A/n: Let me just recommend Cave Me In really quick because it's honestly one of my favorites right now and I hope you all don't sleep on this song.
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Early morning had come.
Because of the unexpected amount of guests for the party, everyone had decided it was best to put half in the Shim household, the other half in the Han's. For certain measures, they ended up splitting by gender, all the men in one and the women in the other. It was a fair decision, none to bring any unnecessary embarrassment.
Fortunately, the young idols were able to get in a bit of sleep before getting ready to head back to Seoul. Everyone had gathered back into the Shim house for a much needed breakfast. Soon enough, it was time for to get back into reality of things; there was a restaurant to run, errands to do, work to attend to. So, the Shim/Han family made sure to bid goodbye to those they wouldn't be seeing in a while, including the NCT boys and Minah as if they were also family.
And so, with the assistance of Jihoon and his trusty car, the Seoul-based group were to leave as soon as they could (along with the many containers of dishes prepared and packed by Jiwoo's mother).
Minah and Jiwoo were assigned in the car with Boram and Seokju. Jihoon had insisted that he drives the NCT trio, as they had somehow bonded more through the night in the Han residence. Jiwoo was quite taken aback by this revelation, but not too surprised to see this happening. Her brother was sociable, it'd be more surprising if he hadn't gotten close to the three. Guys close to the same age would always bond.
Even as much as she would've liked to ride with the boys, Jiwoo will let it slide.
"So, you're not going to go with us to the studio?" Minah questioned the girl besides her with a slight pout.
Jiwoo shook her head, baring an apologetic grin. "I'm sorry, but Lee Sooman wanted to discuss a few things with me. Maybe after my small meeting, I'll head on over to wherever you guys are."
"We finally see you after a long while and you're leaving us again!"
"Only for a couple hours," the brunette chimed, giving her friend's shoulder a nudge out of assurance. "I'm sure Sooman-sshi wanted to tell me to get back to working hard since I had a bit of a hiatus."
"That could only mean more time with us, right?"
"Maybe."
An hour and a half later, the four arrive at SM building. After bidding farewell to Minah, Boram, and Seokju, Jiwoo rushed inside and went straight to her destination. Up the elevator, down the hallways, and finally to the grand doors to the room that could only belong to the main man himself.
"Shim Jiwoo, it's good seeing you again and much livelier this time. Has the trip back home been beneficial?" Lee Sooman asked once the 20 year old reached the vacant chair in front of his desk. It'd probably wouldn't be best to admit that three of members of their rookie group had a late night out. So in response, she gave a curt nod."You look much better."
"I do feel better, thank you. I apologize if my small break inconvenienced you."
"No, it's alright. It's my fault for creating such a schedule with Seokju with no knowledge about Hong Yoora's debut..." SM's founder paused, running a hand across his face. He must be remembering the past struggles as well. Jiwoo grimaced at this. "Definitely a talented lady, I should send congratulatory gifts to her company for a successful debut."
"That'd be nice."
Lee Sooman shifted in his seat so he could comfortably fold his hands together on top the desk. He leaned forward, gaze directed at Jiwoo with a sudden seriousness. "Do you not regret turning down my offer to continue training three years ago?"
Ah, the question that had come up a couple times before.
Jiwoo's eyes wavered at the first faint memory. The two of them were in this very room those years ago, she remembered Seokju had been standing outside waiting for the end of their meeting. Even though her cousin had convinced Sooman to give her a temporary job as a composer, the man had other plans.
For Jiwoo to continue training and eventually becoming an idol under SM would have felt like the ultimate betrayal. She had spent two years prior to sulking and being closed off of the world to dwell on what she done. There was never a slim chance of her accepting the second chance to becoming SM's idol.
She should, at least, be thankful that she maintained being SM's composer for this long.
She was okay not debuting. She was more than happy to helping others around her succeeding and living their dreams.
This was her fate from the beginning, that was what she believed.
"I don't regret saying no, Sooman-sshi," the girl answered. She held a nervous, yet warm expression on her face. "I'm very satisfied with what I'm doing right now and if you allow me, I would like to continue composing for NCT and working along with them. I will truly try to move on and not have the past complicate how I live now."
With pursed lips, Lee Sooman gave a nod and sat back into his chair, lost in thought. "Well, I wasn't planning on removing you in the first place, Shim Jiwoo. I think you've had a good effect on the group so far, you are the company's lucky charm, after all." The growing composer let out a meek laugh at the unofficial title. "By the way, I do have an idea to keep you busy so you don't have to fret too much. I know with 127, you've been tagging along to their activities and events as just extra help, but I would like it if you participated more with Dream."
Jiwoo peered at him in mild interest. "Participate more?"
