I really should have met with Hongbin and Hyuk first. I sighed in frustration as I pored over my arrangements. They were the variables that prevented me from putting pen to paper. General plans had been made, progressions, that sort of thing, but I needed to test my hunch about Hongbin and put Hyuk’s young voice and his English to the test. I leaned over to open my door just so I could throw my pen out into the hallway. It was a petty thing, but it made me feel just a little bit better.

“Um,” a voice suddenly came from outside my room, “is this a bad time?”

I knew that voice. I sighed quietly to myself, getting my emotions in check before speaking, “It’s alright Leo, come on in.” When his face peeked around my doorframe, my frustration dissipated almost instantly. I smiled as I gestured to the usual visitor chair next to the door.

“How was your day with Ravi?” he spoke as he made himself comfortable. I was so surprised that he initiated conversation, it took me a moment to even comprehend.

“He didn’t tell you?”

Leo avoided my gaze, which I learned meant he was probably hiding something, “No,” he stated simply.

I had no choice but to let my suspicion go for fear of scaring him away, “It was good,” I started, lightening my tone as I spoke, “I gave him a hell of a rhythmic test, then we spent the rest of the day reviewing all of your music videos. He taught me some of your dances.”

“Another easy day,” he said with a slight smirk crossing his face.

This talkative Leo was like a unicorn, and I was in awe, but I didn’t dare let the silence drag on, “You’re the only one who has fought me so far, Leo.”

His smile spread, his teeth finally showing, “I doubt the two youngest will fight you, either.”

“But I doubt any session will be as satisfying as yours.”

He looked at me, his smile fading, “Really?”

“Yeah,” I said with a slight shrug, “I can’t wait to show you off to the rest of the members once we start rehearsing this song,” I reached for my papers to show him.

“May I?” he asked quietly, nodding at the stack of papers in my hand.

I offered them to him, “Do you have any interest in composition?”

“Actually, yeah,” he admitted as he leafed through my embarrassingly disorganized notes and sheet music. “You’re really thorough,” he noted quietly.

I laughed nervously, “I have to be, or I lose track of everything. I have one set just for vocals, another for just instrumentation, I have a made up graph that I use to track harmonies and participation,” I tried to point out the different papers as he turned them.

“I don’t read English, but,” he paused, his smile slowly returning, “there are an awful lot of question marks on here.”

I sighed, my earlier frustration beginning to bubble up, “Hongbin and Hyuk. I should have trained with them first. From watching you perform, it was pretty easy to figure out what you, Ken, N, and Ravi were good at. I still needed to test you guys to be sure, but I could have at least finished a composition without that.”

To my surprise, Leo nodded in agreement, “It doesn’t help that Hyuk started at 16, so he’s still growing. And Hongbin just does what we give him. I don’t think anyone’s really tested what he can do vocally, since everyone only cares about how he looks.”

Once again I found myself staring in amazement at this creature before me. Whatever this thing was that ate Leo and became friendly talkative Leo… I was enjoying every second of it. “Even so, I have the instrumentation down,” I spoke quickly, as if it would make up for the awkward silence I left behind as I gawked at him.

Luckily he was too polite or didn’t notice, and he continued as normal, “Can I hear it somehow?”

“Yes!” I spoke maybe a bit too quickly, but I turned to my laptop, where I had digitized most of my composition. “Obviously I’ll ask for a studio recording of most of this instrumentation. I need a string quartet at least. I’ll record the piano myself, but, here,” I hit play, and the digital version of my composition began to play. We both sat for the almost full four minutes as the sound filled my room. When it was finished, he was quiet, and I suddenly felt awkward, “It’ll sound much better with real instruments, and the beat might have to be altered once Ravi and I hash out the lyrics, of course,” I felt myself start to ramble.

Leo put up a hand to silence me, “Mira,” he started, looking at me with those expressive eyebrows raised, “it sounds great.” When he saw me release my held breath, he continued, “I just hope it doesn’t outshine our vocals.”

“Leo, please,” I said with a hint of a laugh, “I don’t think I could outdo your vocals if I tried.” When he simply responded with a small smile, I couldn’t hold it in anymore, “What made you come visit me?” His face began to fall and I backpedaled hard, “Not that I’m complaining! I’m really happy you came to see me. Yesterday you were worried, and now you’re,” I struggled to find proper words, “talkative,” I finished, more as a question than as a statement.

He was quiet for a moment, and I was seriously afraid he would up and leave right then and there, but he looked at me. There was no smile now, but at least he wasn’t frowning looking like he smelled sour milk like he had the habit of doing. Finally, he spoke, “I had some sense talked into me,” he said. It was so cryptic, but I didn’t dare inquire further.

“Alright then, tell me, Leo,” I said brightly, trying to change the subject as abruptly as I could, “Since I got to see all your videos again today, which one did you enjoy filming most?”

He blinked, clearly blindsided by the sudden conversation change, but he also seemed relieved. “Good question,” he began, “Well G.R.8.U was the most fun to film for obvious reasons,” when he caught my smile, he returned it and continued, “But I enjoyed Voodoo Doll the most.”

“Really?” I couldn’t help but question that.

He laughed once, “I know, it’s Ken’s song, but the video was so well done,” he began, and he looked away from me for a moment as he was clearly reminiscing. “I was just proud to be a part of it, you know?”

His answer made me grin a little bit, “I know what you mean.”

We fell into a comfortable silence this time, until Leo looked like he had something important to say, but then decided against it. He sighed quietly, “Are you sure you don’t mind me visiting like this?”

“Of course not,” I tried to sound as sincere and emphatic as I could, “I just need to convince Hongbin to visit me, and I’ll be satisfied.”

His smile was a little thinner now, and he moved to stand up, “Thank you,” he said simply.

I stood as well, feeling compelled to see him off somehow, maybe a hug or something, but instead we both stood there awkwardly for a moment. “Please visit again,” is what I went with, as lame as it sounded. “Or maybe I’ll stop by your place.”

He gave a dry laugh, “You’re welcome to, but,” he paused, the smile reaching his eyes, “make sure you knock first.” His hand continued to rest on my doorframe, as if he were thinking of a reason to stay, “Hongbin is trying to learn guitar and he loves photography. He’s left handed like you.” And those were his parting words.