A Remedial Tune (1/1)

"Taec, I should talk to him first," I said, laying a hand on his chest to stop him from acting on impulse.He gave me a reassuring look. "It's okay, we'll go in together. I won't do anything stupid, I promise."We nervously sat in the waiting area of Mr. Son's office, waiting to tell him about us and hopefully stop this marriage from happening. "You guys can go right in," his secretary peeked over piles of paper on her desk, "He's free now."I stood up, holding Taecyeon's hand firmly. "Come on," he said, one step ahead of me, but before we could continue on, he turned around and hugged me tightly, kissing the top of my head before leading me into the office.When I opened my mouth to speak, no words came out; I was overtaken by nervousness and couldn't think of the right words to persuade him with. Reading my distraught expression, Taecyeon put his arm around me and began talking.As Taecyeon explained to him the situation the same way he explained it to my father (except nicer), Mr. Son nodded, taking in everything that we were telling him. I didn't realy know if that meant that he just understood the situation or if he really wanted to help us. My palms grew sweaty."Listen," He began calmly, "I understand that the two of you believe that you're in love." He cleared his throat, "But I think that you're too young to truly understand what love is, and quite honestly there is something great that will come out of this marriage, I promise. Not only will this business bloom beyond all that we could even imagine, but you and Dongwoon are so compatible!"I looked at Taecyeon, and the tears welled up in my eyes. He scanned my broken expression."Mr. Son," I finally spoke up, "If we're coming off as rude, I'm terribly sorry, but I was just wondering if you love Mrs. Son.""Why of course!" He smiled warmly-- almost to himself."I understand why you think we're too young to be in love, but I don't think there really is an age too young for love. I think that... when you think you're in love, you are in love. I know you think that I should give Dongwoon a chance, but honestly, I can't. I won't ever be able to be happy unless I'm with Taecyeon. In these first months that he first went to college, I felt like I was going to die of sadness and made some of the stupidest decisions in my life. If I marry Dongwoon, those decisions will haunt me for the rest of my life, and I don't think I would be able to live with that... I might as well not live."Taecyeon squeezed my hand, pulling me in to wrap his other arm around me.A fat tear rolled out of my eye when I blinked."Have you talked to your father about this?" Mr. Son finally spoke."Yes," I bit my lip."Did he reject your proposal to end the engagement?"I nodded silently.He sighed loudly, "Tiffany, I'm still Dongwoon's father, and I want the best for him, no matter what. I know he likes you a lot and has given up pursuing other girls because of you."I opened my mouth to speak, but he lifted his hand to signal that he had not finished speaking."At this point, the joining of our companies is not the most important thing, but I do want you to give Dongwoon a chance," he looked at Taecyeon and read his angry expression, "This weekend, I want you to spend time with Dongwoon at the apartment that your father and I have bought for the two of you to study together or just have fun."I felt my heart pounding. I hope he knew that no matter how much time I spent with Dongwoon, I would still want to be with Taecyeon."I know that is a lot to ask, but even if you just let him back into your life as friends, that would satisfy him enough."I nodded silently, trying to understand the situation, and caught Taecyeon stare at me from the corner of my eye. "If I spend this weekend with Dongwoon," I spoke again, "and rekindled a friendship, you'll call off this marriage?""I'll still have to talk it over with your father, but maybe.""But my father would be totally against it," I tried to reason with him."We'll have to see, then. Is that okay with you, Taecyeon?" Mr. Son asked politely.I squeezed his hand to just get him to agree. It was our best bet at this point."How do I know that we can trust you?" He began, "What if this is just a ploy for you to push Tiffany to Dongwoon and away from me?""I fell in love with Dongwoon's mother in college," he spoke softly, "I think I see you guys as children because my own son is your age, but when I really put it into perspective, I didn't feel all that young when I was your age." He turned to me, "I was almost separated from his mother back then, and I felt the way you described earlier, Tiffany.""What about Dongwoon?" I said quietly.Taecyeon tugged at my hand. I know it wasn't a good idea to remind Mr. Son that I was breaking his son's heart, but I