( r e s p o n s e  t o  p r o m p t  #  3 )

If anything, Shim Changmin is not stupid. He’s made mistakes now again, usually at the expense of some moronic dare his friends would challenge him to do, but he’s always known to stop just when those brainless moments are about to topple over. He’s never let things go out of control. He’s always had good enough hold on himself to know when to say ‘No’ and walk away.

Except tonight, he is. When Minho kicks and dares him to sing a song for someone special, Changmin doesn’t falter one bit. And despite not actually being stupid, he admits that the second he goes up on stage for the company’s annual Karaoke night to sing that song for her… Shim Changmin is, without a doubt, a profound idiot with impeccably inappropriate timing.

The song is simple enough. The opening bars starting slow and picking up just enough speed to convey the right emotions for the words. Not a lot of those in the audience understands, but the melody is beautiful enough to distract from its actual meaning. He expectedly stumbles on some of the words but other than that it goes on without a hitch, without interruption or delay. Everyone is happy and entertained, and if anyone had noticed anything wrong, no one important came to mention it to him.

He finished the song and let the applause carry him back to his seat, and he knew it was a mistake. Because his eyes had stayed with her all throughout and she had stared back. Because while he never specifically dedicated the song to anyone, she had had to have known that it was for her. And if Changmin knew Im Yoona at all, he knew to expect her to come to him and demand an explanation after.

After all, everyone knows you’re not supposed to pine for someone who was never yours to begin with.

And isn’t it just his luck the on the very moment he decides to openly pine, the girl he’s always wanted and almost had would be the same girl who gave up and walked into the arms of someone else?

The party’s still raging on when she finally goes to where he’s brooding, out on the balcony. Changmin doesn’t have to turn around to know that her arms would be folded across her chest, both hands gripping opposite elbows. Her face pinched as she shifted her weight between her feet, swaying slightly as she speaks with as much determination as she could muster.

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