Getting To Know You
Arranged Marriage "Why not?" Queen Ming asked her son. Junhong sat at his mirror, brushing his pink hair.
"Yongguk swears he can do better than everyone, but I will definitely get rid of that pride of his."
"Very well," Queen Ming sighed, exiting her son's room.
Yongguk began his practice, early in the morning. He played Beethoven Fúr Elise in the ballroom.
"Very much off key," Junhong commented.
Yongguk turned to him and asked, "How so?"
"You must hit the E not the F, that doesn't give you the right tune."
"I don't need your help."
"Shut up, I don't need to help you, but at least I wouldn't want you to lose over a little mistake like that."
"No thank you."
"Well, if you're done practicing," Junhong began pushing Yongguk off of the stool. "I'd like to play now."
"I wasn't done," Yongguk exclaimed through gritted teeth.
"Well, if you don't want my advice, apparently you are done playing."
"Ugh, alright, I'll play it the way you said I should."
Now Junhong chuckled and pointed out, "It even says E on the music sheet."
"I have a disability."
"What, you can't read? That's just-"
"I have a reading disability!" Yongguk shouted, his voice echoing in the dome shaped room. Junhong's smile turned into a frown and his face expression turned from amused to shocked.
"I...I'm so sorry Yongguk...I didn't-"
"No, go ahead, tease me. It doesn't matter; I've been teased all my life. What difference does it make if you tease me now?"
"No...Yongguk, I really mean it...I'm really..." Junhong scowled at Yongguk as the other burst into laughter.
"Oh lord, that was unbelievably funny. You really believe me."
Junhong, now furious, shouted, "You lied to me?! You disgust me!"
Yongguk, chuckling, replied, "It's the first time I've ever seen you so kind."
"So what, was that some kind of test to see if I'm a nice person?! Huh?!"
"No, I actually thought you'd try to sabotage me even more," Yongguk responded, no longer laughing. Now Junhong got up and angrily stared at the prince before him.
Suddenly, Yongguk felt a sharp pain below his waist, causing him to fall on the floor.
"Be prepared for me to destroy you Prince Yongguk!" Junhong shouted as he ran out of the ballroom.
It was the night of the piano challenge.
"Who will go first?" One of the composers asked. The composers sat in front while King Joon and Hong, Queen Ming and Hyo, and Princess Jeongja sat behind them.
"I will go first," Yongguk declared. He took his seat in front of the piano. He cracked his fingers and began playing Fúr Elise. After thirty minutes, Yongguk finished. Applauds rung throughout the ballroom.
"That was wonderful my dear, you finally learned to play it right," Queen Hyo exclaimed.
"I took a little advice from Prince Junhong." Junhong nodded in agreement.
One judge, impatient, said, "Can we please carry on."
"Your turn Junhong," another judge said. Junhong nodded and made his way over to the large piano.
Junhong began to playing and, at first, he didn't do so well. After a few more tried, he still did not succeed.
"J-Just let me try one more time," Junhong pleaded.
"I think that's enough Junhong," one composer pointed out.
"Hey, at least you tried," Princess Jeongja said with a caring smile.
"Oh yeah! I win!" Yongguk chanted.
A composer said, "Actually no, you did not either."
"Wait, what?" Yongguk asked.
"You did not win. That wasn't a beautiful flow of music. It was horrid," Another composer explained.
Princess Jeongja began to laugh. Who would have thought both Princes had no talent.
Yongguk, after being unable to sleep from the noise coming from the ballroom, made his way to the room to find a furious Junhong. Junhong continued to play the part he messed up on but it wasn't getting any better. Yongguk watched as Junhong loudly grunted and tossed the music sheets onto the floor.
"Looks as someone's having trouble playing the piano," Yongguk commented with a caring smile.
Junhong turned to Yongguk, anger in his eyes, and exclaimed, "Well, I just forgotten this piece. I haven't played it in a long time."
"So play for me then, if you think you can do it."
"Very well." Junhong picked up the music sheets and placed them back on his stand. He began playing, but right when he thought he'd do perfectly, he messed up.
Now Junhong banged his fists against the keys.
"I see the problem now," Yongguk exclaimed.
"You have trouble crossing one hand over the other. You panic and forget the keys." Junhong looked up at Yongguk who sat beside him.
"You're going to help me," Junhong questioned, unsure of if he really wanted Yongguk's help.
"This piece is easy, you really only need help with crossing your hands." Junhong looked down, as if he were ashamed because he couldn't do one simple hand movement. "So do you want me to help you or not?" Yongguk asked. Junhong looked back at his elder and nodded his head. "Alright." Yongguk took Junhong's hands and rest them on the keys. "We're going to start with something simple.
"Like what?" Junhong questioned, blushing from Yongguk touch.
"I don't know, we can make something up, " Yongguk suggested.
"O-Okay."
After two minutes, the two had come up with a simple symphony dealing just with what Junhong needed help with.
"Okay," Yongguk began with a sigh. "Now that we have a symphony, how about you try it out." Junhong nodded and began. Sadly, he failed the beginning and was ready to throw a tantrum.
"Wait, don't get upset so easily," Yongguk stated.
"But everything I try, I-"
"You're just doing it too fast. You must slow down your pace," Yongguk interrupted.
"...Okay...Okay, I'll try," Junhong replied with a sigh. He began playing the song, Yongguk holding his hands and guiding him.
"See, when you start slow, you hit every key. Try that and when you start getting better, speed up the pace, okay," Yongguk explained.
Junhong looked back at Yongguk and responded, "Alright...Thank you Yongguk." Yongguk smiled and made his way back into his bedroom.
Maybe Yongguk and Junhong could get along after all.
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