When Min Ra called Chanyeol ‘Oppa’ in their subsequent band rehearsal, she was teased relentlessly by the other members of the band, especially by Chanyeol's best friends: Baekhyun and Taeyeon. The two seemed to be very excited to pair her and Chanyeol; they even mocked on how Chanyeol always ditched Taeyeon on Thursday nights to take Min Ra home. If it wasn’t for Suho scolding the vocalist and guitarist, they would’ve kept on going.  Nevertheless, their practice session still ended up filled with many teasing that sucessfully reddened Min Ra’s cheeks. Chanyeol, in the other hand, brushed it off coolly and acted nonchalantly.

It was July’s first Saturday, the temperature had rose a lot that people started to find it troublesome to wear thick clothes. Sundresses were all Min Ra could see while she was strolling at the market. Her household had a habit of making her do the groceries every first Saturdays of the month. Her parents reasoned that since she planned to continue her study in Seoul, she had to learn how to take care of herself. Shopping for groceries alone, they said, is a good exercise for it. That, or her parents were just too tired to ride the train to the market on weekends.

After she was done with her groceries, Min Ra stopped at a pastry shop with chocolate-cream-striped canopy at its front door. It was her favorite shop that she had been visiting regularly since groceries shopping became her task, 2 years ago. The small bell dangled as she opened the door. She smiled at Oh-ahjumma, the owner of the shop, before sitting at her regular table near the window. Beside the mouth-watering pastries it provided, Min Ra loved the shop for the live music that was always performed in Saturday mornings. Today, the performer was singing his rendition of Bruno Mars' 'You Can Count on Me."

"Are you going for the usual order?" Min Ji, a part-timer waitress she had known for years, asked her. Min Ra nodded, her usual order was her favorite.

"Is there anything new on the menu?"

"Ah, we're experimenting on blueberry-mint cupcakes. It isn't in the menu yet, though. But we'll give it free for our loyal customer to try." She winked flirtingly at Min Ra. Min Ra chuckled at her cute act. Min Ji was about the same age as her and the cute part-timer had always been very friendly with her.

"Thank you."

Min Ra looked around the not-so-packed shop. There weren't any major changes since her last visit. The English-styled shop was still decorated with pastel colors furniture that gave off a cozy feeling. Pots of colorful flowers were arranged near the chocolate framed windows. On the right corner, the pastries were displayed on a glass cupboard. Next to the cashier register, stood a white piano being played by the performer at the moment.

Wait a minute,she squinted her eyes.

Is that... Baekhyun-sunbaenim?

No wonder the singing sounded different than the usual, yet somewhat familiar. Min Ra watched him sang closely. Unlike his performance on stage before, he didn't wear any make up or sparkling outfit. He comfortably wore a cream colored t-shirt and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, giving of a boy-next-door feeling. Bruno Mars' 'You Can Count on Me' was accompanied with guitar in its original version, but the sunbae managed to pull off a heartwarming piano version of it. He had slowed it down, Min Ra noted. His voice was smooth and tender, capturing every bit of Min Ra's attention. Even when more than half of his body was blocked by the piano, Min Ra was still charmed by his presence. She noticed that his gentle head movement and singing expression was very suitable for the song, thus adding the appeal of his performance. From the many times she watched him sing, both on and off stage, she had realized that he had a really strong stage charisma. Therefore, it didn’t surprise her when she figured out that he had many fans at school.

When his song was finished, Min Ra clapped along with the rest of the shop. She saw him smiled while greeting the customers. He told them that he'd take a 30 minutes break. Min Ra eyed the cuckoo clock on the wall and saw it showed 11 am. When she returned her attention at him, she noticed him looking back at her. She bowed and smiled at him politely. Although they didn't start off in good terms, he was still a sunbae to respect. He smiled back and waved, while walking toward her.

"Hi! What are you doing here?" He greeted her as he seated himself in front of her.

