WHO ARE YOU?|ATEEZ FANFIC (In Editing Progress)

Chapter 25|Me, myself and I|Aurora

»See how Seonghwa hyung is shitting his pants with fear?« Jongho joked, glancing back to see Seonghwa saying goodbye to Yunho and then looking around nervously before walking in the direction he was supposed to be going. Yeosang smiled and pulled Jongho by the arm.

»Let's go. I want to get this over with.« The two walked on side by side, moving away from the other two. As they walked, the sun began to set behind them and Yeosang saw the star-covered evening sky for the first time since they had been on the ship. He smiled. Even though they were still being held captive by the Halateez, he always felt the same way out in the open as he had felt in the small beach town with the others. Free. And satisfied. After walking the streets in silence for a while, the two finally arrived at a college campus that was right next to a park. Yeosang curiously looked around the premises and Jongho followed him.

»Do you also think it's crazy what kind of scenery they always set up for us?« Yeosang asked enthusiastically, pointing to the university building.

»Hm, not really.« Jongho murmured and Yeosang laughed in disbelief.

»It's a whole town, man. With university, houses. That's so cool.« Jongho smiled amused.

»You're scared.« he said. Caught, the smile faded from Yeosang's face and he pouted.

»Not true at all.«

»It's true.« Jongho replied, looking teasingly at the older man.

»You're hesitating because you're scared, and you distract it by feigning enthusiasm for Halateez's 'Great Scenes'.« Jongho patted Yeosang on the shoulder.

»It's okay, Hyung. Don't be ashamed.« Yeosang blushed and pushed Jongho a away from him.

»I am not afraid! You see? I'm already going.« Yeosang took a few steps back and Jongho just smiled.

»Take care, Hyung.« Jongho called after him, in response the mint-haired one stuck out his tongue at him and then made his way into the university building while Jongho walked towards the gymnasium. Now that Jongho was no longer with him, he felt even more the fear he had suppressed so well. He looked back a few more times and walked slowly, even though he knew he had to go through this alone. The mint haired hesitantly entered the empty building through the door with 'Faculty of Music' written in large letters above it and walked through the dark, lonely corridors. The atmosphere sent goosebumps up the boy's arms. He shook himself, hoping to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling, but it didn't work. The goosebumps stayed and the further he ran, the more they spread, from his forearms over his shoulder until the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

»It's fine, Yeosang. you are alone in here. All alone...« he mumbled nervously, but that didn't make it any better. He walked past dozens of lockers, some of which were open. There were notes all over the floor. They were notes and sheet music, like real students in a university. Yeosang shuddered and kept walking.

»It looks like after zombie apocalypse in here. It's not scary at all.« Yeosang kept walking straight until, after what felt like an eternity, he finally discovered the rehearsal hall for the orchestra.

»Thanks god.« Yeosang breathed a sigh of relief and headed straight for the hall. As he entered, he closed the door behind him and turned to face the hall. The uneasiness and nervousness he had felt earlier in the hallway and all the way here suddenly disappeared when he saw the softly lit orchestra room in front of him. Everything was bathed in warm colors and immediately seemed much friendlier than the rest of the university. The floor was covered with glossy white laminate and Yeosang could imagine the light pouring in through the large windows during the day, softly illuminating everything. On the left side of the room, the walls were obscured by large bookshelves filled with music textbooks, sheet music, and other writings related to music or musicians. In front of the window, next to the bookshelves, was a large cage in which a couple of pretty white pigeons fluttered excitedly, pecking at the grain that was scattered on the floor of the cage. A slight smile crept onto the mint haired young man's lips. He took a step towards the center of the room and kept looking around. A group of chairs stood on a raised ledge to the right of the room, arranged in a semicircle and all turned toward a music stand. Curious, Yeosang went to the music stand and stood in front of it. A song had been opened from a music book and Yeosang reached into his pocket to look at his letter again. 'Play 'Aurora' on the violin in the University Music Hall.' The title of the open piece of music in the music booklet was the same as that in his letter. Yeosang hesitantly read the notes on the paper.

