Mae stood behind the curtain of the stage as the volunteers placed her guqin carefully on stage. She breathed in, trying to calm her agitated mind before taking a step forward. She checked the strings first, and then glanced at the crowd, specifically searching for Min Cheol.

Min Cheol wore no expression but when their eyes met, his lips stretched, sending her silent encouragement. Her eyes lit up with confidence, she nodded towards one of the volunteers, indicating that she will start her performance now.

The spotlight fell on her, illuminating her gracile fingers which elegantly picked one of the strings; the music of ancient times pulled everyone back to thousand years ago. She started slow but soon the pace gradually increased, her fingers swirled around the strings, creating mystical tunes. It fused with a modern melody that everyone was familiar with, the audience soon smiled when they recognized the song; a creative move indeed.

It was rare for someone to choose to play guqin, even in the Chinese community, most people prefer guzheng over guqin; it was even rarer for someone to perform a guqin piece in a Korean high school, some students even mistook it as gayageum. Mae, being a patriot and a lover of her own culture, was proud to show off this amazing instrument on a foreign land.

The string oscillated even after she was done, leaving the last note echoing in the auditorium. Mae stood up three seconds after she was done playing. She briefly explained the history of guqin in Korean before bowing down and saying, "Kamsamnida, xie xie."

There is something special in speaking your mother tongue in a foreign land. Mae couldn't explain the feeling she was feeling when she repeated "thank you" in Chinese. She missed her hometown dearly, a place she could rarely step her foot on.

Min Cheol's eyes were focusing on her the whole time. He could read all the emotions she hid under her eyes. That was the moment he realized how similar they are; how they are both proud of the place they were born; how they both wish to spread the culture that partly built their personalities.

When she bowed, he stood up from his chair as he clapped for her, a proud smile playing on his lips.

After a week, no one was surprised to see Mae's performance gaining the most views out of all the performances. She indeed deserved the title.

After school, in the student council meeting, Mae couldn't help but steal glances at Min Cheol even when he wasn't speaking. One of Mae's seniors who sat beside her nudged her, whispering, "Stop looking at him, focus."

"I am focusing," Mae turned her face and pretended like nothing happened.

Her senior slightly chuckled and turned to face the speaker.

Mae felt relieved when Min Cheol finally dismissed the members and ended the meeting.

While other students left the room as quickly as possible, Mae organized her stuff slowly, waiting for others to leave the room. When the two were finally left alone in the meeting room, Mae leaned back on her chair as her gaze fell on Min Cheol, who was still wiping the whiteboard.

"Stop staring at me like that, it's making me uncomfortable," Min Cheol broke the silence between them after a while, his back facing her.

"I am not staring at you," Mae replied, still not breaking her gaze.

Min Cheol put his hand down and sighed, turning his body to finally face Mae, his eyebrows raised.

"So," Mae uttered as she tilted her face, resting her arms on the table, "When are you going to become my Mr. Darcy?"

A pink tint floated on Min Cheol's ears even though he still tried to maintain a straight face. He coughed and tilted his face to avoid making eye contact, "Why Mr. Darcy?"

"Because you are just like him, you will know when you read Pride and Prejudice." The dimple beside her cheeks deepened.

"Plus, I always wished to meet a Mr. Darcy who would belong to me," she continued, her fervid gaze burning into his eyes with the passion that leaked out of her soul.

His eyes chased her as she got up, inching towards him step by step. Time seemed to have slowed its pace when she walked in front of him. He felt a fiery fire set ablaze inside his stomach, the sensation corroded each cell on his skin and spread to his nerve, seizing his sanity away from him.

Mae came to a halt when they only had a few centimeter gap between them, she slightly rose her head, her eyes meeting his.

"So, are you going to keep your promise?" She didn't have any smile, or any other expression, on her features now; she was just staring at him, patiently waiting for him to answer.

He parted his lips yet it was hard for him to vocalize his answer. He sometimes hated himself for being so shy yet he couldn't help it. Slowly, he raised his hand and awkwardly brushed Mae's hair before plating a peck on her forehead. There are some answers that don't need to be verbalized, this was one of them.

Mae's pupils dilated due to his action, her eyes bloomed in ecstasy. She rested her hands on his shoulder and snaked it to wrap his neck, then tiptoed to leave a light kiss on his lips.

"This is how you do it," she murmured, feeling his breath tickling her skin. Both of their heartbeats were loud enough for each other to hear, synchronizing to contrive a secret song that belonged to them.

......

Mae's memory was abruptly cut off when Dang Si Kyeong called her, waving his hand in the air. She sat down on a swing beside his and replied inattentively, "Hey."

"What happened? You were literally lost in your thoughts just then," Dang Si Kyeong asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Nothing much," she brushed it off and changed the topic, finally focusing on him, "So, how is your training and everything going?"

A shadow shrouded his features when this topic came up. Suddenly, he didn't feel like speaking anymore. He thought he was ready to open up but it still took him a lot of courage to utter even a word.

Mae waited for him patiently, her feet putting pressure on the ground to allow the swing to motion back and forth.

"I gave my credit card back to noona," he started with something that was easier to be spoken after a brief silence.

Mae nodded, "It was a stupid move but I can lend you money if you need, all you need to do is pay me back with interest after you debut."

"Well, huh... About my debut..." A mocking smile crawled up his lips now, without any warmth or temperature.

Mae turned her head to face him. He couldn't continue, it was too hard for him to let it out his lips.

Guqin: A Chinese traditional seven string instrument.

Guzheng: A Chinese traditional instrument with 16 or more strings

Gayageum: A Korean traditional instrument with 12 or 21 strings.

Kamsamnida(감사합니다): "Thank you" in Korean

Xiexie(谢谢): "Thank you" in Chinese