The weekend ended. Seungri left more food in Dara’s fridge before heading to his work in a radio company. Dara woke up smiling and sniffing the fresh morning air. She woke up exactly six o’clock am. She roamed her eyes on the four corners of her room and then a pink rose caught her sight at the bedside table. She rolled over and gave the roses a sweet smile.

 

“One…two.” She counted the roses and then hugged her pillow and smiled giddily. She can’t believe she somehow found a bigger light into her life, that someone somehow gave her hope to be happy again. She touched the petals of the roses before standing up. She went straight down the kitchen and checked the fridge.

 

Eat well… and don’t let the roses rot. Kekeke –Panda

 

Dara shook her head while smiling at Seungri’s note in the fridge. He left food that is good for a month for a person living alone. ‘What if I invite, Jiyong for dinner?’ she thought to herself. But then she slapped herself and also her thoughts.

 

“Wake up, Dara!!! What are you thinking?!” she hissed.

 

As she set the table for her breakfast, her phone suddenly rang and then she straightened her back as she heard her unchanged ringtone. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and immediately ran upstairs and answered the phone without checking who called her.

 

“Hello?” she softly said.

 

“Sandyyyy!!!” Dara removed the phone from her ear and glared at her phone. ‘How did Jiyong get my number?!’ she thought. And then she pressed the phone again on her ear.

 

“Hi, good morning!” Jiyong greeted like a little child.

 

“Hi, good morning,” Dara replied while smiling inwardly.

 

“I’ll drop by your apartment.” Jiyong simply said. Before Dara can protest, Jiyong immediately hangs up his phone leaving Dara dumbfounded.

 

“What is he thinking? Dropping by this early?” but as she said those, she was rushing to the shower; she doesn’t want to make Jiyong wait.  

 

Dara took 10 minutes in the shower then she immediately went to her wardrobe. It’s odd because she can’t pick what to wear. She feels like she needs to be extra beautiful and she doesn’t even know why.

 

After 15 minutes of trying different clothes, she still can’t choose. She pulled out her hair in frustration. She sat on the edge of the bed and texted their group message.

 

Hey, what should I wear? –Dara

 

As she waited for their reply, suddenly the doorbell rang; she jerked back in surprise and then went to peek from her window and looked down. She saw Jiyong standing by the gate with his hands inside his pocket. She studied what he’s wearing, a plain white shirt under a denim jacket and a skinny jean. She immediately went to look for similar attire as Jiyong’s. As she found a denim jacket and a plain white shirt, she thanked the heavens.

 

Jiyong is checking on his wristwatch, five minutes passed by and Dara hasn’t even answered to his knocks and doorbells. When he was about to press the doorbell, the door suddenly clicked. He looked up and just like in a movie, everything is in slow motion. Slowly, Dara stepped out. Jiyong is smiling widely but it slowly fades as he studied on what Dara is wearing.

 

Dara smiled back and opened the gate.

 

“Woah!!! What a coincidence, we’re wearing the same outfit?!” Dara said in a fake surprise tone which Jiyong noticed. He just laughed softly and shook his head. Dara tilted her head and eyed him quizzically.

 

“Why are you laughing?” Dara asked innocently.

 

“Do you want a couple shirt?” Jiyong retorted still laughing.

 

Dara’s cheeks were blushing. She never felt embarrassed like that before. Jiyong pinched her cheek and pouted. Dara turned tomato seeing how cute Jiyong is. She was so confused why did she find him cute just by doing those annoying gestures.

 

 

As they were walking by the neighborhood, Jiyong suddenly fished something out from his bag. Dara peeked from the side of her sight, and then she saw a pink rose, she started smiling giddily. Before Jiyong handed it to her, he studied Dara’s face. As he saw her biting her lower lip to control the smile from coming out, he returned the rose from his bag still eyeing Dara. Her face suddenly changes, her eyebrows mashed together as she played the hem of her shirt.

 

Jiyong suddenly broke into laughter and handed the rose to Dara.

 

“Here. Don’t be sad, I’m just teasing you.” Jiyong winked at her and Dara immediately pulled the rose from his grip and lowered her head. Jiyong was amused on how easily Dara can be embarrassed. He never thought someone who's three years older than him will act like a little child. But little did they know, they both perceived each other as little children.

 

 

 

They arrived at the school 1 hour early before their class. They decided to stay in their college’s band studio. Dara roamed her eyes on the big studio with complete band instruments. She was amazed by how big the studio is, she can basically roll over ten times. As she was appreciating the studio, she jerked back in surprise when Jiyong suddenly strums the electric guitar.

 

“I want to make a rock version of what we wrote.” Dara tilted her head then remembered that her group mates composed a song about Love. Dara walked towards Jiyong.

 

“Let me hear it.” Dara said while crossing her arms across her chest.

 

“I’m still working on it. But here’s what I came up last night…” he then strummed the guitar and as Dara is watching him play the guitar, he’s seeing a whole new Jiyong. It amazes her how he can turn into a cool guy from an annoying 5-year-old kid. She watched every movement, his fingers moving delicately, his fingers strumming hard, his broad shoulders despite the double layer of clothing his muscles are showing as he holds the guitar and rested it in his lap. His legs rocking on every chord he plays. Dara is in awe until she didn’t realize she’s reaching for Jiyong’s hands.

