Soundtrack: Miroirs: III, Une barque sur l'Océan by Maurice Ravel and Polovetsian Dances from Prince Igor: Introduzione by Alexander Borodin
"Are you nervous?" Yoongi asked.
Victoria smiled at him.
"Not really."
"Can you please stop looking like a couple, it's stressing me out," whispered Taehyung just behind them, forcing his way between the two.
"We're not doing anything!" whispered back Victoria.
"Yeah, yeah, you're just looking at him like you're ready to suck off his nipples and call him Daddy..."
Victoria's eyes enlarged as Yoongi sent him an outraged glare, however neither had the time to react before Hoseok shoved the Taehyung in the back, making him stumble forward.
"Asshole," the manager whispered under his breath.
Taehyung turned around with the biggest smile, eyeing him challengingly. He was going to reply something smart, but Victoria cut him by poking him in the ribs with her elbow.
"Stop this," she muttered, "People are looking."
Indeed, a few journalists were staring from the other side of the street, and Victoria sent them a stiff smile and a wave, alerting them they weren't exactly being subtle just standing there and peering.
"I just really hope this won't last too long. Award ceremonies can be so boring and I'm nearing my quota of sitting around and listening to old white men lecturing us about how lucky we are to be here listening to them," Taehyung continued as they walked.
The award ceremony was back at the hotel, in the banquet room to be exact, as it was followed by an official dinner. There were only three blocks between the hotel and the David Geffen Hall, and the little group was enjoying the autumn air, walking quite slowly on the crowded sidewalk. The sky was the color of bubble-gum, seashells, and ballet slippers; a faded pink that reflected against cotton-candy clouds, iridescent in the end-of-afternoon sun. Days were shortening and Halloween decorations adorned the front of stores and restaurants, plastic pumpkins and black cats glued to freshly cleaned windows.
Soon it would be winter, Yoongi thought, and the wind would sweep away the colored leaves to leave a dull grey background, until snow would descend over the city and cover everything in white. Where would he be then? What would he be doing? Would his career be over, or would he be preparing for his next concert? He would know in only a few moments, and the idea didn't thrill him for the least. Right now, he could still hope that they would snatch the first place and that everything would be alright.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Victoria with furrowed brows.
She was once again at his side, a bit concerned by his gloomy expression, while Hoseok and Taehyung were bickering somewhere behind them.
How Yoongi itched to circle her shoulders with his arm and pull her close. Instead however, he shrugged, shaking his head slightly.
"My old music teacher called me earlier," he decided on saying, which was the truth, just not the whole story.
He wasn't going to tell her the decision to end his career or not would depend on the outcome of the awards. This was just one of those things that better stayed unsaid.
"I figured," Victoria nodded, "Good news, I hope."
"Yeah, he watched us live, said we did a pretty good job."
"That's awesome! Then why do you look so serious?"
Yoongi pressed his lips in a line, again, deciding on telling her only part of the truth.
"He's not doing so well. He keeps saying that he's alright and that he doesn't need my help, but his health really isn't the best and he's getting old... I said I would go visit him in Korea after the Juilliards are over."
"I see..." said the girl, "It's a good idea. I'm sure it would make him really happy to have you back."
"Will you come with me?"
"What?"
Maybe that was a bit impulsive of Yoongi to just ask her like that to come with him on a journey at the complete other side of the globe to go meet what was the closest thing he had to a father. He hadn't even planned on asking her to come with him, it had just come out of his mouth, and at the moment it did, he had realized he really, really wanted her to come with him. As sad as it was, his teacher's days were numbered, and he wished he could meet Victoria before he died.
"Please?" he added with a coy smile.
"You want me to go to Korea with you?"
"Well...Yeah..."
The girl bit her lower lip, evading Yoongi's eyes who suddenly realized she could actually not want to go with him. He stayed silent, a bit nervous and feeling like he was in high school all over again, waiting for the girl he had asked to the winter formal to reject him.
"I mean... When would we go? And for how much time? And I would stay... with you in your teacher's house? He would be alright with that?"
