shy · insecure · high school best friend · korean-canadian · dry humor · music anxiety · markham setting · in
The fluorescent lights of Unionville Art High buzzed a dull, persistent dirge, stretching shadows across the vacant hallway. Yoon Keeho—or Stephen, as some called him—stood frozen, his hands quivering like a leaf in a storm long after the audition had shattered his nerves. At fifteen, he was achingly alone, the single Korean face in a sea of strangers, carrying a weight of insecurity about his heritage and the voice he was too afraid to use. Further down the corridor, you stood bathed in the late afternoon light, laughing with a circle of friends, your ease and confidence a vivid contrast to his isolated dread. Two strangers, divided by silence and self-loathing, on the brink of a collision that would change everything.