youth | chensung

5

  I was relaxing in my room after dinner when the doorbell rang. Naturally, my mother called me to get it. I brushed my hair back with my hand, straightening out my shirt before I greeted whoever was behind the door. I guessed it was Jisung since I hadn't spoken to him yet that day, but when I swung open the door, I was met with my neighbor Aecha. 

"Hi, is this a bad time?" she smiled warmly. 

"Uh, no. It's perfect timing." we stood there awkwardly looking at each other and smiling like idiots—or at least, I was smiling like an idiot. Her hair was tied half-up with a ribbon and she wore a pair of high-waisted jeans and a periwinkle shirt with lace around the collar. 

"Don't let her stand there! Invite her in!" My mother's booming voice interrupted out stare-off. 

"Oh, uh. Do you—would you like to come in?" Aecha nodded shly, so I made room for her to walk past me. 

"Here, for your family." She held up a basket of fruit that I hadn't noticed were in her hands because of how hard I was staring at her face. I awkwardly smiled at her unsure of what to say or even if it was okay to accept her gift, but my mother walked through and took it from Aecha's hands, thanking her herself before giving me a look that said: you'd better not act like this.

  I felt heat surging to my cheeks. Why was I being so awkward?

 "Have some refreshments." My mother came back after setting the fruit on our dining table with two glasses or some kind of berry fruit tea. 

"Thank you." Aecha thanked her politely. 

  I looked around the room, unwilling to hold anymore eye contact with the girl. I met eyes with my mother who tilted her head aggressively towards the direction of my room. 

"Oh, uh, I'll show you my room." She followed me down the hallway to my room. I hadn't decorated it much as I liked to keep things simple, so there wasn't really much to see. All I had was a basic white desk for my studies and chair to go with the desk on the right side of the room. 

  Beside it, I had a white cube bookcase which I hadn't had the chance to fill yet. It only had a few books I'd brought, a fake plant my mother had gotten for me to make my room livelier and photo of my closest friends Kun, Xiaojun and I on a day at the beach. I remembered that day vividly.

  The memory was so vivid, I could practically feel the sun on my skin and smell the sea water around me. Plus, the feeling of being pelted by beach balls. I smiled at the memory. 

"Oh, do you play piano?" I'd almost forgotten Aecha was there. 

"Oh, yeah." I said as if I'd forgotten.

  She was infront of my black, grand piano in the corner of the room, near my trundle bed. Besides that, I had a TV installed infront of my bed, a dresser, a mirror and a closet. Pretty simple, but that's how I liked it. 

"Can you play me something?" She asked and I was glad she had, I wasn't feeling very motivated to play recently, but she gave me a reason to want to play again. The thought of someone actually wanting to hear my play put a warm feeling in my chest. A lot of things Aecha said or did gave me that same warm feeling. It was hard to decipher what it was, but it didn't matter. I just knew I loved being around her. 

  I sat down on the bench and stretched my fingers accross the keys. They automatically started playing the song I had practiced the most out of muscle memory: Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

  I relaxed as my fingers led the way from one key to another. My fingers glided across the keys as if I had compose the song myself. Each chord came out better than the last as I played the song with preciseness.