It was only the afternoon of the first day of the festival, but you felt like you’ve already done 10 years’ worth of exhausting work. Wiping off the bucket of sweat smeared on your forehead, you slumped down on a nearby bench.

 “AAAAH GAHDAMET!!!!!!!!!”

You shrieked like a pig in a butcher shop as the sizzling heat of the wood touched your butt. Srsly?! The sun is so hot that even wood can serve as a frying pan now?! You heard snickers from somewhere nearby, and your eyes shot to the group of girls on you left. They were laughing at your shrieking earlier.

 “WHAT?!!” You screamed, making them flinch. “Do you want to try? TRY SITTING ON THIS GODDAMN SIZZLING BENCH AND TRY NOT TO SREAM!!!”

 Mumbling, they decided to walk away to avoid any more nagging.

“Freakin sissies,” You smirked triumphantly. For some reason, your body suddenly felt lighter after you yelled. Wow, yelling must really be effective in removing stress. Maybe you should do it more often. Especially when those insane duo are around. They’re like walking truckloads of tress.

 Your eye grazed over a “Karaoke Booth.” You rubbed your imaginary beard in though. Yeah, screaming your heart out. Why don’t we do just that?

 Shrugging, you walked towards it. Even just by standing at the entrance, you could already hear mixed tones and voices coming from the inside. A girl approached you with a kind smile.

 “Hi there! Are you here for a yellow star?”

“Um, not really. Just wanna scream my heart out.... and stuff.”

“Ah, just sing.” She chuckled and guided you to a vacant stall. Um yeah, sing. Or scream. They just sound the same to you. The attendant left after giving you some basic instructions. You wrote your name on the log first before proceeding to select songs. She said you were only allowed to have 3 songs, but that didn’t really matter. All you need is a mike and lyrics, and you’ll go along just fine.

 So yeah, to make a long story short, you did end up horrifying all musically talented people around the world. The people in the other stalls had no choice but to leave just to save their eardrums from getting permanently damaged. Like hell you care. You just got perfect 100’s in your past 2 songs. Seems like this machine knows true talent. YEAH, ROCK ON BABEH!!!

 “Um, miss, we’re actually closing now...” the girl from earlier knocked by the door with a forced smile on her face. You downed another shot of water and waved at her like a drunkard.

“I have one more song to go! A little more patience miss!” And you shut the door in her face. “AH! Here goes my favorite! Nal daeryoga jwo~~”

 Laughing hysterically, you poured out all your musical talent. You heard two people talking outside, but you tried to ignore them.

“What should we do? She’s scaring all the customers away!”

“Don’t worry, I can handle this.”

“But she seems scary!”

“Ah, I’ll be okay. Go wait at the front. Don’t worry.”

Then someone knocked again. You just ignored it, so the person decided to barge in. You merely glanced at the man that dared disturb the rising musical legend. He sat on the small couch and watched you with amused eyes.

“Did you know staring is rude?” You told him, making him chuckle.

“You’re just so interesting, that’s all.”

“Don’t sugar coat it. I know you mean I’m so horrible. You don’t have to rub it in my face.” And you continued singing your very own screamo version of the song. Out of nowhere, the mike was suddenly yanked away from you, and an angelic male voice continued the song.

“WHAT THE--?” You mouth hung agape. How dare you bish! We know you’re bestowed with a singing gift but still HOW DARE YOU BISH?!!

“GIVE ME BACK MY MIKE!!!!” You started pulling it away, but his singing remained stable despite of you shaking him vigorously. And he still had the nerve to laugh at you.

 “Natseon goseul hemaenda haedo gireul irheobeorindaedo~” He suddenly faced you and grabbed your wrist. Even though you were annoyed at him to the core, you couldn’t help but freeze as his soft brown eyes pinned down yours. It’s like the world turned to slow motion, and you couldn’t hear anything but his angelic voice.

“Nuguboda soljikhan naui mameul ttareulgeoya~” He stepped forward, making you automatically step back. By now his hand has come down from your wrist to your hand, making the scenario look like he was serenading you. The rational part of your brain said that logical thing to do is push this man away because he is a goddamn stranger but he’s holding your hand like you’re a couple or something, but gawd, you’re a girl too with emotional feels, so you can’t deny the fact that your heart was sort of fluttering.

 Ugh, stupid fangirl feels.

“Jogeumahan sonjit naui gaseumen hoeoriga chinda~” Somehow, at the end of the song, you ended up seated on the small couch, and him kneeling in front of you. You continued staring at each other for a few more seconds, until you heard the victorious music from the machine indicating a 100 score. You snapped out of your girly trance and tried to kick him away. He dodged successfully.

 “WHY THE HELL DID YOU STEAL MY SONG?!!!” You swung blind punches around, which never even landed on the tip of his hair.

“I just wanted to help!” He answered, laughing.

  “HELP? I GOT PERFECT SCORES ALL BY MYSELF SO I CLEARLY DIDN’T NEED ANY HELP!!!”

“But you liked my voice, didn’t you?” He suddenly scooted his face near you, making your heart freeze again.

 “Yes I liked—Wait, NO! I DESPISED YOUR VOICE! IT WAS TOO SOFT AND ANGELIC AND BEAUTIFUL!!!”

 He just laughed at you, annoying you even further. Why doesn’t he realize that you’re scary?!! You’re like, breathing flames all over him. He turned to grab something from his pocket, and then stuck it to your forehead.

 “Having 3 perfect scores would earn you a yellow star. You can have it.”

“What? NO! You sang the last song so it doesn’t count!” You shoved it in his chest, but he shoved it back to you.

“I just sang half of it. The machine seemed to like your screamo version better.” You narrowed your eyes, before finally stuffing the star into your pocket. You picked up your bag and headed towards the door, but he blocked your way with a smile.

“You’re welcome to return here next time.” This made you scoff.

“Don’t lie to my face. I know I scared all your customers away. Forget it, I won’t be returning again.” You tried to pass by him, but he blocked you again.

“What I mean is, next time it’s your turn to serenade me. You still owe me one.”

“Me? Serenade you? If you want your ears to bleed, no problem.”

“No problem. Just call my name, and I’ll be there. Chen.” He offered his hand, and you hesitantly shook it.

“ ___.”

 He smiled, but your brows only furrowed as you walked out. Weird.

“___, make sure you return ok?” He called out, making you turn around, smiling in disbelief.

 “Are you really serious? Are you just mocking me?”

“No! I don’t mock people.” He flashed another bright smile. Well, he didn’t look like an A-hole type of person. Rather, he seemed more on the innocent side. Well, if you call that holding hands thing earlier innocent. “We could really use some screamo to liven up this place.”

You stared at him for a few seconds, before you felt a smile crawl its way to your lips. Funny. Without saying anything more, you turned around and went out.

Chen. What a weird guy with a weird taste. But weird can be good too, right?

 Right.

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They were singing Don't Go by EXO-K. Now imagine that in screamo version. LOL.