Attention: each  "~♪♪♪~" is a link to a music played by the character~! ^^

A few wet leaves fell from the sky and stuck to my window sill. I brushed them off impatiently. The moonlight was fully consumed by the black clouds above me. I looked at the window in front of mine, which was still fading in darkness, still not brighten up by the neighborhood boy.

No. I won’t listen to it again. I won’t pry into his business. He can play on his pretty violin, I don’t care. He told me clearly that he didn’t want my companion. I will not insist, why should I?

The slender boy appeared in the middle of the dark room. His face was a mosaic of flares and shadows, as he was putting his violin under his chin.

No, no, no. I won’t fall for his tricks again. 

I covered my ears with my hands, like a little child, trying to stop those sounds from settling inside of my head. Unsuccessfully. In the buzz of the city I suddenly heard lonely, sad melody of Taemin’s violin.

~♪♪♪~

I was trying to concentrate on anything else so badly, but trembling music was bursting into my thoughts, at first shyly, but getting braver with every passing second. I rubbed my face with my hand, as I hesitantly looked in the forbidden direction. I opened my eyes widely, surprised. Although my neighbor’s room was flooded with darkness, I was almost sure that I saw shiny tears on the violinist’s cheeks. Taemin was crying. I felt sudden urge to comfort this lonely boy, who had only his violin as a friend .

I stood up quickly and started to walk around my room, rubbing my temples and trying to sort out those chaotic thoughts running inside of my head.

Hypothesis no. 1: Taemin was suffering.

I glanced at the opposite tenement house again. No doubts that Taemin was in pain. Looking through the open widow I could see how the boy is drowning in an endless sadness.

Hypothesis no. 2: Taemin was lonely.

I stopped walking, too much lost in my own thoughts. I got to know two different sides of this boy. One, frigid and unfriendly, and the second, the one I was now looking at, submissive, lost. Which one was real? Undoubtedly the second one. During our conversation about colors I’ve noticed some kind of relation. Taemin’s behavior was completely changing, whenever an art came to be the topic. Then he was taking his mask off and acting like the tender violinist that I knew for so long.

Conclusion: sensitive and vulnerable boy – that is his real face.

Now the question appears: why in everyday life Taemin is acting like a total jerk, who doesn’t care about the other people?

I scratched my head, looking for the answer. Sad, trembling melody that was flying in the air along with autumn wind made it even harder for me to concentrate. Finally, I came to a brilliant conclusion, that some things will be solved in time. I smiled, satisfied with my analysis.

‘There is only one question left,’ spoke the voice in my head. ‘Why the you care about it?’ asked my reasonableness, clearly trying to make me give up on my plan to understand Taemin’s behavior. Not to let my doubts destroy my urge to somehow help my neighbor, I just stopped thinking and looked at the opposite window. I let myself to be carried away by the windy music of the night.

***

I glanced at my watch. Five to eight. I sighed silently. I intentionally came here a bit earlier than usually, just to manage to meet Taemin, but his black car was nowhere to be seen. I’ve been standing for half of an hour like complete fool, looking at the car yard, waiting.

‘What are you waiting for, you idiot? This kid will not even care about you being here,’ spoke the voice in my head. I started to walk around the car yard, just to have anything more to do, than standing and thinking about my own foolishness. People were rushing straight to the academy’s door to be on lectures on time. I looked at my watch again. Only three minutes left. I snorted impatiently, wondering if I should just stop acting like an idiot and start behaving like a good student.

Then I finally saw the black car, that I’ve been waiting for. The driver parked quickly and got out of the vehicle to help the passenger. This time I knew the reason for his specific behavior. I heard the chauffeur’s voice asking if he should help the boy to find his lectures hall, but the proposition was refused.

 ‘I can go on my own’ he said sharply, not giving his chauffeur a chance to protest. The men mumbled something with dissatisfaction, but he clearly did not want to get in the boy’s way, so he backed out quickly. Taemin gripped his wooden stick tighter, as he started to walk slowly in school building’s direction. I was observing his cautious steps, finding out that he wasn’t very good at walking on his own, even though he tended to say otherwise. However, I decided not to share my opinion with the boy. I approached him silently and suddenly grabbed his arm.

‘You blamed me for not being here on time and now you’re the one who’s late…’ I said lightly. The boy stiffened. Judging by his face I could not precise if he’s mad at me, or oppositely – pleasantly surprised. However, it did not last long. He quickly answered me with a grimace of anger.

‘Did I already tell you that you’re a ert?’ he snapped. ‘How can you paw such an innocent human being?!’

‘Innocent human being? You? You must be kidding me! You would rather punch me with this stick, than let me hurt you,’ I said totally amused, trying to infect Taemin with just a little bit of my great mood. My attempt failed, as he wasn’t taken in and pouted at me. ‘…but at least you didn’t attack me, I’m going to take it as a permission,’ I added, guiding him towards the school building. I heard a snort.

