Yuri's POV:
Third Month into a forced hiatus
It was three months since the lawsuit and roughly two months since Namjoon Appa died. Chaewon was doing well, she was always someone who is strong willed and an even stronger person than anyone gives her credit for. She was a rock to everyone who knew her. We were currently on a forced hiatus and has since then lived our days either resting or composing songs and writing lyrics for the upcoming two albums for Japan and another one for Korea. We also practiced for the last album we have yet to release. BLOOM*IZ was something we all anticipated to release as soon as we are free from our hiatus and then a week or two after another one which was ONEIRIC Diary was in the works and then Twelve for Japan. We had to halt the release of BLOOM*IZ which will complete the trilogy of our debut. All because of Gaeun, we all had to pushback this album. Which was already pushed back for a month because of Chaewon's Father. It doesn't stop us from writing the two other albums and making sure everything was all set and everything was within our schedule. It was hard, because we had no feedback from our fandom, no one was allowed to communicate with the public. Everything was at a standstill. We wanted to communicate but we couldn't for the fear of being criticized and unloved by the public. It was hard to not know whether the fandom still thought of us as inspiration and if we were bringing delight into their lives. After the accusations for certain members of having their ranking manipulated it was like being back to square one again, rebuilding ourselves and our confidence. We had still a packed daily schedule for the two albums that needs to be polished, so there was no time to feel bad about Gaeun's accusations. We had to stick to the schedule and work out every aspect of the upcoming albums. We just finished breakfast and we are now quietly working on lyrics. We all had our earphones in and listening to the beat that was composed by Kku Eomma.
Kku Eomma was a musical genius herself, having composed and wrote some beautiful beats and lyrics. One of which became our song called Yummy Summer a summer song which tries to emulate Red Velvet's summer songs. It was cheery and happy tone, too happy and excited kind of, Kku Eomma remembers her fans, even if it was a long time ago since they met, she smiles at them and greets them fondly. It was an amazing thing to experience first hand. She takes up the line on every fan meeting, meticulously having conversations with fans. She was a gentle soul that our team badly needed. We all came from rough years of losing our dorm parents and even those who weren't initially part of our team got sucked right into it by association with us. It was the darkness of those years that sucked everyone in, because they wanted to be our friend, Wonyoung and Yujin were the first victims of the aftermath, they came a year after both parents' death. Both unjustly suffered through our loss, we were floating and trying to care for our maknaes, everyone did their best and I was proud we did in our own way. Granted it wasn't enough, but we still tried our best to get out of the loop. The thing with death is it forces you to cope with a loved one's loss, to face it and to deal with it to the best of your abilities. Chaewon had lost her own Father and dealing with it along with the lawsuit had put a strain into our relationship. I chose to ignore the strains and dismiss them to just her lashing out at how unfair the world seems to be. I agreed with her sentiments, I agree and understand her because I saw and felt the same connections with the people she lost and when she was hurting, I was the one who was holding her together. I had front row view of everything she went through and pulled her back when she allowed herself to float away. A death whether in the family or your chosen family is something impactful and hard to comprehend, maybe that's why I stayed, maybe it was the hope for happier times or because I love her so much, I can't let her go easy.
She currently looked so solemn as she listened to the beat that we were assigned. We were going to write lyrics for this beat and sound. Her head bobbing at the sound. It was a hip sound, signature sound of IZ*ONME. It had trumpets and an electronic feel to it, it sounds exciting. Like a celebration of freedom and the things we love, cherish and care for the ending beats kind of slows down like a secret it seemed. I guess this beat feels like sharing a secret we hold dear. Like perhaps love? I am not sure really, but I wrote a line 'deureobollae donghwa soge naol beobhan yaegi' I giggled at how I was writing the words to this beat, it was for fun that I wrote the first line. Soon, Minjoo Unnie looked over my notes and she read it to the beat of the music.
"Deureobollae donghwa soge naol beobhan yaegi." She read the line and chuckled at me.
"Yuri! Are you serious?! What kind of lyrics is that?" She replied laughing.
But she followed up with an even funnier line.
"Uri duri duri duri. Mandeun bimil bimil bimil." She sang trying to hold her laughter in.
We exchanged a few more lines until we were singing it in full. Might have been exhaustion or might have been missing our WIZONEs that's why we started to sing together to the beat of this crazy song. It was a riot, Chaewon looked over Minjoo Unnie and I, she removes her IEMs she was using to listen to the beat. She giggles at the scene as Minjoo Unnie and I sang and grooved to the music. She took me by the hand and swayed me. The first time in three months that she smiled and was being silly with me. Minjoo Unnie smiled as she quietly let us be in this moment. Unnie went beside Kwangbae Hyung who was sitting at the couch. I looked into Chaewon's eyes and smiled at her. Glad I get parts of her that I love the most on days she was doing well. Including the hopeless romantic Chaewon who gave me a star necklace from our trip in Tochigi after debut. She looks back at me and said.
"I feel like going out, would you come with me on a magic carpet ride?" She says charmingly to me.
"Sure." I replied to her as we swayed.
Waltzing into the living room until she finally twirled me without letting my arm go. We ran to our room to get dressed. I wore a casual cropped top and pants, same as hers. We emerged out of our dorm living room and went out for a walk. Chaewon loved to stroll around the neighborhood. Far from taking a magic carpet ride, but she could show me a different part of the city I haven't thought of wandering into, she always knew the spots that offers cheap and good food. We headed Northwest of our dorm, walking hand in hand. Silence momentarily filled us until she broke the silence.
"I have to apologize for the past three months I've been absentminded. Same time I have to thank you for hanging on to us. You've been my rock amidst the scary world, amidst everything I was going through, so thank you and I am sorry I was emotionally absent but physically present." She started off and paused.
