The halls of Chaminade are quiet as I stroll through them aimlessly. I don't want to go home yet, but I'm not sure I want to practice right now either.
I make my way into an empty practice room, collapsing into an empty chair. I half-heartedly take my cello out of its case to tune it. I stare at the wall for a few minutes, trying to decide what to play. After a moment, I close my eyes and begin to play "La Ronde des Lutins."
No matter what I do, I can't escape him.
Even in my music, he's always on my mind.
"Our song," a voice says quietly from behind me. My heart skips a beat and I immediately stop playing.
I turn towards Seung-chan, plastering on a teasing expression despite my racing heart. "I'm pretty sure it's Bazzini's song."
Seung-chan looks at me with a mischievous glint in his eye. "But we made it our own." He walks over the piano bench, sliding it out to sit down. "So, have you thought about what you want to play for the competition?"
My cheeks redden against my will. "I was thinking... Beethoven's 'Spring Sonata.'"
He raises an eyebrow, grinning slyly at me. "Interesting choice," he replies.
"I remember you playing in the practice room on the first day of school," I respond. "It was... when we first met."
This time, it's Seung-chan's turn to blush. He looks down, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Actually... I saw you before that."
I furrow my brow, staring at him. "When?"
"When you said you didn't come to Chaminade to make friends." I look away, trying to recall the interaction. He continues. "You stood up for me against your classmates, saying that they should judge me based on my music and not my parents' status. You were the first one at Chaminade to ever say that about me."
Realization dawns on me, my ears turning pink. He saw that?
He grins at me. "Ring a bell?" Hoping to hide my blush, I turn my face towards the window.
Seung-chan laughs. "Si-eun, are you blushing?"
"I- it's warm in here!" I retort quickly.
He laughs again, and I poke him in the ribs. "Hey, hey!" he yells, laughing even more. I poke him several more times, reprimanding him for teasing me. "Mercy, mercy!" he finally says.
As the room quiets again, Seung-chan leans forward to whisper in my ear. "Si-eun, I fell in love with you sooner than you think."
I pull back to look him in the eyes. "Love?" I say, my voice nearly a whisper.
He doesn't reply. Instead, he looks at me as if searching for something in my eyes. "May I kiss you?" he asks softly.
I nod quickly, and before I can even process what just happened, he cups my cheek and presses his lips to mine. The kiss is gentle and sweet and over all too soon.
As he pulls away, I can feel my cheeks burning. He laughs, rubbing a thumb over my cheek. "Is the Ice Queen melting?" he teases me. But this time, there's something different in his voice. Something more vulnerable.
I scrunch my nose, trying not to smile at his teasing. "Can we please forget that nickname ever existed?"
He chuckles at my response. "Hey, they may call you the Ice Queen, but you've melted my heart."
At that, I pull away from his grip, laughing. "That was bad. Like, really, really bad."
"You didn't like it?"
"No, absolutely not," I laugh. "You should stick to kissing, you're way better at that."
"Oh, yeah?" he says, giving me a roguish grin. He leans closer, until his face is inches from mine. "You think so?"
I look away from him and bite my lip nervously, immediately losing whatever nerve I had. When I don't respond, he gently lifts my chin up. "So..." he continues, "you won't be opposed if I do it again?"
I kiss him in reply. He threads his fingers through my hair, pulling me closer to him. I pull away slightly, and he groans, resting his forehead against mine. Eyes still closed, I whisper, "I love you, too."
He lifts his head to look into my eyes, almost as if he's trying to decipher whether or not I'm telling the truth. I take the moment to lace my fingers through his, bringing them to my lips. "I love you, Seung-chan."
***
We're walking hand-in-hand through the streets of Seoul when Seung-chan turns towards me. "Si-eun, would you like me to carry your cello for you?" I smile, handing the case off to him. He shrugs the case onto his back, then takes my hand again.
I give him a precarious look. "Why did you start offering to carry my cello for me? And don't say because you thought it must be heavy for me."
He pauses for a moment. "I would love to say it was some kind of metaphor to 'not let the music weigh you down'..." he begins, "but really, I just wanted an excuse to keep talking to you."
I giggle at his response, shaking my head. "You know you could've just talked to me, right? You didn't need a reason."
"Uh uh, not true!" he retorts. "You hated me for rejecting your offer to play with you for your midterm performance."
"I did not hate you!" I laugh. "I just... strongly... disliked you... at that particular moment."
He laughs, squeezing my hand. "Oh, how the tables have turned."
I elbow him in the ribs. He yelps and pulls away slightly, rubbing his side with his free hand.
The conversation lulls for a minute. The streets of Seoul are quiet at this hour, and we're the only two people in sight. Suddenly, Seung-chan pulls my arm, leading me towards a bench next to the sidewalk. He leans my cello against the side of the bench, then gestures for me to sit down. "I have something to show you," he says with all the excitement of a little kid on Christmas.
He pulls a pair of headphones out of his pocket. "Here," he says, handing me one of the earbuds. I put it in my ear, and he presses something on his phone.
Suddenly, I'm hearing my own cello in my ear. It's a recording of my midterm performance of "Sicilienne." Although there's no video, I can still hear the sorrow seeping through to my playing.
"This is the moment I started to fall in love with you," Seung-chan says softly. "I remember watching you perform and being... absolutely entranced by your playing. It was nothing like you had played before. I knew you had potential to play with passion... but that day, you surpassed my every expectation."
"But... it was by accident."
"It doesn't matter," he replies. "You showed me that day that you were capable of so much more than just being the most technically skilled cellist at Chaminade."
I smile, blushing a little. "I've had a musical crush on you since I heard you playing 'Spring Sonata.'" He laughs, taking his earbuds back from me. "Seriously, I didn't know what it was at the time, but something about your rendition was so... enchanting. I couldn't stop listening."
"Well, I'm glad you liked it," he laughs. "It's one of my favorites."
"I think that should be our song," I say.
"Our song?" he replies, raising an eyebrow. "You know I was just joking about 'La Ronde des Lutins,' right?"
I playfully smack his arm, laughing. "Couples in the movies always have a song, so I think we should too."
"Oh, are we a couple now?" he asks, raising his eyebrows at me.
"Well- I-" I stammer, my cheeks turning red.
He bursts out laughing again. "I'm messing with you, Si-eun! God, you're so easy to tease."
I cross my arms, sticking my tongue out at him. "Because you did that, now you have to ask me before I say yes."
Seung-chan rolls his eyes, but he can't hide his smile. "Jeong Si-eun, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Hmm..." I say, pretending to think about it. "Will you carry my cello case everyday if I say yes?"
"If that's what it takes, then yes."
I smile, taking his hand again. "Then, yes. I will be your girlfriend."
He grins, pulling me in by the waist. "I'm the luckiest guy in all of Chaminade."
"I would argue in all of Seoul."
He kisses my cheek. "In the whole..." My forehead. "Wide..." My nose. "World." He presses his lips to mine, gripping my waist tight. I wrap my arms around his neck, pressing our bodies together.
In that moment, nothing else mattered. As long as we had each other, we knew everything would be okay. Apart, we were two skilled musicians - a cellist and a pianist. But together, we became our own beautiful spring sonata.