Ch.17017. I Want to Touch You.

“…Suddenly?”

An unexpected invitation to visit her home.

Suhyeok’s eyes widened at hearing what sounded like a flirtatious line straight out of a drama.

What is this?

Why is she asking me to come to her house?

After briefly entertaining some strange thoughts, Suhyeok regained his senses and managed to steer his thought process in the right direction.

Hana was clearly trying to assign him a task that would be impossible with her physical abilities.

Perhaps moving an enormously large box or something?

Could that be it?

Meanwhile, Hana immediately noticed from his reaction that her words were quite open to misinterpretation and hurriedly began to explain herself.

Her face burned with embarrassment.

She should have explained the reason first, but her hastiness had made her completely forget to mention the purpose.

“Ah. That. The movie! The one I promised to show you.”

Her eyes blinked rapidly, trying to hide her nervousness.

“Guardians of the Galaxy?”

“Yes. That one. If you’re okay with it, come over to my place to watch it.”

Since Hana knew that her proposal was somewhat awkward, she began to add explanations while fidgeting uncharacteristically.

“Of course! Not just the two of us, Seo-eun said she’s coming too, so the three of us can marathon at least the first movie.”

Hana’s voice gradually grew quieter as she trailed off.

There were actually three movies in total to watch.

Even if they stayed late into the night, they would barely make it through the second one at most.

“Um…”

Once again, Suhyeok had no reason to decline.

The movie.

Although he felt bad toward Hana, this was something Suhyeok hadn’t been paying attention to at all.

It was a movie he wouldn’t have watched in the first place if not for the social gathering.

“Won’t it be uncomfortable for you…?”

Letting someone into his home was never an easy thing for Suhyeok.

It meant exposing his private life and also required the labor of tidying up enough to be presentable to others.

If Hana had said she was coming to his place, Suhyeok would have tried his hardest to dissuade her.

“No. I’m the one who said I’d show it to you, so it’s fine.”

“Well, if that’s the case…”

His heart, which had been settling down, began to race again.

For a 21-year-old who had never even held a girl’s hand, going to a female peer’s apartment was nothing short of a great adventure.

“Okay.”

“Great. Then. Should I tell Seo-eun too?”

“Yeah.”

An awkward silence, completely different from during their lessons, filled the practice room.

“Thanks for teaching me today too.”

Surprisingly, Suhyeok was the first to break the silence.

With his bangs hanging down, he picked up his guitar bag with an unreadable expression.

“No problem. It’s nothing.”

With the bag on his back, he walked past Hana with steps that were almost coldly brisk.

“See you tomorrow then.”

Suhyeok left the practice room without even making eye contact with Hana.

Hana felt somewhat anxious about his behavior.

“…Could it be that I’m forcing him to watch something he doesn’t like?”

I went out of my way to suggest this, and that’s his reaction?!

While Hana was feeling indignant based on her own assumptions about Suhyeok, the reality was quite the opposite.

‘What… what should I bring…!’

Sweat was trickling down Suhyeok’s forehead as he typed “gifts for visiting a woman’s house” into the search bar.

* * *

Standing luxury under the moonlight

Reaching for the starlight

As the song ended, the sound of instruments also faded.

“Hmm!”

Seo-eun was quite pleased with the quality of today’s practice.

Of course, they hadn’t even started on the last minute or so yet, but at this tempo and level of completion, she felt they would be more than ready for the festival.

The guitar solo parts just needed to be completed and brought in by the members, but they said their individual practice wasn’t finished yet, so that couldn’t be helped.

The final ending part was just a key change from the chorus anyway, so the performance itself shouldn’t be a problem.

“Sounds good?”

When she expressed her brief appreciation with a bright smile, Choi-gang also gave a thumbs up.

“That’s it for today!”

“Yeah. I think we can really stop here today.”

6:50 PM.

Although they had about 10 minutes left, seeing the level of completion, it seemed like they could just start from the first verse next time and finish it up.

“Are we done?”

Juyeon, who was debating whether to turn off the microphone, quietly asked Seo-eun.

“Let’s pack up~”

As Seo-eun gave the order to wrap up, the members began packing their things.

Choi-gang placed his hand firmly on Suhyeok’s shoulder as he was tidying up.

“Ugh!”

When would he ever get used to this?

Suhyeok still hadn’t developed immunity to Choi-gang’s unique grip strength.

“Are you really going to perform on stage with such a scrawny body, Lee Suhyeok?”

“Huh…?”

“I’m asking if you can become a rocker with a skeleton-like body like that!”

Although he had been restrained by Seo-eun for a while, it seemed Choi-gang still hadn’t given up on his obsession with being a muscular rocker.

“I’ll still try to play well though…”

Suhyeok, looking dejected, rolled his eyes searching for Seo-eun.

But unfortunately, the president was on the phone in the corner.

Juyeon… didn’t seem right…

It seemed Hana was his only hope.

