“Yah, Jung Daehyun! Will you wait up?”

Daehyun trudged up the staircase, his footsteps heavy against the aged wood floor-boards. His hunched over figure stopped once it reached the top of the flight.

“Daehyun, please talk to me. Why are those thugs looking for you? And why would they attack Donghae?”

Daehyun’s brooding figure hovered outside of his apartment doorway. “They won’t stop, they just won’t stop… Not until I’m-“ he stopped mid-sentence and checked behind him to see that I had followed him upstairs. Daehyun sighed and opened his apartment door, slipping inside without saying another word.

"Daehyun! Daehyun!" I called as I rushed up to his glued shut door. There was no response though, only a defining silence.

“Why the long face?” Jongup asked, following me once our first period had ended.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been pulling this expression all day.” An overly exaggerated depressed look crossed Jongup’s face.

“When did I ever do that?” I muttered, picking up my pace.

“I’m just joking,” Jongup said with a giggle. He began walking a bit faster to catch up to me, oblivious to the fact that I was in no mood to talk. All of a sudden, he went very quiet. “Did you and Daehyun have fun walking home together yesterday?”

My heart stopped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jongup appeared taken aback. “Nothing, I was just wondering if he was still being rude to you. That’s all.”

A rush of relief filled me, but I felt a jolt of guilt in my heart for being so rude towards Jongup. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just didn’t sleep very well last night. My thoughts were keeping me awake.”

“What kind of thoughts?”

“Oh, nothing important. Don’t worry too much about it,” I ensured him with a fake smile.

                                                            ***

My first official violin lesson was scheduled for after school that day. I had been looking forward to it all morning. Mr. Lee, the band director, was to be my violin teacher. The funny thing was that he actually wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought. He just liked to talk a lot, that’s all. And even though I had to constantly listen to Mr. Lee ramble on and on, I decided to be open-minded and try my hardest to make the best of my violin lesson. However, as the lesson continued on, something was off with me. And I wasn’t the only one who was noticing.

“Alright, let’s try this again. Lift your hand like this. Then with the bow, drive it with your wrist,” Mr. Lee exasperated as he positioned my hand.

With my newly arranged hand, I strummed a note on the violin. Soft and elongated, that’s how I envisioned the note would sound. Instead, a harsh, shrill squeak came out.

Mr. Lee cringed and began to massage his temples. “No, no, no, no, no…”

“I’m sorry! I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I’m usually not this bad.”

“It’s alright. Just, let’s try this once more,” he said with a hint of impatience.

Like he suggested, I tried the note once more, but it wasn’t much better. The ear-splitting sound could make just about anybody quiver in horror. It even sent chills down my spine.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough!”

I flinched back into my seat from Mr. Lee’s harsh tone. “I-I’m sorry teacher. I don’t know what’s gotten into me today.”

Mr. Lee set his music charts down and looked back over at me. “Why don’t we call it a day? Just go home, get some rest, and we’ll try again tomorrow?”

I felt the pit of my stomach drop, but I agreed anyways.

As I left Sunhwa, the shady clouds that loomed overhead mirrored my dark feelings. I thoughtlessly swung my violin case back and forth, wondering to myself why I wasn’t able to play, when it slipped from my grip. Gasping, I rushed to grab it from where it lay sprawled open on the sidewalk. Before I was able to pick it up, a hand reached down and pulled it from in front of me.

“Is this your- _____?” Donghae’s eyes widened as I stared back at him.

“Donghae!” I gasped, confused and wondering if I was seeing things. Realizing that it wasn't just my imagination playing tricks on me, I dashed towards Donghae and squeezed him into a tight hug. "You're okay," I mumbled. Realizing what I was doing, I hurriedly let go as a small amount of blush began to creep up on my face. “I thought you were hurt really badly.”

Donghae erupted into laughter. Focusing on my shoes, I frowned, refusing to meet eyes again. Donghae realized that I had been genuinely worried, for he suddenly wiped the smile off of his face. “I’m sorry Miss _____, you’re reaction just surprised me. And no, I’m not hurt too badly. Just a couple of bruises. The cops made a bigger deal about it than it actually was.”

Donghae’s right eye was blackened and his lip, fat and puffy, made him look something along the lines of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He looked as bad, if not worse, as Daehyun did that day at school. His eyes were surprisingly bright, though, as he beamed down at me. I just couldn’t bring myself to stay angry at him.

Opening my mouth to further question him, I hesitated when I realized the uniform that Donghae had on.

“You go to Sunhwa?”

Donghae’s smile faded and he checked what he was wearing before nodding. “Yeah, I guess I do!”

I swatted at his arm. “Yah, why didn’t you tell me you went here? I’ve never seen you before!”

“You never asked,” he said, easily dodging my hit.

Questions filled my mind and I was prepared to bombard him, but as if he could read my mind, he put up a hand to stop me.

“I just remembered, before I was released from the hospital this morning, Daehyun came in and visited me.”

My breath caught in my throat and my words froze in between my lips. Come to think of it, Daehyun wasn’t at school today. I had been wondering where he was all day, and I couldn’t help but think the worse had happened to him. But hearing how Daehyun had visited Donghae earlier today, a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I couldn’t even begin to explain how relieved I really was.

Seeing as he caught my attention, Donghae continued. “It was weird though, he looked so drained, like he hadn’t slept in days. I mean, I understand how idols are sleep deprived, but still…” Donghae rattled his head, aware that he had been babbling. “Anyways, he asked about the thugs who’d attacked me, but what was even stranger was that he asked for…”

I was practically hovering on the edges of my toes, awaiting the thing that Donghae was building up to.

He broke the sudden, tense atmosphere with a grin. “Girl advice.”