"Do you really hate me?"

Kai tried to force his voice to remain emotionless but a slight tremble betrayed him and he prayed that Kyungsoo wouldn't notice it. He stared into the shorter boy's light brown eyes as he tried to remain calm. They fell into a blank silence for a while and he felt dread overwhelm him. Kyungsoo allowed his gaze to flicker from Kai's face to the floor as he mumbled something, so soft that Kai couldn't catch it.

"What did you say?"

"I said...." Kyungsoo looked up at Kai. "I don't hate you."

"Oh." Kai allowed a small smile to lightly flit across his face and dance in his eyes. "Okay." 

He gazed out of the glass windows of the music practice room and noticed how bright the moon seemed to be tonight, alongside the twinkling stars. He smiled again and his dark brown eyes gleamed in the dark. He was unaware that Kyungsoo had been staring fixatedly at him all the time, a rippling of unknown emotion in his own light brown eyes. 

Silence lapsed onto them as they allowed their thoughts to drift off elsewhere, separating them from reality.

"Is your foot okay?"

Kyungsoo glanced up and looked at Kai. "Huh?"

"I mean... your foot. You kicked the door pretty hard, so yeah. Does it hurt really badly?"

Kyungsoo quickly looked down and mumbled, "No." but Kai knew he was lying. He walked over to Kyungsoo and grabbed his foot. Kyungsoo looked up at him with wide eyes, a shocked expression on his face. "Relax," Kai chuckles. "I'm just checking your foot." He proceeded to gently take off Kyungsoo's shoe and his sock, careful not to hurt the boy. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed the damage. Kyungsoo's foot was entirely swollen with several bruises and scratches from where the skin scuffed. Kai felt a slight pang in his heart as he gently tugged the foot, unaware of the blush that was rapidly spreading on Kyungsoo's face.

Kai gently placed his fingers on Kyungsoo's swollen foot, careful not to apply too much pressure on the bruised parts. Despite his foot's incessant throbbing, Kyungsoo seemed to have forgotten about the pain. In fact, the only thing he was aware of right now was the feeling of Kai's fingers lightly touching him. His touch was like a rapid fire, coursing through his veins and burning him alive. 

"Wait," Kai gets up and walks to his backpack. "I have an ice pack. I have a lot of them 'cause I get a lot of injuries from dancing." Kyungsoo nods dumbly as Kai walks back with an ice pack. He gently places it on Kyungsoo's foot and the boy hisses slightly from the pain. Nevertheless, the ice pack was working wonders as the throbbing from his swollen foot seemed to have gradually decreased and the pain seemed to be slowly fading.

Kyungsoo looks at Kai, an abnormal pink twinge in his cheeks. "Thanks."

Kai grins. "No problem."

He settles down next to Kyungsoo and they remained quiet again, both of them strangely nervous despite their calm demeanour. "So," Kai gestures at the black grand piano a few feet away from them. "When did you start playing the piano?"

A wistful smile appears on Kyungsoo's face and he had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was somewhere else right now. "I started playing when I was nine, right after my mother died."

"Oh." Kai's heart catches in his throat. "I'm sorry."

Kyungsoo smiles bitterly as he stares determinedly at the floor. "She was a brilliant pianist. She traveled all across the world to perform in grand concert halls. My entire childhood consisted of me and my father sitting in front of the TV, watching her perform. Whenever she played the piano, she looked like she was in another world altogether, as if her entire soul had somehow transported itself into another dimension. I guess I wanted to be wherever she was."

Kai stares at his hoodie. "How did she die?"

"She died in a car crash. She just finished a performance in Carnegie Hall in New York and she was thrilled. She was so excited to come back to Korea and spend time with us, but I guess fate doesn't work that way." 

Kai looks up and stares right into him. "If it helps, you're an amazing pianist. When you play, I feel like you're in another world too."  Something flickers in Kyungsoo's light brown eyes as he looks back at the stunning dancer next to him. His heartbeat starts accelerating again but it feels different this time. "Thanks." 

Kai smiles in response and Kyungsoo feels his own heart flip. He suddenly feels a strong impulse and stands up, grabbing Kai's hand. Kai jerks his head up immediately, his eyes locked on Kyungsoo's hand in his own. "I'll show you something," Kyungsoo said as he pulls Kai to the black grand piano. Kai just nods dumbly as he sits down next to the shorter boy on the piano seat. 

Kyungsoo looks at him shyly. "I actually composed this song a few years ago, when I was still recovering from my mother's death." Kai's mind goes completely blank and he just stares as Kyungsoo moves his fingers gracefully across the piano keys, dancing around them, flitting from one key to another, creating a melody of a thousand beautiful notes, allowing them to float gently into the night air. He just continues staring, completely unaware of anything else, as Kyungsoo deftly coaxes the piano to sing silently along with him, to gently manipulate the most beautiful notes out of it, rendering him completely breathless and starry-eyed.

The melody was a sad one, filled with hints of wistfulness and hope, with a slight tinge of empty abandon. Kai could literally envision a nine-year-old Kyungsoo crying by his mother's grave, a little boy playing the piano for the first time, his fingers moving uncertainly across the keys, still unfamiliar with the majestic musical instrument. He envisions a little boy sitting on the sofa, staring at the television, watching a beautiful figure playing the piano, a starry-eyed yet lonely look to him, as if he was pining for reality. 

When Kyungsoo stopped playing, Kai felt like the entire world had froze over and he was roughly shoved back to the dark harsh clutches of reality. "It's... beautiful." He sputters out and he really means it. He's probably never meant anything more in his life than he did at that very moment. Kyungsoo smiles and laughs lightly, moving his hands away from the piano keys as he turns to face Kai. "Thanks." He says softly, a vulnerable yet open look in his eyes and Kai feels himself slowly getting intoxicated within it.

He suddenly grins and declares "I can play the piano too."

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. "Oh really?" Kai nods and starts "playing" it. Kyungsoo bursts out laughing as Kai thumps his fingers clumsily across the piano keys, creating a jumbled mess of notes that didn't complement each other at all. Kai smirks and continues "playing" it, as Kyungsoo joins him, his graceful fingers alongside Kai's clumsy ones, and both of them somehow managed to create a masterpiece of their own. It was raw, it was undefined, it wasn't graceful, but to Kai, it was absolutely beautiful.

Both of them continued playing the piano, creating their own little clumsy melody while laughing wholeheartedly, their mirth reveberating throughout the walls of the dark room and somehow transporting both of them to their own world, alongside the glowing moon and the twinkling stars, as they remained confined within their very own little infinity, separated from the rest and enwrapped in their own glow, and at that moment, two souls were finally intertwined.

Because it only takes a clumsy melody and bright mirthful eyes to fall in love. 

*****

Omg... what did I just write...

I'm sorry for the load of crap, guys. I had no idea what I was writing... I was just listening to a soulful song and somehow all this came out...

Oh well, at least they made up. :)  Subscribe and comment, please! :D

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