Section One: [F e l i x] Encounter

The four of them stepped out from the venue and went back up the stairs. The taller and the one in tan took off their hats. Felix couldn't take his eyes off the shorter one. 

"How do you have our CD?" one asked coldly.

"Uh, Jisung. Shouldn't we introduce ourselves first?" another asked, nudging the one that just spoke.

"Oh yeah, haha whoops. Hi. I'm Jisung!" the one in green camo smiled. Felix was surprised that his personality just completely flipped. Soft rappers?

"I'm Chan. Nice to meet you," the taller in the blue jacket stated.

"Changbin," the shorter one in the tan shirt declared. Chan zoned out for a bit and Jisung checked the time on his phone. Changbin looked down as Felix just kept his eyes on the three of them.

"I'm Felix."

An awkward silence was broken by Jisung's voice. "Oh, anyway- how do you have our CD?"

Felix quickly explained. "I found it.. at my high school. On a desk."

Chan stepped forward. "On a desk? Are you sure you didn't steal it? Wait, doesn't that mean you go to the same high school as Changbin?"

"Of course I didn't steal it! Wait, what? Changbin goes to my high school?"

Ignoring the question, Chan continued. "What seat do you sit at?"

"Seat 5, 3rd row. He might be the class before me... though..." Felix's voice trailed off as he turned, looking around.

"Is that your seat?" Chan asked Changbin. The shorter nodded shyly as he began speaking. "Yeah, sorry Chan. I think I do remember leaving the CD on my desk now." Jisung giggled as Chan face-palmed. Felix couldn't help but crack a smile too.

"And Felix, you are a class below me?" Changbin asked.

"Yeah.. how can you tell?" Felix questioned, surprised.

"How can I not? You look like it," Changbin hesitated, seeing Felix's cheeks turn a light pink. The four shared another awkward silence before Felix started.

"Oh, it's 12:30. I need to get going.."

"Wait, Felix. Do you play any instruments? Or do you sing? Or rap?" Jisung asked.

Felix looked around. "I, uh-, play classical piano.. I'm also kind of interested in rap."

Chan smiled. "That's pretty cool. Well, we need to go too, so see you around." Chan slipped a card into Felix's hand before noticing the wrap dotted with blood on his wrist.

"Felix, what happened to your wrist?" asked Chan.

"Oh, I fell here on the stairs. It's-" Felix stopped when he saw Chan hand Jisung his bag to hold. Chan took some gauze from a first-aid kit that he had and handed it to Changbin. Squeezing some antiseptic onto the gauze that Chan gave him, Changbin took Felix's hand and dabbed the cut lightly. His palms became sweaty from the sudden gesture. Ouch. The stinging was intense at first but slowly faded away after a few seconds.

"Thanks," Felix slightly smiled.

"No problem," the three say in unison. Felix looks down at his newly bandaged wrist before inspecting the card that Chan gave him. The card read "3RACHA Hip Hop Crew: CB97, SPEAR B, J.One" along with a phone number, email, and YouTube and Soundcloud account names. Felix looked back up and remembered that he was still lost.

"Uh, guys? Do you know what street this is?" Felix asked.

"You're lost? I thought you were from around here since we go to the same school." Changbin gazed at Felix. 

The younger sighed. "Well, I was trying to take an evening walk but I may have taken a few wrong turns. I don't really go out a lot either besides buying food, going to school, or going to piano lessons."

"Ah, that . Well, what street do you need to get to? We can walk you there," Chan stated.

"Walk me there..?" Felix quietly asked.

"Just go with it. It's his leaderly instinct," Jisung whispered, nudging Felix. Felix told Chan his street and the four walked together.

"Do you rap a lot? Your voice is pretty deep. I think you would suit it," Changbin told Felix.

"Well, I'm not allowed to technically. My parents are really strict and they don't want me to be associated with any music besides classical, which annoys me. I mean, music just makes me happy. There is always something to suit every mood. It's like an escape from all things wrong in my life. It's like the only thing that stays when I'm alone. I rap when I'm home alone, but I'm extra careful to make sure that my parents don't catch me." Felix started sweating again. Why did I say so much?

The trio glanced at each other and smiled. "Felix, what if you joined us in the studio sometime?"

"Sure," Felix responded quickly as they approached the house. "Thanks, guys. You all didn't need to walk me all the way-" 

"Yes we did," Chan snapped in a funny way, causing all four of them to laugh.

"See you later," Felix smiled as the trio waved. Felix felt so happy to be invited to something for once. But that meant more sneaking out. More getting lost. More lies, which he was learning not to mind anymore. His mind wandered back to Changbin.

More blushing.

Section Two: [C h a n g b i n] Studio

Changbin awoke in his room. He rubbed his eyes but they quickly widened after he noticed that his Gyu plushie wasn't on his bed. He jumped up and found Gyu on the floor about a foot away. Scooping the stuffed animal back into his arms, he patted it and mouthed I'm sorry. He gently placed the plush in his bag, got ready, changed, and left his room.

It was Sunday, 5 am, and Changbin headed toward the studio once again to examine the CD that Felix had returned the night before. The trio was now working on the second of the three tracks that they planned to add on to the mixtape. They had gathered all their late night thoughts in this composition notebook so that they can form them into lyrics together at the studio.

Changbin grabbed the handle of the studio, shaking it open. Jisung was on the couch eating cheeseballs and Chan was setting up.

"Morning!" Jisung chirped, tossing a cheese ball into the air and catching it in his mouth.

Chan did a little dance as he plugged in the cord to the speakers, a light flashing that it connected. "Good morning, Binnie!"

"Hi, good morning~ How are you guys so awake at 5:37 in the morning?" Changbin sighed. Chan shrugged as he powered on his computer. Jisung continued eating the cheeseballs.

