[Dongmyeong, are you coming yet?]

 

"CyA, can you not rush me?" Dongmyeong says. "I'm literally at the bus stop waiting for the bus right now."

 

[Hurry.] CyA continues to urge Dongmyeong.

 

"Alright. I guess I'll wait faster." Dongmyeong replies sarcastically.

 

[We don't want to start without you.]

 

"Well, it's not my fault the bus…" Dongmyeong's words trails off as his eyes land on a female not too far from him.

 

She is dressed in a plain black V-neck with black skinny jeans, a blue and black plaid shirt tied around her waist, completed with a guitar bag hanging from her right shoulder.

 

[Dongmyeong?] CyA calls out. [You ok?]

 

"Uh...yeah, yeah. Look, the bus is coming. I'm getting on right now." Dongmyeong hangs up and rushes to follow the female onto the bus, not wanting to lose sight of her.

 

Dongmyeong got onto the bus and reached for his wallet, but his pocket was empty. With wide eyes, he put his keytar case down and searched in all his pockets, but they were all empty.

 

"Kid, your pass?" The bus driver asks.

 

"Um, I-"

 

"If you don't have your pass then get off!"

 

"You're holding us all up!" The other passengers start complaining.

 

Dongmyeong could feel his face heat up due to embarrassment. "Sorry, I-"

 

Beep. 

 

The machine sounded, signaling a ride payment.

 

"For him." The female with the guitar case said before walking towards the open seats at the end of the bus. With that, the bus drove off and Dongmyeong followed her to her seat and sat next to her. 

 

"Thank-" he turns to thank the female, but she has her earphones in with her eyes closed as she gives off a 'don't disturb me' vibe. Dongmyeong lightly cleared his throat and looked at his phone. He was not doing anything in particular except pretending to look busy. However, once in a while, he will peek at the female and suppress his smile by pressing his lips together.

 

When it was time to get off, Dongmyeong reached for the button, but the female pressed it before he got a chance to.

 

'Did she press it for me?' Dongmyeong thinks to himself, but his question was soon answered when she also got off at his stop. Not only did they get off on the same stop, they both went to the same club. 

 

While Dongmyeong and his friends were tuning their instruments, his eyes were focused on two women who were also tuning their instruments. 

 

The others follow Dongmyeong's line of vision to see a bassist and a guitarist.

 

"Do you know them?" Yonghoon asks.

 

"Not quite." Dongmyeong says as he continues to stare at the girls. 

 

"They look familiar. Where have I seen them before?" Kanghyun murmurs.

 

Suddenly the bassist and the guitarist turned and waved at the group of boys with a bright smile. Confused, Dongmyeong raised his hand--ready to wave back--and the girls made their way past the group of men before stopping in front of someone else.

 

"Her friends are here." Kanghyun says nudging Dongmyeong. "Did you think she was waving at you?"

 

 The group turned to the newly arrived individuals.

 

"Haneul!" The bassist calls out and stands before her friend.

 

"Byul!" The guitarist shouts. They talked for a bit before the announcer came over and asked them if they're ready to standby. They nod and the announcer returns to the stage.

 

"Please welcome Re:Start!" 

 

The bassist ushers her friends to get on stage. She turns to her drummer and gives a light nod before the drummer starts them off.

 

"They're good." Harin commented. 

 

"Aren't they?" A new voice speaks out, making the men jump. The new group of men smiled widely from eye to eye.

 

"Hi." The new arrivals greet them.

 

After the performance, the girls returned backstage.

 

"Keonhee!" The guitarist runs up to him. "How was it?"

 

"It was good. You're lucky you have the other girls to cover up for your horrible guitar playing."

 

"Tch." She kicks Keonhee, making him laugh. "Shouldn't have asked you. Jerk."

 

"Xion, when I invited you, you didn't want to come. Now you're here?" The bassist asked.

 

"I'm here to see my brother, not you." 

 

The bassist opens to retort but Dongmyeong interrupts.

 

"Dongju, you came to see me?"

 

"Mm." Xion replies and gives a simple nod.

 

"Are these your friends too, Keonhee?" The guitarist asks.

 

"Yeah." 

 

"Do you have a friend who is uglier than you?" The guitarist asks with a laugh.

 

"Stop being mean." The bassist says as she nudges her friend whilst packing her instrument.

 

"Tch. I learned that from you. Are you guys doing anything later? Let's hang out and get to know each other." The guitarist suggests. "My name is Sarang. I'm Keonhee's childhood friend. This is our drummer Haneul, and our keyboardist, Byul, and--"

 

"And I'm busy." The bassist replies. "I'm going to go pick up the baby."

 

"Hey, that's not what you said earlier."

 

"Sorry. See you at school." She picks up her bag and quickly escapes.

 

"You--this friend. I'm going to fight her one of these days." Sarang says with a shake of her head. 

 

"She is…" Dongmyeong trails off.

