The 13 years old Min Yoongi didn’t know anything about the connotation of love.  The boy always thought he never could comprehend the real meaning of the words. Other than the ‘I love you’ Yoongi said to his family, the word barely ever came out from his cavity.  Of course he loved his family, but that was an artificial one, everyone loves their parents even if it didn’t last for a lifetime.

What Yoongi meant was the kind of love his friends often described.  For instance the idiom ‘butterflies in your stomach’, it sounded ridiculous in Yoongi’s ear, or the ‘until my heart skipped a beat’ phrase.   He did once feel his heart racing so fast that he thought he might have been dead, but it was in PE class when they were running in the fields, but because of someone? Nope.

He was born lazy, skeptical, and grumpy, Yoongi believed that.

“You’re sure you don’t want to join us?” one of Yoongi’s friends said.

“I’ll pass,” Yoongi answered without lifting his head from the table.

“Don’t sleep too much, sleepy head.”

But then there he was sleeping, in the back corner of classroom, alone.  School ended 15 minutes ago, Yoongi’s classmate had mostly gone home, some were still playing soccer on the field, and Yoongi decided to take a longer nap.  He budged from his position when he felt the gleams of the sun penetrated through the window and stung his pale face.  Ugh, Yoongi forced himself to wake up.  He hated himself for choosing the back row near the window when he knew perfectly the sun would be irritating at this time of the day.

He was innocent about love, but the 13 years old Yoongi already knew how to self-loath.

Thinking of a hiding place from the sun, Yoongi went to his secondary school hall which had a classic brown piano.  His lips curved up a little when he found the hall was empty, exactly like he wanted it to be.  Not so in a hurry, Yoongi approached the piano and sat before it.  Soon, Moonlight Sonata filled the hall through every wall, until its very last corner.

Yoongi, not like his persona, when in the mood, was notably a talkative person.  The only part of his body that could move faster than his finger while playing the piano was his lips.  His friends were calling him ‘Chatter Snail Min’, since he was slow but liked to talk, moreover when the topic was around music and especially piano.

“Excuse me?”

But Yoongi surely hated it when someone talked to him when he was unwilling to, like when he was playing the piano.

Yoongi stopped his plays, cursed under his breath.  He turned around and found one of his female classmate, whom he never bothered to mention the name, standing upon him.  He pulled off the most probable calm face he could create at this very unpleasant situation.

“Oh! So it’s you Yoongi!  I was wondering who was playing the piano so beautifully.  It turns out it’s you!”  She sounded awfully too excited for Yoongi’s ears.

He smiled politely but half-heartedly.

“Can you teach me?”

She talks too much, Yoongi thought, she asks too much.  Yoongi twisted his brain to find a logical reason to refuse, but he got none.  Reluctantly, he said “yes” and moved a bit to give the girl a space.  The girl jumped a little while making her way to sit beside Yoongi.

Then Yoongi taught her a few simple chords.  She was fortunately a good learner, not the best but it reduced Yoongi’s nerves a little bit.  Yoongi told her to do a chord but she failed.  Her fingers somehow tangled, so Yoongi put his hands above hers, he was going to tell her how to do it, but he was shocked when their hands met.  Her hands were freaking cold.

“Why are your hands so freaking cold?”

The girl pulled her hands off the piano.  “Um- Sorry, my hands are normally cold and sweaty.”

Yoongi caught the embarrassment in the girl’s eyes and her cheeks turned pink.  He wondered if this was what made his friends fell in love with girls, like the stories that had been told to him.  But if he had to feel anything, it would be nothing.  He stared at the girl, who was looking down at the tiles.  Well, this is awkward, Yoongi thought.  Knowing this wouldn’t give him any benefits, Yoongi made his stand and was going to get out from the hall when he heard her call his name.

“Where are you going?”

“Home?” Yoongi turned his back for a second before continuing his walk . Just as he was about to push the door, he stopped.  Something was going on in his head and he didn’t even realize it when he turned to the girl again, who still spare him a glance.

“You want to go home together?” the words came out from Yoongi’s lips almost too smooth.

And she smiled at that.

Nothing much happened when they walked together that afternoon.  Their way home separated 300 meters after heading south from school.  All the while, she was the only one who talked.  She told Yoongi about every event she encountered that day; her friends Kim Yuna who broke up with her boyfriend, homework, even her fat tortoise shell cat.  Yoongi nodded, showing he was listening, but actually he understood nothing.

Kim Yuna?

Tortoise shell cat?

He didn’t even know Mr. Park had assigned an essay homework today.

Nevertheless, he didn’t mind her voice as the main sound in his ears, while the wind, the passing buses, people’s mumbles acted as the background music.  She talks too much, this time Yoongi had a different tone in his mind. When they finally had to separate, she muttered a soft thank you, to which Yoongi answered with a single smile and a light nod. They both got home by their own.