Chapter Text
Ten days since the piano lessons has started, Jeongwoo seems to catch up a lot more better than three days ago. It is still a work in progress, he still doesn’t know what piece he should play for his grandfather. And he is thinking of easier songs to play, knowing how he only have limited time to prepare.
Learning the basics is certainly different from learning a whole piano pieces. If it took Jeongwoo at least nine days to learn the piano basics, what more if he has to memories the notes of a whole musical piece.
“What do you think I should play for my grandfather’s birthday?” Jeongwoo asked Doyoung when he was about to leave.
Doyoung eyes traveled around the living room, thinking of possible songs that I should learn. His eyes went back to look at my direction, he smiled but not the usual teasing smile he used to wear, this time it is more of a smile of hesitation.
“Your grandfather’s favorite piano piece is Yiruma’s River Flows In You.” He shared to me.
It is a new information to me. How can he not know his grandfather’s favorite piano piece. Is it because he don’t have any interest in piano or any musical instruments at all? And also how come he knows Jeongwoo’s grandfather’s favorite more than the grandson does?
“Then teach me that. If that’s my grandfather’s favorite then that’s what I should probably play on his birthday.” He said confidently, even though he has no idea of how complicated the song is.
He let out a laughter after hearing what Jeongwoo said. The younger was wondering what’s the reason for his sudden burst of laughter. He probably thinks that the younger is ridiculous? Is that song really hard that he probably think Jeongwoo is being overconfident? Doyoung stops himself from laughing, slowly catching his breath.
“Why are you laughing? Is there anything funny in what I said earlier?” The tanned skin boy asked.
Doyoung smiles before answering the question. “Nope, nothings funny with the question. But the thing is, you probably need to pray to God religiously, do some sort of rituals and do some fasting.”
His words confused the younger. Why would he need those? Will that really help him learn the piece? And what’s the relevance of all those religious stuff he said to playing the piano on his grandfather’s birthday?
“I’m sorry I don’t understand. Can you please explain in baby language?” He asked once again.
“It means you are wishing for the impossible thing to happen. Cos as far as I remember it took me five months until I can flawlessly play that piece. And you are a beginner, I doubt you can learn the whole song within two and a half weeks.” Jeongwoo frowned after knowing it is impossible in my case to learn it within two weeks.
“Then I guess I’ll just play twinkle twinkle little star, it is easier right.” I really feel discouraged right now, is it even possible for me to learn a song within two weeks? He asked himself, why did he accept this stupid request from his grandfather. If only he had declined it on the first place he wouldn’t have a problem now.
Doyoung seemed to notice how stressed Jeongwoo is right now. His eyes looked so apologetic. But he shouldn’t be apologetic right? He is only saying the truth. And Jeongwoo appreciates his honesty. The younger would like to hear the truth more than any false hopes.
“But you know we can try. Theirs a much less complicated version of that song. We can try making you learn that. And also you don’t have to play the whole song. Don’t look down, okay! I’ll help you so you have to believe in yourself. Don’t mind what I said earlier. I will help you no matter what.” The youngest Kim pats Jeongwoo’s shoulders, trying to encourage him.
Jeongwoo smiles at the encouragement. He knows to himself that it is impossible and he had thought of giving up. But Doyoung’s encouragement every time that their piano lessons has ended had kept him going. His words of encouragement has left a huge impact in Jeongwoo.
Not long after the conversation has ended, Jeongwoo’s driver arrived. Doyoung walked with Jeongwoo up to their mansion’s parking, leaving only when the driver has started driving outside of the mansion’s tall gates.
“Oh my god!” Jeongwoo shouts once he opened the doors to his room and an image of a boy, sleeping peacefully on his bed was the first thing he saw.
The boy who was laying on the tanned skin boy’s bed while facing the windows of Jeongwoo’s room rolled over to shift the direction where his body is facing. The boy opens his eyes and yawns.
“Good evening, I was waiting for you since 5 pm.” Jeongwoo hears the boy speak, there was no light in the room that’s why he can’t see his face clearly but the voice was so recognizable. It was his boyfriend, Haruto.
