the firsts || p.cy

her first embrace

"So, this is where you work?" I marvel as Chanyeol unlocks the front door and walks in. "It's so cute."

Chanyeol laughs as he hits the light on as we walk through the hallway. "Yeah. The kids are cuter, though."

I smile, agreeing, as I look at the pictures strung up on the wall. A group of twenty four little boys and girls stand next to the piano, where Chanyeol is seated.

"Come on, it's this room."

I follow Chanyeol into the biggest room on the very right, which displays something I haven't seen or touched in an extremely long time.

"A piano," I say softly.

Chanyeol smiles at me, though it's not one of his usual big ones. "Yeah," he says as he sits down on the bench.

I feel a sense of deja vu wash over me as I watch him lift the case over the piano keys. He then warms up his fingers in the exact same way my mother used to teach her students.

"I know this is sudden, but can I have your number?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't give my number to people I don't know."

"But, I am someone you know. We've met before."

I think back to what Chanyeol said to me when we first met. Looking back, I never once asked him what he had meant.

"Chanyeol," I say. "Do you remember when you first asked me for my number?"

His smile widens. "Of course. You wouldn't give me your number, so I had to give you mine."

"Yeah, but you also mentioned that you already knew me from somewhere. What did you mean by that?"

Chanyeol looks down at the piano keys. His smile hasn't faded, but it looks sadder than it did before. "Let me play this for you, first. And then I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything."

I nod slowly. "Okay." I lean against the wall so I'm more comfortable.

"Okay," Chanyeol also says. He takes a deep breath, rests his fingers on the keys, and begins.

Within the first two seconds, I know what song this is. It was my mother's favorite song. She learned the entire song in less than a day, and even practiced English so she could sing along sometimes.

Chanyeol starts singing, and I suddenly have a flashback of my mother.

"Mom, what is this song?" 19 year-old me asks as I plop into the teacher's chair next to the piano seat my mom is sitting on.

"It's called 'All of Me,' by John Legend," she replies.

I make a face, not even bothering trying to pronounce all that English. "Why are you playing that?" I ask.

"One of my old students I used to teach asked me if I knew Western music. When I said no, he told me to try listening to this one."

"And you like it?"

"You don't?"

I shrug. "It's okay, I guess. Why, are you going to teach the song to him?"

Laughing, my mother shakes her head. "It has come to that point where he can be teaching me, now. He only drops by every once in a while to chat with me." She pauses, then looks at me thoughtfully. "Are you interested in meeting him? He's tall, just like you, and only two years older."

I stand up immediately. "And this is my cue to leave."

"Okay, fine, forget I said that. I wouldn't be doing him any favors if I allowed him to date you, anyways," my mom says before I walk out. "But, would you want to learn the piece?"

"First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with myself," I defend as I turn around. "Second of all, we agreed I didn't need to touch the piano after high school. I'm in college, now."

She makes a face, but she can't say anything since she set the rules. "Fine. How's your novel going, then?"

I shrug nonchalantly, though I can't resist the gigantic smile forming on my face as I sit back down. "It's going great! I don't have writer's block at all, and I think it's going to be a huge hit."

"Well, even if it doesn't become a huge hit, I'll make sure to buy a hundred copies and distribute them to all of my friends. Although none of them might actually read them."

"Ugh, thanks for your support."

My mother laughs and turns back to the piano. She begins playing the notes as she sings along.

"And you give me all of you, oh."

Back in the present, Chanyeol finishes, but I can't see his face when he looks up at me because, for the first time since I met him, my eyes fill up with tears.

"You -- you're --" I can't speak properly, because I'm afraid the tears will spill if I talk too much or too loudly.

He stands from the piano and walks over to me. I'm still staring at him, not even blinking. "Woori."

With this one word, the tears fall, and I close my eyes as my body shakes with every sob. Chanyeol wraps his arms around me and my tears stain his left shoulder.

And, in that moment, I remember when and where I first met Park Chanyeol.

***

Thank you for reading to the end of Part One! Part Two will come out after "1004" (Baekhyun) will be completed, so you all can suffer until then!
(In case you forgot, Part Two will be Chanyeol's point of view of these chapters and answer questions from Part One.)