17

Hayan feels serene as he stare at the ocean waves moving slowly. Being here gives him a peace of mind, something he needed a long time ago. He felt like he could breath again after a long while.

"Do you feel better now?" Sean asks, his eyes glued to the calm sea. He nods as he give a slight smile.

"It's been a while since I've last went to a beach. I miss this feeling of calm and peace."

"Then we should come here more often. Maybe after the festival?"

"Should we do that?"

"Of course! We need a breather once in a while, you know."

"Sean."

"Oh?"

Hayan moves closer and leans on his shoulder. Sean finches by the sudden move but won't say anything.

"Thank you. You are always there whenever something happens, may it be good or bad so... I'm really thankful."

He gives off a bitter smile as he stared back to the ocean. "What are you thankful for?"

"For a lot of things. You helped me a lot and I'm so grateful to you. If I hadn't met you I'll probably be alone right now."

"Seems like the ocean made you talkative, huh?"

"I'm being serious here!"

Sean chuckles a little. "You're my friend, of course I'll help you. We're through thick and thin, remember?" Hayan nods.

"I'm really glad you're my friend."

Right. And that's all I'll ever be. Your friend.

"I think our class is done. We should go back to school and get our bags."

"Okay."

Sean stands up first and offer his hand to help Hayan. He will stare at it for a while before he accepts it.

"Let's go." He squeezes his hand slightly and starts walking.

This will be the last time so let me be greedy for a while, Hayan.

-

They reached the school and as expected, the class has ended. Sean stopped by at the comfort room so Hayan decided to wait outside their classroom.

He could feel his heart skipping a beat when he sees Hajin going down the stairs but he won't expect the person walking beside him. The two of them didn't notice them and continued walking until they are out of sight.

Why is Hajin and Red together? Are... They close? Since when?

"Hayan, let's go."

I didn't know they were close.

"Hayan!"

"H-huh?"

"What's wrong? You look like you have seen a ghost."

"It's nothing. Are you done? Let's go, it's getting late."

"Okay." Sean puts his arm around him as they walk. "Do you want to eat noodles? It's been a while since we've last eaten there!"

"Sure. I'll just inform my Mom."

"Okay!"

-

"Hayan, please! Do it for us, we really need your help!"

"Yeah! Only you can do it so please... Please help us!"

"B-but... I... I can't..."

It's morning and he just entered the classroom when he was ambushed by his classmates begging him to sing for their temporary band that is participating at the music festival that is part of the program of the school foundation day. Each class needs to form a band to participate. The preliminary and elimination is being 3 days before the actual competition.

Their class band is actually complete but they still don't have a vocalist. Hayan didn't imagine that Sean would sell him like that. He, of all people, knows how scared he is of the crowd.

"Please help us, Hayan..."

"Please!"

"B-but... I... I can't sing..."

"Sean showed us a video of you singing!" Hayan looks at Sean completely surprised. He must have recorded him singing absentmindedly when he's hanging around with him. "We know you're shy but please help us just this once and we won't bother you ever again!"

"Don't ambush him like that." Hajin suddenly appears out of nowhere like an angel falling from the sky in the eyes of Hayan. "Hayan is scared of the crowd. You just can't force him to sing in front of many people."

"Then what should we do? We don't have a vocalist, they won't accept instrumental bands either. We will be given deduction if we don't participate..."

"I'm pretty sure someone else can sing here..." Hajin looks around, the place in a dead silence. "... Right?"

"Don't bother. We thought of that too earlier. No one can sing that well besides Hayan..." She looks at Hajin. "... Not even you."

Hajin chuckles lightly. "Sorry, I can't be of help."

He's still helping me even though I'm avoiding him. I really wanted to help but what can I do? My knees go weak whenever I'm in front of many people and my voice won't come out. I'm no help at all.

"Hayan, you said that you're afraid of the crowd but what if you sing behind the crowd?" His classmate suddenly asked. "I mean, if you sing behind the stage? There's no crowd in there, will you be fine with that?"

"Huh?"

"I've heard of ghost singers. Someone will pretend to sing on stage while the real singer is behind!"

"Isn't that cheating?"

"We just have to participate at the preliminaries, right? I'm sure we will be eliminated and won't make it to the finals so it's fine!"

"So... Who will stand on stage?"

"Who else?" She excitedly points at him. "Hajin!"

Hayan and Hajin are too dumbfounded and surprised to even respond or protest so before they knew it, everything has been decided.

-

It is now breaktime so Hayan and Sean found a place that is not crowded by other students. They were sitting on the bench quietly eating.

"Why did you do that, Sean?"

"What?" Hayan sighed. Sean immediately gets what he means. "Ah, that. Why not? It's about time you show off that talent of yours! I can't be the only one hearing that, you know."

"But still..."

"Besides, don't you want that?"

"What?"

"You got to spend time with Hajin again! Isn't that great? He will got to hear your pretty voice!"

"Have you forgotten that I'm avoiding him?"

"Which I think is really stupid."

Hayan won't say a word and just looked at him.

"Hajin seems to be sincere at being friends with you so he must be confused now as to why are you suddenly acting that way."

He looks down as he slowly start to realize the situation. "Y-you're right."

"I hate to say this but you're being greedy. You're expecting something in return and when you didn't got it, you stayed away. That's a really bad habit, you know."

"What should I do?" Hayan asks, his voice getting more quiet.

"Apologize! You don't exactly have to say the reason of you can't do it but you need to apologize for what you did and if you really can't be friends with him then might as well confess what you feel to him."

"C-confess?"

Sean nods as he continue. "He will surely ask you why you don't want to be friends anymore, So it will lead to that."

"I don't think I can do that... I can't even look at him in the eyes."

Sean sighed as he try not be annoyed by him. "Stop being a Coward and face him! You need to have a confidence in yourself. Anyway, I'll still be here even if you got rejected, so don't be afraid and let it all out, okay?" He pats his shoulders.

Should I really confess? I've been dragging this thing for so long. I honestly don't know what Hajin feels right now... He must be angry at me because I avoided him. What Am I doing? I've been really childish this time.

"You're right..." He whispers but enough for Sean to hear.

He flashes a wide smile in relief. "See? You finally got me!"

"I will apologize... But I won't confess."

"What? Why?"

"He has a g-girlfriend. I... I don't want to confuse him so I'll stay being his friend. That is... If he will still accept me to be his friend."

"Hajin's nice. I'm sure he'll gladly accept you as his friend again."

Hayan will only smile timidly while Sean continues to pat his back.

"I'm glad you're coming to your senses, Hayan. As your best friend, I'm so proud of you."