 

"Sorry. That was our friend Areum."

 

"Dongmyeong-ah, Areum and Sarang have beautiful and lovely names, but be careful, they're both evil beasts."

 

"Yah!" Sarang shouts, jumping up and grabbing Keonhee into a headlock. 

 

"You... see what I… mean?" Keonhee chokes out.

 

"Please welcome ONEWE!" 

 

"Let's go." Yonghoon orders and the others make their way to the stage.

 

"See you after the performance." Dongmyeong says to his brother before walking away.

 

**********

 

"Look at you. So cute." Areum says, playing with the newborn baby. "Come to daddy."

 

"Hey, I'm the dad." 

 

"Oppa, who was the one who cut the umbilical cord? Me. This is my baby."

 

"I was at work! And why are you here?"

 

"What? I can't pick up my baby?"

 

Areum's older brother scoffs. "You told me you were going to hang out with your friends after your live gig saying that I should do my duty as a husband and father. Why did you suddenly ditch your friends to pick up my wife and baby? Did you get in trouble or are you avoiding someone?"

 

It was Areum's turn to scoff. "I'm not avoiding anyone. Huh? Daddy's not avoiding anyone." Areum coos at the baby.

 

Areum's brother squints at her in suspicion before walking away to sign the discharge papers. A certain someone popped into Areum's mind and she lightly shook her head to rid her of the image. 

 

**********

 

"Areumiiii~" Sarang shouts and she rushed over and puts her arm around her friend's shoulder. "How could you ditch us yesterday? Before the show, you said we can hang out, but then you changed your mind at the last minute."

 

"Did you ladies have fun?"

 

"What fun? My mom called me because the car died and she needed my help to call up a tow truck and settle payments. It took the tow truck 3 hours to arrive. Worst night ever." Haneul replied.

 

"I felt uncomfortable because I didn't know anyone so I left with Haneul." Byul says. All the girls turn to Sarang.

 

"Keonhee and I went to eat by ourselves."

 

"So, you went on a date." Areum says.

 

"It wasn't a date! Why would I date Keonhee when I know that you—” Sarang meets Areum’s eyes and she quickly dismisses the topic. “Never mind.”

 

“When I what? Say it.” Areum ushers her to finish her sentence. 

 

“I said never mind. It’s nothing.”

 

“Is it a secret or what? Why can’t you say it?” Haneul asked. 

 

"Forget it. She'll tell us when she wants to." Areum says, stopping Haneul from investigating further.

 

"I got a call from Shine if we can perform there tomorrow at 8pm. I told them I'll get back to them." Sarang says.

 

"My cousin also wants us to perform at his club Insomnia tomorrow at 8pm." Byul says.

 

"Which job should we take?" Haneul asked as the three girls turned to look at Areum.

 

"Why are you all looking at me?"

 

"You're usually the decision maker." Sarang replies with a shrug. "You created this band after all."

 

"Uh, then Insomnia."

 

"Hold up." Byul cuts in. "I say that we should go to Shine. My cousin doesn't pay me as much cause we're family. 'Family should help each other', he says."

 

"But your cousin was the one that gave us connections to other clubs to continue these live gigs. We should be more grateful."

 

"But I get paid less." Byul pouts and lets out a reluctant sigh. "Fine. I'll text him and let him know.”

 

Haneul starts laughing. "Byul-ah, consider it as an allowance. The rest of us don't get allowances from our parents like you do."

 

"So not fair." Byul murmurs. "I'm working too hard for this small amount of money."

 

"Hey, you get $100 per song we play." Haneul continues to comfort her.

 

"You guys get $200, and sometimes it's not even original, just covers." Byul continues to complain.

 

The three look at the sad Byul, then at each other helpless, and let out a sigh. 

 

“So you don’t want to perform?” Sarang asks. 

 

“Of course I do, and I will.”

 

“Then stop being so dramatic.”

 

Byul stops her dramatic play and the girls separate ways to attend their classes. Areum walks through the west courtyard and sees a janitor lady looking at some papers. She attempts to throw it in her trash can but Areum stops her immediately.

 

“Oh, wait! D-don’t throw that away. I-I’ll take it. Thank you.” Areum bows to the janitor lady and looks through the papers, then she looks around the empty courtyard. “Why would someone leave this here?”

 

**********

 

"Yaaaaah. How can you lose the song?" Kanghyun asks.

 

"I'm sorry. I definitely had it before I went to class. I realized it was missing when class started." Yonghoon explains.

 

"Where did you lose it?" Dongmyeong asks.

 

"Will we be retracing my steps if I knew?" 

 

"We worked so hard on that song." CyA says.

 

"I'm sorry." 

 

"Well, think positively. It's only been 2 hours since you've last seen it. Someone could've possibly thrown it away or stole it and made it theirs." Harin says nonchalantly.

 

"Yah, how is that 'think positively'." CyA asks.

 

"I was being sarcastic."

