the firsts || p.cy

his first hello

I practice the piano melody for the new song the children will be singing. Not that I need to practice, since I'm quite skilled with the piano, but I need to do something to keep busy.

It's been about twelve hours since I gave Woori my number, but she still hasn't texted or called me at all. Is it possible that she may have actually deleted my number?

"You're playing the notes too fast. This is not what I'm paying you to do."

An outside voice snaps me out of the pessimism.

"Of course not, Kyungsoo," I reply happily to my friend who is the owner and director of the children's choir. Also my boss. "Don't worry, you know how good I am at this."

"Baekhyun told me how your plan flopped," he says in response. "Are you worried?"

Of course Baekhyun told him what happened.

"Definitely not," I say as I take my phone out. "In fact, I already received a text from her last ni--" In the midst of my lie, my phone vibrates to signal a call from an unknown number. "Kyungsoo, I think she's calling me!"

In response to this, Kyungsoo leans against the piano and watches me quietly as I immediately swipe Accept and put the phone to my ear.

"You know, I still don't understand how you guys can give out orange juice in a cup smaller than a salt shaker," a distant voice says. I retract the phone from my ear, confused.

"I just work here. I don't make the rules," someone else responds. "Anyway, I heard about your stalker. Are you going to report him?"

Hm, maybe Woori called me by accident? I don't mind either way, as long as it's her.

"Ah, I hope you aren't talking about me. I'm not a stalker, I promise!" I say loudly in case her phone is far away.

This is followed by a few seconds of silence until someone tentatively says, "Hello?"

"Hello! Is this Jung Woori? I'm Park Chanyeol." In case this call really was a mistake, I plan to guilt-trip her into not hanging up. "So, I've really been waiting for your call. I know our first meeting yesterday wasn't exactly the best, and I really wanted to make it up to you somehow." In front of me, Kyungsoo looks like he's trying hard not to laugh. I quickly spin my chair around so I can't see him.

"Oh . . . right."

I try to ignore what sounds like uncertainty in her voice.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to meet again." There's nothing wrong with being straightforward, right?

She hesitates. "Well, um, I don't know if I--" she suddenly stops and I can hear muffled voices, two of them belonging to Woori and Sehun. "Uh, I will think about it and let you know."

Honestly feeling a little disappointed, I wonder how I should reply when I feel Kyungsoo tap the top of my head.

"The kids are going to start coming in soon," he says. "Sometimes you have to know when to give up."

I raise a finger to signal one more minutes while sincerely hope Woori did not hear that.

"Well, it seems l--"

"Is tomorrow okay?"

We both speak at the same time.

I immediately backpedal on my words. "Tomorrow? Oh yeah, definitely!" I'm about to jump up from my seat, but Kyungsoo holds me down. "I can do tomorrow."

"Um, great. Where do you want to go?"

"How about the park?" I suggest. I've been to the place quite often, so I know a lot of the attractions.

"Okay, I --"

Woori's voice gets cut off as the children start running into the practice room. Kyungsoo gives me a glare before walking toward the kids.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to hang up for now," I say in a rushed tone as I try to avoid my friend's eyes. "Can I text you later?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Great, I'll text you in about an hour then. Goodbye!"

I just barely hear her squeeze out the farewell before I hang up and rush to the children.

"Are you satisfied?" Kyungsoo asks in a dead voice.

"Of course," I respond with my signature smile. "I told you it would work."

Kyungsoo responds by dumping the kids' bags in my hands.