Piano Keys | Kim Taehyung | ✓

‖ Più ‖

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Più: (Italian-  means'more'). A term that can preface an instruction to mean 'more of'. 

[At one point in their lives, they both felt an ardent longing for something more-Something more than being just best friends. They never said it out loud but both knew deep down, that they had always been something more than mere best friends or even crushes-their bond was unexplainable in words, for they were each others' soulmates.]

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THE PAST, DAEGU

It was a cold winter morning and even though the sun was shining a bit, peeping over through the layers of the clouds in the sky, I still felt hot. Well, my face and ears felt hot, to be precise.

Iseul was too close, and if she moved even an inch, our lips would brush. 

"Wow, I never noticed until now. Your brown eyes really do have small dark-golden flecks in them."

She drew back as abruptly as she has leaned in and went back to flipping through the pages of the book she had been reading. We were both in the almost deserted park near her house, sitting on the black wrought iron park bench under an old and shady tree. 

I had called her out for some fresh air, seeing as she had been spending too much time holed up in her room either practicing or studying for school. She got stressed too just like other students of her age but I knew her and knew the fact that she was way too prideful to just admit for she had always been viewed as the 'prodigy'. But I knew that she had to work hard for that everyday, for that title.

Aside from playing the piano, she liked reading books. British literature novels from the eighteenth or nineteenth century were her favorite and among us we used to joke that we both were old souls who had been born in the wrong century.

That day she was reading 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte and when I asked her if it was any good, she had grinned and replied in affirmative. Then suddenly, while reading the book, she had leaned in and randomly brought up my eye color.

When she drew back, I cleared my throat and tried to speak up but could only get words out after a few seconds,

"Wh-why the sudden interest in my eyes?"

"Just because."

She simply shrugged, avoiding my gaze. After a few minutes passed as she was reading and me aimlessly staring at the clouds, she suddenly shifted closer to me again.

"Do my eyes have flecks of green and yellow in them too? Dad says that they sometimes look green, do they?"

This time, her face was so close to mine that our noses were almost touching. As if realizing it, her eyes widened as she leaned back a bit, still too close but not so much. 

Then I did something impulsive and crazy.

Maybe it was because my heart was beating so fast and the surroundings seemed to fade away, maybe it was because she was looking so pretty that day with her hair was down, maybe it was because we were sitting so close and I could see the light mole on her upper lip; maybe it was because it was Park Iseul's hazel eyes which were drawing me in-whatever it was, I couldn't just resist that day.

I closed the few inches between us and brushed my lips against her soft ones. Once. Twice. Thrice.

It was my first kiss and it was with her. 

She was literally frozen, for the first time ever since I had known her. When I pulled away, I saw her eyes had widened as wide as saucers, while her cheeks were red. The loud thumping of my heart made me break out of my trance and I scooted away in embarrassment.

"TaeTae..."

For the first time in her life, she was out of words. I couldn't believe that the ever-so chatty Park Iseul looked dazed and didn't have anything to say. The thought made a small grin pull up the corners of my mouth. 

"Yah, we are still in middle school!"

She blinked as if she had just woken up and then whisper yelled at me, even though the park was deserted so early in the morning. She scooted closer and lightly punched my arm, making me yelp in return as it was not the reaction I had been expecting.

"Iseul-ah, what's wrong with you?!"

I grumbled as I rubbed my arm but when I met her hazel gaze, I still felt that invisible force field drawing me in. We both sucked in a breath and her low gasp was cut off when I leaned in once again and kissed her, but this time, she kissed me back.

When we pulled away, I leaned my forehead on hers and could feel the grin on both our faces, even though sometime during the kiss my eyes had fluttered close. 

"I'm glad you are my first kiss."

She whispered and I almost couldn't make out the words. My grin now transformed into a full blown smile as I wrapped my arms around her back. 

"Me too."

I cracked open my eyes, and the sight that greeted my made my heart start thumping loudly once again. Well, I wasn't sure if it had ever stopped, to be honest.

Iseul's face was so close to mine, and she looked so pretty that my breath hitched in my throat. The adorable light spattering of freckles on her button nose and her long lashes framing those deep hazel eyes, her rosy red cheeks and the tip of her nose bright red due to the cold winter air-She truly looked beautiful, a beauty that can't be described by mere words.

"By the way, to answer your previous question-yes, your eyes do have green flecks in them. But I had noticed it way back."

That day was the beginning of something more for both of us.

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