So Far Away | Min Yoongi

25.0

"Sign ups for the Christmas talent contest will begin tomorrow!" the teacher shouts at us before lunch time begins. "It's due next week!"

It was this time of the year again.

Every year, we have this talent show on the school. This is where people from freshman year to senior year can participate, and it's a whole day of nothing but booths that each classes would do, sports events, and the winners would always get a prize.

And usually, it was cash prizes and as well as extra marks.

That's what makes all the students interested - the prizes.

"Eunji-ah, do you want to get lunch with me, today?" Yuri asks me. "If you don't, it's fine. I could just hang out with Miri and Taeyeon."

Her two friends were looking at us from the door, like they're waiting for Yuri. I've been very attached to Yuri this semester that she hardly have any time for her other friends. I suddenly felt selfish and guilty.

"Go ahead," I say, giving her a warm smile. "I'll see you later."

She nods and turns away to go with her friends. My smile faded as soon as she was gone. I never told her about what happened with Minho. All she knows is that he tries to flirt with me with his naughty remarks, but that was it. I don't want to ruin their friendship.

I've already taken her away from a few of friends for quite some time now.

I take the filled rice balls I made from my lunch box and place it on my desk. Because I hardly got any sleep from thinking a lot of negative thoughts last night, I didn't get much time to prepare lunches for today.

I unwrapped the plastic from it and take a bite, revealing the teriyaki beef filling inside. I made three rice balls and I know where I can give one of these.

I stand up as I hold another rice ball in my hand and walk to the back of the room, where Yoongi was sitting down. He was sitting on the corner of the room, away from his friends, which he has been very distant from these past few days. His back was touching the wall, his legs stretched down on the floor. He had his eyes closed as he listened to music from his ear phones.

I stand beside him and slowly slide down, my back gliding down the wall so I could sit next to him. I take off one of his ear phones and he opens his eyes, narrowing it at me.

"Do you want to die?" He says sharply. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Oh shut up and eat this." I threw the rice ball on his lap. "Let me hear what you're listening to."

I have become used to the way he's mean at most times. Most of the time, it's just him. He might appear rude, but he was just being straight forward. He doesn't go beating around the bush.

Spending a lot of time with from the past few months made me realize that the way to crack into his hard exterior is to be just like him.

I take the earphone that I took off and shove it into my ear as I take another bite from the rice ball. He unwraps his and bites as well.

"It's terrible." He says, taking another bite right away. "So terrible."

"Yeah, I can clearly see that it's terrible." I say sarcastically.

The music he's listening to is different from what I imagined. It wasn't rap or hip hop like it was back on the field trip, but it was classical music. Pianos and violins playing at the same time, without any lyrics. Like a lullaby that mothers play to their children when they put them to bed.

Then the song changes into a some what more modern music compared to the classical one. The song now is more upbeat and more energetic, but still without any lyrics.

"What's this one?" I ask as the song progresses into the peak.

"This was my revision to the song I made you listen to." He says, chewing a small bite from the rice ball. "I composed a different genre."

"But why?" I pouted. "The version you made me listen to was amazing, but not as good when you played it on the piano."

"I want to produce the perfect music that can make people want to make music so I try a lot of variety." He closes his eyes again, leaning the back of his head to the wall. "I want to be perfect, I want people to recognize me just by listening to my music."

"If you pursue perfection, you can't become a perfect person." I murmured in a calm voice. "No matter whether you're perfect or not, other people will remember you later on."

"But I won't be able to reach my dream if I don't work hard enough." He frets, staring to an empty sight.

"The more you want to push yourself toward greater things, the more tired you'll be." I convinced.

"Aish, seriously." He says, pulling the earphones out of my ears. "Why are you saying these things?"

"Because you're too blind to see that you're already great the way you are."

The corners of his mouth lifts up, but when he sees me looking at him, it returned back into thin line.

"Why were you in downtown last night?" He asks seriously, changing the subject.

"I was um," I pause, trying to think of a lie. "I was shopping for clothes."

Stupid Eunji. Is that the best you could think of?

He looks away from me with distraught in his eyes. He knows that i'm lying to him. Does he feel like I don't trust him? Oh no, he shouldn't get the wrong idea.

"Yoongi, I.. it was beca-"

"I respect your decision not to tell me, I understand." He cuts me off, not making me finish my sentence.

"O-oh." I say, taking the last bite from my rice ball.

The atmosphere suddenly went awkward. I don't want it to be like this. Spending time with him like this is something I don't get to do a lot, and I shouldn't waste it by not talking to him or not initiating a conversation at all.

"So, what do you think about the school contest? Isn't it stupid?" I laugh nervously.

"I like it because I get to stay at home." He shrugs. "I wish it was a weekly thing so I could work more on my music."

"Oh!" I say loudly, making him narrow his eyes at me. "What if you join the school contest?! People will realize your tale-"

"No." he says right away.

"But why? People will see what you're capable of, and if you win, you will get the prize and-"

"No." he says again. "I don't want to."

"Why?"

"It's embarrassing. I can't perform in front of people." She shakes his head. "What if I screw up? What if I hit the wrong notes? What if I forget my lines?"

"Forget your lines?" I ask him. "What do you mean?"

"I... I also rap." He says in a shy voice, looking down on the floor.

"See?!" I squealed. "That's perfect! If you're able to perform in front of me, you'll be able to-"

"It's different." He explains. "You don't understand."

"Well then how about this? You perform in front of me, and then we can build up your confidence." I suggested cheerfully. "The contest doesn't start until next month."

He remains silent and looks at me in the eye. 

"Please?" I pleaded. "You already did it before, you can do it again."

He groans and lets out a huge sigh before standing back up as the bell suddenly ring. I stand up as well, but before he walks away from me, he nods his head once.

"Fine."