“No.”

 

“Excuse me, what?”

 

“I said ‘No’.”

 

 

 

The day was bright, but a bit chilly and all Wonyoung had wanted to do that day was sit at her usual spot in Starbucks and work on her English paper that was due in two whole weeks. She wanted to order her Caramel Macchiato and look out the window beside her, watching as people carried on with their lives.

 

But no. Of course, her wonderful sister, Gyuri, had the most wonderful idea to have a wonderful stroll in the wonderfully packed mall.

 

As if it wasn’t enough to Gyuri that she had dragged Wonyoung to said mall, she went on to leave her all alone to fend for herself.

 

“If you’re gonna leave, at least let me trail after you.” the young one grumbled to herself as she walked around the mall, looking around at the fronts of the stores. “Don’t leave your 16-year-old sister standing around looking like a weirdo while you go to some random place all by yourse—“

 

She stopped as she looked up at the store she was currently in front of and walked in in curiosity.

 

“Hello?” she called out, in hopes of finding an employee.

 

However, it seemed like there was no one manning the shop at that moment.

 

She shrugged as she entered the doorway and looked around the different aisles filled with various instruments.

 

“Wow…” she gasped in awe as she spotted several beautiful instruments.

 

After looking around at the right side of the area, she decided to move on to the left side where various string instruments were hung on the wall.

 

Carefully, she approached a pink-gold metallic matte ergonomic headless bass guitar and carried it off of the wall and into her arms.

 

“Bolt-on neck… Scale length of about 30 inches… Basswood… Passive— hmm…” she whispered to herself before she nodded in affirmation before bringing the strap around herself and strumming the strings once. She grinned upon hearing the sound.

 

She looked around again to see if there were any other occupants in the store and smiled seeing no one. Excitedly, she began to play a simple tune on the bass. One that she had learned a long time ago.

 

Her fingers moved with ambidexterity to it, moving from a bar to another while playing it. The familiar tune had made her ease into the feeling, forgetting the reason why she was here in the first place. She closed her eyes as she made the notes make their way into her and onto the bass naturally.

 

However, just as she was getting into the vibe, her phone rang loudly.

 

“Ugh.” she groaned, before putting the instrument back in its place and pulling out her phone from her back pocket.

 

She rolled her eyes when she read her sister’s name on the screen.

 

“Hello?” she answered, trying to mask her irritation.

 

“Hey Carrot! I’m near the bookstore.”

 

“Okay, I’ll be right there.” and with that, she ended the call and stuffed the phone back into her pocket with a huff.

 

She made her way through the crowd of people, a scowl on her face as she thought of the next thing she was going to complain to her sister about.

 

“Why Carrot?!” she asked out loud to no one in particular. “Do I look like an orange vegetable to you?”

 

“Carrot~” she heard a familiar voice call out, making her turn to the source. “Where were you? I couldn’t find you. I got worried.”

 

Suddenly, Wonyoung froze in place. She couldn’t possibly tell her she went to a music store and played around with an instrument, could she? Gyuri would definitely ask about her intentions and then go on about it to their parents. Once her parents hear that she was interested in a music store out of all things, they’d conclude that she likes to play and that would mean they’ll find out she finds entertainment in hanging around in the school’s band room and that would mean—

 

No. She’s overthinking things. Yes, that’s it.

 

“I was looking around at some dresses…?” she answered, sounding unsure of herself.

 

Gyuri looked at her weirdly, prompting Wonyoung to look at anything but her sister’s eyes.

 

“Are you finally starting to want to fix your appearance?” Gyuri asked with a bright smile. “Are you finally growing out of your hoodies?”

 

“Uh… yeah.” she chuckled nervously.

 

“Well then! Let your big sister buy you some pretty dresses!” Gyuri exclaimed, pulling on Wonyoung’s arm as they went inside a very elegant looking shop.

 

Much to Wonyoung’s dismay, she had gone home that day with two bags filled with dresses she would probably never end up wearing.

 

 

 

 

“Wonyo!” a familiar voice called out to her.

 

“Hey, Yoon, what’s up.” she asked.

 

“Are you going to the band room again?”

 

Wonyoung waited for the other girl to catch up to her before she answered. “Yeah.”

 

“You’re always there, but you never play with anyone but yourself. Want me to come with you this time?” Yoon asked nicely.

 

“I’ll be fine on my own. Thanks though.” Wonyoung rejected politely before picking up her pace and walking to the band room.

 

“What was that?” another student, Minseo, asked as she came up behind Yoon.

 

The two stared off at their classmate before Yoon shrugged.

 

“Just Wonyo being Wonyo.”

 

Wonyoung, however, continued to have no clue about them and quietly approached the door of the club room. Before opening the door and entering, she made sure to check there was no one there. Once she had made sure she was alone, she lightly ran over to the bass guitar excitedly like a child in a candy shop.

 

She stayed in the band room alone for an hour before she immediately grabbed her stuff again and moved to a different location.

 

The fresh smell of coffee. she hummed happily as she entered her absolute favourite coffee shop — Starbucks.

 

“Hey, there. The usual?” the barista at the cashier asked with a smile too bright for Wonyoung’s liking.

 

“Yup, thanks.” she answered curtly before moving to the side to wait for her order to be made.

 

Just as pulled out her phone, she heard a loud commotion going on behind her.

