Yoorin’s POV

Three weeks of school passed by quickly, and with four days of advanced classes occupying each school week, it was safe to say that we were all a little bit… hectic.

Music classes were mostly fun since Wu-songsaengnim always has an interesting activity in store for us every time we’d meet... with Chanyeol-sunbaenim helping out of course, but unfortunately, I can’t say the same for my literature classes. For me, it was severely jaded.

We were constricted to write poems of certain lengths and stories of certain genres only... We weren’t allowed to write freely on our own terms, so I guess you could say that I was a little disappointed. Writing, in my opinion, is a form of art, and we shouldn't be restricted in writing our pieces, just like a painter isn't confined in using just black and white colors for his paintings.

I could only ever write the things I wanted to during free period and the times when I feel like class discussions are unnecessary, so you can imagine how rare that is, given that academic subjects are still number one priority here in Gwangcheon High.

Then, there’s also the fast that I miss spending time with Sunmi and Lu Han. All of us are too tired every afternoon that we don’t get to hang out anymore.

To put in a word, I could say that I was… disengaged with my life at school at the moment. I need a breather, to be honest.

The only bright side of all of this was that I was finally on good terms with Chanyeol-sunbaenim, or should I say… Chanyeol-ah. We weren’t what you’d call friends… but I guess you could say that we weren’t strangers either, as I have gotten slightly accustomed to calling his name without any honorifics.

This, I could say, was a development. Into what, I’m not really sure… but at least it’s something.

As I was thinking this, I didn’t realize I had already walked out of the school grounds.

I walked some more, contemplating on where I should go next. Honestly speaking, I didn’t want to go home… not yet anyways.

I felt like going somewhere first, I just didn’t know where.

Just as I was thinking on a place to go, my feet had already dragged me to my second favorite place in the world… and that was the convenience store located in our neighborhood.

I don’t know why, but being here always brought about a certain calmness to me. I felt as if time could almost stop every time I would sit on one of the counter stools and spend my hours watching people pass by from the store window as I snacked on my favorite milk and cookies.

I could almost feel the smile starting to form on my lips as I breathed in the aroma of preserved food and sodas.

I walked over to the where the milk and cookies were to buy some and proceeded to the cashier right after.

Just as I finished paying for my purchase, I heard a familiar tiny voice call out.

“Hello, pretty noona~”

I looked around and saw the store-owner’s youngest son, smiling up at me.

I crouched down to his level and smiled widely as I ruffled his hair fondly. “Hello, Taejoon-ah~ How have you been?”

“I’ve been good, pretty noona~ I’ve started going to the kindergarten near your school!” Taejoon smiled adorably at me while bobbing his head up and down.

“Jinjja? I guess that means you’ll be seeing noona a lot, nae?”

The five-year-old boy nodded cutely once more. “Nae, noona~ I will ask for appa to bring me to you after school..”

“Where’s your appa?” I asked as I grazed Taejoon’s cheek.

Taejoon’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment, apparently thinking hard on where he had seen his father last. “Oh! Appa’s in the back of the store, pretty noona. He’s talking with my other noona.”

“Oh… Is that so?  Well, will you please say ‘hi’ to your appa for me?” I requested as I pecked Taejoon on the cheek.

Just as Taejoon was about to nod again, I heard a cough from behind me.

“There’s no need for that, Yoorinnie, you can greet his appa properly.”

I turned around to see the store-owner, Jung Hongdae, smiling at me. I stood up from where I was crouching and bowed.

“Hello, samchonnie.” I greeted fondly.

“Hello, Yoorinnie~ How have you and your mom been doing?” He asked as he ruffled my hair.

I smiled. “We’ve been okay, samchonnie. Eomma has been very busy, but otherwise, we’re doing okay.”

“Ah, I see. Well, that’s good. I haven’t been seeing you here lately and Taejoon here keeps asking where you were.” Uncle Hongdae told me as he rubbed little Taejoon’s back.

“Nae… I’ve been pretty busy with school, samchon.”

Uncle Hongdae nodded wistfully before patting me I the shoulder. “Oh, okay… Well, I just dropped by to check on the supplies. I actually have to go pick up your Sungjong-imo from work… So I guess we’ll go ahead, Yoorinnie~ Keep safe, arasso?”

“Nae, samchonnie~ Drive safe!” I reminded before they were completely out of the store’s doorway.

“You’re friends with the store-owner?” A deep voice suddenly uttered from behind me, making me jump a little.

I turned around to see Park Chanyeol hovering over me with a large bag of junk food and cans of sodas on hand.

I sighed as I shook my head. “He was friends with my dad.”

I saw Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrow slightly at this, but he didn’t pry any further. Instead, he asked. “Hey, where are you going after this? Do you have any plans?”

