Melodies

4

A/N: So I know music theory doesn't have instruments involved really but I don't care. It's a fanfic LOL. When I wrote this, I was still in high school so I didn't understand the college system yet. Currently, I'm studying to be a music major so one of the classes I have to take is music theory. It definitely doesn't involve playing instruments, but just for the sake of this fictional story they will be lololol

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Aelia's POV
"Why does your dog hate me so much?" Mingyu glares at my dog.
"Stop glaring at my baby!" I hug my dog, frowning at my best friend, "You're a sweet puppy, aren't you, Bao?" I pet him as I talk, making him stick his tongue out in happiness.
"See." I stick my tongue out at Mingyu like a child.
He sticks out his tongue back at me and I look back at Bao. Bao is a light brown Shiba Inu. He's only three years old but he's very well behaved, for the most part. Bao will growl and bark at anyone besides me who comes here except, well, my mom. But my mom passed away five months ago...
I shake my head to snap me back to reality when Mingyu starts talking.
"So what's up with that boy?" He asks.
"What boy?"
"Jihoon."
"What about him? I thought you liked him?" I give him a look.
"I do I do. But why does he keep looking at you like that?"
"Mingyu, I have no idea what you're talking about. You need to elaborate more."
He groans and crosses his arms, scoffing.
"Why does he keep looking at you with googly eyes? Wonwoo has noticed too."
After hearing those words, I can't help but smile.
"Aww, is Mingie jelly~?" I pinch his cheeks and talk like a mother to a child.
"Of course I am! He's stealing you away from me." He hugs me from the side and buries his face in my shoulder.
"You're cute, Ming, you really are. But I barely know the boy. He wouldn't be my best friend that quick." I roll my eyes, "Plus where I be without you?"
"You're right. I'm better than him." He smirks.
"Nevermind you're ugly."
"Hey!" He shouts, getting off me.
I roll my eyes and Bao growls at him again.
"WHY?!" He whines loudly, making me laugh.

~

"Aelia!" I turn around to see Jihoon running towards me.
"Why are you running?" I raise an eyebrow.
"To get to you." My cheeks redden at the way he says this, "Now, I wanted to see if you wanted to go to lunch with me, Soonyoung and Seungcheol."
"Oh Soonyoung too?" I blink in surprise.
"Yeah. He wanted to come when he found out you were coming too." He shrugs.
"Okay. I just need to go to my other class really quick."
"Do you want me to come?"
I stare at him, looking him up and down. Sighing, I nod before walking away.
He follows me down a few halls before we end up at my history class. We walk inside and I see Vernon there waiting for me.
"We've been waiting for you to see what country we get." He informs me.
"Okay. What're the choices?" I lean close to him to examine the map.
He points to four countries.
"Egypt, Thailand, Great Britain, and Italy."
"Those are completely diverse countries..." I point out.
"Yup. But we have to pick one." We look at each other at the same time.
"Well if we do Great Britain, a lot of the wars that we studied include that country. But if we do Italy, it'll be harder to find the research we need which is a good challenge to me." I smirk.
We look back at the map again and stare at the four countries. I purse my lips and shift the weight of my feet from left to right.
"Is it possible to do multiple?" I hear a voice behind me.
"No. You have to choose one." Vernon informs him, "Teacher's rules." He sighs.
"Then I suggest Italy. You want a challenge, right? Do that one." Jihoon states.
Vernon and I stare at him in disbelief. Why is he trying to help us? That's odd...
"Okay... We choose Italy." I tell our teacher.
She nods and writes something down on a piece of paper. She hands us both a rule sheet of what not to do rather than what to actually do and we thank her.
We all walk out of the classroom and I turn to Vernon.
"Well, come over tomorrow after school then to get started right away? I'm sure we can knock it out of the park in three days tops with us being partners." I smile.
"I research, you create?"
"That's how it usually goes."
"Alright I'm gonna go to the library then. I'll see you two later." He waves and walks toward another hall.
I look at Jihoon who's staring at Vernon with a dark expression. My eyebrow raises at him and he seems to notice my staring cause he looks at me with a softer expression.
"Are you alright?" I ask.
"Yeah, sorry. Let's just get going to the restaurant."
We walk in silence for ten minutes before reaching a small restaurant on the corner of a street. When we enter the dining area, Soonyoung notices us first. He wildly waves to us with a big smile. This child...
"Aelia! Come sit next to me!" Soonyoung begs.
"You're such a kid, Soon." I still sit next to him.
"What took you guys so long? We ordered already." Seungcheol looks between us two.
"I had to talk about an assignment with Hansol for history. Sorry." I bow in apology.
"Oh! Is it the one with the country and wars?!" Soonyoung points to me.
"Yup." I nod.
"Oh! I chose Japan! I've always loved Japan! Everything about it excites me." He has dreamy eyes.
"I chose Italy."
His eyes widen and he looks at me as if I'm crazy.
"You're crazy, truly Aelia." He shakes his head.
"What's wrong with Italy?" Seungcheol looks at us in confusion.
"Apparently, it's one of the harder countries to do research on. I don't understand why either but I guess." Jihoon shrugs.
The waitress comes over and orders for us and I see Jihoon blush when he continues staring at her. My blood boils at this for some reason. I'm not jealous...
We eat in comfortable silence when the food comes, talking once in a while about random stuff.
Once we finish the food, we're about to pay individually but Jihoon grabs my hand. I look at him in confusion and he takes the money out of my grasp and slides it closer to me.
"I'll pay for you. Don't worry." He hands the waitress his money.
"W-wait! No! Come back!" I groan when she's gone.
"Wanna pay for us too?" Soonyoung looks at him innocently.
"Soonyoung, she's the girl and we're guys. Leave it." Seungcheol pats his forehead.
He pouts and I laugh at him.
We walk out of the restaurant and I yawn.
"Alright, guys. I have to go home and study. I'll be up till two am if you guys wanna talk. My test tomorrow will literally be the death of me." I start to walk away, waving.
"Wait, let me walk you home." I hear Jihoon say.
Stopping in my tracks, my body turns to face him. A blank expression is shown as I stare at him. Why is he coming with me everywhere all of a sudden? This is so weird... I look at the floor before nodding at the offer.
"Bye, Aelia! See you tomorrow!" Soonyoung shouts, waving to me with a large smile.
I start walking towards my house again, shouldering my backpack. Jihoon catches up to me and puts his hands in his pockets, looking down at the floor as he walks. We walk to my apartment in silence. It feels kind of awkward but it's Jihoon, he's not bad.
"Well, we're here." I tell him once we reach my door.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then." He smiles, spinning on his feet to walk away.
"Wait." I stop him for some reason.
He looks back at me and I stare at him with an open mouth for a few seconds before I sigh and put on a smile.
"Thank you."
He stares at me in shock, probably not expecting me to say something like that. His cheeks turn pink and he smiles, nodding in acknowledgement. I watch him walk down the corridor before entering my apartment and being greeted with my dog.