The Silence Between

Chapter 8

Sophie Druml had a more methodical approach to life than most musicians. She set aside time to practice, to read, to workout, to eat, to sleep. And on Wednesday afternoons, she set aside time to study with Brett Yang at the campus café before orchestra rehearsal.

Well, "with" is perhaps the wrong preposition. Sophie studied, while Brett found ways to entertain himself. Today, he was scrolling through endless tik toks while eating a hefty slice of cheesecake.

"Have you written your paper for aural class?" asked Sophie.

Brett gave her a bleary-eyed stare over his phone. "What paper?"

This kind of response may have surprised Sophie at one point, but no longer. She'd come to accept that, unlike most people at this prestigious institution, Brett didn't fret about schoolwork or grades. Or how his violin playing wasn't quite up to par. Or, more generally, what people thought or said about him. It all slid over him like water over a duck's back.

Which was just fine, Sophie thought with a small smile. That was what she liked about him in the first place.

As Sophie continued slaving away over her own paper, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Brett had stopped scrolling on his phone and had begun staring into space with a distant look in his eyes, as if his soul had drifted to another dimension. Then, as a layer of pink dusted over his pale cheeks, he scrunched his nose, scoffed in frustration, and stuffed another large bite of cheesecake into his mouth.

Sophie wondered what that was all about. Perhaps just another one of Brett's many eccentricities?

A light tap on the shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the friendly face of Hyungsuk Bae smiling down at her.

"Hey Sophie," he said in his usual, calm voice. "I was wondering if we could talk about that group paper we have to write for—" Here, he paused suddenly as his eyes drifted to Sophie's companion. "Ah! You're that—Brett, right?"

Brett glanced up in surprise, his cheeks still stuffed with cake and looking very much like a human hamster. This drew a small chuckle from Hyung, who continued in an uncharacteristically excited tone, "Hi, we met the other night, do you remember--?"

Brett's dark eyes darted around nervously as he searched his memory, then lit up with the spark of recognition. "—Oh yeah! The—you're that guy. . . Hyung, you said?"

Hyung's eyes curved into smiling crescents as he nodded, and Sophie, who'd never seen this expression from Hyung, was mildly intrigued.

"Thanks for saving my ass that night," Brett said with an abashed grin and an awkward laugh. "And good to see you again. But how do you know Sophie?"

Without much prompting, Hyung slid into the empty seat at their table and it soon came out that Sophie and Hyung knew each other from the music history seminar, and Hyung and Brett knew each other because Hyung saved Brett from a creep at the bar. With that out of the way, Hyung and Sophie finally returned to the important topic of their group paper, launching into a lengthy discussion about the impact of Hungarian nationalism on the reception of Wagner.

Brett feigned interest for two seconds before he curled back up on his armchair like a small kitten and continued scrolling on his phone.

Sophie didn't fail to notice that Hyung's gaze drifted over to Brett more than once, as if he couldn't quite help himself. Curious, indeed.

Their peaceful study session was interrupted by the approach of Professor Chen, who crept up stealthily and whose sudden arrival caused Brett to jump in his seat. Sophie snickered subtly while Hyung watched on without expression.