Do you know the quote ‘When one door closes, another opens’? No? Well, Jongdae sure as hell does! Right now he is standing outside SNSD dressing room, thanking all the deities and gods present in heaven with all his being. He’s is starting to believe that he really was a saint in his past life to receive this kind of blessing. The concert ended at least a quarter an hour ago which he could say was not really that bad –considering that he’s a gazillion miles away from stage. Right now, he also wanted to thank Kwangmin, sincerely. If it weren’t for him exchanging their tickets then he wouldn’t be able to be in this ‘Meet and Greet SNSD’.

                The girlgroup surprised the fans earlier when they announced that they will be picking five lucky fans who could meet them backstage after the concert. The tickets are electronically chosen then the ones who are holding the ticket that was shown on the big screen will be escorted to the dressing room for a fine-minute session with SNSD.

                So now, here is Jongdae, his heart in mayhem. He’s the third in line and next to him is some guy named Baekhyun. A guy with very pretty eyes and smile. Jongdae was relieved that he finished the song he was writing yesterday. He really plans on giving it to his favorite member –at first he doesn’t know how, then Jungsoo gave him a VIP Diamond ticket so he thought he could use that means but then Kwangmin took it from him and he lost hope. Then Kwangmin’s ticket got chosen. Jongdae really thinks that it is meant to be given to Sunny.

                The door of the dressing room opened and a staff came out together with the fan earlier –he’s almost hyperventilating from euphoria of meeting his idols. Another staff emerged and gestured for him to come inside. He tightened his grip on the SNSD photobook in his hand and took a deep breath before finally entering the heaven on Earth.

                Nine angels shining under the bright lights welcomed him. The angels are seated behind a long table covered in white cloth, some are holding pens while some are playing with stuffed toys.

                “Annyeong!”

                “Hello!”

                “Hi there!”

                “Welcome!”

                The angels greeted him. He approached the first angel seated on the far end of the table. “Hello, I’m Hyoyeon. What’s your name?”

                “M-my name … is… Chen.” He stuttered out as his shaky hands opened the SNSD photobook.

                Hyoyeon took the photobook and signed on it. “Nice to meet you Chen-ssi, are you Chinese?” she asked.

                “Uhh… half.” He answered.

                Hyoyeon handed him back the photobook. “Thank you Chen-ssi, I hope to see you again on our next concert.”

                “Yes…”

                Hyoyeon was followed by Yoona, then Taeyeon, then Jessica, Seohyun, Sooyoung, Tiffany and next was his bias.

                “Annyeong Chen! How are you feeling?”

                “I’m fine… very happy.” He answered then pulled out music sheets from his back pocket. “Uhmm… Sunny-ssi, I want to give you something.”

                “Sure, what is it? Anything but a wedding ring.” She joked and they both laughed lightly.

                “No, it’s not a ring but a song. I wrote it for you. The song’s title is It’s Me.” He said, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

                Sunny took it from him and slightly bowed. “Thank you Chen, you’re the first fan to give me an original song. I hope they will allow us to sing this and add it to our next album.” She smiled at him and Jongdae felt his heart melting. “Thank you again, Chen!”

                After the last member, Yuri, SNSD stood up and did a pose with Chen. A photographer took a picture of them with a polaroid camera. Said photographer gave the photo to Chen and he bowed one last time to SNSD. He felt his heart skipped a beat when Sunny waved goodbye at him before he completely disappeared to the door.

                When he got out, he was still in a daze that he cannot hear the staff telling him the direction to somewhere. He looked at the precious photobook in his hand dreamily. The photobook that SNSD’s hands touched. Yoona even left a kiss mark. He wonders how it feels to –

                “Sir!” the staff practically shouted in his ear as he tapped Jongdae’s shoulder. “Are you listening, sir?” he asked when Jongdae looked at him quizzically.

                “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

                “This is the way to the exit sir, not there.” The stagg gestured for the corridor in his right. He realized that he’s about to collide into a door with a sign.

                                                Dangerous

                                                High voltage

                                                Authorized Personnel Only

                So he’s nearing to be a roasted Jongdae. He mumbled a chain of apology and gratitude before turning to the said corridor. ‘SNSD is going to be the death of me.’ He thought. He shook his head then focused on getting out of the arena unharmed. He’ll save the ogling at the photobook later when he gets home.

