An August Wedding

Ch. 60 - Negotiations

When you got home, you immediately went upstairs to find your laptop and start reviewing notes. Notes you'd taken at the meeting today along with Jimin's other notes. You had a few ideas for who to talk to about that position but it wouldn't hurt to see what kind of information you could provide for them to make a decision.

A soft knock dragged you out of your thoughts. You glanced up to see Yoongi standing in the doorway.

"Hey, I--"

"If the next words out of your mouth are "I'm sorry," I really don't want to hear it," you said.

"Noted. I completely forgot--"

"Did your meeting go well?" 

"What?"

"With the producer?"

"Yeah, I think so. He's supposed to follow up with me soon."

"Good." You continued looking at things on your laptop. "Anything else?"

Yoongi frowned. "I didn't mean to forget, really."

"It's fine."

"It is?"

"Yeah. You have your own things you're working on. Can't expect you to remember everything, right?"

"If you're mad at me, you can just say so."

"I'm not mad at you. I'm sure you just lost track of time or something."

"You're not going to yell at me or something? Lock me in my studio like you did at the office?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I promise that I'll be at all the other meetings. I'll get any reports that you need. I'll do whatever you need."

"Jimin gave us all his prep information already. I've already started working on the things for our side. You can skip the meetings if your music is more important."

"It's not. Just...give me a minute."

Before you could reply, he was already heading for the stairs. You waited for a minute, then curiosity overtook you. You reached the base of the stairs by the time he'd returned from his studio.

He held out a notebook to you, already opened to a page.

The same page you'd seen before; the one with all the phrases and words scribbled on it. 

In the middle was one circled phrase. It had obviously been written over a few times, as the pencil strokes were much darker than the others.

"What is this?" you asked. 

"I created a pen name. Or a producer name, I guess you could call it. It's the name I want to be attached to my music when I sign to a label."

Agust D

"I don't understand."

"It's simple. We got married in August, and I was a dick to you in the beginning."

"Are you sure this is the one you want? It's going to remind you of me all the time."

He chuckled softly. "You made me swear not to sell out when I get big, remember? This way, I'll make sure to keep my promise."

"Yoongi--"

"I wouldn't have this chance without you trying to break the contract. It's the least I can do."

You nodded. It was sweet in its own way.

"And I think you should keep the house."

"What about selling it?"

"You're going through enough taking over two companies, so you should at least keep the house. I can get housing through the agency that signs with me. It'd be a lot easier that way."

"Fine. But only if you take this back," you said as you offered him your wedding ring. "It belongs to your family, it's not mine to keep."

"What would I do with it?"

"Hold on to it for your next marriage."

"Can't just be nice to each other, it's always a negotiation around here," he grumbled. You continued to hold out the ring. "All right, I'll take it with me. Just keep it until the divorce is finalized, okay?"

You smiled. "For what it's worth, I appreciate what you're trying to do. And I know you didn't mean to skip the meeting."

"I'll make it up to you."

"How about this? Come to half of the meetings. Use the other time for your songs."

"Counter offer. I come to half, but I have IT record all of them in case I need to know something. That way it's not all on you to remember."

"They can do that?"

"Yeah, Kyuhyun told me that he's recorded meetings to leave....I shouldn't have told you that."

"Wait. Has he been leaving early instead of going to meetings? And Yesung lets him?"

"Yesung says he always finishes his work early and he doesn't have a problem with it as long as he watches the recordings. It's just for their departmental meetings....but I never told you, you figured this out on your own."

You sighed. "Fine, tell them to record them and send you the files. I'll deal with them another day." 

"Thank you. For understanding."

You weren't sure what exactly he was thanking you for - not getting mad, accepting his pen name, or agreeing to his "negotiations". But you figured after all you'd been through, you owed him that much.

It was quiet for a few moments. You fiddled with the page of the notebook still in your hand.

"Hey," you said suddenly, "we should do one more thing to annoy our parents. A last hurrah."

He smirked. "I'm all ears."