“Well, all things considered, you’re definitely talented. Plus you’re young and pretty, you’ve got that going for you…”

The stocky man opened the window and let the smoke from his freshly lit cigarette waft into the city air. From the 22nd floor, the city lights sort of looked like a blanket of stars, Seoyeon thought to herself as she spaced out again for what felt like the third time this week. She’d been finding herself in offices like this for the past month, nervously tapping her feet as some music exec or A&R guy listened to their demos after a scouting session at a local show, only for the negotiations to never fall through –– she couldn’t help but feel cursed.

Why does it feel like there’s a caveat or a condition? She’s wanted this her whole life, unconditionally, and yet the world always seemed to extend its hand only to yank it back the moment it appeared tangible.

“But see, this whole rock chicks in a band thing, personally, it’s not my cup of tea…” He flicked the ash into a stained coffee cup by the window. “It’s a little gimmicky, don’t you think?”

Seoyeon felt her blood boil and her ears redden. Gimmicky? What in the hell was this guy smoking? She poured her life into those songs in the demo tape, they all did, together –– what was so gimmicky about a group of friends in a band making music? Suddenly, because they were teenage girls (well, Saerom, Hayoung, and Gyuri are still teenagers at heart at least) –– it became a gimmick? What made her different from any other boy with bangs wailing into a mic?

“Respectfully, sir, I wouldn’t call our music ‘gimmicky’ just because we’re girls in a band. We’ve been in a band for years now, we’ve been playing together since I was 14 –– we’re as tight musically as anyone else you’re considering, if you’d just ––”

“Whoa there, I’m not knocking your stuff ‘musically’ at all –– didn’t I say you were talented? Why are you so defensive all of a sudden? What I meant is, really,” He leans in as if he were divulging some sort of secret. “You’re the real star here.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Ditch the band. You should do a solo career. We’ll bring in some excellent producers, the best songwriters, trust me, we’ll get you a nose job, the whole shebang!”

“A nose job!?” Seoyeon pauses to pinch the bridge of her nose and take a deep breath. “Okay, listen Mr. A&R Guy of Sh*tcan Records, I won’t even bother looking at your nameplate ––– I won’t be written for and I won’t ‘ditch’ my band.” Livid, she held her fingers up in the air simulating mock quotation marks. “I was under the impression you were interested in our music as a whole and my songwriting in general –– so other producers, big songwriters and all that junk, yeah, I’m sorry but I’d rather choke than let you make me into someone I’m not interested in being.”

The once slightly scary ball of fury now fumbled as she took the rest of the demo CDs and dumped them into her canvas bag before heading to the door.

“You and your dumb label can my… my uh, my toe!” She slams it without a word, and runs into the elevator, furiously pressing the close button.

Another day, another dumb dude with a checkbook waxing on about how she’s going to be the next big thing without really listening, another disappointment. She sighs to herself again and leans onto the elevator wall, thumbing her pockets, thinking about how to tell the band about another dud meeting that didn’t amount to anything.

–––

“So I go badum badum tsssk ratatatat ––– and you go bababumbum, like at the second dum, got it?” Saerom motions for Gyuri to mimic the bass riff she was explaining, while somewhat lazily repeating the beat she cooked up for the song with some matched air drumming.

By default, since Saerom had a garage, her house had been the designated practice spot for four years now. Her parents stayed in the room on the third floor, the farthest from the garage anyway, and even then they were workaholics who were rarely even home, which made Seoyeon a bit jealous. She lived with her mom who was nice in her own way, but a bit of a helicopter parent. She supposed it was the reason Saerom already felt like a parent in a way.

To her knowledge, Saerom had a sister, but Seoyeon hardly saw her around, and only in various pictures around the house. They even had a few cute sibling photos and graduation pictures stuck to the garage wall –– right next to a mural Saerom had painted where she also stuck a few film photos.

Maybe her sister was shy? She never went down to the garage to watch or anything like that. Perhaps she always had noise cancelling headphones on, since her room was apparently right above the garage, which would probably be a pain if she were in her place, but Seoyeon guesses she never bothered enough to complain.

She stared at what looked like her most recent picture, where she stared straight into the camera holding a PlayStation controller, her dark hair caught mid-swing, a pocky stick in , glasses half-placed on her nose –– but from what she could make out of her face, she was just as pretty, if not prettier than her elder sister, who had her own set of crazed fans bringing banners to their shows and screaming her name..

“No wait, slow it down a bit. What? Bababumbum...bum?” Gyuri demonstrated her interpretation of whatever the hell Saerom was suggesting as she mouthed the syllables back, thumping back with the bass note per note.

“Oh nice! Okay, well that sounds better I guess. From the top? 1, 2, 3, 4 –––” Saerom started to count with her sticks. Gyuri continued the song with the bassline. Seoyeon already considered them family, so naturally they understood each others’ cues without hesitation.

“I don’t know what to do without you, I don’t know where to put my hands…” Feeling a melody come along, she just sang what came to mind.

“Wait, are those the actual lyrics?” Hayoung’s question suddenly cut through the noise and the members paused to consider it. They turned to Seoyeon, who suddenly felt the pressure to elaborate.

