AEOTM Chapter 3
The Encounter
“nan dulyeoun geol~ cholahae~ I'm so afraid gyeolgug-en neodo nal tto tteonabeolilkka? tto gamyeon-eul sseugo neol mannaleo ga”
(#credits - An excerpt from BTS Song Truth Untold.)
Truth Untold. A song which Ari resonates with deeply all the time, played into her ears through the earplugs.
After exhausting herself the previous night in the kitchen, she somehow managed to reach home only to hit the sack immediately after a quick shower. It took everything in her to get up from the bed this morning.
Ari’s schedule for the day had been decided two weeks ago, and it felt irresponsible to cancel at the last moment. She was supposed to meet her extroverted best friend, Mira, in about half an hour at the KR Puram Flower Market — Mira had roped her into helping pick flowers for her cousin’s engagement décor. They’d known each other since school, and even now, Ari sometimes wondered how that girl with all her explosive energy had become best friends with her quiet, introverted self.
Humming along to the BANGTAN song playing through her earplugs, Ari leaned against the metro seat with a serene face, legs crossed, with a bag on her lap. Her pose - alert enough to stay aware yet distant enough to avoid small talk with people. Perhaps her face wasn't serene enough, for a hand waved suddenly in front of her face.
Rude, she thought, slipping out one earplug to look at the culprit.
It was a bubbly girl — maybe seventeen, maybe eighteen — dressed in pink, head to toe. She looked like a protagonist from a Japanese manga, the kind that’s always surrounded by floating cherry blossoms in every panel irrespective of the situation. The comparison in her head brought a small smile to Ari’s face.
“Hi! Sorry,” the girl said quickly, holding up something folded between her fingers. “I think this is yours. You dropped it on Saturday.”
Ari frowned in confusion until she recognized the paper — a page from her old notebook, creased with a doodle she often does at the corner, the faint outline of lyrics still visible. Her stomach dropped a little.
One of her songs! The songs she kept a secret from even her friends! Only her best friend knows!!
“Oh… um, thanks,” Ari said, her voice small, almost inaudible because of the metro’s hum. She took the paper gently, hiding it in her bag, immediately.
“Sorry but I read a few lines as I got curious,” the girl admitted with a sheepish grin. “They’re really good. You write songs, right?”
Ari hesitated, clutching the paper tighter. “Just… random scribbles,” she muttered. “Nothing serious.”
The girl smiled brightly. “Well, you should take it seriously. You’ve got something special.”
Ari didn’t reply. She only gave a faint, awkward smile before turning her gaze back to the window — though her reflection betrayed a hint of color on her cheeks.
Hum (metro moving) ~
-TBC-
Comments
Post a Comment