Jonghyun could feel the beginnings of a melody hum in his throat, he thought back if it has always been this easy to snatch up a melody from within his bones. His hands itched in anticipation as he scribbled on a snatched piece of paper, the notes jumped up and down and flowed from his pen and he was feeling quite pleased with himself when the imagined song began to take shape on the surface.

It didn’t take too long for him to ink down the final note for the chorus and he was soon reaching out for the guitar beside him to test out if it sounded good in actuality. The melody was soothing, he decided, reminding him of quiet summer afternoons spent thinking about nothing, of chasing kites and, of stolen first kisses.

It wasn’t often that he became surprised with his own compositions, but today was a day that kept on giving.

Words scratched at the base of skull, begging for him to let them come out, but he felt indecisive. Like, something will go horribly wrong once he voiced out what was lingering in his mind. He swept his fingers on the guitar strings, putting a stop to ideas that were bubbling dangerously in his thoughts and began plucking the first few strains of a song that he might’ve heard a long time ago from when he was just starting out to take interest in playing the guitar.

The notes picked at his skin, reminding him of the warm breeze he most often felt in Japan. It felt safe, familiar. He plucked at the same strain over and over again, his gaze fixed at a distance, pulling at an image just a few seconds ago he was trying to bury.

I once had a girl or should I say she once had me.

“Why did you stop playing the song from before,” a woman’s voice cut through his musings, his eyes blinked quickly, remembering that he was not alone in the room. He watched her put her book aside and he glanced at the words stretched on the cover- Norwegian Wood. And he remembered how the afternoon’s melody began.

The woman stood up, walking over to him and he watched her hips swaying slightly. Her body was illuminated by the light coming from behind the frosted glass door that separated their practice room from the real world. He wondered, briefly, how it felt to fall truly in love.

“The song sounded nice, is it new?” her voice was clear, polite. He watched her lips stretch into a smile. She was lovely.

“Maybe,” he could feel his own face form a smile of his own.

Then, he heard her laugh and his desire to know how it felt to fall in love grew stronger. She sounded like wind chimes dancing in a gentle wind. He understood how easy it would be to fall for her.

His head tilted at an angle to study her face, greedily utilizing the freedom that moment granted him before he bent down to write a few words at the margin of his paper. The beginnings of the lyrics were starting to take shape, but he was careful to tuck away any words that might give himself out to her.

“You look inspired,” he saw her peer surreptitiously at the paper.

“Maybe I am,” he answered back as he folded the paper neatly into fours then placed it underneath his guitar, preventing her to further peek at it, “maybe I’m not. What do you know about being inspired, Soojung-ah?” 

Soojung scrunched her face, still not feeling used to Jonghyun’s teasing, “Maybe something,” she stood again and went back to the couch she was sitting on earlier, “maybe nothing at all.”

He followed her every move, mesmerized, more so when she flashed a big smile at him, all of her white teeth visible. He closed his eyes for a second, wanting to memorize everything and carefully, kept it in his heart. There was time to pick it apart later on.

She went back to her book and he took the opportunity to really look at her. He’s not going to lie, he found her extremely beautiful, all fluid lines from head to toe. If he was an illustrator, he imagined that he can draw her with just one line stretched out to form loops and curves to complete her sitting form. He pulled at the paper he was composing on and jotted down a few words more, the song seemed almost nearing its completion.

He raised his eyes briefly to string out a phrase when he caught her looking over at him. Suddenly, he can feel the irregular pumping of his heart which has seemed to have fallen to the pit of his stomach. It was almost surreal, but he was sure that he was not yet falling.

Soojung gave a little squeak at being caught and hurriedly went back to the book she was reading. A beat, then he heard himself guffaw at the situation. Lovely, lovely, she was very lovely.

The loud opening of the door and the sound of feet shuffling in pulled him out of the clouds and he surveyed the paper one last time. Only the closing bars of the song need to be written. He felt proud, somewhat. It wasn’t like him to be able to finish a song in one sitting, it was Yonghwa’s specialty. But there he was, holding on a crumpled piece of paper like it was the most precious thing on earth.

Maybe it was.

He turned his head towards the sound of murmured voices and just in time saw their drummer drop a loving kiss on Soojung’s forehead. He saw her beam at Minhyuk and he could feel his heart start beating normally again. She was laughing at whatever Yonghwa said and for some reason, her eyes reflected the lights inside the studio and they twinkled, almost blinding him.

It was really easy to fall for her. And he wondered, again, how it felt to truly, sincerely fall in love.

“You know, you should stop zoning out,” Jungshin’s deep voice interrupted him, “what are you on?”

Finally, he tore his eyes away from Soojung and turned his head towards their youngest, a small, satisfied smile playing on his lips, “I just finished a love song.”