“Well, no, I don’t know... They’re just placeholders until I can think about what to write… I’m just gonna sing whatever and hope it sticks.”

“By the way, Syeon-ie,” Gyuri turned to her with a curious and excited look, eyes glazed over with anticipation. “Did you hear from that Spitcan Records guy?”

“Sorry guys,” Seoyeon explained, “It was another dud meeting… They were looking for a different sound, I guess. Same old excuse...” She tried to nip the conversation in the bud, knowing that her bandmates probably didn’t need to hear the whole thing, knowing that if they knew she was offered a solo deal so eagerly, they would put their feelings aside and make her go for it. But in her heart, she knew that the only way she would agree is with them beside her on stage, in the studio, wherever it took them.

“Man, I thought that was practically in the bag already.” Saerom spoke with a confused lilt, scratching her head with the drumstick goofily, while mindlessly hitting the kick pedal.

“Well, he kind of looked like a jerk anyway.” Hayoung remarked. “You know when Gyuri does that thing where she turns away from the crowd to face the amplifiers? He couldn’t keep his eyes off her /ss ––”

“I mean, what /ss though, honestly..?” Saerom interjected before she saw Gyuri start to run towards her, fist raised –– which prompted the older girl to get off the stool and dive away from the taller, incensed girl, who chased her back to the drumset with a facial warning.

“Okay, let’s get serious though, I really feel like I have a few good ideas for the melody and I don’t want to forget…” Syeon fiddles with the volume knob on her guitar while scribbling a few notes with her other hand and motions for everyone to get into practice mode. “I feel like this song is gonna be a good one.”



“Sounds good, alright, from the top –– one more time? 1, 2, 3, 4!”

–––

Nakyung wasn’t the type to eavesdrop, nor was she type to listen to rock music.

But here she was, ear pressed to the wooden floor, listening to her sister’s band crank up the volume on the new song they were writing, over and over. She was aware of her sister’s taste in music and of the fact that she had been playing the drums for a while ––– of course she knew, she didn’t have a choice but to listen. It got annoying, especially in the summer, when all Saerom did was practice, but over the years and to her surprise, her solitary drum practices would cease to be solitary and would be accompanied by a menagerie of sounds, a few crunchy guitar riffs, the big thumps of a bass, and finally ––– a voice.

The more she went out of her way to listen to it, the more she refused to acknowledge that it had sincerely affected her –– that she actually took the time to seek it out. This girl, whoever she was, had the most gorgeous voice ––– whether she she would lift it up with sweeping falsettos or wail with conviction, she would carry the melody with so much weight. Nakyung felt unwillingly addicted.

She didn’t know the name the voice bore, but she didn’t dare to intrude or show up and put undue attention on herself, first of all, Saerom would probably wonder why she would start caring after four years of fake indifference –– and when her sister noticed anything being up with Nakyung, she immediately became extra nosy ––– which was to be avoided. She wouldn’t even know what to say.

After all, she even made fun of their name early on –– The 22nd Century? What kind of name was that in the first place, and what did it mean? Was it some kind of movie reference? Or just a random reference to the future? Oh well, she wouldn’t know unless she asked, and that wasn’t in her immediate plans. Instead, lying on her side, all she could do would listen.

“I don’t know what to do without you, I don’t know where to put my hands...”

She could kind of make out the words even though listening through the floor wasn’t exactly ideal for clarity –– what does that mean? Suddenly she became conscious of her own hands, an old Gameboy SP on her palm running Pokemon Emerald –– the battery light suddenly went from green to red. Welp.

She had to buy batteries soon, but she knew it meant leaving through the garage door and having to ask for a set of keys, so she stayed put, closed it shut, pressed her ear further into the one of the smooth, cold planks of wood lining her floor, silent and actively listening to the creation of something new and growing more familiar with the voice of her nameless, raw self-expression. After setting the alarm for her shift tomorrow, she hummed the first line once more before drifting off to sleep.

–––

“ … No, no, not today, satan…” The raindrops appeared to increase in size with every landing. Seoyeon struggled to squint through the increasingly torrential showers and ran to the nearest convenience store. It was getting dark and the comfort of the buzzy, fluorescent light seemed heaps more comfortable than ending up stranded in the rain in the middle of the night. She needed to buy cigarettes anyway.

And yes, she knows it’s a bad habit and that she should quit –– none of her bandmates like it, and even more so when she had to go through all these hoops to not have her mom sniff the smoke on her clothes –– but she figured she had picked the habit up from being in those record company offices, how these bossmen would look relieved as hell everytime they lit one up, like an adult pacifier. Maybe that’s what it is, after all, she was getting older, but she was still young. She’ll kick it someday.

A girl in a hat stood behind the counter, her long hair spilling onto the counter like a two-toned waterfall, gushing blue and pink. The visor blocked everything but her nose, which was deep in some game –– or something? She wouldn’t know. Seoyeon never really got to play video games as a kid –– all her mom did was make her practice classical pieces on an old guitar and a heavy set of chores –– but in hindsight, it really built the discipline she needed to want to make music. She just wished she could get some of the time spent back, just to try these things for the first time. Moving closer to the counter in an attempt to get the girl’s attention, she spoke up with slight hesitation.

