I was early on Monday, which was weird because I was usually late and MinHwan was always early. I sat at my desk doing nothing for the next ten minutes when MinHwan came in from the backdoor, walking backwards?

Just as I was about to call his name, he walked in further and I saw why he was walking backwards. He was talking to someone, not just anyone, it was her. I made a face unknowingly and she saw me.

“Wah!” she exclaimed and skipped into the class past MinHwan. I turned away and and stared at my desk. I didn't like how this was going. “Annyeong HyoJin! I haven't seen you around lately!”

“School just started, SuJi,” I half-smiled, uninterested to have a conversation with her. I looked out the window hoping that she would ignore me too, but noooooo …

“Did you have a nice weekend?” she leaned forward to have a good look at my face. “I did,” she said, as if I asked her. “It was the best weekend I had!” she turned around and went to face MinHwan.

Did I mention that Bae SuJi was a junior? Ne, she was a junior with a lot of attitude and no respect at all. Feeling annoyed, I took out a scrunchie and started tying my hair up. Then I overheard MinHwan say in his low but-very-loud voice to Suzy, “Be nice to her, arasseo (okay/understand)?”

She came up to me, again and said, “You have such creative imagination, unnie!” Now she calls me 'unnie', after MinHwan told her to be nice to me. What a hypocrite. Then, to my relief, she left.

I didn't have to think too much to figure out that MinHwan had told her about the bloody guy. I didn't want to think of why he told her either. I mean, seriously, what was up with those two?

MinHwan took his seat next to me and said dreamily, “She's cute.”

“Is there anything I need to know about you two?” I asked hesitantly, facing him.

“No,” he scoffed and looked at me questioningly. “Wae (why)?”

“Nothing,” I turned away and faced the chalkboard. Okay, maybe I lied about him getting 'it' today, mainly because I wanted him to tell me when he was ready, and partially because I was afraid to know the truth.

The bell rang.

*****

I was alone on Wednesday evening, carrying my guitar bag on my back, heading towards the clubhouse. MinHwan said that he'd be late because he had to do something 'important', which stank of Suzy all over it.

I entered the clubhouse, went straight for the stage and took my guitar out. And I started playing it to clear my mind but stopped when I could only hear the sound of my guitar. I looked up to find everyone staring at me and none of them were on the stage. They were all sitting in rows of chairs in front of the stage. My face suddenly felt warmer than they should be.

“Nice show, redface,” someone said over a microphone. I turned to look at a person standing in the middle of the stage, holding the microphone to his mouth. He was really good-looking, with black hair that slanted across his forehead. But his face wasn't so good-looking at the moment; he seemed displeased. “What,” he suddenly whispered away from the mic, “now you wanna sing too?”

I gawked at him before I could gather myself and leave the stage to take a seat in the back row. How embarassing! I had no idea that we were having a meeting today!

“As I was saying,” he continued with his speech – which I guessed was interrupted by my sudden performance. “I will try my best. Please enjoy music more because I will try to convince the school to have a music festival!”

Everyone cheered and clapped in excitement. Finally, we could have a music festival at our school! The school never liked the idea of having one because of all the ruckus it would cause, but hearing this guy say it, it really felt like this was the year where us, music club members, will be able to have our very own first festival! It sounded so convincing, so real! Who was this guy anyway?

“But we'll have to practice to realize that dream!” he went on after the clapping and cheering ceased. “So let me conclude my speech and have a nice practice! Kamsahamnida!”

Everyone clapped as he bowed, got off the stage and exited the clubhouse. He was followed by JongHun and other seniors too. After that, the commotion died and everyone started rearranging the chairs and practice resumed as usual. I sat at the stage's stairs, the one nearest to the exit and started humming myself a melody and tried to match it with my guitar. I took out a notebook – my precious notebook where I write all my songs and lyrics – and a pencil from my guitar bag, and then started to jot down the notes that I produced.

I closed my eyes and shut off all the sound in the clubhouse except for the sound of my humming and guitar. It felt like I was in a trance, I couldn't stop playing the the tune over and over again. I finally got it, this was what I was I had been looking for all along. It sounded right and the way it came together in the end was perfect. Wow.

