C H A P T E R  3

The Concerto

The concert hall was illuminated by dimly golden lit. The only light came from onstage where there were at least twenty people playing classical instruments such as flutes, oboes, clarinets, basses, bassoons, horns, trumpet, piano, violins, cellos, and other strings, performing a classical piece, leaving the auditory dark and hidden. The glowing hues surrounding created a magnificent effect to the performing group and giving warm and peaceful atmosphere inside the hall. Jeongguk lightly descended the stairs towards his designated seat right in the middle of the sea of red velvet seats with the best view of the stage. Just a few steps away, he could already see another person sitting next to his seat, pulling a smile on his face.

"You're late," said the latter as soon as Jeongguk planted himself on the seat.

"Nah, I'm on time," Jeongguk said, glancing at the man in front of the piano on the stage. "Yoongi hyung's part just started now. We have a whole thirty-four minutes ahead of complete piano performance, Joon hyung."

Namjoon only hummed in exasperation but didn't reply, continuing to watch the performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto Opus 37 No. 3 in C Minor that was currently led by Yoongi as the pianist, their eldest brother, the first prince of South Korea monarch.

"He already looks sleepy," Jeongguk exclaimed and Namjoon chuckled. "Remember that one time where we were in elementary?"

"Well, we all know he worked hard for this day, it'd be bad to fall asleep in the middle of the performance," Namjoon said. "He's a professional now."

"I know," Jeongguk said. "This is a great piece." the beautiful melodies filled the whole room, cutting short both of the princes' conversation. Unlike Yoongi who was a prodigy, despite having able to play some musical instruments, his little brothers never wanted to become pro's. Even if he wasn't as skilled as Yoongi, Jeongguk still had great passion in music (mostly in different genres aside from classics) and had concrete understanding of each music Yoongi was performing, including this one.

This concerto was a more varied and dynamic work rich in the turbulent emotions, as expected of Beethoven's specialty. The piano style was suddenly less ornate, more muscular than the prior concertos, but this made the piece very challenging. Jeongguk knew how hard Yoongi had practiced to become this good, like he owned this music with his own style.

Beethoven, similar to Mozart's C minor Concerto, allowed the piano to play through to the end of the movement, rather than simply stopping with the chord that marked the re-entry of the orchestra, as happened in most classical concertos. The pianist's play was what marked the great expressive advance. The song gave moments of otherworldly effect which made listeners wait with eager anticipation. It was a simple song in its outline but lavish in its details, Jeongguk thought.

The first movement was known to make forceful use of the theme throughout, which then was introduced by the strings and used throughout the movement. The piano entered with an ascending scale motif, right when Jeongguk entered the room. The second movement itself opened with the solo piano with the opening marked with detailed pedaling instructions. At last, the final movement was in a sonata-rondo form. The movement began in C minor with an agitated theme played only by the piano. It was a very beautiful, perfect performance that deserved a whole standing applause.

Yoongi himself had done a tremendous job as the piano soloist, withstanding the pressure onstage, and working hard in playing his parts to show the audience how amazing of a music prodigy he was. There were no mistakes and he succeeded in bringing the concerto smoothly, much to his brothers' satisfaction. Being a royal prince had many advantages, but Yoongi was truly a genius by birth. All his achievements and fame as a music prodigy were brought all by himself solely.

As expected, the audience all stood and applauded in awe as the performance ended beautifully and successfully. Namjoon and Jeongguk immediately went to the backstage as soon as Yoongi left the stage after bowing to the audience. They couldn't wait to give a round cheers of congratulations to their brother by themselves.

Yoongi had already waited for his younger alpha brothers in backstage when they saw him with a bored expression, but his face looked glowing with hidden satisfaction and giddiness. Jeongguk then ran in full speed to tackle his eldest alpha brother in a very tight hug, not minding the sweat that drenched the elder's suit, Namjoon joining the last and the trio laughed happily.

"Yo," Yoongi greeted, messing with both Namjoon and Jeongguk's hair.

"Hyung, you were amazing! Congrats on another successful concerto," Namjoon said, grinning widely.

"Yeah, that was one hell of performance," Jeongguk excitedly remarked.

"Thank you, I'm chuffed," Yoongi said calmly. "Ah, I'm glad it was finished. I need my forty winks." Jeongguk winced at the the chosen words Yoongi spoke of. His eldest bro increasingly resembled an old man as years passed, perhaps one of the results of attending parties with his music collogues which mostly consisted of people thrice his age.

"You grandpa, we should celebrate this," Jeongguk said exaggeratedly and Namjoon nodding along in agreement.

"Yeah, later at home, will ya?" Yoongi said, huffing in exasperation. "By the way, how was your first day at school, Guk?" The three princes had moved out to a more secluded area where the performers were usually resting as they could get more privacy far from the waiting reporters on the entrance of the backstage to ask around for the eldest prince's presence.

"It was great?" Jeongguk said. "The girls were too clingy, though, and noisy," an involuntary shudder appeared on Jeongguk's broad shoulder. "But it's nice, I got to meet Joon hyung, Jin hyung, Hoseok hyung, and Jimin, too--you weren't there, though--the teachers were great, but I hate all those formalities and stuff, it was suffocating."

"Ah, I already told the head master to lessen the formalities and refrain from calling you by your title," Namjoon said. "Hopefully, your 'normal' school life will start tomorrow."

"Aw, hyung, you're the best," Jeongguk said, punching Namjoon's arm. "I know I could count on you.

