Ary POV

Ary laid in bed, awakened by the sounds of birds chirping outside her window and the rays of the early-risen sun seeping throught the partially opened blinds. For some weird reason, the scenery reminded her of the warm piano song Onew had played for her yesterday. Come to think of it, the song never had left her head. What was the name of it? She would certainly love to play it on her Ipod deck everynight.

 

Rolling over, she checked the time.

8:43 am.

Could Onew be up this early?

She decided to give it a try and texted his number, saying hello first, then asking him the name of the song.

He texted back not too long after:

 

It’s called “All Myself To You” by Yiruma, a well-know Korean pianist.

 

Ary smiled and texted:

 

He sounds familiar. I think I may have heard a piano song by him or two. His songs are so beautiful. You play them well.

 

Onew again texted not too long after:

 

If you want, you can come to my house and I can play more for you. Only if you want, though.

 

Ary’s eyes widened and she bit her lip. Going to his house? What the hell!? Would his mom be ok with his inviting of a girl? Ary texted him:

 

What are you doing now?

 

Onew responded:

 

Nothing, really. Mom is out for the entire day. If you don’t want to come, that’s fine, I understand. Really.

 

Ary thought for a moment. There would be no real consequences if she went over a friend’s house. She grinned and responded to his text.

 

Oh, shutup and tell me where your house is.I’ll be over later today.

“Later today” was when her mom would be out.

 

At 6:00, Ary knocked on the white and silver glass covered door of the beautifully plain two-story residential home infront of her. While waiting for him to open the door, she took a look around to examine this foreign community.

The houses were decent looking.

Korean graffiti littered a lone wall.

It was quite, clean and peaceful.

What seemed to be a perfect view of the sunset could be seen past the houses over to a large vacant field.

Mm-hmm.

She liked this place.

She heard a lock click, and the door swung open revealing a casually dressed Onew in a regular T-shirt and jeans along with a beautiful, bright white smile plastered on his face. “Annyeong~” he greeted as he pushed the door open more so that she could walk in.

“Hi,” Ary removed her sandals before stepping into his house, remebering what she read a while ago when she decided to do research on Korean culture once

Onew started giving her the lessons.

 

Onew watched her place them to the side of the door. He smiled. “You didn’t have to, but good looking out.” He gestured for her to follow him and she did.

Onew’s house was definetly interesting. Old paintings of Korean geisha’s and scenes from some important part of Korean history littered the walls. There were random korean characters hanging from corners of rooms that they passed, and one particular one caught Ary’s attention. It was a statue that sat right under some characters. There were symbols of each religion placed in a cirle around a sculpture of the earth. The meaning to it was obvious; religious tolerance. But there was something about it that Ary felt hit a broader area.

Ary followed Onew all the way to his patio, and surprisingly, aside from the plants, bicycles and toys, a grand piano sat isolated from them all.

Onew turned to the girl. “This is where I used to play all the time. Those toys over there were mine, but I never really touched them. Ever since my mom bought me this piano, it’s been my life.”

He sat on the chair, scooted over, and patted the seat. “You can sit here if you want.”

Ary sat.

 

Onew took the music from the piano’s dashboard and handed them all to Ary. “Pick which ever one you think looks interesting.”

Ary looked at him, then took the sheets of music from his hand. She carefully flipped through each sheet and stopped at one that was completely hand written. She pulled it up from the stack and scanned it while giving the others back to Onew.

“The title’s in Korean. What does it mean?”

Onew stared at the music in her hands. “It’s called, ‘The Name I Loved’.”

Ary caressed the ends of the paper with her thumbs, then placed the sheet of music on the dashboard infront of him. “This one.”

 

Onew nodded, placed his hands over the keys, and began playing. The introduction was soft and suttle, perfect for late night studying or going to sleep.

But moments late, sounds escaped the boy’s lips.

 

“Soni siryeowa….”

 

Ary was startled and she immeadietly turned her head from her hands to Onew, who had his eyes closed and was…singing….he was actually singing….singing beautiful notes that sounded as if they came from his heart, as if they actually meant something to him. With every strong vocal part, he put more pressure on the keys so that the sound could increase and he shut his eyes tightly while leaning his head backwards to extract the precious noises from the back of his throat.

Ary sat in utter amazement. Never…never had she seen someone so engrossed in singing. Espeacially someone of her own age.

 

Ugh, if only I knew what he was saying.

 

When Onew finished his melody, he slowly closed his lips and lifted his hands off of the piano and onto his lap. He looked at the girl and smirked slightly.

“How was it?”

For a few seconds, Ary was speechless. Like, seriously SPEECHLESS. She couldn’t think of anyway to out her feelings into words, so she sat there with agape until the right word hit her.

“Perfect.”

Onew bit his lip, then looked down and smiled from embarrassment. “Thanks,” he told her. “It’s been a while since I’ve played.”

Ary furred her brows. “What? That was amazing! How did you get this anyway?”

Onew took the sheet music from his dashbboard and added it back to the pile ontop of the piano. “I…wrote it. But only the lyrics. My friend Jonghyun made the melody for me.”

Ary’s eyes widened. “You mean the guy in our English class?”

Onew nodded. “Yeah. He’s a bit of a musician. He always spent his time in the music room back in middleschool. It was like his second home.” Onew got up from the piano bench. “C’mon. Let’s take a walk.”

