"Duriraseo joha hamkkeraseo joha."

I grabbed the broom and sighed. Readjusting my earphone, I then continued singing as I started sweeping the class.

"Eodie itdeunji tto mueol hadeunji neowa."

"Na geu junge jeil jeil jeil hago shipdeon han gaji~." a male voice sang out, harmonizing with my voice.

I stopped singing and pulled out one earphone. I turned around slowly and saw one of my classmates, Byun Baekhyun standing there. "Why'd you stop singing?" he asked. I stood there, not moving and not saying a word. He continued staring at me, and asked again, "I said, why'd you stop singing?"

"I heard you the first time." I snapped, finally regaining my senses. "I stopped because I don't like singing in front of people." I turned away from him and started sweeping again.

"Why not? Your voice is beautiful." he said casually. I froze. Compliments had always been my weak spot. Whenever people complimented me, I never knew how to react, and always handled it awkwardly. I cleared my throat in the most awkward way possible and changed the topic instead. "Why are you even here so early?"

"What do you mean 'early'? Class starts in 10 minutes." Baekhyun remarked.

"What?? Oh no. I'm in charge of classroom chores and I didn't do them yesterday after school because I was too tired to-"

"More like too lazy." Baekhyun interrupted. I shot him a glare and continued, "And so I came early to finish them up today and if I don't finish, I swear, I'm going to end up with a detention, especially because I didn't finish my homework-"

"Whoa. I didn't ask for your life story, okay? And wow, I've been in your class for like, forever, and this is the first time I've ever heard you talk so much. Frankly, I didn't even know you could speak." Baekhyun said. He then strode to his seat and sat down.

My eyes narrowed at him. "Whatever." I rolled my eyes. I paused and then looked at him, tilting my head to the side. "And frankly, I don't even remember you being in my class."

"That's because you're always at the back corner of the class, hiding behind that thick black curtain in front of your face that you call 'hair'." Baekhyun shot back.

I blinked a few times, shocked by his forwardness. I mean, I barely knew the guy, and he was throwing out insults that I would only use around my close friends. I shook my head and glanced at the clock. Damn it. 5 more minutes. I groaned in frustration and threw the broom on the ground. "Screw that, there's no way I'll finish cleaning." I glanced at the door and saw people starting to head in. "Well, that's that. It was...interesting talking to you." I remarked before striding to the back of the class.

I sat down in my seat and lay my head on my desk as my classmates started filing in.

"Hi Hyeri unnie!" one of my classmates smiled. I smiled back politely.

"She's so pretty." I heard her whisper to her friend.

I sighed. I don't know why people always madly respect others just because they're pretty or cute. That's the only reason I sit in the back of the class and refuse to associate myself with 'popular' people. Which explains why I've never talked to Baekhyun properly before.

"Hey. The board looks so clean." my friend, Yoon Jin, remarked, as she plopped down in the seat beside me. "I mean, that chalk dust all over it really makes it shine." she said sarcastically.

"Shut up." I groaned. "I didn't finish cleaning the class, I get it."

"More like barely even started." she said.

"Quiet, they're making an announcement." I said, as the P.A. suddenly came on.

"This is a reminder that there'll be a singing contest-" the principal's voice rang out.

Yoon Jin rolled her eyes. "It's just that singing contest. They've been making that announcement every day for the past week. It's not important anyways."

"Yeah, it's not like any of us can sing." I said, ignoring the memory of what had happened just 5 minutes ago.

---

I sighed. Today was just not my day. Here I was, sitting in detention after school. And if that wasn't bad enough, Baekhyun was there too. There was also a couple at the front of the classroom. They were being all loud and cutesy and stuff and it was majorly pissing me off.

"There's other people here. Could you two shut up?" Yoon Jin said, throwing them a look, as if she'd read my mind. I smiled. What a great friend. She'd purposely 'forgotten' her homework so that I wouldn't have to spend detention by myself. "They're so annoying." Yoon Jin muttered. I nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Hyeri." Baekhyun called out to me. I ignored him and kept my head down on my desk. "Why is he talking to you?" Yoon Jin asked, raising an eyebrow. "How do you guys even know each other?"

"I can hear you." Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "Me and Hyeri are best friends, why wouldn't I talk to her?"

"Just ignore him. Maybe he'll go away." I muttered to Yoon Jin. "And I only know him because he was distracting me this morning when I was trying to clean up some of the classroom."

"Ah. So he basically landed you in detention."

"Basically." I nodded.

"Wrong." Baekhyun countered. "It wasn't my fault. It's not like she was cleaning diligently anyways, she was too busy sing-"

"Anyways." I said, cutting him off. There was no way I'd let him reveal that I'd been singing. "It doesn't matter. We're all here now, so let's just get through this without talking to each other, okay?"

"I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to join the singing contest with me or not." Baekhyun said.

I scoffed. "As if."

"You guys can leave now." a teacher said, walking into the room. "Detention is over."

"And not a minute too soon." I muttered, standing up quickly. "Let's go." I said to Yoon Jin. 

"Can I go the washroom quickly first?" she asked. "I'll go first, you can just finish packing up your stuff and then meet me outside okay?"

I nodded, and she walked out of the classroom. Baekhyun took that opportunity to come over and talk to me. "Look, I really think we'd have a shot at winning the singing competition."

I rolled my eyes and slung my bag over my shoulder. "I don't sing in front of people, remember?"

"Yeah. And I don't get that at all. Your voice is so nice."

"Okay fine. We've established that my voice is nice. But why should I go up and sing? I'd probably just end up embarrassing myself."

