The morning Dara woke up to was one of those crisp summer mornings you have in Japan. Mornings that you’re greeted with the sun shining bright outside. The sound of those cicadas saying hello to you. And as soon as you open the window the humid air instantly kisses your cheeks to wake you up.

She had gone with her two friends; Jiyong and Chaerin to Japan for the long weekend. You would think Dara would feel like a third wheel, tagging along with the two lovers; but they never made her feel that way. Both deliberately and not deliberately.

In fact growing up together as foster kids in foster care only made her happy for the two. Happy that they found each other and have decided to love despite their dismal past after their parents died leaving them both orphans when they were 12.

Dara was different though; she was utterly clueless to it. She doubted it was even in her to be honest, to fall in love. She just hasn’t felt anything close to what those two feel for each other or didn‘t exactly know how it felt like.

It was all unfamiliar territory for her because for it to be real it was something that you should see in your parents; and she didn’t.

After being abandoned by her junkie parents at 4 years old, as described by state records; she decided love wasn’t worth her attention. She just didn't care.

Don’t feel sorry for her though.

Her knowing not more than 4 or 5 pages worth of paper about her life made her cope with things easily. It made things easy to ignore such dramas in life; it made her grow up with a mature, realistic mindset yet with a carefree attitude towards life.

Everyone in foster care with Dara, including Chaerin & Jiyong were all like siblings to her. They were relatively younger than her by a mile so all she knew was sibling love for her entire life. It was inevitable that she took care of everybody else.

So why bother when you yourself haven’t experienced romantic love?

“Sheesh. I won’t even bother to wake these two up.” Dara said finishing up the note she was to leave for the two with a flourish as she was headed out to explore the streets.

She grabbed her backpack heading to the door. But before she left, she made sure to adjust the blanket over the couple with Chaerin’s head buried in the crook of Jiyong’s neck while they slept soundly. They were tired from all the clubbing they did last night.

When Dara stepped on to the pavement she heaved a deep breath, soaking in the delicious summer morning. It was the last full day of their stay here and she didn’t want to spend it all cooped up in the hotel, after all they were going home tomorrow.

“Good thing I chose to go to the hotel with all the luggage or else I would’ve ended up like those two drunktards upstairs.” she told herself checking her watch and it was already past 9:30 AM.

It was quite fun; even though she was alone. She enjoyed the lovely weather as she walked around the winding streets of the city. She was greeted by people warmly as they passed by her. With some takoyaki in one hand and a couple of paper bags on the other she checked out almost all the little shops selling different specialty items here and there. She could do this all day long.

However after having lunch at one of the bistros down one street, she decided to go back to the hotel. It’s because Chaerin was leaving her angry voicemails reprimanding her for not saying where she was heading off to. But she was sure she wouldn’t be mad for long, there’s a chance Jiyong would find someway to calm Chaerin down.

Scratch that; it wasn’t a chance it was a certainty.

Then getting up from her seat she saw a shop across the street that she didn’t get a chance to enter yet. It was a store that sold pianos.

She had always wanted to get into playing a musical instrument when she was younger, but she never had the knack for it. Being 29 years old now she had reservations that she would still be able to learn.

But as she ran her fingers on the ivory keys of the upright piano in front of her, there was a feeling of satisfaction and curiosity. What would it be like to become a pianist?

Then she stopped herself from thinking further nonsense by pressing a key.

“Konnichiwa!” someone greeted from behind the counter when her index finger pressed the key for the C note.

“I’m-I’m sorry. I was just looking.” Dara said nervously. Then unexpectedly a very good looking young man with a medium built, his hair styled in a faux hawk, dressed in a white polo shirt, jeans and an apron popped his head out behind the backdoor. 

“Oh, you’re Korean. Annyeonghasaeyo~” he chimed with a bright smile that could melt your heart, seems like the room just brightened right up. The guy’s smile wasn’t the only thing that Dara noticed about him; his pronunciation was good as well.

“Ye-yes. You?”

“Yes. So were you looking for anything in particular?” He responded walking towards her with his warm smile as he wiped his hands clean on his apron. Dara feels like she had disturbed him from some important work and he smelled really nice too.

Smelled really nice? she thought, what the hell was thinking?

“No. I was just curious so I went in.” Looking around the place, all the pianos had a really unique feel to them. Each one was made with different wood, left unpainted just varnished, to see the difference in the wood used. It was to maintain the individuality of the piece. These were definitely handcrafted, made to feel special.

She walked over to the other side of the piano where the back was located and looked at it carefully. The design was of an eclectic taste; the wood was carved out entirely with extremely small smiley faces that had “X”’s for lips. Everything was all so amazingly made so Dara just had to ask;

“Did you make all of this?”

“Yup, me and my dad. But oddly enough this piano’s the only thing we didn’t make from scratch. We actually salvaged this from the dumpster behind the store; someone just left it there. Most of the important parts were there but we totally remade the body though.” The man answered with a proud look on his face.

“I see.” Dara whispered in awe.

“You know; she plays well too.” said the shop owner as he sat down in front of the piano.