Enemies To Lovers? (Minsung, Hyunlix, Seungin)
Enemies to Lovers? #20
one day, Han was working in his parents shop in Malaysia. it was a Sunday, and not really busy. he was standing behind the cluttered front desk while his dad refilled a shelf with shell ornaments in the store room.
the bell above the door chimes and a mum and her teenager comes in. the mum starts browsing the shelves with cooking utensils, while the boy stands behind her with his earphones in. the woman obviously finds what she's after, and walks through a few more aisles before coming to the counter
the boy behind her follows every step, and while Han scans her items and totals the cost, he can faintly hear different notes from a guitar coming from the phone in the sons hand. A minute later, the noises stop and then the boy, after scrutinising the screen for a while presses the screen and suddenly Han is hearing a full track, with drums beaitng a steady base rhythm, and the electric guitar highlighting the cresendo, a few notes of piano here and there
if he was to criticise it he would say that the guitar was a notch too loud, drowning the drums, and maybe it could include some synthesised sounds, and the piano sounded as if the boy had just used random keys. intrigued he looked up to find the kid glancing at him
Young Han
what app is that?
Someone not important
*boy* it's called GarageBand
Young Han
*nods* sounds interesting
he finishes scanning all the items, bags them and turns the card scanner to the lady. in the meantime, the boy had started playing with more beats, seemingly jumbled. A few minutes later the pair left, and Hans dad came out from the store room
Unknown
*his dad* i heard a customer
Young Han
yeah a lady and her son, she only bought a few things
that night, Han, alone in his room, opens his laptop and searches for the app GarageBand. he downloaded it, and began exploring the app. it seemed simple enough to him, and soon enough he was experimenting with different sounds, tracks and instruments. that night he went to bed at 2 am
over the next few days, Han continued his work in secret. he was not sure why he didn't want anyone to know. maybe because he knew his parents wouldn't approve, but it was interesting for him and he was the type to go after his interests no matter who was in his way. this was one of those times
work on his 'perfect beat' as he liked to think took longer than expected. where once he thought after just a few samples, he would have a decent beat, but he was wrong. it took lots of long back aching hours hunched over his laptop with his earphones plugged in, replaying the same 5 seconds over and over to pinpoint what it needed to make it Bette.
it was painstaking work, and by the second week, he only had a half decent track
Young Han
(I should give up)
Young Han
(this is longer than I thought it would be)
Young Han
(and my parents are getting suspicious about why I'm locked in my room for hours on end)
they were infact very worried. whuoe Han was working in his room, supposedly on his essay that he needed to write, his parents were discussing in the lounge. and the ideas they came up with:
1. girlfriend
2. boyfriend
3. hanging out with gang
4. actually doing extra work
5. sleeping
6. some top secret, high risk mission nobody knows about
finally on the fourth week, a whole month later, he lay in bed, his earphones plugged into his ears while he listened to his draft.
Young Han
(it's not so bad)
Young Han
(it could use some tweaking but I'm too tired)
that night he went to bed earlier than before. in the morning, his mum woke him up, and she noted disapprovingly of the open laptop charging, the earphones still plugged in, and his sleeping in normal clothes
Unknown
*mum* did you not change before going to bed?
Young Han
*yawns* I was very tired mum
Unknown
*mum nods unconvinced* uh huh
she leaves and Han, not having anything to do that day, takes it off to sleep. his dad comes in in the afternoon to ask him to watch the till for him while he goes for petrol, and he agrees. he heads downstairs, and walks the block to their shop, and again being not busy, he relaxes and watches the stray cat across the street.
miraculously that day, the same mother and son who first introduced him to his app came back. this time the son was not on his phone, and instead of following his mum around, he immediately approached the counter and elated against it
Unknown
*guy* did you get a chance to find the app?
Young Han
of course I did!!
Young Han
why didn't you tell me it's so addictive?! I was on it 24/7 this past month that my parents thought I had a secret girlfriend stashed in my room
Unknown
*guy chuckles* it is very good
Unknown
have you created a track yet?
Young Han
yes I have but it's not finished being edited
Unknown
*shocked* you worked on it for a month and its not finished? it only takes me a week or two
Young Han
(well maybe because I try to make mine the best of the best?)
but he didn't want to sound snide so he shoved that boastful thought away and spent the rest of the afternoon talking with this guy who's name he later learned was Nate
Young Han
*says bye* see you Nate
Unknown
*Nate* you too Han
throughout the next year Han, happy with his success with his first ever track, started working on his second, then third, then fourth...
Young Han
(it's a good thing I atleast know something about instruments)
and he did, having attended seoul arts university for half a year before his parents found out and pulled him out. his parents did not approve of a career that led to music and performing and bands, instead they strongly advised him to become a doctor or lawyer, hence why he was taking courses on medicine now. but he did not find medicine interesting at all, and now that he was back with music and instruments he felt happy
he felt like he had found what completed him, the satisfaction when he ran a track and the sounds blended perfectly and complimented each other, when his screen was filled with ups and downs and there were non-empty gaps he had to worry about filling. it set his heart right, and he hoped he would never have to part from it.