Chan glanced over at Jisung. "Aren't you going to eat an actual breakfast?"

"Maybe later~" Jisung smiled. Jisung attended a different school than Changbin and Felix, but they were still in the same city. Occasionally, the sports teams from each of their schools would go against each other, and Changbin and Jisung would see each other in the stands at matches.

"I think we need more emotional lyrics in this track. Any ideas Jisung?" Changbin asked, taking out his notebook.

Jisung was nearing the end of the cheese ball container, but he had another. "Not really... My mind is kind of blank right now."

Chan tried to think of it another way. "Have you ever had a crush, Jisung?"

Jisung dropped the cheese ball he was tossing into his mouth. He immediately thought of Minho, an upperclassman. Minho had a wonderful personality. And that smile. Jisung looked up, a smile turning up at the corners of his lips. He also danced wonderfully. Jisung would walk past the dance room on the way home after school from the school library and he would see Minho alone practicing.

Beginning to chuckle, Chan started to tease Jisung. "Aw he's thinking of someone! How old are they? Oooh~ our Jisung's in looooooove~"

Changbin couldn't help but laugh too. Seeing Jisung smitten was a really rare sight. Jisung snatched the notebook from Changbin's hands, scrambling to write down his thoughts quickly.

"... The whole of that aura is shining

I'll focus on delivering my inexperienced heart" ...

Chan squealed at the sight of Jisung's handwriting. "Aah, this is so cute~!!"

"... He must have seen it

I was confident at first"...

A few lines later, Chan couldn't breathe from laughing. Changbin was also losing breath. Jisung was practically red, popping open a new container of cheeseballs and starting to stuff them in his mouth.

Chan cleared his throat after a long moment. "Jisung, can you stop by the department to pick  up some CDs?"

Jisung nodded. "I'll get more cheeseballs too."

Section Three: [F e l i x] Motion

Felix finished his lesson around 8 am, a lesson on the shorter side. He believed that he did better with morning lessons, rather than night ones, but it might also be because Mr. Sohn was half-awake and not listening as well. He wore a hoodie with the longest sleeves he had to cover the bandaged gash. Since the lesson was so short, Felix realized that he could walk around a bit and perhaps sneak somewhere without his mother noticing why he was out for so long.

Felix started to make little movements through the plaza and past the fountain. The plaza was fairly empty at this time of the morning, and Felix's movements became bigger and bigger to the beat of the music from his earbuds. He remembered dancing with his friends in the dance room of his school back in Australia at lunchtime instead of going to the cafeteria. Boy, he missed his friends. He swung his arm... before it hit something. Abruptly turning his head, he saw another boy. The boy looked older than him but still younger than Chan. He wore a purple hoodie, and he held a bundle in his arms. Right as he hit the boy, the jack of his earbuds caught onto the hoodie of the boy, making his music play out loud.

Felix quickly pressed pause, face turning red from embarrassment. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Interesting," the boy started. "Rap music and piano books." Felix looked down. His bag was knocked over on the ground, revealing his piano books peeking out. Debussy, Mozart, Dvorak...

"Erm... yeah," Felix scrambled to pick up his books, the boy ducking down to help.

The boy looked at Felix. "I'm Minho."

"I'm Felix." They awkwardly shook hands. By the time they both had their things in order again, they started walking in the same direction.

"Do you dance?" Minho questioned. Felix looked down at his shoes.

Felix thought of a response. "Sort of."

"Join me, will you?"

Felix felt obliged to follow Minho, for his mysterious gestures were sort of welcoming in a way. They gathered their belongings and entered the department store. Felix expected for Minho to stop at a display or make turns, but he briskly walked straight to a door at the back near the CD shelves and opened it. Felix stepped in as Minho flicked on the lights, revealing a room with mirrors on all walls, surrounding whatever was inside. The floor was wooden, and a small speaker sat on a table at one corner of the room along with a chair with another hoodie hanging on it. 

Bewildered at the sight of the makeshift dance room, Felix turned to Minho. "What is this place?"

"I just talked to the store manager a few months ago, and they said it was storage," Minho replied. Minho then proceeded to place down his bundle on the chair, as well as take off his hoodie and hang it on the chair. Minho then walked to the speaker before noticing that Felix was still standing awkwardly by the door. 

"Feel free to put your things down, Felix." Felix waddled to the table and put his belongings on top before walking to the speaker next to Minho. Taking out his phone, Minho scrolled to an app and started playing music by connecting his phone to the speaker. Before Felix could say anything, Minho energetically skipped to the center of the dance room and started his choreography. To Minho, dancing was freedom, a release from chains. Dancing was a way for him to express his feelings. His moves were flowing and sharp, yet graceful. Felix was captivated by in his moves before he noticed the tears rolling down Minho's cheeks.

Minho took some tissues from his bundle and wiped his tears. "Oh, I'm sorry... I just- I just feel like no one is there for me to show that to. I mean, I basically feel like no one wants to see my passion. Do you ever feel that way?"

Felix thought for a moment. He nodded slowly before talking. "Yeah, I do feel that way." I really do. Catching his breath, Minho took a towel from his bag and hung it around his neck.

"Do you know any choreo?" Minho asked. Felix got up hesitantly before Minho nodded encouragingly. Minho set his phone to another track. Felix's movements were small at first, but he then realized that Minho was the only other person in the room. Minho could see his movements becoming stronger through the choreo, making him smile that he had someone that was there to relate to. Minho got up to get a towel for Felix as the end of the track was near before noticing a pair of curious eyes peeking through the door. Minho tilted his head as he saw the eyes blink repeatedly. Felix finished, breathing hard, before seeing the partial face that Minho was staring at.

"Jisung?"