It was finally Friday and I still hadn't asked Peniel to hang out. I haven't talked to him much really, other than what was necessary for class. It was really starting to bother me that I didn't make any progress.

I walked into first period and found that Peniel was already there, waiting. Ever since the first day he came in, the atmosphere seemed to be suffocating and the girls seemed to never stop whispering and giggling. I walked towards the back and slipped into my seat.

As I was getting out my notebook, preparing for the class to start, Peniel tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to look at him and saw a wide smile on his face, immediately sending butterflies to my stomach.

"Hey Sungjae, I have a question to ask you," he said quickly. It seemed like he was really excited about something but I wasn't sure what.

"O-okay Peniel, what is it?," I asked tentatively.

"Well tonight my band has a gig at this music lounge and I was-"

"Hey Peniel!! What are you doing tonight?," some girl interrupted. I looked up and saw this really skinny and pale girl staring down at Peniel, completely ignoring me. How rude, I thought. These girls just don't know boundaries... or respect.

"Hey Hyuna, I'm actually busy tonight. I've got a gig at this music lounge tonight in the city," Peniel replied. He looked slightly annoyed but he was too much of a gentleman to let it show.

"Oh well afterwards, do you want to get some drinks at a bar? Some of my friends are gonna go and I thought maybe you'd like to join us. You can bring the rest of the band too if you want, the more the merrier!"

Peniel had a slightly pained look on his face, like it actually pained him to be talking to her. In all homesty, she was pushy and annoying, but that's probably how she got all the guys in school. After all her nickname isn't for nothing.

"Actually, I can't after. I made plans with someone else already to hang out. Maybe some other time though..."

Hyuna shot a glare my direction then turned her attention back to Peniel and smiled sweetly. "Okay Peniel oppa, next time then!" And with that, she her heel and, more or less, stormed off towards her seat near her friends in the front.

Peniel turned towards me once again and said, "So as i was saying, my band has this gig at this muisc lounge in town called Strings. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come?"

I have been to pratically every gig he had, never missing one. I always stood in the back with Minhyuk hyung and watched Peniel from a distance, dying to be closer. Now that he had personally asked I could actually be clsoer to the stage without him getting freaked out.

"Yeah sure! Minhyuk hyung might tag along if that's okay?"

"Oh, yeah o-of course! You two seem to be really close, huh?"

"You have no idea" I said and Peniel seemed to tense a little when I said that. I know he doesn't have a problem with Minhyuk, but there is defintely some tension between the two of them.

Peniel cleared his throat before asking, "What are your plans for the rest of the night? The show is over at about 10 then another band will come on."

I felt my pulse quicken at his question. Is this really happening? I thought about it and remembered what Minhyuk had said about us hanging out more to become closer. Before I could fully process what to say my mouth opened and words came out. "Nothing, did you want to do something after?"

He practically beamed at me when I asked which sent more butterflies to my stomach. "Yeah actually i do. There's this little cafe not to far from the music lounge, I was thinking maybe you and I could go there after and hang out. You know, get to know each other more."

Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY FREAKING SWEET BABY JESUS!!! "S-sure! That sounds great!"

"Cool," he said then the bell ringed, stopping all further conversation from happening. Was this considered a date or not? Aish, probably not. He clearly stated 'hang out' nothing more. Right?

            *          *        *

"Wait! What?! He asked YOU to hang out?!," Minhyuk screamed at me. We were at lunch sitting in our normal spot and I was dying to tell Minhyuk about this morning. It doesn't help that I see Peniel every period, I mean I love it, but I haven't had a second to fan girl over him and this morning. I just had to hold it all in. I was more than relieved when I finally told Minhyuk everything, even about the Hyuna interruption.

"Yeah he did and he seems happy about it too."

"See, I told you!! You two were meant to be friends, at least! Now you get to spend this Friday with him!"

I laughed at how happy and crazy Minhyuk was acting. He's like a carefree child, something I greatly envied about him. I looked over towards Peniel's table of friends and saw him talking to the lead guitarist of his band happily. I wonder if he's truely happy about tonight.

I looked back at Minhyuk, his face still beaming, and said, "I told him that you are coming with me to the gig tonight. He tensed a little when i said that but he seemed fine with it. What's with you two anyway?"

Minhyuk's face fell a little, but not in a sad way, more like he was hiding something. Then he grinned at me and simply said, "Nothing, I told you. I just ran into him once outside of school, that's it."

I couldn't help but feel like Minhyuk wasn't telling me everything but I know he will sometime so I decided to let it go and finish up my lunch. As I was eating I felt uncomfortable, like someone was watching me. I looked around the lunch room hoping that I was just imagining things but I found two eyes staring at me. Peniel was staring at me. Peniel is staring at me. Peniel is staring at me!

I looked down at my food, suddenly too excited to eat the rest of my kimchi. I glanced back up slightly, hoping he wouldn't notice that i noticed him, and saw his eyes tear away from me and towards his friends, relunctantly. He isn't gay is he?! I mean I want him to be but he's only ever been with girls.