Yoongi sunk his hands in his pockets, understanding a little better her hesitation now.
"I didn't figure out all the details yet..."
"What are you guys talking about?" interrupted Hoseok from behind.
"Professor Kang," answered the pianist, looking back at his friend.
Immediately, Hoseok's smile widened.
"I love that guy! Last time I saw him, he told me I had a great sense of fashion."
"That was obviously sarcastic," muttered Taehyung with a smirk, which got him a lethal glare from the manager.
"Victoria, did you know he showed Yoongi how to fight?"
The girl turned to her duet partner, interested.
"Seriously?"
The pianist nodded. He was a scrawny kid when he was in elementary school, small, and skinny, always in the music room and a bit shy and closed-off. Really, the perfect victim for bullies. Mr. Kang had seen the bruises and the unshed tears, something his own parents had completely overlooked, and had taken as a personal mission to show Yoongi how to defend himself.
"Yeah, he showed me how to not back off, look at my adversary right in the eyes, put my fists in front of my face and scream at them to get out of my way or I wouldn't hesitate to send them to the hospital."
"Woah," the girl let out, eyes widening, "I didn't know you knew how to fight."
"I don't, actually. I just learned to scare the bullies away, but I never learned how to throw a punch."
Taehyung scoffed.
"Clearly, you got lucky. I grew up in the West of Daegu, in the Gochang County, where kids actually threw punches at each other."
"You guys are from the same city?" asked Victoria, surprised.
"Yes, that's why we became friends so fast when we met at the Paris Conservatory. Finding Korean peeps in there is hard enough, finding someone that grew up in the same city as you is pretty much a miracle," explained Taehyung.
"It was destiny," added Hoseok in an aggravated tone.
"But if you guys are all Korean, why don't you speak Korean when the three of you are together."
Yoongi scoffed, turning to Hoseok.
"Because of him."
The manager pulled his tongue out.
"Unlike those two dweebs, I grew up in the U.S. as a third-generation immigrant and went to study in London. My Korean is practically nonexistent."
They were arriving in front of the hotel doors, which Taehyung pushed open. Immediately, camera flashes blinded them, people calling their names and hooting as they got inside, following other contestants towards the banquet room.
Just like the last time they were in there, round tables were dressed in white, bouquets of plastic daisies in the middle of each one making the room more festive. The places were assigned, and the group soon found their table, in the left corner of the room with some other participants in the flute category. A small stage had been installed at one end, where the winners would be called to get their prizes.
Yoongi's palms started to get sweaty when the lights dimmed, everyone promptly sitting at their places so the awards would begin. He looked at his left, smiling at Victoria who was unfortunately two places away, both Taehyung and Hoseok teaming-up to separate them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Juilliard International Sonata Competition awards 2020, I am the director of the events and your host for tonight, Oscar Robinson, also a member of the Juilliard faculty..."
"Here we go," whispered Taehyung with a yawn, already completely bored by the middle-age British man taking over the mic and lengthening his welcome speech endlessly.
The flutists sitting at the table sent him a dirty look but didn't utter a word.
"I am happy to announce that this year's competition was as fierce as ever, and that it took everything for the judges to choose the winners..." continued the old man.
"Yeah, right, I bet he says that every year," commented Taehyung, which got him another hard glare from the people around the table.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the host invited the judges to make their way up the stage and announce the winners of the flute categories, whose ceremony was joined with the piano-violin duets. Victoria let out an annoyed huff, fidgeting on her chair. She sent a look at Yoongi from the other side of the table, pointing at her cellphone.
The pianist took his device out of his pocket, seeing that she had sent him a message.
Victoria: Do you think they're doing it on purpose? Lengthening the speeches to enjoy us dying with the suspense?
Yoongi: I thought you weren't nervous about this. Stop shaking your leg, the whole table is gonna fall down.
Victoria: I just want to rip the band-aid and know already, so I can stop making scenarios in my head.
