Jaekyung sat with a sigh on the keyboard stool in her living room, and pressed some keys which produced only thuds and it made her sighed again. She was questioning herself why she felt a bit out of everything, even after having met Nam Woohyun who was so attractive and totally hot. Then she thought it was because she was expecting too much and she knew well that too much expectation always leads to disappointment. Though she couldn't be sure what she was really expecting.

She switched on the keyboard and pressed more keys, one at a time, with a bored face and she kept on doing it until she heard a knock on her wall. Her head snapped towards the direction of the sound and she knew it was coming from her neighbour's house. She stared at the wall for a few seconds before pressing another key and there was a knock again.  Her lips formed a smile, somehow amused and so she hit another key and her neighbour knocked on her wall again. Then, slowly, she stood up and walked over to the wall, and she clenched her hand into a fist but there was a bit hesitation before she knocked on the wall. Then, she waited.

Knock knock

And then she laughed, and she was laughing a bit hard that some tears came out but strangely, she didn't really understand what was so funny. Perhaps it was the fact that it felt silly but nevertheless it was a good silly, she thought. Sniffing, she knocked on the wall again and then came another knock and she returned the knock and received another knock and unknowingly, she was moving towards the balcony door as she was knocking and following the knocks and at the last knock she did, there was no reply.

Curious, she opened the balcony door and took a peek at her neighbour's door to see that it was opened but her neighbour was nowhere to be seen. Without making any sound, she moved closer to the wall separating their balconies and peered inside of his house. However, her neighbour was nowhere in sight and it made her felt a little odd and thought that maybe there was really a woman ghost in his apartment when her gaze dropped and she saw him, leaning against the wall besides the balcony door, with one of his legs pulled up, facing away from her.

"Knock knock." She said, and watched as he inched away from the balcony and it made her a little upset. "Knock knock!" She repeated, a bit loud.

He only cleared his throat and let a few seconds passed before he spoke. "Knock."

"Well, hello." She said, not taking her eyes off his back, that she could only see a little of it.

"Hello."

"How are you?"

"Fine."

When a few seconds passed, she pouted and asked, "What's with the knocking?" She saw him moving his head, probably rolling his eyes but she didn't care and waited for his answer.

"Because you weren't playing the piano properly."

"That's it?" She asked, surprised. "Huh!" Jaekyung shakes her head in disbelieved and peered as close as she could towards his balcony. "Is that all that you care about? And I told you before, it's a keyboard, not a piano." He took a moment before answering yes and it made her scoffed.

"Why? What were you expecting?" He asked, but his different was strangely calm.

"I don't know! Perhaps because I thought that you were just trying to be friendly again."

"Why should I be friendly?"

"I don't know! Because we're neighbours?" She said, and her voice drifted away and she pouted, "... and because I thought that it was a rather cute thing to do..."

"Cute?" He said, and moved his head towards his right and Jaekyung could see the shape of his nose and then she could see that he was smiling and it sort of made her felt silly but again, a good silly.

"Why did you do it?"

"Because you weren't playing the piano correctly." He stated again.

"I know, but why did you return my knocks then? And then why were you moving when you were knocking?" She asked, as if pretending not to care when she was really curious. "I thought you were asking me to walk to the balcony so that we could talk but then you're only sitting there and letting me talk to your back."

"You sure do talk a lot." He commented.

"Can't help it. I'm a teacher." She replied. "And do you know it's rude to speak to someone without looking at them?"

"Then it's rude to talk on the phone."

"Huh?"

"Because when you talk on the phone, you won't be looking at them."

"Well... that's..." She furrowed and thought hard about it as she stared at his back, "That's not counted since we can't help it. That's the whole point of talking on the phone; to talk when you can't see each other."

"Then I can't help it that I'm not looking at you either." He said, a bit dreamy with a sigh that he tried best to hide but of course Jaekyung noticed it as she wasn't taking her eyes off him all the while.

"Why? Is it that hateful to look at me?" He laughed a little but stopped immediately, and let out a low groan. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good."

"You don't sound too good..."