Young Han
(there was one food thing that came from switching unis)
Young Han
(I got to meet felix, Hyunjin, Chan and seungmin)
Young Han
(and of course Lee know)
Author
Incase any of you forgot or confused with what I just said, basically he enrolled in Seoul arts uni with the help of some of his teachers in high school who saw his talent. his parents didn't know which uni he was attending, they would just send money overseas which he would use to pay fees.
Author
then they found out when the uni messaged them about something, and they then pulled him out and enrolled him in the uni he currently attends, at this uni, he started in the middle of the first year, and didn't have friends at first. then he first met Felix and Seungmin who were already friends, then Hyunjin who was in the year above and was very popular
Author
and then of course he needed help with work and Chan was assigned and the whole thing happened which I already explained before. in his second year he met lee know and they were an instant match. however something happened which parted them, and cause Han to leave Korea in the middle of his second last year of uni and go to Malaysia where his parents were
that afternoon, while he had been in the tree, he had opened that same app, GarageBand and after a few months of not having layed eyes or ears on it, it felt like home when he finally pressed play on his tracks. his tracks
now sitting in the restaurant, he was slightly nervous.
'what if nobody likes my tracks?'
'what if I mess up?'
'what will they think of me?'
Jisung
(some wannabe artist )
Jisung
(but I'm here now and I haven't practised anything else.)
and he did. he had selected one of the tracks that was mainly composed with the piano and would sound good on its own without other instruments. so he posed his fingers over the keys, took a deep breath and pressed the first key. then the second, then the fourth, fifth and sixth and then he was playing his own track infront of the whole restaurant, something he had never thought would happen
he didn't close his eyes, or melt into the music like he had heard some people do. he concentrated on his fingers, the positioning, the keys, the pedals. his eyes were open, his brain was clear and focused and his fingers were on point. he remembered each note as clear as if it was on paper in front of him. there was nor oom to mess up
and by doing this everything seemed to fade away. it was just him and the piano, he could not hear the plates and cutlery in the background, the hush of conversation that if he had been listening he'd have heard that it had become silent. it was just him and the piano.
his fingers flew. his heart thudded to the rythm of the track. his ears soaked up the melodious sound. his eyes travelled to and from the piano and his hands, biting his lip in concentration. and then he was finished, having come to the end of the track, and he could finally breathe again.
Then the sound came back and someone was clapping, and someone else was whistling and he turned and realised the whole restaurant was watching and were applauding him and he couldn't believe it and his heart was suddenly beating hundreds of miles per hour and he smiled and also frowned because how could they applaud his work when it was so bad and-
Seungmin
Han that was so good!
Jeongin
yeah you should have seen everyone's faces they were so amazed
Seungmin
how come you didn't tell us you could play like that
Jisung
*dumbstruck* what are you two doing here?
Seungmin
we came for dinner and we thought we'd say hello but then you started playing so spectacularly that we couldn't believe it
Jisung
bub-but all these people...
Jisung
who're they clapping for..? *disbelieving*
Seungmin
*smacks his arm* you pabo they're clapping for you
Jeongin
did you not hear yourself play
Jisung
well, I thought it wasn't that good.. *uncertain*
Seungmin
Han you should really learn to appreciate your skills, you were awesome
Seungmin
here I mafe a video ill send it to you
A few seconds later, his phone pinged, and he saw a notification from seungmin sending the video. however, he was too shocked to pick it up and open it. he just sat there staring with wide eyes and an open mouth while the customers yelled their appreciation and began talking again
Luna
*rushes over* what song did you play? it was beautiful, everyone keeps saying so
Seungmin
yeah what song was it?
Jisung
*stammers* s-song? it's m-mine..?
Seungmin
you can produce?!
Seungmin
HOW COME I'M ONLY FINDING OUT NOW?!
Jisung
well *still uncertain* did they really think it was that good?
as if to answer his question, a man strolled up to them, in his late 30's wearing a suit.
Unknown
*man* that was some really good playing, I don't think I've ever heard that song before
Seungmin
*proud and because he knows Han won't say it* it's his own track
Unknown
*man even more impressed* I suspected so
Unknown
well I'm here to give you this. I really enjoyed that track that you played and thought you had some good talent
Unknown
take this and call once you decide
he places a rectangular piece of cardboard on the piano top and walks away. Han numbly looks at it and sees its a business card.
PESY STUDIOS
Seungmin
*shocked* did he just offer you a job?
Luna
I wouldn't be surprised, he was so good
that night, when Han came home, Chan came rushing up to him
Bangchan
you're on tiktok!!
Bangchan
look *shows the phone* someone posted a video of you playing
A notification came on Chans phone and he clicked on it. it led to another video of Han and Chan smiled
Jisung
I didn't play that well, why is everyone saying that
Jisung
I could've played better, I could've made a better track, it was such an old one I'm sure people would hate it-
Chan promptly dragged Han out to his car and yelled
Bangchan
WE NEED TO CELEBRATE THIS
all the while through dinner that afternoon, the business card that Han had received burned a hole in his pocket
Comments
Mong Mong🐶
Oof
2024-03-09
4