Minhyuk nudged my elbow, bringing me out of my thoughts and back to reality.

"What are you gonna wear tonight, Jae Jae?"

"I have no idea actually," I admitted sheepishly.

Minhyuk smiled and said, "I'm coming over after school and dressing you up!! I'll be there at 6, that should give us plenty of time to get you ready."

"Thank Hyung! I think... just don't get too wild. We both know you have a tendency to go a it overboard with things sometimes."

"I make no promises baby Jae!," he said with an evil grin and innocent eyes. "Just wait and see."

               *          *         *

"Are you sure about this outfit?," I asked Minhyuk for the millionth time.

He rolled his eyes and said, "You look fine, Jae Jae. You're not too out there but you're not dressed like a Mary either. I think it's a perfect balance. AND your outfit isn't screaming 'do me now!' but it isn't screaming 'don't touch me.' It's the perfect balance. Now, can we please go inside? i"m tired of standing here like an idiot."

"Fine, let's go."

When we walked in the first thing I noticed was how extremely crowded it was. It's pretty normal considering that they were an amazing band with real talent. But this crowding seemed a bit more than usual and there was a lot more girls than normal. Everything seemed a bit off.

Minhyuk grabbed my wrist and pulled me close to the front, pushing past a bunch of y girls who just glared at us as we passed. Minhyuk may not look like it but behind all that aegyo and smiles, that boy has a temper and attitude. It's funny to watch but not funny to be the reason why he was mad. He pulled me next to him and gave me a satisfied look.

"Minhyuk, I feel a little weird being so close to the stage. Don't you think we should be a little further back?"

He looked up at me and smiled softly, "No Jae Jae, we need to be close so he can see that you are here, like a good friend, and supporting him."

"I don't think support is an issue. He's got a lot of fans already," I mumbled while looking around at all the people. Some of these girls were dressed a little too revealing and everyone was pressed up against each other, trying to be as close to the stage as possible.

Minhyuk reached up to brush my hair back a little and murmured, "Jae Jae, just relax and be confident. You're here as a friend, not a stalker anymore. And he invited you, he clearly wants you to be here so wuit your whining."

And with that i shut up and relaxed a little. Minhyuk was seriously like an umma, a hyung, an appa, and on occasion a noona to me. Which I guess is why I never needed any other friends than him.

The lights dimmed and the band members came out on stage, preparing for the show. People started squealing and pushing forward to get closer, causing Minhyuk and me to be only two rows away from the stage. Peniel came out on stage and the butterflies in my stomach returned. He went up to the mic and tapped it a few times to make sure it was on.

"Good evening everyone! I'm glad to see so many of you could come. we're abut to start so get ready to party," he said then added a wink at the end which made girls scream and push even more. Peniel turned around and whispered something to the drummer- I think his name is Minhwan- then walked back up to the mic. He skimmed the audience quickly then stopped when his eyes found me. He smiled then the music started and the lights changed, making it a little hard to see him. When he started singing, his dream voice filled my ears and carried me away from reality.

                 *            *          *

The concert had been over for about ten minutes and Minhyuk was off flirting with some guy near the bar area, leaving me to sit on the couches in the back by myself. Most of the crowd had left but some people stayed to hear the next band, CN Blue, come on. I was beginning to get worried that maybe Peniel had forgotten that I came and left wiht his friends to that bar where Hyuna was, but my thoughts calmed when I saw him walk out from the backstage door, glancing through the crowd.

His eyes had found me once again and he beamed. I stood up and walked over towards him, slightly shoving people aside.

"Hey! How'd you like the show?"

"It was pretty amazing. I really liked that last song you performed, what was it called?"

"I confess. It's a new song I wrote so I was a little nervous about singing it tonight, but I'm really glad you liked it! I wasn't sure how people would react to it since it's a bit more slow than any of our other songs," he shyly said. I could a slight shade of pink cross his cheeks which caused me to blush slightly too.

"It was good. You should write more songs like that."

He cocked his head to the side slightly and stared me straight in the eye. "I think I will." He smiled then clapped his hands together saying, "So are you ready to go to that cafe?"

"Yeah! I'm just gonna go tell Minhyuk hyung that I'm leaving," I my heel and quickly walked over to Minhyuk. Some guy he was talking to was rubbing his arm and whispering things into his ear, causing him to blush like crazy.

I cleared my throat and Minhyuk turned around blushing even more knowing that I had seen their interactions, "I'm leaving now with Peniel. Don't do anything too crazy now, hyung."

He gave me his signature evil grin wiht innocent eyes and said, "I make no promises, Jae jae. Have fun baby!," and winked at me then pushed me in the direction back towards Peniel.

I walked back to where Peniel was waiting and told him I was ready to go,

"Is Minhyuk going to be safe by himself?," Peniel asked as we started to walk out of the music lounge.

"Yeah he'll be fine. He lives by himself and he's actually very skilled in fighting. I don't think that we need to worry about him too much."

"Well then, lets go eat! I'm starving!."