-Harmony-

 

 

"The green leaves that fall and flutter from the wind. It feels like something that came out of a movie. Something that I wasn't fond of... But at least, it's better than the rain..."

It has already been a week since Dahyun's brother came back and is finally leaving for America in a few more hours. It is a saturday morning and it's very windy. Dahyun watched as the oak leaves fall off it's branches and dance as the wind blows it. She held on to her navy blue scarf—the one her brother gave her last year as a birthday present—and braced it's warmth.

"Do you have your passport with you, Taehyung?" Taeyeon asked, checking everything for good measure.

"Of course~ It's in the ba..."Taehyung smiled and placed his hand inside his bag. He then started searching his bag for the booklet frantically. "Oh no! My passport!" Taehyung said in a worried manner.

"... ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Taeyoung screamed out in frustration.

The boy rummaged through his bag for a while, then pulled out the passport. "Hehehe, jokes~ I brought it—OW!" Taehyung said with a smug expression, which was cut short after being kicked on the shin by the older woman.

"Tsk, give me your passport so we can have it cleared" Taeyeon said, and grabbed the passport from the boy's hand. She then left and went to the airport's reception for clearing and checking of flight tickets.

"Well little sis, do take care while I'm away. Don't be a bad girl, and do your best in school always" The boy stated, and petted the pale girl's head.

"Taehyung! Go and help me load the bags!" Taeyeon ordered, making the boy follow and assist in carrying the luggage.

It didn't take long for the older woman to come back and talk face to face with Dahyun. "Make sure you eat well, Dahyun" the older woman said, while fixing the girl's uniform. Dahyun only nodded at the sentence and watched as her aunt straightened her neck tie, straighten the hems of her blaizer, and fix the pleats of her skirt. "And... done!~" Taeyeon ended, and hummed in delight with her work.

Dahyun returned the gesture with a smile and a warm hug. This act surprised the older girl and she felt teary-eyed from the small act, and it didn't take long for the older girl to return the hug.

"Hey! I wanna join the family hug too!" Taehyung stated, and hugged the two girls locked in an embrace.

The time has come for the two to depart, so they their goodbyes. When the two parted from the girl, Dahyun was given an emerald amulet by her aunt. "Here, keep this. When ever you feel lonely, just look at it and know that we are here for you" Taeyeon paused, looking closely at the amulet, and back to Dahyun. "The chain was your mother's, but the stone was replaced to an emerald. since it's your birthstone" she ended.

"Wow, thanks auntie, I love it very much" Dahyun said with a smile.

"Wait, let me help you wear it before we leave" Taehyung suggested, and grabbed the necklace and helped Dahyun wear it. Once the girl has worn the necklace, she held on to it tightly.

"Oh yeah, your dad called my last night, telling me that he will be coming back this monday morning" Taeyeon ended.

 

( * )

 

Dahyun was staring out on the open window beside her seat, her hand stationed to act like a pillar for her to rest her chin. The teacher has been rambling on about "harmony".

"Harmony is the blending of two or more notes together to make an impact that leads to a collective melody" the teacher stated pointing out on the notes, drawn on the board. "If you add a different key to it, it ends up becoming a whole different collective of notes in one beat" she added. After a while, she walked up on the center of the room and asked one of the students to help her in bringing in one of the keyboards from the storage room.

Once the student came back with the keyboard, the teacher set it up in front of the class. "I will give you a little pointer on how you can do your assignment, and since only three of you have sent me their compositions, and relatively few in other sections... I will move the deadline till next week. You have seven more days to do your assignment" the teacher stated, which in turn was greeted with sighs of glee. "I will return your compositions later, please get it from my desk if ever you feel like you want to add something to it, or replace the given notes. If not, then that's fine in itself since I have reviewed all of them" she added before going back to her lecture.

"So, I'm assuming that since all of you are sitting where you are at, means that you learned something in your previous year studying music" she paused before testing the volume of the keyboard—making sure it's not too loud, nor is it too quiet. "I'm betting that everyone here knows about the rule of 'circle of fifths'?" the teacher asked, which was returned with a choired "yes".

"So if I start with, let's say... 'F' what key should I go for next?" Ms. Sunmi asked.

"C"

"Then?"