                When he reached their house, he found Kwangmin fanboying over the pictures he took earlier. He approached him and gave Kwangmin the box of donuts he bought earlier when he passed by a shop.

                “Kwangmin-ah, for you.”

                Kwangmin snatched the box from him. “What for?” he asked.

                “A token of gratitude… for the ticket.” Jongdae added with a smile.

                “I took your ticket and you’re thanking me? You’re nuts.”

                “Actually, your ticket was chosen for the meet and greet. You don’t remember? Upperbox B, Row I, Seat 22?” he stated and as if to prove his point, pulled out the polaroid photo from earlier and shoved in on Kwangmin’s face –well, nearly shoved.

                “WHAAAT?!” Kwangmin yelled and attempted to snatch the photo from Jongdae but the latter was quick enough to hide it again.

                “Thanks for the ticket Kwangmin.” Jondage said –sincerely –before rushing to his room. He quickly locked the door –and ignored the banging seconds after –then jumped onto his bed; giggling like an eight-year-old. He pulled out the photobook from his backpack and scanned the pages again while slowly grazing his fingertips against the members’ signatures. When he reached Sunny’s page, he read her message.

                                Chen-chen,

                                                Thank you for watching our concert and thank you for the song.

                                                Be careful on the way home.

                                                Saranghaeyo!

                                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                                Sunny ♥

                He squealed inwardly and hugged the photobook. This day is the best day of his life. Ever.

                When he finally got over his SNSD high, he stood up from the bed and searched for a perfect place to hide the photobook and the polaroid. He’s sure that Kwangmin is going to take it again. Closet? No. Bookshelf? No. Medicine cabinet inside the bathroom? Definitely no. Where, where should he hide it? He scanned his room, there were stacks of music sheet everywhere, even his study table has music sheets piled on the side. His closet, half-opened and some of the clothes are creeping out and falling. His father’s violin still safely leaning on the corner, his towel rack is almost falling off. He really needs to clean his room. But before that, he needs to find a hiding place.

                Jongdae did a snap, as if struck by some revelation. He approached the violin case in the corner and opened the lid. It was his father’s violin, he hadn’t used it since he died. The violin that he is using now belongs to his Mama Wei. He carefully took out the violin from the case then grabbed a zip-lock from his drawer then placed the photobook and Polaroid inside before putting it in the case. He placed the violin back then closed the cover lid; securely locking it before returning it to its original position.

                He smiled triumphantly. There, Kwangmin wouldn’t suspect of the place.

                Days went by in a blur and the occurrences of the weekend werepushed at the back of Jongdae’s mind. Kwangmin never found what he intended to get and Jongdae didn’t tell Jungsoo about the ticket incident. ‘It was like a give-and-take.’ He concluded. The high of Saturday Night’s Concert gradually lost its zeal on him as he started to focus more on his studies. It’s only the fourth day of the second semester but that did not stop their professors from giving them a load of activities.

                He’s currently in the music room, playing random songs on the piano. World Literature ended forty-five minutes ago and he has one hour vacant period before his class on Solfege and after that is Music Composition with Technology. The latter is a newly added subject to their curriculum and it quite intrigued him. He had composed songs in the past but he never tried it with the said ‘technology.’

                The fur elise ended, it’s one of the songs he knew by heart. He used to play it with his parents in violin with piano accompaniment. Before he could let himself mull over their absence and his misery in his life again, he decided to play the latest song he composed. The one he gave to Sunny. He gracefully placed his fingers on the white keys and played the intro.

                Then in came his voice.

Saranghae Saranghae Saranghae
Cheon beoneul marhaedo mojara
Geuriwo geuriwo geuriun
Sungan mada deo geuriwo…

Ojig neo bakke moreuneun geureon naya
Neomaneul saranghae jul saram baro naya
Neol mannan sesangi naegen gijeog
Gateun irira geureon geoya

He hadn’t even reached the second chorus when he caught sight of the wall clock across him. Five minutes left before his next class starts. Jongdae cursed and quickly stood up, fixed his things and lowered down the lid of the upright piano before scurrying out of the music room. He mentally beat himself from losing track of time –again. His room is in the fifth floor of the building and he’s only in the second floor. The elevators weren’t really an option now since a lot of students use it and the lift could only accommodate ten people inside. If he were to use it, he’ll be fifteen minutes late for his class. So he dashed through the corridor and through the horde of students, mumbling a chain of apology as he bumped onto some.

