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- 𝓱𝓮𝓻 -

"no music, no life"

The soft rays of the setting sun filters in through the curtains, casting a warm and gentle glow over the home office. It reminds Melody of the sun always shining into the practice room as well.

Melody and her mother, Jia, are seated on opposite ends of the large couch in the room. There's a type of silence between them, but it's not the same as when they weren't speaking to one another after Melody's date.

It's been about fifteen minutes sine Melody came knocking, and when her mother answered the door with tears in her eyes. Her dark curls, which are usually neat and kept in place, now hang all over the place.

"Mom," Melody began tentatively, her voice soft but firm, "I need to know. What happened all those years ago? Why did you suddenly change your mind about music? About the piano?"

It's an interrogative type of question, Melody is aware, but she needs to know. Perhaps this will open the floor to bond over what they love about music, just like August - her new boyfriend - suggested. Besides, she needs to get to the bottom of who this Min Yoongi was, and what role he played in her mother's past.

Why there are tears in her mother's eyes at the mention of his name.

Jia's gaze is fixed on her lap, her fingers entwined as if grappling with her own emotions. For a moment, the room remains silent, and Melody thinks her mother isn't going to answer. She can only hope her mother doesn't get angry and grounds her for a longer period.

But then, Jia sighs and her shoulders seem to sag with the weight of the memories she had long kept hidden. "Melody, there are things...things that I've never told you," she says, her voice a ghost of its usual self. There's a shift in the air, almost as if windows have been opened to let in a breeze, but the actual window is still shut in place.

Melody leans forward, her eyes locked on her mother's face. "Please, Mom," she says, resting her hand on her mother's in comfort. "Help me understand you, and the life you never share with me." Melody herself isn't sure where all this bravado is coming from either.

Is it the new-found confidence from her lessons and time spent with August? She can't quite put her finger on it, but it's almost as if she's being encouraged by some spirit to talk to her mother. To get her mother to open up again.

Jia takes a deep breath, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Min Yoongi was my own music tutor, back when I was your age," she says, and Melody can see the pain these words are causing her mother. "But after a while of lessons and chatting, we became more than that."

Melody's brows furrow a bit, the situation sounding too familiar to her. "More than that? What do you mean?"

A sad smile graces Jia's lips as she recounted a story from the past. "I was young, Melody. Young and naive and I wanted nothing more than to break free from my father's strict grasp," she says, looking lost in thought. "I had just lost my mother a year prior, and I was struggling to navigate through life. Yoongi came into my life like a breath of fresh air."

Melody says nothing, allowing her mother to let every word that she has ever kept inside, out. Jia's voice trembles as she continues, "I didn't realize it at first, but over time, my feelings for him grew deeper. He was...an anchor for me, a source of comfort, even though I just wanted to learn how to play the freaking piano."

Melody's eyes widen in astonishment a bit, because for the first time in her life, she has something in common with her mother. "You fell in love with him, didn't you?" she asks, but she already knows the answer.

"We spent hours talking about music, about life," her mother says, another sad smile on her face. "His gummy smile was too adorable; how could I not fall in love?"

Melody almost smiles with her mother, enthusiastically ready to tell her mother that she knows how it feels - to be totally smitten for the boy who taught her how to play such a grand instrument. But something her mother says halt those words in her throat. "Was?" she asks instead.

Jia nods, a tear trickling down her cheek. "It was a few days before I had to move with your grandfather to the States," she says, now looking out the window. "I told him to cut me out of his life, to break off contact. Of course, he didn't listen. And then there he was, outside my window with a picture in his hand and his helmet under his arm..."

Melody scoots a little closer to her mother, heartbroken to see her in pain. "That was the last time I saw him," Jia continues, wiping some tears off her red cheeks. "I didn't hear about the accident until I was already in America. His best friend, Namjoon, got a hold of me as soon as he could, but obviously, it was too late then."

Melody gasps, not realizing the true gravity of the situation up until now.

"It was like the ground was ripped out from beneath me and I didn't know how to handle another round of grief. I just...I didn't know how to process losing him," she continues, more tears in her big, brown eyes. "Moving away from the boy you love is one thing, but having him ripped from this earth is a whole different level of agony."

"So, then you turned away from music," Melody finishes for her. She can feel her mother's pain, imagines how she would feel if the same thing had to happen to August. "To cope with the grief?"

"My father forced me to forget about him," Jia scoffs, wiping more tears. "As if that was ever easy. But regardless, I went on living as best I could. Got married, got a job and a kid."

Jia smiles through her tears, squeezing Melody's hand. "Did you know that I named you Melody after him," she says, now looking at her daughter. She shakes her head, a half sob, half laugh escaping her lips. "I just...I wanted to protect you. I have already lost my mother, and then I lost him and I couldn't lose another important person to me. So I protected you as best I could."

Melody wipes away a tear from her own eye. She didn't even realize that she started crying as well. "I don't think blocking music from our lives is a form of protection, Mom."

Jia's eyes meet her daughter's, a mixture of sorrow and gratitude in her gaze. "You're probably right," she says, wiping some tears from Melody's face. "Maybe that's why my heart has been so heavy all these years. Because even though I've been trying to protect you from harm your whole life, I guess I also didn't want you to experience the pain I have. Especially when it came to music. It's a powerful force, Melody."

Melody nods, and laughs through the tears with her mom. "I know, Mom," she says, hugging her mother. "But as much as it has power to cause sadness, I think it also has the power to bring joy, to make sure the happy memories live on."

Melody looks at the piece of the photograph in her mother's hand again. "I don't think surpresseing such a powerful connection does any justice to the person you loved so much, Mom."

Jia sniffles, her lips wobbling with an incoming sob. "Maybe that's why my heart's been feeling so heavy all these years, huh?"

Melody meets her mother's gaze with a shaking smile of her own. "Maybe," she says, voice a little hoarse now, "instead of surpressing you grief into a pianissimo, you should let the love that you had ring loud, like fortissimo."

This earns a teary laugh from Jia. "Oh?" she says, planting a kiss on her daughter's curls. "And who taught you that?"

"Well..." Melody says, ready to tell her mom about it all.

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