“Hello, mind if I get a pack of ia Slims and a small lighter?”

“Darn, dead again? Oof. That was a tough match…” The girl exasperatedly closes her handheld console before noticing Seoyeon was even saying anything. “Oh wait, actually, I’m sorry, but I was supposed to close up the shop... 7 minutes ago? Gosh, Nakko… Get it together…”

“No, it’s okay, it’s my bad, I forgot it was a work holiday today. It’s just that it’s pouring outside and I figured I would get some cigarettes inside anyway.”

“Oh, no worries! It’s fine, really.” The girl smiles one of the brightest smiles Syeon had ever seen. “ia Slims, right? And a lighter, huh… Okay, this one’s cute. Here.” She tosses her a pack and a bright pink lighter and locks the roll of receipts and other bills in the lockbox, and once again in another safe.

“Okay, uh… Do I pay you?”
“Nah, it’s okay.”

“What!? I mean… Did you steal it for me…?” Seoyeon looked around the room to check for CCTV cameras, when she felt a hand on her shoulder and instinctively jumped.

“Steal, schmeal. What’s one pack of cigarettes? Besides, they never really check the cameras.”

“So, do you use that to your advantage much…?”

“Well,” She puts a finger to her chin and thinks about it for a split second, wiggling her brows. “Not really? Not in a conventional sense, like I get to play video games and study when there’s no one around and play music I like, and they don’t bother me about it. I mean, I just got those cigarettes for you, if you don’t want it I could still put it back. I don’t do that for everyone.” She smirked teasingly, and Seoyeon felt a blush creep into her cheeks.

“Thanks, then…”

“No biggie, I’m quitting next week anyway.” She pulled her two toned hair up into a low bun before putting the hat back on. Locking all the other doors and closing all the lights, she double checks them by rattling handles until thoroughly convinced.

“Hm, why?” Syeon couldn’t help but ask, suddenly curious for any little tidbit of personal information this generous, attractive stranger would willingly give.

“I’m starting uni soon, across the street, actually…”

“Oh yeah, I know a bunch of people who go there too! But… You probably don’t know them. Sorry. What are you gonna study?”

“Game Design and Computer Science.” Her eyes, slightly glazed with excitement, were dead set on the view of the campus from the window.

“Whoa, no wonder you have that… thing?”

“Thing..? Oh, the GameBoy? Have you not seen one before? I’ve had it since I was a kid. It still works! Are you for real? You really haven’t played one?”

“Nope. Not because I didn’t want to… But yeah.” The conversation slowed down as they locked the entrance and watched the rain fall on the pavement while shielded by the roof.

“Do you not have an umbrella? Do you want me to walk you to the bus stop?” The bright girl cocked her head to the side while asking to shelter her, making Syeon’s heart skip a beat while nodding, oddly enough. She felt some kind of familiarity coursing through her veins as their shoulders touched as they walked through the rain and a few blocks in the direction of the bus stop. Every now and then, the girl beside her would steal glances at her, boldly studying her face. She knew her cheeks were flushed, but she wouldn’t dare look away, letting herself be so flustered in itself was strange for her.

Somewhere along the way, as they scooted closer to each other, the mischievous girl started to reach into her pocket. Fishing a small, pink lollipop, she puts it inside Seoyeon’s pocket, the latter girl curiously inspecting it as soon as she felt the movement in her pullover sweater.

“What’s this?” Seoyeon turns to her and asks.

“A lollipop. It’s strawberry…” She smiled to herself and looked Seoyeon straight in the eye before she suddenly looked struck by a bad thought and frowned. “Do you not like strawberry things?”

“Oh no, no, no –– It’s not that, it’s just… Why?”

“It might help with your oral fixation.” She beams at a blushing Syeon without missing a beat, her gaze moving to the flustered girl’s lips.

“Umm..”

“You’re a smoker, right? It’s a bad habit. Candy can help you quit, you know.”

“I’ll.. keep that in mind. But won’t I get diabetes or something?”

“Well.. Too much of anything is bad for you, when you think about it. It’s just what you choose to risk your balance for, I guess…” She wistfully says, as she looked wise for a split second.

By the time they reached the bus stop, Seoyeon felt a bit disappointed, solely rooted in the fact that she would have wanted to spend more time with this girl, who never really introduced herself or had forgotten to, either way, she had to muster the courage to ask.

“Oh, that’s my bus coming down the street… Lucky!” She does a little dance with her hands and starts to fold her umbrella, humming a familiar tune as she walks to where the doors normally opened.

“I don’t know what to do without you, I don’t know where to put my hands…”

As she boards, Seoyeon feels her chest tighten, realizing that what the girl was humming was her own song. She feels her palms sweat, instinctively running for the bus, even though it would take her farther from home and judging by the route, nearer Saerom’s house in the opposite direction.

