Sweet Lessons - Chapter One
Word goal ; 5,000
-I would like to note before I start the story, I am writing this as an American. Please remember that Korean age is different from international age due to the way that they count age and birthdays.
In this, I will say Sunglee is 18 years of age, but that is internationally. In Korean age, he is actually 19. Thank you, and enjoy. -
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Choi Sunglee, son of Choi Byeongcheol and Choi (Kim) Yongja. Two very loving parents, however, only Sunglee himself seemed to believe that. He had heard other parents whispering about his own throughout his many years of school.
"-They're so harsh-"
"There is no reason for them to put so much on his shoulders-"
"He's so young... Poor Sunglee-"
But he pushed their words into the back of his mind, focusing on what his parents wanted for his future. From age four, he spent grueling hours before the grand piano in his house's entertainment room, working hard to learn how to play complicated pieces.
Like Schumann's Toccata in C Major Op. 7, and Charles-Valentin Alkan: Concerto for Solo Piano Op. 39.
His parents strove for his success. So, not only could he speak English, Japanese, Spanish, and French, but he also was a red belt in Karate, and he had taken up three years of Taekwondo.
He drowned himself in schoolwork, extra curricular activities, and foreign languages, only to please his parents. Sometimes, Sunglee's friends would tell him that he was only a puppet to his parents, wanting what they wanted for him, rather than what he wanted for himself. His dreams were their dreams, along with their beliefs and morals.
Now, as Sunglee prepared for his graduation ceremony, he still felt the nagging voice in the back of his head;
"You don't want your own dreams, so why are you following them? What do you really want? You'll never marry a woman, you'll never be good enough to become what they want; a star."
However, he once again turned his cheek to the sour thoughts, tightening his school uniform tie, and fixing his fluffy black hair, double checking his appearance in his full-length mirror.
Sunglee only wanted what was best for him, and what his parents wanted was what was best for Choi Sunglee. With one last, unsure glance, he grabbed his phone, and sheet music folder, then headed out of his room, slippers clapping softly on the hardwood floors of his home.
His parents were standing in the entryway to their house, dressed to the nines, one with a real smile and one with a stressed one. His father glanced at the Rolex watch fastened to his wrist, foot tapping impatiently on the burgundy rug decorating the entry to their house.
As he reached his parents, his mother squealed, and pulled Sunglee into a crushing hug, murmuring praise into his hair.
"Oh, my baby is so grown up now! You're going to work hard on becoming a professional pianist after today, right sweetie?"
Sunglee pulled away from his mother, smiling gingerly as he grabbed a hold of her soft hands, his eyes meeting hers.
"Of course, Eomma. I promise to make you and Appa very, very proud of me when I grow famous one day."
She smiled back, squeezing Sunglee's hands in her own lovingly.
"And you're going to marry a pretty woman, right? You're going to give me grandchildren to spoil?"
Sunglee laughed sheepishly, feeling his cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.
"Eomma! I-I'll try, okay? Now can we go? Appa looks like he's short on time."
His mother's smile faded a bit, before nodding her head, and then the three of them left their home, heading towards Sunglee's high school to attend his graduation.
-
An hour later, he left his high school with his mother, diploma and a bouquet of assorted flowers in his hands. He should have been brimming with excitement and happiness; after all, he had just graduated high school.
But with his father absent, noticing how the elder male left ten minutes into the ceremony, he felt more crestfallen than happy. As the mother-son duo approached their ride home, Sunglee's mother gently patted his shoulder, giving a tight lipped smile.
"He's a busy man, son. Try not to be too sad, hmm?"
Sunglee only nodded. A rumble of thunder and flash of lightning caught his eye as he made his way into the back seat, smiling softly at the sight before he got in the car, and shut the door.
About five minutes into the car ride home, rain began to fall from the cumulonimbus clouds blocking out the sun, and he felt almost compelled to watch, the ambiance of raindrops hitting his window, which was almost soothing.
It was no lie that Sunglee loved storms. The rumbles of thunder, and flashes of lightning following the downpour of rain almost like a reminder that mother nature seemed to reflect his true feelings, singing him a soft song of comfort.
His mother, on the other hand, despised them. He decided to block out her murmurs of a "daunting cloudburst," instead watching the raindrops cascade down the window that his head rested against, his mind blank of thoughts, even as he fiddled with his folder that held piles upon piles of complicated sheet music.
Eventually, he found himself humming the tune from Haydn's Symphony 39 Tempesta di Mare. Tempesta di Mare was his favorite piece, as it translated to storm and stress, two things he was more than familiar with.
As his mother pulled into the driveway of her and her husband's dream home, Sunglee pulled himself from his head, and got out of the car almost immediately, running through the pouring rain alongside his mother, shielding his sheet music from God's tears, a small smile stretching across his pink lips.
He would never tire of loving the rain and thunder, hesitating a moment before stepping into the house, letting the heavy oak door swing shut behind him. Almost immediately, his mother put her house slippers on, and disappeared into the kitchen, answering a call, and leaving Sunglee on his own.
