For the rest of that day I was able to spend some quality father-daughter bonding time.

 

We watched the tapings of one of his recent concertos. I always find it fascinating how appa…how other pianists, other musicians are able to silence the audience once they start playing and then how the audience erupts into a round of applause at the end of each piece.

The affect they have on the audience, the emotions that each piece evoke…I’ve only been able to witness this in person, once or twice when I was little but other than that I can only watch from the tapings that appa shows me and online videos.

 

My mind wandered off to Baekhyun oppa and his dream. Is this what it'll be like for him too? Being able to have that ability to control the audience like that? Or would it just be hectic screaming from fangirls?

 

After watching the taping, appa started telling me funny little things that happened when preparing for the concerto, the after parties.

He even got all excited, speaking about a new composition he's working on right now. I scolded him for busying himself even more when his constant practicing and rehearsals are more than enough work but he had only waved off my worries and insisted on having me to listen to this new composition of his.

 

I guess that was the perfect way for him to shut me up because as soon as his fingers graced the keys, I felt like I was in the audience at his concerto.

His music enrapturing me into a strange flow of different emotions.

My eyes were focused on his fingers gliding across the keys, my ears capturing each note played.

The piece is phenomenal...but something about it just didn't sit right with me. And it was really irritating that I can't pinpoint what it is.

The piano came to an abrupt stop as the piece ends incomplete.

Even then, my mind replayed piece, recalling which keys were used, wandering off into mentally playing how the piece could continue, altering a few notes here and there.

 

Appa gave me a look and immediately got up from the seat knowingly, signalling me to sit down.

I looked at him as he took a step back, folding his arms.

It was the smile on his face that got me though, it wasn’t his usual smile smile, it was almost like a smirk but not exactly a smirk.

Appa or not, that smile-smirk he’s doing right now made him look so cocky it was irking.

I sat down, taking a deep breath to straighten up my posture before randomly tapping on a few keys. Giving appa another quick glance before I started mimicking him, reproducing the music but something still didn’t feel right. It felt as though something was missing.

 

I stopped playing with furrowed brows and got up. I told appa to play it again. My words came out almost like an order due to the determination to set this thing right.

Appa broke out into a big grin but happily obliged. I intensely stared at the keys, at his fingers as he played, my ears feeling extra sensitive to the notes.

Something finally clicked in my head and I took a step forward to the seat.

As though he already sensed what I was going to do, appa budged up on the seat smoothly transitioning himself to the left side of the piano as my hands joined his on the right hand side.

 

The piece flowed a lot more naturally, and felt a whole lot more complete. Something about this made me feel a burst of energy from within. The adrenaline was kicking in and instead of abruptly stopping where appa did before, we simply went with the flow, improvising as we went along.

Our fingers ran along a few keys, creating a nice tinkling sound before we both slammed our fingers on one last key each.

The room fell into silence before the both of us bursted out into laughter.

 

It was the first time I actually worked on the composition with appa like that and I felt so proud and giddy with excitement from the unexpected synergy between us.

Appa says that he doesn’t plan on releasing the piece to the public which confused me. But he said that he wanted to keep it as a special piece between the two of us. His words made me feel special. And as selfish as it may seems, I couldn’t agree more.