 ‘I’m going to take it as a permission, pfff! Don’t imagine weird things! I’m still not sure if I want to collaborate with you,’ he said, clearly trying to remind me how our last conversation finished.

‘But I do,’ I answered lightly, discretely glancing at Taemin. I was aware of his disability, but I still could not look straight at him so easily. Even though, my eyes would continuously turn into his direction, appreciating his delicate features. What made me feel this continual need to observe my new friend? Were it his gorgeous looks, his enchanting eyes or just an ordinary curiosity of alterity, I didn’t know. After my words there was a moment of awkward silence. Realizing that the “I do” probably sounded too much like some kind of declaration, I tried to lighten the mood. ‘Your hyung has chosen me to be your guide and I don’t intend to argue with a madman,’ I said, hoping that it sounds like a joke. ‘So… now you won’t get a rid of me so easily.’

Taemin looked as if he were trying to come up with any off-putting answer that would make me abandon my willingness to get closer to him. After a few seconds he pouted helplessly. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life and that conclusion make me so freaking confused.

‘Hey, Minho, cute are little girls, big girls, dogs, cats and all the rest of a pet shop, but raving over a face of a guy is a serious deviancy…’ the voice spoke in my head once again. I quickly looked away and rubbed my temple, already feeling upcoming headache.

***

 ‘Stop it,’ said Taemin sharply. I looked at him disorientated. It took me a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. I stopped taping the table with my pencil.

‘Does it disturb you? It’s barely audible.’

‘Pff, maybe for you. I’m blind, but not deaf,’ he said proudly. ‘To be honest, I can hear much more than you.’

‘Oh, really?’ I mumbled and started to scratch the edge of my chair with my nails.

‘STOP BEING SO NOISY, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!’ Taemin got mad.

‘I don’t have any problem, I just wanted to check,’ I answered, giggling. The boy made an offended face and crossed his arms on his chest.

 ‘You boast about your excellent hearing, but you did not even show me your abilities.’ I glanced at the violin case, lying next to him.

‘I don’t play for all and sundry,’ he said, emphatically. I hardly convinced myself that I should not pat him on the head.

‘Is that so?’ I mumbled, suddenly thinking about all those night performances that I attended as an uninvited guest.

‘I don’t know what you’re thinking about and I don’t care at all.’

‘Are you sure? So tell me – with whom you’re going to do your project?’ I asked teasingly. I managed to notice Taemin’s cheeks are getting red, just before he lowered his head.

‘None of your business’ he snarled.

 ‘You really look as if you wanted the ground to open up right now, you know…’ I again, making Taemin straighten his back and trying to look as archly as always.

‘I do not understand why do you even care about it,’ he said with off-putting tone of voice, but a bit less coldly than before.

 ‘Comeeeee oooon, let’s do it together, Taeminnieeeee, pleaseeee,’ I whined in extremely cute way.

‘HOW DID YOU CALL ME?! Who do you think I am, your dog?!’

‘Don’t get mad so easily, I’m just teasing you. I will stop, if you promise to make the project with me.’

‘Why do you care so much? Has anything changed since yesterday?’ he asked, making me think about his crying face, his lonely silhouette fading in the darkness of the room. Something has changed, indeed. I decided to get closer to him and try to be his friend. But I could not tell him the truth…

‘I heard you’re a really notable musician, so I decided to give you a chance to work with me.’ I cooked up an explanation.

 ‘You heard? From whom?’ His face was painted with a surprised expression, what made me a bit confused. Something that was obvious to me, thanks to his night concerts that I was listening to each evening, apparently wasn’t known by most of the people.

‘Um… tongues are wagging… In this school you cannot hide a thing,’ I whispered conspiratorially. Taemin shrank, affected by my words, but his features hardened.

‘That’s right. My abilities are notable, but who said I want YOUR help?’ he asked. When I didn’t answer, he sighed heavily. ‘Do you even know what  project we’re talking about?’

I felt triumph, as Taemin clearly decided to stop being so inaccessible for a moment. Even so, I didn’t answer, not wanting to make a fool out of myself.

‘Correspondance des arts,’ he finally said. My eyes widened.

‘What are you doing?! Cursing me in a different language?’

‘Don’t pretend to be more stupid, than you really are,’ he said viciously. ‘What do they teach all of you in those schools?’ he mumbled rhetorically to himself.

‘Us? What about you? Home schooling?’ I asked, but as soon as I saw his face I realized that I was right. The boy abashed and cleared his throat.

‘And so what?’ he mumbled, defending his pride.

 ‘Nothing’ I answered lumpishly, trying to figure out how to change this problematic subject. ‘So… what about this corr... corrae.. um?’ I stuttered and the boy giggled. I should have been annoyed since he was clearly laughing at my poor language skills. Even so, rather than annoyance, I felt a weird warmth inside of me, being able to see such a rare smile on Taemin’s face.

 ‘Correspondance des arts,’ he repeated, slowly articulating each syllable, not even trying to hide a pride in his voice. ‘From French it means ‘synthesis of t