That next day when the doors slid open, you walked into the theater room to find a much more comforting atmosphere. All the lights were brightly illuminating the whole auditorium. You peered down the seat isles to check for trash but didn’t make out anything. You walked behind the stage and noticed all the props were nicely stacked and the costumes were neatly hung on silver racks.

“Hey…are you ok?” Vernon asked from behind you. You turned around and appreciated how nice his uniform looked on him. However, today his tie was pulled loose and his collar buttons were undone all the way down to the middle of his chest. You weren’t the least bit interested. In fact, you were more curious why was he so inappropriately dressed? Do they not teach their students how to wear their uniforms correctly?

“I am,” You replied and Vernon paced over to observe the new bandage on your forehead.

“Does it hurt?”

You shook your head and asked, “Was the theatre room already cleaned when you came in?”

“Yea,” Vernon replied and added, “You don’t even have to clean it. Someone already did it all.”

“Are you sure?” You asked looking around checking for areas that may have been missed, “...Well…if it’s clean…I guess I better go tidy up the other rooms. See you around.” You gave him a small goodbye smile and turned around to walk off the stage.

Vernon called your name and you looked back at him. He shuffled forward towards you, allowing himself to take another good look at you. He then reached his arm out and stated, “I’m Hansol, nice to meet you.”

You looked at him and replied sarcastically, “Hansol…I already know your name…it’s on your name badge…”

“I know. But I wanted to formally introduce myself to you. The right way.”

“Ahh…stop it. You don’t have to do that. You make me feel like we’re business partners or something,” you replied brushing away his thoughtful gesture yet you didn’t hesitate to shake his hand and introduce yourself in return.

When he let go he reached into his pocket and pulled out something in his hand.

“Take this. It’ll help heal your wound faster,” Vernon explained and without asking he took your hand into his and placed the white tube of ointment into your palm.

“It really isn’t that bad…but thank you,” you responded and waved goodbye as you left the theatrical room with your rolling trashcan squeaking behind you.  

When you were wiping down the white board in a room not too far from the auditorium, you heard voices chattering out in the hallway.

“Is Hansol inside?”

“I’m sure he is, he is in the play coming up. He’s been practicing very hard.”

“And cleaning very hard.”

“Cleaning? What do you mean?”

“Yesterday he stayed until midnight to clean the backroom of the stage. He even skipped out on hanging with us at today because he was cleaning.”

So it was Hansol who had cleaned everything in the theatrical room. And here you were thinking it was the day janitors that did it. At least…that’s how he made it sound like. Abruptly your jolly emotions flew out the window. You were mortified to learn of the news.

You dashed out of the room catching the attention of two guys.

“Did you say Hansol cleaned the theatrical room?” you asked eager to hear their answers.

“Yea…why?” Woozi replied remembering your face. Chan’s face lit up when he saw you. Your bangs were plastered onto your forehead as if you had been working too hard.

“Um…” you couldn’t think of anything to say. Your mind was running faster than your mouth could put out. You dug out the heavy stash of metals from your pocket and searched for the key to open the auditorium. When you walked passed them and unlocked the theatrical doors Woozi looked over to Chan confused.

They both watched the doors slide open and then close in front of them without saying a word.

“What was that for?” Chan asked Woozi as if he knew the answer.

“I don’t know.” Woozi replied shrugging his shoulders.

“Is Hansol ok?”

“I don’t know. Is he?” Woozi responded trying to understand the situation himself.

“Jihoon! Chan!”

They both looked to see Minghao walking towards them.

“Are we still meeting with Seungcheol today?” Minghao asked.

“Yea we were on our way there,” Chan replied as he tried to dismiss you from his mind.

You ran into the theatre room and called for Vernon but no one answered. You checked behind the blinds but the backroom was neat without a sign of him. You sighed realizing he was already gone. You thought to yourself, you could go search for him and thank him for helping you clean the room…however the school was way too big