 

Curiously, she turned her head and realized it was the group of six who were always there, having a very loud conversation. Wonyoung turned back to her phone, deciding to leave the strangers alone.

 

“You do understand she may never come back again, right?” a quite hoarse voice said, which caught Wonyoung’s attention.

 

“Yes, but it’s not bad to hope, right?” another voice asked.

 

Wonyoung was about to listen to more of the conversation, however her order was called up and she realized the situation she was putting herself in.

 

Why was she so interested in a stranger’s conversation? Firstly, that was totally bad manners, and secondly, it wasn’t even anything she understood.

 

She shook her head as she walked over to her usual table and began to set up her workplace.

 

For an hour or so, Wonyoung sat, working on her English paper and before long, she had finally finished 80% of it.

 

As she stretched her arms, her eyes shifted over to the table of six who were still there, discussing something that was making them all laugh but one.

 

She watched the girl pout and cross her arms and Wonyoung couldn’t help but grin.

 

But of course, she snapped back to reality and began to pack up her things when she checked what time it was.

 

Her parents were definitely going to ask where she had been all afternoon despite the fact that she was already 16 years old and had only been gone for a little over an hour.

 

And of course, it was no surprise to the young girl when she got home to her mother on their couch, a glass of wine in her hand.

 

Wonyoung had hoped she could simply walk by without a greeting like she usually did, however it seemed like her mother had different plans.

 

“Wonyoung.” she called out, swirling the wine in her cup.

 

“Yeah?” she asked, hoping to sound cheerful.

 

“Where have you been? You’re 40 minutes late.” the woman told her, eyeing Wonyoung from head to toe.

 

Wonyoung shifted under her mother’s gaze. “I spent some time studying. I got a bit carried away.”

 

She smiled her most innocent smile, yet all she got was an unsatisfied hum in return. The older woman then got off from her place on the couch and passed by Wonyoung.

 

“Dinner is at 7pm sharp.”

 

Wonyoung nodded eagerly.

 

Just before the woman left the living room, she stopped and turned her head ever so slightly.

 

“You reek of the smell of coffee. Please take a shower.”

 

“Alright!” Wonyoung called out before sighing exasperatedly once she was sure her mother was gone.

 

Tiredly, she climbed the stairs and entered her spacious room where she immediately flopped herself on the bed.

 

“Stupid parents.” she groaned before pushing herself up and grabbing some clothes to wear after her shower.

 

 

 

 

To say the day was going well for Wonyoung was an absolute lie.

 

She had woken up 30 minutes late, leaving her with barely enough time to dry her hair, eat breakfast, choose something to wear, pack her belongings, and style her hair only to find out that it was Saturday.

 

So she had to figure out what to do with herself at 8 in the morning, all dressed up and ready to go to school on a weekend.

 

Staying in the house was definitely not an option, but where else was she supposed to go? If she went to Starbucks now, she’d spend all her time there, sitting for at least 6 hours. There was nowhere else she could go.

 

“I hate weekends.” she groaned, exiting the house, deciding that she would just walk around town, looking for something she could do. “What the hell are you supposed to do with all that free time?”

 

For an hour, Wonyoung spent her time, walking through parks, kicking pebbles as she went, trying to find something that would hopefully distract her for the time being, however she was left with nothing.

 

She groaned upon sitting on an oddly wet bench and closed her eyes to hold in her anger.

 

That’s it. I need my caffeine. she thought to herself, wiping her behind and pulling her hoodie down to cover the wet spot.

 

The girl sprinted back to her house, dropping her bag and getting into a change of pants before grabbing her laptop and English notes and rushing out the door.

 

At this point, it didn’t matter what everyone thought of her. She needed her coffee and she needed it now, especially since she had rushed herself at 7 in the morning and even settled with eating a banana for breakfast, only to do nothing but walk and stare at the ground all day.

 

It was already half past lunch when she arrived at the coffee shop, so she decided to order one of their sandwiches with her coffee so she didn’t starve. What she didn’t realize, however, was that she was carrying her rather large laptop, several pieces of paper, her phone (which he had no time to stuff into her pocket) and aside from that, she still had to carry the sandwich and coffee over to her usual table.

 

Thankfully, her hands and arms were able to flex in a surprising way, aiding her in carrying everything she had without damaging anything.

 

She sighed in relief after skillfully catching her coffee cup and she dropped down on her chair heavily.

 

Just as she thought she would finally be able to taste the sweet taste of her Caramel Macchiato, a girl, more precisely, the girl who was always being rowdy with her friends two tables beside her, came up to her with a seemingly enchanted glimmer in her eyes.

 

Despite recognizing her, she looked around at her to make sure she hadn’t missed some kind of sign or warning or any objects that could have been left at the table, but there were none.

 

Wonyoung’s brows furrowed in confusion. What did this girl need?

 

“May I help you?” she asked, trying to sound polite as she masked her annoyance.

 

Wonyoung tilted her head in question, watching the girl in front of her as she took longer and longer to say anything, resulting in Wonyoung going without her daily caffeine intake for more and more time.

 

“Can you join my band?” she finally asked.

 

Wonyoung’s eyes widened at the sudden question. How had she known she played any instruments?

 

“No.” she answered bluntly, turning back to setting up her computer.

 

From her peripheral vision, she could spot the girl’s friends physically face palming before