"Stick by them and all. While you're someone who's close to their age, they're more likely to rely on you. You'd be more so like a manager but with a more social role on their lives. Does that make sense?" Slowly, Jiwoo bobbed her head in understanding. "Plus, I think it would comfort Mark more as Dream leader if you help him with his duties. They're pretty young, but they're hardworking, I would feel more reassured as well if I had someone like you helping them."
There was a moment's silence as Jiwoo thought about the new proposition. What would agreeing to this plan entail?
In fact, there doesn't seem to be anything setting off alarms in her brain about the whole thing. Jiwoo understood the situation perfectly, she knew how nerve wracking it could be to debut into the spotlight at a young age. If she could help those younger boys make their debut as stressless as she could, she would be more than happy to. Sometimes people forget that even those at such a ripe age would crash and burn without proper care.
"I guess I'll accept," she agreed.
This brought a smile to Sooman's face, nodding along in satisfaction at the positive answer. "I'll go ahead and start making arrangements for you then with the Dream boys."
"Ah, by the way, the boys of Dream must've gotten their song by now? Do you know if they like it?"
There was a mild anxiousness scratching at her insides. During her two week break, she had created a series of songs, all of variety and with no particular singer in mind to perform them. But once hearing about the idea of debuting the younger males into a new sub-unit, the composer already had an upbeat, catchy song of hers she was willing to contribute, Chewing Gum. This was honestly one of the few happier songs she had made during her period of dreariness, only creating it in hopes it'll make her feel better.
Lee Sooman had accepted Chewing Gum instantaneously, quoting how perfect a song it was for the boys, something to really portray their youthfulness. After the song was carefully edited by her sunbaes, the song was distributed to the boys.
With no such critiques heard recently, she still had her doubts.
"How about you ask some of them yourself?"
The man before her pressed a button from his wired telephone. Jiwoo didn't have time to react until the doors behind had creaked open, revealing five boys clearly younger than her. Some she had recognized right away when she was researching about SM Rookies months ago.
Sooman had stood and stalked over to Jiwoo's side to introduce her to the five soon-to-be idols, "Hello, boys, this is the person I was telling you all about who you will be working diligently with, Shim Jiwoo." The boys bowed for respect for the older lass, before Sooman moved on to introducing the boys. "We have here Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle, Renjun, and Jisung. You already know the last two who will also be in Dream."
"Ah, hello," Jiwoo quickly murmured out. "I will do my best to help you guys out. I hope we all get close and work hard for a successful debut for Dream."
Jiwoo's meeting concluded soon after that, once Sooman had suggested that the six of them get to chatting to be more comfortable with each other. Jiwoo decided to bring the boys to the company cafe, so to at least have a refreshing drink as they talk. Once settling at a table in the cafe with their paid drinks, courtesy of Jiwoo herself, they went to talking about random topics that would come to mind.
It was awkward at first, normal for those who were kind of forced upon to talk.
Jiwoo tried her best to be open to the boys, showing her subtle charms and bringing up interests that would appeal to the five before her. Within the next half hour, the boys finally warmed up to the older girl as they were all chatting away quite animatedly. Any passerby would think they were teenagers hanging out on a lazy weekend if they weren't in an entertainment building.
"I'm sorry, I have a question," Jaemin suddenly piped up after their very heated discussion about EXO's most recent comeback. After taking a gracious sip of her strawberry creme frappuccino, Jiwoo gestured over for who she deemed sunshine smile to continue on. "But, you know the hyungs, right?"
"If you mean the 127 boys, then yes. I've worked alongside them for a while," the lone girl of the group responded. "Why do you ask?"
A couple of the boys exchanged glances, some were failing to hide their cheeky smiles while others were unsure on what to say at the moment. "Ah, nothing really, I think we just overheard your name in a couple of our hyungs conversations before."
"Oh god, hopefully nothing too bad. I don't you guys to have a bad impression of me before we even begin working together," Jiwoo huffed with a slight frown, her bottom lip jutted out. "They didn't tell you of the dumb ghost story yet, did they?"
"Erm... they kind of did," Jeno meekly responded.
"That's my favorite story," Chenle chimed after with a cute eye-grin.
As cute as the boys before her were, she hoped that they wouldn't deteriorate her dignity... actually back on it again, Haechan will be a Dream member. It was already too late. Jiwoo could already imagine how the 127 maknae will be babbling on about their few, short adventures together, most certainly the ones where she had done some embarrassing things.
The composer sighed exasperatedly, "Too late then."
"Don't worry, Jiwoo-sshi, you're really nice!" Renjun interjected in, his Korean a bit broken but understandable enough. "Hearing the stories from the hyungs makes us more excited to work with you."
