Eunhee’s POV

Summer was here again and the scorching hot sun was glaring, thus making us lazy to go outside. Usually after school some of the students would go for a swim at the school’s swimming pool or hang around at the water park while others would just stay at the dorms finding their own ways to cool off.

Injoon invited me and E-Young for a swim today but we declined and decided to cool off at the air conditioned music room instead. We don’t want to get a tan and his reason was probably to observe the girls in their swimsuits.

I was randomly playing chords on the keyboard hoping to find a breakthrough of inspiration for a new song while E-Young was comfortably sitting on the couch under the air-con flipping a guitar pick over and over again. It seemed that the excitement and motivation to practice had died down after the showdown and we started to get bored day after day. Knowing that the end of year showcase is just a few months away bothers me and I’m even more stressed out thinking that exams are just around the corner too. We desperately need a change.

“Youngie-ah, let’s start recruiting new members, guitar players to be exact so that I can focus on the piano or the keyboard. We need some changes to bring our motivation up a notch,” I said to E-Young after giving it some thought.

E-Young abruptly stopped what she was doing and straightened up. “What? You mean starting right now?” she asked with a slight tone of surprise, hung open.

I heaved a sigh as I rolled my eyes. “No, next year, and you better close your mouth before a fly choke you to death,” I sarcastically answered her. “Of course not right now, but the sooner the better,” I explained.

“Oh, I thought you mean right now, because if you do then I might be able to help,” said E-Young as she gave shrug.

I blinked and it was my mouth’s turn to hung open, but I quickly came to my senses and flung my pen at her.

“Hey, hey, I was just joking around!” yelled E-Young, defending herself.

“I see, saying that you’re able to help me was a joke or was it you being dim-witted?” I counter attacked her.             

E-Young crossed her arms and nods her head. “Wow, the heat must’ve really got into you… chill out!”

“Mian, I just kind of have a lot in my mind,” I apologized while ruffling my hair.

“I understand, apology accepted. But I wasn’t kidding when I said that I could help… you know Seunghyun?”

I tilted my head. “He’s one of our junior right? The one who carries around a guitar wherever he goes,” I asked.

“Yup, that’s right! And I know that after school during this time he’s usually at the backyard with his group of friends playing their guitar under the big old tree,” explained E- Young.

“Really? I never notice them before,” I muttered, scrunching up my eyebrows.

“Well that’s because you rarely spend your time or hang around at the backyard silly,” she clarified. “Like they always say, seeing is believing. Come on, let’s go and check them out!”

Without any notice she suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me out with her.

“Yah! Is it alright for us to just barge in and listen to them play?” I half yelled as I tried to keep up.

“We’ll just observe from afar, who said anything about barging in? A number of students would join in and sing a long most of the time anyway.”

As we made our way through the hall I couldn’t help myself from thinking how lucky I am to have a comrade that I could always rely on even if she can be a little annoying at times.

Seungyeol’s POV 

I swear I’d kill that Sungjong if I found out that it was him who had hid away my swimming trunks. I had been rummaging through my drawers and searched every corner of the laundry room for hours, plus it’s freaking hot.

I wiped away drops of sweat that was dripping down my forehead with the back of my hand as I stomped down the hallway. Moreover, I really hate the sticky feeling caused by all the sweat that was pouring down my back making me want to jump into the pool anytime now. But there’s no way I’m going to the pool without my lucky trunks and neither am I going to borrow one from the school.

As I head back towards my room, I noticed two girls being all sneaky and was peeking through the archway that leads to the backyard.  Don’t they feel stuffy being so close together like that in this kind of weather? But when I got closer, I saw that it was Eunhee and E-Young. My curiosity tingled and wondered what they were looking at. So I decided to sneak up behind them to see what it was.  

There was a bunch of junior students sitting under the big old tree playing guitars and singing along. I slightly nodded, they must be stalking someone.

“Erhm, erhm! What are you two girls doing?” I cleared my throat and asked.

“Waaaaahhhh!!!” They suddenly jumped and turned around while screaming. It was so ear-splitting that in reflex I closed my ears and took a step back.

“Yah! No need to scream! I'm not a ghost or anything!”

“Well don’t sneak up on us like that! What will happen if we died of a heart attack?” asked E-Young, raising her voice.

