One Shin Hye

"Appa, the order has arrived," I call opening the doors wide for the delivery people to carry the
deliver inside the bar. It's mostly alcohol.
Requiem is the bar im talking about and its a family business. My appa started it when he was
young when he decided to drop off uni and start a business himself. He met my omma like that and
three years later they got married. They are still together. They said they fell in love at first sight.
Appa tells the story every year of how he saw this goddess walking in and in his eyes it was like
every light in the bar turned to shine on her. The music stopped, the wart stopped turning and
everything was her.
My appa is a very sappy old man.
But Omma is no better, she also says she fell for him with just one glance. They eyes met and She
was a goner.
I grew up listening to this story over and over again and don't be fooled by my reaction today, I do
believe is romantic. Today, at my twenty-two years old, I'm still waiting for that click with the one,
I'm still waiting for my story to happen. I do believe in love at first sight, my problem is that I just
haven't seen the right person yet.
"Where do we put this?" one of the man carrying the boxes ask and I shake my head to come back
to reality.
"Over there it's fine," I instruct pointing at the storage room. Appa must be on his way and we'll
organise it later.
It's mostly Appa and I running the business, I'm learning from him for when he decides to retire. I
love it in here so I totally don't mind, it's fun and lively and many bands make their debut here so
that's great. I love music so having a bar in which we can have live performances is even better. I
can play the guitar and sing so when the recurrent bands can't make it, I sometimes go up stage.
Just recently one of the bands that played with us got a deal so now we are one act short. It's likely
that tonight I'll end up sining one of my songs.
"Shin Hye yah," Appa calls and I turn around to meet him with a big smile. "Your friends are inside
so you take care of that and I'll work here," he instructs and I nod.
Appa is not young but he's still healthy. The reason he thinks of retiring is because he wants to
spend more time with Omma, as she stays at home almost all day. She used to be an english
professor at school but due to health problems she retired and now she has some private students
who go see her at home for lessons.
Requiem doesn't open that early but the doors are always open for those recurrent clients, such as
my friends. We met in school and then went to uni together where I got a major in administration. I
run towards the bar itself. It used to be an old small theatre so it has this kind of crater structure
with a small stage in the centre, with bleachers for people to sit and watch, a kind of dance floor
and at the top of these bleachers slash stairs there are the tables and the bar. It has this
warehouse feeling that uni students really like, plus my old campus is fairly close.
My friends are seated at the stairs, their usual spot and they wave at me when I cross the doer that
connects the storage room with the inside of the bar. I wave back and run towards them with a big
smile on my lips.
I just have two best friends and both of them are guys. Not many girls study administration, after
all. They are the best guys I've ever met and they are almost like my oppas, even if we are the
same age.
"Shin Hye yah!" they sing my name together and insist next to them.
Min Ha is a very skinny and tall guy with quite long black hair whereas Chang Joo is my same
height with shaggy brown hair, which of course is not natural. My own hair is black and shoulder
length, so Chang Joo is the only brunet in the group.
"You're here earlier," I comment and they nod. I notice they already have beers with them so that
means Appa already gave them the drinks and just sent me here to make sure they won't drink
everything we have. "Didn't you have plans?" I especially look at Chang Joo who was supposed to
have a date with his boyfriend. Yes, he's openly gay and no one around minds it anymore. I never
did, by the way, neither did Min Ha.
"He'll come here later. Your appa was looking for a band and I have a friend who's in one so I told
them about it. They are coming today for a kind of audition and now we are waiting," Chang Joo
explains and I nod. I didn't know Appa was looking for a new band already.


"Are they good?" I ask and they both nod enthusiastically. Oh, so they both know the band and
they never told me? And here I was calling them good friends. "How are they called?"
"CNBLUE," Chang Joo replies and he sounds like a big fan. "They should be here any minute," he
adds and on clue the doors open and three boys walk in, all of them very handsome. Chang Joo
waves at them and they smile widely before approaching us. They must be the band.
I stand up and we bow in greeting before Chang Joo makes the formal introductions.
"Guys, this is the owner's daughter, Park Shin Hye. Shin Hye, this are Kang Min Hyuk, drummer,"
my friend points at the guy with shaggy black hair, small eyes and a cute smile. there's no other
way to a describe him but as cute, his smile is adorable. "This is Lee Jung Shin, bass player," he's
a tall and very, very skinny guy with long features. "And this is Lee Jong Hyun, guitar and vocals,"
the last boy who's, in my opinion, the most handsome one. "But where is Yong Hwa?" Chang Joo
asks to the musicians. Oh, so there's another one. "He's the leader of the band," my friend tells me
knowing I'm wondering whom they are talking about.
"Hyung is over the phone outside, his appa called him right when we arrived," Min Hyuk ssi
explains. Even his voice is adorable.
"In the meantime I'll go for Appa so you get ready in the stage, arasso?" I propose and they nod.
"We have a drum set but if you don't like it you can ring yours," I tell the drummer and he gives me
a thumbs up before I bow and take my leave.
Appa is still opening boxes when I walk in and he's surprised I came back so soon. "The bad is
here," I inform and he nods in understanding.
"Coming," is his short reply. I help him to finish so we can go together and see this band. I'm
curious to know whether they are really good as my friends say.
In a few minutes we are ready and walk back inside the bar to see now four guys on stage getting
ready. We meet with Chang Joo and Min Ha. I assume the leader joined them and must be the
other black haired guy whose back is all I can see. They try the instruments and make sure the
sound at the volume they desire. I look at Min Hyuk who still looks adorable behind the drum set,
he's smiling widely and oh so happy that I smile too. They nod at each other, meaning they are
ready so all the other members turn around to face us and I can finally see the leader and vocalist
of the band and I hold my breath. I feel like my whole body freezes and I can't hear a thing,
everything else becomes bluesy around him because he's the only thing into focus. In a second my
heart jumps and starts beating like crazy when he looks in my direction and our eyes meet.
He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen and now I understand Appa, because I'm a goner.