"I COULD SWIM IN YOUR OCEAN FOREVER,
EVEN WITH NO SHORE-IN-SIGHT.
I COULD BASK IN THE HEAT OF YOUR SUN,
KNOWING THAT I'LL NEVER GET HURT.
HEARING YOUR VOICE, I'M COMPLETED,
AND WHEN YOU TOUCH ME, I MELT."

"Stop singing!"

Seokjin had no idea what Yoon Min had planned when he decided on her penalty for losing their bet. It turned out to be quite witty and clever.

As they arrived at a karaoke place late in the evening, he noticed that she seemed unusually calm and relaxed, despite claiming that her singing voice was terrible. He thought it was strange that she didn't seem nervous at all but he didn't think much of it.

After renting a room, they settled there and she chose a song to sing almost instantly. Without hesitating, she cleared her throat, opened her mouth and started singing. Now what could go wrong? He was very excited to hear her singing but the moment she let out her voice, his excitement faded away.

She changed her voice to sound cracky.

Yoon Min had deliberately changed her voice to sound awful, and there was a mischievous look in her eyes as she sang terribly, not caring about her voice at all. He was disappointed by her sneaky action and asked her to sing in her original voice, but she ignored his request. Instead, she continued to sing even more annoyingly.

Seokjin stood up and moved to take the mic away from her. He had to stop her because his ears couldn't endure any more of her cracked voice. But she continued to sing even louder, standing on top of the seats with a satisfied smile on her face. He chased her inside the karaoke room, but she didn't stop singing awfully.

"I caan buuyy mmyyself floweeaars, writte ma namme-"

"Stop, Yoon Min! This isn't what I asked for!"

"In theeoo saaand..."

"You-"

At one point, he caught her arms and snatched the mic away from her. She began laughing like a devil and clapped her hands for no reason, maybe she found it amusing that she had managed to trick him in such a way.

He turned off the song and glared at her. "That wasn't fair! You can't- You cheated!"

Wiping a fake tear, she sounded overwhelmed. "I believe you asked for this, Mr. Kim."

Seokjin slumped down on the seat, very disappointed and crossed his arms. He was fuming inside, feeling cheated by her sneak attack on his innocent mind.

Seeing him slumped and upset, Yoon Min controlled her laughter and sat beside him. As soon as she sat down, he moved away from her an inch, but she noticed and moved closer to him. He glared at her and moved another inch away, but she moved closer anyway. This continued for half a minute until he ran out of space to move and burst into whining instead.

"I just wanted to hear you sing! You couldn't do that much for me?"

She smiled cheekily. "Hey, my cracky voice is much better than my normal voice, believe it or not. I told you I sound like an old monkey. You might think I'm actually a hidden gem but seriously you're wrong."

"I thought I was your bias."

"That is why, I don't want to embarrass myself in front of you!"

Letting out a huff, he turned his head in the opposite direction, still angry.

She suddenly leaned closer to his face and whispered, "I mean I can sing...but only if you sing too."

Seokjin widened his eyes and looked at her, surprised. Words fit the story and it all made sense. She had deliberately done all of this madness so that she could ask him to sing.

"I-I'm not gonna sing."

"And why is that? It's not like you've got a bad voice like mine," she argued.

His hands fell on his lap. "I told you that I don't know if I ever can--"

"Yes, you did. But you've to know you're not like me, ok?" her prompt strict voice made him look at her. "You're born with a beautiful voice. When God gifts you something, you shouldn't store it forever. You gotta spend it. That's a way of showing Him your gratitude."

It sounded so easy when she said it like that. But only he knew how hard it was for him to sing again.

He defended. "You don't understand. I can't sing because...if I hadn't been an idol at that time, people wouldn't judge me. My friends wouldn't be jealous and accuse me of something I never did. If only I wasn't a singer, no one would care if I bullied someone or took drugs for-!"

That's not what he wanted to say. Shit, he definitely let out some stuff he wasn't ready to share.

As expected, Yoon Min stared at him wordlessly, but her gaze made him relax. The pair of her eyes always did that; they looked at him as if he wasn't a person, as if he was the other half of her, the best and most special part. Her eyes were lovely and understanding.

He looked away quickly in embarrassment. How could he let out one of his deepest secrets? He had been trying his whole best not to let anyone know.

After a silent minute, she opened her mouth. "You're not entirely wrong there."

That simple sentence poured water into his soul.

