Daesung woke up feeling sick, he didn't know how he was going to get through this day, or whether. He put his clothes on with difficulty and grabbed the bag he used for his paper route. When he was tying his shoes his stomach made an ominous sound, Daesung dropped his stuff on the floor and ran to the bathroom and threw up. He washed up and looked in the mirror, staring back at him was a sickly looking glassy eyed boy with a pasty complexion. He tried to calm himself down, it wouldn't be that bad. Yes, it would! Shh, he needed to think positive.

After he finished his paper route he headed to school, the fresh air had done him some good but his steps got heavier as he got closer to the school. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming” he whispered to himself, quoting Dory from Finding Nemo. Daesung loved that movie and found this simple little song a very useful coping mechanism. If he just kept swimming, in the end he would swim past the difficulties that were ahead. So he only needed to focus on swimming, just keep swimming. He breathed deeply as he entered the school.

Daesung's classes dragged on for what felt like forever. He heard the classroom clock count down the seconds until his execution *tick* *tick* *tick*. His stomach churned, he felt like throwing up again but there was nothing left to throw up. Pearls of sweat glistened on his forhead and his hands were clammy. He glanced in the direction of Seunghyun, who returned his glance. If Daesung didn't know better he would have sworn that Seunghyun had a worried look on his face. Did he really look so horrible to make even expressionless Seunghyun abandone his cool for a worried expression. He looked away, he was too sick to have the energy for a back and forth with himself over whether Seunghyun was really worried or not. That would have to wait for a better time.

It was time, 3 o'clock had come too soon. Everyone headed to the assembly hall, except Daesung who disappeared into the nearest bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face. It was refreshing but he still felt horrible. Swimming was hard. Should he just run away never to return, go back to his old school where life was simple. He missed his friends. No matter how much he wanted to, giving up was not an option. He had to pull himself together. He looked himself in the eyes through the mirror and told himself to it up and stop being such a wuss. Oh no, he was going to be way too late, he hurried out of the bathroom. There was a crowd of students gathered in front of the doors of the assembly hall. Daesung tried to navigate through it, squeezing past a group of chattering girls. He caught a part of their high pitched conversation while he was passing through. “OMG, I don't believe you!”, “No, I swear it's true, Hyorin just sent me a text message, she's in his class.”, “I still don't believe it. He has never ever taken part in the Winter Wonderfest, so not a chance!” “I'm telling you, Seunghyun's going to play the lead!”. Daesung couldn't believe his ears, but he was too nervous to process the information.

He finally reached the door and pushed it open, he was shaking from fear. Everyone from the class was already inside and the auditions had already started. Some girl was torturing her fellow classmates with her fantastically off pitch singing. Well, if she could do it... He wiped the sweat off his forhead and looked around for the teacher. He could barely walk, and he felt dizzy. As he walked in the direction of the teacher he started seeing spots, he was about to faint. He tried to focus on his breathing. In, out, in, out, in aaand out. One step, then another. He managed to reach the teacher. He supported himself on a nearby chair so he wouldn't just fall down. “Mi.. miss Lee, I'm here, when is my audition?” he stammered. “Oh, Daesung, yeah, no, you don't have to audition. You'll be in charge of props.” she replied and walked away scribbling something on her clipboard. The shock brought Daesung quickly back to full consciousness. He didn't have to audition? Why? How? But everyone else was auditioning. Did she have so little faith in him that she didn't think it was worth giving him a try? Even though Daesung was extremely relieved not to have to audition, he had to admit that his pride had been hurt a little. Was it because he was the poor kid? Or had she seen how the stress was eating at him? That was unlikely, as he looked around there were students all around with fear in their eyes. She had said no excuses. Daesung hadn't even tried making an excuse and still he was exempted? He had thought about coming up with an excuse, but in the end he found it too demeaning and he hated lying. Maybe it was divine intervention, the work of a guardian angel perhaps? He doubted it, he had never been the lucky type. Daesung sat down utterly perplexed and watched the rest of the auditions.

“Okay, that's everyone!” the teacher said loudly. “We don't have much time, so we are going to dive right into it. Hyorin, you will play Sandy to Seunghyun's Danny”. The girls around Hyorin were in fits of giggles while Hyorin turned completely red. “...but Seunghyun didn't even audition!” an annoyed boy kicked the chair behind Daesung. Daesung hadn't noticed but Seunghyun had been standing in a corner beside the stage this whole time. He walked coolly on stage, it was like he owned the world. He was incredibly handsome, there was no denying it. All eyes were on him and the room got quiet. Hyorin followed him nervously and looked closer to fainting than Daesung had earlier as she stood there beside Seunghyun. “Okay, we are only going to run loosly through the script so you know which parts are yours. We start rehearsing for real tomorrow.” the teacher said and indicated to the couple on stage to start. Seunghyun spoke his line and Daesung's heart skipped a beat. His voice was hoarce and deep, but at the same time soft and sweet. It was like nothing he had ever heard before. It had this enchanting quality about it, Daesung felt as though he was being put under a spell. He couldn't look away and just sat there gazing at him as if he were gazing at the stars, only Seunghyun shone brighter. Without meaning to, Daesung started smiling. At that same exact moment Seunghyun looked right at him and winked.