“Himchan…ah.”

Himchan has just written the last few key points of his professor’s lecture in his notes; the professor has recently dismissed the class and now, amidst the sounds of students once again hustling and bustling their ways out of the classroom, Himchan hears Yongguk calling out his name behind him, with a suffix that he has never heard Yongguk address him with before.  He slowly turns around, facing Yongguk with a wary look.  The past few days have been awkward for them, though Himchan was relieved last Thursday when Jongup returned his notebook from Yongguk through Jongin. 

Ever since his notebook was returned, Himchan has not known how to act around Yongguk, looking for any signs of Yongguk knowing what he wrote in his notebook.  Even though Yongguk knows, he does not let it show, leaving Himchan to believe he has never seen Himchan’s doodles.  However, Yongguk has toned down his blunt flirting, since they soon need to start working on their project that is due in two months’ time.  Himchan has avoided Yongguk these past few days, and Yongguk has wanted to share his brilliant idea for the project.

Now, in the almost empty classroom, Yongguk and Himchan hold their longest eye contact ever, until Yongguk looks away, clearing his throat, and he asks Himchan.

“I want to suggest something for our project…”

Himchan frowns at him in slight panic.  “What project?”

Yongguk’s eyes flicker back to Himchan with a surprised look.  Blinking, he speaks slowly, later picking up the pace.  “The…project.  The one our professor mentioned last week…Well, he hadn’t mentioned anything about it since then but…I’m sure you must remember the project?  The one due in December, where we have to create a presentation for the class, dealing with the interaction and exposure to different styles.  The professor mentioned we could do anything we want with music.”

Himchan’s eyes glance around in confusion, obviously unable to remember anything about it.  He shrugs lightly.

“Wow,” Yongguk breathes.  “You really did not pay attention that day…Well, I asked you if we could be partners, do you remember that?”

“YAH, I’m not that stupid to forget that,” Himchan complains, but he does not know that he subconsciously is gripping his notebook.  “I…remember that part.  So what do you have in mind?”

“Well,” Yongguk shifts a bit in his seat, leaning forward.  Himchan slightly backs away on instinct.  Yongguk catches that brief movement and chuckles, “I was thinking of creating a hybrid genre.  You see, you have your strong traditional music background, and I have my strong western hip-hop music background.  We can find some way to merge these two music styles.  What do you think?”

Himchan blinks, stunned to hear a word that Yongguk is saying.  “Are you asking me to deface the well-respected reputations of these traditional instr-”

“No no, that isn’t even my intention at all.  My intention is quite the opposite.  I want to bring these instruments to light, because I can see their potential to make awesome music, you know what I’m saying?  It’ll be fun!”  Yongguk has this gummy smile on his face, like he has found gold.

Himchan looks at Yongguk dubiously, “…I suppose.”

“Great! May I get your contact info?  ‘Cause I tried to ask you last week but you ran off, and uh, you’ve been kind of avoiding me lately.”  Yongguk’s smile fades and an expression of uncertainty replaces his then-excited face as he scratches the back of his neck.

“Oh…right, yeah...” Himchan trails off, the memory of last Thursday still creeping into his brain, and he blushes.  “Um, here, lemme write it down.”  A little distracted, he immediately writes his phone number and email on a page of Yongguk’s notebook; not noticing how Yongguk tried to stop him because he already has his cell phone out on his desk.

“Okay, great so uhm…heh,” Yongguk chuckles at Himchan’s distracted state of mind, craning his head to read Himchan’s email username, ‘MusicOfOld_gnr8N’, Music Of Old generatioN.  Even though Yongguk thinks it is a long username, and a corny one, at least he can tell that it has Himchan’s surname in it.  He enters Himchan’s phone number into his phone.  “I’ll give you a call and you can save it into your phone; same for emailing, I’ll email you.  Lemme call you right now.”  Yongguk says as he dials and brings his phone to his ear.

“But wait, there’s pe-“ Himchan looks around the classroom, and it is mostly empty except for the two of them.  “…Never mind.”  He takes out his cell phone and stares down at it, waiting for Yongguk’s call to go through.  When it does, he feels his cell phone momentarily vibrate before he pushes the button hurriedly to turn the vibration off.   Himchan sees Yongguk’s number and saves it into his contacts.

“So, when would you like to meet up, after school today, or this weekend, or what?”  Himchan briskly asks Yongguk.

“Yeah, we can meet up today.  You don't have to bring anything.  We’ll go to my house, and I can show you some of my albums you can listen to, you know, just to get the feel of it.  Let me warn you, though. I have a younger brother who’s in high school, so he can be a bit too much to handle, for other people, it seems.  I also have an older sister who’s a free-lance rapper and a dance instructor.  You know, I think I might have seen your brother…if ‘Jongup’ is your brother?”  Himchan blinks at him and slowly nods, wondering how the heck did Yongguk know this.  As if reading his mind, Yongguk replies with a smirk, “It wasn’t that hard to hear you last Tuesday during lunch when you called out to him.”   It leaves Himchan blushing and stuttering to make up some poor excuse for not being so composed with himself. 

Yongguk chuckles and continues on, “Jongin and Sehun told me about Jongup.  He seems like a nice kid, from what I hear.  But anyway, next week Saturday, we can meet up at your place.  You can show me your instruments, and I can listen to your cds of your performances and other traditional music performances.  In the weeks to come after that, we’ll experiment at one of our studios and work out a piece for us to play for the class.  What do you think?”

Himchan nods, thinking hard about this.  Maybe it won’t be so bad after all, I think this could work out really well, he thinks to himself.