Yoongi and Namjoon were on their third year in the same high school as Jeongguk was. Although Namjoon was a year younger than Yoongi, he excelled one year due to his immense intelligence and exceptional brilliance, so he was placed in the same level as the eldest brother. The three were overjoyed with the fact that they could spend a year together in the same school.

"Right, save the stories 'til then 'cause I just really wanna go home right now," Yoongi said dismissively, walking ahead his two younger brothers, feeling impatience to lay down on his bed immediately.

---

Taehyung had always loved helping people.

He loved running errands for his mother, he loved volunteering for more helps around the flower shop he worked at, he loved helping his neighbours to many things including babysitting their kids, and he loved helping everyone in needs even strangers he coincidentally met on the street.

Sometimes, he conveyed his gratitude in the form of helping others, just like right now.

After years of living with his mother alone, taehyung had fortunately developed a great skill in cooking a decent full set of dinner. His mother, herself, was a cook that spent so many years working hard in a famous restaurant nearby their old apartment. Their skills in cooking had come in handy, though, when they came to live with the Park that happened to rely on takeaways or eating in restaurants before. That was why tae and his mom happily volunteered to take full advantage of the Parks' kitchen and provided the whole family with healthy homemade dishes.

Tonight's menu was roasted yellow corvina with seasoning sauce and beef and radish soup. Tae's mom was already halfway in roasting the fish whilst tae was still busy with chopping the radish and some other veggies into tiny bits before they could be put inside the boiling soup. The boy was stirring the soup when suddenly he heard a shriveling and hard coughing that overtook his mom's lithe body. Immediately tae rushed to aid his mom who had sat herself on the kitchen floor, trembling and shook with smaller coughs.

Tae's mom had been sick for a while but she didn't talk much about her weakened state to Taehyung because worrying her hard working son would be the last thing she wanted. and she knew they wouldn't afford hospital bills for further treatment anyway, thus she tried not to show much how aggravating her coughs sometimes and chose to hide it in the dark, hoping that perhaps with a bit of rest and healthy food could cure her body altogether. Little did the poor middle-aged woman know how worse her sickness was until she overworked herself. Everything had been easy and fun when she was building their new family with the Park family that she had been over the moon. The happiness she felt had made the sickness feel way lighter and she forgot to tell everyone about her condition.

"Mom!" Tae exclaimed in great worry, almost hysterical, giving his mom a glass of water. "A-are you okay? Are you overworking yourself again? I really think you should go the hospital and get a check-up!"

"I'm fine, Tae," despite having difficulties in breathing, the beta forced herself to speak in a reassuring tone to calm down her son. "It's just, the restaurant was packed today, and I guess I was overwhelmed?" the woman chuckled tiredly.

Teary eyed, Taehyung sighed and hugged his mom. "You should've said so since the beginning, Mom! Please take as much rest as you need, I'll take care of the dinner."

Tae's mom could only nod and left her son because not only she didn't want to worry her beloved son, she knew if she continued, no work would be done anytime soon anyway. "I've made the kimchi and garlic stem pickles yesterday, you can retrieve it from the refrigerator, Tae-ah," the beta said before leaving Tae alone.

Luckily the Parks weren't at home, or Myunghwan would be worried sick with his wife's condition, Tae thought. It may be hard to tell the news but Taehyung really hoped her mother could ask his stepfather to accompany her for a check-up in the hospital before her condition could turn for the worse.

Since the rice was already cooked, and the soup was almost ready, Tae only had to continue the roasting for a few more minutes before making more side dishes such as blanched seasoned spinach and seasoned fish cakes that the Parks loved to eat alongside the dinner.

Half an hour passed, the dinner was ready, but Tae still had a work to do: doing the laundry. The Parks wouldn't be home for at least one hour so he still had plenty of time to do it. After draping a thick blanket on her resting mother on the sofa and giving her a glass of hot chocolate and a loving kiss on the cheek, Taehyung proceeded to do the laundry.

Doing laundry was one of things that Taehyung also volunteered to help beside cooking dinner and sometimes breakfast. He was still a first year in high school, so he got to go home earlier than Hyungsik who also had to stay for extracurricular, Myunghwan was always held to his work until dinner time, and Seojoon was also busy with his college. He had offered to do their laundries to pass his time which they gratefully accepted. Then it just continued until now, a few months later, with Seojoon politely asking him for help and Hyungsik just silently dumped his dirty clothes along with his brother's. Still, Tae was happy to be any of help.

Tae also cleaned around the house because he didn't have any extra activities after school. He noticed at first that Seojoon and Hyungsik rarely cleaned the house, except their own rooms (which was questionable because Tae himself had never once entered his brothers' rooms) and their father was just busy with his work. So, Tae took the initiative himself to himself because he also didn't want to make his mother tired after her work. He was already so used to doing house chores since he was so young, even if the house was way bigger than his previous flat, Tae felt happy to know that he was useful in some way to his new family.

What encouraged Tae more into doing the house chores, was when Mr. Park noticed his hard works and praised the omega for his kindness one night when they were having dinner together. Tae felt really grateful because he finally knew how it felt to be praised by a father. Therefore, he strived to please his stepfather more by working harder in helping around the house willingly everyday.

It'd been three months living with the Parks, but Taehyung would be lying if he didn't come to love his new family. Perhaps, after so long, he could wish this time would be the beginning of a happy life for Taehyung and his mother.

To be continued