In this dim room, nothing mattered more to Hea Jung right now than to play her soul out and impress the Juilliard judges. After finishing her first three pieces, she was still shaking, but feeling a little steadier than she was three songs ago.

 

It was up next.

 

The second movement.

 

Are you okay, Hea?

 

Yeah, I’m fine.

 

You could still quit now. Go to business school. Go to Korea.

 

She ignored that little voice in her head, looking down at her lap. She was wearing a plain black dress and black flats for her audition today, and with a little shiver, she realized that her shins were cold.

 

The auditorium was cold.

 

It was fortunate her fingers were still warm from the previous piece, after tirelessly flying over the merciless runs. She glanced over at the man and he had finished writing and quietly discussing whatever his opinion with the other man on his left. He waited expectantly for her next piece, his hands folded calmly in front of him on the desk.

 

Hea Jung turned back to the piano, taking a deep breath. Her fingers were shaking, she realized. She bit her lip, ruining her carefully prepared lip gloss.

 

The man coughed impatiently.

 

She looked up at the empty stand, wiping her palms on the black fabric of her dress.

 

It’s okay. You can do this…. right?

 

The first movement hummed along quietly in her head and she placed her hands on the piano before erupting into the beauty of the music, her fingers entwining gracefully with the keys, fusing and becoming one with the piano.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

She leaned down to the keys, her fingers running over a suspenseful chromatic scale as they finally crashed into a dominant seventh chord. She straightened her back, sitting rigidly on the edge of the piano bench as fear gripped her heart.

 

Her fingers moved.

 

They waltzed to a melancholy melody on the keys and Hea Jung found herself in a whole different little world of her own, enraptured by the dazzling beauty and grace of his new world. The music was like pure ecstasy for her, her heart pounding with both relief and exhilaration.

 

Her fingers came to the end of the second movement before the man spoke up.

 

“Very well. Thank you, Miss Kim.”

 

Her hands dropped to her lap. Hea Jung felt relieved, more relieved than she had ever been in the past year.

 

She was glad that he had stopped her, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle going into her final movement. She was prepared to be stopped, as she knew many people were due to time constraints, not their playing.

 

The man beckoned her toward the desk, gesturing to the chair for her sit in.

 

She felt her palms grow sweaty once again as she walked down the stage and sat in the chair. Trying to maintain a composed demeanor, she sat down in the chair, smoothing out her dress.

 

“So, Hea Jung, tell me what are your plans in music?”

 

She answered with an easy lie. “All my life, I’ve been enraptured by the beauty of the piano. My parents have always encouraged my music and my dream would be to perform at the Lincoln Center.”

 

“What else do you enjoy doing besides music?”

 

Again, another fluid lie. “Besides music, I take interest in visual arts as well as business and economics. I also have a solid interest in studying law.”

 

The man nodded in approval, an impressed smile displayed across his wrinkly features. “Thank you very much, Hea Jung Kim. We will send our letter the following week.”

 

She flashed a pleasant smile of her own. “Thank you, Sir.”

 

And she left the dark auditorium.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

She was greeted with the familiar bright waiting room. Jae jumped up as soon as he saw her, rushing over to take her hands, his face full of concern.

 

“How was it?”

 

She gave him a cryptic smile. “Let’s go outside.”

 

Together, they left the building.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was raining.

 

Jae was still holding on to her hand, and when she looked down, he dropped it reluctantly. “So how was it?” He was careful not to ask about the second movement.

 

“Not bad,” She smiled. “I didn’t die.”

 

“You better have killed those pieces in there.”

 

She gave him a look. “That’s not necessarily a good thing.”

 

Her phone rang. Sighing, she reached into her pocket and pulled it out, answering. “Hello?”

 

“Hea Jung?” Her mother’s voice crackled from the other side of the line.

 

“Oh, hey, Mom…”

 

“Are you at work?”

 

Hea Jung gave Jae a nervous glance before speaking. “Uh, yes.”

 

“So, Hea Jung, guess what?”

 

“Um, Mom, I’m at work I think I should-”

 

“I saw Tamora today at the mall. We had a little chat.”

 

Hea Jung didn’t know what to say now, she was frozen to the ground beneath her, her feet fused into the cold cement sidewalk.

 

“She told me she didn’t have a shift on Sundays.”

 

There was a long silence as Hea Jung didn’t respond. She stood on the sidewalk, staring out blankly at Jae, the rain coming down harder now, so that you could barely see the drops as they fell down like a thick sheet of water.

 

Coming to the conclusion that Hea Jung was not going to say anything, her mother spoke again.

 

“So where are you, Hea Jung?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

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~keyz_locket