One competition changed everything.

It happened years ago when she was still ten. She entered a violin competition for ages 9-12. Irene can still remember the sound of the applause the audience gave. She can still remember how it felt to stand there on the stage with her violin in hand. She can still remember how furious she was to the point that she punched the wall after her performance. She may have won in the end, but it wasn’t a fair fight. The person that she knew who have so much potential and could have won the competition instead of her had back down for her to win; knowing how important and life changing it would be to her.

But she knew her victory was a fluke; something that is offered to her on a silver platter. It was a mockery for her, even though she knew her opponent only had the best intentions. But she never wanted to win without a fair fight, so vowed to herself that she’ll crush her opponent in the future; showing no mercy.  

“I hate you Wendy Son.”

A crescendo of music could be heard all over the room. Beads of sweat flowed down her body while some fell down on the piano keys. Wendy, with her eyes closed, poured all her emotions in each key she pressed; creating a beautiful melody that could rival Chopin.

She continued to play to her heart’s content; until suddenly –

“If you won’t get that of yours out of that bench this instant, I won’t consider taking you as my heir.” Her cousin, Jessica, barged into the room unannounced; stopping Wendy from playing.

“Geez…You could have waited until I finished the song before you barged in the room Jess,” Wendy grumbled.

“Yeah, even if I did, you’d still be grumbling at me for stopping you from playing,” Jessica stood behind Wendy and closed the fallboard. “Now come on, breakfast is ready.”

“Can I take a bath first? I stink.”

“Sure, but I’m only giving you ten minutes to take a bath.”

“But Jess!”

“Ten minutes or no breakfast for you,” Jessica warned.

Wendy wanted to protest again, but seeing Jessica’s icy glare made her shiver in fear. Wendy could only sigh and hold her hands up in surrender, “Fine. You win.”

Jessica smiled in triumph.

“That’s a good girl.”

Jessica went inside her room when she remembered that she left her phone on her desk. She checked if there were any new messages and found none, but she noticed that there was a missed call coming from her grandfather. She immediately contacted him while she took a sit on her bed.

“Hello?” her grandfather answered.

“Hello grandpa. Good morning,” Jessica said with delight.

“Oh! Good morning sweetie,” her grandfather said affectionately

“Say grandpa, why did you call earlier?”

“I wanted to tell you something.”

“About what?”

“Your engagement.”

Jessica couldn’t breathe for a moment.

“My engagement?”

“I want you to start planning your wedding.”

Jessica felt her world shatter. Without her knowledge, tears have already begun to fall down her eyes. She doesn’t want to get married yet. But what can she do? She owes a lot to her grandfather. If only her parents were alive, she wouldn't have to shoulder this burden; the burden to take over his school.

“Have you already set a date for my wedding?”

“Yes, sweetie.”

“When is it?”

“Four months from now.”

Jessica’s breath hitched.

Four months?

That’s too soon.

“I…understand grandpa.”

“Good,” he complimented.

“I better get going grandpa. I don’t want to be late.”

“Okay, sweetie. See you later.”

“See ya grandpa.”

Jessica ended the call. She let herself fall on her back and close her eyes to escape reality for just a bit. How can she tell this news to everyone she cared about? How can she tell this to –?

A sudden knock on the door startled Jessica.

“Jess, you there?” Wendy called out from outside.

“Yeah,” she replied meekly.

“What? I can’t hear you.”

Jessica let out a deep sigh.

“I just need to find something. I’ll be out in a sec.”

The blonde stood up. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw how gloomy she looked. She immediately wiped away the tears on her face and straightened out her uniform. And just with a little touch of a fake smile, she looked good as new; here to deceive the whole world that everything is alright with her when she knew deep down that there was an aching feeling in her heart that is slowly killing her inside.

“Pathetic,” she scoffed. “I look so pathetic.”

Jessica was about to leave the room when something caught her eye. It was an 8” x 10” picture of her and her best friend, Choi Sooyoung. It was taken during their vacation in Paris with just the two of them. And just by looking at the picture, you can see how contented they looked in each other’s arms.

Jessica clenched her fist.

“I wish you’re here now Sooyoung.”

The ride to school was silent for the two cousins. Usually, Jessica would be singing with whatever comes up on the radio, but right now, she is awfully silent. Only the view outside the window piques her interest. Seeing her like this got Wendy worried. She hates it when something is bothering her cousin.

“Hey Jess, what’s wrong?”

Jessica glanced at her.

