The Last Note: Under the Abrupt Stop
Title: The Last Note
Genre: Romance {Yaoi}, Drama.
Characters: Yoochun, Junsu, Changmin.
Pairing: Yoochun & Junsu
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: Yoochun is a twenty year old university student whose father owns his school. Being the richest and the best looking, his pursuers compete to beat the number of stars in the sky. However, things change when his popularity starts to decrease significantly one day, and the man finds himself both shocked and jealous.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter two: Under the Abrupt Stop
“I’ve never seen any Koreans with such coloured eyes.” “They hid so much emotion.”
“Was it fear? Or anger? I insulted him.”
“No, it must be disappointment. Yes, it has to be. Who wouldn’t be disappointed in me?”
“It can’t be disappointment! He only got to know me for one day, why would he be disappointed in me.“
“Have I gone too far?”
“I shouldn’t have said that his shades were disgusting. Maybe it is his family heirloom or something!”
“Ah, Park Yoochun, what have you done! Should I go apologize to him?”
“No I can’t! I will be a laughing stock if anyone finds out that I apologize to somebody I made fun of.”
A debate ran through Yoochun’s mind like a coal-operated train, boggling the poor man out of his sanity. Before he realised it, he was making his way back to the music room in the old campus.
Within minutes, he was there again, seated behind that grand piano that stood proudly in the music room.
/
After dashing out of the classroom, Junsu made his way through the heavily populated corridors.
Students walking towards the cafeteria stopped to steal another look of the face of the alluring man while a few braver girls attempted to stop Junsu for his number. However the professor took no notice of them, his mind still fogged with thoughts.
Finally, he got to the main hall. Pushing the glass door, he took a deep breath of the fresh autumn air.
“Did he see anything through my eyes? No, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. I’ve learnt to hide it too well.”
The large brown leaves on the concrete pathway made crispy crushing sounds as he walked under the extending branches of the trees surrounding him. Fallen leaves, they marked the end of the feisty summer. Junsu recalled witnessing the leaves fall five years ago, when his mother left with the season.
Unwittingly, Junsu found himself in the old school compound. Before the man could figure where he had walked to, a melodious sound delivered to his ears. Junsu looked up, surprised to hear music coming from the old building ahead of him.
Taking large steps, the man followed the slow but probing melody. It contained fast running chromatic notes up on the treble, while the bass supported it with full and strong chords.
What ticked Junsu’s curiosity was the ever changing of keys. The pianist wasn’t following the usual way of modulation. He was just shifting the bass up semitones to move into the next key. Surprisingly, the piece flowed perfectly without any hitches despite the unconventional way of switching keys.
As Junsu got closer to the music, it gradually slowed down and ended on a grand dissonant chord. He paced down the corridor quickly and through all the windows, hoping to find the pianist. To his regret, every room was empty.
Approaching the room at the end of the passageway, Junsu smiled when he finally saw a dark purple piano. However, the pianist had left.
Turning the knob of the door, Junsu opened the door of the dark room.
Junsu looked across the walls of the room. The number of paintings amazed Junsu. He walked to a nearest painting and analysed the thick painting that created a rough texture on the canvas.
The painting was dominated by dark colours like black and navy.
What was painted was a man holding a paint palette with only red painted dashed on it. The eyes of the painter in the picture looked lifeless and it spoke something that was similar to sorrow.
After looking at the details, Junsu concluded that it was a self portrait.
Junsu then moved to another painting that had a lighter atmosphere to it.
It was a painting that depicted two small boys. They were at a playground and the taller of the boys was holding a sweet out to the other. The white and warm yellow colours emitted an emotion totally opposite of the previous painting and Junsu found himself smiling at the sweet happiness of the painting.
As Junsu walked around the room, he figured that the paintings evolved around a person’s life. All the paintings told a story of a person and they showed all the emotions the painter was feeling at different points of time in his life.
And Junsu realised something. At the bottom right hand corner of every single painting, there was a scribble and a letter “M” followed by a date.
After looking at the painting, Junsu walked up to the grand piano and lifted the purple cover of the piano carefully. He moved his fingers across the keys and he sat down.
Having removed his shades, Junsu started to play his favourite piece.
A piece he used to play for his mother before she died. He composed the piece himself, just for his mother. After his mother passed away, Junsu would play this piece every time missed he missed her. The melody never failed to lift his mood as his mother’s loving face filled his mind.
Beautiful music filled the room for the third time that day.
/
“Oh God, where is my bracelet?! Damn, I must have left it in the music room.” Cursing, Yoochun walked back anxiously to the music room.
As he approached where he was previously in, he heard the music escaping behind the doors.
Yoochun frowned, unpleased to know that somebody had invaded his secret hideout. Anger dismissed by curiosity, he decided to find out who the intruder was furtively. Yoochun looked through the window, eyes widening when he saw who was at the piano. His attention then turned to the pair of shades resting on top of it.
He decided leave Junsu alone and finish listening to the piece before going in to retrieve his bracelet and warn the man not to visit the room ever again.
