Fan Fiction |
by chinay
"He's angry at me? For taking his spot?"
HaNeul spoke in a trembling voice. Why, though? KangTa wouldn't do that. He had
been the most understanding person when it came to her affairs. He would be content for
her that she was chosen to go to the music festival; not angry.
"You actually think you could play better than him? You know better than anyone else
why you got chosen over him. Everyone pities you, that's why. Mrs. Park pities you,
KangTa pities you, the whole school does."
WooHyuk laughed in sarcasm, while still strengthening his grip on her left hand; her only
jewel and hope, for it enabled her to play her most precious belonging. However, she
seemed to have forgotten the pain because she was carried away with what WooHyuk had
said about KangTa.
"............."
"You are taking his chance away from being recruited by music academy. If he doesn't go
this year, he won't ever be seen again during his performance, got that? I could just crush
your hand right now and stop you from playing....... 'forever.'"
He flashed his malevolent 'perfect 10' smile, which showed his white and straight teeth,
too frightening for her. She could evidently see her hand getting white, without a trace of
blood. Her knucklebones overlapped and increased the amount of pain. His face was only
about couple inches away from hers, and his entire body was almost pressed against her.
A bead of sweat trickled down her face. She gulped apprehensively, waiting for the
inevitable to occur.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps along the hallway. The person stopped and walked
towards them.
'KangTa? Please let it be you!'
"Don't you have better things to do, WooHyuk?"
It was HeeJun, to her tragedy.
"It's not a manly thing to do what you are doing right now, especially people like us in this
society. Would you want to be gossiped about it? That JangWooHyuk's screwing around
with some tui gee girl?"
HaNeul twitched when she heard her behated nickname. What irked her most about
HeeJun was that he flaunted his social superiority beyond extremes, as if she wasn't any
better than him. But it did work to her advantage after all.
"True. I wouldn't want that, I think I can do better than 'her'."
'Thank God...' HaNeul sang Hallelujah in her mind when WooHyuk moved away from her
and let go of her hand. Finally, something clicked in her brain and told her legs to run; so
she did. With nothing in her mind but absolute fright and sadness.....
"It was about to get better, until you showed up and spoiled it."
WooHyuk expressed his annoyance by frowning. HeeJun shook his head in lack of hope.
"I cannot possibly think that you are still having fun scaring her. I got over it 1 week after
she came to LiRa, but you're still doing it?"
"I can do whatever I want, and it should be none of your business," retorted WooHyuk.
"You know, she might look frail and defenseless outside, but she's quite strong inside.
You can't break her down, as proven in all these years. She's rather resilient," said
HeeJun.
WooHyuk snickered.
"We'll see about 'that'... whether I can break her down or not."
*******
"HaNeul? What in the world happened to your hand?"
KangTa was surprised when HaNeul showed up to the music room during lunch, with a
bandage wrapped around her left hand.
"Oh, I accidentally hit something and it got bruised."
She had certainly become a good liar over the years, lying to her dad about how JaeWon
treats her, lying to KangTa about how WooHyuk beats her up, and such.
"Ouch, be careful not to ruin your hand," warned KangTa worriedly.
"Well, I guess I'll have to miss practice for a few days."
HaNeul shrugged casually. She was actually glad and was willing to use this opportunity
to get herself exempted from going to the festival, primarily so KangTa could go instead
and secondly so she wouldn't have to be with WooHyuk for the next few months to
practice. The idea itself was horrifying.
"Wait a minute....."
KangTa narrowed his eyes to adjust his view of something he noticed about her. He stood
up and started walking towards her.
"Yeah?"
She blinked her eyes in curiosity, as he came closer to her, until he was right in front of
her.
He bent down to her eye level and looked at her eyes very carefully. He still seemed awed
by her foreign colored eyes. He slowly raised his hand to feel her face with the
particularly well-shaped fingers of his. He brushed her eyeshadows with the tips of his
fingers.
"You know what, your eyes are so.... so.... "
He stuttered to find appropriate words, while she stood still and repressed her heart from
beating too hard. She knew what he was going to say and it always flattered her. If only
she didn't have to hide them with brown lenses.....
His face turned bright red when he realized that he was drawing his face closer to hers, in
an attempt to kiss her eyes. He trailed off and succeeded in his deed.
"So... ineffably 'beautiful'...... "
Later in the day, HaNeul felt like she was on cloud 9 because of KangTa's actions. She
rubbed her eyes and still could feel his touch. Unfortunately, she would still have to
reorder her lenses to avoid JaeWon's mom picking on her. She then looked at her pathetic
left hand and sighed from bitterness.
She visited Mrs. Park after school and told her that she couldn't play with WooHyuk
because of what happened to her hand.
"So I wish you'd send KangTa in place of me, as you did every year," she offered.
"The thing is, " Mrs. Park began, "KangTa's not even next in line."
"He isn't?!" HaNeul's eyes widened.
"He didn't even come in top 5 in the audition this year. His play was unbearably horrible, I
was checking my ears to see if I needed hearing aids or something."
Mrs. Park commented light heartedly, but she was grave about the issue.
"But it's his senior year! He needs to go to the festival, otherwise he won't be accepted
into the music academy."
National Music Academy was the most selective music school in Korea, where the
admission process was only through the music festival they hosted. KangTa always told
her that it had been his eternal quest to go to that school, as soon as he learned to play an
open E string. He would be crushed if he were to hear this conversation.
"I'm sure the other opportunities are provided for his talent, but I have to be fair and abide
by the results of the audition I held. Your hand is not severely injured so you'd be able to
start playing again next week."
Mrs. Park solidly stated.
As HaNeul took a bus on her way home, because her sweet brother left without her again
which was nothing new, she contemplated deeply.
'He's just in a slump, that's all. He'll recover before we both know it.'
But her comforting predictions were disproven when KangTa failed again at the audition
for Mozart festival the following week. Once again, WooHyuk and she were chosen to
go.
----------------------------
"Ya, what's happening to you?"
WooHyuk was talking to KangTa on their way out of the music room.
"I don't know! I thought I played well.... seriously, I swept this tournament every year! I
don't know what happened. It's either I sucked really hard or HaNeul played really well."
KangTa was incredibly upset this time. As much as he would've had liked to believe in his
first choice, he knew it wasn't true. Nothing was going as he planned, and this year was
not the time to screw up.
"I honestly don't know. I'm losing it."
When he lifted his head up, he saw HaNeul walking towards him across the hallway. He
felt a gradual indignation rising from within when he saw her face.
"Hi, Kang..."
Much to her surprise, he walked past her without greeting her, which left her confused.
WooHyuk turned around for a split second and gave her his evil smile once again.