"G"

Dahyun retracted her focus from the window, to her teacher. "'Circle of fifths' is the relationship among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys. It's basically a geometrical circle that states 'at the top of the circle, the key of C major has no sharps or flats. Starting from the apex and proceeding clockwise by ascending fifths, the key of G has one sharp, the key of D has 2 sharps, and so on. Similarly, proceeding counterclockwise from the apex by descending fifths, the key of F has one flat, the key of B♭ has 2 flats, and so on. At the bottom of the circle, the sharp and flat keys overlap, showing pairs of enharmonically equivalent key signatures'... But that is only as stated in the books..."

"Back home to 'F'" she ended. Once everyones' focus shifted to Ms. Sunmi, she stood up, and wrote on the blackboard. "Another thing we should recall, is something called 'Overtone' and 'Undertone'" the teacher added. "Overtone is basically the notes with reaching greater frequencies, while undertone is considered the negative frequency" the teacher looked around and studied the looks of her students. By the looks of it, there are some people who didn't get a single word—but it's ehh.

"In layman's term, overtone is the branching upwards of a plant, while undertone is the burrying of roots underground. One goes higher, the other goes lower" the teacher stated. This made the students hum in understaning. The teacher looked around the room after a while, and saw Dahyun burried on whatever thoughts run through her calculating mind once again. "Do you have any questions? clarifications?" Ms. Sunmi asked. After a moment of silence, she then called out the girl deep in thought "Dahyun?".

The pale girl snapped out of her little thought process after hearing her name being called. She then shook her head, signalling that she didn't have any. It didn't take long for a student to raise his hand and answer.

"Ma'am, you could also put it as simple as Majors' and Sharps' vs. Minors' and Flats', where in overtune excerts a happy beat—like that of majors', and sharps'—and undertone excerts a more melancholic beat—like that of minors' and flats'" a voice from the other side of the room spoke.

"Yes, that's correct Vernon, thank you for that note. You may sit down" Ms. Sunmi said, after giving a warm round of applause.

Dahyun looked at the direction of the boy who voiced out his opinion in the topic at hand. Once the boy noticed this, he nodded as a reply. Leaving the pale girl wide-eyed, before shifting her gaze back outside.

"Anyways, let's continue our talk about harmony, and why it's related to overtone and undertone" the teacher said, continuing her lecture. "Basically, harmony is like language turned into music; where in you find a way to make a narrative" she added, before going back to the piano. "You are given these tools like the rule of fourths, rule of fifths, overtone, undertone, and the like. And your job is to find the narrative and make it make sense. That is the goal of Harmony" the teacher stated and looked at the girl facing outside the window. "Isn't that right Dahyun?" she asked and gestured the girl to come in front "Since your head seems to be out there, and not here. I'm assuming you know what I'm saying already and is glad to bring share it all here" the teacher ended.

"Huh?" The girl looked at the teacher in dismay.

"You heard me Ms. Kim, kindly tell the class your take in harmony"

"Harmony... like what you have already discussed ma'am, it's about using different notes and putting them together... If possible, portray a story"

"Mind demonstrating this for the class Ms. Kim?"

"Err..." Dahyun voiced out. It didn't take long for the bell to ring, signifying that it's lunch time. "Saved by the bell" she sighed in relief.

"Well class, that's the end of today's lesson. Please be sure to give your assignments by the end of next week"

"Thank you ma'am!" the students spoke in chorus.

It didn't take long for everyone to leave the classroom—except Ms. Sunmi who was fixing the instruments used in the class—with Dahyun being the last one. The teacher noticed this, and called forth Dahyun's attention.

"Dahyun, before you go. Would you mind accompanying me to the faculty lounge?" The teacher asked.

"Not really ma'am"

"Great, would you mind bringing the keyboard with you?" the teacher asked, pointing at the instrument on the desk.

"Ummm... Sure?"

"Let me help you with that" a voice from behind spoke. Dahyun looked back and saw the boy who stood up awhile ago.

"Ahhh... thank you" Dahyun said with a shy smile.

Vernon looked at Dahyun for a while, and smiled. "No problem, DongSaeng" the boy smiled after nodding his head slightly. "I will bring this to the storage room ma'am" he ended.
(DongSaeng - formality used in korea. Used to describe someone who is younger than you 'regardless of gender')

"Oh, yes, thank you Vernon. I appreciate it alot" Ms. Sunmi said, before leaving the classroom and signalling Dahyun to join her.