It all clicks. She runs anyway with the girl’s smirk in her mind –– did she know? Was she always listening? Or did she just remember it in passing? She slowed down eventually, tired of getting splashed by sidewalk puddle water. Seoyeon held her knees and panted, her hand on her heart, feeling her pulse race even more, and it wasn’t because of the running.

–––––––––

“I don’t know what to do without you, I don’t know where to put my hands…” Seoyeon began to sing, closing her eyes and feeling every word take shape in . “I’ve been trying to lay my head down, but I’m writing this at 3 am…” She scribbled it down for good measure and paused to look at the clock, zoning in on the rhythmic tick, lightly plucking her guitar to the sound of the second hand.

Her bandmates however, were stacked in a pile on the carpet, lost to sleep in an ocean of blankets. Hayoung was silently snoozing atop Gyuri’s stomach, while the latter’s head was nestled on the lap of one Lee Saerom. She had also already fallen asleep leaning on the side of the patchy and worn couch that had always been a mainstay of the garage, light snores punctuating against the hum of the mini-fridge.

Seoyeon knew that the three were a few years older, but they never made her feel that way. Sometimes it even felt like she babied them, and that maybe they enjoyed it a little too much. They had finished recording the arrangement, building, revising, adding to, and t the song structure the whole night as a collaborative effort among them, maximizing each member’s strengths.

It came together naturally with no resistance, all elements fit into the raw emotion of the song –– the sparse beginning with the lone bass line, the drums slowly coming in to change it up, and the wall of sound and guitar solos exploding and expanding as they rushed towards the end –– everything was deliberate, raw, and emotional, and it sounded like magic. They’d been jamming late into the early morning, so it made sense that the rest were thoroughly spent, even when they tried to hide it, they just had to ‘close their eyes for a bit and get back to work’ –– but Seoyeon knew better, and let her old, sleepy friends be.

There was a lot on her mind, and the trains of thought were going at full speed, barely missing each other in every intersection, heading in every possible direction –– the faint smell of cigarette smoke on her shirt reminded her of the Spitcan office and every other smelly office that came before it (and of course, the gruff, skeevy faces that populated them).

She knew that going home tonight would be a stretch and told her mom she would be sleeping over at Saerom’s, literally the only place she had ever slept over at her whole adolescent life. The garage was –– and will always be –– her second home. How many sleepless nights were spent getting one idea to its best possible endpoint? She already lost track, making squiggles with her pen until she realized it had already run out of ink.

While rummaging through her backpack for another one, she grabbed one bright pink lollipop out of one of the outer pockets and examined it in her hand, a reminder of yesterday’s chance meeting. It was another source of endless, intrusive thoughts assaulting her peace of mind, as she sifted through every interaction as it happened in her head, the beautiful girl with the catalyst of a smile that disrupted her life by giving her a few minutes of her time.

Seoyeon let the lollipop roll against her hand, back and forth, wanting to unwrap it and taste it –– but she also wanted to keep it forever –– and moved between the two feelings like a pendulum.

“I don’t need the world to see…” She started to scribble again. The chords of the chorus looped in her head –– G, A, D, F sharp minor… and back to G –– “that I’ve been the best I can be, but…”

Once again, her thoughts flooded with the memory of yesterday as she swam through each emotion as it came –– the details came to life so vividly, and she found herself loosely sketching the girl’s face with each relentless reminder of her –– her sharp, perfect little hook of a nose, almond eyes that bore into her soul, and her mischievous grin, which when directed at Seoyeon caused her to redden immediately. The finishing touch was the little mole in the middle of her face. Drawing wasn’t her strong suit at all, but it was close enough considering it was entirely by memory. Only then did she have the hindsight to look at the various pictures of her face on the wall, where she was much younger and with a dark head of hair.

She looked different now, not just with the bright contrast of the blue and pink she sported now. It wasn’t just that she was older either. She looked confident. Seoyeon smiled to herself. When had she ever felt this way about an actual person? Usually she wrote about movies, books, the experiences narrated to her by her friends, owing to a lack in her own experience –– and she wasn’t even nervous in front of large crowds, yet one stare from one girl made all the difference, and the difference was definitely felt, obviously, since she hadn’t felt this shaken by anyone in her entire life thus far. It made her nervously chew the end of her last functional pen.

This was desire tingling in her fingertips, crackling on the tip of her tongue. More than anything, Seoyeon wanted to see her again, and not just that ––– it was also the way the girl would hold her gaze so effortlessly and with dangerous charm, carefully surveying the face of someone who was supposed to be a stranger –– Syeon really was merely a stranger that day, but she had never felt so seen.

“I don’t think I could stand to be...” She sang as she wrote, smiling to herself. “...where you don’t see me.”

That was the thing. She was here this whole time. Right under her nose. More accurately, right above her head, possibly asleep. Possibly awake. It made her head spin. Maybe she was listening again, maybe she listened the whole time, or maybe she wasn’t even upstairs at all. More than anything, it was the mystery that frightened her the most ––– it tightened around her heart like a vice grip, since there was always the likelihood that she might not have seen the moment the same way, maybe she looked at everyone like that, maybe it was just another day in the life.

