#pianomajor

Music has always been your passion. You loved the resonating echoes and sonorous melodies from the instruments whenever you walked past the music wing during your early school days. You chose the piano as your instrument and planned to study it professionally in university. 

You sent out applications towards the schools and even went for the best in the nation. The day you received that very acceptance letter was a dream come true. You accepted the offer without hesitation. 

Throughout the time in your program, you learned that all piano majors from your faculty must participate in a competition for their graduating year. Not only was it the final evaluation, but it was also an opportunity for new beginnings. The winner will collaborate with one of the world’s finest philharmonic orchestras. It was also a free trip to Vienna, the glorious city of musicians.  

To train the piano majors for the big day, your department features a monthly evaluation that was termed “The Piano Battle”. It was to see how the students were practicing and whether they would make it to the final lineup of the competition. You, being known in your department for your exceptional skills and musicality, have won every single one. As long as you continue to work hard, first place in that competition will be yours. 

Well, maybe the word “will” is a little overreaching. In your final year, a certain individual transferred to your faculty and decided that he will be the obstacle towards your goal. 

Hwang Hyunjin. The name that makes your blood boil whenever it is uttered by a fellow classmate. And ever did you hear it so often in your department, because Hwang Hyunjin is really something. Towering at nearly six feet, he has a face that proves his genes are superior and that nature is truly biased. You despise his arrogance, the way he effortlessly attracts everyone around him, the way your colleagues would swoon as he passes by, and of course, the fact that he’s ridiculously good at the piano. Stupidly good. You will never forget the particular evaluation that left you feeling absolutely embarrassed.

In the morning of that very evaluation, a month after Hyunjin transferred to your department, you saw a crowd forming outside one of the practice rooms. 

“What’s this about?” You asked a nearby colleague. 

“Did you hear? Hyunjin’s the next rising star and he transferred here only a month ago! His skills are insane and not to mention the fact that he’s so hot!” 

Your colleague turned to you, giving you a playful nudge, “looks like you have competition.”

You knew your colleague meant no harm in those words, but nonetheless, they gave you a sense of uneasiness. 

The evaluations began shortly after ten in the morning. Normally, you would enter the music room without too much stress, knowing that you will be fine. It was not the case that morning. Your hands were trembling from the chills that may have been from those of mid autumn weather. Sure, the cooling temperature made you shiver occasionally, but there was something more to it that day.

Your colleagues were your opponents for the evaluations, most of them you had known for some time. You remember a chubby boy named Jeongin who wore thick black framed glasses and had such an endearing bowl cut. You two are the same age but at times, he feels like a little brother. He was someone who really looked up to you.

The very same Jeongin was seated across from you, with an appearance that changed completely over the summer. You could see his face through the propped up slanted lid of the grand pianos, situated across one another like two fitting puzzle pieces. Jeongin had gained a sharper and more defined jawline. He no longer wore glasses and his bowl cut was replaced with a mid-parting comma style. 

“Jeongin, is that you?” You asked in bewilderment.

“It’s only been a few months noona, I can’t be that hard to recognize.” He answered in a playful tone.

The evaluations began with a relatively simple piece. You were doing okay so far, making sure that your fingers landed on each key with precision. The evaluator was keen on technique. One wrong note was more than enough on mistakes. Unfortunately, that was what happened to Jeongin. His fingers slipped and landed on a wrong key. The evaluator stopped the session and asked for the next contestant. 

“You’re my idol, noona. Always so flawless in your music.”

You gave him a smile. “Thanks Innie. You did well too. Keep on practicing!”

Jeongin gave you a wave before exiting the room. Shortly after, the next contestant entered and took the seat across from you.

You turned back to the piano to focus on the next piece. It was slightly more challenging, requiring you to focus on your individual note executions. The music unfolded, increasing in tempo, and its difficulty to control the ornamentations and note clarity. But you managed to play them perfectly without mistakes. 

One by one, the contestants came and left. It was always at that particular passage in the music that many could not get past. Fatigue has settled in, the longer the evaluations proceeded. 

“Can I call for a break?” You asked the evaluator.

“Sure. I was about to ask you the same thing. You must be exhausted, going through all those tricky parts. Great job on the notes by the way.” 

“Thanks.”

You took your break and went to grab some water. On your way back, you noticed a young man seated on one of the chairs outside the evaluation room, focusing intently on his music. The faded blue cover seemed oddly familiar. You took a step closer for a better view of the book’s title, curious about the piece he was studying. 

Chopin: Impromptus

It happened to be the same copy as yours. Of course it was familiar.

You glanced around the vicinity and realized that he was the only one there. Typically, the halls were filled with students during the evaluations. He must have been the last contestant for the day. 

“Are you Hyunjin?” You asked.

His eyes skimmed through the last passage before setting his manuscript down on the chair beside him. He brushed his hand through his long dark locks before looking up at you. One glance from him sent shivers down your spine. 

Those cold, sharp, and calculating eyes pierced through your soul, making you regret speaking to him in the first place. 

“Useless small talk.” He said nonchalantly, rolling his eyes. His condescending words were as piercing as the look he gave you.

“Excuse me?” You were taken aback by his rude arrogance.

“I’m sure you heard me the first time.” 

With that, he picked up his music and continued his study, ignoring you while you stood there with your mouth agape. You have never met anyone who spoke to you like that. The way he treated you as if you were inferior to him, this jerk really had the audacity!

The door to the evaluations room opened, shifting the tense atmosphere away from the two of you. Thank goodness.

“Y/N, if you are ready, we can resume the last session of the day. You too, Hyunjin.” The evaluator greeted both of you.

You could feel the ignition of fire as you furiously glared at the arrogant prick. So he WAS the Hyunjin that everyone was gossiping about. 

