The evaluation was in three days. It had been a week since she had ignored Jongin in that practice room.  For the whole week, she noticed that Jongin didn’t bother her since.  In her mind, she saw it as a good thing, that Jongin would no longer confuse her any longer.  But somewhere inside of her, she also felt disappointed.  Every time she was practicing, she had a tiny hope that it would Jongin who would appear in the doorway.  But he wouldn’t and she knew that.

At the moment she was walking through the SM building to her vocal lesson.  But as she arrived at one of the small practice rooms, which just fitted a piano without much more room to spare, she didn’t see her singing teacher there. 

Maybe, she’s late.  She thought.  And she started preparing anyway, taking out her music sheet and placing it on the music stand carefully.

Then she heard the click of the door opening.  She turned around expecting to see her vocal teacher but it wasn’t her.  It was Jongin.  Except his hair was messier than usual, his eyes more weary and worn out.  It looked like he had been completely drained of energy. 

He didn’t say anything.  He walked sluggishly towards her, his steps heavy and his eyes in a daze.  Seeing his exhausted appearance, Jieun looked at him worriedly.  She wanted to know why he was like this.  But before she could ask him he walked closer to her until his body was inches away from hers. 

He reached out and entwined one of his hands with hers.  It was at this close distance, she saw the tears that stained his cheeks, as the light reflected on his face. 

Was it guilt or sympathy?  She didn’t pull her hand away.  She didn’t know why he was sad but she saw how he looked at her with his eyes.  The eyes that were searching for comfort and reassurance, eyes that she had never seen from him before. 

“Are you ok?”  She asked.  Wondering how on earth he became like this.  Jieun had never seen Jongin so distressed before. 

He didn’t reply and instead pulled her with him as he led her towards the CD player.  He pressed play, and closed his eyes, as if he was trying to breathe in the music.  He gently pulled her closer to his body and enclosed her into a hug, one hand still entwined with hers, while the other wrapped around her waist.  He then rested his head on her shoulder. 

Surprised by the close contact, Jieun tried to push Jongin away. 

“What are you doing?” She asked frantically.

But Jongin was firm and resisted her struggle against him. 

“Just for this moment, don’t ignore me.”  He was struggling to get the words out, his voice coarse and as he spoke to her, she could hear the desperation in his voice.  It sounded like he had screamed his lungs out and his voice was now barely holding on.

The music he had switched on was the piano accompaniment of the song she was practicing.   She hadn’t perfected playing the piano part of the song yet, so she had practiced singing with a piano recording first.  It was a slow song with a sad and haunting piano melody.

Jieun wouldn’t say it was really dancing because all Jongin did was move slowly to the music in the small practice room, just swaying back and forth with her in his arms.

With every passing second, the beat of her heart ringing through her ears. It was as if her body was telling her, Jongin was way too close.  She wished that Jongin didn’t feel it. 

She wished this moment would never end.  At least for this moment, it felt like Jongin was closest to her.  It felt like she was of some use to him, of some comfort even though she didn’t know why he was so distressed.  With her free hand, she moved it into a position where she could gently pat his back in a steady rhythm. 

But the moment ended and as if realising his impulsive actions, he slowly let her out of his embrace.  And before he let go of her hand, his fingers lingered for a while as if he was reluctant to let go. 

Avoiding her eyes, he said awkwardly, “Sorry, I forced you to do that.  I’ll go now.”

And with that he walked off in a daze before Jieun could say anything. 

- - -

When she asked Sehun what was wrong with Jongin the very next day (obviously without telling him the specifics), Sehun let out a sigh before saying, “You should ask him yourself, Jieun.” 

He thought for a moment and then said to her, “Can you go cheer him up?  He’s at the nearby park which is just two streets down from the SM building.” 

 “How long are you going to keep ignoring Jongin?”  Sehun asked.  “He’s pretty irritated that you’re only talking to me, you know?”

She could see from Sehun’s expression that he had been dying to ask her that question. 

 

“It’s just that…”  Jieun didn’t know how to act in front of Jongin.  She didn’t know how to start talking to him again after ignoring him like that. 

Sehun looked at her with a sigh, as he finished her sentence for her, “Just that you don’t want him to find out, yes?”

“You didn’t tell him, did you?”  Jieun looked at Sehun worriedly.

“Of course I didn’t.  Jieun you should have a bit more faith in me!”  Sehun crossed his arms, giving her a sulking expression, complete with pouty lips. 

Jieun smiled at Sehun’s cute expression as she said, “Thanks Sehun.” 

“But you need to talk to him.  You are still his friend, aren’t you, Jieun?”

“I’ve got to practise.  There’s only two days until the evaluation.” 

Sehun gave her a hard look, the expression, which clearly said “You’re not going to help a friend in need?” 

She was worried about Jongin too, seeing his state yesterday, but she couldn’t bring herself to go and as