Jeongwoo pushes the buttons on the side of the door to open the lights. The moment the lights started to illuminate the room, a smile from his boyfriend has welcomed him. Jeongwoo walks to his bed. He sat on the edge, sitting only few inches away from his boyfriend.
Haruto locks Jeongwoo on his embrace. He hugs the younger from his waist, while the younger was combing the elder’s hair. He sniffs on his boyfriend’s clothes. And Jeongwoo tried to move away from his embrace.
“Hey stop. I don’t think I smell good right now.” The younger tried to protest but nothing’s gonna stop Haruto.
“Don’t worry you still smell good. And no matter how bad you smell, I will still love you.” Haruto said, making the younger blush after his words. Jeongwoo looks away, trying to not show to the elder that he is currently blushing.
“Then should I not take a bath for a whole month to see if what you are saying is true?” Jeongwoo jokes, making Haruto laugh at his question.
“Do it then. Don’t take a bath for a month, and see that I am true to my words. But I doubt that you will do it. You are obsess with cleanliness and your family will probably despise you, knowing it wouldn’t fit with their perfect image.” Jeongwoo was saddened after hearing the word ‘perfect image’ again. There’s a change in his mood, and it would be hard for him to hide it to the other.
That perfect image that they are protecting has been limiting Jeongwoo all his life. He wants to do some things but remembering that he has to maintain being perfect for his family makes him set aside the things he wants to try. He always puts his family before him, his family’s image before his happiness, so selfless many would say.
And this whole piano thing has been bugging him since the start. He feels pressured and eager to learn as fast as he could. He wants to give his family what they wanted. He doesn’t want to get his family into shame, he doesn’t want to mess up.
“Why are you frowning, baby? Anything on your mind? How was your day?” Haruto changes his position, now sitting beside the younger while hands still embracing Jeongwoo’s waist. Haruto tries to cheer up the younger as he plants a kiss on Jeongwoo’s cheeks. The younger smiles after that, Haruto was glad that the kiss seemed an effective way of removed the sad expression from his boyfriend.
“No, there’s no problem. Just thinking of some things. And to answer the last question, my day went fine. Even better now that I’m here with you.” The younger replied.
Haruto releases the younger from his embrace. He stands up, leaving the bed. He grabbed the hands of his boyfriend and pulled him to stand up too. Jeongwoo lets Haruto pull him, he stands up and now they are standing next to each other. Haruto engulfs Jeongwoo’s hand with his.
”You promised the other day that we will bake cookies tonight right. Let’s do it now. I want to help you bake the cookies.” Haruto mentions the promise that the younger made.
Jeongwoo pinches the other’s cheeks using his other hand. “Then let’s go bake the cookies. The baby gets what the baby wants.” The younger pinches his boyfriend’s cheeks for another time.
“Stop babying me, you are the baby here.” Haruto poked Jeongwoo’s cheeks and the younger grabbed on Haruto’s finger and acted like he is about to bite it.
He lets go the elder’s finger and decided to pinch Haruto’s cheeks for the third time. “Shut up, you are the only baby here.” He says to him.
The two of them proceeded to leave the room and headed towards the kitchen of the mansion. Good thing they can move around freely today since Jeongwoo’s mother is not around.
Haruto said that he will help the younger bake cookies, but it didn’t happened as planned. Jeongwoo was afraid that his boyfriend might burn the whole kitchen so he said that he should just watch him bake the cookies.
All the elder did was cling onto Jeongwoo, wipe his sweat, and adore the younger while he was baking. Haruto can’t help but fall in love with the guy in front of him right now. Jeongwoo is a hundred times more attractive when he is so focused, so passionate in the things he does.
Once the cookies were done, Jeongwoo brings them out from the oven. He was so careful not to touch the hot oven and also avoiding the cookies from falling on the floor. Haruto waits on the table as Jeongwoo places the cookies on the table. The younger removes his gloves and sits in front of Haruto.
The elder gets one cookie from the tray. Jeongwoo watches him, waiting for his reaction or comment of how is the cookie. The younger has always been nervous when it comes to letting people get a taste of the things he bake, what more if it is his boyfriend.
