❝COMEMORNINGLIGHT❞

“Come, morning light.  You and I'll be safe and sound...

...Too high here, too low here, and... let's see that again.”

Vickie Song was a nineteen-year-old lady, also known as Vic at her weekend gigs, and the Night Matinee of her Philosophy class in college.  The term her Philosophy teacher gave her erupted from her eight-thirty-in-the-evenings singings that were believed, by her narrow-minded schoolmates, to cause perfect 100% grades on her report cards.  The whole campus grew on this terminology, therefore it was not only her Philosophy class who called her the “Night Matinee”, but her whole school.  It was an honor, in the same way she called it “a horror”.

Tonight, the seventh of August in 2001, 08:30 on a Tuesday evening in Seoul, Vic had her eyes and ears on a new composition.  The song wasn't originally hers, but she was interested in the track, so she had the song lyrics written in her song book immediately after finding out about it.  The rock song became a lullaby, and it was what she planned to sing at her gig on the eleventh, Saturday.

Knock-knock, said Vic's dorm door.

“Come in.”

“I heard someone singing a lullaby, and I thought it was my mother.”

“Shut up, Jinki.  If it was your mother ‘singing’, you would be in deep hibernation by now.”

It was disallowed, according to the campus's Code of Conduct, to have “a male pupil visit the females' dorms, and vice versa”.  The Code of Conduct was hundreds of years old.  Even the dean disobeyed every word on the code, especially what was written under Section II, Dean Acts:  “Placing of the feet on the Principal's Table is strictly prohibited.”

Jinki rested his glass of orange juice on Vic's dresser, just right by the door.  He dived in on her bed and picked up her music sheets, analyzing each sheet like he knew what was written on them.  Jinki was taking music, sure, but “learning” wasn't part of his vocabulary.  He was babied by his mother in his younger years.

“Yes... Yes... Oh!  That's a nice line.  I don't get it; what is all...this?”  Jinki placed the music sheets back where they were.  He grabbed Vic's blanket and covered his whole body with it.

“This is a new song for my weekend gig, and it's not an original, sadly.  I just heard it from one of Papa's cassette tapes and tweaked it a bit.  Want to listen to the original version?”  Vic handed her ancient headphones to Jinki, to which he gladly put over his head.

The introduction of the song didn't even finish playing, but Jinki removed them immediately.  “What was that?!”

Vic laughed.  “And this is my version of the song.”

With her guitar at the ready, Vickie began playing, ranging from strumming to finger-style playing.  Jinki listened carefully, and picked up the music sheets again.  Vickie started humming to her not-original song she arranged, eyes closed.  Her friend also closed his eyes as she continued playing and singing.

“I remember tears streaming down your face when you said, ‘I'll never let you go’, when all those shadows almost killed your light.  I remember you said, ‘Don't leave me here alone’.  But all that's dead and gone and passed, tonight...”

Vickie continued singing, and there she was again.  By now, she had left her room and was at the edge of that cliff again, the sea beneath her dangling feet.  She was the only one who can feel the ocean's breeze, and no one ever understood her habit, not even Jinki.  Many times have Vickie tried to imagine a different place—a dark forest, a restaurant in another country, with that person who will be the love of her life.  Just somewhere else.  But all that kept on appearing was the cliff, and the familiar, deep, sparkling waters below.

The song finished, and Vickie's eyes were opened again.  She was back in her room.  Vic turned around, facing an open-mouthed Jinki staring up at her.

With mouth agape, Jinki said, “Wow.”

“Thank you,”  Vic smiled.  She didn't know Jinki had red cheeks because of that one simple “Thank you”.  But, of course, it wasn't so simple, because Vickie was the one who said it.

“Well, sir, it's 09:25 p.m.; I think you should go.  You have a district-wide math test tomorrow, right?”

The blush on Jinki's cheeks faded.  “How did you know about the test?”

“Jooyoung.  And besides, you have to study.”  Vickie leaned her guitar on the wall and began opening and closing the drawers of her dressers.  After seconds of searching, her eyes twinkled when she saw the right pile of papers.

“Here, take this.”  Vickie handed the papers to Jinki and he took them.  Vic continued speaking while he looked over the papers.  “Those are my test papers from last year's district math test, including the review sheet.  I got a 97%, but I guess that's alright.  Study this, okay?”

“Thank you,” Jinki got out of Vickie's bed and walked to and opened the door.  “Good night, Vic.”

“Night, Jinki.  Do good tomorrow.”  Vickie said, arranging the music sheets from first to last and placed them on top of the dresser by the door.  Jinki was already outside her room when she noticed the glass of juice.  She drank some of it, knowing that it was Jinki's and no one else's.

Outside Vic's door, Jinki stood quietly.  He sighed, confused of why he sighed.  He walked away.  Then, he saw Jooyoung coming and interrogated her immediately.

“Jooyoung!  Why did you tell Vickie about the math test?!”  Jinki panicked.

Jooyoung laughed.  “She has the right to know.  Vickie's your wife, ain't she?”

“Goodness!”  Jinki breathed through his nose, annoyed.  “Keep your voice down, for my sake!”

“Don't worry, Vickie will never know.”  Jooyoung walked back to her dorm, laughing all her leftover laughs.  Jinki ruffled his head as he went back to the boys' dorm.  When Jinki was nowhere in sight, Jooyoung knocked on Vickie's door continuously.

“Jinki, go stud— Oh, Jooyoung.  What brings you here?”  Vickie asked, surprised.

Jooyoung checked for any Jinki Lee outside, and when there wasn't any, she pushed Vickie back inside her bedroom.  Jooyoung closed the door quickly.

“Tell me!  Did he tell you anything?  Did he?  Did he?!”  Jooyoung was excited.

Vickie was confused.  “What ‘did he tell you anything’?  I don't know; what are you talking about?”

“He still didn't tell you?!  Oh goodness, he's such a chicken!”  Jooyoung paced around Vickie's room, convincing herself of how cowardly Jinki was.

“You know what?  Go back to your room and sleep.  Get a long, good sleep because you have a test tomorrow.”  Vickie slowly pushed Jooyoung back to her own dorm's door.  Vic opened the door for Jooyoung, who looked as if she was panicking.

“Just... Ask Jinki if he likes you!  Or if he has any feelings for you!  Please, he needs to tell you!”

Vickie had both of her eyebrows raised and replied to Jooyoung, “Yeah, yeah, I will.  Come on, go now.”

“Just please do!  Ask him, please?”  Jooyoung begged.  Vic honestly didn't know what was going on.

Vickie slowly led Jooyoung out of her room and placed her hands on her shoulders, “I will, if you go sleep now.”

“Okay, okay.  Good night, Vic.”

Vickie smiled, “Good night, Youngie.”

Jooyoung went to her own dorm, which was just right in front of Vickie's.  Vic closed the door and placed her Wednesday clothes on her vanity table.  She turned out the lights and walked to her bed.

She stared up at the ceiling, feeling accomplished about finishing her song for the weekend gig.  And then she got annoyed when she remembered how many times people kept calling her “Night Matinee” throughout the day.  

But then, she then fell into a deep sleep, when she remembered the first person she sung her song to.

THIS FIC JUST KEPT BUGGING THE HECK OUT OF ME.

SO... WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS FIC?  I THINK I LIKE IT HEHEHE.

SO THIS FICT ISN'T GONNA BE THE FIRST ON MY PRIORITY LIST, BUT I'LL KEEP THIS UPDATED ONCE IN A WHILE.

THANK YOU GUYS FOR READING!