First Snow

Diversion

Author note: that's what I call a transitional chapter, or the calm before the storm. I really hope you'll enjoy it. And I really hope you won't hate me for the chapters coming 😬

And as people around me had been going through personal struggles these past few days, in real and on Twitter, I just want to thank you for always being supportive and lovely. Kindness should always be the norm. And to you who are reading this and going through something hard, know that life has so many shades of colors to show you yet, you're beautiful and worthy, no matter what some meaningless people try to make you believe.

To all of you, thank you, stay safe and take care. ❤️

***

Everytime Ri Jeong Hyeok had to attend a concerto, it was a bittersweet moment.

He loved music, especially classical music, he found solace in the flow of the notes, in the harmony between instruments. When he was a student, he had a teacher who always said that a philamornic was like a human body. To live, every organ, every cell, every neuron had to work on its own but also together. A single hiccup in the process and the whole body could be endangered. It was the same when playing together. Musicians had to realize that they belonged to one single body to make it work. They had to focus on their task while being attentive to the others so that they could be in tune. He liked this analogy, and often imagined each one of his fellow musicians as a cell that had its own life but needed the others to exist. Music being the result, like a deep breath of air.

He remembered when he used to play on stage, with others or alone. How nervous he was, to be under the spot light, only to forget everything once his fingers grazed the piano. Even years after, even without being the one playing, the melody took all the place in his heart and his soul and he couldn't think about anything else. It was an escape in the storm that had become his life, offering solace when sadness and anger threatened to engulf him whole.

But each note also made his fingers itch and his heart clench with regret and pain.
A bitter reminder that he was no longer a musician. Sometimes, he felt as if his previous life had only been a dream. The freedom he had enjoyed had allowed him to thrive in piano, becoming a promising talent with many projects. How clueless he was then, thinking that nothing could change, that his family was an immuable constant, safe from anything and anyone.

How arrogant it was to think that way.

Everything had be snatched away from him, in the most painful way.

But despite the pain of seeing another pianist doing what he was supposed to do, despite the familiar ache in his chest, that evening, the only thing he could focus on was a woman, sitted two balconies away from him.

When his informant had assured him that Cho Cheol Gang would attend the concert, he wasn't expecting to see Yoon Seri coming in with him.

To say he had been shocked was an understatement.

He had felt his heart stop while trying to act nonchalant in front of Seo Dan and the diplomats he had invited. He had taken his seat, his breath short, his hands clenched in tight fists, trying to focus on the music, or on the comments made by his companions, but he couldn't.

His eyes were irremediably drawn to her, as if under the influence of an irresistible magnetic power. Any rational thought had been drown in a storm of questions.

What was she doing here? Why with him? What was their relationship?

Her smile was nowhere to be seen, even from his balcony, he could see how tense she was, her back straight, her eyes focused on the stage.