Up on the stage, they called the flutist who had arrived in third position; a freckled boy who looked on the verge of crying as he climbed up the stairs to get his trophy, vigorously shaking the hands of the judges. He was smiling so widely it looked painful, blushing in front of the camera flashes. Even winning third position at the Juilliards was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deed, that would guarantee him a place in the first flutist chairs of the best orchestras in the world.
The second and first winners were called, which happened to both be sitting at the same table as Yoongi and Victoria, looking way too happy to leave them behind to join the freckled boy on stage.
"Oh god, this is it," Hoseok muttered under his breath when they finally came back down with their trophies and the next series of judges aligned on stage, ready to deliver the winners of the duet category.
There were some more speeches by the judges, which almost caused the manager to eat his fingers to the bone out of anxiousness. Yoongi himself was not doing a lot better, the idea that his whole career would be decided in the next minutes making his stomach churn dangerously. Even Taehyung had stopped complaining, listening carefully at what the judges were saying.
"In third position, Alexander Miron-Perreault and Lily Chang!"
The two stood up from their seats, bowing a little as they reached the stairs, taking their trophies with shaky hands. There was some more applauds, handshaking and flashes, until everyone settled down, the next judge taking its place to the mic.
"In second position, Nemanja Radulovic and Alexandre Tharaud."
"Yeah!! Fuck yeah!" immediately roared Hoseok, fist in the air and making Victoria jump on her seat, "You know what that means, right? If they're second, that means you got first."
"No way," said Victoria, her eyes widening a bit more every second as she looked at the two men get their trophies.
They actually looked quite bitter about their downfall from the highest place on the podium. A bit sulky, they accepted their trophies with forced smiles before backing off to the end of the stage. The last judge made its way to the mic, opening the envelope she had in hand to read the content to the audience.
"And finally, in first position, Yoongi Min and Victoria Provencher."
Holy shit was the only thing that came to the pianist's mind as a deafening wave of applauds invaded the room. He stood up, feeling like he was in some kind of dream and eyeing Victoria who was still sitting on her chair with wide eyes and parted lips, like she couldn't believe what was happening.
Taehyung had to actually grab her arm and push her away from her chair for the girl to finally realize she needed to walk to the stage. She waited for Yoongi to join her side before they stepped together in between white tables to walk the up the stage.
Victoria started laughing and crying all at once, accepting her trophy with such shaky fingers, Yoongi got scared she would drop it. He watched her as she shook hands with the judges, heard one of them mention she was the youngest to ever win first place in that category.
Yoongi thought he might faint from how happy he was. This was probably the best day of his life, and he felt his heart swell in his chest, so much pride and love invading his body that he could feel his limbs tingle with it. All of it was directed at Victoria, but at himself too, and for the first time in a while, he actually felt worthy of everything good happening to him.
The trophy was made of glass, and his name was engraved in gold letters, as well as the words Juilliard International Sonata Competition and first place.
"Congratulations," said one of the judges, shaking his hand, "You're really one of the best. It was an honor judging your performance."
"Thank you," Yoongi replied, a bit embarrassed at how sweaty his palm was. He stood beside his girl, showing off his trophy and posing for the cameras, smiling so wide his cheeks were hurting.
At the back of the room, Taehyung and Hoseok were screaming and waving at them. The manager was crying once again, and even Taehyung looked quite affected, both of them immensely proud to be associated with such talented artists.
Yoongi turned to Victoria as they walked down the stage, both clutching their prizes. The girl looked unbearably happy, shining with joy from the inside-out.
Yoongi grinned back at her, thinking this, the very moment he was in, with Victoria at his side as well as his two best friends, knowing he still was the greatest pianist in the world, was everything he had ever wished for.
So, he opened his eyes wide and tried really hard to memorize absolutely everything around him, from the taste of euphoria on his tongue to the tears slipping down his girlfriend's eyes, to the weight of the trophy in his hand. He could die in this moment feeling perfectly satisfied, knowing he had achieved all of his dreams and lived his life to the fullest, that he had everything he had ever wished for right here, at the tip of his fingers.