Of C  o l o u r s and M e l o d I e s

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~Act I~

Chapter 1~The One where they Met

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Giggle.

“What’s his name again? I always forget.”

“Come on, Tae hee! He’s been in our class for so long!”

“I’m sorry! It’s just he’s so pale and quiet, I...forget?”

“Not really that quiet...”

“But he does look like a loner...”

“But he’s not though. He does have friends. I think.”

“Anyways, he’s Kim Jaejoong. Which you should already know by now.”

“Eh~, I give him a six out of ten. Maybe add a half.”

Miya Tsukino rolled her eyes at the talk on today’s topic of interest—the quiet boy who always sits at the back. She slipped a few wayward dark locks behind her ears as she looked down at her History textbook. She didn’t know why she was feeling particularly bothered today of all days, since these kinds of talks happened almost daily. It was almost a given she’d be up to date on all these gossip nonsense since she was practically sitting next to the self proclaimed queenka of school.

And it wasn’t even high school yet. It was just middle school. And they weren’t even teenagers yet. They were only twelve.

Hesitating only a little bit, she moved her dark eyes to the back haltingly, her locks hiding her face partially from view. Her eyes fell on the topic of discussion.

The boy really did look like a loner, she thought curiously. He was just sitting there in the back, looking outside through the large window on the side wall. With the sunlight hitting his face, he looked even more pale than she remembered. She quickly averted her gaze when he turned her way.

Chastising herself for almost getting caught, she trained her eyes on her book, her fingers curling. One of the girls in the self-proclaimed queenka’s posse noticed her hunched position, “eh? Something the matter Miya? Why is your face covered by your hair?”

“No, nothing. I was just...concentrating on...studying.” she lied lamely.

“Oh. Ok.” The girl nodded, her face one of faux-understanding before going back to her gossip. Miya didn’t know whether to roll her eyes or sigh loudly. While she didn’t have many friends, the only reason she wasn’t labelled an outcast was because of her status.

While she was living in Korea, she is originally half Japanese, hence her name being non-Korean. Her father is the CEO of a large international corporation that deals with a large portion of trades.  Since her mother was a Korean and one of the headquarters for the corporation was in Korea too, they decided to move here. As she was the child of the owner of one of the most successful corporations in Asia, that made her status that much more important as she was an heiress.

To many, she really did fit the definition of a cold, stuck up, spoiled brat. She never talked to anyone, always walked with her head held high and never participated in any frivolous conversations with anyone. But she never talked to anyone because she was always scared that people would only do so because of her status, she always held her head high, because there was no point in walking with your head held low, and she never took part in any frivolous conversation because, well...they were useless really.

She really did have better things to do than talk about what colour lip gloss she had.

Miya could feel the slight curiosity rising inside her to look at the pale boy again but she squashed it down. Even though both of them had been in the same class since elementary, they had never talked. There wasn’t any reason to, actually. So she never did and hadn’t thought twice.

She knew why her curiosity had spiked. It was because she’d heard the rumours. The rumours that the boy was a horrible singer, even though his dream was to be one. And if there was one true passion Miya held, it was music. But she’d never heard the boy sing for herself.

Even when the teacher came to class, she still couldn’t get rid of the nagging curiosity.

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“nun naerigo oeropdeon bami jinamyeon
meolliseo deullyeooneun saebyeok jongsori...”

Miya automatically cringed at the partially butchered song. She was walking to the gymnasium where she had her physical education period, but then stopped in her tracks as the pretty awful sound wafted to her ears.

“...honjamanui sarangeun seulpeojineun geora malhaji marayo...”

She squeezed her eyes shut and made the decision to confront the person who was murdering one of her most favourite songs. Taking soft but firm steps, she reached the music room and slowly peeked inside.

Her caramel eyes widened at the boy—the same boy she had been curious about in the morning—singing his heart out. Kim Jaejoong. Though she had initially come over here because of the absurd singing, she felt all the anger and disbelief fade away and being replaced with something akin to awe and respect at the pure passion and the struggle and the frustration painted clearly on his face.

He understood music. He wanted to be one with the music.

Just like her.

When his voice broke at one of the words, she could feel her own lips forming a concerned frown at the pure frustration and hopelessness etched on his face, and right when she thought he’d stop singing altogether. But right then, he picked up from where he left off.

Though she still couldn’t help but slightly cringe at the way off-tune line.

“geudae hyanghan geuriumeun namanui geosinde...”

That she couldn’t help but to...

“...oeroume gaseum apado geu apeumkkaji saranghangeoya”

...sing along with him...

“...nun naerigo oeropdeon bami jinamyeon                                                                                                                                         meolliseo deullyeooneun saebyeok jongsori...”

...it didn’t really matter if he could sing or not.

“honjamanui sarangeun seulpeojineun geora malhaji marayo                                                                                                          geudae hyanghan geuriumeun namanui geosinde...”

Jaejoong whirled around with wide eyes, a dark pink creeping onto his pale face, making it seem more healthy. Though he didn’t stop his singing even though he was embarrassed. Maybe because for the first time, someone was actually singing along with him instead of making fun of him.

“...oeroume gaseum apado geu apeumkkaji saranghangeoya...”

For a few moments it was only utter silence in the music room. The only sound was the crinkling of paper from where Jaejoong was clutching the music sheets tightly in his fist. The embarrassed flush had faded but not fully receded as he stared at the girl with wary eyes.

Miya could feel the awkwardness starting to seep into the atmosphere. She wanted to say something but she didn’t exactly know what. She couldn’t exactly say he was really good at singing, because that was an obvious lie. So maybe she could say...

“You’re really not good at singing, you know?”

...anything but that! She inwardly winced at her harsh words. She really needed a brain-to-mouth filter.

Jaejoong lowered his eyes, his bangs covering his pale face. The grip on the sheets tightened. Miya slightly panicked when she saw he was about to turn away, but that wasn’t what she wanted at all. She’d actually meant to say...

“But I really do admire your passion for music! I find it...inspiring.”

...that.

He stilled at her words before turning around halfway. He wasn’t quite sure what this girl was getting at. First she insulted him, and then she complimented him. He raised a confused eyebrow as he looked at her warily. Were all girls like that?

“I mean,” Miya faltered, “I just found it nice that even though you don’t...sing that well,” she said hesitatingly, “you didn’t give up. That’s kinda cool.”

Jaejoong’s eyes widened slightly as he turned to her fully. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of this but he could feel himself warming at her words. He was quite sure he was blushing again.

Miya finally smiled at him, “I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced to each other even though we’ve been in the same class for so long, ne? Well, I think we should make up for that right now.” She boldly declared, not even bothering to find out why she was willing to do this when she’d never done so previously. She stuck out her hand.

“My name’s Miya Tsukino. I’m a sixth grade student who loves to draw, read and sing. I love music and my dream is to one day travel the world. You’re turn.” She said with a grin, looking at him with encouraging eyes.

Hesitantly, he raised his hand and captured hers in a handshake. “er, my name’s Kim Jaejoong. I’m also a sixth grade student. I love to...perform, and play pranks I guess...my dream is to one day become a successful singer no matter what anyone says now.” He said, his voice growing firmer by the end.

Miya didn’t say anything about his dream, she simply beamed at him. “I think we’re going to be great friends, Jaejoong!”

They just didn’t know how great they’d turn out to be.

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