Kim Jongin started learning ballet at the age of four. While boys of his age were playing or making new friends, going to school regularly, getting pampered at home or some like Minseok were enrolled in sport clubs or others like Yifan were interested in basketball.

He was a quiet boy at four, unlike his elder brothers. He was slightly interested in music, sometimes in his coloring books, but most of the time in the dance shows that his mother watched during afternoons on their home television. It was his time to sleep, but he would lie beside his mother and instead of closing his eyes and try to sleep, he would sneakily watch the different dances. At times, when he made sure no one was watching him and he was safely hidden from prying eyes of his brother, he would try to imitate the steps. He had a good memory and could memorize most of the moves that he saw.

Then one day he saw a beautiful girl, close to his eldest brother Minseok’s age dance something different to what he was used to watching on the television every afternoon.The young Jongin had no clue what the girl was performing, but he was mesmerized. He had fallen in love with the style. And, the pretty clothes. He thought about it for days, trying to get the answer from his hyungs about the dance style but to no avail. Then one day, he just burst out during dinner about this in front of the whole family. His mother had smiled at him and carefully given him the answer that he had been seeking, “Jongin, it’s called Ballet.”

It took Jongin almost a week to gather all his courage and ask his mother if he could go to dance classes. When his father suggested him to enrol to contemporary dance classes, he pouted. His mother had understood him and after coercing his dad, signed him up for ballet classes.

Being the only guy in the class except for one of the teachers himself, Jongin sometimes felt awkward but once he heard the strain of the music, all his apprehensiveness went away and his body danced on it’s own will.

When Jongin was at seventeen he received his first break. He was asked to join one of the best entertainment companies in Korea, SMent and he never looked back. Though he was a ballet dancer from heart, he was breathtaking in all form of dances having learned other genres as well during his growing up years.

His time had been spent well in SMent but he didn’t get his lucky break yet. He didn’t have any grand ballet performance. People mostly knew him and loved him because of his contemporary dance skills and his choreography for idol bands. As much as Jongin held on to his ballet, no one wanted him to perform it.

It wasn’t until he was passing one of the music practice rooms that something caught his attention. The piano was deliberately played softly, as if someone was practicing on their own, picking up the piece. The melodic sound of the piano entranced Jongin and from what he heard it seemed to be a complicated piece. He was curious to know who was the person playing the piano, but he also wanted to know the name of the piece. Even though it was played to perfection, the person was only practicing and kept repeating verses and Jongin was impatient to hear the full piece.

What seemed like an eternity but was only close to forty minutes, Jongin heard a quick shift of movement and footsteps coming his way. He hid behind one of the walls, till he heard the door to the practice room close and the footsteps moving away from him. He came out of his place and checked the hallway before entering the same room that had just hopefully been emptied. A quick look showed no one was present and Jongin released a sigh before moving close to the piano.

An old music sheet was kept on the piano. It was as if the artist had just gone away for a break, leaving the piano open and so his music sheets. Jongin slowly touched the piano and the keys, taking in the feel of the stranger who had played it before he came in. Some of the keys were still slightly warm and it made Jongin feel a bit weird and a lot close to the person who had now left the room. He picked up the music sheet and inspected the score and found little handwritten notes and changes made on top of the original score. Without realizing, Jongin found himself smiling. The person playing the piano must be extremely good to have altered some places in the music sheet. He quickly checked the front and found a ‘Nikolai Kapustin, Op.89 Piano Quintet No.1’ written on the sheet of music. He searched the sheet if he could manage to find the owner of it but he was unsuccessful except for a tiny D at the top right corner.

He studied the music sheet and tried to understand the notations and wondered how the slight changes made by the stranger pianist would change the melody and overall feel of the piece.

A sudden chime of the clock alerted Jongin that his afternoon was now somewhat over and he quickly closed the music sheet and placed it on the piano. He exited the room and moved for his dance practice. He was late for a practice for the first time in his life.

That day, on his way home, he got the ‘Nikolai Kapustin, Op.89 Piano Quintet No.1’ music sheet from one of the company music kiosks, and a CD of the same performance by some renowned pianist from the music store outside the subway.

The whole time Jongin was going back to his place, all he could think was the events of the afternoon- the sweet melody of the piano washing over him, making him fall in love with the unknown; making him wish to uncover the identity of the stranger playing the piano, a sense of connection to the other person.

Even though tired from his earlier practice, Jongin wasted no time when he reached home. He went through to his small studio, changed his clothes and put on the CD he had earlier bought from the music store. The small space filled up with the distinct sound of the piano accompanied with violin and maybe a cello. Jongin was not able to figure out much about the other instruments. The melody of the piano from the afternoon was so ingrained in his brain that he started to find the differences between the music played in his studio and what he had heard in the afternoon. He couldn’t believe his stranger pianist had modified so much of the music even though he had a look at the scoresheet. The pianist from the afternoon must be a prodigy, or so Jongin thinks, because the company doesn’t really care much for classical music.

He replayed the 1st  move and slowly let his body drift to the music. He let his body and his instincts take over, guiding his movements to match the tempo of the music. To an observer it may have looked like a graceful unparalleled beauty dancing to a well executed music performance. But deep down, Jongin knew that the minute changes he had heard in the afternoon brought life to the piece. He was desperate for tomorrow to come, to hear the music again. To find his muse.