Two
Yong Hwa

"Ne, Appa, I took care of it. It'll be fine," I reply with monotony over the phone, watching at the clouds above my head. It seems like it's going to rain pretty soon. Good thing we came in the van.

My band mates are already inside the bar and I'm just dealing with my appa now. Despite being a grownup man, he's like a whiny and clingy omma. He calls me constantly to know my whereabouts and whatnot. I get it, he's concerned because I'm all what he has, but it's infuriating most of the time. I'm twenty-tree, not thirteen for him to behave in such manner. I have to remind myself every day to be patient and understand him.

He's a very sensitive man, maybe overly emotional and too sappy for his own good. He's the owner of a music shop that's been in the family for generations. It's very modest but we have our loyal customers and they all know my appa, he even offers piano lessons. It's because I grew in this family that I'm so connected to music and in that aspect Appa and I share that passion, I just don't share his views on life and love. No one can't blame me, though, after seeing what being in touch with your feelings can bring upon you.

People call me cynic and cold-hearted, but I think I'm just precautions.

Appa believes in love at first sight and all those cheesy and taken-from-fairy-tales-and-dramas ideas that are nothing but nonsense. I don't know my omma because she left Appa when I was barely two, so I really have no memory of her, yet Appa always talks about her, about how wonderful she was, how beautiful, how kind and about how lucky he was to get her. He forgets se left him.

The story goes that they fell for each other at first sight. She walked inside the shop one day and when he looked at her the world stopped and he was a changed man because gravity wasn't what held him to the ground anymore. When I was thirteen and heard this story I actually threw up. From that day onwards they were inseparable and they were each other's worlds. Of course, until she fell at first sight for another man and left my appa.

I don't get why someone would be surprised about that, though. If someone fell for another person without knowing , what keeps that person from falling for another as fast and irrationally? I would never trust someone who claims fell for me at one glance. That's idiotic.

But my father believed it, he himself experienced and then was left alone. Well, not alone because he was left with a two-year-old burden: me. Omma didn't only abandon him; she also left me behind without a second glance.

Don't blame me if I'm cynic now because I don't trust love, because I see my father still being a fool even today, twenty-one years later. He still has her picture and her clothes, waiting for her because they are ‘soul mates’. He felt it the moment they met. And he also believes she'll come back for me and will be happy because he's taken good care of me. Since she left home, I've become Appa's world and it's suffocating.

In all honesty, I don't ever want to fall in love that way, so irrationally, so recklessly. I'm afraid to actually feel like someone is my world because that means losing myself and it might sound narcissist, but I actually care about myself. I don't have problem fooling around or having a casual relationship, but I don't want to be tied to anyone and look like my appa does. I just don't want to make the same mistakes Appa did and I don't want to inherit his flaws. I rather be sensible over sensitive, rational over emotional.

"That's good, Yong Hwa yah, the shop is always the most important place," Appa reminds me and I nod.

Appa is away for the week visiting his sister who's in low spirits after her divorce and I stayed behind to take care of the shop and because of today's audition.

I have a band with my friends and today we are supposed to perform for the owner of Requiem, a very cool bar that is very musical-centred in the sense that many bands have started here. They are currently looking for a new band to work part time as entertainment four nights every week, and this is the perfect opportunity for us to get out there.

"Your aunt is calling, so good luck. I'll call you at night to make sure you're okay," he says and I sigh.

"Just a text is fine, you don't have to call three times a day, Appa. I know how to take care of the shop and myself," I remind him and he chuckles.

"I do it just because I love you, Yong Hwa yah. You can't blame your old man for that," he insists and I sigh again.

No, I can't blame him for holding on to me so tightly.

"I gotta go, Appa. Tell Aunt I say hi." And with that I hang up and grab my guitar to go inside where my mates are waiting for me to perform.

I've seen the owner a few times as I've come here, especially when I was a uni student, not so much since I graduated and dedicated more to music.

Inside I find my mates talking to Chang Joo and Min Ha, who helped us to get this audition. I walk towards them and they inform me that Shin Hye—however that person is—went for Mr Park so we should get ready.

The stage is fairly normal, a bit small but good enough. It's at the bottom of the amphitheatre structure and behind the dance floor. We go up there and start getting ready. Min Hyuk sits behind the drum set they have and tries it, nodding in approval. We plug in our instruments and make sure they are tuned and the volume is okay. Once everything is in order I nod and they nod back, signalling we are ready so we turn around facing our reduced audience. I scan the place and notice two other people have joined, a man whom I recognise as Mr Park, the owner, and a girl who's staring at me intently.

Our eyes meet and it hits me like a blow in the guts. I feel like all air has escaped my lungs and I'm off balance as everything but her becomes blurry and she's all I can see.

Beautiful.

It's the only word in my head as my eyes devour her, her feminine frame, her brown hair, her angelic features and those amazing doe-like eyes that stare back scaring the living days out of me.

I look away with my heart throbbing in my throat and a cold shiver going down my spine. Dangerous, she's dangerous. I must stay away.   

Hello again! Did you like this chapter? Don't worry, the following ones won't be the same scene, but the two first had to be like this to give you all context, to see how different the two main characters are kekeke

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Bel, xx