CHAPTER 2: Fany, Fany, Tiffany (데이드림스)

 

(Tiffany’s ringtone: Linguafranca – Girls’ Generation [少女時代])

“Sekaijuu de koi seyo Girls! Ima Lingua Franca, Lingua Franca… narihi—”

        “Oh, Yuri!”

       Saturday, 10 am in the morning, there was a call from Yuri to Tiffany. She put it on loud speakers to let the call be audible even to Eunji who was eating breakfast with her. Yuri was like a brother to Tiffany and was the closest father-figure Eunji had in her life. He spent too much time with the two girls throughout the years that most of his affairs were also their affairs.

       “Fany-ah!!” shouted the man on the other end of the line. “How are yoouu?”

       “I’m fine,” Tiffany chuckled. “What’s up?”

       “We’re having a jamming session tomorrow night at 8pm at our house. You going?”

       “Ah really?” Eunji and Tiffany’s eyebrows went up synchronized upon hearing the invitation, as expected from mother and daughter. “You bet I am!” Tiffany exclaimed.

       “Can I come, too?” Eunji spoke.

      “Oh, hello Eunji! Of course you can!” Yuri happily allowed Eunji. “Bring friends. I want many people here tonight with their instruments. I don’t care if that will cause chaos!”

       “We'll be there!” the two ladies answered.

       All of a sudden, weird noises can be heard. “Hold on, I gotta go, Yoona is dying to play with me,” Yuri said referring to his 4 year old daughter who seems to be throwing a tantrum.

        “Okay,” Tiffany laughed. “See you tomorrow.”

        “Yeah, see you tomorrow!” Yuri ended the call.

        “Yoona must be pretty impatient,” Eunji chuckled, drinking the milk from her cereal bowl.

        “Yeah, that cute kid is hyper these days.”

        Suddenly, Eunji’s phone rang.

(Eunji’s Ringtone: U You – Apink)

“Nae sarangeun U! U! Neoman bomyeon jakku tteollyewa—”

        She swiped her thumb on her phone and answered, “Oh, it’s Auntie SeoHyun.”

        “Hello Eunji!” SeoHyun greeted.

        “Hello Aunt Seo, how are you?”

        “I have a favor to ask you.”

        “What is it?”

       “You just met Kim TaeYeon, your substitute teacher right? How was he?” SeoHyun asked.

        “Oh Mr. Kim? Yeah, he was cool.”

       “That’s good. Do you have time today?”

        “Well it is Saturday so there’s pretty much nothing to d—”

        “Can you show him around town today?” SeoHyun interrupted.

       “Why?” Eunji casually asked. Meanwhile, Tiffany was making hand signs in front of her, telling her that she wants to talk to SeoHyun.

      “Well, he might not know his way around town,” SeoHyun explained. “Also, he doesn’t know anybody other than you and me and YongHwa.”

       “Can’t Uncle Yong show him around?”

     “He’s with me… so…” SeoHyun wasn’t really good at giving excuses. The truth is the couple actually had nothing planned. She just wanted YongHwa beside her for the whole day.

        “Fiinee…” Eunji sighed. “I’ll show him around.”

        “Thank you Eunji! I’ll text you his phone number.”

      “Hold on, my mom wants to talk to you.” Before SeoHyun could object, Eunji already passed her phone to Tiffany.

      Since Eunji just met TaeYeon, there was a huge possibility that Tiffany knew about it. The least SeoHyun wanted right now was to be asked why that man was in town. The thought of explaining things just felt a little terrifying.

       “Hi SeoHyun,” Tiffany got up from her seat and walked away from the kitchen table. Eunji also got up to wash the dishes from their morning breakfast.

        “O-oh, Tiffany Unnie,” SeoHyun stuttered feeling nervous as to what Tiffany would say.

       “Do you still have the Nocturne in E-flat major, Op.9 No.2 music sheet?” This was not the question SeoHyun expected, so she felt relieved. However, it took her a few seconds to realize where Tiffany might be going with this.

        “Yes, I think I still do,” SeoHyun replied.

      “It got into Eunji’s hands,” Tiffany whispered, looking around to see if she can’t be heard by Eunji who was washing the plates in the kitchen.

        “What? How?” SeoHyun became flustered.

        “I don’t know! I thought you threw that piece away from Eunji’s reach!”

       “Oh no, I must’ve forgotten to put that away the studio when I was running through my pile of music sheets. I had so many that I didn’t check all of them!” SeoHyun never felt so clumsy before. “I’m sorry, Unnie!”

       Tiffany knew SeoHyun well and understood her. “Ugh, it’s alright. You didn’t know. I’ll call you later, okay?”

        “Okay, Unnie.”

       “Bye,” Tiffany ended the call.