Seriously, they were all too cute. How could Jiwoo say no to their faces? "Thank you, also please be casual with me. You make me sound older than I really am."
Renjun bared a toothy grin, "Okay, noona."
Jiwoo was sure her heart melted a bit. The longer she stayed with the Dream kids, the more she felt comforted about working with them. Surely, the Shaman's words on working with NCT 127 will apply for NCT Dream, as well... She sure hoped so.
"Noona! I see Jiwoo-noona!" The boisterous voice caught the six at the cafe table by surprise. They all turned their heads to the source of the loudness. Much to their shock, it was 127 who had just finished today's photoshoot. As far as Jiwoo knew from their schedule, they had to rush back out to get ready for tonight's music show.
Just as Jiwoo stood up from her chair to greet the boys, she was instantly plowed over into a crushing hug from 127's maknae. Shaking away her bewilderment of the random affection, she patted the boy's back, returning the hug he apparently very much wanted. "Haechan... it's like you literally watched me return back from the grave. Aren't you a bit too much?"
"I just missed my favorite noona~"
"Wow, it's a good thing Minah isn't here," Taeyong uttered in amusement. Seokju and the rest of the boys had finally caught up. "What do you think she would've said if she were here?"
Haechan stifled a chuckle. "Probably would have called me a little shi--" He paused once noticing a weary glance from Seokju. "Well, anyway, you know, hyung. But, okay, my two favorite noonas."
Jiwoo went ahead and greeted the remaining three boys that had missed her yesterday. More specifically towards Taeyong, she beamed at the older boy. "By the way, I heard you're the one to suggest visiting me. I feel bad that not all of you could've come and celebrated with us. I feel like I wronged you."
"Jiwoo, it's okay," he chided with a pat on her shoulder. "We're just all glad you're okay and that your dad is okay too."
Seokju then stepped forward, greeting his baby cousin affectionately with a ruffle of her hair. "How are you feeling? I heard that you agreed to work along with Dream. You do know if Dream and 127's schedules clash, you're going to be with Dream."
"Eh? We literally just got Jiwoo back," Yuta huffed from behind Seokju. "And now she's ditching us for the babies?"
"Hey now, that doesn't mean I won't be seeing you guys anymore," Jiwoo chimed in to her defense. "I'll probably be with them a lot when as they prepare for their debut but I should be able to help on your other activities when if the schedules don't clash. Besides, who's going to help poor Mark and Haechan who will be participating in both groups?"
"Ah, noona is so good to us!" Haechan quipped, getting Mark to agree with the statement. "I feel so happy to be working so close to Jiwoo-noona~" He went back to clutching back on the girl.
"You're a lot more touchy than the last time I've seen you," Jiwoo noted, staring at the boy clasped at her arm.
"What do you mean?"
"Donghyuck, give her a break, she's going to go crazy soon when we all start practicing together," Jaemin quoted back at the table, earning a displeased pout from the tan-skinned boy himself.
"Speaking of practicing, you guys need to continue reviewing the song," Seokju noted, looking over at the five younger lads at the table, all of which were sipping at the drinks Jiwoo bought them. "You're all going to start recording tomorrow." He eyed Haechan and Mark. "As well as you two, I know it'll be hard with also all your studies, but it's doable."
All the boys of Dream chanted their responses to the oldest.
"Good. Jiwoo, it'd be good if you went along with the boys to the recording studio when they record tomorrow, is that good?"
"Yes, oppa."
"Alright, so we'll have to change and prepare to leave again soon, so everyone be ready and meet at the back entrance within thirty minutes. Change, use the restroom, eat, do all you can do before we go." Seokju then bid goodbye to the young group before rushing off further into the building to do any other duties he must do.
This lead to the five non-127 members to get up from the table and go back to the practice rooms to prepare for tomorrow's recording. All of them inputting their excitement to seeing Jiwoo again, they all left as well.
Now it was just 127 and a lone Jiwoo.
"You guys should get going too," the brunette girl told the boys before taking another sip of her drink. "You shouldn't be wasting any more time with me."
Yuta sighed, "Why not? You're going to be with Dream and not with us."
"Again, doesn't mean I'm going to stop hanging out with you."
"But there'll be a definite lack," Mark replied.
"Mark, you don't have a say. You're still going to see her," the Japanese boy uttered giving the young rapper and glance.
They're too good to me. "I promise I won't close off from you guys again." All the boys glimpsed back at the girl, catching her unexpected words. "Even after the shit I mentioned last night, you're all still so kind to me. You all listened to me and tried to understand me. I will be doing all that I can to not let my personal problems interfere with my job and you all. So thank you for being there."
