Jonghyun and Kyungsoo were practicing a newly composed melody on the guitar. The senior showed him some chords that would make it easier for him to place his fingers on the strings. Kyungsoo nodded as every single advice that he got from his tutor was greatly useful and helping him a lot in progress.

“Let’s play together.” Jonghyun suggested, gently patted Kyungsoo’s upper arm and went back to the piano.

He took place on the seat and glided his glance over the keys, trying to come up with the right composition for a perfect duet. Kyungsoo strummed the strings of his guitar and adjusted the tuning pegs, while Jonghyun brushed the keys gently with his fingers.

“What song do you want to play?” the junior asked while fixing the tune of his instrument.

Jonghyun turned around, grabbed the music sheets, and pouted, while looking through all the pieces that Kyungsoo had composed himself.

“Let’s try ‘It’s Love’.” he suggested after giving it a thought and handed the sheets to the junior.

Kyungsoo nodded with a satisfied smile and took the sheets to place them on the music stand. He chuckled silently, because he recalled that Sehun had told him that this one suited the guitar better. Kyungsoo started to play first deeply concentrated, and then he looked briefly at Jonghyun, indicating that he should join now. As soon as the senior pressed the keys, Kyungsoo’s eyes became bigger, he stopped strumming the strings because he was amazed and baffled by Jonghyun’s skills. The senior had changed the notes according to the piano, making it sound breathtakingly beautiful. He did not even write them down beforehand, he simply improvised right as he was pressing the keys.

“Don’t stop playing, Soo.” he said with a gentle smile and winked at the stunned junior.

Kyungsoo nodded with his mind circling about the senior’s incredible abilities to compose on the spot. Then he shook his head and waited for the right moment to join the piano. After some time, they had finished and Jonghyun clapped proudly. Kyungsoo waved his hands mid-air, as he felt like the one clapping should be himself since the senior was the one being the shining one in their duet. Jonghyun smiled cutely and noted down Kyungsoo’s progress of today.

“I’m really lucky to have you as my junior for the tutoring program.” Jonghyun admitted and closed the lid of the keyboard, then he got up and stretched his arms.

Kyungsoo bowed thankfully. He had blushed to his words because it felt good to be praised by Jonghyun. In these last two months they had formed a tight brotherly bond which Kyungsoo was deeply appreciating.

“Where’s Sehun?” Jonghyun asked after a while and grabbed his bag.

Kyungsoo was packing his stuff when he suddenly stopped and lowered his head. He was bothered by something, Jonghyun was aware of that. The senior asked him if anything had happened between them, but Kyungsoo told him that his friend had to work on his project together with Baekhyun at their dorm today.

“What about you?” Kyungsoo said questioningly and pointed at the piano, “You came up with a rearranged melody for ‘It’s Love’ just like that… Was it because of that person in your heart? That friend that you think you’ll have to reject?”

Jonghyun sighed and tilted his head slightly to the left with a thoughtful expression. He turned his eyes and looked to the desks at the back in the music room.

“You know how you’ve changed from composing for the piano to composing for the guitar, just because of your feelings for Sehun?” the musical genius stated with a question and looked back at Kyungsoo, “I’m coming up with all these melodies because of that one person, ever since…”

“Ever since?” Kyungsoo asked a little confused, “I don’t mean to be rude… but you are seeing senior Key, right? Isn’t he the one making you come up with it all?”

Jonghyun smiled sadly and scratched his hair. He sighed and shook his head from left to right. He sat back on a chair and stared at his own feet.

“Key and I have been flirting for a while now…” he told the junior and clenched his lips, “We are more than friends, but we are not a couple… It’s just… I like him a lot and he likes me too but we don’t have the need to give it a name. We are just friends with benefits. Everyone of our families and friends knows about it.”

Kyungsoo was confused. He sat back on a chair across the senior and asked him if Key knew about that other person in his heart. He could not believe that Jonghyun liked two people at the same time. The term friends with benefits would not sit right with the junior.

“Yes, he knows about that person… but he’s fine with it… Like I said, we are not a couple.” the senior admitted and leaned back on his chair, “I know it’s probably confusing for you, but I like being together with Key. So, I don’t dare to be together with the person that is enveloping my heart. Because as long as I’m like this, I can’t be faithful to him and that wouldn’t be fair.”

“Him?” Kyungsoo questioned the senior and knit his brows in worry, “You don’t dare to be together with him, because you think that you’d not be able to let go of Key yet? That only means that you are considerate about Key’s feelings as well as the other person’s… I think, you are a great person. You don’t play with people’s hearts and feelings… I admire that and I’m sure that at some point you’ll figure it all out.”

Jonghyun smiled and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.

“Thank you, Soo.” he voiced his gratitude towards the junior and reached out for his hand, clenching it lightly with a gentle expression.

Kyungsoo nodded understandingly, then they got up and left the music room together. The senior accompanied him until they reached the bifurcation on the way. Their paths separated as Kyungsoo went home and Jonghyun walked to his dorm.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Taemin stepped out of the shower all happily and dried his hair with a towel. He put on his underwear and brushed his teeth, then put on lots of lotions and skin care products. He had not combed his hair yet as it was still a bit wet. When he entered their room, Minho grabbed his arm and pulled him straight on the player’s bed.

“What…?” Taemin was startled and blinked clueless.

Minho took a deep breath and grinned. He then lifted both of his hands and formed two little hearts with his thumbs and index fingers.

“I’m going to confess today.” he finally said, “I’ll either get rejected or I’ll be accepted.”

Taemin knit his brows in worry and put on his pajamas. He shook his head, and some drops of his hair found their way on Minho’s face.

“Are you sure about that?” Taemin asked with a sulky expression, “You know he’s seeing Key… He’s definitely going to reject you…”

Minho clenched his lips, took another deep breath, and nodded confidently. He smiled sweetly and patted Taemin’s thigh.

“I know… But I’ll be alright, no matter what he’ll say.” Minho said and sighed distressed.

He was nervous but still managed to stay calm. Taemin took