My second meeting with him were the horrible things I heard about him. His past, his crimes... Everything that had led him to where he is today.

 

Yoongi's POV:

    "Huff... Huff... Ahhnng... Huff..." The old lady's uneven breath filled the room, her sticky and plump body on top of me. I could only stare at the ceiling, hoping that she can quickly get over this already. It didn't felt good, but it didn't felt bad either.

    Guess I'm already numbed and used to this lifestyle of selling my own body for money. 

    I opened the door to the rooftop, and saw a boy sitting near the railings. "Sorry for the wait, hyung. Let's go grab a bite. That granny paid out big time."

    "Hey Yoongi ah. I can hear music... It's really pretty piano music, I wonder who's playing it."

    I looked at the huge display screen about 2 blocks away, and saw a boy around our age playing the piano. We are all lving on the same earth, but I felt that we are from different world. "Park Jimin... I heard that he's the great new 17 year-old pianist. He really look like a prince from the royalty."

    "I see... When he plays the piano, I can't hear any mistakes so it makes me feel better."

    "Really?" I asked in curiousity, my hyung has really sharp sense of hearing. He is blind after all.

    "Yeah." He responded, "I can't hear your crying either."

    I looked at him in confusion and anger, then raised my voice slightly, "What are you talking about? I don't cry."

    "You do cry. All the time, all the time..."

    "S-shut the hell up!" My face flushed in embarrassment.

    "Sorry, Yoongi ah." The older boy sniffled, "If I weren't around, your life would be a little easier."

    I couldn't say anything, I didn't dare to say anything.

    "Here, you listen too. You'll feel much better."  

    I looked at the big display screen once again. The boy's fingers dance graciously on the piano keys as his body swayed gently to the melody. His slightly closed eyes and warm smile made me felt better somehow, but then I was on the verge of crying again. so I snifled my cries with my sleeves, and sobbed.

    "Sorry, Yoongi ah..."

 

------ 19.11.20xx ; Tuesday ; 0916.

    "Yoongi ah, you awake?" Warden Namjoon called out.

    I gradually opened my eyes and looked at him. Seems like I dreamt of the past again.

    "Hey, you remember that guy from last week? The one from the education committee a while ago, Jimin." Namjoon held up a CD, "Look at this."

    My eyes lit up, it was that boy from back then. 

    "I thought I'd seen him somewhere before, turns out he used to play the piano. Believe it or not, I was really fond of his music... Well, I just got a little nostalgic about the past and went ahead to buy this... Still, you don't care about this stuff do you? If it's okay with you, I was thinking i could play it during music time or something, but I gues modern tunes are better, huh..." He trailed off.

    "I was always looking for a place, where bad things don't always happen."

    "What?" Warden Namjoon said in confusion.

    "I'd like to hear it... Please play it...." I said. I'm glad my voice didn't waver or crack when the words came out of my mouth. 

    "J-just a minute, Yoongi. I will go get an old CD player from my desk." Warden Namjoon then hurried back to his office. I watched his tall stature disappear and listen to his noisy footsteps fade away at the corner of the usually empty hallway. 

~

    "Woah... What's all this junk lying around the floor?" One of the guards on duty said. 

    "It must be Namjoon again. Apparently, he wanted to play some music for an inmate...."Another said.

    "I appreciate his kindness... Though I hope that the higher-ups don't take notice of this..." The first man sighed. "Doesn't he get it..?"

    "That guy... He's on death row..."

~

Jimin's POV: 

------ 19.11.20xx; Tuesday; 1017.

    I walked down the empty hallway of the muic academy where I work at, heading towards the school entrance. 

    "Mr. Park." A sweet voice called out. 

    I turned my body around to face the woman who called out to me.

     "Are you going back already? Even though it's not even lunch time..." She asked me as she fidgets around; is she nervous?

    "Yes, I am just a part-time lecturer after all. I don't work as long as the others." I took a slight bow, then excused myself. 

    "...Well, if you are up for it. Would you like to go for a drink?"

    I turned around and looked at her, and she continued on, "I found a bar with a great atmosphere. Everynow and then, the bring in a singing pianist too!" She clapped her hands in enthusiasm. "Oh, that reminds me, you used to play the piano too, right?"

    My blood turned cold when she mentioned about the fact that I used to play the piano. 

    The woman was oblivious to my change in demeanour, and continued to ramble on, "I heard that you were really popular back in the days. I was hoping I could hear you play."

    I lowered my head, and bellowed, "I am never playing the piano again." 

    "E-eh? Mr. Park?" The woman, a fellow colleague of mine, spoke out in confusion. I couldn't blame her since she don't know anything about my past. 

    "My friend's waiting for meat the train station, so I have to go now." 

    "W-wait! Mr. Park!" She called out, but I continued walking towards the entrance. 

    The unpleasant memories that I tried so hard to forget starts rushing back to my mind. I knelt down and buried my face into my palms, as my body trembled uncontrollably.

