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THE squeaking sound of Ryu Sol's school shoes seems to echo through the empty corridor as she drags herself towards an empty practice room. It's still somewhat early, as classes only finished twenty minutes ago, and the usual students with various extracurriculars involving performing arts have yet to arrive at the prestigious music academy. Sol doesn't really mind. It means she gets first pick of the studios.
Usually the larger practice studios are booked out by local dance groups, but every so often some of them venture towards the smaller practice rooms to practice. Sol doesn't usually mind, unless they decide to blast their music at ridiculous volumes in the room next to her while she's trying to practice the violin. Sol can barely hear herself think, so she has no idea how some of these people can remember choreography with all that noise blasting in their ears. Sol certainly wouldn't be able to.
She likes getting to practice studio early so she can have first pick. Sol likes the practice room at the very end of the corridor, right beside the window that looks out onto the suspicious looking backstreet. It's not exactly a nice view, but the end of the corridor is so far away from the stairs that most other patrons can't be bothered to walk all the way to the end, so Sol can have some nice peace and quiet while she practices the violin for hours until she's satisfied with herself.
Besides, Sol will take any excuse to get out of her family's large, and mostly empty, house. And the way she sees it, practicing the violin is a lot more productive than lying on her best friend's bed and playing with Sohee's cat. (Seriously, Sol could spend hours playing with the feline and completely ignoring her best friend in favour of the adorable tabby).
Sol's regular room also has a working music stand. Sol had to find out the hard way that half of the music stands in the practice rooms were wonky and didn't stand up straight, because who ever owned the building didn't bother to have them replaced. There's nothing that annoys Sol more than an uneven surface to balance her sheet music on, and she can't count the amount of times she's had to stop playing mid song because her sheet music has fallen off the stand and landed in a pile on the floor at her feet. It's frustrating, to say the least.
Like always, Sol's room is empty as she walks down the corridor, the door open slightly and the lights turned off. But today, there's someone else practicing in the room directly next to it, which Sol find unusual. There's normally at least three empty practice rooms between Sol and the nearest person, because everyone gravitates towards the rooms closest to the stairs.
Sol can hear the music from inside the room, and she peeks through the blinds of the window, her gaze falling on the boy inside. He dances smoothly, movements fluid and flexible, and it's captivating enough to make Sol pause and watch the entire routine until it finishes.
She's not much of a dancer herself, if she's completely honest. She took ballet for a bit when she was younger, but she wouldn't say she really enjoyed it, because she quit after a year and threw her focus into violin instead. Sol prefers to play music rather than dance to it.
But this boy is on a completely different level with his movements, and it's mesmerising.
Her gaze flickers around the practice room, before falling on the dark blazer hanging over a chair next to the mirror. She has to fight to keep the scowl off her face when she recognises the logo. After spending her entire high schooling career at the Gangnam Academy, she's very much familiar with the uniform of their rival school. And the blazer that the boy wears is enough of an incentive for Sol to hate him on sight.
She turns away before the dancing boy notices her, frowning. Sol's in such a hurry to get away that she's not really paying attention to her surroundings, and she doesn't notice the other boy who managed to creep up behind her her while she was immersed in watching the boy in the practice room. Sol flinches violently when the boy makes his presence known, but his expression doesn't falter when she shoots him one of her most vicious glares (and Sol knows they can be terrifying, because she rules Gangnam Academy by fear). He just keeps smiling.
Sol doesn't like people who are always happy. Not even her best friend, resident queen bee and social butterfly of Gangnam Academy is that happy all the time. It should not be possible. Anyone who is happy all the time must secretly be a serial killer, so Sol is immediately on alert, clutching her violin case tightly. Not that she'd ever use it as a weapon, because the instrument is far too expensive for Sol to hit people with. But it does make her feel slightly more secure.
The boy looks a bit like a fox, and he's smiling so brightly that his eyes look like crescents. He's holding two coffee cups in his hands, schoolbag slung over his shoulder, and a blazer for the Gangnam Institute fitted across his shoulders. Sol tries not to wrinkle her face too much at the last fact, but she does discreetly give the boy a once over.
He still doesn't stop smiling. It puts Sol on edge. He's clearly one of those people, the ones that are still smiley and nice despite the decades old rivalry between both schools. Sol hates them. They make her feel even worse for being hostile towards them. She much prefers all the stuck up idiots from the brother school who mutter snarky comments only for Sol to shut them up witty comebacks. At least then she doesn't have to feel like a horrible person for snapping, because she can blame them for provoking her.
The boy sidesteps around Sol, still smiling brightly, and pushes on the door handle that leads the practice room that Sol spent the past five minutes peeking into, and disappears inside, leaving Sol to stand out in the corridor, blinking at the bizarre interaction. But before she has time to dwell on it, the sound of footsteps echoes up the stairs, indicating the incoming heard of students who are no doubt arriving to spend hours practicing away in cramped rooms. She spins on her heel and marches the remaining five feet towards the door of her usual practice room before someone else takes it.
Sol decides to put the entire thing out of her mind as she readies her violin bow and begins to play the pieces she's been practicing for weeks on end, the notes so far engrained in her memory that she could do it in her sleep. She has more important things to think about than odd boys from the Gangnam Institute.
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BAD BOY / yang jeongin. artificixl [ JUNE 27, 2019 ]
