~ The First Movement ~
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Chapter One - Preludio

The amount of boxes was uncountable when I entered my new apartment for the second time in my life.

I didn’t even remember that I had that much stuff – or maybe I thought so at least because my apartment was quite small.

My hands shoved some of the boxes aside, to make me a small path through.

I couldn’t really see where I was going and suddenly stumbled over something that was lying in its hiding place, intending to break my bones.

“Stupid boxes”, I mumbled and kicked away one box with the side of my right foot – even though I instantly regretted it because the sharp pain shot through my skin.

My new apartment was a real mess and the unpacked moving cartons were still piling up in every corner.

The most problematic thing was probably that my new home was really small and so the boxes took almost all space that I got.

It would take days to finish unpacking and creating some space – but at least I had a new place to stay.

I made my way to the next door and opened it.

Fortunately my bedroom wasn’t that filled and only some obstacles were standing near my small closet.

It was beyond me why my bedroom was that empty but at the same time I was quite relieved.

I threw my handbag on my bed, stretching my stressed arms slowly.

My head was full of tasks I still had to do and I knew that there wouldn’t be that much time left.

A friend asked me before if we could meet and I didn’t want to be late even though I was exhausted.

I turned my head and wanted to head back to the filled living room when the small case in the corner got my attention – and I felt a bit ashamed that I had almost forgotten about it.

Almost automatically I moved forward, opened the case and took a look on the beautiful auburn violin that I had used to play back at my parent’s house.

My fingertips slowly over the thin strings of my violin before I closed the upper shell of the case.

I couldn’t even feel the small pain in my fingers anymore – but I still remembered the time when I had started to play my first instrument.

It was just about the time I started to go into kindergarten when I didn’t know how much it would mean to me.

No one had ever asked me if I wanted to learn it – it just got decided for me.

That was the way I’ve grown up.

The dreams of my parents became my little dream.

However it was just a memory of my childhood – it wasn’t like that anymore.

Things had changed.

I cautiously put the case in the small corner next to the door of my apartment, trying to erase my past memories.

Only two days ago I finally moved out from my old home, leaving my parents behind.

It was actually not even a hard decision, because for the first time in my whole life I felt independent.

I took a small glance on my watch before I grabbed my handbag again and started to fight my way through my apartment.

It was definitely my first priority to eliminate that mess when I would come back from my appointment.

I grabbed my cell phone from the inside of my handbag and called my old friend.

She lived in Seoul for a while now and I’ve known her since middle school.
We’ve gone through a lot when we were younger and I trusted her a lot.

“Hey, Jinhee. I just took a glance through my new apartment and it’s a complete mess”, I said when she picked up her phone.

“Ah Sangmi, it’s always the same with you.”

Her voice had a tone of amusement as she replied and I could hear her smile.

To know that she enjoyed herself made my happy.
“I will be waiting for you at the café. You better hurry up, otherwise all the good cakes will be gone!”

“I’m on my way, but I can’t guarantee for anything with my bad orientation”, I replied.

“Good. See you later then!”

I put my cell phone back to my handbag, leaving the apartment building and crossed the street.

Seoul was really different from my hometown.

Finding my way here was much more difficult and I got lost more often.

But I knew Jinhee for a long time and she was very much aware that I was kinda slow sometimes.

My orientation sense was better than I thought.

When I took the first glance on the small café in front of me my mood brightened up.

Jinhee explained to me yesterday that this place here was an insider tip – and she promised, the cakes would be really delicious.

Normally I trusted her taste and so I was somehow excited to test my first piece of cake in my new life.

Jinhee was waiting inside, sitting at a small sweet decorated table, waving at me, as soon as I entered the café.

She smiled brightly and I instantly responded with the sweetest grin I had.

I embraced her and gave her a tight hug.

“Good to see you. It’s been one year now”, I said still smiling and she nodded.

“Yes, I was afraid we wouldn’t see each other for a longer time when I moved away but fortunately I was wrong.”

I sat down on the opposite side of the table and took a closer look around me.

The café was really nice and offered a nice atmosphere – even without taking a bite from the cake I was already sure that this place was good.

A few customers already enjoyed a piece of cake at their places and from what I could tell it really looked delicious.

“I’m really proud of myself that I have found this place already one week after I moved her”, Jinhee told me with a wink.

“I understand. We did not have such a nice café in our hometown.”