Min Ra greeted back before she answered him. "I'm shopping for groceries." She pointed at the plastic bags next to her.

"Alone?"

"Yes. My parents said it will help to develop my independence."

"Or maybe they are just too lazy to do it."

Min Ra chuckled at his comment. Baekhyun-sunbaenim seemed to be friendly at the moment. Even after more than a month being the school band trainee, she hadn't gotten much chance to know him better. Whenever she met him in the club room outside of the band practice sessions, he would be sleeping either in his judo attire or in his uniform. It seemed that the preparation of the upcoming regional judo championship really take a toll on him.

“I haven’t had the chance to ask you personally since you join the club, so I’ll ask you now.” He looked at her and said seriously. How he could change from being cheerful into dead serious in the next minute was beyond her comprehension.

“What do you think about the band? Do you regret joining it?” He asked while staring straightly at her eyes. Baekhyun was never the type to beat around the bush; he would always get straight to his point.

Min Ra glanced back at him for a split second before answering with her head down. She did ponder if she had made the right choice by staying in the band and starting to learn keyboard—she was still afraid that she would be disappointed at herself if she couldn’t play as well as she wished and the practices were harder than she had imagined—but her love of music and Seohyun-unnie patience teaching had got her to make her mind.

“I did doubt my choice,” She started while looking away, “But now…I don’t think I regret it.  I have a lot of interesting new things to learn and Seohyun-unnie is really kind in teaching me. She really is the best tutor. I… I will work hard to be a good keyboardist.” She looked back at him, trying to show him her earnestness.

He nodded; it seemed that he was satisfied with her answer. His lips, however, was still forming a thin line.

“I’m looking forward to see your performance, then. I hope you will stay true to your words, because if you’re half hearted you’ll be ruining all of our effort. You’re in a team now: don’t be selfish and think about others.” He added, his eyes were looking sternly at hers, made her felt as if he was drilling holes with his eyes.

Min Ra gulped nervously before she nodded. The air between them had become somewhat tense as silence enveloped the two band members. He glanced at her before leaning back to the chair, relaxing his muscles.

“Do you go here often?” He asked her casually. His relaxed face had indicated that the friendly Baekhyun was back.

Min Ra blinked a couple times before answering with a nod. The sunbae seriously had a mood swings issue.

"Are you new here, Sunbaenim?"

His eyes widen in surprise; his slightly opened mouth made him looked like a little child. It was difficult to relate the currently child-like surprised guy with the intimidating man from before.

"How do you know?" Genuine interest was heard in his question.

"I'm quite a regular here."

Baekhyun-sunbanim nodded at her answer. "I got this job from my cousin." He told her, "he got casted." He added half whispering, his right hand covered a side of his face. "I thought maybe I could get scouted too if I sing here." He spoke honestly.

Min Ra tilted her head to a side. She never thought anyone she knew would seriously consider singing as a job. Well, Baekhyun was a vocalist for their band, but their school was known better for its high academic and sport achievements. From what she had heard, the senior sitting in front of her was doing quite well in both academic and sport. Therefore, she was even more surprised to hear his hope to be scouted by agencies.

"You looked like you want to say something." He said, crossing his fingers below his chin. A smile was still on his face but his tone had changed into something that worried her.

Well, it was true that she had a question about Baekhyun-sunbaenim choice of future career, but wouldn't it be rather improper for her to ask? After all, they weren’t close and he was her sunbae.

He clicked his tongue impatiently. "Come on. I have an idea about what you probably want to say, do I really need to say it out loud? I hate people like you the most. What are you so afraid of?"

Min Ra startled at the sudden expression of hatred from him. He tapped his fingers to the table, his face was sour. Min Ra decided that it would be better to not make him more pissed off.

"Er.... Sunbaenim," she slowly started, "why do you want to be a singer?"

"I've always love music. It's my passion since I was a kid and my parents are musicians too. Even if I don't get casted by any agencies, I'm planning on taking music major in college and becoming a musician." He explained briefly.