I thought about this. Did I? Before I went here, I didn’t even know what I was going to do. I just knew that I didn’t want to go home just yet. After a few more moments of thinking, I shook my head ‘no’.

“Well, you should come with me! Come on!” Chanyeol told me eagerly as he dragged me along with him by the wrist.

“Wait, where are we going sunbae—I mean… Chanyeol-ah?” I asked, letting myself get dragged to the all-too-familiar path back to school.

“Wait, why are we going back to the campus?”

I could barely keep up with his long strides, but I followed anyway since I didn’t have anything better to do.

Chanyeol grinned at me as he continued to lead me through the school hallways. “Well, we’re going to hang out with the others.”

I halted in place. This was way more than I bargained for. Considering how friendly Park Chanyeol is, I assumed he had a lot of friends and hanging out with a lot people wasn’t really something I’d choose to be doing.

 “Uh… Chanyeol-ah, I think I’d rather just go home—” I started but before I could even finish, Chanyeol had already dragged me towards the west wing of the school building… where the music and art rooms were located.

As we neared one of the music rooms, I could hear faint sound of laughter getting louder and louder.

Chanyeol opened the door to reveal Sunmi, Lu Han, Yixing and Baekyun crowding around each other, laughing.

Sunmi stood up almost immediately when she saw me and went up to pinch my cheek.

“Yah! I’ve been calling and texting you for almost half an hour. Why didn’t you respond?” She asked in a worried tone of voice.

I pulled out my phone from my blazer pocket and sure enough, there were 15 missed calls and 20 unread messages—all from Sunmi.

I looked up at her apologetically before uttering a quick, “I’m sorry.”

“Well, I’m just glad you’re okay. I actually dropped by your classroom after class, but you already left… It’s a good thing Chanyeol-ssi found you.”

I smiled faintly at her before asking, “What are you guys doing here anyway?”

I looked at Sunmi for a response, but it was Yixing who answered.

“We’re just hanging out and jamming, Yoorin-ah…”

I looked at him confusedly, twitching my eyebrows at the foreign term. “Jamming? What’s that?”

“Well, basically, we play songs on the guitar or the piano or the drums and we sing along to them together… We were actually glad that Sunmi was here so that we have female vocals, but she said that you were a much better singer than she was and that she refuses to sing without you…”

“Ah, so you had Chanyeol go after me?” I asked again in confusion, because even as Yixing eplained... it still didn't make any sense.

This time, it was Chanyeol who answered. “Ani. That was just pure coincidence. Anyway, let’s continue where we left off, shall we?” He told everyone as he handed out snacks.

He then handed me a chair and urged me to sit.

I reluctantly obliged as I eyed Sunmi questioningly. She, in turn, just winked at me and nodded, as if I understood. With a pout in her direction, I puffed out my face and just waited for something to happen.

After a few seconds of checking his phone, Chanyeol grabbed his guitar and started strumming to what I knew was Jason Mraz’ ‘I’m Yours’.

I looked around and saw everyone tapping their fingers along to the beat of his playing.

Right after the intro, Baekhyun started singing.

“Well, you dawned on me and you bet I felt it

I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted

I fell right through the cracks

and now I’m trying to get back…”

Wow. This boy can sing. Then, Yixing followed.

“Before the cool done run out, I’ll be giving it my bestest

And nothing’s gonna stop me but divine intervention

I reckon it’s again my turn… to win some or learn some~”

Yixing’s not bad either. Are they all good singers? I knew from some of our hangouts together that Lu han can, in fact, sing well... so I assumed that he was the vocalist in the band, but I didn't know everyone from the band was good at singing.

I looked at Chanyeol to see if he, too, was singing along, only to find him enjoying himself in just playing his guitar.

Baekhyun and Yixing took turns in singing versus up to pre-chorus.

Then right at the chorus, everybody sang in sync.

I looked around and saw them happily singing together. I smiled and clapped along as they sang.

The next songs that played were ones that I wasn’t all that familiar with, but I clapped along anyway.

Just as they were about to play what seemed like their seventh song, Baekhyun pointed me out.

“Yoorin’s not singing~” He uttered with a pout.

I looked at them with a troubled expression. “Do I have to?”

Lu Han let out a soft chuckle. “Well, yeah… that’s the whole point of jamming, Yoorinnie. We all sing and have fun~”

“But I’m having fun watching you guys~” I told them, nodding my head as if to insinuate that I was, indeed, having fun.

“Come on, Yoorinnie… just one song? It’s just us.” Sunmi told me as she gave me a cute pout.

“Pleeaaaasseeee?” They all uttered in unison, all giving me their own versions of aegyo.

I sighed in defeat. “We’ll be singing together… right?”

“Nae!” They all say in unison.