        Feeling a bit frustrated, Tiffany dropped herself on the couch and buried her face with a pillow. After hearing Chopin’s song, tears fell silently in her room last night. While going through old pictures from 15 to 16 years ago, she blasted music in her room so that Eunji wouldn’t hear her sobs. It had been some time since she poured her heart out and it still felt as painful as the last time she did it. Regret, sadness, and loneliness: these emotions that she didn’t want to feel came rushing back to her all because of Nocturne in E-flat major, Op.9 No.2. Now, all that she could think about was how Eunji found that piece. She can’t just command Eunji to stop playing that song since Eunji already claimed it as her favorite song. Telling her to stop will just lead to questions she can’t answer.

       After washing the dishes, Eunji entered the living room where she found her mother’s face buried in a pillow.

       “What did you guys talk about?” Eunji sat on the couch and snatched her phone from her mother.

        “SeoHyun’s asking for baby names,” Tiffany lied.

        “They still haven’t thought of that yet? I thought couples already have that prepared before they even get married,” Eunji wondered, making Tiffany chuckle and ruffle her daughter’s hair.

        “What did SeoHyun say about your Mr. Kim?”

      “Oh, right,” Eunji opened the messages app on her phone as she finally received her substitute teacher’s phone number. “SeoHyun asked me to show Mr. Kim around town today.”

       “Oh okay,” Tiffany nodded. “You can show him around in the afternoon. Right now I want to just spend time with you.”

       “Okay, Mom,” Eunji snuggled closer to her mother. “I’m all yours right now,” she said like a lover would and made Tiffany giggle and forget about her breakdown last night.

       “Why don’t you invite Mr. Kim tomorrow for church or the jamming session?” Tiffany suggested. “I’d love to meet him.”

        “You want to date him?” Eunji teased.

        “Aigoo,” Tiffany sighed, slightly hitting her daughter’s arm. “Just invite him. It’s a good way to make him feel a little bit more comfortable in town.”

        “Okay, hang on. Let me call Mr. Kim.”

***

      It was 10 am; TaeYeon never woke up this late before. For sure the last time he looked at his clock, it was 8 am. Just when he thought he closed his eyes for only a few minutes, he actually slept for two more hours.

        “So, this must be the life of the jobless…” he thought.

      Still a bit tired and sleepy, TaeYeon yawned constantly as he walked like a zombie to his small kitchen. “Aigoo, what do I eat?” He scratched his head while opening every empty cabinet. Since he just moved a few days ago in this small apartment, things were still a bit messy. Boxes were scattered everywhere and he didn’t know exactly where all of his things were. Good thing for him, SeoHyun bought him a welcome box. Everything he needed for now was there, including food. Looking through the box he found different kinds of snacks and ingredients but the only thing that he reached for was the instant ramyun noodles.

        While waiting for the water to boil with droopy eyes, his phone rang from his bedroom.

(TaeYeon’s Ringtone: I’m A Loner – CNBLUE)

“Oetoriya, oetoriya, Dara diri dara du~ Oetoriya, oetoriya, Dara diri dara du-u…”

        “Yeoboseyo?” TaeYeon answered as he walked back to the kitchen.

        “Good morning, TaeYeon Oppa!” greeted SeoHyun.

        “Oh, hey Seobaby!” TaeYeon cheerfully greeted back.

     “S-Seobaby?” SeoHyun stuttered. Instead of smiling at TaeYeon’s greeting, SeoHyun froze. TaeYeon has never called her that nickname in years—15 years to be exact.

        “Oh, was that weird? Sorry, my brain’s not working properly. I kind of just woke up,” he said as he poured the hot water in his instant noodles.

        “Hah… really? Why did you call me that all of a sudden?”

        “You want to know?” TaeYeon yawned.

       “Yeah,” SeoHyun pressed the phone closer to her ears.

       “I just had a dream last night.”

        “Really? What was your dream about?”

      “Hmm…” TaeYeon stared at his cup of noodles trying to remember his dream. “Well, it was some kind of band meeting with a bunch of people I really had no idea about. They all look a bit familiar… but there was this kid that looked like you and I called her ‘Seobaby.’”

        “Ah really?” SeoHyun forced a laugh. “It must’ve been a weird dream, huh?”

       “Seobaby? How did he start dreaming about that? Is he finally remembering after all these years?” SeoHyun’s head were filled with questions but she can’t just start asking them one by one especially since she knew TaeYeon disliked hearing about the forgotten past.

       Remembering his dream where SeoHyun and Eunji might have appeared in along with the faint-sounding “best eye-smile” phrase from yesterday, he replied, “Yeah. It was kind of weird.”

        “Anyway, you’ve met Eunji already, right?” SeoHyun changed the topic.

        “Yeah, I have.”

        “She’s going to show you around town today.”

        “Why? Not you or YongHwa?”

        “I know you want to be shown around town, but we can’t today.”

        “I can understand that, but why Eunji?”