What Yoochun heard after that was magically beautiful. Although the melody was simple and the accompaniment was just an alberti bass, they fitted together perfectly.
Junsu playing the piano was a lovely sight too.
His ice blue eyeswere focused and his hands glided up and down the keys with much familiarity. From time to time, Junsu would close his eyes and move together with the melody, expressing his feelings he had towards the piece.
Yoochun found himself looking at Junsu intently; his eyes were fixed on Junsu’s perfect features. All the anger he had towards Junsu during the lesson had all melted together with the music that was tugging at his heart.
The music stopped abruptly, taking Yoochun by bombshell and causing him to jerk in surprise.
Junsu stood up and closed the lid slowly, careful not to damage the magnificent piano in any way.
Seeing the pianist head towards the door, Yoochun hurriedly ducked behind a corner to watch him leave before going back in to the music room to retrieve his bracelet.
/
“What should I do about Professor Kim?” Yoochun mumbled to himself on his way back home in his limousine.
“Sorry?”
Yoochun turned and looked at the man busy flipping through school documents.
Bae was Yoochun’s loyal aide and personal helper, also his assistant in school. Yoochun was nothing as the vice-chairman. He hardly made any contribution. Bae was always doing the work for him.
“Bae, can you help me with something?”
/
“Authorization?” Junsu looked at the paper placed in front of him, loss for words. He had been asked to the dean office once he reached school and was confused ever since.
“Yes Mister Kim. With this authorization, you will be permitted to any outfit you wish to wear to school, from head to toe. Nobody will be able to question any part of your attire, be it clothes or accessories,” Bae said expressionlessly.
“Why do I get this benefit?” The professor asked, puzzled by the privilege.
Bae shrugged, “It came from the upper management.”
Before Junsu could ask any further, the school bell rang.
“School is starting, Professor. Have a nice day.” Bae nodded, gesturing Junsu to leave.
A confused Junsu bowed politely, before turning to exit.
Stepping out of the admin office, Junsu reached into his pocket and extracted the pair of shades. He had not worn them since morning because of Yoochun’s threat the previous day.
Nobody knew the reason why he wore those shades. He hadn’t tried to explain to anybody; he didn’t feel the need to.
With a sigh, he put them on and walked to class, the authorization still in his arms.
/
Yoochun was exceptionally quiet during class that day; even Changmin was getting worried about his friend.
“Hey, you alright?” Changmin asked with a concerned look.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m alright,” Yoochun answered without looking at Changmin. His eyes were fixed on the figure moving about the front of the class.
“Hyung, are you sure?”
“Yes,” Yoochun replied with a blank face, clearly not even registering whatever Changmin had just asked him.
“Are paying attention to what I'm asking you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you madly in love with me?”
“Yes.”
Changmin widened his eyes in disbelief and pressed his palms to his forehead.
Yoochun blinked a few times. When he realised what he had actually been asked, to which he gave a dire reply, he turned to glare at the questioner.
“What?! I was just testing to see if you were listening!” Changmin said defensively, “And as expected, you were not.” At that, Changmin pouted and turned to face the front.
Yoochun could never stand Changmin pouting.
Although Changmin had always been the taller one since young, he was younger than Yoochun. With that as advantage, Changmin always used his secret weapon - pouts, just to make Yoochun admit his mistake.
Chortling, Yoochun ruffled Changmin’s hair, “I’m sorry.”
Changmin smiled, “Tell me what happened during lunch.”
Nodding, Yoochun turned to face the front.
“I wonder if Professor Kim is still angry with me for saying those mean things to him yesterday,” Yoochun thought to himself.
He then noticed that Junsu had his shades on, “Thanks Bae.”
Earlier the previous day, Yoochun had figured that the only way he could make up to Junsu was to let him continue wearing that accessory without having to worry about being fired.
Suddenly, Yoochun was reminded of Junsu’s stunned face and fearful eyes when he had rashly swept Junsu’s shades onto the floor. Shuddering, Yoochun tried to think of something else.
Then, music he heard the previous day and images of Junsu immersed in the beautiful melody replayed in his mind. Inadvertently, Yoochun started smiling to himself.
As the lesson went on, Yoochun became less gloomy and even raised his hands up a couple of times to ask questions. However, he realised that the professor seemed to be ignoring him. He would look up at Yoochun for a second and immediately shift his attention to some other student.
Not liking the feeling of being ignored the least bit, Yoochun thought of shouting to get the lecturer’s attention. But he dismissed that action, leaving Professor Kim alone was probably the best solution.
Throughout the lesson, Yoochun scrutinized Junsu’s actions, seeking for the slightest hint of whether the professor was still angry at him. However, the indifference behind those shades did not imply anything at all.
Still, Yoochun could see that Junsu was different from his cheerful self from the day before. And he did feel guilty about it.
/
A vibration tugged at his pants.
“Changmin, I have to answer a phone call. Why don’t you go to the cafeteria first? I’ll go look for you.”
