"T-teren!"

Catherine immediately pocketed the taser in response. She didn't mean it but she was just too startled. She bit her lower lip.

'I look like I'm guilty...'

But not a moment later, she realized that she is guilty.

Teren ignored her and just placed down his bag and picked up the mic and remote.

Seeing him nonchalant about this, Catherine felt a little bit frustrated rather than relieved.

'So he does not care if I have a taser with me!?'

"If I harm you, I will lose a lot of blood. If you hit me, you will get an unbearable headache." Teren spoke after he noticed Catherine's glare, "I think getting tased is better if we did fight." he smiled.

"Shit...!" 

Catherine muttered when she remembered that she can't hurt Teren too. The contract was not one-sided when she received it.

"And... that taser seemed old, is it yours?"

Catherine didn't expect Teren to ask that question. She sighed and gave up.

"Yeah, I bought it when I was at junior high."

"Hm? What year?"

Catherine sat down and with a snap, she answered.

"First year."

"Hmm... I see..."

"You see what?"

"Nothing, would you tell me if I asked?"

Realizing what Teren was talking about, Catherine's frown deepened.

"No"

"Then, that's that. Now, try this song."

Teren picked a song and gave the mic to Catherine.

"Hah!? Did you seriously just brought me here just so you can mock me!?"

"Mock?"

"Yeah! You're just going to make fun of my voice!"

"I brought you here to teach you. What are you crying for?"

Teren was startled when Catherine began tearing up before she wiped it.

"Sniff* I'm not crying... I just got so bored waiting earlier that I teared up - sniff* but it's true, isn't it? People just always make fun of my voice! And teach me? Do you think you're good at singing in the first place to teach me?"

"Hm, I expect that you would say that."

Teren then retracted the mic and placed it in front of his mouth before standing up and facing the monitor.

"...?"

Catherine dumbfoundedly stared. As she did so, Teren began to sing.

At first, he was missing a few notes.

'Argh! How long has it been since I've sung?'

He thought but as time passes, he began to pick his pace. When the song reached its second chorus, Teren began to get the gist of it and went all out.

After he sang, the karaoke showed him a score of 96. Must be because of the first part that's why he didn't have a higher score, but he didn't care. The karaoke scores don't really reflect the singer's true ability.

Teren was a bit disappointed at himself since it took him some time before he got the mood for it. However, even with that, he could hear vigorous clapping behind him.

"What the hell!?"

Catherine shouted as she clapped. She didn't expect Teren to be so good at singing. It just doesn't fit his image.

But when Teren turned to her, she immediately remembered that it was 'Teren' so why is she praising her in awe?

She's just too passionate that she cannot help but praise a good singer.

"Tsk!"

But still, she snapped back at him after clapping.

"It's your turn."

"... okay, but why that old song? My grandpa used to sing that."

"Beginners can sing this but it's hard to master. There are a lot of high notes and low notes..."

Teren kept explaining how it was great for measuring one's current ability at singing. However, Catherine could only hear blah blah blah out of Teren's mouth as she didn't understand some of it.

"Okay, fine! I get it!"

She stole the mic and nervously stared at the monitor behind her tough look.

Teren's explanation was cut off but he realized he was talking too much.

'I thought she would know the terminology though.'

As he thought that, the song began...

After singing, Catherine was sweating and then turned at Teren with anxiety.

"He's not covering his ears...?" she whispered to herself in surprise before asking, "H=how did I do?"

Teren smiled which made her smile.

"I'm not joking, repeat it again with your real voice this time."

"Eh? What do you mean? That was already my best."

"..."

Teren observed and saw that Catherine was serious. The memories of when Catherine told him why she was not good at singing flashed in his mind. His face paled.

"Catherine... you're not bad..."

"Ah?"

"You're worse than that."

"..."

"Even if I'm bad at singing, I could still teach you a thing or two."

Catherine dropped to her knees.

"I knew it..."

Teren sighed as he massaged his face. Helping her just had its difficulty jumped up.

"The first thing you should do is to forget about singing."

"I-I know..."

Catherine's head lowered.

"No, I mean don't think of singing when singing. You're too passionate that you give your best the wrong way. You're singing as if you're good at it but in reality, you don't know the basics."

"E-eh..?"

Catherine strangely looked at Teren when he said some logical stuff. It is true that she forces herself at high pitch and at other parts.

"That's why, use your normal voice for now and we're going to start with the basics - hitting the notes. After that, you will have assignments of breathing that will train your lungs."

'I didn't want to accept it... but what he's saying is convincing...'

Catherine stood up and asked.

"Why do you know this stuff?"

Teren rolled his eyes away first before answering.

"Let's just say that I was once exposed to a music industry."

"What?"

"Enough about that, sing that again. This time, don't try to sing, just listen to the song first the read the lyrics without tone."

Teren ordered which Catherine frowned but moved on her own.

"Wait, actually, before that, what time do you usually go home?"

"Hm, I'm old already, I can come home even past midnight! My darn parents don't care about me!"

Catherine snapped especially at that reply.

"I see, then we'll go home after two hours, about 9:00 PM."

"Did you just hear what I just said!?"

"Are you saying you want to be here with me until after midnight when no one is no longer around?"

Teren stared which made Catherine shiver.

"I-I'm warning you... I have a taser..."

"I know, just start with the song.'