Warning: Some suggestive mature content towards the end.
⊱ ♫ ────── ⋆Jaebeom⋆ ────── ♫ ⊰
As we emerged from the stairwell on to the roof top deck, Sharay and I were greeted by her mom, brother, and the rest of GOT7.
"I'm so sorry" was the repeated refrain from each of the guys, over speaking one another in an attempt to assure Sharay they hadn't meant any harm.
The only silent one was Mark, who at first stood to the side with his head lowered. He peeked up from under his hat with a furtive glance, licking his lips in a nervous fashion.
"Jaebeom. Sharay," he finally said as the others began to quiet down. "It's my fault. I convinced the others to say they didn't all agree. I was still pissed off about how you treated Jackson. I'm not making excuses." He directed this last part at me.
"Jaebeom-ah. I was so wrong. I should've let it go when Jackson said he was good with it."
Turning towards Sharay, Mark continued."I had no idea you would be so selfless. I had no idea anyone could be so selfless. I'm ashamed that I did what I did when you were willing to sacrifice so much for the benefit of Jaebeom, GOT7, and me. I...."
Mark hadn't spoken so many words in one time frame in all the years I'd known him. I was mildly impressed, despite the hurt he had caused, that he was able to take such a strong stance in defense of Jackson and take responsibility for it. I wasn't in a position to judge his emotional reaction in light of my earlier very inappropriate response to Jackson, but he had hurt my girl so I was still feeling very raw and didn't trust myself to comment.
As I turned to see Sharay's reaction to his words, I noticed she was shaking her head. She approached Mark and looked up at him. Quietly, while gently touching his arm, she said, "I probably would have done the same. After all, we protect those we love even if it isn't the most effective way, right?"
With that, I heard Mark exhale. It dawned on me that he had been holding his breath the entire time, unsure of how he would be received.
"First time my sister isn't holding a grudge," quipped Daniel in feigned disgust.
"Shut it, Daniel!" Sharay barked at her brother. With that, the tension broke and everyone started laughing. I think it was a combination of relief and nervousness.
"So, Hyung," offered up Jinyoung. "What's the plan? I know you didn't make that promise to the Ahgase this summer without formulating one, even if it was only a rough idea."
Taking my cue, I outlined how a large number of people had reached out to me after the press conference letting me now they would back me when the time came. I had, of course, kept their contact information and built a list of other potential people who would benefit vicariously from speaking up against the "scandal" stereotype and who would someday like to date without backlash to their careers.
"I have a list of people we need to reach out to. I grabbed it from my room on our way back up here. Each of you will need to touch bases with those who you know best.
With that I set each to task. Jackson and Mark would reach out to the international idols like Henry, Amber, and Eric Nam. Yugyeom would approach younger idols and dancers with whom he had a connection while Youngjae would focus on gamers and vocalists. Bambam, would target trendsetters and those from Thailand and Japan. Jinyoung, would be the acting idol go to person, reaching out to people like Suzy, IU, Kim Soo Hyun, Hyun Sik, and Lee Min Ho. Each contact would be requested to reach out in turn to others in their spheres of influence. My job would be to pave the way with the group leaders to avoid any schism, like the one we'd nearly faced because I acted on my own. The goal was to spend the next 12 days prerecording and writing support and responses to my impending announcement.
"Secrecy is crucial. If this leaks before I make the announcement it could have serious negative ramifications. We'll have to coordinate the released to correspond with the end of the concert where I disclose Sharay as my girlfriend. I'm thinking the first day in LA would be best, so we can be in the public eye for another day afterwards to best judge the response and be available for comment," I continued.
"We also need to work with those willing to support this so that we can help with translations into various languages. To keep this closely guarded, we'll need to do most of the translations ourselves. Bambam, I'll also need your video production skills to help edit what people send us. Sharay and I can handle the English translations. Anyone who can respond in a language other than Korean, like Eric or Teacyeon-hyung can either do their own Korean translation or ask us to help them. Jackson, you and Mark are in charge of Chinese translations, Bambam you'll be needed for Thai. Jinyoung help me with the Japanese. Youngjae, I know languages aren't your thing right now, but you do have a number of US musical contacts, so I need you to focus on them for now."
"Finally, we need to script how the announcement will be made during the fan meet. This not only includes my part. I'll need support from each of you. Sharay supplied us with several reasons for her to be accepted. We'll need to remind them that they loved her for her interaction with Jackson here in Miami and, even though they didn't know she was my instructor, they already appreciated her for teaching me English. Finally, we'll need to reveal tonight's willingness on her part to step away to avoid friction between the members or my having to break my promise to them. In the meantime, I'll have to really step up my game and make sure every song, dance, and interaction of every kind clearly demonstrates that our relationship won't impact or minimize my role as leader or performing member."