The elders takes a bite of the cookie. Jeongwoo’s silence was so loud, and Haruto seemed to notice that the younger is waiting for his reaction. “Wow!” The elder speaks even though his mouth is still full, he doesn’t want to keep Jeongwoo from waiting for his reaction.
“The cookies are great. Just like how I expected them to taste like. I’m so lucky to have a boyfriend that cooks and bakes so well. I can eat this all night long.” Haruto comments once he was done with the first cookie.
“Thank you for the compliment. But no, I won’t let you eat cookies all night long. You should control yourself when it comes to sweets.” Jeongwoo tries to pull the tray away from Haruto but the elder already had a hold on it, so Jeongwoo wasn’t able to get the tray away from him.
Haruto continues to eat the cookies that Jeongwoo made. The younger only watches him while he is eating. Then suddenly, he thought of the situation that happened few days ago. It was when Doyoung offered to drive him home and Haruto was there waiting for him at the doors.
He was so confused. During the three days, he never got to ask either of the two. How did Haruto know Doyoung, and how did Doyoung knew Haruto? Another question in his mind is, why did Haruto reacted that way? Why does it seem that there is a tension between the two.
“Haruto, I have something I wanted to ask since three days ago.” Jeongwoo shares his thoughts to his boyfriend.
Haruto was about to grab another cookie from the tray but decided no to do so and leans forward, much closer now to the younger that was in front of him.
”What is it babe?” Haruto anticipates for the question.
Jeongwoo breaths before he decided to ask the question he has in mind. “What happened three days ago? I mean you seem to know Doyoung, how did you come to know him? And why did you acted like that three days ago?”
Haruto drops the smile he had earlier. All he has right now is nothing but a serious and very intimidating face.
“First, yeah I know who Kim Doyoung is. And I can only count within my hands the good things I can say about him. And second, why did I acted like that three days ago? Babe, he was calling you princess, and you don’t expect me not to react that way when someone is flirting with my boyfriend.” Haruto’s seriousness had sent chills to the younger. The last time he saw him like this was three days ago. Is Doyoung that bad that it triggers the intimidating side of Haruto?
“But I think he was just joking and not flirting with me. He seems like the type of person to joke around people like that.” Jeongwoo tries to convince his boyfriend that it’s nothing he should be mad about.
“But that doesn’t mean we should tolerate it.” Jeongwoo sighs. Haruto is right, he shouldn’t tolerate it when Doyoung is acting like that.
“Then I won’t tolerate it. I asked him to tone it down few days ago, But he didn’t stop. So I’ll ask him again to stop calling me princess and other names besides my given name.” Jeongwoo promised Haruto. But the elder still looks so serious and intimidating. He was so quiet that Jeongwoo feels like the room is empty.
“Can you stop the lessons with him? Stop meeting with him. Stop seeing him every day.” Haruto finally speaks again. Jeongwoo didn’t know how to respond to this, it would be hard for Jeongwoo not to go to piano lessons when it was only Doyoung who is helping him with his grandfather’s wish.
“You know I can’t do that right? How can I stop meeting him? He is helping me learn piano. I can’t just stop everything because you said so, Haruto.” Jeongwoo is still calm, it’s not like they are having an argument but still, Jeongwoo feels like Haruto is not being considerate right now. “Tell me why you hate him and if it convinces me, I will stop the lessons with him and find another person to help me.” Jeongwoo said.
“I’ll tell you next time. It’s a long story and I don’t think I’m ready to share it now.” Haruto responded.
“Then the piano lessons with him will continue.” Jeongwoo declares, and Haruto feels defeated, he sighed heavily, if only he can share to Jeongwoo everything right now. But he can’t, he is not ready yet.
“Okay, okay, your lessons with him won’t stop. Just promise me one thing, you won’t let him flirt with you and if you don’t talk to him if it’s not about the piano lessons.” Haruto reaches out for the hands of the younger, he holds it tightly and leaves a soft kiss.
“You don’t have to worry about him flirting with me. It’s only you and will always be you, Haruto.” This time, it was the younger who leaves a kiss on the elder’s hand.