By the time he reached the room, he was panting heavily and sweat trickled down his crown. All in all, he was just thankful he wasn’t late. Prof. Kang is one of the craziest professors this university ever hired. One time, his seatmate Myungsoo was late; Prof. Kang made him dance Gangnam for five minutes –and it’s not the whole song but only the horse dance. So Myungsoo was horse-dancing in front of the class for five minutes. And Jongdae wouldn’t be so surprised to know that Myungsoo arrived thirty minutes earlier than him. Prof. Kang maybe crazy but he’s a very cool professor.

Xiumin stifled a yawn as he followed one of the staff to the audition area. Said staff is blabbering about something he cannot understand –and he doesn’t have any plans on understanding. He was about to put an earphone in his ear when he heard a familiar song and seconds after, a familiar voice. He stopped in his tracks and listened to the direction where the voice is coming from.  He looked up and saw an open window on the second floor. He was certain that that’s where the sound is originating. And he’s certain that the voice belongs to Chen.it was not only the voice that made him so sure but it was also because of the song. It was the song he found that night at Taemin’s birthday party.

“Do you know where that room is?” Xiumin asked the man in front of him who also stopped earlier. He was giving him a questioning look.

“Second floor… I think that’s where the music rooms are located.” The man answered.

“Take me there.”

“But the audition –“

“I won’t take long.” Xiumin gave the man a stern look.

“Yes, sir. This way.”

The man –he doesn’t even know his name –escorted him, too slowly for his liking. They were at the back of the building so they have to go to the front –obviously –to enter. They went to the music rooms in the west sing of the building. The music room, he remembered was in the middle. They passed by a music room with its door ajar and Xiumin saw the opened window. From what his mind could remember, there’s only one window that was opened.

Is this it? Is he going to see Chen again? He lightly rapped on the door before pushing it open. And just like before, the room is empty. There are no signs of the man. The upright piano is covered but the stool was pulled out; an indication that someone used it just moments ago. Feeling disappointed yet again, he was about to turn his heel when something caught his eye; it was lying on top of the stool.

Xiumin approached the piano and picked up the object. If he isn’t mistaken, this is an iPod Nano, probably the fourth or fifth generation. He didn’t know that this is still used. He scanned through the songs, majority are classical music, especially solo pieces for violin like Paganini and Bacewicz.

“Sir, we need to go down now.” The man said.

Xiumin just nodded; trying hard to suppress the disappointment he is feeling. He was sure that it was Chen. He couldn’t forget the man’s voice. It was smooth just like the last time he heard it. As they reached the area, a brilliant thought entered his mind.

‘What if he’s going to audition?’

His mood immediately lightened up. That makes sense. The audition is going to start and maybe Chen was practicing earlier. Then before he could reach him in the music room, Chen had already done down to sign up. Yes, yes that must be it. He did a mental applause for his flawless skill of deduction.

But Xiumin can’t help thinking how Chen always leaves something behind. Is he doing it on purpose? No, definitely not. For all Xiumin knew, Chen is oblivious to the fact that he is searching for him. At least this narrowed down his search list. Chen is a student here at SNU, a music student since he’s in the Conservatory of Music Department and probably a violin major. If he’s one of the students going to audition then that would make his work easier.

Xiumin just realized how life wasn’t so easy after all. Now he completely understood what Taemin meant by ‘Life is a because if it was a , it would be easy.’ It’s already dark and the audition ended an hour ago. The crew are now setting down the mini-stage they built earlier. No Chen guy came up. And no smooth voice that belonged to him sang. Now he’s in a bad mood again. Right after the audition ended, he went straight to the company car and sulked as he waited for the others. He pulled out Chen’s iPod and explored it more.

There were videos, mostly opera and solo violin performances. There were also a lot of SNSD MV’s and songs. He chuckled. So Chen is a fanboy. He realized that most of the modern songs he has are the songs he wrote and produced. He felt his heart flutter. He went to the iPod’s settings and confirmed once again that the gadget belongs to Chen

                iPod name: Chen

It read. He pulled out his earphones and inserted the jack into Chen’s iPod. “I’ll definitely find you, Chen.”

A/N: Annyeong! Hope you enjoyed this chapter :DDD

Comments are loved. :DDDD