 

The five men were looking around when they heard music playing.

 

“Do you hear that?” Yonghoon says. The five men made their way to the music room where the music is originating from. Upon opening the door, they see four girls performing their song.

 

“Hey, that’s our song.” Harin says, as he unplugs the equipment. “Why are you playing our song?”

 

“Sorry. I just found it on my way to class. If it’s yours—”

 

"Wait!” Haneul cuts Areum off. “How do we know it’s yours?”

 

“Well, it’s definitely not yours. Your friend must’ve stolen it.” Harin replies.

 

“Yah, my friend is a good person! There is no way she would steal someone else’s music and keep it as her own!” Haneul shouts. “She said she found it. Were you not listening?”

 

“Haneul, it’s ok. Calm down.” Areum says, standing in front of Haneul, trying to calm her down. “They’re Keonhee’s friends.”

 

“Just because they’re Keonhee’s friends doesn’t mean they are my friends. I’m not close to Keonhee like you and Sarang.”

 

“If it’s theirs, obviously, we’ll give it back.” Byul states.

 

“Yes, if it belongs to you.” Sarang says. 

 

“It definitely belongs to us.” Yonghoon says. “Our band is called ONEWE.”

 

“It definitely doesn’t say ONEWE on the music sheet.” Sarang says.

 

“What?! Hyung!” The four men shout in sync as they turn to Yonghoon.

 

“W-what? T-that’s not possible? What?” Yonghoon stutters out confused. 

 

Areum chuckles. “Stop messing with them. This WE logo must stand for the WE in ONEWE. Here you go.” Areum hands the song over to Yonghoon. The others all crowd around Yonghoon to look at the logo. 

 

“I had no intention of stealing your song. It was left in the west courtyard and the janitor lady was going to throw it away, so I took it and was tempted to play it. Sorry.” 

 

“Did you hear that? If my friend didn’t take it, it would’ve been in the trash already.” Haneul says glaring at Harin.

 

“We should be the ones apologizing.” Yonghoon says. “Our friend accused you of stealing the scores.” They all bow in apology. “And I would like to thank you for picking it up and returning it.”

 

“Hey, it’s ok. Keonhee’s friends are my friends.” Areum says. 

 

“Yesterday you ladies introduced yourselves to us, and we haven’t introduced ourselves to you yet. Our band is called ONEWE. My name is Yonghoon.”

 

“I’m Kanghyun, the guitarist.”

 

“I’m CyA, the bassist.”

 

“I’m Dongmyong, the keyboardist.” The four looked at Harin who kept quiet.

 

“And he is Harin, our drummer.” Yonghoon and Dongmyeong introduced.

 

“Since we introduced ourselves and are friends now—”

 

“We are not friends!” Haneul and Harin shout in sync as they glare at each other.

 

“Before I was rudely cut off,” Sarang starts and glares at Haneul. “We are performing at Insomnia tomorrow at 8pm. You guys should come check it out. Let’s all get to know each other better. I will invite ONEUS too.”

 

“Keonhee.”

 

“What?”

 

“You don’t invite ONEUS, you invite Keonhee. Keonhee just drags the rest of ONEUS along.” Areum clarifies.

 

“Does it matter? They still show up. Plus, I invite Keonhee, you invite ONEUS. You're closer to them anyways.”

 

“If you guys want ONEUS there, Dongmyong can just drag Xion along. They’re twins.” CyA states.

 

“Twins?!” The girls, except for Areum, shouts out in surprise.

 

“Wait, why aren’t you surprised?” Sarang asks.

 

“I knew.” Areum states with a nonchalant shrug.

 

Dongmyeong thought back to yesterday's incident. 'Ah, she knew that Dongju and I were twins. Is that why she helped me?'

 

“Wait, how did you know?!” Sarang asks.

 

“Keonhee told me.”

 

“When?!”

 

“Last year.”

 

“And you didn’t tell us?”

 

“Did you need to know that?”

 

“You and Keonhee have a lot of secrets with each other.” Sarang says.

 

"If you're jealous, go ask Keonhee what the secret is. I don't feel like telling you." 

 

"We'll be there!" Dongmyeong shouts, breaking the tension between Areum and Sarang. "I'll drag Dongju along too."

 

"It's fine. I'll let ONEUS know. I'm close friends with them anyways, but if you want to tell your brother, feel free."

 

"I'd prefer it if you didn't show up." Haneul states. "I don't like dealing with haters more than necessary."

 

"Haneul!" Byul grabs her arm.

 

"I don't like seeing stuck up people either."

 

"Harin!" The two glared at each other making both groups smile awkwardly at each other.

 

"Sorry. Our friend is not usually like this." Byul says.

 

"Same here. Harin is usually very quiet." Yonghoon states with a nod.

 

"Anyways, we'll definitely see you ladies at Insomnia tomorrow. 8pm." Dongmyeong confirms as they drag Harin off before another fight erupts.