He shook his head in disbelief. "Was it really difficult for you to say what's in your mind? I've been watching you at practices, and you seemed to be unable to express your thoughts well."

"I'm sorry." Min Ra said automatically.

"You should be."

When she kept quiet, he continued. "This kind of personality of yours won't be able to take you anywhere." He pointed at her. "It's got to go." He motioned slicing his neck with his hand. The awkward silence that was formed after it was broken by Min Ji delivering her order: a glass of milk, a chocolate croissant, and a cupcake. Baekhyun stopped Min Ji from returning to her post by giving her his order.

The suffocating silence continued after Min Ji left. However, after a few seconds or so, Baekhyun decided to break it.

You are really quiet." He shook his head in disbelief again but this time with a grin plastered on his face. Min Ra only smiled awkwardly at his comment. She was a naturally quiet person but his late harsh attitude toward her had also contributed to her silence. She couldn't believe that he expect her to act as if his scolding had never happened. In fact, she was quite surprised that he could talk to her so offhandedly right after he reprimanded her about her personality.

He sighed.

"Well, since it's like this, I'll have to start, right?” He asked her casually while still grinning. 

“So, Chanyeol and Taeng told me you live near where I used to live. Where exactly is your place?" He questioned nonchallantly.

Min Ra looked at him for a while before answering.  It seemed that the sunbae in front of her was back on his friendly mode.

"Ah, it's on the street near..."

The rest of their conversation was pleasant. Min Ra realized that he was actually a friendly guy when he wasn’t pissed off; he could make her talk at ease like Taeyeon-unnie did. After his order came, they started enjoying their meals while chatting about various random things. She realized that he was also quite humorous like Chanyeol; he would always throw a gag or two related with the topic they were talking. She laughed a lot during their chitchat—she had a low threshold for humor—and ended up worrying if she would be choked on her food if he kept on making her laughed. It seemed that he realized that he almost choked her to death with laughter that he decided to stop and let them eat in silence.

Suddenly he stopped chewing and tapped Min Ra's hand. "Look!" He pointed at the street. Min Ra looked at where he pointed and her eyes widened. At the street, she saw a boyish girl and a tall blond guy talked to a street vendor selling cute phone straps and other cutesy stuffs while holding hands. It was Amber and Kris.

"Are they dating?" he asked her curiously.

Are they? Amber never told her anything about it.

"I don't know." She answered honestly.

"I thought you're her friend." he mumbled while searching his pants pocket. He took out his camera phone and directed it at the pair outside the window.

"This is going to be interesting," he his lips in amusedment. A smirk was plastered on his face as he took a picture.

Am I her friend? 

Min Ra felt a pang in her heart. Maybe this was how Amber felt when Min Ra refused to tell Amber her feeling about music and the school band audition. She realized that it was utterly uncomfortable to know that a good friend of hers had hidden something important from her.

 "What is your e-mail address?" he asked him after he was satisfied with the picture he took. 

Min Ra told him her address and felt her phone vibrated after less than a minute. She flipped her phone open and saw a message, most likely from Baekhyun, containing a picture of of Amber and Kris-sunbaenim.

"Ask her." He ordered her,  "You're curious too, right?"

Am I?

No doubt about it. It's about Amber.

He drank his glass of apple juice until it was empty before he wiped his mouth with a napkin and glanced at his watch. “Ooops, I have to go. See you at school. Learn the keyboard well and don't forget to speak up." He patted her shoulders before walking back to the piano. Min Ra nodded.  He stood up from his seat and marched toward the piano. He was already halfway when she decided to give him encouragement.

 "I hope you'll perform well, Sunbaenim."

He halted his steps and turned back. "I will." He said, winking and making a gun-shooting gesture with his right hand. Min Ra felt her cheeks reddened as she saw her fierce sunbae acting cute.

TBC