It had been weeks later that I properly remembered my singing angel again.

Courtesy of Im Nayoung who made a casual statement at our lunch table, “Minkyung, have you been at your tree spot lately?”

Uh, well… No? I don’t know…

Every time I was so close to hearing that singing voice again over my vague memories, it was always quickly replaced by a certain bright smile with crinkling eyes. Yes, there were times that I frowned upon it but that feeling quickly passed too. Along with my feelings for the singing angel…

Fading off and I didn’t realize during then that it didn’t bother me anymore.

Anyway, Sungyeon just had that effect where you can’t stay mad at her for long. Besides, it wasn’t exactly her fault that I’m losing the feels for my singing angel. That wasn’t real or at least, that was what I had been subconsciously telling myself.

“Tree spot?” Sungyeon gave me a look.

“Yeah I used to have this cozy spot before we met.” I bit into my pasta.

Okay, so Sungyeon is my best friend and probably a closer friend than Nayoung is. Not that Nayoung was replaced, we still hang out loads, but you get the picture. Point is, there were stuffs that I didn’t fill Sungyeon in about. Mainly because I didn’t think it was important for her to know what happened before we met.

“Didn’t know that.” She made a face and I shrugged, forking at a piece of meat on her plate. She batted my hands away and wrestle my fork with hers. Nayoung let out a sigh and mumbled about love birds being in complete denial. Her voice went in and out of my head, like a passing breeze.

“Mine!” I successfully forked her meat up only to cringe from her high pitched whines.

“Like what’s going on between the two of you?” Nayoung finally spoke out loud enough for both of us to hear.

“What?”

“Nothing…” The oldest of us sighed again with a defeated expression.

Sungyeon reached her hand over to touch at Nayoung’s arm. “Don’t think about her anymore. You’ve got us. Minkyung and I will always be here. Right?”

Surely it wasn’t meant to mean anything more but I felt a slight tug at my chest when she said those words. Us. We will always be here. These days, her words are swimming all over my head, I hear them sometimes during classes or at moments when I’m blanking out. It wasn’t frustrating, it just felt like… I’m not in control of myself anymore. Like a part of me is slipping away…

I looked up to see both of them peering at me quizzically, “Oh yeah, right. Of course.”

Sungyeon gave me a look which made me want to escape but her slender arms were wrapping themselves around my neck. It was the usual intimacy we shared. I felt myself leaning back to snuggle into the familiar scent of my best friend. Nayoung shot me a look and I didn’t respond.

“So… You both got any plans later?” She asked, alternating her gaze between Sungyeon and I.

“Why? What do you wanna do?”

“Actually, I do. Kill me but I’ve got a performance to prepare for in front of the campus next week.” Sungyeon’s arms untangled from around me as she raised them both up in the air, “Totally not ready!”

“What is it about?” I asked, a frown creased my brows.

She reached a hand up to fix my hair and I leaned into her touch instantly. That action, apparently was not missed by Nayoung who sat by observing our interactions. A bad habit she got after missing the presence of Kyulkyung… Not that I minded though.

“Music assignment which determines my scholarship. I’ve got to compose a song and sing it in front of the school.” A defeated sigh escaped from her lips and I glanced downwards, noticing them.

“Here.” I handed her a bottle of water and rested my head on my palm, “I could come with you if you want. Need some help?”

“I do need help. It will be a great deal if you could come with me because…” Her voice went a little lower and I frowned, leaning in to catch the next few words coming. “When you’re not around, there are these guys that stand outside the music room and wanting to talk to m-”

She was interrupted. “Right. I’m coming.”

Nayoung had raised brows. Probably wondering what Sungyeon had just said to incur my sudden eagerness. I gestured that I would text her later if I can and she nodded. So we parted ways after sending Nayoung to the bus stop outside of the campus and then headed to the music room.

“What are you planning to perform?” I asked curiously after she tossed at me a file filled of her score sheets. “These are a lot.”

“Spent my entire life writing them.” She grinned widely, settling down into a seat and stretching to fish her guitar from behind.

Again, I felt myself unconsciously stare at her tune her guitar up, strumming the chords in a way that made the hairs on my arm stand. I swallowed and watched on as she continued strumming random tuning chords and adjusting the knobs to her satisfaction. I didn’t understand during then, I mean like I said, I could do all that too…

“Don’t look so surprised.” Her scoff brought me back to earth.

“I wasn’t.” I mumbled instinctively in response. Okay, where had I been…

If she noticed my distraction, she was not in the playful mood to tease. “Help me pick a song.” She nodded at the file which still lay resting on my lap.

I leafed through the contents carefully, studying the neat musical notes drawn over the bars. My fingers ran over the light pencil marks, feeling the erased out texture and realized how much effort she had placed into making these songs. Flipping through the entire file, all I could think of was how talented could she be. It was her hobby yet, so much care had been placed in each marking.

The next words that left my mouth had surprised the both of us, “What if I wrote you a song?”

I gasped and froze in a rather awkward position. Her expression went from surprise to plain disbelieve. I facepalmed my forehead and let out a slow breath. What is wrong with me… Seriously.

“You could…” She whispered, averting her gaze to the guitar.

The side view of her playing the guitar was interesting, “Umm… No. Wait, I was just… No, sorry.” I let out yet another sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose, “This is embarrassing as hell.”

A light playful giggle sounded and I felt a warmness crept up to my cheeks. “Kidding. I’m playing this for the performance. Check it out for me?”

I nodded and listened carefully as strummed the chords for the starting bars. The calm soothing guitar strings struck a sense of peace within me. That was what I felt till all nerves broke lose when she started singing. Boy, if I could even describe how it felt listening to her sing…

Firstly… Her voice was truly amazing. If I could rewind the time back, I would. The sound of rain pattered gently against the window panes, accompanying her song…

It wasn’t just the way she could deliver the emotions of the self composed song. It wasn’t how she sang all of the notes so naturally. It wasn’t how her lyrics pulled at my heartstrings so easily. It wasn’t how she bit at her lips occasionally when strumming at the guitar, nor how adorable she glances at her score sheets every few seconds.

I closed my eyes and listened to the mixture of all the sounds surrounding us.

When her song ends, I refused to open my eyes…

“Minkyung…” She called out.

Nope…

“Minkyung, did you fall asleep?” I felt her moving closer and stiffened. “Hey… You alright?”

I nodded slowly, robbed of all words on my tongue.

“Minkyung… You’re legit scaring me.” Her voice was slightly frantic now. “Why are you smiling like a nut? Geez…”

Does Im Nayoung ever lie? Stupid Nayoung…

“Kim Minkyung, are you freaking crying?!”

Yeah.

I did meet my singing angel…