still had some concern for him, and the only person who could help me understand Dongwoon was his own family.Mr. Son smiled slightly, "I'm glad you still care about him, but I don't think he should or can break apart a relationship like yours. I have the philosophy that when people are born, they have that one person that they are destined to be with. They may attract others and date others, but in the end, they have someone that they're meant to be with. Sometimes, life gets in the way-- or other people get in the way-- and drives them apart."I looked at Taecyeon, and he looked at me.All that Mr. Son was saying was like a big mashup of our philosophies."Mr. Son," I began, "I'm really sorry about not being able to make your son happy.""From the way I've raised him," he clasped his hands together, "I think he'll get through it."I looked around the room, racking my brains for something else to say."Well," he said, "I don't want to keep you from studying, now. I'll call your father right now."As I began to say something he stopped me again."Don't worry," he smiled, "I'm very good at breaking bad news to people and diverting their anger from those that I want to protect. You needn't worry about getting in trouble with him."We thanked him and went back to Taecyeon's house. I hugged my knee as I reread a novel that we were reading for English in the beginning of the year, breathing in the calming scent of a mood candle that Dongwoon had lit this morning.Suddenly, soft piano music began playing from somewhere down the hallway. I listened to the light melody fill the air, brightening my mood; I began to wonder if he was playing the music or if it was just a CD.Whatever. Just ignore him. I'd been ignoring him for the first day that we both got to the apartment. I'm only here to satisfy Mr. Son's wishes, not to befriend Dongwoon again... that snitch."Before you say your last farewell to me, please stop for a moment, and look at me while smiling."It was Dongwoon playing the piano and singing.He sang in korean, but I could understand bits and pieces of what he was singing. I listened closely as I tried to distinguish more words."When I let go of this hand now, I'll no longer have any reason to smile, but when I see you in another's embrace, I'll try to smile."My heart stopped beating for a moment as I made my way closer down the hallway slowly."At the end of your long relationship with him, please know that it'll be me standing here, waiting."I creaked open the door to see him playing the piano that I had seen earlier when I explored the apartment. I thought it was one of those things for show since I had quit playing the piano when I was younger, but I guess they bought it for him.Shit. The door was so squeaky.He stopped playing the piano as soon as he heard the door open and turned around to see me awkwardly poking my head in the door."Hey," he said calmly, "I thought you went out."I smiled shyly at him, "No, I got back ten minutes ago."He didn't return the smile, "Ah, I see.""Can I come in?" I said, still standing with my head poked in through the cracked open door."Yeah, sure," he said with uncertainty in his voice."Am I imposing on your practice time?""Practice? Nah, I gave up piano a long time ago. I'm just writing a song," he ran his fingers through his hair as I made my way over to the piano seat.I giggled, "I gave up piano a long time ago, too, but if you're writing a song, you must be really good. You sound really good-- not just the piano, the singing too." He chuckled awkwardly, "You think so?""Yeah!" I nodded, "Do you want to teach me how to play?""Uh," He traced his fingers over the piano keyboard, "Sure.""You don't have to if you don't want to, you know," I smiled."No," He smiled back, "Here," He took my hand gently and placed it on the right spot. "You have some experience, yeah?"I nodded, "Barely.""It's fine," He said encouragingly as he lay his hand on another octave. "Follow my lead, okay?"I nodded again.As he played slowly and smoothly, I tried to follow."You're doing well!"I gave him an awkward skeptical smile, "Are you serious?""Yeah! Considering you haven't played in how many years?""Seven?"He chuckled, "You're really good if you haven't played in that many years.""Oh, well. What can I say? I guess I'm just a natural-born piano genius," I tossed my hair back."Woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves," He laughed.I played the tune at a faster tempo, trying to remember everything that he had just taught me."See? You're pretty good," he said, "Your hand posture is really good.""Yeah, that's like the only thing I remember from all those piano classes."He smiled warmly, finally, as we sat there in silence."Listen," he started cautiously, "I know things have taken a downturn since the beginning