“Nothing,” she mumbled.

 “You can tell me everything you know?”

Jessica didn’t even bother to nod in reply. The lack of response only caused Wendy to be more worried. Sometimes, her cousin could be really stubborn when it comes to keeping her thoughts to herself.

“Is this about your engagement?”

Her words made Jessica twitch.

‘Bingo.’

“You know you can tell gramps to cancel the engagement right?”

“I know, but –”

“But it is your responsibility to get married to a wealthy man since you’re set to take over the school. I know. You always say that,” Wendy reached for Jessica’s hand and clasped it with hers. “But Jess, you can’t just simply follow the path that gramps had set for you. You can choose your own.”

“So what do you suggest I should do?” Jessica turned to Wendy; eyes slowly turning cold. “Leave the country and start finding for true love?”

“You could do that.”

Jessica scoffed.

“Easy for you to say,” she mocked; removing her hand from Wendy’s hold. “You’re not the one whose parents died. You’re not the one who was crying herself to sleep every night, hoping they would come back. You’re not the one who was loaded with responsibilities just because no one would shoulder them on for you. You’re not the one who –”

“Will you be happy?”

Jessica froze.

“Will you be happy if you’ll accomplish what grandpa had set for you?”

“I –”

“I’ve seen your journal,” Wendy confessed. “You wanted to travel abroad and play in front of a large crowd in every country you visited, am I correct?”

Jessica’s eyes widened.

“Wait. How did you get my journal?”

“It was simply lying on your desk when you were sleeping two weeks ago. I tried not to look, but the temptation was killing me.”

Jessica couldn’t help but laugh at her cousin.

“You and your filthy hands,” she teased.

“Oh, shut up Jess! At least I tried not to look,” Wendy pouted.

Jessica giggled, and it sounded so good in Wendy’s ears. It feels nice to finally see her cousin smiling again. After all, she looks more beautiful and radiant with it.

“Say Wendy, how come you’re so good in handling me?” Jessica asked.

“Dunno,” Wendy shrugged. “Maybe because we’re cousins?”

“Hmm…Guess so,” Jessica replied.

“But there’s someone out there who handles you better than anyone Jess.”

“Who?”

“Sooyoung unnie,” Wendy said nonchalantly.

“Sooyoung?” Jessica smiled warmly at the mention of the name.

“Have you told her about your engagement?”

Jessica’s smile suddenly faltered.

“I…”

“…”

“Haven’t…”

A wave of concern was etched on Wendy’s face.

“When are you planning to tell her?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you do know that she has feelings for you, right?”

A moment of silence filled the two.

“…I know.”

“Jess, if you can’t return her feelings just tell –”

 “But that’s the problem,” Jessica cut off.

“…”

“I don’t want to tell her.”

“…But why?”

“Because…”

“Because what?”

“Because I…”

“…”

“I don’t know.”

Wendy could only smile knowingly when Jessica could no longer look at her eye to eye.

‘Geez Jess…When will you realize you also have feelings for her?’

A smile crept upon her face when the morning breeze gently touched her skin. There was something about waking up early that Irene is obsessed about. She just loves the serene feeling that wraps around it.

Irene wandered around the halls of Da Capo Continuum, a prestigious music academy in South Korea. She looked carefully at each room number that she passed by and found the assigned room for her first subject. Irene placed her bag on top of a desk near the window. She looked at her watch and realized that she still has an hour left before the opening ceremony starts at the school auditorium.

“Maybe I came too early,” she said to herself.

With a gentle thud, Irene placed her violin case on the desk next to her. She grabbed her violin inside and positioned it on her shoulder. Closing her eyes, Irene started playing; letting herself get drowned in her music.

“P410…P410…”

Wendy scanned the halls to find her assigned room. Her room is found in the Puccini Hall while Jessica’s room is found in the Stravinsky Hall. The older cousin wanted to accompany Wendy until she reached her room, but an urgent call from the student council came up so she had to leave her dear poor cousin alone.

“Damn council, why did you have to –”

A beautiful sound suddenly entered Wendy’s ears. It entranced her so quickly. Wendy could hear the emotion that wraps around each note. It was simply magnificent.

Wendy followed the sound where it came from. Each room that she passed by made the sound clearer and clearer. When she found the room where it sounded the clearest, she slowly opened the door and felt her breath being out of her body.

There, by the window, was none other than –

“Irene.”

Author's note

Thank you for reading the first chapter of Brave Sound.

Hope you'll stick around until the end.