Lunch break was louder than usual.
The basketball court was filled with noise—boys laughing, shoes scraping, the ball bouncing endlessly against the ground.
Leo sat on the edge of the court, a water bottle in his hand, his dark eyes distant.
His friends were talking around him, joking as always.
But Leo barely heard them.
His mind was somewhere else.
That melody.
That girl.
His Melody Girl.
The image of her standing under that tree kept replaying in his head.
Her back facing him.
Her soft hair moving with the wind.
That voice, sweet enough to make his chest feel strangely heavy.
He had been so close.
Too close.
Yet fate had stolen her away again.
“Leo.”
One of his friends snapped his fingers in front of him.
Leo blinked.
“What?”
His friend smirked.
“You’ve been lost for days now.”
Another one laughed.
“At this point, I’m convinced he’s in love.”
Leo frowned.
“Shut up.”
“Seriously,” another boy said.
“Who is she?”
Leo stayed silent.
Because he didn’t know.
Not her face.
Not her name.
Only her melody.
One friend leaned back with a teasing grin.
“Maybe we should find her first.”
Another laughed.
“Yeah, and if she’s pretty, one of us might steal her before Leo even gets there.”
The boys burst into laughter.
But Leo didn’t.
His expression darkened.
Something sharp twisted inside him.
A feeling he had never felt before.
Irritation.
No—
Something deeper.
Possessive.
The thought of someone else reaching her first—
he hated it.
The idea alone made his chest tighten.
His friend noticed his expression and laughed harder.
“Relax, we’re joking.”
But Leo wasn’t listening anymore.
For the first time, he realized something.
Every time someone interrupted him from reaching that melody—
his chest burned with frustration.
Every time fate pulled him away—
he felt like something precious was slipping through his fingers.
And now—
just the thought of someone else finding her first felt unbearable.
Why?
He didn’t know.
He had never seen her face.
Yet in his heart…
that melody belonged only to him.
And the girl behind it too.
His Melody Girl.
The realization made him still.
His fingers tightened around the water bottle.
What was this feeling?
Why did it feel so natural?
So certain?
Leo looked down, his thoughts restless.
Maybe he was losing his mind.
Or maybe…
he would only understand when he finally stood in front of her.
When he finally saw her face.
When he finally knew who she was.
Across the school grounds, under the shade of a tree, Pearl sat quietly with Mia, humming softly while reading her notes.
Unaware.
Unaware that somewhere nearby—
someone had already started claiming her in the silence of his heart.