"Trust me." Baekhyun scoffed. "My voice is nice, and yours is too. So can we please do this? I don't want to do it alone, but I don't know anyone with a voice as good as yours. The first prize is a dinner at that famous fancy restaurant beside the tteokbokki shop, as well as $500. I need that dinner to impress whichever girl I happen to be interested in when the time comes, so I'll take the dinner and you can take the money, okay?"

I paused. I did really need that money. After all, my mom had told me I had to start paying for myself and I didn't have a job yet. So that money would really help.

I sighed. "I hope I won't regret this, but... fine. But you have to promise that we'll keep this a secret."

Baekhyun grinned. "Awesome. We still have about a month until the contest, but we'll have to work out some kind of schedule though so that we can practice together."

"Yeah, yeah, sure whatever." I said absent-mindedly, as I glanced at the clock. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "Just, like, give me your number or something, and I'll text you when I'm free. Pass me your phone, I'll type in my number too."

We switched phones and quickly typed in our numbers. Baekhyun gave me my phone back and grinned. "Alright, well see you later, partner." I just rolled my eyes and grabbed my stuff, hurriedly walking out of the classroom.

On my way outside, I saw Yoon Jin just leaving the washroom, and so I ran to catch up with her. "Yoon Jin!" I called. She turned and stopped walking, waiting for me to reach her. "What took you so long?" she asked.

"Baekhyun was talking and talking." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, about that. Why was he even talking to you? You guys have gone to the same school as each other for like, forever, and not once have you guys ever had an actual conversation with each other." Yoon Jin pointed out, raising an eyebrow. I just shrugged, not wanting to tell her about how I was singing and he had heard me that morning.

"I don't know, I guess he's just weird like that."

"And he asked you if you wanted to join the singing contest with him. Wow, can that guy even sing? I swear, all he does is talk to his friends and play sports."

"I know. I haven't ever heard him sing. And I've never heard anyone say anything about him being a good singer either." As soon as that sentence escaped my lips, I realized it was a lie. I had actually heard him sing this morning, and his voice was definitely angelic. Of course, I wouldn't admit that to anyone though.

"Whatever. Moving on." Yoon Jin said, brushing the topic aside. "Did you see what Chae Won was wearing today?"

---

After I got home, I quickly said hi to my brother and headed to the kitchen to make myself some food, since my parents weren't home yet. While I was digging through the fridge, my brother called out from the living room, "Hyeri, do you have a boyfriend?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Of course not, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Well do you have a crush on someone then?"

"No. What's up with these random questions?"

"Well someone texted you and the name says 'Mr. Perfect' so I thought it was someone you liked."

"What??"

"Here, you left your phone on the table." my brother said, tossing my phone at me.

"Hey wait, don't throw that!" I yelled, barely catching my phone. "Good thing I caught it, or else I would've killed you." I glared at him. I then unlocked my phone, and sure enough, I had received a text from someone whose contact name was 'Mr. Perfect'. I frowned as I glanced at the unknown number and then read the text.

Hyeri! So I was thinking we should sing that song you were singing this morning. Our voices sounded perfectly in unison when we sang together, don't you think?

I sighed as I realized who it was. I texted him back quickly.

'Mr. Perfect'? Seriously, Baekhyun?
You're more cocky than I thought.

Baekhyun then texted back

It's a nickname! Isn't it cute?

I rolled my eyes. Cute wasn't exactly the right word for it. I was too lazy to argue back though, so I just quickly said:

Sure. Fine. Whatever.
And okay, that song is fine. I know it well, so there shouldn't be any problems. I'm free tomorrow after school, by the way, so we could meet in the music room I guess?

"Noona, so who is Mr. Perfect then?" my brother asked.

"Just some annoying guy in my class." I answered as I read Baekhyun's reply.

I'm free after school too, so I guess it's a date then.
I'll see you tomorrow, partner! ^o^

I smiled. This guy was seriously annoying, but hey, at least he was easy to get along with.

---

*I take back that comment. He is soo not easy to get along with.* I thought.

It was the next day, and here we were, practicing after school in the music room, and this fool was being so frustrating.

He kept suggesting that we should change all these different parts of the song, and he wanted to sing it his own way, while I wanted to just stick to the original song because it sounded nice just the way it was.

"Stop, stop, stop! You can't sing it like that, it ruins the whole mood of the song!" I groaned.

Baekhyun stopped singing and gave me an annoyed look. "Excuse me, but I think I know what sounds good and what doesn't."

"It sounds fine, sure, but the way you're singing it is completely opposite of what the lyrics are saying. If the lyrics are sad, you can't sing it in an upbeat way, and if the lyrics are happy, you can't sing it in a way that makes people want to cry!" I pointed out.

"Stop nagging me." Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "Let's just try this again."

"Yeojachinguga saenggimyeon hago shipdeonil naegado manha
Hangsang bureoweo haesseo~"

"Stop." I closed my eyes in annoyance. "Here, I'll show you what it should sound like."
I took a deep breath and started singing my part.

"Namjachinguga saenggimyeon hago shipdeonil neomuna manha
Nan neul kkumeul kkueosseo~"

I then gave him a look. "See? That's how it should sound."

Baekhyun smiled. "Your voice is so nice, I can't get over it."

I blushed a bit and was momentarily stunned into silence. Like I said before, I'm terrible with compliments.

He took that opportunity to say, "But my voice is way nicer, and so we're going to sing it my way, okay?"

I swear, there is no way this kid could get more annoying.

"Well I don't hear any objections, so that's settled then."

I just wanted to strangle him right then and there.

---

[A/N] Sorry if I put too much singing in this chapter... I swear though, the fic isn't going to be all singing, don't worry~