of this year between us."I nodded, listening carefully."And I think there are some things I need to clarify in terms of my actions," he said softly."Like what?""Well first off," he cleared his throat, covering the piano keyboard up, "You probably think that I ratted you out this past week when you were with Taecyeon, right?"I didn't reply."Well, I didn't call your dad and tell him that you weren't in the dorm. He called me, and I didn't know what else to say.""You could've covered for me," I said quietly."I know," he shook his head, "I'm stupid. I'm sorry."Silence again."And, I think you have the wrong idea about telling Taecyeon about you and Chansung.""How?""I did tell him," his voice vibrated through the warm air, "But only because he was mildly suspicious, and I didn't think it was right for me to lie to him.""No, it wouldn't have been right," I said, looking down at my hands."I'm really sorry about the way this year has been going," he said, scanning my expression, "and I'm really sorry about what is going to happen."I breathed in audibly, "How would you feel if I told you that there was a way for me to call off this wedding?"He looked surprised, "What do you mean?""Just answer the question.""I mean," he blinked and stared into space for a moment, "I'd be happy for you, but... you know how I feel about you.""Yeah," I looked at him, "I'm sorry.""It's okay," He looked away briefly, "If you're happy, and we're okay again, then I don't see why not."I smiled at him, reaching for his hand, "I'm really sorry about the way things turned out.""It's okay," he shook his head, "I don't really like lingering on the past anyway, so I'm glad we have it all figured out now."Silence."So how do you plan on wiggling out of this marriage?""Oh," I paused, "I talked to your dad after begging mine and getting the worst response ever.""And...?""He said that he might be able to get some sort of a response out of my dad.""Might?""Yeah, so I don't even know if it'll work," I shook my head and put my head in my hand. "Sometimes, I think that I love Taecyeon to the point where I really don't think I'd be able to function without him."Dongwoon blinked."I don't really even know how to explain it. I just really think he's the one." I stopped for a moment, "Your dad has a really interesting philosophy. He says that everyone has someone that they are meant to be with, and when you meet that person, you know they're the one. There are just things that get in the way sometimes: people, events, stupid decisions. I definitely agree.""I do too," he looked at me, "But what about when you find someone who you think is the one, but they don't think you're the one?"I turned and looked at him, "That's a good question."He chuckled, "I guess we can come up with our own theories, then?"I nodded. "It's just a theory."He nodded, and we sat in silence once again."Do you want to play a song and sing for me?" I said, leaning against the piano."Sure," he smiled, pulling the cover off the keyboard. "Any requests?"I shrugged, "No. Just play me something pretty."He smiled cutely, "Okay."His fingers began lightly playing a sad melody across the keyboard. "When I was standing at the end of the world and couldn't see the path, I needed someone. When I was trapped in the darkness and couldn't see the light, I was waiting for a helping hand. You wouldn't know that you are the only one in the world, who is the only one better than the world."He casually looked over at my happily impressed expression and smiled as he continued to sing.When he finished the song I clapped and cheered excitedly."Did you write that one too?"He nodded modestly."Daebak, " I said, giving him a thumbs up.Dongwoon's phone began ringing.He glanced over at the flashing screen and saw that it was his father calling."Excuse me for a moment?"I nodded.He picked up the call and left the room.I tried remembering what Dongwoon had just taught me but failed.When he returned, he had a slightly awkward expression on his face."Are you okay?" I said, beckoning him towards where I was sitting."Uh... I don't know how to tell you this..." he began, "But... Your dad isn't going to let you out of this marriage; he rejected my dad's proposal to end the engagement."-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------wee. sorry this chapter is so short. I'm trying to build up more suspense. haha@taeckhun_cess: haha I get what you mean... but all that aside, if you had to choose between Khun and Taec, then who would you choose?@Mzjulieb2uty: kekeke you just wait! There's more coming! :)@fyekay918: haha please don't hate her too much! She is the protagonist! lol and thank you sooooo much for loving this fic; I try to make it as enjoyable as possible, but sometimes I feel like I fall under expectations >___<