The ST4R dorm was unusually quiet for a Friday night. The usual post-rehearsal chaos—Jisoo's music blasting from the shared speaker, Tami arguing over the best ramen flavor, Rina scrolling fan comments—had been replaced by tired silence. After nearly ten hours of rehearsal, every member was sprawled somewhere, barely moving.
Yuna sat cross-legged on the living room floor, a blanket wrapped loosely around her shoulders. Her fingers absentmindedly folded a square of paper from the notebook that lay open beside her. It was a habit she'd picked up in middle school—paper folding when she couldn't sleep. But tonight, her thoughts weren't on folding.
They were on Kai.
She hated that. Hated how her brain kept replaying every awkward glance, every out-of-sync step, every time his gaze had lingered a little too long or drifted a little too quickly away. There had been tension, yes. But also... something else. Unspoken. Undefined.
"What are you making?" Jisoo's voice cut through her thoughts like scissors.
Yuna looked up, startled. Jisoo was curled on the sofa with her phone, one eye open.
"Nothing. Just... a heart," Yuna said softly.
"A heart, huh?" Jisoo raised an eyebrow.
"It's just a habit."
Jisoo didn't press. She yawned, turned off her phone, and mumbled, "Night, lovebird."
Yuna rolled her eyes but didn't argue. She stared at the small paper heart in her palm. Something inside her wanted to keep it. But something bolder—something impulsive—had a different idea.
On the heart, she scribbled a single line of lyrics in pen:
"Somewhere between the silence, I heard your name."
She stared at the words for a long time before carefully folding the paper again, tucking the heart into the pocket of her oversized hoodie.
---
The next morning, they were back at the joint rehearsal studio, this time practicing transitions for a TV teaser. The media team hovered like hawks.
ECL!PSE had arrived early. Kai stood near the mirrors, running a warm-up routine with Jay while the others stretched.
Yuna's hands found the small heart in her hoodie pocket. She hesitated. Then, during a moment between scenes, she walked past where Kai had left his hoodie on a bench. She looked around—no cameras, no crew—then slipped the heart into the hoodie pocket.
Her heart pounded as she walked away. Has she really done that? What if he found it and told someone? What if he laughed?
But a deeper part of her—braver, quieter—hoped he would read it and understand.
---
Kai didn't find the heart right away. Rehearsal ended late. His muscles ached, his throat was dry, and all he wanted was to collapse into bed. Back at the ECL!PSE dorm, he tossed his hoodie onto the couch and flopped down beside it.
Jay was already snoring in their shared room. The dorm smelled like spicy ramen and laundry detergent.
Kai reached into his hoodie for his earbuds and froze.
There was something else there.
He pulled it out—a small, carefully folded paper heart.
Curious, he opened it.
When he read the line scribbled inside, his breath caught:
"Somewhere between the silence, I heard your name."
No name. No signature. But he knew.
He didn't tell anyone.
He didn't need to.
He turned it over in his hands, then placed it on his desk. As he looked at it, melodies began to hum in the back of his mind—notes he didn't recognize yet but somehow felt familiar. Like they were already written inside him.
He picked up his pencil and scribbled a bar of music in his notebook.
And then another.
And then another.
Until the sun peeked through the window, and he realized he hadn't slept.