~~~~~~~

"You wrote a song for me?" I asked in complete and utter disbelief, the hand I was using to hold his delicate hands went slack and loosened its grip. And immediately I regretted it because when it did Jiyong took this as a sigh of disapproval or maybe something else. And that something else caused him to pull back his hand and wrap it with his other one on his lap, his face dropped down and I could swear a pan of guilt rushed over me within a second.

"Yes, Hyung.... I hope you don't mind." Jiyong said so soft, hiding his face once again under his hair, I could physically hear the hurt in his voice.

“No!” I reacted in an instant, “Of course I don’t mind.”

I took his hand again and wrapped my fingers around it and I was relieved to feel those delicate fingers wrapped themselves with mine so willingly.

“I would love to hear it, Jiyong.” I smiled at him but he still had his head down but from the tiny slits in his hair, I could see that flushed face underneath, a bigger smile broke into my face. This kid is just too adorable and too cute for my sanity. I hope I can survive this through. Because right now, my hearts was so close to beating off my chest, I don’t think any medical help could save me if it did.

Jiyong didn’t say a word but only nodded in silence. And I took it as a sign that he wasn’t satisfied with what I said.

“Hey..” I said, “Why aren’t you looking at me?”

I saw my little Jiyong jumped at that and it took everything of me not to just pull him towards me and hug that little black and white angel but I didn’t. I didn’t want him to think that I’m weird or anything at least not any weirder than what he already thought of me.

“It’s a little embarrassing if you think about it. I’m sorry.” he muttered as he tried to laugh it off but failed miserably.

“Hey, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” I found myself comforting the younger one. “Actually, I should be the one hiding my face, not you.” I admitted.

That confession that gotten Jiyong to look back at me this time with a cute little confused look on his face.

“Why is that, Hyung?” He asked, puppy eyes batting at me.

“Well.. it's not every day someone would write a song for me.” I leaned onto him, playfully hitting his head with mine. “And plus, it’s from you.”

And there it was again, that face turned red in an instant I could even say that I could feel the heat from where I was seating, or maybe it was from me? I don’t know anymore. But Jiyong did his best to not look away this time and that heart clenching smile of him showed its self again.

“I hope you really like it, Hyung.” He whispered back.

“You know what,” I leaned back on the cinema type chair, draping an arm over Jiyong’s shoulders, catching the kid off guard in the process, sending him to lean back on his seat as well.

“I haven’t heard it yet but I love it already.”

Jiyong took a second to just smile back at me, lips biting that already swollen lower lip, a small huff of a chuckle came out before he turned back to whoever was talking on the stage. That was all he needed to hear.

It didn’t take long for me to realize the weight of what just happened. With his focus back on the stage, my mind was going haywire in my fat head.

Jiyong wrote a song for me. For me. A song. Jiyong. For me.

Holy .

With my stupidity of leaving my arm draped over his shoulders, I couldn’t escape from my spot without giving him any suspicion. My breathing turned a little faster, heart running a thousand miles per hour, it was suffocating.

The boy of my affections just told me that he likes me yesterday and now I found out that he wrote about me too? Wait a minute, don’t songs take a long amount of time to write and if that’s true does that mean that Jiyong took his time thinking about me? Me? About me? Jiyong?

Holy .

Can’t even think straight. Like I said, my mind was running around everywhere. I didn’t even trust my voice so I remained silent in my seat, good thing Jiyong didn’t took notice on that and just continued listening to the speaker in front. Hell, I didn’t even know what they were talking about in front.

A few minutes had come and go but this hectic feeling in my chest was still evident. It just won’t seem to go away.

“…Hyung?” Jiyong suddenly asked, in a somewhat serious tone than before.

By the sound of his voice, I took back my arm resting on his shoulders and turned my full attention to him.

“Yeah?”

I could see the nervousness in Jiyong’s eyes as he tried to look at me, but it’s cute how he tried to stay calm despite the nerves I knew he was having.

