사랑시 (Twinkling Watermelon ff)

15. Flustered me

Yeon Yi-joo

I can't anymore.

"STOP!!!", I stomped my foot, standing up from the chair, totally frustrated as my patience left the chat.

“That's right. He's literally so bad”, Majoo pointed his finger at Yi-chan, who was singing a high-pitched song, hurting everyone's ears.

“This, was not it? I thought I hit the note”, Yi-chan dramatically whined and sat on the ground.

“We are doomed”, sighed Majoo.

Meanwhile, Eungyeol was laughing silently at the childish behavior of his father, and I overlooked my stressed father.

“Yichan-ah, doesn't your neck hurt while singing?” I kneeled near him.

“Isn't that normal?”

“No, it's not. It's paining because you are straining and that will damage your throat”

“But why? I can hit the high note”

“Of course you can, but the question is, does that feel pleasant for our ears?”

“It's torture”, Majoo pointed out.

“That's the point. So let's try a new technique”, I stood up, making him stand as well.

I fixed his posture and explained to him how to breathe using the diaphragm while singing and after few attempts, his high notes were sounding bearable. Yi-chan had a nice and unique tone which made him stand out. He just needed some proper training.

“But I don't understand something," Yi-chan says.

“Go ahead”

“Hyunyul said that main vocalist is the remaining position for you. But if I become the frontman, I'll be the main, so how is that position free?” He questioned.

That had to be the sanest question he asked me in the last few hours.

“There are basically three types of vocalists. Main, lead and sub-”

“Main and lead are different? I thought they were the same”, he cuts me off.

“The main vocalist is the one who can hit high notes and sing the harder parts, meanwhile the lead vocalist is the one who basically leads, so if you become a frontman you lead. You get it?” I explained to him everything clearly.

But there was a huge question mark on his face.

“In short, the lead vocalist leads and the main vocalist is the best one”, Eungyeol summarized everything I said which luckily went inside Yi-chan's brain.

After I was done teaching him some singing, I left to do a part-time job at the ice cream parlor Yi-chan used to work. It was Eungyeol's turn to teach him guitar as I insisted that Eungyeol is a better guitarist as he was the one who taught me in the first place.

“How do I do this!” I muttered under my breath, not knowing how to operate the ice-cream machine. I kept following what the owner taught me, but the machine wasn't working. Before that, I was handling the counter, but the other part-timer left right before 30 minutes before my shift ended, making me take care of both.

Did I break the m-

I felt a presence behind my back, “You didn't turn on the power button”, I heard a voice. I turned around, recognizing the voice right away, “Hyunyul? What are you doing here?” I was surprised at his sudden appearance.

“I'm a regular here”, he smiled.

“What's your order?”

“Just make me anything you like”

I was finally able to use the machine after I turned on the power button. I made him his ice cream and took a seat beside him after handing him the ice cream as there were no customers in the shop.

“How's your training going?” He asks before taking his first bite. “He got the potential, but he needs to push his limits. He only has 2 days left for the audition”. He took the second bite and continued, “I'm surprised that you know so much about music”. I chuckled at his words, “it's because I was trained by professionals”. Even though my agency was a bitch, they did have a great team. I learned so many things from them.

I stood up abruptly as I saw the owner walking out of the storage room and rushed to the counter before he could notice me slacking off. “Student”, he called me. Did I get caught?

“Yes, Sajangnim (boss)”

“Your pay for the day. You'll come tomorrow, right?”

“Of course, I will! Thank you so much”, I bowed.

“You can leave after the last customer leaves”, with that, he goes to close the counter.

“Are you done?” Hyunyul asks, and I nod a yes after removing my apron. “I'll drop you at Yi-chan's place, it's dark now," he offered.

Even after declining his offer, he insisted on walking me to Yi-chan's place, so he ended up tagging along with me.

We were walking in a peaceful silence. Even though I met him yesterday, he seemed like a nice guy, or else there was no way I'd let him tag along with me.

“You dating Eungyeol?” He questioned out of nowhere, making me halt my steps. “Why is everyone curious about that!”

“Just because. You seem close," he says.

“You think so?”

“Just answer my question, Yes, or no?”

“Why are you even curious about that?” I questioned back, narrowing my eyes, instead of answering him. He whispered something which I couldn't catch.

“What? Did you say someth-”, I couldn't complete my words as I felt a pull? Losing my balance, I fell over Hyunyul, realizing that if he didn't pull me, the car would've hit me.

Hyunyul's hand over my waist and mine around his neck, that was the position we were in. It took me a moment to realize that but when I realized I glanced at hyunyul's face, his eyes were already looking at mine, as a tingling sensation spread across my whole body. His gaze shifted from my eyes to my lips as he whispered, “Yes or no?”

Instead of answering, I pulled my hand away from his neck, but he held them, as he snarled, making me all flustered.

“N-No”, my voice was barely heard, but it seemed he got it as he let go his hands away from me. I distanced myself away from him as far as possible.

“I'llgofromhere," I said without looking at his face and ran towards the Guesthouse, but I stopped went I saw someone standing in the middle of the road.

Ha Eungyeol?