        “I asked her to. Since you already know each other, and since you’re going to be her teacher while I’m waiting for this baby to come out, this is a chance for the two of you to spend some time together.”

        “But—”

        “She already agreed,” SeoHyun added. “She’s probably going to send you a text or call soon on when and where you’re going to meet.”

       “Aigoo SeoHyun-ah,” TaeYeon sighed, as he got ready to eat his noodles.

       “I’m going now! Good luck and have fun Oppa!”

        “Wait, I—” Before he could say anything more, SeoHyun already hung up.

       “What the heck?” TaeYeon deeply sighed as he stared at his phone. “Did she just set me up on a date with a fifteen-year old? What was she thinking?”

 

***

      “What were you thinking, Hyun?” said YongHwa, approaching his wife with a plate of hot sweet potatoes. “Are you sure that’s the right thing to do?”

       “Ah… I don’t know,” SeoHyun pouted.

       “What happens if Eunji figures things out?” YongHwa said. “What if she starts hating Tiffany for lying? You know Tiffany never talks about him in front of Eunji at all. He’s a dead person.”

       “Ugh, I don’t know. A part of me isn’t agreeing to this either,” SeoHyun sulked. “But a part of me wants to at least see them happy together.”

        “We all do,” YongHwa sighed. “But is this really the best way?”

***

       Eunji met TaeYeon in front of the studio building with no plan. She has absolutely no idea who this guy was before yesterday so it was a little nerve-wracking to think she should be spending time with him today. However, she cannot deny how interested she was in getting to know her new substitute teacher. Although he was a very laid-back and quiet guy, he seems to have a knack for not making things awkward. People like that work well with her youthful and outgoing personality. It will be easier for them to make their plans as the day progresses.

        “Hello!” Eunji cheerfully smiled as she bowed her head in front of her substitute teacher.

      “Hi! Where will you take me today?” TaeYeon smiled amusingly, making Eunji laugh and instantly feel comfortable.

        “I don’t know. Where do you want to go?”

       “How am I supposed to know that, Ms. Tour Guide?” TaeYeon laughed. “I just arrived here four days ago.”

        “Oh right,” Eunji wondered. “Is there a specific place where you usually want to go?”

        TaeYeon wondered for a few seconds and found his answer. “Music store,” he smiled.

        “Oh, there’s actually a huge music store near here. Let’s go!” Eunji’s spirit went up as she heard him say music store. Just a few buildings away was Eunji’s favorite place and so she lead him there.

***

        “Wow, it’s bigger than I thought!”

They were standing in front of the music store called the Mall of Records. From the outside, no one would have guessed that the whole building was actually just a music store. Some people would mistake it as a museum or a mall, but really, it was just a whole building dedicated entirely on music.

        “This is a music store?” TaeYeon asked.

        “Yep,” Eunji smiled.

       “This whole thing?”

       “Yep,” Eunji giggled. “You won’t believe what they have in store.”

       “Woah… this is even bigger than Nagwon Instrument Arcade in Insadong!” TaeYeon just stared in amazement at how big it was. He has never seen a music store this big. “I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this place…”

     “Well, what are we waiting for?” Eunji grabbed the man’s wrists and dragged him into the building. “Let’s go in.”

***

     “Wow this place looks like a mall,” said TaeYeon as his eyes wandered the wide three-story building.

       “Yep, it’s a mall for music lovers,” Eunji smiled as she crossed her arms on her chest. “I love going here.”

        “No kidding. I think I also just fell in love,” TaeYeon laughed.

        “Well, what store will we look at first, ‘Heartstrings’ or ‘Everything’?”

        “What’s that?” He turned his attention to Eunji.

       “Heartstrings’ on the left and ‘Everything’ on the right are the biggest stores in this building.” She explained, “Heartstrings’ sells guitars, pianos, violins, and all sorts of stringed instruments. Once you enter that, it will be paradise. ‘Everything,’ on the other hand, sells English, Korean, Japanese, and all other kinds of music from around the world. Its inventory has songs from the classical to today’s most recent music. It’s like a huge library for old and new albums. You could rent or buy music. I think you could even sell some records you no longer need.”

        “Wow, I could spend the whole day here,” said TaeYeon.

       “So, where do we go first?” Eunji said, as she rested her hands on her hips.

     “Heartstrings!” TaeYeon pointed to his left like a little kid choosing which to ride in an amusement park.

        “Heartstrings it is,” Eunji nodded, making TaeYeon feel extremely excited.

***

      Entering “Heartstrings,” the two were greeted by the scent of wooden guitars hanging on the walls. Everywhere they turned, classical guitars, acoustic guitars, and electric guitars shone brightly in front of TaeYeon’s eyes. It felt like he was in a dream for he had never seen such a large number of guitars in one room. It was totally paradise for him.

