Exactly As It Sounds • Young K • Day6

ix.

"The things tucked quietly 

in the forgotten corner of my heart."

As a child, you'd spent one month out of every summer on Jeju Island. Days spent with sand between your toes and clear waves running in the background. Evening sunsets in the mountains and early mornings feeling the tang of fresh orange against your tongue.

It was three days before the tour began, and the company had given everyone several days to spend relaxing with family or catching up with friends before the months of chaos began. You hadn't seen your grandmother once since your family had moved to the States, but through e-mail and Skype, she hadn't seemed as far away.

Now, standing in her kitchen, quietly helping her make tea from leaves grown in her garden, you reflect on those times as a child, when life seemed simpler. Your grandma was the one person in the whole world who made you feel special without trying and seemed to understand the words you left unspoken.

As you move to her couch, cradling a cup of tea in your hands, breathing in the familiar scent of your childhood, she peers at you silently. After taking a long look at your face, she leans back with a small sigh, nodding to herself.

"What does that mean?" you grin, taking a sip from your mug.

She gives you a small smile before standing up to retrieve a plate of apples you had recently peeled.

"At first I thought you would struggle," she says. Her tone is light, but her words are serious.

"After all, it's not easy to heal after a heartbreak. But, seeing you now, my heart feels at ease. I can see that it is already beginning to mend."

Staring at the dark liquid in your mug, you turn her words over in your mind.

/-/

The night before the tour the HMS (hair, makeup, stylist)teams and stage crew decide to go clubbing. You'd hesitated when they first invited you, but after some convincing you'd finally given in. After all, it was a tradition for the tour team to party before the months of stress began.

Sitting at a table with your co-workers, you share drinks, laughing at stories from past tours, and all the mishaps happening behind-the-scenes. After a while a few of them get up to dance, but whether it's the alcohol or the lights, you find you're content just to sit and watch, sipping slowly, tapping one foot to the beat.

You're not sure how long you've been sitting there, watching people in the crowd, when a new song begins. You immediately recognize the intro to one of your favorite songs, the retro beats coursing through your veins. Jumping to your feet you find yourself immersed in the crowd, and you revel in the feeling of losing yourself in a swarm of bodies you'll never see again. Shaking your hair off your shoulders, you let loose, the music pounding in your ears. 

It's before the first chorus that he catches your eye.

Across the dance floor you see a guy with black hair falling in his eyes. You can only barely make out his profile, but you can see enough to tell his lips are turned up into a brilliant smile. His head is tipped back, and you can see he has broad shoulders meeting a tall frame. He moves well, his clothes tailored to fall in a way that accentuates. But the reason you can't tear your eyes off him isn't any of those things.

Even though you can't see him clearly in the dim lighting, there's something about him, some hidden x factor that instantly captures your attention and makes it hard to look away. Without even thinking about it, you find your feet bringing you closer.