Her mind was so loud. Maybe she needed another cigarette?

“It might help with your oral fixation.”

The shape of her lips came to mind immediately.

Where do these thoughts begin –– where do they end? They cascaded over her like rain.

Quickly, she stuffed the lollipop in her front pocket, then felt up the lighter in her back pocket, putting the guitar back on the stand before opening the side door, and stepping outside for air.

And there she was, a cute and curious sight, leaning against the big, red automatic overhead door right in front of the garage, her ear pressed to the metal, unable to hide a small gasp at seeing yesterday’s stranger come out on the other side walking towards her, hands in her pockets.

“I felt like I’d see you around.” Syeon figured she should break the silence first, not letting the present circumstances faze her, even though she looked really funny.

“Yeah… “ If it were bright out, she would’ve seen the blush creep onto the normally playful girl’s face as her pupils started to avert direct contact. “I mean… I live here.”

“I sort of figured. I really want to apologize for not introducing myself properly. Lee Seoyeon.” She took one hand out of her front pocket and offered it up to her in a handshake, and the other girl goofily shook it back and began to speak in the worst fake rich person accent she’d ever heard.

“Pleased to formally meet you, Miss Lee Seoyeon. You may henceforth refer to me as Lee Nakyung.” She then curtsied as she laughed, embarrassing Syeon a bit for initiating the handshake, before she realized that just seconds ago, Nakyung herself just was just as embarrassed, yet now she was on top of everything again, playing Seoyeon like a violin, half-relaxed, still slightly on her toes. Then Nakyung’s grip on her hand loosened as she moved forward, gradually closer, and within seconds, their faces were merely inches apart.

She was still holding her hand.

“I’m kidding. Just call me Nakko.”

“Okay, Nakko,” the flustered girl muttered under her breath, feeling her name in before clearing . “Call me Syeon.”

“Syeon-ie…” Nakyung’s face inched even closer and Seoyeon felt her heart rate rapidly increase and a lump rising in , she felt her eyes begin to close and swore she was almost close enough to…

Close enough to sniff her face?

“You still smell like cigarettes.” The normally chipper girl frowned after sniffing three more times, still in very close range. “Boo.”

“I’m sorry,” Seoyeon chuckled, badly attempted to look away, and nervously scratched the back of her head. “It’s a hard habit to kick, I guess.”

“Didn’t I give you a lollipop?” Nakyung playfully squinted in mock disapproval.

“Uh, I wanted to save it.” Seoyeon nervously confessed without pause, panicked.

There it was, the familiar mischief tinged grin creeping into the corners of . Well, I suppose I backed myself into this corner, Seoyeon thought to herself silently as her face increasingly reddened, still being thoroughly scanned by the other girl’s probing eyes.

“Why? Save your lungs. It’s a lollipop.” Her gaze moved to Seoyeon’s lips, then straight in the eye once more. “Candy is meant to be eaten, you know... Unless you don’t like candy.”

“I do, though!” Seoyeon half-shouted in defensive panic, and fidgeted a bit before she continued, slightly more composed, “I mean, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Nakyung, possibly tired of the staring contest, comfortably and casually sat on the pavement, leaning back on the garage door again, and motioned for Seoyeon to sit beside her.

“It’s so strange how I’ve been coming here almost twice a week for almost four years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen you outside your room.”

“What can I say?” Nakyung shrugged, “I really, really like playing video games… and sleeping.”

“Did it ever bother you?”

“Hm?”

“The noise, I mean.”

“No, not at all…” Nakyung turned her head to look into the street, then up at the evening sky, which had started to lighten. It was definitely almost sunrise. “I kind of like it.”

“Really? You do? Isn’t it distracting?”

“Yeah, of course I do… I mean. I hear everything. I’m right above it. I don’t really get distracted by it, actually.” A genuine smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “I look forward to it a bit.”

All Seoyeon could do was smile back at her in that moment. Her hands were looking for something to do or fiddle with, her fingers drawing circles on the pavement. She didn’t really know what to say, or how to process all this information at once. Does that mean that all this time, someone was listening ––– that even before she thought of real crowds and the concept of even playing for an audience, she already had one?

“I’m sorry, is that weird? I mean… Just tell me if it’s weird. I guess I would freak out if someone told me they’d been eavesdropping on me on and off for four years.”

“No, it’s okay, like you said… It’s not like we gave you a choice, did we?” Seoyeon apologetically beamed at her.

Nakyung giggled. “Yeah, true...” In between the light, nervous tapping and swinging of her feet at the end of outstretched legs, she crossed her arms animatedly and turned to face the other girl with the usual confidence. “Still, you can consider me the biggest fan you’ve never seen.”

The leaves rustled a bit as a slightly chilly breeze moved through the trees, then slowly began to fall. The sun was visible on the horizon as it moved across the sky, casting light over swaths of rooftops and beaming through branches, birds flying without a care through a light blanket of clouds. Summer was about to come to an end. Like very slow but very powerful magnets, their faces began to linger increasingly closer, lessening the space.

Suddenly, the creak of a door permeated the air, and the two of them quickly turned in its direction.