The pale girl nodded, looked back to the boy that volunteered to carry the keyboard, bowed slightly as a sign of gratitude, then tailed the teacher. Vernon, in return, bowed his head and smiled.

Dahyun and Ms. Sunmi were walking straight to the faculty lounge. The walk was silent and long, but it wasn't too bad—Not really, Dahyun's heart was beating fast, thinking if she did anything bad that deserves to be called to faculty lounge. "Ummm... Ms. Sunmi..." she voiced out.

"Yes, Dahyun?" Ms. Sunmi asked.

"Did I do something terrible?" Dahyun questioned.

"Terrible? What makes you think that?"

"I... You don't really call out anyone to the office, unless they do something bad... right?"

The teacher just laughed at the question. It didn't take long before they reached the teacher's lounge, there she stood by the door and faced it. "Not really bad, it's just that, I knew you had talent when it comes to your art. I just didn't think that you would be scouted by famous musicians at such an early time and date" she added, opening the door of the lounge. "Opportunities like these don't come around often, and I feel it's best that you do listen to the spotter" she ended.

Dahyun looked inside and saw her Im Hyunsik—her previous music teacher—mingling with another person. A girl on her mid 20's—much like the two teachers—was sitting by the desk. Once she noticed Sunmi entered the room and greeted the two, she laid her eyes on the pale girl standing outside.

"Yup, that's her alright" the girl said, and moved forward to meet the pale girl.

Dahyun watched as the girl slowly made her way infront of her. Once they were face to face, the pale girl looked down and adjusted her frames. The girl was slightly taller than Dahyun and had a bubbly—yet mature—aura. She then looked at the two teachers sitting at the back, who then waved slightly at the girl being confronted.

"You're the cute girl at the cafe the other day, right? The one who played piano for the newly opened 'BLINK cafe'" she asked

"Cute girl..." Dahyun thought to herself, and nodded softly. She was lost for words and she didn't really feel like answering—nor stay put a little longer—but decided it's best to hear out what the girl in front of her had to say.

"Amazing! I'm Lee Jieun, but you can call me IU" she stated, reaching out her hand for a shake.

Dahyun returned the shake and nodded "Nice meeting you Ms. Lee"

"Too formal, just call me IU"

"But..."

"It's fine, I prefer being called IU"

"Then... IU-unnie"

"You're too adorable! Can I keep her?"

"Ehhh?"

"Enough of that IU, before I call the cops on you" nurse Sunny said, after entering the lounge and placing some documents on her table there in the office. "If you have no business here, then I suggest you leave" she ended.

"Yikes, you're too harsh on me Sunny, geez~" IU said, scratching the back of her head. "Anyways, I'm asked your teacher to call you here, cause I have a proposition for you" she stated.

"Preposition?" Dahyun asked.

"Yes, how would you like to perform next month on the 'Grand State Hall' at Okinonawa?" IU stated.

"Okinonawa?" Dahyun questioned once again, her expression changed to a vacant one.

"Yes, the biggest auditorium in all Evimero" IU stated.

"..."

"It will be good, there would be people watching you from around the globe just to perform" the enthusiastic girl stated. "I can even give you tickets for your friends and family, just so that you can perform and let people who you care about watch you" she added. "Maybe even for bragging rights! And this will certainly work well on your resume" she continued. "And don't worry, it's not just you who would be performing up on stage, there would be a selected few who would join you up stage!~" she ended.

"..."

"Hmmm? What's wrong?" IU questioned.

"Huh? Oh, nothing..." Dahyun said, her face a bit down, while her aura changed to a slightly dark one. "I'm sorry but... Can I think about it first?" she asked.

"Of course, take your time, no rush" IU said, a bit sad with the event that she wasn't able to fully pursuade the girl. "Here's my card, if ever you have decided to take the big step. I know it's nerve wracking being up on stage for everyone to see but I promise you, that you would do well" she stated.

The pale girl nodded, and excused herself after taking the card from IU's hand—never forgetting to say her goodbyes to the three staff members that was inside the office.

"Looks like you haven't moved on from the incident 10 years ago" IU thought to herself.

