Sonata No.9 | MYG 🔞

29| Golden ticket

Soundtrack: Cello Suite No.1 in G Major By Johann Sebastian Bach

The everyday routine of the Juilliard International Sonata Competition was becoming rather mundane after two weeks of following its schedule to the letter. The judging had already begun for certain categories, like classical guitars, flutes, as well as individual cello performances and the atmosphere in the hotel and in the Juilliard building was one of excitement and gleeful agitation.

Music resonated everywhere, the closed doors of hotel rooms letting out whispering melodies twirling in the air and invading every corner of the edifice. Journalists were wandering the corridors, cameras and microphones in hands, ready to catch a scoop about the next shining star of the classical realm.

Every morning, Victoria would wake up at dawn. Sometimes she would wake Yoongi by drawing his body with her tongue and they would have sex. The pianist usually fell back asleep afterwards, unless Victoria went back to her room to practise, then, even with the mute on her violin, the melody would keep him awake and he would listen. The melancholic chords of the Dvorak serenades travelled well through the walls and kept his eyes open.

Then she would leave, eating an early breakfast before going to her chamber music practise. Meanwhile, Yoongi would either visit the city with Hoseok and Taehyung or lock himself up in a practise room and vomit all of his frustration on the keys, letting his fingers run wild until they would soar.

They would meet up for lunch, and in the afternoon, the schedule would slightly differ. Sometimes, they attended Master Classes, held by old renown instrumentalists, sometimes they would check out the performances or attend a concert in the evening. The New York Philharmonic had a show at the Lincoln Center on Tuesday, playing the Mahler Symphony No.1 and Victoria was so excited to attend she sat on the tip of her chair the whole time.

They would practise the Sonata during the remaining time, occasionally until late at night when interviews disrupted their usual timetable. Taehyung and Hoseok attended their practise once, and the violinist, having already played the Sonata No.9 in the past, was so impressed by Victoria's performance he didn't talk for twenty minutes afterward.

Yoongi hadn't played this much in a while and he could feel it in his body, wrists and back getting stiffer every day after the long hours he spent sitting at a piano bench. He needed to stretch often and be careful not to burn himself out before the real show.

Victoria was worse and he could physically see on her body the marks left by her instruments; the calluses on her fingertips, protecting the soft flesh from the metal strings, the red mark on the left side of her throat, bruise left by the chin of her instrument shifting against her neck. She too, had to stretch frequently, twisting her back and rolling her shoulders in an attempt to diffuse the tension steadily settling-in.

There were now days left before it was their turn to perform and Yoongi couldn't wait for it to be over. A contest had never stressed him this much and he felt like his entire worth, his entire career, would be determined by the outcome of this contest.

Victoria too was anxious; he could see it even if she tried to hide it. On that morning, two days before the dreaded date, she had woken up while it was still dark outside to scurry back in her bedroom and grab her violin, missing breakfast and running directly to her chamber music practise to have the time to run through the Sonata No.9 alone.

Or maybe she's just trying to avoid me, Yoongi thought bitterly.

He couldn't get rid of the taste of bile in his mouth, every inch of his body aching to hug her and tell her everything would be alright while the other part, the smarter part, was urging him to run away from her before she would hurt him in a deadly manner.