 

Jiyong abruptly stopped as he looked at Dara who seems in a trance while holding both of his hands. She squeezed it and rubbed his palms slowly, it’s as if she’s touching a silhouette. Jiyong is smiling amusingly at her. He doesn’t want to stop her but then, the door suddenly opened and then two young men barged into the studio making Jiyong and Dara jerked back in surprise.

 

“Sol, Tabi.” Jiyong nonchalantly said while striding towards them. Dara froze in her spot unsure of what to do because the realization of what she did back then still hasn’t dawned on her. Sol and Tabi are eyeing her playfully, while Jiyong is shushing them.

 

“Well I invited them here because as you know, we will make a rock version of our song,” Jiyong explained as he returned to the stool.

 

“Good Morning, Sandy.” Sol greeted Dara as he walked passed her and went to the keyboards behind Dara.

 

“I didn’t expect you here,” Tabi said as he set up the bass speaker and guitar.

 

“I’ll just go then.” Dara turned her back and was about to go but Jiyong stopped her.

 

“Where are you going? Stay.” Jiyong said in a serious tone.

 

“Why should I?” Dara retorted.

 

“Because you will sing.” The guys in the studio beamed at her while she just stood in her spot emotions are absent in her system.

 

 

 

Dara found herself standing in the middle holding a microphone. Her hands are shaking and her mind is completely empty, not sure what to do.

 

“Just sing it how we originally made it,” Jiyong said as he settled on the stool.

 

“But make your voice louder since this is rock,” Tabi added.

 

“Since we still have no drummer, Sol will temporarily fill the spot, don’t worry he knows the basic,” Jiyong said reassuringly, but Dara doesn’t even care because she doesn’t even know if they will love her singing. She knows that they’ve heard her once but that is because she sang the song which was closed to her heart. She felt like she even lost her voice.

 

“Ready?” Jiyong looked at his them and gave them thumbs up. Sol nodded and hit the drumsticks together three times, cue the music.

 

“Oh, my gosh!!! Daraaaa! You have such a lovely voice!” Jen shouted in the cafeteria as she was listening to Jiyong’s recording earlier.

 

Dara buried her face in her palms and groaned in embarrassment. She didn’t know that Jiyong was recording their jamming earlier. Jiyong was smiling the whole time while eating his sandwich.

 

“You should audition for the vocalist spot!” Jen said while handing back Jiyong’s phone.

 

“Nah.” Dara simply replied still covering her face.

 

“Yeah, he will not,” Jiyong interjected as he straightened his back.

 

“What do you mean?” Jen asked.

 

“Because we will form a band.” Jiyong simply stated, making Dara uncover her face and looked at him in disbelief.

 

“And that will never happen,” Dara added immediately.

 

But Jen just clapped her hands like a seal and hopped merrily in her seat.

 

“Brilliant! I will be your campaign manager. We’ll let them know that freshmen can beat ‘em seniors!” as soon as she said seniors, she waved at the seniors who passed by at them and then winking her back. Dara just rolled her eyes in annoyance and faced Jiyong who is staring intently at her. She moved back a little bit and cleared .

 

“I will not be part of that band, Jiyong,” Dara said in finality, but Jiyong leaned closer and stared intently on her eyes, oblivious on the playful look of Jen to Dara.

 

“You have three roses, right? I’ll use the one rose and tell me why you don’t want to be part of my band.” Jiyong said in a serious tone but his lips are tugging a smile. Dara looked away but Jen is on the way smiling at them playfully. Dara just gently pushed Jiyong and sighed.

 

“It’s just that… I don’t want to be exposed in this school. As much as possible, I want to stay hidden. It’s because of my anxiety…” Dara said as she fidgeted on her fingers.

 

“We all do. Do you know, Tabi? He’s a super shy guy right, Jen?” Jiyong gave Jen a playful look and Jen immediately looked away while sipping on her bubble tea. “But whenever he plays the bass guitar, he becomes a beast! Don’t you feel that whenever you sing?” he added.

 

Dara thought that he’s right. Whenever she sings she forgets everything in her surroundings, even though her chest is pounding heart and her mind is circling endlessly, she still can sing with all her heart because she feels right whenever she hears a melody.

 

“I’ll think about it…” Dara said softly as she bowed down her head. Jiyong then clutched his fist as success on convincing Dara and smiled.

 

 

Jiyong walked Dara to her apartment, as they stood in front of her apartment Jiyong fished out his phone from his pocket and fumbled on his phone. Dara eyed him in curiosity.

 

“I sent you the recording earlier. Listen to it and tell me what to improve, or what do you want to add or something. That’s our first and new song as a band so it means a lot to me.” Jiyong smiled and pinched Dara’s cheeks. Dara just smiled at him and nodded.

 

“See you tomorrow?” Jiyong said as he rested his hand on her shoulders. She gazes at him as if expecting him every day.

 

“Yeah.” She replied softly then opened her gate. Jiyong walked away still watching her. Dara waved bye as he waved back and turned his back.

 

“By the way, I’ll be wearing blue checkered long sleeves tomorrow. Just to let you know and so you’ll be prepared.” Jiyong shouted which echoed in the neighborhood. Dara gasped and stared at his withdrawing back in disbelief and she ran inside to hide her embarrassment as Jiyong turned his back again and grinned like a 5-year-old kid.