“Have you prepared everything?” an old man talked to his son inside a car.

“Yeah,” the boy was still listening to rock songs from his iPod with an extremely loud volume that maybe could break his eardrums, but he still was able to normally hear his father’s babblement and just responded him by nodding.

“Ya, Jiyong, listen to me now,” he pulled Jiyong’s left earphone and warned him with a serious tone. “you need to watch your attitude and behavior. I want you to always remember that you are...”

“Come on, appa. We’ve talked about it last night, right? I got it, I got it. And I want you to always remember that I’m not a 6-years-old kid anymore. I only do what I need to do and I can decide what is right or wrong.”

The old man sighed heavily. “Well, then. I hope you won’t disappoint me, boy. Go ahead. Good luck in your first day of school.”

Jiyong opened the car door and a small smile curved on his lips. “Annyeong, appa!”

Jiyong casually walked down the hallway of his new school. The new building, floor, walls, and atmosphere that he never felt before. Those strange faces that he never saw before. He sighed deeply with a bit anxious feeling inside. Start over from the beginning again, huh.

He had been moving and moving from one school into another since... well, he couldn’t remember anymore. Due to his father’s job, he only stayed in one school for 2-3 years for the longest time. He had travelled around many countries and cities. He had experienced living in some neighborhoods with foreign languages. He had felt almost every atmosphere around the world, but all of them weren’t the same like his hometown, Seoul. That’s why he is awfully happy when finally his father got a chance to go back to Seoul again. He misses the atmosphere, the people, the language, and the neighborhood, although he only ever stayed here in his first 7 years of life.

He hopes that his stay in Seoul will last for a long time. He is freaking tired of adapting himself in a new place. If it’s possible, Jiyong wishes that his father would change his mind and choose to stay in Korea until whenever.

Nevertheless, even though moving into new places is like a common thing for Kwon Jiyong, he never fails to hide his nervousness and anxiety every  time. And what increases his uncomfortable feeling is his father’s reputation.

“Hi! You’re the transferred student from France, right?”

Jiyong turned back and there was a girl standing behind him. She put a wide smile and extended her right hand.

“My name is Jessica Jung, nice to meet you. You must be Kwon Jiyong!”

“Ye... yeah, I am. Nice to meet you, too,” Jiyong smiled back. This girl has a bright personality, he thought.

“Did you already find your classroom?”

“Not yet, actually. I’m just looking around.” Jiyong continued walking, followed by Jessica. “I even don’t know what my class is.”

“Oh, really? I can bring you to the administration room, then. This school is freakishly big, once you get lost you’ll never find the way out.”

Jiyong simply nodded. “I think you’re not wrong.”

After going to the administration room, one of the workers told Jiyong to meet the principle first. Then, Jessica said goodbye to him and added, “You can find me if you want to go around this school, My class is 3-M1.”

Jiyong arched his eyebrows after finding out from the paper that his class is also 3-M1, which means that Jessica and he are classmates.

What a coincidence, huh.

It was kind of good, he thought. At least he could get over his nervousness because he already has one new friend.

When the teacher allowed him to enter his new classroom, he inhaled and exhaled repeatedly. He is getting used to introduce himself in front of many new people like this...

“My name is Kwon Jiyong. Nice to meet you all.”

...and, yeah. He is also getting used with some whispers and murmurs from those new people. Like what he heard in this new classroom.

“Hey, did you hear that?”

“He is THAT Kwon Jiyong!”

“A son from genius pianist, Yang Hyun Suk? *lol forgive me T^T*”

“Wow, he’s hot!”

“Geez, we’re friends with a celebrity!”

“He’s just a son of a pianist, how can it make him called a celeb?”

“Sssh, stop it guys, he can hear us.”

Jiyong walked down, trying to ignore them. He didn’t notice that he passed Jessica’s chair and suddenly Jessica poked his arm.

“Hey, just relax,” Jessica whispered and smiled softly.

He only raised his eyebrows helplessly, and then he slammed his bag on the floor and sat down immediately on his chair. Looking around his classroom and his eyes caught those people who secretly glanced at him, but then they focused back to the whiteboard.

That stares...

Ah, these people are just the same.

On the first day of his new school, in his own hometown, he got frustrated already. It suddenly made him wanting to scream aloud, but he knew it would be embarrassing and weird.

“...Seoul Arts High School is actually not just a place for musicians born-to-be, but also a place for people who is bounded with every kinds of art. Like fine arts, painting, acting... including music. And you know what? The music program is the favorite and the best program in this school...” Jessica explained from A to Z about the school’s history, and whatsoever while accompanying Jiyong having a ‘tour’ around the building. Well, actually Jiyong is somewhat bored because he already knows so well about Seoul Arts High School. How did he know? His father is one of the alumni from the school. Suddenly it clearly does make sense why his father put him in this school, then.

