Exception [Soonhoon]

Exception

And maybe, just maybe, he's the exception to Lee Jihoon's life.

---

It's a known fact at school that I wouldn't make friends unless they're part of my childhood. Wonwoo and Jun had been the only people who managed to get close to being friends with me. I hate people and they have accepted that side of me. They're there, close enough but not quite. I like it that way. They're my comrades. They understood why I'm like this, and they never held it against me if I didn't want to hang out.

And no one else has come closer to me—until Kwon Soonyoung turned up in my life.

---

Weeks, months, and many, many years since that fateful day, I have come to know bits of Soonyoung that made him who he is. He made it easier for me to smile and appreciate life more. He's the reason why I have come to like my life now, and the reason why everything around me changed for the better.

---

I joined a piano competition a year into our friendship. It was the very first time I agreed to show off my skills outside the usual corporate events I play for. Mainly, it was because of Soonyoung and his nonstop nagging. It was nerve-wrecking, and it was the first time I felt like my heart's going to burst out. But knowing Soonyoung's at the gallery watching me. I felt easier-fingers relaxed enough to smoothly play Chopin's Etude Op 25.

My parents were so mad when they found out and I just wanted to disappear. They didn't even congratulate me for passing round one. But Soonyoung assured me that everything will be okay. That they'll eventually see what he saw in me. That he'll make it better.

I trusted him so much, and he never disappoints.

Soonyoung, despite coming from an average family, went out of his way to persuade my parents to watch me perform. I was not aware until my mother told me at dinner how a blonde boy with slanting eyes would go to the company building every evening to send a letter to them, and that I have to do something about it because the boy was interrupting their work.

It was the first time I smiled in front of them. I didn't know the reason back then, but I was so happy I would have cried tears of joy if I could. I didn't even remember what else they said because the only thought that occupied my head that time was all about Kwon Soonyoung.

---

"Why are you doing all these for me?"

I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to know why he was trying his best to make me smile, why he'd stick around such an aloof guy like me. Why is he so comfortable around me when I mostly never said more than a few words? Why is he pushing himself to bring my parents to the competition?

He only gave me his knowing smile, along with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

"I just want to."

---

It was the last day of the piano competition. Jun and Wonwoo were part of the audience. I kept on looking at my phone because I couldn't see Soonyoung anywhere, despite promising he'd come. He even told me not to tell what I'll play for the finals because he wanted to be surprised. I scoffed at him for it. He's heard me play pretty much everything I could except for one-Liebesleid.

Love's Sorrow.

I didn't even understand why I chose it for my last piece. I just felt like it'd fit. And surely, it did.

I played and played, allowing my fingers to glide all over the black and white keys, hitting them softly at first until they become faster, and faster, creating an aura of melancholy all over the gallery. Whether he was there or not, I kept on playing until my finger hit the final note. I was not given any time to think or to sweep my eyes all over my surroundings. I just thought of the music room and his smiling face.

Maybe, just maybe, he made it in time for my performance-the greatest of my life.

---

I stood up after and looked around. There he was, near the door. He was smiling so wide, his white teeth were visible to me despite the distance, and right next to him were my mother and father. They look like they'd seen a ghost. It wasn't how they usually looked when I play. This was different.

I couldn't believe my eyes. They were really here. I would have cried that very instant but I was supposed to leave the stage.

And as I reached the door, I couldn't stop my tears from flowing. I cried and cried like I never did before.

It was liberating. I felt all the pain I have accumulated all these years flow out along with the tears. I cried and cried until I couldn't anymore.

---

I won the competition. Soonyoung was so proud of me. My parents saw me in a different light, finally. They accepted parts of me that didn't matter to them before.

And they have accepted that Kwon Soonyoung changed our lives.

---

"Play for me, darling..."

We're at our apartment. We have been married for a while now. Our living room has a white grand piano situated near the glass-covered wall. It was Soonyoung's gift to me for my birthday, and it was also the most expensive gift he's ever given. The view is magnificent during sunrise and sunset, glorious when I play relaxing music along with the scenery.. My husband loves it when I play his favorites during these times of the day. Just like now as we sit side by side, his head on top of my shoulder as I play a song I usually don't play.

But darling,
You are the only exception...
You are the only exception...
You are the only exception...
You are the only exception...

As I sing while the sun sets, I'm reminded of my husband's words to me-words about how he fell in love with me at the music room, about how he always used to look for me at school even though he couldn't come near me.

"It's because you're an elite and I don't want you to think I only want to be with you for your stupid riches."

That earned him a hard smack on the shoulder.

I remember the day he confessed his love for me-the day he told me how he wished for a miracle to happen. So he could come closer, get to know me better. He said he was right-that I was different from what everyone else believed me to be. I'm just a boy who wanted a genuine connection with people who truly want to be with me, whether if I was a Lee or not. All I ever wanted was something that money can't buy.

Money can never buy this happiness that fills my life right now, and Soonyoung made it possible for me to feel such joy. My relationship with my family became better as well.

And I'm on my way to believing...

And as I finish the song, I know I have made it there a long time ago. Soonyoung made me believe, and I wouldn't want it any other way.