Of C  o l o u r s and M e l o d I e s

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~Act I~

Chapter 2~The One where the Small things matter

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Age 19—2^nd Year of DBSK—June 2005

The noise was almost deafening in its sheer volume. The thousands of screams and chants all collided together in an almost practised symphony of sorts. The lights and the flashes surrounded them as it illuminated the massive dome like a multi-coloured kaleidoscope. LED lights highlighted words and names on fluorescent coloured charts and banners, thousands and thousands of them being raised in the air. But the best of all of them was the pearl red glow that lit up the area; the crowd looking more like a red sea. Though it was an ominous colour, it didn’t matter.

This was their support. This was their backbone. This was their home.

This was their element.

Not one of the members cared about the drops of sweat trickling down their faces, or just how freaking hot the stage was that it felt like they were burning. Not one bit.

Jaejoong’s lips quirked upwards at this feeling.

He never wanted it to end.

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Age 12—6^th grade—April 1998

“Ugh. Why is social studies so boring? The subject doesn’t even deserve its name, y’know? I mean, I feel it’s less on the social, and heavy on the studies.” Miya whined as she plopped down ungracefully onto her seat at their usual lunch table.

Jaejoong smiled in amusement, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You were the one who picked that subject, Miya. I told you science was better.”

Miya made a face at that. “Only you’d say that, Jaejoongie, cause you’re weird.” She said as she picked her homemade bento from her bag and placed it on the table. Her eyes glazed over in satisfaction as she opened her bento and saw all her favourites tucked in neatly and colourfully. She eagerly picked up her chopsticks and snapped them apart.

Jaejoong snorted. “And only you would be so happy over so much tomatoes.” He had a look of slight disgust on his face as he saw the amount of tomatoes in it.

“Yah! Don’t you go insulting tomatoes! They’re the best! Seriously.” Miya defended, a scowl on her face as she glared at the boy next to her. Jaejoong just rolled his eyes at her strange protectiveness over the red fruit.

“Itadakimasu!” she gleefully said before digging into the delicious food. For a second, her eyes fell on the lunch her friend had brought and stopped short. He only had a granola bar and bottle of water with him. Her eyebrow rose as she stared at him with puffy, stuffed cheeks, not really caring if she looked like a stuffed squirrel at the moment. Was that his whole lunch? That wouldn’t even fill a five year old.

“Is that all you have?” Miya asked after swallowing her food. She missed the boy’s slight flinch at the question but did not miss the widening of his eyes. His bangs were suddenly covering his eyes and for a moment she couldn’t read his expression. But the next moment, he looked fine.

“Yeah...mom forgot to pack me a real lunch, I guess...”

Her eyes narrowed, she knew that wasn’t the truth but she didn’t push it. She just nodded her head before turning her head to her own lunch. She paused for a moment, her eyes glued to her bento. There was a lot of food in there, more than she could eat in one sitting, she was sure. In the end, ultimately it would go to waste. It was a simple solution to both their problems really.

Even though there was an unhealthy amount of tomatoes in there, there were a few onigiri and some sushi that was tomato-free. Mind made up, she plucked those pieces from her bento wither chopsticks and placed them on the lid of her bento box, pushing it to Jaejoong’s side.

She averted her gaze and ignored his surprised stare, instead returning to her own lunch. “I wouldn’t be able to eat so much anyway and it’s better to give it to you than to let it go to waste.” When there was still silence, she added, “don’t worry, those don’t have any tomatoes in them.”

“...Thanks.”

He said it with genuine sincerity, a small adorable smile lighting his face and she could still feel his intense stare on her. Miya could feel tingling warmth fill her cheeks and she let her long hair cover her pinkening face, silently wondering to herself why in the world she was blushing.

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Miya soon figured out through time that Jaejoong was a very touchy-feely person.

