Thankfully, for a very confused and troubled Haneul, there weren’t any other demons to be afraid on the way home. She reached her front door with a sigh of relief.

“Look at that spandex; it’s riding up her…”

Haneul rushed into the living area before Kibum could say the last word, the sound of catchy auto tuned pop music playing in the background.

“Yah, what are you doing here?!” 

Kibum and his companion, a girl dressed in a pair of jeans and a poroporo t-shirt turned their heads away from the television screen.

“I came by to wait for you.”

“H-hold on,” Haneul thought for a moment. “Don’t tell me you invited yourself over again.”

“Actually I did.” Haneul scowled at her father who calmly made the confession. He walked by them, loosening his tie as he went into the kitchen where the smell of frying fish emerged. Haneul raised her eyes to the roof.

“Ok, well can I steal your attention?”

“Why, unnie he’s watching this with me,” the girl responded.

“You can have him back later Hanjung.” She tugged Kibum on the arm and dragged him to her room.

****

The space which Haneul called her own reflected her personality; dark with traces of recklessness and individuality. The bedding was a deep red, one wall grey instead of black which she had wanted to paint black but had been denied the privilege due to how dark the room would become.  Aside from a desk with a computer, there were two posters of Santana and the rock band Eden, a wardrobe, some other furniture in her room, a saxophone case, a large oblong case with a bass guitar, and an amplifier which was plugged in at the wall but turned off.

Kibum made himself comfortable on her bed. Haneul cut to the chase. “Are my parents trying to hook us up again?”

“I’m not sure,” Kibum dipped his head to think. “They might be, but they’re doing it discreetly so that it will take a while to realise it.”

“Well they know I’ll put a stop to it once I find out.”

“Will your approach from last time work?”

Haneul stared at her friend.

“I’m not afraid of the consequences,” her tone said it all. Kibum leaned back with his hands pressing against the bed, pushing his shoulders out.
“You’re not going to threaten to punch a hole in their bedroom wall again.”

“No, I’m going to make it two holes.”

“It won’t work.” Kibum said adding before Haneul could argue. “You’re not strong enough.”

“I’ll show you strong!” She jumped on the bed grabbing his neck with her open hand. He pretended to cough and choke under her grasp before ending it with a tickle under her arms.

“Hey that’s cheating!” But the cheating worked in his favour. She had to fall back in retreat as he stood up and did a small victory lap around the room.

“I have the magic touch,” he declared, wiggling his fingers to demonstrate. Haneul sat up, holding her arms closer in to prevent another attack if he changed his mind.  Shortly, her breathing calmed and she was able to talk normally again without giggles.

“Unfortunately you won’t be able to stay for dinner tonight.” She admitted regretfully rising and going to her desk picking up a music book with the lines ruled on it in blue ink. There were scribbles of musical notes crossed out and random comments she’d written herself. “I have to work on my composition.”

“But it’s still seven months away until the deadline for submission,” Kibum retorted. "How many times have you actually re-written it; four, five?”

“Eight.”

Kibum groaned at her while falling back against the bed the moment she said the number.

“See? You really don’t have anything to worry about. You’re a damn perfectionist when it comes to your music.”

“I’m not a perfectionist,” Haneul rebutted. “I’m just particular about the chord progressions, the arrangement of the string picking…”

“Pretty much the whole thing,” Kibum ducked to avoid the capo which flew at his head. “Hey, I would have needed stiches for that!”

“ it up, princess,” Haneul put her book down to go to her wardrobe. This was a typical saying of hers and Kibum swears that he heard it in his sleep once.

“Fine,” he got up and zipped up his jacket. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sure no problem,” with her back turned she held up two pairs of jeans. One stone washed with a rip in the right knee and the other grey and skinny.

“Hey, Noona.” Every time without fail whenever he addressed Haneul with that term instead of her actual name she would feel her ears burn from the annoyance of the sound. “Maybe get Jonghyun-hyung to help you; he does a bit of picking along the side.”

She wasn’t going to tell him she didn’t feel like asking him. Why? Simply because of her pride.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Well, ask him when we see him Friday night,” Kibum suggested reminding her of their weekly ritual of going to a local restaurant-slash-bar where their friend played every Friday evening.

“Like I said before—“

“Ok fine, bye,” Kibum then waved and showed himself out. Haneul was able to then change out of her school uniform into a large white Beatles t-shirt with the grey jeans and her typical jewellery, a large ring with a black stone and a leather cuff band.

****

After the dinner, which turned out to be fried fish cakes and a tofu based soup, Haneul closed herself off in her room to complete her homework and then spent until eleven, scribbling four bars of notes which she erased and re-wrote three times.

She hummed the notes and then transferred what she had on paper into the computer using a special program. She cringed as the music played, making sure she spotted where the music sounded most awful and the other weak patterns in the tune. In the end she deleted the music and started again from scratch.

At eleven fifteen she gave up; she only had one section completed to show for it. The music seemed to jeer at her for her obsessive compulsive indecisiveness. Closing the book, she went to get ready for bed, her mind playing the music back to her before it saw a screaming face making her jump. It cleared to the glowing aura she had seen before: the angels who’ve yet to complicate things, but eventually would if they came for her again. She secretly hoped that she’d been dreaming all along.

I give you more character development. So Haneul in other words is a perfectionist, she’s the kind of person to practice three hours a day; we also have comedic development with Kibum and the kind of weird relationship they have.

Oh and here’s music terms once again:

Chord progression – a chord is a serious of notes played together to create one sound, so the progression is when one or all the notes of the chord are changed to make a new sound. So for a guitar piece it can be going from G to C, or A to D.

Picking – the guitarist holds down notes on the fret board and then plucks the six strings with either their thumb, or three of the other fingers. The only one not used is the pinkie. Usually done in classical or Spanish guitar music.