      “Woah,” TaeYeon repeated as his grin grew bigger and bigger while running his finger through guitars’ strings. “These guitars are awesome. Most of these are even cheap!”

        “They are, aren’t they?” said Eunji as she followed behind him. “Every time I pass by this part of the store, I feel like learning how to play.”

        “Really? I’ll teach you how to play guitar, then,” TaeYeon smiled.

        “Then I’ll be looking forward to it, teacher.”

***

        “Wow, they even have a pedal section.”

        “What’s that?” Eunji likes guitars but she didn’t really know much about it.

      “Just some awesome effects thingy that you tap with your foot…” TaeYeon knows Eunji had no knowledge about guitars so he didn’t explain much. “It’s for an electric guitar.”

       “Ah… See, this place even has sections for things like that,” Eunji said, as she looked at the guitar pedals. “Wait till you see all the other stringed instruments!”

        “Really? What’s the closest section next to the guitar section?”

       “The piano section” Even though it was a big place, Eunji visited this place several times before. She already knew where everything was.

        “Shall we go there, then?” TaeYeon smiled.

        “Okay,” Eunji smiled. The piano section was her favorite.

       The piano section had a very different layout compared to the guitar section. When the guitar section had guitars hanging on every inch of the walls, the piano section had empty white walls. It was necessarily a much wider room so that different sizes of piano could fit in. Grand piano, upright piano, keyboard, spinet, you name it. They were all there. This was Eunji’s version of paradise.

     The first thing she thought of looking at were the music sheet section. Mozart music sheets, Beethoven music sheets, and even modern music like Lorde and Adele were there but she didn’t want to see those. What she looked for were the Chopin music sheets. She was a big fan of Chopin’s music, so much to the extent that she wanted to learn at least all of his compositions. Looking through the huge shelf, she finally found it—a music sheet book complete of Chopin’s songs. As her eyes sparkled while turning each page of the note book, TaeYeon suddenly landed his finger on a random title. “Play for me.”

      “Do you know this song?” Eunji became curious because the title he was pointing at right now was no other than Nocturne in E-flat major, Op.9 No.2.

      “Not really. I just want to hear you play.” TaeYeon really didn’t know what kind of song he was pointing at. He was still the same man from yesterday who said that he seriously had no knowledge of classical music. He just really wanted to hear Eunji play.

       “Alright.” Eunji walked to the nearest upright piano and opened it. She laid the music sheet on the piano and properly sat on her seat. Eunji started playing.

     “Oh,” TaeYeon’s eyes became wide open. “This was the song that you were playing yesterday before I entered the studio.”

        “Yeah, that’s right,” Eunji nodded without breaking her eyes from the music sheet.

       “This is a really nice song.” TaeYeon’s mouth was slowly opening out of amazement without him knowing.

         “Yeah it is.”

        “You should teach me how to play this song.”

        “Teach you?” Eunji glanced at him.

        “Yeah,” TaeYeon nodded. “I want to learn that.”

        “I thought you didn’t know how to play piano.”

        “I don’t. But still, I want to try.”

        “Okay then, I will.” Once again, Eunji stopped near the ending for she still could not play it.

        “Why’d you stop?” TaeYeon asked.

        “The last part is still kind of hard for me to do.”

        “Why?”

        “I don’t know why, but it just is. I mean, I can read the notes properly, but my hands just can’t seem to follow.”

       “Oh, you’ll master it in time.” He gave her a warm smile as he patted her back. He knew Eunji just found that music sheet yesterday, yet she was already playing almost the whole song fluently. Those were the kind of musicians that he liked seeing play the most.

        Three hours have passed and they have finally gone through all the sections of “Heartstrings.” From the guitars to the foreign stringed instruments, they loved every section of it. It felt as though they have only been there for a while, but actually, the sun was already about to go down.

        “Oh, it’s already 5:37.” TaeYeon looked at his watch. “We’ve been there that long?”

       “Eii, that was nothing,” Eunji laughed. “The first time I came here on my own, I was in there all day that my mom thought I was missing. Hahaha, a hectic event of the past… it was fun for me, though!”

        “Jinjja?!” TaeYeon looked at her in disbelief and Eunji just nodded.

        “Aigoo.” TaeYeon laughed.

      “Shall we go to ‘Everything’ before we eat?” Eunji said, pointing to the big music library just across “Heartstrings”.

        “Sure.”

       Everything really looked like a library—a really cool music library. At the end of each shelf were small screens that showed the artists/album placed in the row. There was also the main computer near the front desk where you can search if they have the album that you want. This made it easier for the buyer to find what he was looking for.

        “What kind of genre do you want to check first?” Eunji also knows this huge store well. She and her friends have been here too many times before.

        “I don’t know. I’ll just follow you.”

       “Okay, most recent songs it is,” Eunji smiled and walked to the small section of the most recent songs. This is where you would find the newest releases from all arou