"Why are you afraid?"
.
.
.
Love was never something Seungmin Kim was in search of. To him, the concept had always seemed too surreal to be anything true, so he never bothered to find it anywhere. Besides, none of the ladies he had encountered ever...
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－・ ♭ ・－
St. Nicholas' All-Boys Academy of Arts. 8:15 am. ———
Music was an ocean. Deep. Easy to swim through once one was immersed in it. Some may have found difficulty, of course, but most did not, especially the students at St. Nicholas' Academy.
Music was an escape. In a reality where one would usually get lost in the unrealistic expectations put up by society, music would be the way out. The calm and beautiful tunes would reach the ear, and that would be enough to ease a distressed mind.
Music was simply haven. For people of all kinds, it was a safe place. A world where the imagination would wander, an ocean where all the negativity drowned.
But Seungmin was getting frustrated.
He scratched his notes, taking a new sheet of paper from the table beside him. The tip of his pencil hit the sheet, but he did not move it. Instead, he let go, and he brought his hands back to the black and white keys.
What a piece. Beautiful, it really was, but to its composer, it was still lacking. It was too basic. Too static.
His fingers lightly pressed the notes; he did not want to raise the velocity too high. His eyes studied his hands' movements, helping him stay focused, although he was easily beginning to fall into the piece. He was so comfortably falling into the composition, into the ocean. But he knew how to swim in it. The next note played, and then the one after, and then the chords broke up into quick arpeggios.
It was starting to build up. He was swimming faster. The arpeggios became an octave higher, and the melody, too, followed. The water was becoming stronger; it was getting harder to get out. His eyes slowly closed, and then he became lost amidst that ocean of notes and chords.
A faint echo could be heard, however. It was quiet as if it were coming from somewhere far away. Someone was calling his name.
The voice got closer and closer, so close, and suddenly-
"Seungmin! I am speaking to you!"
The ocean disappeared. Seungmin gasped. His eyes shot wide open.
"Jisung, gosh, you know not to startle me like that!" Seungmin half-shouted as he turned to his friend.
Jisung's lips pressed into a thin line. "Well, what would you have wanted me to do? I knocked and called your name many times." His arms crossed over his chest. "It's you who did not listen. You were lost in the music, as per usual."
Seungmin just pursed his lips. He turned back to the piano, and his hands brushed the keys again.
"It is beautiful," Jisung suddenly said, making Seungmin turn around once more. "What you played just now. It's a really pleasant composition." He smiled, but then he looked down, and his hands landed beside his friend's. He played a few notes. "I think if you ended it with a melody similar to the start, it would be complete."