A sudden vibration on his cell phone interrupts Himchan’s thoughts as he jerks awake, and Yongguk gives him a concerned look.  Himchan looks at his cell phone, a text message from Hyosung.  He checks it and receives good news.

To: Kim Himchan
From: Jeon Hyosung
Himchannie! I got the job! You’re looking at the dance instructor teacher assistant right now!  I’m gonna go celebrate with some old friends, is that okay? I kinda promised them that I would meet up with them.  We’ll celebrate sometime this weekend if we can.

Huh, old friends?  She must mean the friends from her college, I guess…Eh, I’ll surprise her later this weekend with a date, Himchan thinks to himself with a shrug.

“What was that about?”

Himchan jolts, forgetting that he is not the only one in the room, as he looks into Yongguk’s concerned eyes.  His mind goes blank, and all he can say is, “Mm…”

“…Mm?”

“Uh…no, it’s uh…” Himchan blinks as he waves with his cell phone in his hand, making out as brushing off air, “It’s just that my girlfriend got the job, heh.  But she’s celebrating with her old friends, though I think she means her friends from college, which was not too long ago…she’s gonna be this” – he reads his cell phone – “dance instructor teacher assistant.”  He looks up at Yongguk, who raises his eyebrows at the title.

“That’s a long name to be addressed.”

“That’s what I thought too.  But as long as she’s happy with what she’s doing, I’m fine with that.  And uh…” Himchan turns around as he makes to stand up from his seat, still holding his cell phone in his hand.  He gathers the rest of his stuff into his laptop bag, “…I think we should get going for lunch, we’re the only ones here, Yongguk-sshi.”

“Hm? Oh, are we?” Yongguk looks around from his seat.  “Oh wow, seems like you’re right.  Wanna join me for lunch?”  He gathers his stuff and stands up as well, glancing at Himchan when he offers lunch.

“Ah, no that’s o-”

As Himchan makes to follow Yongguk up the stairs since Yongguk is already walking up, there is a sudden vibration in his hand, which causes Himchan to look down at his cell phone again.  A text from Jongup…wait, is he okay?, Himchan mildly panics as he flips open the cell phone and reads the text.

To: Himmie Hyung
From: Cheetos
Hyung, I’m going to go eat with Jongin and Sehun for lunch.  Is that okay with you?  Please don’t be mad or worried, hyung~  I’ll be eating with them at the food courtyard but it’ll probably be in a different area.  I’ll see you after class! ^_^;

“Actually, I’ll take up the offer.”  Himchan continues to walk up the stairs, as Yongguk is waiting for him at the top.  “My brother’s gonna eat with his friends.  Is that okay with you, Yongguk-ssh-”

“Himchan-ah,” Yongguk interrupts with a slightly pained voice, making Himchan falter in his steps, “we’re friends.  No need to be all polite and ‘-sshi’ with me.  I’ve called you ‘Himchannie’ for the past few days, and even ‘Himchan-ah’ today.  We’re even in the same year.  Speak comfortably with me, ok?”

Himchan fidgets in his standing position, appearing to think about it.  Finally, he gives in.  “…Okay…Yongguk…a-…kie.”  Himchan cringes a bit.

Yongguk notices the slight movement, and he suddenly asks Himchan, “Don’t you have your group of friends?  Since you’re kinda well known in the music department, as I’ve heard from my girlfriend too.  Actually, more like really well known.  Figured a guy like you would have some friends, though…”

Himchan blushes.  Yongguk waits for Himchan to say something, but Himchan is thinking to himself, Man, I have been blushing like this one too many times with him around.  Why does it have to be Yongguk?  He continues to walk until he is at the top of the stairs, standing in front of Yongguk.  “I…don’t, actually…erm…yeah.  Hyosung, my girlfriend, is also my only best friend.  I don’t really have a time to be social, anyway.”  They start to walk out of the classroom and head to the Food Courtyard.  Yongguk is paying attention to every word he says, and Himchan is half-nervous and half-glad that someone cares about his well-being.  “Er…I-I came here to study, and to help my brother do well in school.  I have even done some part-time jobs inside and outside of campus; right now, I’m assisting an old professor of mine.  He’ll call on me the night before to either temporarily preside the lectures in the next day or help him grade some papers.  Our pa-…”  Himchan catches himself from saying the rest of the word “parents”, because he does not want to think on the memory of his parents.  Yongguk has been looking ahead and listening to him, until he hears Himchan hesitate and he looks at him, waiting to hear the rest of it. 

Himchan clears his throat, “I’m sure people have spread rumors that I have a rich status, but I don’t.  I never called myself rich, because the money I had…was passed down.  I don’t even intend to use that money unless necessary, and I can manage working jobs to earn enough money for Jongup and I.  I earned my own money to be able to pay off half of both my and Jongup’s tuitions, using some of the inherited money to pay the other half.”

Yongguk looks at Himchan with pitiful eyes, figuring out what Himchan was trying hard not to say out loud.  However, he does not bring it up, and can only wait until Himchan is ready to tell him.  “Himchan-ah,” Yongguk lifts one of his arms to drape over Himchan’s shoulders, and he can feel Himchan flinching a bit before getting a bit stiff under his arm.  “Whoa, okay.  First of all, you need to relax, I’m your friend from now on.  I mean it.  Second of all, I really respect what you do.  You sound like a hero to your brother, a role model that everyone can learn from you and respect you so much.  Your parents must be proud of you.”  He does not miss Himchan’s slight reaction to when he says ‘your parents’, as Himchan looks down and sag his shoulders. 

“Third, you’re gonna be meeting my younger group of friends, as well as my girlfriend.  I’ve known some of them for quite a long time.  Third, I