 

The cool breeze hit both of their faces and a crisp clear view of the setting sun could be seen over the rooftops of the Korean homes. Ary couldn’t help but feel out of place, knowing that she could possibly be the only person here that was not Korean, however, the way Onew had talked to her made her feel as though she was just like him. A person, and nothing less.

 

Ary took her eyes from off the scenery and put them onto Onew. “The lyrics…what were you saying?”

Onew faced her and smiled. “The song is about the love for a name that one has longed to hear, but can no longer love.”

Ary giggled. “Sounds complicated.”

Onew nodded. “Yeah. It was complicated.”

Ary’s ears caught his tone. He was referencing something.

“What was complicated?”

 

Onew’s silence got the best of her, and she quickly regretted asking about his personal life.

“I’m sor—”

“My parents,” Onew began, which prompted Ary to shut . “They had a rocky relationship after my mom had me. My dad complained of my mom becoming too fat and old, and ignoring him most of the time because she was tending to me. Eventually, he cheated on her in search of more excitement and my mom found out. They fought, verbally and physically. Then he just…left. I was only 6 at the time, so I’d keep asking mom when my dad would be back. She said soon. So I waited…”

 

By now, the two had made it all the way to the end of the block and now was one street away from crossing over into the vacant meadow where the sun’s rays could be clearly seen peering over the houses. The splash of gold spread across the grass and painted the sides of tree leaves, giving them an aurora of different colors. Ary followed Onew into the field and sat right beside him under a tree that he chose.

 

“I waited for a long time. And he never showed. Finally, my mom called me into her room……I was 15. She sat me down on her bed…..and told me that she and dad had gotten a divorce 9 years ago….and that he was happily married with 2 kids in another state…and that he had written me a letter…”

Onew’s voice trailed off in remembrance.

Ary hesitated to ask him more but finally said, “What was in the letter?”

Onew closed his eyes as if he was trying to picture it in his mind. “It said…. “Dearest son….I am terribly sorry to have left you in silence. I hope you understand that your mother and I wanted different things, and that I’ve just decided to pursue what I wanted. Because you are older now and possibly don’t have much memory of me, I’m guessing what I am about to say will not hurt you so much. Yes, I am much happier without you or your mother around. I have remarried and have two beautiful new children. I am a different man; I do not wish to go back to my old life. But, do not think that I don’t think of you. I love you and your mother, but because of what you both have caused me, I cannot love you any longer. Please do not call me, search for me, or remember me. This is our formal good bye.”

Ary stared at Onew. “It sounds like you memorized it.”

Onew gazed at his hands. “I did. I read it almost every day.”

 

Every day? Ary thought to herself. Her heart hurt for him. She’d always had a great relationship with her parents, never before would she think that something like that would happen to someone. It made her thankful.

“Oh Onew…I’m sorry…” Ary touched his shoulder.

Onew sighed. “It’s okay. Not everyone’s life can be perfect. I thought he was joking when I first read it…but when I found out his phone number changed, he deactivated all of his social media, and he never called, I realized that he really did never want to see me again. He’s never made an effort to be in my life anyway so, whatever.” He bit his lip and looked away from his hands onto a random spot on the field.

What Onew said hurt Ary. Badly. She ew towards her and looked him deeply in those beautiful eyes of his, hoping that her sudden action would catch his full attention instead of ruining the moment.

“No, no one’s life can be perfect. But you know what you can do? Live it to its fullest. This is your life Onew. You’re on your way to college after this year! You can take charge! You can do what you want. He won’t be around to rain on your parade and since he left, he shouldn’t be. And guess what? When you become rich, famous, and successful, he won’t be there to say ‘that’s my son.’ He can’t claim anything you do. All he can do is watch from the sidelines at what he could have had. Knowing what could have been brings regret to one’s self. And regret…that hurts more than anything.”

Onew listened to everything the girl had to say. He drank in every sentence, phrase, word, and meaning. And he could tell she meant it.

So, without hesitation, the boy leaned over towards her face, his lips inches away from hers until he stopped, contemplated, then turned to her cheek and pecked her. He pulled back slowly and looked at her eyes, and when they met his, he immediately looked away. They were silent for some time until Onew finally said:

“Sorry.”

 He sighed. “It’s just that…out of the many people that I’ve told this story to, I’ve never heard a response…like that….so full of meaning and truth…and I just...thank you. And I’m sorry….for the kiss…”

Ary faced him. “Don’t apologize. I’m here for you.” She put a hand to his cheek and felt her own heart beat faster. No doubt, she was starting to like this dude…

“Thank you.” Onew looked towards her, an appreciative smirk slowly sliding across his face.

 

“No problem, bro. I always have strengths for these types of things. Just call me ‘The Doctor’ when it comes to feelings, haha.”

Onew smirked towards the girl again, and this time turned his entire body towards her. He took one hand and brushed several stray strands away from her face. “I think I’d like it better…” he lifted her chin so that her eyes met his,

 

“...if I could call you ‘mine’.”

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AGH GUYS IM SO SORRY I WAS SUPPOSED TO UPDATE LAST WEEK BUT I FORGOT AND THEN I HAD TESTING AND UGHHH SCHOOL

but here it is :D

For the record, the song that Onew sang in the chapter (his song "The Name I Loved") is the main theme song of the story (hence the title name, haha). This song will apprear more frequently, so if you haven't heard it then go here. (open it in a new tab!)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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