Teach Me, Teach You

 

 

A faint piano tone tinkles through the air reaches Woohyun’s ear. Hand stops mid-air, initial intention to open the door detains. “Weird, Sunghye-noona is not that expert, and no one supposed to be here,” he mumbles under his breath.

 

Can’t contain his curiosity any longer, the young lad pushes open the door and slips his body in, quietly walks closer to the piano that occupies by a boy. From the side profile inspection, they seem not too far in the stage of life, maybe even in the same age. Like a moth attracted to fire, Woohyun unconsciously strides closer, struck by the melodious tunes played by the stranger, stun by the long fingers dance on the white and black keys.

 

His trance breaks when the sweet tune stops abruptly, startles and jerks his head up away from the sudden freeze fingers, Woohyun sees the boy has a shock expression clearly written all over his face. Just in a mere second the boy already overcome his shocks and without warning stands from the piano seat, grabs a paper bag from the floor beside the piano in hasty manner (some apples tumble down) and flees from the room even before Woohyun can says, “wait…”

 

Once again his hand hangs in the middle of the empty air, fails to prevent the boy from leaving.

 

 

 

“It was Sungyeol, my baby brother.”

 

Woohyun gives up his piano practice and confronts Sunghye instead, demands an answer for the unknown boy in the classroom where only the two of them have access. As an old-fashioned housewife, Sunghye decides work in house where she can still take care of her husband is the best way to kill her spare time. She renovates a room on the side of her house, changes it into a baby daycare, and fills the room with children’s toy. Later she adds a piano after finds that music is very good for brain’s growth. After realize that her best is Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star played with one forefinger, she spreads leaflets on the neighborhood to hire a pianist who willing to work low paid in her daycare.

 

Misread the flyer as piano lesson offering, Woohyun comes to her place on the next day. Laughs at his silliness, Sunhye offers him a job as caretaker assistant instead, trades with a permit to practice with the laid-off piano. Weeks pass, no one attracted to fill the job and Woohyun’s piano skill is not become better.

 

“He has just come this morning from my hometown. My parent plans to go for their second honeymoon, so my mother sends him to spend his summer vacation here instead of alone in the house,” Sunghye continues her explanation without stops her activity in making a dinner for her husband, and her brother.

 

“Planning on making a fest for his coming, eh?” Woohyun diverts his eyes to the brown paper bag that full with groceries that sits on the kitchen counter; recognize it as the same bag Sungyeol carries before.

 

“No, that belongs to Yeollie. He has a new addiction in baking or so my mom told me.”

 

 

 

“Let’s make a deal.”

 

That’s the second sentences Woohyun throws after ‘Hi, I am Woohyun, we’ve met in your sister’s daycare room just now.’

 

“You teach me how to play the piano, and I’ll teach you to bake any cookies you want.” There go the third sentences.

 

The Sungyeol boy doesn’t reply immediately, looks loss in words and only blinks his eyes in confusion to Woohyun, but who wouldn’t when a stranger suddenly barges in to your room (twice in the same day nevertheless).

 

“How?” Woohyun grows impatient in waiting for any respond from the other boy.

 

One hesitate nod and Woohyun smiles from ear to ear. He leaves Sungyeol’s room and bids his farewell to Sunghye in the kitchen who thinks he is going to stay for dinner.

 

“Maybe next time, Noona.”

 

 

 

Sungyeol comes to the daycare right when the last kid picks up by her mother. Sunghye raises her eyebrows in wonder before Woohyun explains their deal the day before.

 

“Uh huh, and here I am worrying that he won’t open up to anyone easily.”

 

Now it’s Woohyun’s turn to raise his eyebrows, but Sunghye just shrugs her shoulders and strides out the room. “Play nice, boys, I’m in the next door if you need anything.”

 

Just in the span of one minute left alone with Sungyeol, Woohyun gets what Sunghye mean. Sungyeol is painfully shy to the core, and not to mention that the boy has no ability to voice out his mind.

 

 

 

“Please remind me again why I’m willing to teach you to bake,” Woohyun groans in frustration and cups his face with his palms.

 

Sungyeol’s lips stretch in a sheepish smile and he puts his hand behind his back, not that Woohyun hasn’t seen the poorly cut apple pieces a second ago.