»I don't know how they got the idea I could play the violin.« he murmured to himself, then sighed in frustration. When he finished the notes he turned and looked around.

»Where do I even get a thing like that around here?« He scanned the large room when he spotted a pretty violin on one of the chairs in the back row next to a couple of flutes and a guitar.

»Oh, there. Hehet~« Yeosang laughed at himself in embarrassment. It's a music faculty. Of course they have a violin in here. He walked through the other chairs to get to it. Standing in front of the chair, he stretched out his hand for the violin and carefully picked up the pretty instrument and the bow that went with it and examined them both closely.

»Let's see.« He held the violin by the neck of the instrument with his left hand and rested the body on his shoulder. He held the bow in his right hand. He rested his chin carefully on the violin's chinrest and then drew the bow on the thin strings. He carefully pulled the horsehair of the bow over one of the strings. Immediately there was a somewhat shaky, but nicer, higher sound from the violin. Yeosang put down the bow again and smiled. Motivated, he went back to the front row, grabbed a chair and sat down directly in front of the sheet music.

»Then let's try it.« The mint haired boy concentrated and looked at the notes. He rested the bow on the strings again. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment and then carefully began to play the notes on the sheet. He didn't know exactly how to do it. As soon as the horsehair of the bow touched the strings, it was as if his body was playing the instrument on its own. After playing the first notes of the song, Yeosang fell into a frenzy. He closed his eyes and played the notes freely, as if they had lived in his memory for an eternity. The soft melody in his ear calmed his heartbeat and breathing. A pleasant goose bumps spread over the entire skin of the boy. He just blindly played the melody that the sheet music asked him to play for a while and when he was done he just played freely and dropped into the music. He enjoyed that feeling. The sound of music in his ears numbed all his other senses, so he didn't even realize he had been watched for some time. A figure in black stood a few meters away from Yeosang and watched him play the violin passionately. He watched Yeosang with his eyes closed enjoying what he was doing, having fun and feeling really comfortable while having no idea what kind of danger he was in. When Yeosang got over his intoxication, he slowly took the bow off the strings and took a contented breath. The moment of his contentment and calm was interrupted by the clapping of two hands. Startled, Yeosang opened his eyes and looked up, only to suddenly spot one of the people he least wanted to see on the other side of the room. A Halateez.

»Shit!« Yeosang winced, put down the violin and stood up.

»What do you want?!« Yeosang asked, with a mock strong undertone. The Halateez stood silently across from the mint haired boy and stared at him while Yeosang slowly started to get really nervous after a moment of silence. He didn't recognize which Halateez it was from that distance, and it probably didn't matter. Yeosang stepped down from the riser and took a few steps towards the Halateez until he stopped in the middle of the room and took a deep breath.

»You assholes are good at staring, huh? Did you enjoy the show, dickhead?!« Yeosang crossed his arms over his chest to maintain the appearance that he wasn't scared. Inside, Yeosang felt like his heart was sinking in fear at any second. The silence of the Halateez didn't improve Yeosang's feeling for the better either. Just as Yeosang was about to make another derogatory comment, the Halateez suddenly moved and Yeosang quickly swallowed the words in shock. Frozen, Yeosang watched the Halateez as he moved towards the cage with the doves and reached out for the lock that held the cage shut. Confused and nervous, Yeosang took a step back. The Halateez used a key to unlock the cage's lock, took it off, and then looked over at Yeosang. He staggered to the mint-haired boy and opened the cage. Immediately the pigeons began to flutter out of the cage like mad. They steered towards the helpless boy at high speed, who immediately shielded his head with his hands. The birds attacked him with their claws and beaks, pecked and scratched his arms and tried to get at his face. In a panic, Yeosang started running as fast as he could. He rushed out of the rehearsal room and ran down the long, dark corridor. The birds followed him until he left the building and walked quickly as far away from the grounds as possible. As soon as he was off the site, the birds lost interest in him and flew out to the four winds. Exhausted, Yeosang dropped to the ground on the side of the road and inhaled sharply. His arms were scratched and bleeding. He breathed in and out exhaustedly and slightly sobbed.

»What an asshole.«