 

( * )

 

Dahyun joined Chaeyoung, Mina, Momo, Sana, and Jeonyeon on the table. 15 minutes have passed, and Dahyun has just been staring on her juice box—not even touching it. Everyone noticed the small detail.

“Dubs, you fine?” Chaeyoung asked, leaning on to the older girl.

“Huh? Oh… yeah…” Dahyun said, still looking at the juice box on the table.

“Unnie…” Chaeyoung voiced out, hugging on the arm of her unnie.

Sana noticed this and asked after leaning forward “Is there a problem Dahyun-ahh?”. The Japanese girl looked at Dahyun. She wasn’t used to seeing the girl in this predicament; looking so sullen. She looked like she was lost in her own small world.

The girls on the table were all silent. They couldn’t focus on enjoying their time together when there is one person that’s down.

It didn’t take long for Tzuyu to join them with her food tray on hand. She noticed Chaeyoung hugging Dahyun in a way that shows her comforting the other. Immediately she knew that something was up with Dahyun—there’s also the fact that everyone was silent—but she didn’t really care seeing as her unnie is sad. She then made her way to sit beside Dahyun—opposite of Chaeyoung—and ate.

The table was filled with silence. Everyone was stuck with no idea what to do. Everyone seems to be waiting for something to happen, or for the bell to ring. This was until they heard a certain girl storm inside the cafeteria.

“I knew it!” Nayeon screamed as she rushed to the table of the girls. She was sweating and is exhausted from a long sprint. She usually is the kind of person who would tire out after sprinting 50 meters and didn’t particularly appreciate long walks, but adrenaline had other plans seeing that she was able to run from wherever she was at.

“Knew what?” Jeongyeon asked, thankful for the girl’s intrusion.

“I knew that Dahyun looked familiar!” the bunny like girl exclaimed.

“Hmmm?” Momo hummed, it wasn’t like Momo’s character to randomly join conversations—seeing that she usually gives 100% of her attention to food—but since the mood was devastating a little while back, she wanted to speak up.

"That pale skin, those monolidded eyes, those round giant glasses to back it up, plus your name!" she paused, then continued. "You're 'The Kim Dahyun!'" she ended.

Everyone on the table was startled, they were looking at the girl in a quizzical manner.

"What do you mean 'she's the Kim Dahyun', you pabo?" Jeongyeon asked, making the older girl roll her eyes.

“Nayeon, don’t run!” Jihyo exclaimed, a bit breathless after chasing the bunny girl.

“Shut up Jihyo! You should have told me sooner!” Nayeon exclaimed, finally keeping up with her breath.

“Told you what?” Jeongyeon asked, a little weary of the situation.

“That our Dahyun is the same Kim Dahyun that won competitions and championships at a young age of 7” she paused, giving way for air to circulate on her lungs. “She was so famous that she had to skip the little cup and the junior cup, and jump straight to the grand tournaments if she wanted to apply for nationals” she added, and grabbed Jeongyeon’s drink to replenish any lost fluids from her little run.

“Oh really?! Wow! My parents are a big fan” Mina stated, showing her gummy smile. “We used to listen to your performances through the television a few years back. In fact, my parents kept playing them over and over and over again. It was their lullaby” she ended.

“Oh, no wonder you play piano so gracefully; full of emotion” Sana praised.

“Exactly! what differs her from different pianists is her genuinely moving playstyle” Nayeon stated. “She was so famous that she was given a chance to perform on the 'Grand State Hall' at Okinonawa!" she exclaimed grabbing the attention of everyone on the table.

“Wait, Nayeon—” Jihyo voiced out, but was cut by the girl’s enthusiasm; powered by awe from everyone on the table.

“Really? ‘Grand State Hall?’ the biggest and grandest auditorium in all Evimero?” Jeongyeon asked, impressed with the fact given by the older girl.

“Wow, Dahyun you must be really famous” Momo commented.

“Famous? famous is an understatement! Everyone wanted to listen to her playing piano, that all of her tickets were sold out fast!” Nayeon said, looking up and reminiscing about the past.

This statement earned wows and applauses from everyone except Tzuyu, Chaeyoung, and Jihyo—who was worried about the pale girl.

“Nay—” Jihyo spoke, wanting to stop the girl from doing further damage, but was soon cut off once again.

