Track #3 (1/1)

SEOUL ON THE RADIOWritten by:13ISMYNUMBERTRACK #3Empathy“I can see right through your feelings.”Sarang Kwon looks down on her lap, her nails painted a new color, blue, other than her usual black ones. Her eyes travel back to the mirror, staring at her own reflection.Smokey eyes.Long, thick lashes.Bright, red lips.Skin sparkling in the light.Curled, French-braided hair.“There.” Seajin says, getting Sarang out of her trance.Sarang had been in the Oh’s residence for the whole afternoon in preparation for tonight’s performance for the bonfire. Seajin had insisted that she would do her make-up and prepare her outfit, saying that she would be beyond unrecognizable when she was done with her.Sarang had been waiting for Seajin to say something about Jongin and their encounter the previous day but nothing has come. Sarang assumed that Jongin never told anyone of their unpleasant encounter and she was glad. Sarang never liked to create drama out of petty things. Besides, she would like to assume that it would be the last time they would meet each other at such a circumstance.Seajin brings the tail end of her hair towards Sarang’s shoulder and bends so that their heads were next to each other and staring back at the mirror. Seajin smiles, happy with her work.“You look very pretty.” Seajin compliments.Sarang continuous to stare at her reflection, and if she must say, Seajin did a very good job. She looked different but not unrecognizable.“Now,” Seajin says, standing straight and walked towards her closet, “there’s just one more thing.” Seajin comes back with a plain silver mask in her hands.“A mask?” Sarang asks. Seajin nods and walks back to her.Seajin hands the mask to Sarang, “Now, no one will ever know it’s you.”Sarang looks down at the mask in her hands, it felt cold despite or maybe it was her hands. Maybe, she was cold altogether. She did not know. But what she did know was that, she never knew what she got herself into until this very moment.When Seajin Oh and Sehun Oh went to her and proposed the idea to her of being Soul, it seemed preposterous but she agreed, eventually. It seemed so simple. She makes music, people hear it, they love and no one bothers her since no one really knows that it’s her behind all the notes and tunes.And when Kris came to Sehun with this idea of a live performance, Sarang never really thought of it as a big of a deal as it seemed. She thought that it would be over before she knows it.But if that was the case, why does it feel like the clock is slowing itself down?Before this very moment, holding the mask into her hands, she never knew how much she’d be risking. She had a valid reason why she didn’t want people to know who she truly was: she doesn’t want her mother and father finding out that she had been pursuing her stupid dream again.Luhan Xi crosses her mind.She didn’t want anyone to know, especially him.But how ironic is it that her very first live performance would be for the team that he’s leading in? She feels as if she voluntarily walked in into the trap of the cat.“Are you nervous?” Saejin asks. Sarang had been staring at the mask for quite awhile now and Seajin thought she’d break her away from her thoughts.Sarang looks away from the mask, finally, and looks at Seajin, who was expecting an answer from her.No, she wasn’t nervous.She felt—She felt—She doesn’t even know what she feels.“No.” Sarang answers.“Shall we put on the mask?” Seajin asks, knowing that Sarang never liked talking about her feelings.Sarang hands Seajin the mask back. Seajin moves back behind Sarang and slowly places the mask on Sarang’s face. Once placed, she ties the ribbon behind her head and secures it with hair pins.Sarang watches Seajin carefully. She wonders why Seajin is so intent on helping her keep her identity when Sehun seemed so indifferent about it. Does it have something to do with a balance between twins? Or is it completely something different?“Why are you helping me?” Sarang finally asks as Seajin puts hair pins on her head when she couldn’t figure out the answer to her own question.Seajin pauses for a moment to catch Sarang’s eyes in the mirror, “What do you mean?”“I mean,” Sarang explains, “Why are you so supportive of me in keeping my identity as a secret, even going to the means of doing my make-up, buying me a mask and an outfit?”Seajin’s forehead crease and she tilts her head onto one side, as if examining Sarang’s hair but in truth she wonders if she should tell her the truth or come up with some easy answer.Truth was, Seajin empathizes with Sarang.She too have been hiding and keeping things from people around her and she too fears the unknown if the secret breaks out and blows right into her fac