I scanned the members as I was outlining my plan to make sure everyone understood their responsibility before asking, "Any questions? Any concerns or areas I didn't cover that we need to address or things we can do which will make this more likely to be a success?"
Heads nodded all around as there was a general feel that, for now at least, we had enough outlined. We might need to make some tweaks later on down the line, but we seemed to have a decent plan in the works.
At that point, my phone rang and I looked down to see the call came from Park Jin Young.
Taking a deep breath, I answered the phone.
After outlining my plan to our CEO, he agreed that the plan was sound. He would also do a video as the head of our agency in support of me and others who were stigmatized for dating. During episode 10 of JYP's Party People he had been disturbed by the EXO fans' reluctance to even consider allowing their bias group to date prior to entering a retirement home! He noted that being a lifetime idol without a personal life or love would make for a terrible industry and result in the loss of so many talented people who wouldn't be willing to even start the journey because of this. He also offered to reach out to the heads of other agencies like YG, Bit Hit and SM. Since he didn't want to risk corporate fear of revenue loss to clamp down on their talent speaking out, he was planning on doing this only after the artists had a chance to speak out en mass.
Finally, we wrapped things up and headed down to our rooms. I walked Sharay, her mom, and brother to their suite.
"Jaebeom, thank you for tracking down my daughter and organizing things like you did tonight. I really admire your leadership skills. I always have. But tonight, I realized you put those skills into play because of your love for my daughter and desire to protect her. Thank you. Now, I would assume you two have a few things to talk over, so Daniel and I will head into bed. Don't stay up too much later." And with that TJ, turned and shepherded Daniel away.
༺ ¤○•° Sharay °•○¤ ༻
Before heading to the room, Jaebeom said he needed to quickly swing by his room and grab something. He took only a moment to retrieve a notebook before we continued to the stairwell leading to the upper deck.
"What's that?" I asked, more than a little curious.
With a smirk, Jaebeom replied, "Our battle plan."
Once we reached the rooftop, we wear basically accosted by everyone. The only one who hung back was Mark. He looked like a puppy that had been whipped. When he finally spoke, I was basically in shock. I never knew he could talk so much! And to think it was an apology to me. Though I usually held a grudge, in this case it was easy to forgive him. Love can make you do some really out there things after all.
Finally, Jaebeom launched into his plan for broaching the announcement that he and I were dating. It was a well thought out, elaborate scheme. The only potential pitfall was that a ton of people would be involved and entrusted with keeping it a secret for almost two weeks. I guess he reasoned that if we could succeed in breaking this "dating barrier" they would benefit as well so would be disinclined to undermine the plan. Even Mr. Park was on board.
After everyone had their marching orders, we split up to head to our respective rooms. Jaebeom walked my mom, brother, and me to ours.
I was reluctant to say goodnight just yet so was pleased when, after complimenting Jaebeom on his handling of the whole situation, my mom suggested we get a chance to talk alone for a while.
Sitting down on the couch in the living area of the room's suite, Jaebeom pulled me in for a hug.
"How're you holding up? It's been a bit of a rollercoaster hasn't it?" he offered.
I could only nod. I was definitely exhausted from the night's events. Saying I was over-stimulated would be an understatement. As I relaxed into Jaebeom's arms, I felt myself start shaking, almost like I was in shock.
He lay down on the couch and pulled me alongside him. "Shhhh. It's gonna be okay. I promise," I could hear him assure me as I drifted off almost instantly into a fitful sleep.
⊱ ♫ ────── ⋆Jaebeom⋆ ────── ♫ ⊰
With Sharay in my arms, I relaxed into the couch, pulling her close to me. She was exhausted. I'd definitely put her through the wringer. From my initial botched confession, to my attack on Jackson and her selfless, though foolish, attempt to broker a third solution when we thought the guys wouldn't back our relationship, you could say she had more emotional stress than anyone should face in a single evening.
Looking into her face and stroking her hair gently, I thought how fortunate I was to have her in my life. I vowed to make sure nothing would stand in our way; not even her and her selfless assertion that if the fans didn't accept us, she would step away. That just plain wasn't an option.
I don't know how long I lay there like that, but at some point I heard TJ clear her throat.
