Chapitre Vingt et un

>If today I woke up with you right beside me like all of this was just some twisted dream,
   I'd hold you closer than I ever did before and you'd never slip away.<

MyungSoo

Almost two years later

“To all my friends and colleagues, the new instructors, and all of our guests, welcome. I am delighted to have you here to celebrate the opening of Harmony School, a place where we not only teach the young ones musical instruments, but it is also the place for the youths to create, craft and unleash their inner musician inside of them. There are many kids out there who definitely have the potential and talent, only that they do not have the right guidance or place to apply their skills.”

Looking at his audience, which mainly consisted of his old colleagues, the new ones and close family members, he grinned, “Well, it doesn’t pay much, what we do.” He continued. “But we’re doing what we’re doing because we love it, and it is a beautiful thing when passion and career come together. We are also trying to teach the young ones the beauty of music, as it is an art, and how they can express their feelings into music if they couldn’t deliver them in words. I know that we’re all going to work well together, as we are after all, already like a family. Let us all do our best in giving all we could to the young ones, and watch them grow as they make us proud. Thank you.”

With that, he ended his speech and the audience gave a round of applause, but right before MyungSoo walked away, he suddenly remembered that he needed to introduce the new music instructors, as some of his friends hadn’t met them yet.

“Well, before we continue with other things, let me just make a quick introduction of our new teachers.” He quickly said, and gestured towards the new teachers who sat on the other side. “First, we have our Miss Shim RiYoung, our violin instructor, Kang HyeYeon and Han DanBi, our piano teachers, and Song KyungIl and Kim JaeHo as our drum mentors. Welcome once again, teachers. We are delighted to have you aboard.”

The said newcomers stood up and politely bowed to the rest of the audience, and SungGyu stood up as well on behalf of the previous tutors to greet and welcome them.

MyungSoo couldn’t help but keep on smiling throughout the time, as he was feeling extremely excited at the same time. After a lot of hard work, it was finally paid off. He managed to get people investing in his music class, and now he was able to bring in new instruments to his class, as well as employing new tutors in teaching them to the students.

He sold his previous guitar class and he had moved to another building, bigger this time, in order to accommodate the new instruments. The amount of students that enrolled had increased as his guitar class became popular, which had contributed to him in introducing some other instruments as well.

The trio, SungGyu, HoYa and SungJong, were still with him, much to his delight. They remained as his guitar tutors and according to them; they had no plans of leaving him. SungGyu kept saying time and again that no one could teach the students guitar better than he could, and the students loved him more.

They all rolled their eyes at him, but smiled nonetheless.

“Alrighty, then. Let us all get ready to start teaching! They would be arriving any minute now.” He cheered excitedly and the spectators laughed before standing up. Some of them already made their way to their classes to prepare for the lessons, while some of them stayed back to have a quick chat.

MyungSoo looked around and saw KyonDae and MyungHee already getting ready at the register, checking the attendance book and greeting the new instructors at the same time. He smiled to himself as he kept his eyes on his sister. She was smiling and laughing alongside KyonDae, and her beam widened even more when she saw ChangJo bursting through the entrance, looking apologetic but awed at the same time. Clearly, he was late, and he looked sorry about it, but he was more overwhelmed about the place as he walked towards MyungHee.

Shaking his head, MyungSoo walked towards the new drum tutors, giving them a quick brief right before the students came. It was their first time teaching music, and MyungSoo knew that they were somewhat nervous, though they looked mostly excited. He kept on telling them that they would be just fine and he’d heard many of the students saying that they couldn’t wait to start learning how to play the drums.

He was just patting their shoulders proudly when he felt a hand was on his elbow. He turned and saw WooHyun, who was looking at him with a pleased expression. MyungSoo grinned at him. “Hi, hyung.”

“Hi to you too.” WooHyun said. “I am so proud of you MyungSoo. Looks like your dream has finally come true. I’ve always known that you can do it.” He sounded almost like a father in saying that, and MyungSoo grinned sheepishly like a small kid. “Thanks, hyung. And it’s mostly because of you and the others, too. You guys never gave up on me and kept on supporting me. I don’t think I would be here today if it weren’t for you.”