At this, WinWin was the one to wrap an arm around Jiwoo to comfort her, seeing how sentimental she was being.
"Ah, jeez, Jiwoo, you don't have to thank us," Taeyong replied with a smile. "We already established that we'll be there for each other. So allow yourself to lean on us too, okay?"
A shared grin. "Okay."
By this time, NCT 127 really did have to go if they wanted to be ready to leave in now 15 minutes. So, they had to say their goodbyes to their dear friend, suggesting that she should visit by their practice room later so they could all hang out. Jiwoo appreciatively accepted the offer, a promise she claimed on keeping.
They left towards the elevators.
Except one.
Just as the doors were about to close in at the elevators, Jaehyun had hopped back out, shocking his members as well as Jiwoo who was watching from afar. With the elevator leaving, he had rushed back to the lass's side, flustering her beyond belief to be left with her crush.
Shyly, she murmured out, "Jae, what's wrong?"
From his pants pocket, he took out two items. A slightly folded envelope and a small velvet pouch. Without a word, the singer handed the things over to Jiwoo with nervousness aching into his whole body. "Before you open either of them, I want you to listen first."
She was in a daze, but she nodded to him anyway.
"Yoora gave me the envelope." The change of expression on Jiwoo's face was rapid. This nearly got Jaehyun to stop overall, just wanting to snatch the envelope back and pretend it never happened. But, he knew this was best for her, more so that she wanted to move on from her past. It needed to be given. "It's apparently from Songyi."
"Songyi..." Her gaze landed onto the white paper of the envelope. Her thumbs caressed over its smooth surface.
"And I want you to know that that whatever is inside that envelope, I want you to remember that you will be able to move on. You have your family, your friends, and me to support you through it all. You don't have to keep things a secret if you're hurting inside..." A pause. "It hurts me seeing you hurt."
Eyes clash. Jiwoo's heart was already racing over the fact that she might finally have information on the unnie she hadn't heard from in years, but this. This was enough to make her heart explode on the spot. She wasn't even sure what was happening right now between them, but she sure hell was about to die from her whole body overheating at his tender words.
Where the hell is this even coming from?
Does he...
"The past two weeks had been the worst because I knew you were dealing with a lot of things and I couldn't do anything about it," Jaehyun continued. He was speaking in a lower tone, he was trying to be cautious. He can't slip up now. "I just want you to be happy."
"Jaehyun..."
"You opening that letter is your choice, I could only hope you won't do anything rash without letting anyone know."
Was she even breathing properly? She probably wasn't, not with what's happening. "I won't."
"Thank you." Jaehyun then looked over to the pouch she held in her opposite hand. He gulped away his nerves. "And that... You can open right now if you want."
Her movements were automatic, as if his words were a command. Her slim fingers carefully untied the ribbon that kept the pouch closed and took out the item that was inside. A gasp left her lips and her eyes sparkled with awe.
"I gotten it at the boutique before that one time we went there together."
Jiwoo peered up at the boy, flabbergasted. "How did you know..." He held a confused look. "How did you know this was the one I wanted?"
The leather choker with the moon pendant, the very one she had been eying seemingly long ago.
"Was it?" Jaehyun mused with raised brows. "I saw it and thought it would... fit you well."
"What is this for though?"
His gaze was soft on her. Confess, his brain had screamed out. But he couldn't bring himself to, at least not at this very moment. Her brother's voice rang out in his mind, his words to their conversation in their drive over to Seoul resonating.
"Jiwoo isn't super human, you know. If anything, she's more vulnerable than what you would think. She will shut down if so many things were happening at once, no matter if it was good or bad. So if, by any chance, any of you or your other members were thinking about dating her, wait. I swear to god, you better wait, give her time. At a time like now, she can't have so much going on."
He'll wait. He knew that today, after Jiwoo was slowly recollecting herself, was not the day to confess his feelings for the girl.
But that won't stop him for staying by her side.
"For now, think of it as a constant reminder that everyone and I will be encouraging you no matter what, and that we're here for you."
A/n: Just imagine this is him looking at Jiwoo all the damn time.
I just sent myself to my grave after this chapter. I CRAVE THE FUCKIN GRAVE. I swear to god that I'm only loving him more and more each day~
And ah, it would be nice to get some comments on your thoughts so far. I'm planning on the setting of the story to jump ahead a bit, but that's not official as of yet.
But anyway, thank you to all of you so far for supporting this story, it seriously means so damn much when I see this getting love.
❤ I love you all.
ADDITIONALLY, what would y'all think about a possible Mark story?? As of now, it'll be more like a narrative from Mark's pov and will have short chapters, but that can change (because I suck at writing something like that).