Lu Han

"Practice is cancelled." I read the text on the screen as a small smile spread across on my lips. It's probably the only greatest bad news that I could ever have.

Coach had been giving us some real intense training these past few days and I'm beyond grateful that we could have this one day off where we get to go home early and do nothing.

"Did someone sent you a confession?"

"Oh Jesus!" I jolted, my books slipping out of my grip as my elbow came intact with someone. "Ouch!" I turned around to see Jieun with her hand cupped on her nose. "Oh ! I'm sorry, Jieun." I blurted as I picked up the small mess on the ground.

"And here I thought you were religious for like 5 seconds." She said but I didn't had time to pay attention to her joke when I saw blood coming out of her nose.

"! You're bleeding!" I exclaimed as she dabbed her finger below her nose to check it for herself. “Is my nose turning blue?” She asked calmly. How can she still joked about this stuffs when she’s losing blood? “I’m sorry. I got surprised and I didn’t know you were standing behind me.” I started to panic as I took out a towel from my bag and placed it quickly on her nose.

“Relax, Luhan.” She placed a hand on my arm to ease me up. “It was just an accident,” She tried to comfort me as I composed myself to take him to the clinic.

“Don’t you ever dare hit a girl again!” The nurse scowled as we both thanked her. As soon as we entered the clinic, she thought that I purposely hit her and the only thing she did was glare at me while she mended with her nose.

“Well, I guess she thinks I’m a rebellious kid who hits people anytime now.” I said, still frozen in our spots while we stared at the door. “I’m sorry, I tried to explaining it to her.” She turned to me as she gave me an awry smile. I smiled, “I can live up to that kind of image once in a while.”

She laughed, “As expected.”

We started walking through the deserted hallway. Class has already started and we’re both late for our third period anyway so we decided to wait for lunch period at the unoccupied music at the end of the hall which she suggested.

“Are we sure it’s okay for us to be here?” I asked as she hurriedly sat at the piano bench. “Why not? Me and Baekhyun always come here and trust me, there’s rarely a single soul who’s brave enough to check an isolated room.” She explained as she patted the seat black cushion next to her.

I sat next to her and suddenly I felt like I was suffocated like she’s taking all the space. Her arms on mine. Her legs on mine. She was only a few inches away from me since the bench was quite small but this made me more nervous that if I move or even let out that most audible breathe, she might flinch from the sudden contact.

So I kept myself still.

“You and Baekhyun are. . .” She looked at me like I was going to drop the most insulting word so I tried to choose my words carefully, “. . .exotic.”

She smiled. “Thanks. I thought you were going to say crazy but I’ll also let that pass.”

Five times. It’s been five times since I saw her smile today and I can’t help but feel a bit satisfied every time she smiles at me. To make it more poetic, ‘Her smile is the brightest that it could light up the whole room’, something like that.

“So, do you play?” She asked as she lifted the cover.

“A little bit. You?”

“Baekhyun taught me a few notes.” She said like it’s the most normal thing they do.

“Oh, then may I have this honor to hear you play?” I teased as I offered her the piano in front of us.

“The honor is all yours.” She did a small curtsy and she started to stretch her fingers and neck. “Prepare to be blown away, Mr. Lu.” She gave me smug look as she started pressing the keys and the sound was all too familiar to me.

Heart and Soul.

I knew what it was as soon as I heard it. It was probably the most played song for beginners. I remembered practicing it when I was 8 and I played that song for a week until Mom hired a piano teacher. I also remembered how my mom would stay beside me all night. She would sit at the green couch, staring at the picturesque view by the window while she sipped on her mint tea. No matter how crappy I was, she stayed until my fingers grew tired of playing.

“Good job. You improved.” She would always say those words, flashing her bright smile at me even though it took me three weeks or a month to master a new piece. I knew it was her way of encouraging me and I thank her for that.

Jieun finished playing the song as she made a few adlibs at the end. “So, did I sound like Beethoven a while ago?” She jokingly said as I nodded. “Every note.” He doesn’t even sound like that. But I kept that to myself as I started playing The Flight of the Bumblebee. It was the fifth piece I mastered when I was 9 and I played it at our school’s talent show. The chords were a bit fuzzy since I haven’t played for a long time but I still had a few of it memorized as my fingers flew at the white and black keys.

“I didn’t know you were that good.” Just average. I shrugged, “Heh, well, it will be a perfect side line in case college doesn’t work for me.”

She leaned a bit, resting her elbow on top of the piano. She looked at me – more like scrutinizing I should say. “Well, you do well at the looks department, maybe you could be an idol or actor then.” I cringed fast enough to stop myself from blushing because of her sudden compliment. “I never really considered being a star. But they prefer more with someone who has talents. So, my looks are a bonus.” I joked as she suddenly threw her head back in laughter. She smiled. Six times.

“You should try being a comedian, too!”

I nodded. “I’ll try to reconsider that.”

Then everything fell into silence. The sun breaking through the blanket of nothingness, lighting every part of the darkened room. But the one sitting beside me was brighter than the sun, it was too blinding, I can’t help but close my eyes.

I opened my eyes only to find her staring back at me. It must’ve been to quiet that I could only hear the gust of the wind outside. The sun’s ray beautifully cascading down on her as it glistened on her fair skin, like she descended from another realm.

I just realized there were only two of us in the room and she mentioned that no one comes here that much since it’s isolated. So, the chances of getting interrupted was slim. Too slim that if either of us doesn’t break the intense eye contact, I might create some kind of alibi to do so.

But I never wanted to disrupt the moment.

It was too rare for me, this kind of moment – this connection that we both have right now. It’s so foreign that it’s my first time that I looked at someone this long. I ached to touch her.

The doors shoot opened, her being the first to look away, but I gazed at her for a few more second before I turned my attention towards the person at the door.

Even there was a very slim chance, I forgot that .1% was Baekhyun. Well, I saw that coming, I just didn’t expect it to be at this day, and at this time.

He looked at Jieun, then at me, and he knew he interrupted something but he ignored that thought instead. “You guys missed third period and I thought you two were slacking off.” He said as he walked towards us. “Turns out you were right.” She retorted as Baekhyun immediately gasped when he saw her bluish nose.

“Woah! It’s so blue, you look like a smurf!” He reached for her nose as she swatted his arm away. “Don’t smurfing touch it!” I chuckled at her way of swearing as Baekhyun did too, he was more amazed than worried at his bestfriend.

“Ohhhh, did you get into a catfight?” He excitedly asked as Jieun glared at him. “No, it was just an accident.” She kept the details small because she thought it’ll make me feel guilty all over again.

“Yawn. Boring.” He mocked and he quickly snapped a picture of her. “Hey! What was that for?” She scowled at him as he found himself laughing at the picture he just took.

“Just proof.”

“For what?”

“That you were a troublemaker when we were high school. They might spare me for all the future bad deeds I might be doing once I’m in college.” He laughed at his malevo