Blog

Yoongi studied the pretty girl that seated herself next to him.  Even in the dimly lit theater, he could tell that her hair was a soft brown that flowed in gentle waves past her shoulders.  Her eyes were a deep brown, but in better light he would have been able to see the golden flecks that glowed like tiny lanterns, reflecting the meaning of her name, throughout her irises.  She reached up and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.  Was that a nervous motion?  Then he watched as she caught her lower lip between her teeth and chewed on it for a moment before grabbing a couple kernels of popcorn and tossing them into her mouth.  He was still holding her popcorn tub.

“Please eat some,” she mumbled around the popcorn between her teeth.  “Even after tossing half the bucket on the floor, I still have way too much.  You might as well enjoy it with me since you were kind enough to offer me the seat next to you.”

Her voice was soft, sweet to his ears.  Rather like a forgotten yet familiar melody.  One that floated up from the recesses of childhood memories.  As he gazed at her, he suddenly remembered a song he’d played on a piano once as a child.  Even then, he’d found its melody haunting.  Yet beautiful.  He’d instantly memorized it, playing it that whole summer whenever his fingers found the keys of a piano.  But soon enough, summer had faded into autumn, and school had begun again, and that song had been forgotten for over two decades.  How had she awoken its memory today?  He stared at her in wonder.

She smiled at him, and the words of that song suddenly came back to him too.  

“Autumn’s dying rays,

Half-forgotten days

Of silly, summer suns 

And playful, tiny ones.

Innocence once lost –

Can it be found again?

Must we count the cost

Of every fading friend?

“Purity once shown

With joy I called my own.

Lingering in my mind,

Oh, countless better times.

How do we retrieve 

All those happy memories?

Can I once more believe 

All the good that fled from me?”

As the words from the first verse swirled around his heart, Yoongi felt tears stinging his eyes.  Why was it easier to remember the bad memories?  And harder to retrieve the good ones?  Or was it that the happy ones had been so few and far between?

“Return to me.  Return to me.

Please come and see

All the joys meant for me.

Oh, that I could plainly see

Goodness still pursuing me.

Lovingkindness, return to me.

Return to me once more.”

The short chorus echoed in his mind threatening to send a flood of tears coursing down his cheeks.  Hopefully, the movie would start soon, and the waterfall would be hidden by the darkness surrounding them as the lights dimmed.  He glanced at the pretty girl now seated next to him.  But still, the lyrics came unbidden to swirl through the hallways of his mind.  They were searching for an open door.

“Winter’s time now plays

Half-forgotten ways

Of love’s gentle embrace

And the smile of a face.

Pure, sweet compassion,

Some soul’s contagious kindness.

Love’s truth in action,

Uncovering our blindness.

“Yet birthing hope here.

Something very dear

Clings to our fragile dreams.

More to life than it seems.

We were born for more.

Is there a timely secret

Hidden behind a door?

If so, how do we reach it?”

As the second verse finished singing itself to him, the lights began to dim.  Yoongi reached up and wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye.  He glanced at the girl next to him.

“I’m Yoongi,” he whispered, his voice gruff from his grief.

She turned her head to smile prettily at him.  “Lucia.  It’s nice to meet you, Yoongi.”

Inside, she was screaming.  She’d just realized who she was sitting next to.  How had she not recognized him?  He did look somewhat different from all his airbrushed photos.  But still…she must have been blind not to recognize him out in the lobby.  Here in the dimly lit theater she might have found an excuse for her blindness.  But not in the lobby.  She could only plead the impossibility of running into a member of BTS in a movie theater in Berlin!  

She was suddenly so thankful that her friend had decided she needed a nap more than she wanted to see a movie with Lucia.  If Kristina had accompanied her, Lucia would never have sat next to her favorite guy in the band.  She and her friend had flown into Berlin a few hours ago.  This trip was Kristina’s birthday gift to Lucia.  They had come for tomorrow night’s concert.  The one Yoongi would be performing in.  Lucia was looking forward to hearing him sing her favorite melody.  Now she had heard his gentle voice up close.  It did sound rather like music to her eager ears.  What an amazing turn of events.