Finding the Right Words

Chapter 23- Sheet Music?

When I found where we had parked the car, Ahjumma had fallen asleep inside. She reprimanded me, saying that she had been there for hours waiting for me, and that I had disappointed her. I felt extremely terrible.

"I got lost" was all I could say. Which was actually true, in a way. I had gotten lost, but that wasn't what took me so long.

The camera crew had returned to the car before I did, since they couldn't find me. They didn't say anything about Donghae grabbing my hand and running away, though. I couldn't tell what they thought of it. They didn't say anything about it at all.

We rode back to the farm in silence. I couldn't think of anything but Donghae's expression as he looked over the water. What was he thinking of? His father? His members? He seemed so peaceful, so honest. But he was so silly and loud when I'd seen him in Seoul. He'd be different then, I somehow knew. 

Even when we returned back to the farm and I was assigned a lifetime (Okay, not really), of chores as punishment for making Ahjumma wait, I kept thinking of that beautiful place by the ocean and a completely different Donghae from the one I knew. My heart had been about to burst then. Even if I went back to Seoul and left all of this behind, I knew that I'd never forget that time by the ocean, a quiet moment with just me and one of the members, in a secret place he called his own. A secret shared. All the while, as I shoveled manure and organized the barn, I hummed a tune to myself I couldn't remember ever hearing before. Had I made it up?

It started to rain halfway through the day, so we all had to come inside. Grateful for the opportunity, I went straight to my room and wrote down the words that were flooding through my head. That was how all of my songs were written. satisfied with the way they had turned out, I pulled out my ukulele and began to play it, using the tune in my head. Like waves on the rocks.

I played it again and again for hours until it sounded just about right. I sang the words, and plucked out notes on the ukulele. I could only wonder if this was how Henry had composed his songs. Or Donghae, too. Both of them wrote and composed songs, I knew. but I'd never written music. Actually, I didn't quite know how. I'd always just written lyrics. 

"Minsung! Come out for dinner!" I heard Mr. Kim call from the hall. I took my ukulele with me, setting it on the side of the room, so it wouldn't get stepped on while we ate dinner. 

Everyone wanted to know how I had gotten lost at the market. Everyone made fun of me. I didn't take offense to it, really; they were just teasing. But then they said that i should be more careful next time. I didn't tell them that I hadn't gotten lost in the city exactly. My camera crew knew that, but as far as i could see, they weren't telling. 

Finally, Ahjumma cleared the table of dishes, and I retrieved my ukulele. "Umm, I know I made a lot of trouble today, and I'm really sorry for that. So, to apologize, I hope you'll listen to this song I wrote. I don't have much experience in writing songs, and I just started this today, so please don't mind that it's not perfect. Or that my Korean isn't 100%. So, umm, anyway, I thought I'd call this song 'A Dream By the Sea'. 

I started singing the soft Korean words, feeling my heart beat softer at the memories.

"A warm autumn day,

in a town by the sea-

The smell of salt

and freshly-caught fish.

I thought I was alone

in a crowd full of people.

But I feel a hand on my wrist,

and a voice in my ear.

'I have something to show you,'

says the familiar voice.