“Kim HyoJin!” a loud voice startled me from my reverie. I sighed as I saw who it was. I guess he was called CheonDung for a reason; he was so loud! Then I noticed there was someone next to him, the guy who gave the speech earlier.

“I heard you were the one who trashed the storage room recently,” the guy said.

I nodded once, embarassed to have to admit to the crime. Then I glanced at CheonDung who was looking a bit gloomy.

“Look at me when I'm talking to you, redface!” the guy snapped his fingers rudely at my face. “I'm gonna punish you for committing three disturbances!”

“Hah?” I looked straight into his eyes, “What else did I do?”

“Let's see,” he held up his right hand and started counting his fingers. “You trashed the storage room, you interrupted my speech, and you weren't looking at me while I was talking to you.”

“Well, then let's make you the center of the universe while we're at it!” I muttered under my breath.

“Oh, and that too,” he held up four fingers.

“Mwo?!” I slammed down my pencil on the notebook, and stood up to look at him square in the eyes. Was this guy for real?

“And that makes it five!” he showed his palm to my face. “Shall we go for more?”

I gawked at his arrogance. His face was so annoying that I wished I could punch him. Who was this guy anyway? Acting like he was all high and mighty, to be giving people punishments and being so rude.

“Good girl,” he sang and patted my head. Then he walked away but when he reached the exit, he turned to look at me and said, “By the way, your punishment starts tomorrow!”

Then he really left. Out of sight but apparently not out of mind. I still couldn't believe it, the nerve of that guy and his snobbish attitude! “Who was that?” I asked CheonDung, who was now strumming my guitar with a sad expression.

“Who?” he tilted his face up, confused.

“That crazy guy just now,” I glared in the direction of the door.

“Oh, him?” he seemed dazed. “Oh, you came in late during his speech,” he said mostly to himself. Then he sighed, “He's Lee HongGi, the new leader of instruments.”

No wonder CheonDung was so down.

*****

“So you're not gonna look for the bloody guy?” MinHwan asked again. He has been overly curious about the bloody guy lately, which was really weird because I was never the one who brought it up.

“Let's just let it go, okay?” I sighed, slightly annoyed. Kicking a pebble that was on the stone path, I added, “I haven't seen him around anymore, so let's just move on.”

“How would you know who he really is, if you haven't even had a good look at his face?”

“MinHwan-ah, I told you –”

“You're late, redface,” HongGi stated as we were approaching the front of the clubhouse. “Follow me.”

I rolled my eyes at him as he entered the building first. It was Thursday, the day that I would be receiving punishment from that so-called new leader of instruments. MinHwan was with me because he had extra vocal exercises that needed to be worked on.

“I still don't understand why you have to get punished so many times,” MinHwan shook his head in disbelief.

“Ara (I know),” I sighed, “It's so unfair.”

“Mianhae (sorry), I couldn't back you up yesterday,” he sounded down but didn't exactly look like it. He was still hiding something from me.

“Geunchanha (it's okay),” I shrugged. “He's the new leader, you wouldn't have been able to help me anyway. Unless you wanna be punished just for me.” I smirked at him.

“I'd do anything for you,” he replied, grinning with his eyes.

“Awwww, Minani …” I cooed, then added darkly, “Stuff it.”

“Eish, c'mon, you kno –” his sentence was cut off when the door opened and HongGi's angry head stuck out.

“I ordered you to follow me, didn't I?” he said with clenched teeth. I rolled my eyes at him again but lazily followed him inside. Then we stood in front of the storage room; him smiling arrogantly at me, who was dreading the punishment to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: hello beloved readers! i know the story is slow but please bear with me, it gets better. LOL. but i don't mind if you guys want me to update daily. WAIT, not daily, maybe two to three times a week, i really won't mind. i need my readers to feel satisfied right? so, just tell me what you think in the comments section; how many times you would prefer i update and on what days too, if you guys like. thanks so much for reading! i really appreciate it! <3