WooHyun smiled softly and squinted at MyungSoo, making the boy uncomfortable. “Hyung, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Have you been getting any sleep at all?” WooHyun asked back. “Honestly, MyungSoo. You look pale and as if you haven’t been eating well.”

MyungSoo sighed. WooHyun was the fourth person to ask him that. He knew that his friends and sister had been noticing the change in him. He was getting skinnier, and his face definitely looked much whitish than he would’ve liked.

“Of course I have, hyung.” MyungSoo said. “It’s just that, well, I’ve been busy setting the whole place up and sometimes I didn’t have the chance to eat properly or get any sleep. I just want everything to go well.”

WooHyun took a deep breath and sighed aloud. He frowned a little and put his hands on his hip. “That is why you should learn to depend on us a bit more, MyungSoo. We are here for you, and you don’t have to shoulder this all by yourself. Just say the word and we’ll be right next to you.”

Putting a hand on MyungSoo’s shoulder, WooHyun sternly said, “Come to my house tonight for dinner, and I won’t take no as an answer. She’s inviting all the crew, and she’s expecting you too. My wife is sad that she cannot be here right now so she wants to make it up for dinner, and KyonDae has been telling her that you don’t eat properly these days.”

MyungSoo pouted like a small kid being scolded by his dad but nodded his head anyways. He’d gotten closer to WooHyun’s family since the previous year, as well as the rest of the crew. Since KyonDae, L.Joe and MyungHee had spent a lot of time with JiEun, they had eventually gotten closer to WooHyun’s wife as well, particularly KyonDae and L.Joe.

He wasn’t sure how it happened, actually, but it seemed that since WooHyun helped MyungSoo a lot in expanding the class, his wife ended up joining in the help as well. She was rarely present, previously, but in the last few months she’d been a great help, and they all eventually got close to one another.

“Okay fine. I’ll be there tonight, hyung.” MyungSoo agreed, not that he had anything to do anyway. He was certain that MyungHee would be going too, as she’d briefly told him that WooHyun invited the lot of them to his house, but he hadn’t really made up his mind.

Well, this was the least he could do since WooHyun had been helping him a lot, not just with the music class, but in other things as well, say, his emotions.

Throwing WooHyun a smile, MyungSoo grabbed his guitar and said that he had to check on the classes and tutors before the students started coming, and WooHyun let him go with a nod. He followed MyungSoo’s disappearing figure with his eyes and sighed again as he shook his head.

“You know, I don’t think he’s been sleeping late and eating irregularly just because of setting up the music school.” WooHyun heard SungGyu’s voice from behind him, and WooHyun turned to look at him who had the same worried look on his face.

“I know.” WooHyun said dejectedly. “He tries so hard to hide it but even a fool can see how badly he misses her. He buries himself with work just so that he doesn’t have to think of her all the time and I’ve asked his sister whether he’s dating anyone again, and MyungHee said that his mind is only focused on the music school. What with how things have turned out with his family now, I guess he has no other choice but to focus on Harmony School.”

SungGyu winced at the mention of MyungSoo’s family, and his eyes couldn’t help but to dart towards MyungHee. Both men looked at her, and despite knowing that she was well now, they automatically sighed in relief upon seeing her laughing with ChangJo and L.Joe, who both tried to disturb her and her best friend from doing work.

“Well, we just have to keep an eye on him.” SungGyu said, referring to MyungSoo once again. “As much as it is difficult for us to pretend with him that everything is all right, maybe that is what he really needs right now. He needs to pretend that he’s no longer hurt by what happened that maybe, eventually, he’ll outgrow the pain and can finally move on.”

WooHyun smiled sadly and turned to his friend again. “I hate to see him that way. It’s like I’m seeing a different him.”

SungGyu didn’t return his smile, and simply shook his head. “None of us do. But the only thing that w