"Yuri, I would never know where I would be without you. So, from this moment on, I promise to be better for us." She continues.
I looked at her and held her hand tighter.
"Everything is alright between us, you don't need to worry. I stayed because I love you and your soul. You have the warmest heart despite being easy to anger. Despite the little hiccups we've had, I stayed because I understand you honestly." I replied to her.
She smiled at me and continued to walk, until we reached a quaint little cafe. Newer to this part of town. She pulled the door open and gestured for me to come in. I came in and after she came in closing the door. I sat at a table for two and she went ahead and ordered for us. Two Iced Americanos and this time instead of sharing a slice of cake, she got one for me and one for her. After placing the orders she got to our seats and sat down in front of me. She served me my favorite Unicorn Cake and she got herself Mint and Cookie Chocolate Cake, her favorite.
"Thank you, you don't want to share anymore?" I asked her.
"You deserve a whole slice to yourself. Moving forward, even if I don't get a slice, you can always get your favorite slice." She replied.
"Jagi... that seems unfair." I replied to her.
She smiles a lovely smile.
"It's only fair that I give all the things you deserve to get, Appa would have approved of my actions." She said smiling.
"We can split the bill then." I replied to her.
"Yah, Jagi! Can we stop with the arguments? Please allow me to give you the things you deserve, starting with little things such as food." She says, her tone with a hint of finality.
"Okay. Okay. I'll enjoy it while it lasts." I replied to her jokingly.
"Good start, Jagi. But a little more approving and convincing please and thank you." She replied laughing.
Just like that, she melted all the things I kept within me, all the pains that I felt and swept under the rug. Gone at this instance. A renewed sense of trust and love. She had that power over her words to sound so certain of what her future held. If she tells me I will become the richest solo artist I would have believed her every word. That's what it's like to be with Chaewon. Her eyes shined of all the bright things she had within her. She lights up my world without her knowing. We ate our slices of cake and took sips of our Iced Americano. I watched her as she does the most mundane things, even as simple as eating a cake or sipping on her Iced Americano screamed heavenly. She exuded the rich and opulent life of an Old Korean, she got this from her Eomma who loves to act. Growing up, she would play pretend with her Eomma. She was encouraged by both her parents. I was grateful that her parents let her pursue all her passions. That she grew up filled with love and music. It was everything she knew and loved her whole life, even through the hardest times, she had music to distract herself.
After coffee and snacks, we continued walking to a park, it was January. We spent the last three months hiding away from the public at least until the case concludes. The trial is still ongoing and we were waiting for a go signal from the company. The last hearing was supposed to happen tomorrow. So, we are just working on our next albums, its contents and everything else, we needed to iron out. We also have a world tour for Oneiric Diary release. We are jam packed as soon as we get out of our self imposed hiatus. Soon as this nightmare is over. Soon we found a bench and sat. She handed me her earphones and played a file she's been working on. The song was fast paced, she opens the song called Rococo. Oneiric had a few songs that needed lyrics and Rococo was one of them, which was composed by Eunbi Unnie. That's what she might have been working on for quite some time now. The last few weeks she had been busy holing up and writing lyrics for quite some time, neglecting our relationship most of the time. It must be her anger, her raw emotions that pushed her to write so much. Most times she goes to the studio to record and work on things alone and I was glad I never really demanded time from her. So this was one of the songs she was working on. I was blown away about how happy Rocococo sounded. Any anger issues she had, gone while singing the guide. It was insane.
"You worked on this?" I asked her right after the song finished.
"Yeah, without Eunbi Unnie's knowledge. Kwangbae Hyung and I wrote the lyrics and I recorded it sneakily." She replied.
"Oh my god, Chaewon! This is actually so happy. I'm astonished by your duality. Where the heck did you find happy words?" I asked her.
"Thinking about you. Whereelse would I find happy words? Thoughts of you and loving you for the rest of my time on earth, propelled me to write. It's not the only song I've been working on." She replied.
"There's more?! Oh my god." I replied to her.
"Yeah, good for another year of Album Releases." She replied smiling charmingly.
"Whoah! That's insane. A year's worth of songs?" I asked her.
"Yeah, a year. I was inspired thinking of you. The first month had some angsty lyrics, fearless and angsty. Second Month I mellowed out and wrote happier lyrics. Then this third month I wrote empowering and self love lyrics." She replied.
"But, I'm going to sell the angsty songs to various artists. IZ*ONME deserves the best and inspirational songs, the happy ones too." She replied.
"I'm proud of you Jagiya. I'm proud that you are showing everyone what you are made of and not backing down simply because you were alleged to be manipulated into ranking. I can't wait for us to show everyone why we are part of this family." I replied to her.
"Thank you, I wouldn't have done it without your love and understanding. You just let me deal with my grief over the last three months until I became alright again. I promise to never take you for granted again." She replied and side hugged me.
I allowed her to just put her arms around me and pull me close to her side, I snuggle close to her. A sigh both escaped our lips. Releasing vapors through the cold air, it's beginning to be a little warmer than the past winter days. Weather was nice today, we wore light padded jackets and pullover sweaters and jeans. It's been a while since we went out with the intention to just hangout and sit somewhere.
"You are always welcome." I replied to her.
We sat in silence and watched the sunset. It was a day filled with surprises. I first did not expect that she was writing song lyrics and song melodies. Second I never expected to get my own slice of cake since we always shared a slice. Third, her words of affirmation took me by surprise. She sounded sincere and determined to give me her everything.
A/N:
Thank you for reading this chapter. Spread light and love whenever possible.
- Sky