“After this, can I… can we… uhm…” Jiyong tried to look away again as I predicted but I just leaned in a little bit closer, it made him more jumpy but I just can’t help it. If only it was possible I would have attached myself to this adorable kid.

“Can we what, Ji?” I kinda knew where this was going, but to hear it from him would just make my day a whole lot brighter.

That shaky intake of breathe proved how nervous the younger felt and I backed up a little and pure concern filled his entire being.

“Ji?…”

“Canwepleasegooutafterthis?” Jiyong exhaled in one go, both eyes closed themselves tight.

“Wait, what?” There I go again leaning back towards him making him more nervous than ever.

“I said..” Jiyong started, now with eyes opened. “Can we.. go out.. after..” He mumbled, losing his precious voice.

“Ahhhh…” I leaned on my side more, scooching even closer to the younger, despite the damn arm rest in between us, I could feel Jiyong’s every being, I could even count the number of shaky breathes he took.

“But Jiyong, we always to out together you know, when we go home, at the café..” I back, I don’t know where this gush of confidence was coming from but judging from the way he’s being all shy and affected by it, it seemed all so natural for me to do.

“I mean… I want it to be different..” He muttered.

“By different you mean?”

“Hyung, you’re making this difficult for me!” He finally retaliated back, his body finally facing me and I could clearly see those red painted cheeks.

“I know..” I smiled back at him, ruffling his hair yet again, I’m starting to love doing that. “I know what you mean.. and yes, I’d be happy to go out with you.”

And before that smile could reach its full potential on his small face, I added a little something more. “-But, if only you’d do well in your performance later.” I smirked back.

“Yes, Hyung.” He nodded in enthusiasm, those mixed colored bangs bouncing gracefully on his head. “Anything for you, Hyung.”

After that, Jiyong casually leaned his head on my shoulder and I let him of course, who wouldn’t when he’s smiling like a complete idiot and knowing that I’m the cause of it, oh God, I’d do anything for him by now. And if he wanted to go out with me, I would be more than happy to give that to him.

After a splendid good thirty minutes of me doing nothing but stare at the marvelous being leaning on me when said being wasn’t looking, a break from the talk was finally announced.

“While you are given refreshments and snacks from the students, a few first years from the Performing Arts course had volunteered to perform for us. Please give a round of applause for our first performer –“ The MC announced through the speakers, and true enough one of Jiyong’s classmates stepped up the stage.

“When’s your turn?” I asked him, as he suddenly straightened up and picked his guitar from the floor.

“I go right after.” He muttered, standing up quickly from the chairs and moving towards the aisle, he was acting a little strange so without even thinking about it I took hold of his wrist before he could pass me by.

He looked at me confused but he can’t hide things from me, I know he’s nervous to sing in front of everyone. He’s still young after all, it was only normal. But at the back of my little head, I’m kinda hoping that he’s nervous because of me, of my presence.

“Uhm..” My mouth started to blabber before I could even think of coherent words to say. “You’ll do good, I know you will. Just do it like you did the first time I saw you.”

He merely nodded oh so shyly and before I knew it, the first performer had already ended and the MC was about to call his name.

“Kwon Jiyong, up to the stage please.” Surrounded the whole auditorium. Then I found myself losing the sweet warmth from my hand as Jiyong slipped away from my fingers and ran towards the center of the stage.

“Ah! There he is.” The MC immediately announced. “For our guests, our Jiyong here has captured the hearts of many with his beautiful voice-“ Most of the people straightened their backs and set down their snacks, it seemed that they had heard about Jiyong prior coming here. It’s amazing how popular he had gotten even to our guests. I could even see some of the students bring out their gadgets getting ready to capture Jiyong’s performance on their phones and tablets.

I was more than proud of him but, why do I feel slightly jealous? Okay, maybe a little, a lot. This is my song, I thought. I should be the one to only hear him sing it.

Just like before, Jiyong moved into the center of the stage, a shy smile on his face but he won’t fool me, I know he’s still a bit uneasy, especially after what he had just told me. Even from a far, I could see his hand shake as he took his guitar out of its case, and sat down on the provided chair in the front.