"I think it's about time you head back to your room," she more that suggested.
"Ney Eomma," I said, attempting to extricate myself from between the back of the couch and Sharay in front of me.
As I moved, Sharay whimpered in her sleep and clung to me. I looked up at TJ who gestured with her head that I needed to leave. After three such attempts, the last of which resulted in tears streaming down the sleeping face of my girl, TJ sighed.
"You leave me in a very difficult position Jaebeom. I can either make my daughter cry, even more than she already has today, or I can trust you to be a gentleman. I'm none too happy with either option. I hope you understand this is a one-time thing and you will be singing falsetto for life if you breach my trust." And with that she spun and turned back to the room she was sharing with Daniel. She returned briefly to place a pillow under our heads and throw a blanket over us, but other than that, she didn't say another word.
I could hardly believe it! I'd been given parental permission to spend the night with Sharay. Okay. To be fair, I had been threatened with castration if I stepped out of bounds; but it was still permission.
Relaxing my head on the pillow and settling Sharay onto my chest and shoulder, I recalled that I had slept this way with her once before. At the time though, I didn't realize how important she would be to me. Not wanting to miss a moment of this, I barely slept a wink.
As the sun began to rise, Sharay stirred in her sleep. Ever the deep sleeper, she stretched as she started to come to. Suddenly, her eyes flew open at the realization I was lying next to her.
"Good morning beautiful. Did you sleep well?" I asked.
Sharay jumped and pushed away from me with a start, almost tumbling to the floor had I not wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer.
"Shhhh!" I cautioned. "You'll wake your mom and brother."
"She's gonna kill us!" Sharay offered."How'd you end up staying here?"
"Let's just say I got parental permission because your mom didn't like seeing you upset. You can also say that she held my masculinity over my head if I wasn't the perfect gentleman," I responded with a knowing look to his nether regions.
"Well then, you best prepare yourself, as you've failed," Sharay noted with a semi-serious expression, as she was pressed against my torso and was apparently aware that it had been more than a bit of a challenge to sleep in such closed quarters without some primal reaction on my part.
Sure this wasn't the first time I'd reacted this way to Sharay. There was the time when she came out wearing that long black evening gown that left nothing to the imagination, and the night I returned after the hurricane when I slept in Daniel's room with open doors leading to Sharay's, and.... I had stopped counting actually, but this was the first time I was positive she was aware of my physical response to her as a woman. I wasn't sure how she was going to take it. It wasn't subtle.
Sharay moved to sit up, but I pulled her back down."Just where do you think you're going?" I asked her, my voice husky from sleep and desire. The desire was heightened now that she was awake.
"Well, I thought..." she began, before she stopped resisting my pull and settle back against me.
With that, my self control went out the window. I could feel the heat of our bodies, as I kissed her face gently and allowed my hands to travel over her arms and down her sides, pulling her hips to meet mine. I was on autopilot, but was aware that Sharay was responding to my touch and kisses with equal fervor.
Sharay had one hand on my back and the other on my chest, the latter was moving slowly downward. My breathing became ragged and hitched as I moaned her name against her neck; tasting her delicate skin. The lack of sleep was clearly affecting my decisions. I was peripherally aware of this but was unwilling to arrest my actions until I heard Sharay mewl and say my name.
A light went on that I had way overstepped the bounds of appropriateness. As much as I hated to, I halted my advances and reluctantly prevented Sharay from further inspiring the strain against my pants from getting stronger.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked me in a tentative voice. "I was just following your lead like when we were ballroom dancing. Was I getting the signals wrong?"
"No! You were getting the signals just right," I offered. "You were matching me perfectly. Too perfectly, in fact."
I smiled at the girl still in my arms and gave her a squeeze to affirm that she had done everything right. Maybe too right. Certainly better than expected from someone who had only had her first kiss the night before.
"It's good to know we're compatible in this way too. But, I have a number of songs that require a deep voice and what your mom has planned for me, if we continue like this, could mean an end to my career, not to mention other stuff. Maybe you were right. We should probably sit up."
Sharay looked as disappointed as I felt, but shook her head in agreement.
I wasn't sure how long it would be before we would ever have a moment like this again, but I was willing to wait if it meant keeping this girl by my side. I just didn't plan on the wait being too long. I was gonna make this girl mine in every sense of the word.
Sitting together, I looked down at Sharay as she rested against my shoulder and asked, "So how long do you think I'll have to wait between asking you to be my girl and getting you to say you'll be my wife? Once I get something in my head I can be a very impatient man, you know."