The next day in guitar class, the professor decided that since the showcase was coming up; it would be a good idea to just practice instead of another lecture.

                “Oh thank god!” a voice screamed in my ear. “If he was going to make us do warm ups again, I would’ve ran out of class!”

               “Good morning to you, too.” I replied. Myungsoo just nudged me with the head of his guitar and strummed chords. I smiled weakly as he moved his head to the music. I really thought he dressed to dark to be this happy.

                He asked me what we should do for the showcase and I shrugged. I wasn’t able to participate last year because of a sore throat. It didn’t last long, but coincidently occurred before I was about to go onto stage. How lucky was I?

                “How about you sing and I’ll play the guitar?”
                I looked at him, “why don’t you sing?”

                He batted his eyelashes playfully, “Because I don’t want to.”

                The kid was really something. Even though we met only yesterday; he made it feel like we’ve known each other for a while. Class was dismissed and we made our way to the courtyard. It was filled with fallen leaves of orange, red, and yellow. We sat down on a bench with its green paint peeling off; the wind blew lightly through our hair.

                While discussing what song we should sing or compose one; I felt a rather unpleasant feeling from behind me. Turning around, I caught those eyes again. The stranger sat on a bench behind us, spinning a pen with his right hand while his left held onto what looked like music paper. We held contact for what seemed like an hour. I was startled when a hand tapped my shoulder.

                “Woohyun? Are you listening?” 

                I nodded, “Hey, who’s that behind us?”

                Myungsoo turned around and looked at a stranger and answered, “That’s Kim Sunggyu.”

                “Kim… Sunggyu?” I felt a lump in my throat, but swallowing didn’t make it go down.

                “Yeah. He’s also in our guitar class. Do you not see anyone with those pretty eyes of yours?” he continued, “He’s pretty popular around here. Got girls, got money, and got a bunch of handsome friends. I’ve been envious of him for a while.”

                I clutched the end of my shirt while my heart pounded beneath my chest. Sunggyu, Kim Sunggyu, had changed so much. The little boy that I used to torment with my words, the one that didn’t seem to have any guts in him, has turned so… intimidating.

                Sunggyu smirked at me as if he knew that I remembered him. He got up and walked in front of Myungsoo and me with his hands in his pockets. I felt stuck to the bench because the only thing I could feel was the pain of a beating heart.

                “Myungsoo,” his voice even changed; it became more confident, “and Woohyun.” He added coldly.

                Myungsoo nodded instead of speaking while I just sat there, frozen.

                “Nice to see you, too, after all these years.” Half his teeth were showing through that crooked smile. I only lowered my head and muttered a, “yeah”.

                Dongwoo fell asleep on the couch with an arm swaying lifelessly at the side; his cell phone was on the floor blinking with a new message. I wondered why he has been texting so much lately. Before, he wouldn’t eve reply to my messages. If it was this “Hoya” kid, Dongwoo’s probably found someone better than me to talk to.

                I didn’t feel so bad; honestly, I found it better to talk to Myungsoo than Dongwoo. Dongwoo would pretend to listen and answer with “uh huh” and “yeah”. On the other hand, Myungsoo would interrupt and complain about the topic being boring, but hey, he actually listens.

                I threw the notes Myungsoo gave me before we parted onto my desk. I threw myself on my bed, kicking off my shoes in the process. I wasn’t in the mood to think or practice. ‘It’s time to regret and hate on myself’ I thought.