He fixed the positions of the two microphones, one in front of the strings of his guitar and the other close to his mouth. With that, everyone could hear him inhale a shaky breathe.

“Good morning, everyone. My name is Kwon Jiyong. a first year, from the Performing Arts department. I’m honored to sing in front of you all.” He managed to say, slightly bowing to the audience and I was relieved that he was able to calm himself in an instant like a true professional.

“..and I would just like to say that I wrote this song that I’m about to sing for a very special person. And I hope that, that person would love this song as much as I had loved writing it. This is for you.” Then there it was, he pulled his head up high, the confidence that he once had when he performed the first time was back and I found myself drowning when he looked my way.

It was only for a brief second but for me it was like countless of long hours. I could see the coffee colored irises and the millions of beauty that they had seen. That smile on his face somehow turned into a smile only for me, in this entire auditorium, with hundreds of people, that smile only belonged to me and my heart skipped a beat, recognizing that smile.

Even though I wanted more, our gaze broke but the spell was still there, it clung to my heart with its invisible hands and kept me at bay. The huge crowd that had now gathered upon hearing Jiyong’s performance meant nothing to me. All there was, was Jiyong up on the stage, about to sing the song that would haunted me forever.

And with his hand, he skillfully strung that guitar of his, his eyes closed, a face shown of pure contentment on the stage. He was perfect. He was the one.

The rhythm was slow and soothing, it was flowing like the soft breeze on a warm spring day. Then his amazing voice echoed through the whole room, echoed through my ears, clouded my mind and swallowed me whole.

There I was an empty piece of a shell,

Just minding my own world;

Without even knowing what love and life were all about

Then our song begun, our song that sparked the beginning in this newfound adoration that I had of him. I always had adored him but this, this took me to another level.

Then you came,

You brought me out of the shell;

You gave the world to me

And before I knew, there I was so in love with you.

Someone save me please, I think I had fallen a little bit farther down into that hole of this one sided love, well actually, no. Don’t save me.

You gave me a reason for my being

And I love what I’m feeling

You gave me a meaning to my life

Yes, I’ve gone beyond existing

And it all began…

When I met you.

There’s no turning back now, this is it. When a short interlude came I realized that I was already at the edge of my seat, my dangling on my chair, my mouth gaped open in awe yet again. All I could hear was the music that my little angel was making and the sounds of my overly beating heart resonating in my ears. Then my breath hitched again when Jiyong begun to sing once again.

I love the touch of your hair

And when I look in your eyes

I just know, I know I’m on to something good

Then he turned his head back to my direction and I was stunned at what I saw. I saw his heart, his heart that morphed and mixed into the music that he was playing, into those notes that he had created, into those lyrics that he was singing. I felt it, I felt it all over my body. It was the most wonderful feeling I had ever felt.

And I’m sure, my love for you will endure

Your love will light up my world;

And take all my cares away

With the aching part of me.

Then the chorus came back up again, as if reminding me what I meant to him. As if I needed any reminders, I know now.

You gave me a reason for my being

And I love what I’m feeling

You gave me a meaning to my life

Yes, I’ve gone beyond existing

And it all began…

When I met you.

My chest clenched even more when he strung that guitar, sending vibrations of sounds through the microphone to the entire auditorium. I could see him slowly swaying to the beat he was creating, feet stomping on the polished wooden platform beneath.

That might have been the best part of the performance, seeing him happy like that, with no cares in the world. Jiyong deserved that kind of happiness, the happiness that he gets from his music and I hope that someday, someday I would give him that same amount of happiness where he feels no hurt, no pain, just love.

You taught me how to love

You showed me how tomorrow and today

My life is different from the yesterday

And you, you taught me to love

And darling I will always cherish you

Today, tomorrow and forever... 

~~~~~~~

a/n: The lyrics aren't mine, it's from When I met you by APO Hiking Society. It's an old song but many have made covers of it in a slower beat. :)