“...so! How is your feeling about your first day?” Jessica finally finished her ‘tour-guide’ talk and let Jiyong spoke after several minutes.

“Hm? I don’t feel anything.”

“Really? Like, you don’t feel ‘wow’ or something?” she tilted her head.

He is not sure. He often moved around many new places, including school. He met a lot of new people. Some of them became his friends, some of them last for a long time, but some left. Some of them be friend with him because of sincerity, but, yeah, you can count them with your fingers. And it’s uncountable to find out how many people knows that being friend with Kwon Jiyong, a son of famous pianist, is a great thing and allow them to get a higher prestige.

That’s why Jiyong started to not believe in everyone. He started to push everyone away. He began to show his cold side. He started to understand that no one really is serious with him. He began to feel nothing. He doesn’t remember since when he stops hoping about finding a true friend who doesn’t care about his status and whatever he has.

“I don’t know... I’m not sure.”

No matter how much noisy the school park is, Jiyong’s sensibility can hear the smallest sound. Now his ears catch a melodious tune of piano, far away from somewhere. He closed his eyes and sharpened his hearing carefully.

And there it was. His eyes opened and stopped at a vintage-looking building, about 50 meters away from the place he stood.

“What is that?” Jiyong pointed at the two-floored building.

“Oh, that spooky building? It only has an old music room and one library in it. The teachers and students rarely use the building now. Well...” Jessica’s voice became lower. “Some people often hear strange noises from inside, and a lot of students reported that sometimes you can hear piano sounds from the music room at night...”

“Wow, that’s impressive.” Jiyong commented, not feeling freaked out at all. “I’ll go to check that building, then.”

“A-are you serious, Jiyong?” she hesitantly stared at the building’s door. “Alone? By yourself?”

“Well, I’m not forcing you to go inside with me, though.” he calmly said and walked toward the door to open it.

“O... okay. You have to shout as loud as you can if you find something.”

“Don’t worry, you can go to the classroom now. The break time is almost over.” finally, Jiyong closed the door.

Jiyong was so damn sure that he could hear a piano sound from this place. Although it was just a short part and played from a long distance, he could hear it clearly. The tempo wasn’t too fast, but he knew the tune has complex notes. And what impressed him was, the tune was beautifully played. Perfect.

Right after that, a footstep creaked onto the wooden floor, not far from there. He gulped a bit. The interior of the building is very old-fashioned, maybe that place was built since 100 years ago. He doesn’t believe in ghosts or something supernatural like that, but knowing that he’s in an old building that no one knows what had happened in that place before, he was kind of creeped out.

Jiyong frantically opened a door that connects into another room. Slowly, he stepped inside the room and his eyes caught an old, rusty piano at the corner. He jumped and almost screamed hysterically like a girl when a footstep came over.

“God! You freaked me out!” he sighed because the footstep was not from a ghost but a girl, holding a file on her right palm. The girl wore the same uniform as Jiyong, so she must be a student in here. She was small—maybe about as high as his shoulder—and her dark-brown hair was cutted with a medium length. Her eyes showed some bewilderment that he couldn’t understand.

“S-sorry.” she softly said, while staring at Jiyong with an unreadable expression. Jiyong just nodded simply, showing his cold side again. Then his eyes roamed around the old music room and he realized how poor the condition of this room was, as if the walls could broke down only by a poke. And then he saw some old paintings of world’s great musicians like Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, etc. At the corner of the room, his eyes caught some old music instruments that were abandoned; even plenty of them were terribly damaged. Also, about 4-meters-high bookshelves stood firmly on another side of the wall, full of dusty books in each of them. It seemed like no one has used the music room for a long time.

Then... what is she doing here alone? Jiyong cautiously glanced at the girl.

“Did you play it a moment ago?” couldn’t hide his curiosity, he pointed at the old piano, the only one stuff that looks normal inside that room.

“No,” the girl took a short glance at him then she put back some books and the file inside a bookshelf.

“Really? I thought that there’s no one else in this building.”

The girl playfully smirked, “Actually, yes.”

Jiyong arched his eyebrows, “It was great, you know. It was... beautiful.”

“Thanks,” she shortly responded.

And after that, a long awkward silence surrounded the whole music room

 Right when Jiyong would ask her about the music piece again, the bell rang.

“Well... I hope I can meet you again after school. See you!” Jiyong rushed away from the music room, then he walked off the old building. He was kinda pissed because of the girl’s mysterious attitude. Suddenly, he stopped at the middle and patted his forehead.

“Damn, how can I forget to ask her name!?”

Well, I've tried and that's it. Lol.

Sorry bcs I can only continue the upcoming chapters next year, hehe.

Thank you for reading ^^