun couldn't help but flinch and look away at the reminder that he had no reason to act as pissed off as he was right now. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he did something that he would regret again. Ren waved the lollipop in front of his face, making Minhyun grumble under his breath as he reaches out and takes the lollipop without hesitation.