“Syeon, why didn’t you wake us up? We thought you left and...” Saerom, visibly only half-awake, spoke between yawns, rubbing her eyes. “Did you step outside to smoke again? Wait, Nakko? Do you guys know each other?”

The lilt and confusion in her voice was strange, since she normally spoke so calmly and slowly. As she sluggishly put all the visual and mental evidence together, for example –– the fact that they were inches apart, watching the sunrise, huddled together on the pavement –– the other two emerged from behind her, automatically grinning their faces off –– well, Gyuri was, Hayoung was just kind of pleasantly surprised the sun was already up, doing some sort of crazy flexible yoga stretch with her arms.

“See,” Gyuri kissed her fingertips and waved her hand towards her befuddled friend. “This is what the Italians call a spicy meatball. Life can really surprise you in all sorts of ways, right, Saerom-ah? I suppose Seoyeon-ie and Nakko are both grown up now, huh.”

“I’ve never even seen you guys in a room together,” Saerom quipped back, still confused.

“We just met!” They both said in unison, then both nervously laughed in unison, then predictably turned away in unison.

––––––

“So, are you down?” A booming voice was on speakerphone, and Saerom was driving her old minivan along the highway with Seoyeon sitting shotgun, holding her phone up for everyone to hear. Hayoung and Gyuri flinched, surprised by the sheer volume of the question, as they were sitting quite comfortably in the back, almost falling asleep to the song on the radio.

“Honestly Jiwon,” Seoyeon spoke into the phone, “At this point, it sort of sounds too good to be true.”

“Nonsense!” The voice boomed again, startling everyone in the car. “I mean, you guys sold out three shows last month and that new single you guys put out is really picking up in the college radio circuit. Seriously, I get requests to play it twice straight. Really adamant requests. I think you guys are ready.”

“But like… A tour? Next week? Opening for Solarpunk? Us? Shut the f-ck up.”

“I mean, they specifically asked for you guys. I swear! If I were there you know I’d even be pinky promise serious. So you should probably head here as soon as possible, chop chop. They were so adamant about it after listening to that song for the first time. They really like your music.”

Saerom began to drive a bit faster, tapping a familiar Solarpunk beat excitedly on the steering wheel while humming while Hayoung joined her. Gyuri dramatically mock fainted on Hayoung before excitedly doing the drum roll together on their laps.

“Yeah, that’s great. That’s kind of surreal, actually…” Seoyeon really couldn’t believe it. A tour? Next week, and for one of her favorite bands? It happened so quickly. All they needed was to put the song out, and it caught fire as soon as it was out –– it quickly became a sleeper hit online, picking up steam in a bunch of online music magazine features.

“Well, just this week I’ve been seeing some of your merch even outside campus, I’ve had a bunch of interview and contact requests come through, and you guys don’t even have a manager I can forward it all to. It’s not just surreal, it’s the real deal. So are you ready, or are you ready?”

–––––

Stuck in a nondescript coffee shop in the middle of campus, Nakko sighed, bored out of her mind. She’d spent the past three hours studying across the only two people she’d ever spoken to in the first two weeks of being in college –– one of them was a tall redhead named Chaeyoung, who she met while sitting together during freshman orientation. She had a booming voice and an equally odd and disarming sense of humor, and had instantly taken a liking to the formerly reclusive Nakyung, who she found pleasantly weird in the best way she could possibly put it.

Their other companion was a deceivingly young girl named Jiheon, who apparently graduated high school early at fifteen, at the top of her class no less. Why she was studying with these two was a mystery in itself, and they just surmised that the young prodigy found them entertaining, so much that she didn’t even mind going out of her way to teach them stuff sometimes, no matter how frustrated she got.

The normally energetic girl spent the last twenty minutes absorbing nothing after reading the first paragraph of the assigned material thrice. Something else weighed heavily on her mind –– or someone, rather. She had been increasingly thinking of Seoyeon, not just the voice, but also the person it spoke for, the way her lips curled when they’d take walks around campus, the older girl insisting to walk her to class whenever she had free days, when they weren’t holed up writing in the garage, or some other recording studio they would rent with the money they had saved from the past few shows. Sometimes, she would pick her up from class with take out so they could eat together by the river. Lately though, she’d been busier and busier –– and consequently less and less free to spend time with.

“Oh my god, I love this song!” Chaeyoung disrupted the table’s quiet mood and started parroting the bassline intro. “Seriously, their bassist is so hot, I can’t deal, she can get it.”

“Please, Chaeyoung unnie. Ew.”

“Jiheon, you’ll understand when you hit your teens.”

“I’m literally fifteen.”

“Shh! Be quiet. I’m listening.”

Of course, Nakyung knew the song like the back of her hand, but found it extremely strange getting used to the fact that something that used to be her little secret was suddenly the world’s new earworm.

“I thought you liked that one T.A., the girl you said had the face of an angel who you said you’d die for in a heartbeat? What was her name again? Oh wow, look, isn’t that her by the window? Wait, I know now, it’s Roh Jis–– mffmmf!!!“

“Listen, pipsqueak, what part of shh do you not understand? Get with the program! Shh!” Chaeyoung loudly whispered, reaching over to cover Jiheon’s mouth, while the younger girl squirmed.