"You're right, none of that would've happened if you weren't a BTS member. All that fame and success got you into that mess. But you know what Yoongi said? Let's focus on the present. We cannot change or get rid of the past so you can't change the fact everything happened because you were a singer. And stressing about the future is also bad, so if you think singing again will make things worse, that's for the future to decide. But I do know that you used to love singing, and nothing will go wrong if you do what you love."

Not a lot of people knew he loved singing. It wasn't his best talent, but he liked how he could sing in high pitches.

"I know you've fallen rock-bottom from your grandeur life. But no matter what situations you have to go through, always find your way back up. And I'm not joking. I'm telling you this because you can do it. You're the type of man who doesn't care about others' opinions and respects himself the most. You're the kind to acknowledge your efforts. You're the opposite of me, which is why I'm advising you to do something I can never be able to bring myself to do."

When she finished the last sentence, he had to look at her. No one ever said something to him like this.

She smiled at him. "What happened to you is truly unfortunate, Jin-ssi. You have every right to be mad at the world. But for your own healing, you gotta do something to let the pain flow away from you. You gotta get back up and start fighting for yourself.

"You didn't deserve what happened to you. You deserve so much more, so remember this - be the first one to gift that to you."

Seokjin didn't know the last time he heard something like that. She was right, after that incident, he got so hurt that he lost hope and confidence all at once. He didn't think he was wronged because somehow he almost believed he deserved that. Thus he never tried to make himself feel better or fought for himself. He just let the vicious world use him and throw him away.

He didn't fight the pain, he consumed it all and weakened himself.

His gaze dropped on the microphone in his hands. It waited for someone to create beautiful music. It stayed in his hands as if
waiting for him to give in to his desire, for him to sing. Could he really give himself what he deserved?

Somehow Yoon Min understood something was going on in his heart. The old fire was starting to burn again. Taking the hint, she took the remote, scrolled through the songs and quickly picked a song for him.

Spring Day.

She glanced at him. "Are you ready?"

He was still uncertain. "I d-don't think--"

"We can skip the rap parts for now. You can sing from Jimin's part, ok?"

Without his approval, she played the song. The screen showed the lyrics and the music started playing.

He quickly leaned forward with his heart beginning to pound in his heart. Grabbing the mic and raising it to his lips, he looked at the screen and closed his eyes. What was he doing? Attempting to sing in a karaoke room? Was it a week ago he had thought of singing in front of her? How did that day come so soon?

As his eyes remained closed, the music reached his ears. The familiarity was well recognised as this song used to be very popular among their fans. All of them could relate to it and feel the comfort they wanted to give. It was so unfortunate he had almost forgotten such a special song like this one. Which reminded him whether he could sing it the way he used to. What if he failed? What if he wasn't ready?

The expression passed once the intro ended and it was the cue for him to sing. In the blink of a moment, he decided he needed to fight for himself. He was the only one who could give himself what he really deserved. So he cleared his throat, opened his eyes, parted his lips and began to sing.

It's been so long. So long since he had trusted himself to experience the joys of music. The way it cleared and healed his mind, the feeling it inspired in his heart, the emotions he felt deep in his soul. His voice unlocked the door and awakened the locked emotions in his chest which were safely guarded till now.

With the song moving forward, he found himself shaking from the release of the unbearable emotions. The melody of his voice painted with sorrow, pain and loneliness gave birth to new feelings inside him, that were preparing him for a war. A war to get back all those things that were taken away from him. Every little drop of pain took away every bottled-up emotion as his voice ruled the room.

It took all of him not to break down. So he poured his heart into the song and couldn't seem to stop.

The song gradually came to an end, so his voice also faded rhythmically with the music. Upon the end of the song, he opened his eyes and released a gasp of surprise. Did he really sing that by himself, that awesomely?

Like a kid eager to show his sandcastle to his mother, Seokjin turned his head at the girl whose eyes were engraved on his face. He had forgotten to see her reaction while he was singing, but the way her eyes fought the tears and lips curved into a proud smile offered him the answer he wanted.

He learned that it was important to embrace your gift and share it with the world because you never know who you might inspire or touch with your talents. Just like his voice touched her heart the first time she heard it, and even now once again.

Happiness clouded his mind but it doubled once she snatched the mic from his hand and started to sing in her normal voice.

☆THE FAULT IN OUR STARS☆

THANK YOU FOR READING
╚»★«╝