Chapter 21: Coincidence Not Anymore

           "L, wait!" Woo-hyun said as L rushed out of the music hall. Gette and I followed him, and because he is taller than the two of us, one stride of his is equivalent to two of ours. Soon Gette and I were starting to feel the pain in our feet.

          "L, please slow down," I said between huffs. Gette accelerated and grabbed L's arm which successfully made him stop.

          "Myung-soo, please calm down," Gette told him, but L's face was hidden from us. "Please, look at me."

          L looked beyond her, and it was obvious that he was trying to suppress his emotions. Gette looked at me before speaking to L. "Come on, let's go someplace you can relax," Gette pulled L and glanced at me as if asking for help.

          I followed the two until we got into the practice room buildings, the side made for piano students. Gette opened the door with her free hand and pulled L inside. I followed in and closed the door after me. I was worried of course, as it was the first time I saw L like that. But then part of me was quite curious: how will my best friend make L feel better after that loss?

          Gette pulled L towards the chair in front of the grand piano and made him sit there. "Hmm, I know what you need!" Gette stood up and ran to me. "Can you do me a favor?"

--o0o---

          I jumped out of the bus, and started my way to the shopping district. I held the list that Gette gave me and reviewed the content which were, in short, quite weird. It includes a pint of vanilla ice cream, one liter cola, hard as ice and chocolate syrup.

          "Why do I have to go here just to get these?" I asked myself, then I remembered that Gette already answered the question earlier. "It's for L," she told me.

          As I was walking along the rows of shops, I passed by that crazy music shop again.

          Except from the new hand written posters stuck to the shop's glass windows, the facade didn't change that much. I partly looked inside and it surprised me to find a similar twin guitars like what Jun-hyung and I got when we went there. "Jun-hyung, are you still using the guitar?" I muttered to myself. Suddenly I bumped to someone.

          "Oh! I'm really sorry," I said while helping the person get up, “are you okay, miss?"

          "I'm alright," When she got up, that was the time I saw her face, which was very familiar.

          "Have we met before?" I asked her.

          "I'm not sure," the girl said while narrowing her eyes as if trying to think back.

          "Aren't you the girl Jun-hyu~ Jason was with during the party?" I told her. Suddenly her eyes widened and for a while she didn't say anything. She just looked at me from head to toe.

          "Now I remember you! Aren't you the crying girl who ran to Jason and called him...that name," she said. "Why were you crying that time?"

          "Let's not talk about it," I said, "you're Catherine, right?"

          "Yes, and you're...?"

          "Charmaine," I said.

          "Nice to meet you, Charmaine," she said. "I see you're studying in a prestigious music school, would you mind helping me?"

          "I have to buy some things," I was about to leave her but she pleaded, even told me that I'm the only one who could help her. "Help you with what?"

          "I want to buy a new guitar for Jason," she said, "since he transferred to your school. But I don't know which one will he probably like."

          I was hesitant at first, but since she asked nicely, I ended up leading her to another shop.

          "I thought money wouldn't be a problem to you, so I took you here. They have all the popular brands of guitars, and I'm sure you'll be able to get something that will suit him," I told her.

          "Will you help me choose?" she said, again with a cutesy voice like what she did earlier which almost made me wonder how was she able to do that without being annoying.

          "Will you describe Jason?" I said. Blood rushed to her cheeks before starting. 

          "He's quite a shy type. He never let people know what he truly wants, but he will work hard to get it. He truly cares about people and would do anything for them. Even leave them in order to protect them."

          "Wow," I managed to say. Judging by the way she described Jason, "You love him so much." Catherine blushed, but instead of a wide, warm smile, she gave me a sad one, "unfortunately he doesn't love me the way I love him."

          "Don't worry," I said. I placed my hand tentatively over her shoulder before continuing, "Soon he'll realize how stupid he has been."

          "I wish you're right," she said. After that we went around the store looking to different guitars that would probably appeal to Jason, until I caught sight of a white guitar with silver outlines. I walked forward and checked it out. It was something that would look good on Jun-hyung, and probably on Jason as well.

           "That's perfect," Catherine said when she saw the guitar I was holding. She paid for it right away and soon we were out of the store. I bade her goodbye but she insisted to stay and told me that she'd walk of back to school, so to be polite, I welcomed her to join me.

          After buying the things Gette asked me to buy, we board a bus back to school. "Do you need help in finding Jason?" I asked when we were already walking in the school halls.

          "Don't worry, I'm about to meet him later," she said, "let me just walk you back to your friends." We went to the locker rooms and took a box from Gette's locker before going to the piano room.

          "Is that the room?" Catherine asked. I nodded and she went ahead and peeked through the door's window. "What's happening here?" she said. I went beside her and looked. Gette and L was there, and also a visitor.

          "Jason?" Catherine said as soon as she opened the door. Jason spun around and his eyes looked at her for a second before settling on me. "Mae?" he muttered.

          "No Jason, she's..." Catherine looked at me, puzzled, "Charmaine."

          "My friends call me Mae," I told her. Suddenly her eyes widened and her laws locked. I looked at Jason and he seemed like he was caught doing a crime on the spot. "Jason, we have to go," Catherine said in a tone she never used during the time I was with her. She turned around and when she saw that Jason wasn't moving, she moved and took his hand. She pulled him towards the door and out without a word. Just a fierce look in her eyes. In a second she changed into a completely different person.

           "Did you hear that?" L said.

           "Hear what?" I asked.

           "He called you by your nickname," Gette said.