Blissful Youth | Yang Jungwon

002 "pinocchio"

"Wow! Daebak!"
The person in front of me scanned the tiny recorder inside the palm of his hand while bopping his head to the rhythm so much that his thick, slightly wavy black hair went back and forth like it was dancing on its own.

I felt like I was frozen. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk. All I could do was scan him from the tip of each strand of his hair all the way down to his shoes that had stopped only a few inches away from me.

His dark, brown eyes were locked on the little recorder while mine were glued on his. The shape of his eyes was one I had never seen before. the outer corner stretched to the side and slightly upwards, almost looking like a cat's eye.

He looked cute. I found myself wondering how old he was. he must have been either my age or slightly younger.

He wasn't wearing our school's uniform, so I assumed he must've been from somewhere else. But again: how did he manage to get onto our rooftop then? Not even many of our own students knew about this place.

"I have never heard this song before!" He said excitedly, his voice sounding heavily nasal and youthful.
He must've definetly been younger.
Snapping back into reality I snatched the recorder out of his hands furiously, making him look at me surprised.
A moment of silence rose between us as both of us stared into each other's eyes, asking ourselves whatever we should say to each other.

And as I didn't seem to find any words, I decided to turn away from him and make my way back down the stairs and to the classrooms.
The lunch break was nearly coming to an end so I had no choice either way.
But when I was just about to leave the rooftop, I felt a cold hand grip around my arm to stop me.
I was never used to nor found a liking to skinship, so I immediately felt the speed of my heartbreak increasing without having any control over it.

"Wait, please."
His voice sounded lower than before, since he was talking with a serious tone accompanying his words.
I turned around to face the boy again, looking up into his dark eyes.
Almost as if I had only now realized that he was taller than me.
He was even closer than before, so I thought to myself that he obviously had no problem with any sort of physical contact.

He smiled cheekily with a dimple appearing on each side of his round, pale cheeks.
His smile was wide, his lips blushed in a pink-red-ish shade and his teeth perfectly straight in one line, but relatively short.
He really did look like a cat and his specific positive energy definitely warmed my soul on this cold day.
But I also found him incredibly annoying.
"What was the song called? The song that just played?"
I raised an eyebrow curiously.
I've never heard someone feeling excited over any songs of mine.
On the other hand, I remembered how I had never really shown anyone these type of songs that I made, knowing how it would eventually crush most of the people's worlds.
My parents would probably start crying and my classmates would either start laughing or drag me onto this very rooftop to throw me off themselves.

"Do you like it that much?" I asked monotonously, trying not to make it obvious how excited I was.
The dark haired boy nodded before a little frown appeared on his face. He tilted his head lightly, as though he was wondering about something.
"By any chance, did you make this? Wow! I knew it right after I looked you in the eyes, you-"

"You're wrong." I cut him off harshly once again, the heat inside of me rising into my head out of nervousness and anxiety.
The moment I started composing my very first non-classical piece of music, I promised myself not to let anyone know about it.
As overdramatic as it may sound to you, so was my life.
And my parents... I guessed, that was how artists just were; overdramatic, over analysing, over-paranoid.

"Oh.. sorry! I just thought since you go to a music focused school.
But I guess I was wrong, yes."
Slightly embarrassed, he let go off my hand to scratch the back of his head.
I hadn't even realized for how long he'd been holding onto it and the fact that he hadn't just let go of it the moment I had stopped.
"And what exactly are you doing here? You're not wearing a school uniform and I have never seen you around either.
So how did you get into the school?"
Even though I never planned to continue this awkward encounter, his overly excited acting got me wondering about him.
The pupils of his eyes wandered to the side for a split second, as if he was thinking about something but since I didn't know him well enough, I couldn't tell if he was making something up or not.
But I definitely suspected it.

"My friend poured his drink all over me, so I got changed into my gym clothes. I was gonna go there after class.
I haven't seen you either! Must be because I'm a student of the classical music department, not the pop music department. Majoring in... piano?" He mumbled unsure of what to say, simply because he was a terrible liar.
Amused, I raised an eyebrow the moment I had caught up on his little spinster.
"Are you?" I asked to make sure I hadn't accidentally misheard him.
"What's so funny about it?" The offended tone in his voice almost made me laugh out loud.
"There is nothing wrong with classical music. Why are you looking down on it so much? I'm not judging your musical taste either."
There was a small moment where I thought about exposing my own knowledge about his hilarious lie, but then it struck me:
Him thinking I was a part of the pop music department wouldn't make him want to tell others about my mix tapes, since it wasn't something unusual.
Besides, technically, I didn't even lie to him since he was the one saying it first.
So not stopping him from keeping up his false assumption could only benefit me, right?

And other than that, I was quite sure that after today, I would never even see his face again.
"Can I keep this?" His eyes gloomed with excitement as he took the opportunity to grab the recorder back as soon as I had stopped focusing on him.
"What? No! Are you crazy? Give it back!" I leaned forward angrily.
How did he have the audacity to just...?
"Sorry, ma'am! I will return it to you as soon as I find out who made this!" He laughed loudly and brightly before running off the rooftop, down the stairs into the main hall with me furiously running after him, shouting.
"Hey, you! Give it back, you psycho!" I yelled desperately in fear someone would find about my very well kept secret.
I wasn't just afraid, I had real, existential fears. All of the possible outcomes of my secret being exposed, how my parents would react, how my grandparents would react.

"Nari-ah!" I stopped and closed my eyes defeatedly. I recognised my teacher's voice right away through the crowds of students who looked at me shocked and in the corner of my eye, I saw the boy escaping the building with my recorder dangling from his hand.