The broadcasting room was so still that even a single breath would have echoed.
The only light was the blue glow spilling from the console monitor.
Under that cool light, Wonbin was still frozen, gripping the sleeve of my school uniform tightly. The faint tremor in his fingertips went straight through the fabric and into my skin.
"Wonbin."
"……."
"It’s okay. The breaker just tripped. Must’ve overloaded because of the rain."
Speaking calmly, I laid my hand over Wonbin’s, which was clutching my sleeve.
His hand was colder than I expected, and tense enough for the bones to stand out. As my warmth reached him, Wonbin flinched and tried to pull away, but I gently tightened my grip and took his hand in mine.
"You were startled."
"……I wasn’t startled."
A voice that refused to lose even in the dark. But the hand he was holding stayed obediently in mine.
The blue afterglow spilling from the monitor screen revealed Wonbin’s side profile.
In the blinking light of the cursor, his long eyelashes, straight nose bridge, and parted lips came into sharp focus. The face that usually wasn’t fully visible, blocked by the glass wall of the broadcast booth in the daytime, was now close enough to touch if I just reached out.
From one earbud still in my ear, the dreamy melody Wonbin had made continued to drift softly out.
Music, the rain lashing violently against the window, and the sound of two people breathing in the dark.
"Senpai."
Wonbin called me very softly.
"Yeah."
"Aren’t you… letting go?"
Only then did I become conscious of the hand I was holding. I should have let go, but strangely, my fingers wouldn’t relax.
If anything, the pulse passing between our palms felt like it was getting faster and faster. I couldn’t even tell whether it was my heartbeat or Wonbin’s.
"I don’t want to."
"……What?"
"I’m not letting go."
At my answer, half joke and half sincere, Wonbin sucked in a sharp breath.
In the dark, Wonbin’s round eyes stared straight at me. He looked plainly flustered, but he didn’t shake me off or pull his hand away. That wordless silence instantly heated the air in the broadcasting room.
"Senpai, you really… have a talent for making people act weird."
"What did I do?"
"You keep… getting on my mind. Even at lunch, in the hallway, even when I’m listening to music at home."
Wonbin’s voice trembled in tiny fragments, mixed with the sound of rain. Looking down at the hand I held, he slowly threaded his fingers through mine as if resigned.
Hands clasped together. The awkwardly layered hands finally locked firmly, fingers interlaced.
At that moment, the song ended in my earbud and the melody cut off abruptly.
Filling the space left by the background music was the unsteady sound of our hearts pounding against each other’s chests.
Clack, zzzzt-
With a noisy mechanical sound, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling all switched on at once.
Both of us instinctively winced at the white light pouring down so brightly it stung our eyes.
And there, reality was laid bare before us. Shoulders touching side by side, the white earbud cord hanging long from our ears, and our hands tightly tangled together on the desk.
Under the suddenly bright light, Wonbin looked down at his hand and mine, then snatched his hand back as if struck by lightning, his face turning red as if it might burst.
"Ah, the lights came on! We’re done cleaning up, so let’s go!"
Wonbin clattered up from his chair, grabbed his bag, and slung it over his shoulder in one motion.
Not just the tips of his ears, but the back of his neck too had turned bright red. As he fled like he was running away, he opened the broadcasting room door and dashed out into the hallway, his footsteps echoing loudly.
"Hey, Park Wonbin! Wait up!"
On the empty broadcasting room desk, only the white-cord earphones Wonbin had left behind sat there alone.
I caressed the warmth he’d left on the desk, then pressed my palm firmly over my chest, where my heart was still beating like crazy.
By now, there was no turning back. The frequency had been completely tuned in.
