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The next day, Seokjin didn't show up.

Not to his classes, not in the vast hallways of his high school, and not even at his favorite place, a pristine white bench, to gaze at the pale clouds blanketing the blue and grey sky.

And this was discovered by no one other than Lee Chaerin.

He wasn't by the pear blossoms, nor near the shade provided by them.

Then, the girl began to think quietly about his whereabouts.

And after a brief moment of revisiting the scene where the lyrics of her favorite song cascaded down his cherry lips, the only other place where she could imagine his shined shoes walking in were the lacquered tiles of the music room. 

Hastily pushing past the other students, albeit most of the other students were outside. Bustling students either in the sun or shade. None of them must've known what walking on linoleum floors by themselves was like. None of them must've known the sound of lonely footsteps without another to echo them. 

Chaerin wished she didn't know.

Her lonely footsteps filled her ears to the brim until they reached the soft carpet of the music room. Chaerin quickly realized that the music room was the only room in the entire school where there was carpet. She wondered why while contemplating whether to knock on the door or not. Normally, she wouldn't have even hesitated. However, the air here...it seemed more fragile. As if a single breath of air would shatter this strange comfort residing in the atmosphere.

Before her pale knuckles tore the fragile air with a sharp knock, a beautiful melody sung by an equally beautiful voice halted her wrist. 

It came from the door.

She stood on her toes to peek through the window, knowing exactly who the owner of that voice was. Chaerin craned her neck and twisted her face until he was in full view. 

The scene before her didn't seem like it could ever occur in a regular high school setting, for Chaerin wouldn't've been surprised if the window was actually a tv screen playing a film. Looking like he stepped out of Hollywood, Kim Seokjin sat near the piano, sketching a white lily. 

She didn't mean to stare, though it wouldn't have mattered since a pair of eyes stared right back. 

Taking this as a sign of revealing herself, Chaerin opened the door. 

"...Why are you here?" Seokjin asked, neither his eyes nor his pencil breaking contact with the respective recipients.

 "I came to find you. That was the first real conversation I had with anyone at this school the entire year."

 "...Does that automatically make us friends, then? Being a normal person? Conversing with one another?" 

"...Well...it's a start? Do you not want us to be friends?"

 Seokjin's pencil halted, and Chaerin heard the graphite snap. 

"No," came the response, curt and cold. 

He drew in a sharp breath and hoisted himself up from the floor with the help of his hand. "I don't think I would like being friends with you." 

One step, two steps, then three steps, Seokjin waltzed toward the door where the dumb-founded girl stood.

 Then, just barely above a whisper, Seokjin muttered something under his breath that Chaerin was just barely able to catch. 

"You remind me of someone whom I would rather forget..."