Not that she minded, much. Okay, well, she did mind a first. Who wouldn’t? After all, both of them had just become friends. So when he first laid his arm across her shoulders, she’d been inwardly panicking and analyzing and completely rigid. She didn’t know if he picked up on it or not, but if he did, he didn’t act like it.

Soon after, he’d find some way or the other to touch her. It’s always fleeting, platonic, but it never failed to make her somewhat nervous. Or maybe not nervous, but somehow jittery. Or just something. She really didn’t know how to explain it.

They were both walking home on one particular day. They don’t usually walk home together all that much because Jaejoong usually goes home with one of his older sisters and Miya is usually picked up by one of her caretakers in a car. But that day, her care-taker was sick so she had to walk home and like the loyal best friend he was, Jaejoong offered to walk with her much to her relief.

A few months had passed since their first fateful meeting and since then they had become closer and closer until they were the bestest of friends. Their mood was a little sober that day because Miya was going to Japan for a few days, missing classes. It would be the first time both of them would go without talking to each other for a few days. The air was a little awkward but both of them were playing their favourite game with each other—twenty questions.

“Um...favourite colour?”

“Blue. Yours?”

“Black.”

Miya snorted, her eyes light with amusement. “Typical for a boy. Is that why you wear black most of the time? You gotta wear other colours sometime y’know, otherwise you’d stay as pale as a vampire.”

“Shut up,” he replied, not even batting an eyelid at the teasing; he was used to it by now, “place to go to for vacation?”

“Ooh, good one. Um, I think I want to go to Australia. You?”

“I don’t really know. I haven’t really thought about it.” Jaejoong replied, looking whimsical.

“Seriously? You’ve never thought of getting out of this small town?” she asked, a bit sceptical. Miya couldn’t think of a single reason why he’d want to stay here with the exception of his family. Personally, she couldn’t wait to get out of this place she secretly thinks of as a black hole. She wants to explore, to travel, to see things and experience things she knew she couldn’t if she stayed here.

“well, obviously I’ve thought about it, “ Jaejoong rolled his eyes, a teasing smile pulling at his lips, “I do have to get out of this place if I’m gonna be an international star.”

“Oh yeah~! An in-ter-national star! And how many years away is that again?” she asked, though she was grinning as she said it, assuring him she was just joking.

A rare cocky smirk bloomed on his face, “just you wait! I’ll be the best singer in the whole of Asia one day, even better than H.O.T and all the others!”

“That’ll be the day, Madonna. “

“Madonna’s a woman.” Jaejoong stated, glancing at her oddly.

Miya raised an eyebrow, her face blank, “what’s your point? With your pretty girly looks, I’m sure you could pass for her with a blonde wig.”

She could only wait for two seconds before bursting into a fit of giggles at the gobsmacked look on his pale face.

“Yah!” Soon, a reluctant grin pulled at his lips before he was also laughing along with her.

Faster than they liked, they reached the front of her villa. Jaejoong couldn’t help but look at her house with awe every single time he gazed at it. It was just so big and pretty. Though he did feel it to be a bit ostentatious than necessary for a family of just three and some servants.

There was always an awkward moment whenever any one of them had to say goodbye to the other. Neither one took the initiative, which just resulted in uncomfortable glances and restless fidgeting.

“Well, er...goodby—!”

Her eyes widened comically when Jaejoong pulled her into a tight hug. It only lasted a few seconds and he withdrew just before she was about to hug him back. Her eyes were still wide as she looked at the red face of her best friend. From the uncomfortable heat she was feeling, she knew right then she must’ve resembled her favourite fruit very nicely.

He was fidgeting slightly as he averted his gaze. “I’ll miss you.”

A small smile pulled at her lips even though her face felt like it was on fire, “I’ll miss you too, but don’t worry so much. We’ll still talk on the phone, ne?”

“...right... Well, er...bye.” and with that and a small smile, he pivoted and walked the opposite direction to his house until he disappeared out of sight.

She slapped both of her hands on her cheeks as she walked through the gates.

Why was she still blushing?

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