The more you glared at him, the more your inner fire burned. To your disappointment, your colleague was right. This Hyunjin person was stupidly attractive to the point that it was unfair for the rest of the population. His physical appearance was unfortunately wasted on someone like him. 

Hyunjin picked up his manuscript, gave it to the evaluator, and stepped into the room before you had the chance. Stunned by his rudeness from earlier, you no longer wanted to take part in the evaluations with him as your opponent. Sure, Piano Battles were competitive, but everyone had fun. They were treated like friendly competitions, but this Hyunjin prick was treating it like some extreme situation. 

“Y/N, are you going to join us?” The evaluator asked. 

You snapped out of your thoughts and nodded, following the evaluator into the room. 

Hyunjin was already seated at the bench, prepared and ready to go. You saw that he was dressed in full black formal wear from his blazer to his dress pants. If that was not enough, he had to feature a pair of Valentino dress shoes that were shinier than the shoe polish itself. 

“The final piece for today will be one of Chopin’s impromptus. Which one will you be playing?” The evaluator asked. 

“Opus 66.” Hyunjin answered, without even a glance at the evaluator. 

Impromptu opus 66 was a tricky piece that you struggled with for some time. And it just had to be evaluated with no one else other than Hwang Hyunjin. 

“You may begin whenever you are ready.” 

Before your mind could register, Hyunjin was already performing the piece. The starting left hand G-sharp octaves flowed into rapid sixteenth note passages with triple against duple time. After the first part, you finally understood the whole commotion about Hyunjin’s techniques. He had incredible control in his fingers with a sense of flow like no other. The size of his hands were proportional to his nearly six feet height, giving him an unfair advantage at the sections with widely spaced intervals. After all, the composer himself had large hands. 

The dolce middle section took you by surprise. It was so well executed to the point you found it hard to believe that someone as cold as him was capable of such emotions.

Throughout the years of your university life, you have never met a person in your faculty who could play like Hyunjin. A sudden feeling of guilt and unworthiness sent you into panic mode. It seemed like your diligence was not enough, because he was to be your ultimate competitor. 

The more he played through the piece, the more you hated him. If only he was not so talented, you would not have hated him so much. 

Your thoughts rang in your head, even after Hyunjin had finished his part. He gave you a cold look, followed by an infuriating smirk. He knew the effect that he had on others and he was not afraid to use it to his advantage. 

“Miss Y/N, I believe it’s your turn.” He said, voice laced with mockery. 

You sat on your bench, completely frozen. Hyunjin had delivered a masterpiece virtuously, with an interpretation like no other. You had no idea he was able to pull something like that off. As much as you hated to admit, Hyunjin lived up to his reputation.

“Miss Y/N? You may begin now.” The evaluator reminded you. 

You took a deep breath and placed your fingers over the keys. After pressing down the first notes, you allowed your muscle memory to guide you through the piece, paying extra attention to the turns and the tempo changes.

There were moments where your fingers threatened to slip from the keys. You could see in the corner of your eye, that annoying smirk on Hyunjin’s face. You told yourself to ignore him and managed to refocus.

It seemed like it was going on forever, until the closing arpeggios signaled the end of the piece. There was a moment of silence before the evaluator stood up and gave the both of you an applause. 

“This has to be the best performance I have ever seen in all my years. Unfortunately, it was not a live performance or it would have been absolutely legendary. Hyunjin, I’m not sure if you have met Y/N, but she’s a stellar student and performer in our faculty. And Y/N, this is Hyunjin, a transfer student who joined us just a month ago.” 

“I’ve had the chance to meet her before this session.” Hyunjin responded. 

“Wonderful! You must be well acquainted then.” Said the evaluator, clasping both hands together. 

You could only let out a nervous laugh.

“Anyways, you both did incredibly well and it was a tough decision to make. In the end, I am going with Hyunjin as the ultimate winner of this month’s Piano Battle. Congratulations!”

You waited for Hyunjin to step out of the room before asking for the evaluator’s feedback.

“Is there something that I did wrong?” You asked.

“Y/N dear, you play wonderfully. Clearly, both of you are very talented and it was a close call. I think the only difference was the emotion. Hyunjin seemed to have a slightly better grasp at it but it is not something that you need to worry about.” 

The evaluator patted you on your back. “Fall in love and date someone. You will pick it up naturally.”

You were fuming as you stormed out of the evaluations room, going for the set of double doors at the exit.

“Hey!” A voice called after you. You knew exactly who it belonged to.

You spun around to face him.

“What do you want?” 

His smirking face further fueled your anger. 

“Well someone’s pissed. Might as well utilize those emotions when you actually play. You’re boring as a stick.”

You stared at him not believing the fact that he even dared to say such things.

“It’s not like you have any emotions.” You responded. 

“Clearly, I won this battle. With or without the need for emotions.” 

He gave you a disgusted look. 

“I can’t believe the evaluator actually gave you that advice. As if anyone will be interested in you.”

You wanted to hit him. You really did. It took so much out of you to control yourself. That little weasel prick of a jerk by the name of Hwang Hyunjin. Not only did he take away your title, but he also embarrassed and ridiculed you.

“That was a private conversation!”

“You weren’t exactly discreet about it. I can hear you all the way down the hall.”

Hyunjin took a step closer to you. You took a step back, maintaining some distance from him.

“What are you doing?” You warned him. “I thought you hated useless small talk.” 

“This is getting more interesting than I thought.”

He backed you up until you were against the wall, stuck in between with nowhere to go. He took your chin and tilted it up to face him.

“But I guess you can fall for whoever you want.”

You slapped his hand and shoved him out of your way.

“Don’t you dare touch me.”