He traded his outdoor shoes for his house slippers, and then made his way up to his room. He shut his bedroom door behind him, and then set the bouquet on his nightstand before peeling off his uniform, and wandering into his closet in his boxer briefs, looking for a dry outfit to change into.
He decided on a pair of slim fit blue jeans and a red long sleeved button down shirt, with a creme colored, plaid vest on top. After he was cleanly dressed, he made his way down to the entertainment room, sheet music and phone in hand.
He settled down on the bench, and pulled out his current piece that he had been working on, warming up his fingers with a quick, easy melody before getting to work. Somehow, he found that he could sit there for hours and play.
Hitting the right keys in the right pattern created a beautiful, graceful melody that filled up the whole house, traveling with large sound waves that echoed silently. His eyes drifted shut for a moment every few seconds, lips pursed in concentration as he played the piece as if he had played it a million times.
In a sense, he might've. But it wasn't perfect yet, so he kept going until it was. He needed to have his parents feel proud to have such a talented son, and so he continued, playing the piece over and over until his fingers began to cramp, his foot getting sore from tapping the pedals.
His back was sore from sitting as straight as a metal rod, and his mind felt fatigued. Thankfully, he was saved by a knock on the archway that opened the entertainment room to the family room, to which he stopped playing, and turned around.
His mother stood there, eyes shining like a thousand jewels in the sun, smile filled to the brim with pride. She had ditched her fancy cocktail dress, heels, and pearls for a simple frock, matched with a baby pink apron, hair pulled back into a neat bun.
"Dinner is almost ready. Come and set the table, please."
Sunglee did so without question, ignoring how it almost hurt to stretch his fingers out again after hours before the piano. He diligently followed his mother into the kitchen, gathering the bowls, spoons, chopsticks, and plates for their dinner, carefully setting places for three on the dining room table.
Just as he had finished setting up, his mother's phone began to vibrate annoyingly, to which he hurriedly picked it up, glancing at the caller ID before he pressed the 'Answer Call' button.
"Eomma is finishing up dinner, Appa. Are you going to make it home soon?"
Silence answered for a moment before his father sighed on the other end of the line.
"No, ne adeul. Mianhae."
The smallest bit of hope that Sunglee had held diminished, and all he could manage out was,
"Oh... Ne, Appa. Did you need to tell Eomma something?"
Once again, there was silence.
"Tell her I love you both very much, and that I should be home in a couple hours. Make sure she doesn't stay up to wait for me, hmm? I don't want her tired tomorrow."
Even though he felt sad that his father would once again not be home for dinner, he couldn't help but smile at his father's comment.
' Take that, negative thoughts. My Appa loves me, so he wouldn't do anything that would make me question that. '
"Ah, I will let her know, Appa. I love you too, and I promise to make sure she goes to bed after dinner."
After brief goodbyes, Sunglee hung up the phone, and then gathered the third place at the table, knowing that putting the utensils away would be a big enough hint.
Indeed, it was. Sunglee had shuffled back into the kitchen, and began to put away the dishes, choosing to ignore the soft sigh that left his mother's lips.
"Appa said that you are not to stay up waiting for him. He knows that staying up so late makes you exhausted. And, Appa said he loves us both very much."
He smiled as his mother laughed gently before handing him a few hot pads once he had put away the dishes.
"Place these on the table, Sung. I'll bring out the food, but I may need help."
He did as his mother asked without question, his stomach already rumbling noisily at the smell wafting through the kitchen and dining room.
After the pair began to eat their dinner, all was nearly silent. That was, until his mother set down her chopsticks, staring pointedly at Sunglee.
Slowly, he did the same, brows furrowed in confusion.
"Your father and I planned on telling you this together, but... since he isn't here, I'll be telling you alone."
Those words were enough to make Sunglee push away from the table, lips pursed as he glared at his mother suspiciously.
"Sung, your father and I have decided to send you to London, England. We already have your passport and your living situation put together for you."
He was genuinely surprised. Plane tickets were particularly expensive, and the fact that this was being sprung on him just hours after he had received his diploma, it was a shock to his system.
"You're leaving next week, to study under Joshua Finner, a known prodigy in England. You'll be there for three months, and because you know English, it won't be a problem for you."
Sunglee stopped all movement, his gaze on his mother becoming unfocused as he processed the information handed to him.
He was leaving his home country for the first time, for three whole months. And he only had a week left. His mouth opened and closed, looking for words to say, but he couldn't find any. There wasn't anything to say.
He simply stood and excused himself, running away to his room. The first thing he did was set up a group call with his friends, plopping onto his bed, still quite shocked.
"Guys, I'm leaving for England next week."
----
It was two days later that Sunglee managed to meet up with his friends, all of them coming over and cramming into his medium sized bedroom.
Sunglee and Woojin were settled atop his large bed, while Jongin and Seohyun were swirling around on his two swivel chairs.