“Yuck, you always say that. And then you’ll disappear and forget all about me.” Changmin pouted.
“Sorry about that yesterday. I won’t do that again. And you better get to the cafeteria now, otherwise, your double chocolate cake might …” Before Yoochun could finish his sentence, Changmin gasped and ran off to join the queue.
The screen of his posh cell phone read, ‘Bae’.
“Hey, Bae.”
“Good afternoon Young Master. I’ve got the information you wanted.”
“Send them to my email. Thank you.”
Yoochun hung up and went to join Changmin in the cafeteria.
/
Holding up his cell phone, Yoochun saw an alert: New Email, Bae.
He pressed the selection button of his cell phone.
-
Name: Xiah Kim Junsu
Gender: Male
Birthday: 15th December
Age: 20 years old
Blood type: B
Occupation: University Professor (Language Arts)
Education: Majored in languages, arts and music in university
Family Background:
Both parents were in the Marine Biology faculty in university. Mother holds a PhD in Marine Biology. Parents met in their university years. They got married when at 20 and gave birth to Kim Junsu, when they were 21. Shortly after his birth, his father turned blind and passed away. He was known to be suffering from a disease similar to the cause of his grandfather's death.
Junsu’s mother fell into mild depression and received medication to keep her condition under control before she passed away 5 years ago.
Junsu has little relatives on his maternal side and none on his paternal side.
Hobbies: Singing and playing the piano.
.
.
.
-
The list of information Bae sent him had included personal habits of Junsu, things he liked, etc. Yoochun realised how child-like his professor was, making the man smile to himself while reading the email.
Closing the application on his phone, Yoochun walked over to Changmin and settled himself in the seat opposite him.
“I’m sorry hyung! I… finished your cake,” Changmin said in the softest voice he could possibly manage. “You took so long and your cake looked lonely. So I accidentally ate it”
“You accidentally ate it,” Yoochun had to repeat that last sentence - Changmin was too adorable when he said that.
“Err, yeah sort of?” Changmin looked up with an embarrassed smile. He quickly changed the topic before Yoochun could probe on his cake, “Oh! Tell me why you looked so distracted during class today!”
Yoochun laughed at Changmin’s weak attempt at diverting his thoughts.
“It’s just that, I think Professor Kim is… interesting.”
Changmin widened his eyes. Was that Yoochun from the day before? The previous Yoochun, whose eyes were filled with irritation when looking at Professor Kim, would never use the adjective ‘interesting’ to describe him. Changmin was expecting ‘down-right grotesque’ or something along that line.
“Yes, and why will you find him ‘interesting’?”
“Yesterday, when he called me back after class, I…”
“OH MY GOSH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO PROFESSOR KIM?!” Changmin shouted, causing quite a significant number of heads to turn around.
“Shush. Let me finish,” Yoochun hissed in irritation. “I said some awful things to him and…”
“HE CRIED?! I knew it! How could you be so mean?!” Changmin stared at Yoochun with eyes as big as saucers.
“NO HE DIDN’T. And if you would kindly stop interrupting me, you might still have a chance to find out what happened yesterday.”
Changmin placed his index finger on his lips and gestured for Yoochun to continue.
“I threw his shades off his face,” Yoochun said while pressing his hands on Changmin’s mouth, preventing Changmin from shouting. “And guess what? His eyes are blue. And I’m pretty sure those aren’t contact lenses.”
With that, Changmin’s mouth transformed into an ‘o’, “He isn’t pure Korean?”
“That’s why I said he was interesting. When I stared into his eyes, I saw this complex jumble of emotions. There was so much sentiment in his eyes that it gave me a shock!” Yoochun exclaimed, imaging what he had seen in Junsu’s eyes.
“Wow. Maybe we should ask him about it one day.”
“No! There must be a reason why he chose to cover his eyes with those shades.”
Changmin raised his eyebrows at Yoochun’s unexpected consideration towards Junsu.
And for some reason, Yoochun chose not to tell Changmin what happened at the music room.
/
Junsu was going to the music room again. Taking large but relaxed steps, he made his way through the trees under the warm late afternoon sun.
After opening the door to the music room, something on the piano caught his attention.
Closing the door behind him, Junsu walked to the piano and lifted the thick canvas up.
What was painted was too abstract for Junsu to comprehend immediately, which was infrequent since he was specialized in areas regarding art. He took down his shades and analysed the painting. It was a screen of black with hints of blue behind it. A painting of mysterious melancholy.
Junsu came to a conclusion that the painter had drawn the painting with guilt and doubts. Searching for an empty spot on the wall, he hung the painting up carefully. It was then did he notice the signature at the corner of the painting. The letter M, the scribble and the date.
/
Nearing the door, Yoochun spotted a recognizable figure sitting in front of the piano, “He came back.”
The man at the piano took in a deep breath and started to play a piece that Yoochun’s ears picked up to.
Just as the man at the door was enjoying the music, the music came to an abrupt stop -like the day before. At the exact same spot.