Nakyung could hardly hear herself think with all of the noise, the music, and the banter of her accidental pals. She just missed Syeon. Part of her wishes she weren’t so coy with her earlier on, because all she wanted was to tell her how she’d been feeling ––– not just when they were together, because it was a given that they were extremely attracted to each other at this point, even comfortably toeing the line between actual really good friends and people who obviously are smitten with each other that pretend to be really good friends. There was one thing she was completely certain of, and it was that the way Syeon looked at her was different. There was the way she smiled at her like nobody else was in the room. They seemed oblivious to the fact that it was obvious to everyone but them.

“Anyway, I heard they were touring next week and opening for Solarpunk…” Chaeyoung continued as she made scrolling motions on her phone, putting it up for the other two to see. “Cool poster, right? It’s a three month long tour too. Wild.”

“Hey, I know Solarpunk… Even my dad is a big Solarpunk fan, he has all their albums and stuff. That’s so cool. Must be exciting to travel for three months straight.”

“Probably hella tiring though.”

“Yeah, for sure. I mean I still get cranky when I’m in the car for more than three hours.”

“No, I get it, I have to stretch my legs every other hour, I hate being cooped in a car on long road trips.”

“It’s because we’re both tall. Nakyung unnie can’t relate,” Jiheon quipped and Chaeyoung cackled. They laughed and high fived in sync, but Nakyung found it hard to even concentrate on what she was supposed to do, much less listen to these bozos –– her head was completely somewhere else.

She knew that they would be leaving for tour soon, and she still didn’t know what to do, much less what to say, but she knew the window of opportunity was closing in and she felt a bit helpless. In the blink of an eye, she could just be like any other girl crazy over Syeon, screaming her lungs out from the front row –– and that was exactly what she was afraid of.

“Hey look, there’s a free send-off party… Tonight?”

Immediately, Jiheon glared at Chaeyoung, who began to pout. “We have a test tomorrow, dumbo.”

“Hey, I’m older than you by like three years, you little punk, who gave you the right to call me dumbo? Is it about my brain or my ears? Let me live!!” The playful shouting turned into playful grappling, then background noise. It became obvious just how much time she had left.

“You guys can eat my donuts! I’ll text you guys later!” Nakyung finally stood up, stuffing her belongings into her backpack, and ran towards the door.

–––––

Seoyeon was pretty convinced her life was about to drastically change. Naturally, now that the opportunities actually came knocking, there was more to look forward to that she couldn’t have even imagined. Playing with Solarpunk? Going on tour? It was nuts. They were just selling their old amps last month to pay for rehearsal food and gas ––– and just the other day, they sold out their shirts. The single had landed on a bunch of weekly Best New Music lists. Someone threw a bra at her last week. Things were looking up.

She wistfully looked out to window to witness the sun set over the city she loved, the trees colored by the coming of autumn. Summer had been over for a while, but she hadn’t felt it at all ‘til now, strangely enough, considering it had been the best summer of her life.

They were about to play their last show in the city before leaving –– and Jiwon finessed a few connections to book the venue a day before. It wasn’t long before the band came to a consensus and asked her to manage them full time, to enthusiastic hugs that proved she wasn’t only there for the music or the money, but because they were good friends. Choosing to surround herself with only good people really did pay off in the end.

However, there was only one person she was actively thinking about, and she didn’t know how to go about being away from her for the next few months. Both of them were at the cusp of their new adult lives, easing into new environments and figuring out what they really wanted to do with their lives. To Syeon, dedicating her life to music was an easy decision to make but a hard one to constantly follow through on. It was easy to give up and just let things be when they didn’t go according to plan. She couldn’t wing it.

Peering closer out into the street, she noticed the droves of people lining up around the whole block waiting to get in and muffled a gasp. Saerom, Gyuri, and Hayoung all turned to look right after ––– it was the line for the send-off party tonight.

“Well, won’t you look at that line,” Saerom whistled, her hands on her hips and her face revealing an ample amount of disbelief. “Crazy.”

The band came together to huddle before every show, as was tradition. This one definitely felt different ––– a culmination of all the hard work they’d been putting into these songs since they were much younger, the longest commitment they’d ever made at that point in their lives. They all looked at each other with fierce pride and teary eyes, ruffling each others’ hair and pulling each other closer, before being whisked off to the backstage area by the stage managers.

From behind the curtain, they watched the hall fill up with more and more people, and it was clear that tonight brought a full house, bringing together new and old fans.

They started off with their signature soundcheck ––– another wall of sound, layer on layers of fuzzy guitars on a four on the floor beat, and Seoyeon started off the set by greeting the crowd who responded by screaming their names repeatedly, chanting them like a mantra –– as each musician introduced themselves, everyone went wild, the air was thick with emotion and anticipation.

She found herself searching the sea of heads for a specific face. She had sent a bunch of texts, but no dice, she hadn’t replied before Syeon climbed on stage to start the show, but she was still hopeful.