------ 11.57.

    As I walked up the stairs of the train station, I heard a commotion not far from me. I looked up from the ground, and saw a crowd gathering around something. 

    "You've got to be kidding me! You want me to forgive a guy who murdered 3 people!?!" A woman shouted.

    Upon hearing it, I rushed to the crowd and urged the people to let me to the front. I witnessed a middle-aged woman pushing Seokjin-hyung to the ground as she screamed profanity at him. 

    "I want to kill him myself right now! You people are always like this, you don't know anything but you act like you are the good guys who know it all!!" Tears were streaming down the woman's face, she covered her face with her palms as she sobbed, "Get out of here!! Just GO!!"

    I watch Seokjin-hyung bow apologetically, as he got up to his feet and left her alone. He held onto my shoulder as we left the station. 

 

    Seokjin-hyung sat down on a bench and slouched. I knelt down beside him and examined his ankle, "Does it still hurt? You might have sprained it just now."I looked up at hyung and asked, "That killer she was talking about, did she mean Yoongi?"

    Seokjin-hyung kept quiet and wiped off the sweat on his forehead with his handkerchief. 

    I sighed in defeat and spoke softly, "The convict yells at you, and the victim's family pushes you down... Yet you are still so calm about it, I truly admire you."

    "I'm not. I'm not calm at all..."

    I looked at him in confusion; he sure doesn't act like it. 

    "Every now and then, my chest tighten and it hurts. That's when I think of how you used to play the piano, Jimin ah." Seokjin-hyung's forehead furrowed, "Taehyung... he really loved the way you played the piano."

    Taehyung... It's been a while since I have heard that name.

    "During the period where Taehyung left us, your piano cheered me up..." That bittersweet smile formed on hyung's face.

    "Enough with the old stories... I was only a popular pianist, for that one year when I was 17."

   "It doesn't mater if it was a long time ago. Though I hope to hear it once again someday. That is, your piano. Jimin ah." Seokjin-hyung spoke. 

    The two of us remained in silence afterwards for a few moment.

    To be honest, I didn't really like the piano that much. But I played it, because it made Seokjin-hyung, his younger brother Taehyung, and my mother happy. My mother was always yelling, and she'd only quiet downwhen she was listening to me playing the piano. So I played it, for her sake.

 

Warden Namjoon's POV:

    "Namjoon!" A voice called out to my name. I turned my head around to see who it was and greeted him. "What's going on?" My colleague asked. 

    "Oh... nothing much. I put in the batteries, but the CD player isn't working."

    "Ah... for that guy again?"

     "Yeah."

    "... I don't know if it'll matter coming from me, but you shouldn't get too close to him. After it's all over and done with, you are the one who's going to be the most affected. I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to say, don't you?"

    I sighed. I understand where he was coming from, and that it was for my own good. "That's what I thought at first, but my term at this position is 2 years... I can't even count how many timesI've gotten goosebumps just thinking about the crimes those guys have committed outside of this prison... I thought that I couldn't have compassion for them. There are criminals you will hate until the very end. But... there are also those who had no choice but to live the way they did." I turned to face my colleague, and asked, "Have you seen Yoongi's file?"

    He shook his head.

    "His father was one hell of a drunken mess, so his mother couldn't take it. She abandoned the kid and disappeared. Yoongi had a older brother who was 2 years older than him, unfortunately he lost sight in both eyes due to prior abuse from the father... But he died soon after alcohol abuse, when Yoongi was 12. The two had to go to an orphanage since none of their relatives offered to take them in. His older brother was treated terribly there, so he took his brother and ran." I stopped for a moment before I continued, "Can you imagine? That kind of ty life that a 12 year-old led, while taking care of his blind brother, led."

    "That... was certainly hard to imagine." My colleague responded, his gaze directed at the ground. 

    "One morning, he woke up to the sirens. His brother who should have been sleeping next to him, was gone. What do you think the crowd in front of him was gathering over?"

    My colleague shook his head once again.

    "His older brother, feeling guilty over the fact that Yoongi was constantly ing himself to take care of him, had thrown himself onto the asphalt. It seems like he just lost it after that, his list of crimes goes on and on. He killed 3 people, a happy-looking mother and child, then a wealthy young man who caught his eye. The jealousy and envy that had bottled up within him exploded in the worst way possible." I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth, "What he did was inexcusable, he can never be forgiven. He will be punished, without a doubt."

    "Namjoon..." My colleague called out, but he didn't know what to say to appease my raging heart.

    "Is a rope around the neck and a drop from the gallows, all that we can do for a guy who lived his life without ever smiling? Doesn't that... seem sad?" I could only look out the window in regret as I rambled on and on about how useless I am, being unable to help.

    "... It's probably some faulty wring on that CD player. I took engineering as an elective during my high school life." My colleague said as hestretched out his hand, waiting for me to hand over the CD player. 

    I smiled at him and mumbled, "I really appreciate it."

 

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