Part 2

Eight in the morning had rung on Kibum’s phone, stirring him from sleep as a ball of fur buried its muzzle in his sweatshirt sleeve. The young man blindly grabbed the device and turned the alarm off before he stretched his back, a low grunt escaping his throat. It took him a few seconds to open his eyes and notice the poodle lying on him and seeking for some . With a smile, he welcomed the curly head with a gentle hand, caressing here and scratching there, until a bark startled him.

Standing near the couch, a second puppy was staring at him, black hair half hiding its eyes. It only made Kibum smile more despite his tired eyes, and he slowly sat up straight while tapping the couch he had slept on. Within a second, both his hands were busy his dogs for a sweet morning moment. He had come home early the previous evening, all thanks to Jinki, but somehow he had found himself working on his laptop until very late. 

Sleeping on his couch was something common since he lived alone, it depended on his mood when bed time would come. Sometimes it was out of pure laziness because he was too tired to stand up and walk to his bed, some others he just wanted to sleep with his kids. At that moment, these two were still peaceful and he made the most of it because he knew it wouldn’t last long. Once he could free his hands, he caught his glasses resting on the couch’s backrest and put them on, sighing with comfort when he could finally see something.

Yawning, he let his thoughts gather in his brain and stood up, stretching and walking towards the kitchen. The puppies followed him and got under his feet, ignoring his whines and complaints about it until he filled their bowls. As soon as he was sure they wouldn’t come to him to play, he smiled and petted them a little before he turned his vintage coffee maker on and headed to his bathroom. Only a few minutes were enough for him to take a warm shower and really wake himself up, following his routine in front of his mirror.

Once his skin was decent looking and he had put his lenses and clothes on, he nodded to himself and went back to take a cup of coffee, accompanied with a bowl of cereals mixed with dried red berries. He had a weakness for western-like meals, to the extent he didn’t even remember how to properly cook dishes from his own country. His life had become full of pasta and sweet breakfasts, and he wouldn’t go back in time for anything in the world.

As he sat at the dining table and chewed, he sighed and took his phone to scroll through his social medias, as was his morning habit. He still wondered why he kept working on Saturdays, especially when trains’ hours were different and quite bothering ; he had often thought of investing in a car but although he had money to, he had realised it would take longer to endure the rush hours’ traffic. The subway was faster at least, when there weren’t some technical issues forcing him to wait in a crowded wagon…

This simple thought reminded him of the stop at Sindang station the day before, and he almost knocked his bowl over. Quickly, he opened the app he had saved a few posts on, the evening before at Minho’s bar, and found himself relieved that he hadn’t had only dreamed of doing it. The eight videos were there, patiently waiting for him to watch them, and he didn’t wait a second more. Playing the first one, he easily recognised the sharp features of the subway singer despite the blurred quality during the first seconds. 

The sound wasn’t the clearest but it was enough for Kibum to be mesmerised once again, the crystalline voice reaching his ears and even deeper inside. The stranger was still playing his guitar, but considering he was only wearing a tank top and jeans, the video was dating back to summer time. The event planner could make out the singer’s tanned skin, emphasised by his white hair not hidden under a hood this time. The song’s melody was quite punchy and refreshing although it remained sweet, and gave a pleasant summer vibe.

On another video, he wore a cap and the same kind of hoodie from the day before, but his guitar was against the wall. Instead, he was ringing a small instrument with bells, following the rhythm of a different song. Even if the style was different, his voice suited it so well it felt like he could sing anything, as if every note came so easily from his throat. He didn’t even seem to make a great effort from outside, but Kibum had heard Jinki talk a lot about how hard it could actually be to sing in tune. 

The brown haired man watched all the videos he had under his eyes, frowning at this strange small instrument which made a buzzing noise. It looked like a toy for a child but strangely, the stranger was making it his own accompanist, it was pretty unique and original. A quick glance at the comments and a web research let Kibum know it was called a kazoo and that the singer didn’t blow in it but actually hummed to make it vibrate with different tunes. 

Another video that held his attention showed the guy singing a capella. No instrument, no other sound than his voice singing a song sounding rather sad but not less beautiful. Even if he was just watching a screen and listening to a bad quality audio, the event planner found himself deeply moved by the lyrics and melody of a very slow song asking for forgiveness.

“This guy is amazing.” He eventually whispered before lowering his head to find his two dogs staring at him. “Kids, we can’t let him waste his talent like that, can we ?”

The pups naturally didn’t reply but the way they tilted their heads to the side was enough for Kibum. He hadn’t any plan at the moment but it would come sooner or later, he had the whole day ahead of him before taking the subway and willingly stopping earlier than he should.

*   *   *   *   *

A day had never flown by slower than that day, even with the certain amount of work that had awaited the event planner as soon as he had stepped in his office. He had spent hours planning this business meeting, calling hotels in Jeju without any break before he had eventually found an agreement with an owner. After all, it couldn’t be easy to privatise a hotel and a beach for the next month, so the customer would have to content himself with the whole first floor including a huge meeting room.

Even when he had thought of taking a break, he had received a call he couldn’t have refused, and more planning to do. It was almost seven in the evening by now and Kibum was getting ready to leave his office, his heart suddenly beating faster at the thought of stopping at Sindang. He usually was the kind to approach people easily, yet this time he could feel a sort of stress holding his stomach with a strong grip.

After all, he was a stranger among others to this guy, and the latter wasn’t expecting more than a few coins thrown in his guitar’s case. The event planner put his coat on and made sure to close every door, thinking about the plan he had thought of from time to time. It wasn’t much but even though he wanted to do more, his position didn’t really allow him to take such a risk. He hadn’t asked any form of permission yet, but he was sure he could count on the person he was thinking about.

The lump in his throat kept growing as the subway was rolling, stops going by and Kibum counting them. After thinking about it a lot, he eventually decided to send a message to his contact but remained evasive, only telling them they must meet soon to talk business. He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed his stop, standing up quite fast and nearly stumbling on someone’s foot before he finally found himself on the platform. The place was crowded since count