Hana discovered Suhyeok looking at her with eyes like an abandoned puppy.

A deep sigh escaped her lips.

“Hey. Leave him alone today. We’re going to watch a movie.”

“…Movie?”

Choi-gang turned his head as if asking what she was talking about.

“He said he hasn’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy, so I’m going to show it to him.”

“We saw it in the theater.”

“He hasn’t seen the previous ones.”

“What?”

Letting out an exclamation like a cartoon character, Choi-gang lifted Suhyeok’s collar as if it were a toy.

“Is that true?”

“Um… could you let go of this…”

“I asked if that’s true!”

Finally, formal speech burst out.

“Yes! It’s true!”

“In that case!”

From the atmosphere, it seemed like he might get hit, but surprisingly, Choi-gang released Suhyeok without resistance.

“Make sure you enjoy it. It’s fucking awesome.”

With that, Choi-gang crossed the practice room and left.

Suhyeok shuddered as if a typhoon had just passed through.

“Hana, Suhyeok.”

Seo-eun had finished her call and returned.

One of her cheeks was puffed up.

“What is it, unni?”

“I don’t think I can watch the movie today.”

“Whyyy?”

Seo-eun, who was the only insurance, was disappearing!

What on earth was this about!

“Well… actually… I forgot I had plans with Jaejun oppa… I really heard about it a month ago, and oppa said he even made reservations…”

Although feelings of disappointment and irritation welled up, Hana found it hard to blame Seo-eun.

After all, it was Hana who had asked for the favor, and besides, it wasn’t like watching a movie she had already seen was such an important appointment.

Noticing that Hana looked dejected, Seo-eun quickly tried to make amends.

“How about we watch it next Wednesday? Us?”

“I don’t think I can make it next week.”

Hana answered while brushing her hair upward.

Seo-eun wanted to comfort Hana, but she had almost no time left.

She had to leave right now.

Although she felt sorry, she couldn’t be late, so Seo-eun started packing her bag.

“I need to go right now, so could you two try to schedule something and let me know? Okay?”

“Yeah. Got it. Go ahead, unni.”

What couldn’t be helped, couldn’t be helped.

She tried to invite Juyeon as a compromise, but Juyeon said she had something to do and left the practice room apologizing.

Only Hana and Suhyeok remained.

Suhyeok, who had bought a cake to commemorate being invited to her home, was now faced with the dilemma of having to eat it alone at home.

If they were going to watch it next week, would he have to buy another one…

What a waste of creation…

“…Let’s go.”

Hana, who had been silent, quietly spoke up.

“Huh?”

“I said let’s go to my place.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Seo-eun unni has already seen the movie anyway, and it’ll take forever to coordinate all three of our schedules, so let’s just watch it quickly and be done with it.”

This seemed like the right decision no matter how he looked at it.

“Ah. Okay.”

Suhyeok, who had agreed somewhat abruptly, followed Hana out of the school.

‘Well, Lee Suhyeok isn’t a weird guy anyway…’

‘Right. We’ll just watch the movie and I’ll send him home. Just show him the first one and send him home.’

‘Ah… Seo-eun unni… I’ll really…’

Hana was silent, muttering to herself.

Suhyeok followed behind Hana, extremely nervous.

Hana’s house was in a villa about a 10-minute walk from Suhyeok’s place.

After entering the passcode, Hana gestured for Suhyeok to come in.

“Excuse me for intruding.”

Thinking that it had been ages since he last visited a friend’s house, Suhyeok entered the hallway.

After neatly taking off his shoes, Hana said she would wash her hands first and went into the bathroom.

Left alone, Suhyeok put down his bag in a corner and looked around.

This wasn’t exactly what he had imagined a girl’s room would be like…

Albums filling the bookshelves.

An amplifier next to the bed.

A pedal board covered with effects pedals that looked like they would cost hundreds of thousands of won each.

And finally, what Suhyeok couldn’t take his eyes off was a guitar that was emitting a remarkably brilliant light.

A body with a bright red cherry color.

A deep brown rosewood fretboard.

A Gibson SG model with a shape like horns protruding on both sides.

Seeing it, Suhyeok couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.

To think she had such an amazing guitar…!

Although Suhyeok’s Telecaster was also an excellent guitar, the SG was one of those instruments that anyone interested in guitars would want to play at least once.

“Hana.”

Hana, who had come out of the bathroom, turned her head at Suhyeok’s call.

His eyes looked different from usual.

Suhyeok was giving off a completely different vibe from the weak appearance he had shown in the practice room.

A slight sense of unease began to bloom in her heart.

No way.

No way would Lee Suhyeok…?

Suhyeok approached her gradually with eyes that seemed consumed by desire.

“What… what…!”

Hana found herself instinctively backing away.

Finally stopping in front of her, Suhyeok opened his mouth with a very solemn voice.

“Can I touch your guitar?”

“Ah…?”

A dumbfounded sound escaped from Hana’s lips.