Imperfection

Alex stands there, taking out a piece of paper from his pocket. "I can't force you to play, but your talent can help others." He hands her a crumpled piece of paper.

"What's this?" Ha-Eun wipes the tears away with her thumb. "A club?

"It's the music club, join it if you want to. I won't force you to play, you'll be my student conductor." Alex points to the bottom of the page, a time and place. "Hopefully I get to see you."

xxxxx

"Hello? Ha-Eun? Are you there?" Byeol is on the phone, trying to call Ha-Eun.

'dood r u there? its been 30 mins pls come' Byeol sends a text to Ha-Eun. Ha-Eun isn't online, nor was her Internet turned on so she didn't receive the message. "Ugh." Byeol groaned as she laid her head down onto the table.

"Can I get you anything?" An old Korean lady comes to Byeol, she's holding a menu. "It's nice to see a Korean in here once and a while." She has a sweet smile.

"I think I'll just get a black coffee, I'll order once my friend gets here." She couldn't lift her head, like her head was glued to the table.

"Very well." The old lady smiled and turned around, walking into the kitchen.

Byeol turned her head, out the window but the clear blue skies had faded and the dark grey clouds overcast the entire city. She looked around, she was the only person there, there was no one else around.

"Hello auntie!" Another student walked through the door, ringing the bell. Byeol turned around and it was a senior, he was completely drenched in water. His black hair laid lazily over his eyes.

"Ji-woo!" The auntie from behind the counter rushed out, hugging the senior in his soaked pants.

"Can I get something to go, eomma?" He hugged her back, fully embracing that he was wet.

"Yes, yes, you go sit while I prepare, there's a cute girl there." She points at Byeol. "Sit next to her." The old woman went back to behind the counter. Ji-woo looked around, no one was in the store, except for Byeol.

"Have I seen you before?" Ji-woo looks at Byeol, she's obviously trying to hide from him but she's not doing a good job.

"Er..." Byeol turns around awkwardly. "No." She makes a face.

"Well, it's nice to see someone in here once and a while." He walks over to Byeol, placing his drenched bag next to the table. He takes a seat directly in front of her. "My name is Ji-woo."

"Hi..." Byeol waves awkwardly at Ji-woo. "Don't you feel... cold?" Byeol points to Ji-woo's drenched clothes.

Ji-woo looks down, his clothes were indeed drenched. "Oh it's fine." The two of them look at each other awkwardly. Ji-woo looks at the kitchen, his mom is pointing two thumbs up and she peeks creepily over the counter. "So uh... you're a junior?"

"Yeah..." Byeol could obviously see the old woman looking over the counter. "Why'd you choose this school?" Byeol asks Ji-woo out of the blue.

Ji-woo was caught off guard. "I actually transferred here last year, I'm a third year. I actually have a brother in this school, he's a first year. Well, its complicated, but we're brothers." He laughs. "He can be a handful at times, but he's a real joy to be around. I haven't spoken to him in years."

"Really? What's his name, maybe I know him." Byeol seemed actually invested in the conversation.

"His name is Jae-woo, but he goes with the name Jaeneung." Ji-woo seemed pretty pissed. Byeol didn't want to touch on the subject more. "If you know him, do let me know, I want to reconnect with my brother."

"Here's your black coffee." The old woman walks to Byeol, holding a hot cup of coffee.

Byeol takes the coffee from the old woman's hand and places it on the table. "Thank you."

"It's on the house." The old lady looks at Ji-woo, he gives her a thumbs up and a smile.

xxxxx

"This art studio." Jaeneung walks around the art room, placing his hand on anything he can find. Although he's blind, he's able to walk through a cluttered and messy room without even hesitating. "It's not bad."

The art room was a mess, canvasses hung to the wall, paint stains on the ceilings, big lights hanging from the ceiling and a massive painting of a girl holding a sun inbetween her hands.

Jaeneung felt someone walking behind him. "Who's that?"

"You could sense me?" A deep voice spoke behind Jaeneung.

"I kind of have to." Jaeneung laughs. "Are you the teacher in charge of the art club?"

"No, no. I'm just a student, my name is Claude, I'm the student in charge of the art club. You wanna join?" Claude places his bag down, walking past Jaeneung and stepping over the mess on the floor. "We really need members, we only have 9 members and we need a total of 10 students in order to co-"

"Make it 10." Jaeneung stares blankly. "I'll join."

Claude looked at Jaeneung with a surprised expression on his face. "Well, that's was easy. Oh and practice is on Mondays and Tuesdays."

"Uhm, odd question." Jaeneung points to his feet, he's wearing socks. "Do you have shoes?"

"Shoes?" Claude looks down, he is indeed only wearing socks. "I'm not even going to question you, there's an extra pair of shoes underneath the cabinet there." Claude pointed to a cabinet that was cluttered and blocked by hundreds of broken brushes.

"I think I'll pass." Jaeneung placed his bag down and walked over the mess, sitting on the counter. "What are you doing here so late? Shouldn't you get some rest?" The rain was getting heavier and the water was dripping into the room. "Especially in this weather."

"Well, I don't have anywhere to go." Claude takes an apron hung from the wall and puts it on. "My house sucks." He takes a hat off the coat hanger. "I like here better." He takes a stool and places it in front of the massive painting.

"Did you paint that?" Jaeneung didn't know what was on the painting, but he could tell it was something magnificent from how Claude acted towards it.

"I did, do you like?" Claude had a genuine smiles on his face.

"I do." Jaeneung walked towards the painting, placing his hand on the canvas.

"What are you doin-" Claude was pretty freaked out from how Jaeneung just nonchalantly places his hand on a canvas.

"It's really pretty." He runs his hands down the canvas, feeling the tiny little imperfections in the paint.