“Did you go to the concert Nabongs? I’m pretty sure that you would go to these things, even waay back when we were younger” Jeongyeon asked.

“Yeah, we had tickets. But sadly, the resital was cancelled” Nayeon said in a sad manner.

“Aww, why so?”

“I’m not sure, but that doesn’t matter since we can ask the person herself~” Nayeon said.

"Nayeon" Jihyo voice out.

"You don't know what happened unnie?" Momo asked.

"The thing is, one hour before the recital. They immediately gave out refunds for the tickets. They never really gave out the specific reason why" Nayeon stated, earning a hum from the four girls. "There were lot's of rumors, most of them are too childish to mention; like how the recital was cancelled due to the hall not being good enough for the prodigy herself, or how the young girl turned to hiding cause of a 'pre recorded' recital, or even due to one of the family members sabotage the whole event for the family..." she added.

The moment Dahyun heard about the part about family, she froze in spot. She started hearing laughter, and felt like people were pointing at her in a teasing manner. The whole place became dark and she felt like people were talking at her back in disgust. Dahyun covered her ears, and her breathing became heavy.

Jihyo, Chaeyoung, Tzuyu, and even Sana noticed Dahyun's shift in personality.

“NAYEON!” Jihyo shouted this time, making everyone in the cafeteria look at the direction of the girls.

“What!?” the bunny retaliated.

Before Jihyo can speak, they heard the bench of the cafeteria move. The two youngest people in the group were a few inches away from the pale girl—probably pushed back.

“Da… hyun?” Sana muttered quietly while trying to reach out to the girl, but she stopped once she heard the girl speak.

“I... I’m sorry…” she said lightly, a hint of sadness was decorated on her normally straight tone. She then grabbed her bag, and ran out of the cafeteria.

“Dubs, wait!” Chaeyoung stated, reaching out her hand to grab the running girl. Alas, she wasn’t able to.

“Tzuyu, we have to follow her” Chaeyoung said.

“You have a meeting in 5 minutes though Chaengie” Mina stated, reminding the girl about her meeting with one of the artists that scouted her.

“Chaengie…” Tzuyu noted mentally, and shrugged it off. She didn't know why she was affected by the pen name. “It’s fine, I will go instead. You have to stay go to your meeting, opportunities like those don’t come around too often” she added.

“But…” Chaeyoung argued.

“Hehehe~ No buts, butts are for pooping” Tzuyu joked.

“How can you even joke at a time like this!?" Chaeyoung said in an irritated manner, earning a shrug from the taller girl.

"Ugghh" Chaeyoung groaned in dismay.

"Then I will go, I want to atleast talk to her about this" Sana volunteered.

“Right, let’s check her usual places” Tzuyu said, now bringing out her phone and started dialing the girl's number.

“Alright” Sana agreed, and they went on their way to search for the girl.

“Huff… this is why I told you not to panic, nor do anything rash” Jihyo said to Nayeon.

“I… I’m sorry…” The eldest girl said

“What happened?” Mina asked as she watched Jihyo bring the sullen girl to sit down by the table.

"..." Jihyo remained silent, not sure if it is safe to tell the story.

Chaeyoung noticed the older girl having trouble deciding about wether or not to tell teh story, so she insisted instead. "Well, since we are all friends here... I suppose I can tell you her story, and why she acted that way" Chaeyoung ended.

 

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A/C:

Sorry for taking a while to update. I have been busy irl—exam week is done woo!—and I really had a hard time deciding what I want to do with this chapter. I then thought "Hey, let's stop beating around the bush, and build up the sole reason why I wanted to make this fic". And there you have it!~ Hopefully this juicy chapter, is good enough for you :3

Well, I may or may not have rushed the story? Maybe xD This is actually the whole reason why I wanted to make this story. Dahyun's past and how she reacts to it, most especially when it comes to different people. Sadly, It was expressed in a non-professional way—which is why I only write one shots—but I feel like it will work well.

Another thing is that please don't be confused about the names of the land. Remember, it's a made up set of islands located somewhere in between Japan and South Korea :3

Well, that's it for this chapter. If you haven't subscribed to the shorts of this series, I suggest you do. I make lot's of easter eggs there. Please (Click Me) to go there.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the read and I hope to see you next chapter!~