Cheng Xiao sighs, slinging her backpack across one shoulder. School is absolutely terrible, and she almost wishes she doesn’t go to such a prestigious university. She puts up with it, though; it had taken all her tears and pleas to convince her parents to let her major in music, and Cheng Xiao isn’t going to let such a chance slip away.

Suddenly, while she’s deep in thought, a whirling rush of beige crashes right into her, knocking her down to the floor. Cheng Xiao lets out a small scream as her butt hits the floor, and the beige shadow freezes.

“I’m so sorry!” Beige-Wind is a boy with dyed brown hair, a sweet face, and now, an apologetic expression. He reaches down to gather up Cheng Xiao’s books. “Oh hey, you’re in my music theory class!”

How he managed to recognize a quiet foreign girl in the very back of the classroom, Cheng Xiao will never know. However, she does smile and nod.

“I’m Cheng Xiao.”

“Kim Seokjin.”

***

Cheng Xiao’s life changes tremendously once Kim Seokjin enters her life. Cheng Xiao thought she was studious enough, but Seokjin makes her look like a first-grader. This guy spends about eight hours a day at school, and he still can’t get enough of learning.

“Come on, Jin-ah,” one of his friends, Namjoon, slurs one day. “Get debauuuuched.”

Cheng Xiao wrinkles her nose. It’s quite obvious that Namjoon is drunk, and to top it off, he’s drunk at school. As if knowing her thoughts, Namjoon throws her a drunk grin.

“Hey, Xiao,” he sings, leaning forward to look her in the eye. “How ‘bout you join me instead of him? I’d much prefer you over an ugly guy anyday.”

“That’s enough,” Seokjin’s angry voice cuts in. Standing up, he pulls Namjoon away, grabs Cheng Xiao’s arm, and marches away.

“I’m going to cut ties with that guy,” he growls menacingly. Abruptly, Cheng Xiao jerks her arm away.

“He was just drunk,” she says testily. “Why did you have to act like you’re my dad or something?”

Seokjin just stares at her. “He was making a move on you,” he says, slowly and clearly. “I didn’t want that.”

Cheng Xiao only huffs and keeps walking. She doesn’t hear footsteps behind her, but Seokjin’s voice calls, “If you need a minuet, I’ll leave you alone.”

“How flat that joke fell,” Cheng Xiao retorts without looking back. Admittedly, she’s still a bit pissed at her friend, but she has absolutely no defense against his music puns.

“Oh?” Seokjin catches up to her, grinning. “How clef-er of you, Xiao. I bet you took notes during class.”

“Yeah,” she snorts, “says the person who got in treble for sleeping in class.”

“Hey, give it a rest! I’m just too sharp for the professor.”

“No, music theory’s just not your forte.”

“That was a major blow to my feelings, friend.”

“You just can’t keep up with my tempo.”

“Hey, that’s not fair! You can’t just leave like that! Cheng Xiao!”

“I’ll be Bach.”