 

Their exchange lesson function somehow goes in a good manner, after Woohyun finishes with his caretaker assistant task Sungyeol will come to the daycare to give his piano lesson and they will continue to Sunghye’s kitchen for baking lesson until Sunghye drives them away because she needs to prepare dinner for her husband. The only hitch is, it is their fourth days but Woohyun fails to see a significant progress in Sungyeol’s baking skill (not that he makes an advance improvement in his piano skill).

 

“You have your sister here and you have your mother back in your house, also you can save your time by buying the cookies in any bakery, why you need to troubled yourself in baking?” Woohyun asks as he slides a notebook across the kitchen counter into Sungyeol’s side.

 

Sungyeol scribbles something hastily and gives it back to Woohyun while turns his face away, hides the blush on his cheeks.

 

“Oh ho. When a man in love, he will do anything to impress the person he like, I agree with you,” Woohyun plasters a wide grin in his face. Of course he understands, since it exactly what his intention is with learns to play piano.

 

They continue doing their lesson impassionedly on the following days. Brush up their skill and get closer in the process.

 

 

 

It’s late in the evening when Woohyun sneaked in to the daycare. Even in the dim room with only streetlight seeps through the wide window as the light source Woohyun can tell that he is not alone. Sits on the floor, leans to the piano body is Sungyeol. Woohyun sighs before joins beside the boy, just by looking the way his body slumps and the dark aura surrounds him, Woohyun knows how the other’s love confession ends, tragic like his own.

 

They decides to ends their two-weeks exchange lesson by declare their feeling to the person they like in the same day. “Remember, no matter how late is it, we meet again here, okay?” is the last words Woohyun says before they sett off to their respective crush’s place. They split with hopeful smiles in their face, music sheets under Woohyun’s right arm and a big fluffy white teddy bear on the left hand; and a cookies parcel in Sungyeol’s hand. (Fortune cookies, because “if that’s person can’t see your implicit intention through your baking, than he should see it explicitly by your messages inside.” Woohyun then makes Sungyeol to write ’I love you’ and other similar words in the messages.)

 

But his smile erases as the light of his life spats curtly even before he finishes his playing. (“What was that crap? How dare you call it music?“) Woohyun ends up withdraw from the scene in shame, the practice room of Music Major where his crush studies, without even wording his feeling.

 

Take into account that Sungyeol needs two hours travel to the next city to meet his crush, Woohyun wanders around aimlessly, loses in his sorrow, before retreats back to the daycare late.

 

Woohyun sighs once again before picks one of the cookies from the parcel in front of Sungyeol. But the boy holds his hand before he can put the cookie in his mouth. Scrunches his face in dismay, Woohyun pouts his lower lips. “Why? Because I’m not your crush so I’m not allowed to eat them?”

 

Sungyeol brushes his fingers repeatedly on the cookies in Woohyun’s hand, and it hit his realization that the other is mimicking a dusting movement. “Ah, that person threw your cookies to the ground? How cruel.”

 

Sungyeol draws back his hand, but Woohyun much faster and grips it, holds it tight in his. Even in the badly lit room, he still can see the faint cut wounds and almost healed minor burn wound that tarnish those long and delicate fingers. If only Sungyeol sticks with his piano, he will not have that scars.

 

“Let’s stop.”

 

Sungyeol turns his chin to see Woohyun; question clearly shows in his handsome face.

 

“Let’s stop doing the thing that we are not meant to do. I’ll give up playing piano with my short finger and you’ll stop endangering yourself in the kitchen. How?”

 

Without delay Sungyeol nods once, a smile ghosted on his lips.

 

“Good. When someone really loves you, you don’t need to try hard to amaze that person, because that person already sees you as amazing.”

 

Woohyun glances at the other whose half of the face illuminate by the yellowish streetlight creates a mystifying shadow that stir his heart. He doesn’t understand what he feels to the other, it may be not love, he must be confuses with his feeling and looks for something to releases his grief. But he doesn’t care, because when he softly plants his lip to Sungyeol’s he kinds of enjoy it. Also the other doesn’t push him away and kisses him back instead.

 

That night they are brokenhearted, but somehow also manage to mend each other heart.

 

end