“Whoa, chill… I was just curious that’s all. You guys were the one being all sneaky… are you stalking someone?” I reversed the situation.

“Who, who said a-anything about s-stalking? We, we were j-just observing!” she stuttered while Eunhee just nods her head in silence.

I scrunched my eyebrows and squinted. “Isn’t that the same as stalking though?”

“We’re recruiting new members so we’re observing those who might have potential to join the band,” uttered Eunhee, finally coming out of her silence.

Recruiting? Potential? I blinked and tilted my head. “Why don’t you guys hold an audition, instead of troubling yourselves by stalk- I mean observing people like this?”

Both of them turned to look each other as if they can talk just by seeing into one’s eyes. Then their eyes widened and a smile formed on their faces like they had just got inspired. While I just stood there like an idiot watching those two.

Out of the blue E-Young grabbed Eunhee’s hand and started to dash trough the hall. Eunhee managed to turn around and shouted, “Thanks a lot Sungyeol! You’re the best!” She beamed and waved at me.

My mouth was slightly opened and I felt my face redden as I returned her wave. “Yeah, you’re welcome…” I mumbled.

Myungsoo’s POV

I threw my pen and pushed away my books in frustration before finally resting my head on the table. The atmosphere was so hot and the noise coming from the worn out fan was making me hard to concentrate on doing my homework. The digital clock showed that it was twenty three minutes passed nine and Sungyeol hasn’t come back yet. I exhaled deeply, he’s probably cooling off under an air-con somewhere…

As I kept on gazing at the clock for a couple of minutes, without warning, Eunhee and our dance sessions popped into my mind. I somehow realized that even though she’s working hard and improving, I felt that she made dancing grew to be her duty or something that she must do. I really wanted to make it fun and enjoyable for her but I couldn’t think of anything.

I rubbed my temple over and over again as I put my brain into work, trying to figure out something that could make our practices more interesting. Her blissful expression when playing her music on stage kept on flashing in when suddenly it hit me. Eureka!

Swiftly I stood up and dashed out headed towards her room with the idea still fresh in my mind. I’m not going to hold it in and decided to tell her immediately, maybe we could put it into action straight away.

Out of breath, I arrived at her door and without a second thought I knocked. Wiping away drops of sweat, I patiently wait for the door to be opened. When I heard a click and the handle moved, I smiled in reflex. But as soon as I saw who greeted me, my smile dropped a little.

“Yes? What can I help you with sir?” E-Young greeted me in English with a distressed look on her face while holding a fan.

“Oh, er… is Eunhee here?” I asked with my limited English.

She shook her head and sighed in annoyance. “Why is everyone looking for her at this hour? And the answer is no, Eunhee’s not here. She’s at the dance studio practicing,” replied E-Young finally in Korean or else I’ll be having a hard time trying to translate what she has just said.

After thanking her I straight away made my way towards the studio hoping that Eunhee’s still there. When I reached the dance studio that Eunhee and I used for practice I could faintly heard music coming out from it. I didn’t knock nor did I open the door because I didn’t want to disturb her so I peeped through the little window instead.

I saw Eunhee practicing all the steps and dance moves that I’ve thought her. She had overcome her stiffness but her moves were still far from fluid making her lost her balance and she fell once in a while. Sweat were pouring down her back and dripping down her face which showed that she had been practicing for quite some time.

I decided to wait until she finishes her practice so I went over to the laundry room to get her a fresh towel and then to the kitchen for a bottle of mineral water. I walked back to the studio humming along, holding the bottle with my right hand and towel with the other.

A smile was plastered on my face as I peeked through the window once again to see if she was done with practice since the music had stopped.  But what I didn’t expect was that there was someone else sitting down beside her. Looking at his figure I recognized that it was Sungyeol. My lips tightened as I watched them engrossed in a conversation and they were laughing together. Watching Eunhee’s tired expression turned into a smiling face my heart burned but at the same time I was somehow relieved that there was Sungyeol to cheer her up. I was fighting with myself whether I should join in or just let them be.

In the end I placed the bottle of water and towel beside the door before I turned around and walked away.

There’s still time, I‘ll talk to her about it tomorrow.

******

Annyeong readers! here's another update

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