The silence was awkward until Seohyun cleared her throat, drawing all eyes to her.
"So, you're leaving us to go to England for three whole months?"
Slowly, Sunglee nodded his head.
"I'm sorry, guys. Really. Eomma and Appa decided it for themselves, and Eomma just told me a couple nights ago. I really didn't expect this."
Jongin let out an obnoxious groan, slamming his hands on the arm rests. His rings clattered on the plastic surface loudly, causing the other three to cringe slightly.
"I'm telling you, Sung! They are way too harsh on you. You've practiced like ten hours a day since you were five! Now they're sending you off to learn from some white dude, acting like you've never touched a piano in your life!"
"It's so not fair to you. I can't believe they made that choice for you, especially when you just graduated a couple days ago! What's wrong with having some fun for a month or two before you get serious?"
Both Seohyun and Woojin voiced their agreement to Jongin's words, to which Sunglee put his hands up mock surrender, a heavy sigh leaving his lips.
"Hyungs, Unnie, I'm sorry. I can't exactly stop them, this is what they want for me, and you know how I am. The last time I tried to tell them I didn't want to practice so I could go to Woojin's sleepover, they grounded me for a month and made me practice all weekend with barely any breaks."
All four let out a groan at the memory, three of them grimacing as they remembered how raw, stiff, and sore Sunglee's hands were that whole month.
"Okay, fair enough. But still! They are both way too harsh on you. They want you to be the perfect son. Straight, with a pretty girlfriend that got plastic surgery to meet their standards, four kids, and obviously, wealthy enough to pay for their retirement funds."
Sunglee rolled his eyes at Seohyun's jab, only silently agreeing with her as he didn't like bad-mouthing his own parents. At least, not out loud when he was in their house.
"Ugh, can we just drop it for now and spend time together? I've got less than a week left before I leave. I want to make a lot of memories."
Woojin snorted, crossing his legs Indian style before leaning back on the bed, his hands keeping him from falling backwards.
"And they're just gonna let you do what you want all week? I figured they would only let us have an hour a day so you can spend the rest of it practicing."
Sunglee couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's remark, knowing that Woojin was only teasing. With a big, heart shaped and gum filled grin, Sunglee jumped up, and walked to his bedroom door.
"So! Think we're old enough to go clubbing?"
----
It was probably one or two in the morning, and all four young adults were most certainly drunk out of their minds. They all walked down the empty and quiet street, arms linked together as they stumbled down the road, laughing and telling jokes.
Yes, they were very drunk, but they were all happy. Sunglee especially was filled with joy, knowing that he had taken lots of photos so he could remember this night forever.
The four had decided to crash at Seohyun's house, as she had two other bedrooms, not including her's and her parents' rooms.
When they finally arrived, both her parents doted on all four of them, making sure they had clean clothes to wear, that they all brushed their teeth, drank water, etcetera.
They had even given the four their own bucket in case one decided to throw up the contents of their stomach.
He shared a room with Jongin, while Woojin slept in the other room by himself. Jongin fell asleep almost immediately, but Sunglee couldn't help but stay awake.
He was definitely still very drunk; when it comes to the intake of alcohol, a little bit of water most certainly does not go a long way. But as he laid there, staring up at the ceiling, he couldn't help but grow nervous, as his gut twisted, and the little voice inside his head warned him that something big was going to happen.
Something in his life was going to change, for better or worse, he didn't know.
----
His last days in Korea passed far too quickly for his liking. He finally arrived at the airport at around six a.m., a large suitcase filled with his favorite clothes and shoes, and his carry-on bag full of piano music, and other things related to piano.
His friends all met him at the entrance, all with solemn looks on their faces. Seohyun was the first to run to Sunglee, jumping up and letting him twirl her around, tears in both their eyes.
Once Seohyun was on the ground again, she hugged Sunglee tightly, a few tears falling onto his crisp and clean grey sweatshirt.
"I'm gonna miss you, Sung... Call us as often as you can, okay? We'll all get together and have a party when you come back home. That's a promise!"
Even through their sorrow and tears, the four of them managed to grin wide, laughing and joking as if Sunglee wasn't leaving at all. Just as they were going in for a group hug, Sunglee's father coughed loudly, his eyes narrowed in disappointment.
"You're an adult, Sunglee. Not a secondary grade child."
Sunglee's mother elbowed her husband, letting out a heavy sigh.
"Jagiya, let them be! Sunglee is going to be gone for three months in a foreign country. It's only reasonable that he says a long goodbye to his only friends."
His father let out a low scoff, but said nothing more, so Sunglee took another minute to hug each of his friends individually, and then part from his parents so he could make his way through airport security, and to his boarding gate.
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Welcome to the first chapter of Sweet Lessons! I hope you enjoyed, and please listen to the playlist on shuffle while reading if you can. :)
Jhope you all have an amazing day/night!
Saranghae!
Fighting!
-Jei