Hye-jae - Book 1: New Beginnings

New Life Part 37

The little pub that In-seo brought them to was far larger than they expected and buzzing with Friday night customers.  An old building, it was a warren of low-ceilinged, inter-connecting rooms, full of lively music, chat and laughter.  

As they walked, Seon-jae whispered: 'you ok?' in Hye-won's ear and she completely surprised him by instinctually turning her head and kissing his mouth, hard and fast.  He stared - shocked -  as a huge smile spread across her face, at her new-born boldness.  His smile was quick to follow, as he took her hand and squeezed it I love this new Hye-won and they both followed In-seo and his friends along a narrow, curving passage-way leading to a beer garden at the back.  Strung with coloured, outdoor lights, with many revellers relaxing at trestle tables, the atmosphere was lively.  They found seats at a free bench and Hye-won took hold of Seon-jae's hand under the table.  He lifted their interlocked fingers onto the table between them, giving her a cool, deep stare as he did so.  Ah, I see how you want to play it - tit for tat - well fine, Seon-jae - I suppose I deserve that one.  She made no effort to disentangle their clasp and in fact, just looking at their hands in such a pose made a smile come to her face.

In-seo introduced the couple informally to this full group, some from the university faculty, 2 of whom offered to go to the bar for beers, while In-seo explained where the idea for the concert had come about.

'Dieter here has been a great friend since my uni days and he is a music producer and promoter now.  Tonight's concert was, as I said earlier, in remembrance of times past.  And it was very special to us all.'

The group of friends all nodded and agreed.

'But I'm not going to talk about past concerts any more.  I want to talk more about future ones.  I had been in touch with Dieter explaining that you, Seon-jae, are studying here at the moment and Hye-won, you are...newly arrived,' he smiled gently in their direction and they both returned the smile with nods: 'and Dieter made a suggestion which I'd like you both to listen to.  Dieter, why don't you explain your plan yourself?'

Dieter was a quiet-spoken man and both Seon-jae and Hye-won leaned forward to hear him over the music playing in the background.  He explained his plan to hold mainly small, intimate concerts in a variety of 'community' venues - as he explained, such as town halls and churches - across Europe in the coming weeks.  He had pre-bookings for 20 concerts in a number of countries over a period of about 4 weeks, from mid-August to mid-September, the traditional summer leave.  In-seo chipped in: 'so you are probably wondering why we are telling you this, yes?'

Seon-jae and Hye-won looked at each other, both having the same thought that this was exactly the scenario described by the pianist Sviatoslav Richter in his biography.  Hye-won thought of how she had sent a copy of the book - with certain passages underlined - to Seon-jae during a really low period after his mum died, when he had given up music.  It led to our first kiss and all the crazy stuff that happened afterwards.  They looked to In-seo, waiting for him to explain: 'well it's like this.  I thought we could combine forces.  It would probably be a better attraction for audiences too, to not just be listening to me for an hour but a variety of interpretations and musical tastes - sort of mixing the flavours of summer and winter.  I'm sure you have heard of the Motown music producer, Quincy Jones?'

A definite nod from Hye-won, Seon-jae's less assured.

'He described his recipe for a world in harmony as every person, young and old, sharing a bit of what they are good at.  So, I think it would be so great to make it a friends concert - all sharing a bit of what they are good at.  What do you think?'

Hye-won turned to smile at Seon-jae and her expression clearly told him - you should go for it.  Seon-jae looked confused and after a moment, he looked back to In-seo: 'excuse me, Professor Jo, but you don't just mean me playing, right?  You mean Hye-won too, don't you?'