"I'm okay." He said, with a tone that she knew that he would prefer it if she stops asking and that he was going to be mad like the other day. But suddenly, he sighed, out loud. "I'm just having this pain near my stomach so it's hard to stand up."

"Did you eat something wrong?"

"You can say that." He said, and laughed a little again, but again, he stopped himself and his hand was on his stomach.

"Do you feel nauseous? Maybe you should drink some tea?"

"No, I don't feel nauseous."

"You should lie down and put something warm on your stomach like a hot pack or something. Or perhaps you want medication? I'm sure I have some of those somewhere..." She said, wanting to leave the balcony while tilting her head to figure out where she kept the medicines.

"It's fine. It'll go away soon." He said, quickly, and Jaekyung stopped stepping away and stared at his back again.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

And then they were both silent and unmoving and she was still staring at his back and felt a bit awkward. "Well... would you like me to play something for you then? Probably it'll help to ease your stomachace?"

"That'd be nice." He said, and she could see that he was smiling and Jaekyung realised she was also smiling and without a word, she went in and sat at her keyboard and played some tunes and when she missed a note, her neighbour knocked on her wall, and she would laugh and played again, more carefully; more beautifully and there were no more knocks that night.

Hoya went on sitting near the balcony door even after the music has ended, and he was feeling calm again, that he felt like falling asleep. Eventually, he did and woke up feeling famished because he hasn't eaten anything for the whole day and so, gingerly, he got up, washed his face in the toilet that stung his bruises and occasionally grimacing when he made rapid movements that hurt his ribs. He changed into a fresh change of clothes and grabbed his keys, and turned the knob of his door. Just as he was closing the door, he heard the door next door being closed as well, and it made him stiff.

"Oh." It was his neighbour.

Crap. He turned away immediately, and tried hard to hide his face but he made no attempt to move yet, ready to get back inside the house at any time.

"Hoya-sshi, hello."

"Hello. Salad." He replied, and was praying hard that she would just leave.

"It's not Salad! It's Sarah! Are you going somewhere?"

"None of your business."

"You're so mean." She complained and pouted. "How's your stomach...?"

"It's fine now."

"Really? My music helps then?"

"Hahahaha." He laughed to ridicule her but once he did, he bent his back and touched his stomach because it was hurting his ribs again.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" He exclaimed, but soon regretted his tone because it seemed to have made his neighbour went quiet and it made him feel a little guilty. "It's gone so-" His eyes perked up when he saw her standing in front of him, and her face was close enough to make his insides stiff as well. She was looking at his face, her eyes widened when she saw the bruises on his face and then she looked at his hand that was on his abdomen and she frowned.

"Hoya-sshi, are you alright?" She asked, and her hands were about to touch his face when she realised what she was doing and so her hands were awkwardly hanging in the air, before his face. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing. I... I fell down some stairs." He said.

"Just how many stairs did you fell from?" She asked, with disbelieved and when Hoya made his move to walk, she was just standing there and so their faces almost met and so she jerked back and it made her lost her balance and when Hoya saw that she was about to fall, he reached out for her hand and pulled her to her feet again. Once he did though, his ribs seared him again and he groaned.

"Omomomomo." She said, and this time, she was holding his shoulder and looking at him worriedly, and guiltily. "It's your ribs, isn't it? Have you seen the doctors?"

"It's just a minor fracture or something. Don't sweat it." He groaned.

"But you look like you're in so much pain!"

"That's because I moved too much."

"Then don't move too much!"

"Whose fault do you think that is? Because you were about to fall and-" He said with a bit of agitation but once he saw that she was eyeing him strangely, almost like she wanted to laugh but at the same time she was frowning and it made him a little confused. "What?"

"Have you taken your medicines?"

"No." He answered quietly, and looked away.

"Where were you going?"

"To get something to eat."

"I'm going to get something to eat as well, so, let me just buy you some food, and some medicines, and so, all you have to do is stay at home and rest."

"There's no need to."

"I insist! Besides, it's my fault that you were in pain just now, so let me just repay you." She said, teasingly and with a little smile, she added, "And I don't like owing people, so, if you just let me, Hoya-sshi, I'll go and buy you some food now. Come now, get inside of your house and wait for me. I won't be long."

"Why you-"