The Song That Wasn't Forgotten
We Don't Sell Our Souls7: THE SONG THAT WASN'T FORGOTTEN
"White AnxiEty," by Code Kunst (feat. Colde of offonoff)
Note: there are two songs this chapter, but it's a special occasion.
“Yes. Yes. I’m really sorry.”
Naeil tucked the cellphone between her ear and shoulder so she could wave a hand at Taehyung. It did little calm the bouncy kid, who was sifting through some snacks at the convenience store she’d ended up taking him to.
“No, no, it’s not okay. I’m very sorry it happened,” continued Naeil, walking up to the cashier to pay for the ramyeon and snacks she had selected. Taehyung smacked a candy bar down on the counter right before Naeil was about to pay. The cashier glanced at Naeil questioningly, but Naeil motioned to go ahead and bill it to her.
“Well, yes,” said Naeil, taking the bag and walking over to sit on the stools by the windows. “It was kind of an emergency but—well, thank you so much for being flexible.”
Taehyung plopped down next to Naeil and took the bag, dumping its contents on the counter opening and pulling the rappers off of everything.
Naeil sighed and grabbed the phone with her hand again. “So about thirty minutes later will work? Perfect. Thank you again. Yes, see you soon. Goodbye.”
Naeil hung up and looked over at Taehyung, who was busy stirring up the cups of ramyeon. “Kid—”
“Taehyung-ah.”
“Taehyung-ah. You don’t know how to sit still yet? How old are you?”
A text notification went off, and Taehyung held up a finger to pause the conversation while he took out his phone.
“Seventeen,” he said, looking up and putting his phone away again. He passed her a cup of ramyeon. “I’m seventeen.”
“You’ll be an adult next year.”
“Guess so.” He leaned toward her. “But noona, how did you beat up all those guys? That was so cool.”
Taehyung opened up a kimbap triangle and started sprinkling some bits of rice into his ramyeon, much to Naeil’s confusion.
“First of all, I didn’t really beat up anyone, and we almost didn’t get away.”
“Yeah, but still—”
“Second of all, my mom made me take judo as a kid because she wanted me to be able to defend myself. Since you already know, I guess I might as well tell you she’s always worried about that sort of thing because I don’t have a dad around.”
“Oh. That’s…sad.”
“Yeah, it is. Anyway, I’m not a master or anything, but I got my black belt and I’ve learned a few more practical defense techniques on my own. I have a friend who’s big into taekwondo. He’s tried to teach me some stuff but I didn’t really catch on.”
“I used to do taekwondo!”
“Then you’re probably better than I am.”
“Maybe, I doubt it. You’re pretty cool, noona!”
He stuck his thumb up. Naeil sighed.
“You’re seriously about to embarrass me. Hurry up and eat your food.”
He started to lift the noodles to his mouth and stopped suddenly. “Oh, yeah! What’s your name?”
“Ji Naeil.”
“Like, as in tomorrow, tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“That’s—”
“Weird. Yes, I know.”
“I was gonna say cool.”
Naeil smacked herself in the forehead.
After much dallying, Taehyung finally scooped up a bundle of ramyeon and began stuffing noodles into his mouth, slurping it up as if he hadn’t had a good meal in a week. Naeil wasn’t hungry, considering the fact that it wasn’t lunchtime or dinnertime, but she nibbled at the noodles anyway. Maybe she’d save it for later.
“So, what about you?” asked Naeil, after giving up on her meal.
“Me?”
“Yeah. Tell me about yourself.”
He took a deep breath. “Well, my name’s Kim Taehyung and I go to Jae-Dong High School, and I like art, especially graffiti art, and I love my hyungs a lot, and my sweet yeodongsaeng even more, and now I like you too, Nae-nae!” [Yeodongsaeng= a younger sibling who is also female]
“Did you just call me…” Naeil raised an eyebrow. “What did you just call me?”
Taehyung was too busy dancing around on his stool to pay attention to Naeil.
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
He kept on dancing, chanting the new nickname while he did. He didn’t stop until his phone went off again. After he read the text, he looked outside the window.
“Oh! He was so fast. Must’ve been close by.”
“What? Who?”
Naeil glanced out the window as Taehyung began stuffing the last bit of ramyeon down his throat, practically inhaling the remainders of the battered-up kimbap he had dissected. A car had pulled up to the little store. A nice car. Not the sort of car Naeil normally saw in this neighborhood.
“Is that someone you know?” asked Naeil.
Taehyung nodded. “Teokjin-hyung,” he said, through a mouthful of food.
“Teokjin?”
The little store bell tinkled as it came open. Naeil turned around. A tall, broad-shouldered man walked in. He was wearing a nice coat and a thick turtleneck, with slacks and shiny shoes. She raised an eyebrow. Taehyung knows this guy?
“Hyung!” shouted Taehyung, smiling up at him. He nodded in reply before turning to Naeil.
“Are you the one who helped Taehyung-ah today?”
Naeil’s eyes narrowed. “Yes…are you Teokjin-hyung?”
He laughed, almost ridiculously loudly. “My name is Kim Seokjin! ‘Teokjin,’ hyuh hyuh, how funny.”
“Wait, so you really are his hyung?”
“Well, not biologically. We just happen to have the same surname.”
“Oh, okay. Well, it was nice to meet—”
Seokjin bowed to her.
“Thank you so much for taking care of Taehyung-ah.”
Naeil pulled back a little. “Sure, it was no problem. Really.”
“It means a lot to us.”
Us? Who?
Seokjin turned to Taehyung and beckoned for him to come. The younger one hopped up quickly, grabbing his candy bar and waving goodbye to Naeil as he left. On their way out, Taehyung snatched at Seokjin’s shoulders in several failed attempts to tackle him.
“Are we going to stop somewhere on the way?”
“Yes. We’re going to get groceries.”
“Sweet! Bye noona!”
Naeil sat in her seat for a while, just trying to process what had happened. After getting a box for her leftovers, she left the restaurant and headed for church.
"Interlude; Dream, Reality," by Agust D (Suga)
“Abeonim!” called out Naeil. “Abeonim?”
The church seemed empty. Most of the lights were off, and Pastor Lee was nowhere to be seen. Wandering around for five minutes brought up nothing but a few cats, so Naeil finally headed for the sanctuary.
Music. Music made Naeil stop before she entered. There was piano coming from the other side. That couldn’t be right. Few people at her church played piano, besides Naeil and her students. And no one played like that: easily, smoothly; soft, searching notes, each played like a breath or a sigh instead of merely making sound. Taking her hand off the main door, Naeil went around to the back door of the sanctuary.
Inside the backroom, behind the wall where the stage was, piano melodies echoed distantly. She couldn’t see who it was yet. Another door would lead her to the front of the church, where the piano sat. Ever so slowly, Naeil opened the door a crack so she could peek at the person on the other side.
fell open. Him? It was the same person she had seen from the church roof on Saturday, the one with green hair. She never would’ve imagined someone like him would know how to play the piano that way…
As she pulled the door open, holding her breath, waiting for him to look up and realize she was watching, some part of her brain recognized the tune he was playing. There was no telling where she had once heard it, or even if she really had heard it, but something about it…something sounded so…so…
His head turned slightly. Naeil saw his face fully.
Familiar.
“Heol…” she whispered.
The music stopped abruptly. The man on the piano looked up, surprised and accusing. “How long have you been there?!”
“How long have I been here? What about you? I thought you were dead, you crazy pyromaniac.”
Author’s Note
Look who decided to show up again.
Yep, imma go to bed now.
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