SONG ABOUT US || Lee Juyeon || Singer AU

Chapter 36; Crescent

I anxiously held the package, not ready for what's inside.

"Whatcha got there?"
I ran my hands through the package. There was something square-shaped inside.

"Hey...Yoona." I looked up. "Who's sending you post?" Asked Changmin. I stare, again, at the handwriting on the front.

"Juyeon."

Their mouths fell open.
"No...way," muttered Changmin.
"Why would he?" gasped Haknyeon.
Changmin drummed his hands on the bed. "Open it, then."

"What?" My hand was on my mouth.
"Open it, dinkus." Said the two with twinkling puppy eyes.

I'd been wrong about Juyeon again. I'd accused him of lying, cheating, and only caring about himself.

I'd made the same mistake he warned me against, on that empty stage in Starling.
Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

"Yoona, you are killing me here."
"Sorry. I..." I'd gone too far this time, surely. How could he forgive me after the things I'd said?

I crossed over to the bed, sat down opposite Changmin and Haknyeon, and tore the seal on the envelope.

Reaching inside, I pulled out the square-shaped object. It was a CD, in a plastic case.

The case was battered and scratched and had a long crack along with the front panel.

The album cover, which looked amateurish, maybe even homemade, was a deep shade of red, with three words printed across it in a spidery white font.

Little Blue Boy.

"Oh my god..."
"What?" I opened the case, revealing the CD. Light from my bedside lamp glinted off the shiny surface in a rainbow of colors.

"What is it?"
"It's a band Juyeon told me about. His father's band."

"Wait... that's where the lyrics from Yeosang hyung's notebook come from, right?" I nodded.

"It turns out to be both my mother and Yeo's notebook, actually..." Changmin and Haknyeon looked shocked, their thoughts written all over their faces.

"Man, I came round at the right time. This is awesome..."

I slid the album sleeve out from behind its plastic teeth. Exactly as Juyeon had said, there was very little information inside, only a list of the guys in the band,

the sentence "All songs by Lee Ki Joong", and a date. February 1998.

Haknyeon waved for my attention.
"Aren't you going to play it?"
"Huh?" He clicked open my laptop and gestured for the CD.

"We're just not going to sit here and look at it, are we?"
"No, I... guess not."

I plucked the CD from its molded tray and handed it from Haknyeon. He slid it into my computer and the ancient drive whirred and sputtered to life.

Seconds later, the first song started to play.

"This sounds cool," said Changmin, smiling wide, Haknyeon stayed silent, bobbing his head.

A driving piano hammered out chords beneath the distant wall of electric guitar. "Totally 90s tho."

Soon, Kijoong's vocal struck up over the chords. His voice was, in a way, I couldn't quite place familiar. Like when you catch someone's scent on the air, and it evaporates a second after.

I met a girl in winter
She played piano in a local bar
She sang Aretha over whiskey and soda

I took a drink and sat down beside her
I said, "do you know how to play piano man?"
She said, "I don't take requests from strangers..."

<< I used the original song from the book cuz I can't possibly add lyrics to The boyz songs lol >>

The song went on like that for a verse or two. The story of a guy meeting a confusing mysterious girl and falling for her.

Then after the guitar solo, the music dropped and the voice came back, and something happened that made my chest tight.

She lives her life in pictures
She keeps secrets in her heart
The whole world could burn around her

Realization bloomed on Changmin and Haknyeon's faces.

"Those lines... they're Crescent's lyrics."
"Yeah," I said as I thought back to our conversation with Juyeon on the cliffside.

This must have been Juyeon's only copy of his father's album. Why was he sending this to me?

"That's so weird..." We stared at the open envelope. "Is there anything in there?" asked Haknyeon, and I reached back inside.

My finger brushed against a sheet of paper, and I pulled it out.

A handwritten letter.

Yoona

You probably weren't expecting to hear from me. Maybe you'll tear this up before you even read it

But if you've got this far, please hear me out.

Talking to you about my father changed everything. You opened my eyes. I'd always thought of him as just this coward who deserted me, but you changed that. You made me see him as a person.

So I went back to my foster home and asked them for everything, anything they had, that belonged to my parents.

They made some calls, followed up some old leads, and a week later, they sent me a box full of stuff. Stuff that when I left, I'd told them I didn't want. Photos, letters, keepsakes. More of my dad's lyrics.

When you told me about your family, and that notebook, we figured your mom was just some random fan and your brother wanted to be like them.

But I think we were wrong. I think, somehow...our parents knew each other.

I can't explain in a letter. I can only hope you're as of this, and call me. You have my number. I'll meet you anywhere.

This is bigger than us, Yoona
Ju x

I was gripping the letter tight. It quivered between my fingers.

What did he mean our parents knew each other...? What did he mean?

"Oh wait, there's something else in here." Changmin was peering into the envelope. "What is it?"

He turned the bay upsidedown and one final item dropped out. "It's a photograph."

Changmin passed the photo to me, and I held it under my bedside lamp. I could instantly tell that it was an old picture.
At least ten years old or maybe more.

A boy of around five was kneeling on the carpet, amid a scattered pile of half-opened presents, at what looked like a birthday party.

He had tanned skin and dark hair and was looking right into the lens through a pair of keen, amber eyes.

It was Juyeon.
He wasn't alone. Several other children of varying ages were gathered around him, picking at food on paper plates and tearing up strips of wrapping paper.

Then, on the edge of the photo, I noticed a line toddler, sitting a meter or so away from the rest of the group with its back to the camera.

It was difficult to say without seeing its face, but from the way it was dressed, it looked like a girl.

And that was when I saw it. The unusual white patch on the back of her neck. A distinctive blemish on her skin, just beneath the hairline. A birthmark in the shape of a Crescent.

That little girl was me.