“Don’t make me remember! That Ajusshi never apologized for dropping a cup of coffee on your lap, did he?”

She laughed quietly.

“He didn’t”, I said with a playful angry tone and shook my head.

Then I started to join her laugh.

It was good to share some old memories.

We ordered some strawberry cake when the waitress came to our table before we continued talking.

I enjoyed my time there but a second later, my pleasure ended.

Two new customers sat down right behind Jinhee at the other table and started to talk loudly.

I tried to ignore their conversation but it was close to impossible to overhear them.

They annoyed me – and I was pretty sure that I wasn’t the only one who was like this.
Some of the other customers glanced to them as well, giving me a somehow satisfied feeling.
I examined them with my eyes, while I was biting my lip and listened to Jinhee’s soft voice.
They were wearing sunglasses and baseball caps were sitting deep in their faces, so I was unable to see their faces – if someone asked me, I‘d said they were already looking somehow suspicious.

At this moment when I played with the thought of drilling my fork into the blue napkin the waitress came with our orders.

The piece of cake looked like a deadly amount of cream but it was only for this time.

I shoved my thoughts about the other two customers aside and started to eat my cake.

Me and Jinhee ate silently until the young men behind my friend started laughing loudly again, making me almost scratching over the table with my fingernails.
Usually I was really calm but those idiots really disturbed me.

It was beyond my understanding how someone could be that noisy in the public – and it was even more strange that they didn’t seem to bother what other people might have thought about them.

I bit my lips, setting the cup with my sweet tea back to the table.

“Maybe we should talk when it’s more quietly”, I suggested to my friend who instantly nodded.

She raised her eyebrow when the two guys started talking loudly again about how funny the cakes looked like.

It was clear that she wanted to have some peace as well.

“You know, usually it’s more quiet in here”, she tried to justify herself but I just shook my head.

My lips formed a small smile.

“You were right. The cake is pretty good here – so I have to bear those idiots behind you.”

My gentle smile turned into a grin, making her laugh.

Back in our school days it was the same – we were always trying to make happy memories, enjoying ourselves.

The teachers were often mad and scolded us for being loud but we were lucky enough that they never contacted our parents.

Otherwise I wouldn’t be that sure if something bad happened.

We talked for a while, finishing our cake and tried to ignore the idiots behind us.
“There is a nice park in this area too – we could go there after we’ve paid”, Jinhee suggested and I nodded as response.

Every place would have been better than here.

“I’ll pay for both of us”, I said.

I searched for my wallet in my bag so that I could pay right away after the waitress finally decided to come over here.
But I was aware that this could actually take some time because she was completely obsessed with one of the waiter.
My friend noticed my gaze and began to chuckle.
“She tries it every day.”
It made me laugh carefree and I almost forgot that I was annoyed beforehand.

But then I heard something that made my almost losing my wallet.

The noisy customer right behind Jinhee started to sing – something that I really haven’t expected.

His voice was really beautiful.

The most time when I listened to someone’s voice I always got the feeling that they pushed themselves too far; not knowing how they could express their feelings into their words.

They didn’t sound honest with themselves.

But this time it was different.

He sang clearly and definitely with his heart.

Something deep inside of me got unintentionally touched by his singing voice, even though I was sure that he could do it even better.

I listened to his warm laugh, making it clear that he only made a joke to tease his friend.

Nevertheless he sure had a talent for singing.

I sighed inwardly, thinking about how cruel the world was to give someone noisy like him such a godly voice.

I was really mad that I had to give him some credits for his singing abilities and was really relieved when the waitress came over to collect the money.

It was almost like the call of salvation.

Jinhee stood up and sighed deeply, without paying attention to the young men behind her.

“I’ll wait outside for you”, she said and was walking to the entrance while I grabbed my jacket.

But there was still something that I had to do.

I stood up, walking directly to the men‘s table and looked at their hidden faces.

Both of them looked up, even though they didn’t say anything and I couldn’t see their eyes they seemed to be confused – but I didn’t care.

I put on a playful smile before I turned my head to the young man who was sitting right behind my friend who seemed to watch me carefully.

“You‘ve got a really beautiful voice – but you should work on your manners. It’s rude to be that loud in a café. Maybe you haven’t noticed yet – but you guys aren’t the only customers here. I wish you a nice day.”

With these words I left the young men alone, enjoying their confused face expressions.

I wouldn’t see them again anyway.