Nine songs in, and it started to feel intimate. There was a no phone policy just to prevent possible song leaks, and everyone was surprisingly compliant. She could see when some would sneak their own pics, but she didn’t mind.

“Alright, so… This is gonna be our last song of the night.” Collective ‘aww’s filled the venue. One girl banshee-screamed a long NOOOOO –– a sobbing young man held up a giant photo of Hayoung’s face and screamed that he’d love her forever, and the mochi-faced girl raised her fist in reply. More girls screamed.

“That’s an interesting way to friendzone someone, Hayoung.” Gyuri joked into the mic, and the a considerable amount of people laughed and cheered.

“I love you guys, everyone in this room, except one Jang Gyuri. Thanks so much for having us.” More of them erupted in laughter, and the mood in the room was so light-hearted, as if they were playing for a small room of friends.

“We’re The 22nd Century, and we’ll be gone for a while. All of you are officially my favorite people on earth. You all might know the this next song, which hit the radio circuit a few weeks back. Maybe you guys already know the words, so if you do, you better sing along.” She paused once more to look out into the crowd, eyes scanning every face. Then, a familiar smirk registered immediately.

“This is for you, and only you.”

Saerom mouthed a quick “who the hell is you” to a chuckling Gyuri, who didn’t bother to reply.

Like always, the bass started off the song, punctuated with screams from the crowd. Seoyeon nodded to her bandmates with a big, gaping smile –– this was it. Tunes hastily written in a stuffy garage, blasting through huge speakers in a hall with a four-digit capacity. It was an incredible feeling. As she breezed through the first verse and sang the chorus with exponential emotion, the crowd sang along with every word.

“On sunny days I go out walking, I end up on a tree-lined street,” she sang with utmost conviction. “I look up at the gaps of sunlight, I miss you more than anything.” Tears streamed down her face, with the sudden flood of memories ––– them lying down on the grass, a small bluetooth speaker on her stomach, holding hands for hours.

The second chorus came in heavy, booming with the voices of the crowd.

“I don’t need the world to see that I’ve been the best I can be, but I don’t think I could stand to be where you don’t see me…”

“And autumn comes when you’re not yet done with the summer passing by…”The guitars revved dramatically and Seoyeon strummed in sync with an energetic Hayoung right across her, who banged her head with each drop of her hand. “But, I don’t think I could stand to be –– where you don’t see me…”

A flurry of guitar solos and the steady, crescendo of the drums signalled the tail end of the song, building up in a blaze of triumph. Seoyeon noticed that her bandmates were tearing up as well. After letting themselves marinate in the last set of cheers, they bowed to an adoring thrall of now-lifetime supporters, high off the manic, crazy energy of the whole show.

She combed her fingers through her pale, golden hair, and sifted through the sight of the leaving crowd for Nakko, who was in turn caught in the sweetest grin, staring right back at her.

Before the stage manager could usher her backstage, she jumped off the right end and began to run, instinctively taking her hand and pulling her into a brisk run out the door. Leaving behind confused looks and murmurs, a few bystanders wondering if they saw what they thought they saw.

As they ran further away from the throngs of people downtown, Nakyung wondered where Seoyeon was taking her and whether she even knew where they were at this point into the run. She saw the shorter girl fish something out of her pocket, fumble with it a little, before popping it into . They increased the speed as they ran up a staircase here and there, snaking up a hill, and suddenly Nakko recognized it was the path to the observatory that everyone used to go to when they were kids. They were greeted by the sights and smells of the garden –– finally alone.

They stood in front of each other, hands on their knees, panting, having worked up a considerable sweat. Nakyung saw the intensity in Seoyeon’s eyes, something the latter usually had no problem communicating on stage, but she hardly ever saw it when it was just the two of them, her demeanor usually softened only at her touch, the brush of a hand, or a lingering embrace. Right now, however, felt very different. She couldn’t quite place it. It wasn’t just intensity, it was pure desire that needed no further explanation.

The golden girl felt her heart beat ramp up furiously into her ears, but looked determined with each step closer to Nakko bearing more and more weight. Unblinking, she tucked a tuft of hair behind the latter’s ear, and for the first time, Lee Nakyung was the one truly and utterly red in the face. Seoyeon kept her hand steady at the edge of Nakyung’s jaw, brushing her thumb against her cheek. Ravenously, she pulled her closer and caught her lips in hers.

It started off as a hurried, impatient kiss –– then changed pace, getting softer and more deliberate, they both lost themselves to the feeling, sinking into each others’ arms, light bites of the lip, Seoyeon’s hand moving down to Nakko’s waist. You couldn’t rip them apart if you tried.

Lee Seoyeon could sing her heart out to thousands of people without a thought, but only one person made her feel seen. Nakko pulled away first with a small peck on the corner of her lips, giggling and bumping her forehead with hers and staring back at her with her gushing, almond eyes. The taller girl brushed her thumb along the other girl’s lip, then propelled herself closer to kiss her cheek again, stopping only to sniff, like a small puppy.

They brushed noses and kissed once more, slowly and sweetly, both mouths tasting of strawberries.