The Piano and The Past. /Johnny/

Chapter 2

"Oh? It's Youngho hyung!" A group of five boys roamed the lightly dimmed street as a motorbike parked in front of a house. The rider took off his helmet and smiled at them as the boys greeted him.

"It's already late, why aren't you guys in bed?" Youngho checked his watch. It was almost 11 pm. "Is it because tomorrow's Sunday?"

"You know us well. Hehe." Jisung winked. "Renjun hyung just bought this new DS game. We all want to try it."

"Arasseo." Youngho ruffled Jisung's hair. He then remembered the gachapon he bought for them. Roaming his pocket, the boys had set their eyes ready.

"What is it? What is it? Did you buy something for us?" Jaemin asked excitedly.

"You're a great guesser." Youngho handed the gachapons to each one of them. "There you go."

The five boys was in awe and observed the eggs. Chenle noticed his was not Adventure Times series like the others.

"Hyung, mine is yellow?" He asked.

"Oh, right. I got Princess Bubblegum and a nice lady said I should give you something else." Youngho smiled at him while taking out a gum to chew.

"You're at it again. Chewing gums." Jeno pointed. Youngho just curved his lips agreeing with Jeno's argument. The younger one excitedly opened his egg but slightly disappointed seeing a pink thing. "But I got Princess Bubblegum..."

"Ah, it's Gudetama!" Chenle squeezed the small egg figurine. Renjun was not happy since it wasn't Moomin. Jisung was as happy seeing Finn as his and Jaemin felt content with getting BMO.

"Alright, it's late, kids. Let's go home." Youngho dragged the boys in both of his opened wide arms.

"Who's that nice lady, hyung? Can I meet her? I want to change my gachapon..." Jeno whined. "I want Jake."

"Here. You can have mine." Renjun gave Jeno his, which he gladly received.

Youngho kept dragging them toward their houses. They lived in a small neighbourhood. Their families knew each other and he was the oldest there. Taking care of these younger boys was no big deal for him. Their parents were busy so he was more like a guardian to the boys.

"Okay. We're arrived. Whose house tonight? Renjun's?" Youngho asked. The five of them nodded rapidly. "Have you told your parents?" They nodded again. "If I find any of you lying I will stop buying presents. Understand?"

"Yes, hyung!" The boys said in unison. They went inside Renjun's house and left Youngho in front of the gate. They made a loud fuss in taking turns for trying out the new game. He chuckled.

"Grow happily." He put his hand inside his jacket's pocket, when he touched something. The last gachapon.

Youngho took it out and softly smiled.

"'A nice lady'? What nonsense was that, Seo Youngho. You don't even know her name."

--

[Monday]

It was almost 5 pm when Haeun called Nara, who was fell asleep on her desk. She picked up her phone.

"Uh, ne, eonni?"

'Can you come? Your sister is here.'

"Nayeon eonni? Really?"

'Yes. She said Halfmoon has the opportunity to endorse in a drama. They will use our products. Daebak, isn't it? Come here quickly~~'

Her eyes widened and started to grab her stuffs, abruptly hit her toes by the piano. She squealed in pain. "Ackkk! Damn it!"

'Nara? You're okay?'

"I just stumbled. I'm going now." She hung up and walked fast with toes in pain.

The reason why she was being super excited to see her sister was that she rarely met her. Nayeon was not her blood related sister, as Nara was adopted. But she was so happy to have such caring sister, even though she was always busy all the time.

As if the time was moving slow only for that day, Nara felt the subway was taking longer than usual. She kept looking at the screen to check the stops.

She checked her phone and her school's group chat was in riot. Nara laughed as one of them gave memes and other stupid jokes. She scrolled through her SNS accounts and stopped at a profile. A guy.

"You're not even happy yourself." She said to herself as skim read the guy's profile.

Her eyes were almost getting teary. She quickly pushed the home button and locked her phone, shoving it into her pocket. The screen was changing as it was approaching the next station.

"Ah, two more stops." She couldn't stop moving her knees in her seat. The next stop was full of people getting in. She saw a pregnant woman and let her have her seat. There were lots of people, that standing could be a bother even to Nara herself.

"Thank you." The woman thanked her as Nara tried to grab the hand rail next to her. The train moved again to the next stop and she lost her balance a bit, making her moved backward.

Her head was almost hit the standing pole but someone's hand was there, reducing the impact. Nara couldn't see which person had that hands as it was that crowded. She felt bad for that person's hand so she just yelled, "I'm sorry for your hand."

No one responded so she just continued checking the screen. It was almost her stop.

'This stop is Dongdaemun. The door is on your right. Mind your step.'

As the glass door opened, she took off along with lots of people. The full train was now less crowded with people.

In an opposite door, Youngho rubbed his hand.

"Ah, it hurts. Can I ride my bike with this hand?"

The pregnant woman saw him and smiled. "Excuse me. Do you know that nice girl from earlier?"

Youngho looked around to check if she was talking to him or not. "Are you talking to me?"

"I knew you quickly put your hand there when she stumbled."

"Ah...yes. I thought it would be bad if she hit this...metal thing." He scanned the pole up and down. People mostly leaned on it but it would hurt if a head bumped to it. The pregnant woman chuckled.

"So...do you know her? She gave me her seat." She stared at him.

"Well..."