Just then, Chanyeol snapped his fingers as if he had just developed a cure for cancer. “Ah, I know the perfect song for Yoorin~”

I, as well as the others looked at him in confusion, but when he started playing the chords to Jung Yonghwa’s  Banmal Song, it all started to make sense.

“Hahaha. You’re right, Yeol… This suits her perfectly.” Yixing remarked as he, along with Baekhyun, Sunmi and Lu Han swayed to Chanyeol’s guitar playing.

Again, it was Baekhyun who started the song off.

Maenjeoeum neoreul bodeon nal

(“The day when I first saw you”)

sujupgiman hadeon neoui mwareun misodo

(“Your bright smile full of shyness”)

oneuli jinamyeon gakkaweo jilgeoya

(“we’ll get closer after today”)

maeil soelleneun gidaereul hae…

(“every day, I have heart-fluttering expectations…”)

I then jumped in and started to sing with him on the next lines, trying to complement his melody with a bit of soft harmony. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sunmi smiling at me, as if to encourage me.

Moseun mareul geonne bolkka

(“what to say to you”)

eotteohke hamyeon naega useojeulgga

(“how to get you to laugh”)

soneul geonneboda eosaekhaejilggabwa

(“I fear it’ll get awkward when I try to hold your hand”)

meotjjeokeun useumman useobwa

(“all I can do is smile shyly”)

At the chorus, everybody sang along happily, as they uttered the words to the song, that, according to them, fits me perfectly.

uri seoro banmalhaneun saiga dwegireul

(“Hopefully we can speak banmal to each other”)

ajik jogeum seotureugo osaekhandedo

(“even though it’s still awkward and unfamiliar”)

Mianhaeyo raneun maltu daeshin

(“instead of saying ‘I’m sorry’”)

jom deo chinhage mareul hae jullae~

(“talk to me in a friendlier way”)

uri seoro banmal haneun saiga dwelgeoya

(“Hopefully we can speak banmal to each other”)

hangeol eumssik~ cheoncheonhi dagawa

(“you walk towards me slowly, step by step”)

ijen nae dununeul barabomyeo

(“now look at my two eyes”)

mareul hae jullae

(“and tell me…”)

neol saranghae~

(“I love you”)

After singing the whole song, they decided to sing a couple more until we all decided that we should go home.

Once we were done packing our things and clearing the area, we walked out of the campus with cheery vibes.

This, I guess, was the breather that I badly needed a while ago and I really am glad that I was dragged into this whole jamming session, because I had fun… something that I hadn’t been able to do in a while.

As we all walked out of the school gates, Baekhyun waved goodbye since he lived in the far northern part of the district.

As we walked through the alleys of Geumcheon, one by one, they started to go their separate ways until it was only Chanyeol, Lu Han and I.

Lu Han, as far as I knew, lived in the neighborhood a few miles from ours, so when it came to the intersection, he bid goodbye as well, leaving only Chanyeol and I walking home together.

Chanyeol and I strolled in silence for the most part, until he asked me a question.

“Where do you live?”

“About three blocks from here… I live over there.” I told him, pointing to the three-story house viewable from where we were standing.

Chanyeol let out a whistle. “Wow. You guys must be rich…”

I shrugged as I looked pensively at my home. “Ani. My parents worked very hard to have it built. It was their dream home.”

He turned to look at me with a smile. “It’s lovely.”

I gave him a small smile back, uttering a quiet “Thank you.”

“Come on then, let’s get you home.” Chanyeol told me as he walked towards the direction of my house.

I shook my head. “It’s fine, Chanyeol-ah… I’ll be okay here. You should go home, too.”

“It’s okay, really, I live nearby.”

I gave him a slight smile, whilst shaking my head once more. “Ani. It’s fine, you should go home. I’ll be safe from here, Chanyeol-ah.”

He looked at me hesitantly. “Are you sure?”

“Nae. Gomawo, Chanyeol-ah…” I said as I bowed.

He reluctantly pivoted on his heels to head the other way. He turned his head towards me one last time to give a final wave.

“Okay, I’ll be going then. Be sure to text someone when you get home, arasso?”

“Nae~ Be safe on your way!” I call out as I waved goodbye.

I smiled as I made my way home, happy that I was feeling somewhat refreshed after a few weeks of pure dullness.

Once I arrived at the porch of our house, I immediately texted Sunmi, saying:

Sunmi-ah~ I just arrived at home. Thank you for today! Please thank the others for me.

Hellooo chinggus! :))) Here's another update for your lovely selves. <3

Hahaha. Thank you so much to those who subscribed and commented!

Neomu Saranghamnida! :)))) Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter.

For those of you who don't know Banmal is the informal use of speech in korean language,

so you can guess why the song kinda fit Yoorin. Hahaha. 

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