“How’s practice with Yeol?”

“Everything’s okay.”

Their class was already over, but since the bell had not rung yet, their classmates took the time to play tag but Woohyun chose to stay on the bleachers as he noticed that Suzy was acting strange. He huffed before asking, “How am I supposed to believe that when you say it with such a dejected voice?”

Suzy gave a small smile and glanced at her cousin as she answered, “But I’m telling the truth. Everything’s fine now with Sungyeol. The awkwardness… I think we managed to eliminate it completely. We’re behaving like we used to but I have to be careful not to mention anything about confessions, crushes, love, and the like. It’s still a sensitive topic.”

“If everything is fine…” Woohyun paused to lift Suzy’s chin, making the female face to face with him. He scrutinized her expression before asking, “Then why are you sad? Is this the face of the person who has been given a solo stage?”

Suzy sighed as she answered, “It’s just that… I’m worried.”

“Worried about your performance?”

“Ani,” she shook her head. “I… I think I don’t deserve the chance to perform solo.”

“What are you talking about?” Woohyun asked with a creased forehead. “They wouldn’t have given you that chance if you were not number one in the auditions. You performed well, and they would like to watch you again on stage.”

“But what if I didn’t qualify because of my talent?” Suzy asked back. “What if… I was number one because I was Bae Yong Joon’s niece and Sungyeol’s friend?”

“Who told you that?” Woohyun questioned sternly.

Suzy’s gaze fell on the floor as she whispered, “I heard people talking about me in the CR.”

“And you believed that?”

“It made me doubtful.”

“Where’s the confident cousin I know?”

“The last time I trusted my confidence… it did not end well,” Suzy mumbled and Woohyun did not need to ask to confirm if she was talking about her confession.

Woohyun exhaled a full amount of air before asking, “The people you heard talking, were they from the Music Club?”

Suzy shook her head so Woohyun added, “Then they can’t judge you. They haven’t seen you perform. They don’t know the value of your talent while the ones who gave you that solo stage have already witnessed you play your violin, Su. If you can’t trust your judgement, then you at least have to trust theirs. They wouldn’t let someone mediocre play on the School Fair, don’t you think so? The Music Club would lose their credibility.”

Suzy finally meets Woohyun’s gaze and when she saw assurance in his eyes, she slowly nodded with a smile. But then, she asked, “But I’m worried about something else too.”

“What is that?” Woohyun questioned worriedly.

“I’m afraid that the other new members might not like me since I can play solo while they were the ones in-charged of promotions.”

“Did they tell you that?”

“No.”

“Have you met them?”

“No,” she shook her head again. “I was too scared to face them.”

Woohyun suddenly slapped her back lightly making Suzy snap from her daze. The male teasingly glared at her before saying, “You should stop being paranoid. Worrying won’t make you productive. You should meet them and make new friends. If they don’t like you, then trust me, it’s their loss.”

Suzy chuckled at her cousin’s remark and seeing the genuine smile on her face, Woohyun smiled back. She nodded before comfortably resting her head on the latter’s shoulder. She sighed in relief before whispering, “You’re right. I should give it a try.”

Suzy fluttered her eyes open upon hearing various voices enter the room but then as she roamed her gaze, she widened her eyes upon realizing that she fell asleep in the Music Club’s Room. She was planning to quietly escape as she realized that she had already skipped a few classes, but then, she realized that there was already a few pair of eyes staring at her. As she turned, she saw four people who had confused looks on their faces.

“H-Hello,” she awkwardly greeted them with a hand wave.

“Hi!” the girl with short hair enthusiastically greeted back. She had a smile plastered on her lips as she asked, “Are you a new member too?”

“Ah, yes,” Suzy slowly nodded. She smiled back as she introduced, “My name is Bae Suzy.”

“Oh!” the girl with longer and curly hair gasped. She exclaimed, “You’re number one!”

“That…” Suzy’s voice trailed.

“We say you play on the monitor while you auditioned,” the guy who brought a guitar case with him said. He nodded before saying, “I must say you play the violin well. I acknowledge you.”

“Who needs your acknowledgement?” the other guy who had dark brown shade of hair then extended his hand to Suzy and said, “I think we should introduce ourselves first too. Hello, Suzy. I’m Kang Minhyuk.”

Suzy was about to receive the hand shake but then Minhyuk was pushed away from her by the girl who had curly hair. She then turned to Suzy, “Don’t fall for his Casanova tricks.”

“You’re making me look like a bad guy, Eunji-ya.”

Eunji rolled her eyes at Minhyuk but as she saw Suzy staring at her, she blinked her eyes rapidly and immediately smiled. She then introduced, “We’re in the same year. I’m Jung Eunji.”

Suzy almost jumped from shock when the other girl suddenly appeared behind her and with twinkling eyes she whispered, “We’re in the same year too. Nice to meet you; I’m Lee Jieun.”

All then turned to the other male who awkwardly coughed before mumbling, “It’s Lee Jaejin.”

“But what are you doing here?” Eunji asked. “Shouldn’t you be preparing for your solo stage?”

“I’m practicing…” she whispered. “But then, I think I should help you with the preparations too.”

“Really? Wouldn’t it be a burden for you?” Eunji questioned again.

“Aniyo,” Suzy shook her head hardly. “I want to meet the new members too.”

“Then, we’re friends now,” Jieun clapped her hands.

“Eh?” Suzy gaped. “Don’t you hate me?”

Minhyuk chortled before answering, “It’s only been five minutes since our first meeting. Why would we hate you?”

“So it was just all in my head after all…” Suzy whispered to herself.

“Did you do all these?” Jaejin asked as he pointed towards the crepe papers which were turned into flowers.

“Neh,” Suzy said. “I saw a few of them already done so I just copied them. I hope you don’t mind.”

“You’ve done well,” Minhyuk beamed as he eyed the decorations. “But next time, you should do it with us. I would love to spend some time with fellow new recruits like you.”

“Playboy alert~” Eunji suddenly sang.

Suzy found herself laughing with others and the smile lingered longer on her lips upon realizing that it was a fresh start. With the Music Club, she found another set