„Yah, Baekyhun-ah! You do remember that Lee-sungsaenim put us in detention for this afternoon, right?“

You look up at your friend from the side as you catch up with him at the school gate. The late afternoon sun shines upon the students finally leaving the school grounds but the two of you have to stay to do penance for having been late the morning before. And knowing your teacher you can already guess that it's not just going to be sitting and waiting for time to pass but serious work that nobody wants to do.

Baekhyun looks at you with his puppy eyes and stalls in front of you. „And you do remember that it's thursday, right?“, he asks you impatiently but his tone tells you that he's actually sorry for having to say what he's about to say. He always is. He's such an energetic and spontaneous person any other day but when it comes to saying goodbye after school on thursdays, something seems to shade his expression. And the more you think about it, the more you get the feeling that it's not just having to say goodbye that's spoiling his mood - and you secretly hope that he's regretting the fact that he isn't able to tell you the reason for his absence. 

But still you wouldn't dare to ask him about it when he seems so sorry. You tell yourself that it's none of your business anyway and that it's not like you to press someone to tell you something that they obviously can't tell you.Yet it's annoying.
 

You sigh in capitulation. „I nearly forgot“, you admit roughly and turn your face away, „sorry.“ He steps a little closer to you and slightly his head. He scans your face as if he wanted to make sure you weren't mad at him – even though sometimes you thought about being it on purpose to see if he actually cared. „Do you want me to stay and help you? I could cancel my appointment I guess...“, he suddenly suggests but you automatically shake your head no. He's been absent to many thursday afternoons that you already got used to it. „It's ok“, you reassure him as he doubtingly bites his lips together. „I just hope whatever you're up to is worth skipping detention.“ You smile innocently.

He stays still for a moment and gazes at you who has raised her eyebrows full of expectations, then he gives you a relaxing smile and lightly gestures with his hands. „As usual“, he says and you know that it's the least he's going to say.

As usual.

You puff a streak of hair out of your face as get back up into a standing position after picking up another box of books to carry down to the library. A new supply of dictionaries had just been delivered an hour ago and carrying them around school was your detention for having been late to class the other day – together with your friend Baekhyun. You find it unfair seeing that the two of you were late because you had to finish an essay until 3 o'clock in the morning but still you endure your penalty without complaining. After all you told Baekhyun it was okay for him to leave early and so you went home alone to get rid of your school uniform and then came back to school.

But the circumstances aren't exactly making the boxes you have to get from point A to the freaking distant point B any lighter and having to do everything on your own seems to stretch the hallway. At some point your arms start to feel weak as you try to shove yourself down the hallway without dropping the box full of brand new books. Searching for distraction you begin to hum some random melody to keep yourself from thinking about the weight too much. And as your steps get lighter the more you start to sink into the song you just invented, you believe yourself saved.

That is until you suddenly notice that the melody you're humming sounds slightly dissonant because of someone unconsciusly fighting for dominance with your voice - and you can't help but admit defeat within seconds.

It's impossible to win when your opponent sounds that piercingly stunning.

The moment your senses tell you that the singer must be somewhere nearby you speed up your steps without even thinking about it any further. And you must be right because the voice keeps on getting louder and louder until you finally reach a door that hasn't been closed entirely which blesses your ears with the finest sounds you have ever heard coming from a human mouth. You shuffle over and step a little closer, trying not to make any sound that could disturb the singer, and try to catch a glimpse of whoever is singing and maybe stay for a minute or two to relax your arms. Right now you feel that sitting on a stack of dictionaries and listening to this guy makes doing your job irrelevant and it even makes you forget about the fact that this is the third box that you have to carry without any help of your friend.

But when you slide past the door to sneak a peek, pretty much everything loses its relevance. There are two persons in the room - a boy your age and a teacher playing the piano so lowly that it's only audible for the singer. But this sight is enough to make you jerk in surprise. Your grip around the box automatically loosens at the same time so you have to hunker down to prevent the books from tumbling down onto the floor. Crouched down on one side of the door you blink a few times as if that could help you realize what you just acknowledged. And when you do, your lips silently curl into the brightest smile that you have ever worn.

First, you just found out what keeps Byun Baekhyun from sharing this penalty with you.

And second – his voice just made you forget about everything. Your best friend is the most incredible singer in the world. And the most incredible mystery-monger that you have ever met.