Rising Stars

X - Healing

"Healing. That was what we did that day. Heal."

- Son Jaemin

December 5th, 2019

White and orange lights beamed down onto the stage that Seraphine and I stood on, making it hard to see those seated in front of us. The projector screen was rolled down, our slideshow visible to the entire lecture hall. With my cards in hand, I glanced at Seraphine as she continued the presentation.

"For our concept, Wonder , Jae and I chose to tackle multiple aspects of the emotion. From looking toward the future, reflecting on the past, and thinking of the present, the eight tracks in our EP all take into consideration those feelings."

"And," I began. "We decided to put a personal twist on the concept as well. As you'll notice from the tracklist, there is not a single duet song within the entire EP."

I let out a small breath before continuing. Nervous as I was, I managed to find a comfortable rhythm.

"As Seraphine put it: 'Wonder is an emotion that people often experience alone. Because usually, the thing, the person, the time, or whatever you might be wondering about isn't anywhere near as beautiful as the reality.'"

"As sad as that it is, it also encapsulates life as a whole," Seraphine continued. "When Professor Laurent first assigned us this project, she made all of us attend a music festival, and then required us to choose a style of music we found there to incorporate into the EP. Jae and I found a booth where a cellist and a french horn player shared a duet. And from that, we wrote and produced: With Starry-Eyes , our EP's best and most thematic song."

Our presentation continued onward from there with no problems, as Seraphine and I described our writing process and other aspects of the EP's production. As it came to a close, we shared a glance and nodded.

"Without further ado and with starry eyes, we welcome you to our land of Wonder."

Sera and I bowed before the lights shut off, and the first song off of our EP began to play. We quickly made our way to Professor Laurent. She finished noting something down on a piece of paper and glanced up at the two of us.

"An excellent presentation," she said, smiling slightly. "A marked improvement from your last. Well done, you two. Please, return to your seats."

We silently thanked her and turned, making it five steps before Sera nudged my side, a wide grin on her face for the entire walk back to our seats. "You did great, Jae!" She said once we sat back down. "You barely stuttered, you spoke clearly, and you perfectly made it the whole way through . I'm so proud of you." Her arms wrapped around me in an instant, her hand patting my back, the side of her head pressing into my chest.

I returned the hug. "Thanks, Ser. You helped a lot."

She pulled away, her smile seemingly stuck on her face. "We did it. Together."

"Yeah," I said. "We did."

[;]

December 15th, 2019

It'd only been a few days since Seraphine started working at the Vastaya, but she seemed like she was already getting used to the flow. I placed a hand on her shoulder as she was leaving the kitchen, a platter of drinks balanced on her forearm. She kept her long, pink hair in a tight bun that fit through the hole in the back of her black hat. The words: The Grand Vastaya were stylishly sewn at the front of her hat. Her white dress-shirt was tucked into form-fitting black slacks and a black waist apron was fastened around her hips.