Sodam looked up in shock as her bedroom door banged open. She wasn’t even aware anyone was home – her parents having gone out for dinner or a movie or both and no one else living in the house. She especially wasn’t expecting the person in the doorway to be her brother. His blue-grey hair was ruffled, as if he had just come in out of the wind, and he still had his coat on, which supported that fact. Luckily for him, he had remembered to remove his shoes at the front door or their mother would kill him slowly for ruining her floorboards.

Spinning fully in her chair to face the door, the girl looked at her brother questioningly. The male huffed, as if she should be able to intrinsically know why he was here, and moved towards her.

“You knew I’d be given a promotion, huh?” He said, staring her down.

Sodam stifled her laugh, knowing it would only make her brother mad, but it was difficult, he looked so ridiculous right now. Her brother, the soppy, fanboy was trying to look intimidating. Sure, he had a good physique and had worked hard for it but he was short and had his huge puppy dog eyes activated most of the time. He wasn’t intimidating at all. Especially as she had seen him at his worst. Like the time he had pouted and thrown a tantrum because his mother forbade him from going to a concert or the time he refused to eat his greens to the point that he stuffed them down his pants, only to be caught by his mother when he was dumping them in the toilet. No one could be intimidating when you’d seen them with cauliflower in their underwear.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”

“Cut the crap. How did you know?” Jonghyun said, channeling his inner movie mobster.

Advancing towards his sister, he placed his hands on the desk behind her so she was trapped between his arms; she was impressed to notice that the muscle tone there had definitely improved recently. She didn’t want to think about why that was but it probably stemmed from the increased amount of free time her brother had after his recent relationship dramas.

It was clear, half way through his statement, that Jonghyun had realised how funny he was acting as his tone had shifted to a more mocking one. His arms were also only loosely holding her in place and she could very easily slip underneath them and escape if she felt the need to.

“I talked to some people. I actually helped come up with the idea.”

“You what?” Jonghyun asked, moving backwards in his shock. “Explain please?” He added, taking a seat on the bed. Apparently all ideas of intimidating his sister or staying mad at her had flown out the window at that revelation.

“OK, so,” Sodam began, leaning back in her chair and taking up a story telling pose; which basically consisted of a pondering expression and resting her chin in one hand, her index finger curled under her bottom lip. “Before Christmas I got a super weird message from your old boss’ daughter-“

“Sooyoung?”

“Yes, now shush.” Sodam admonished Jonghyun for his interruption. “So she messaged me and it was super weird. She said she had someone who wanted to talk to me and could I meet him at the cafe at some point that week.”

“That was super dangerous.” Jonghyun muttered quietly, wary of interrupting the girl. He didn’t want her to get mad at him again. The woman was scary.

“I’m a grown woman and it was a public place. Anyway, this dude wouldn’t hurt me.” Sodam dismissed, looking irritated. “Do you want to hear my story or not?”

“Yes, sorry.” Jonghyun muttered, looking down at the bedspread. “Please continue.”

“Thank you.” Sodam said, imperiously, “I went to this meeting and waited around for a while for the guy to turn up. He was ten minutes late which I thought was very rude but he was very apologetic and had a good reason for being late, so I let him off.”

Jonghyun rolled his eyes at his sister. She got annoyed when he interrupted her story and now she was blathering on about completely unnecessary things. He’d interrupt her and tell her to get on with it but it just wasn’t worth it. Shifting around on the bed, he moved so that he was leaning against the wall and settled back to listen to his sister properly.

“So he walked in in a large sweatshirt with the hood pulled up, a mask and sunglasses and it seemed super suspicious but Sooyoung seemed super excited about his arrival. She basically forced the guy into the seat opposite me and ordered us to start plotting. She’s an evil genius that one.” The girl mused.

“But who was this guy?” Jonghyun asked, getting impatient.

Sodam tutted but told him anyway. “Key from SHINee.”

Jonghyun wasn’t expecting that. He wasn’t even sure he believed his sister. It just didn’t make sense. She had said that she met with someone who aided in getting Jonghyun this promotion and, although a SHINee member would make sense (since they knew him and could suggest the idea to upper management) Key didn’t like him. At all. The other male basically made it his duty to tut and scoff every time Jonghyun entered a room. Jonghyun just couldn’t fathom why the singer would set something like this up; something that meant Jonghyun would now be in his vicinity for large portions of time for a potentially long period. It was baffling.

Seeing her brother’s dumbstruck expression, Sodam continued, “Yeah, so he initially came about Onew.” Jonghyun looked up from his lap at this, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, “Apparently Onew has been coping with the break up about as well as you have and Key was worried about him.”

Jonghyun smiled softly, but sadly. Jonghyun knew that. Taemin had informed him of the emotional state of their leader on multiple occasions. He was glad the other members were also aware of the singer’s feelings and were doing what they could to make him feel better. It was already evident from their TV appearances that Key especially was doing his best to help the idol out and this event just proved how much the sassy male cared. It was sweet.

“But what does that have to do with me new job?” Jonghyun asked.

“I’m getting there.” Sodam snarked, crossing her arms in an annoyed manner. “Hold your horses. So he’s talking to me about Onew and then he asks about you.”

“Me?”

“No, Pororo.” Sodam said, rolling her eyes. “Yes, you. He wondered how you were doing and how you were coping. So I told him you’re not doing great.” Jonghyun went to disagree with that statement but Sodam held up a hand a continued talking before he could do so. “Don’t deny it. This break up was hard on you. You’ve never been happier than when you were with Onew and now… you haven’t been this sad since the whole bullying thing. Hell, you might even be more so. It’s definitely lasted longer.”

Jonghyun sighed and grabbed Sodam’s stuffed cat from by her pillow. Placing it on his lap he the plush animal’s fur. The repetitive motion was quite calming and the soft fluff felt nice under his fingers.

“He wanted to know if I had any ideas how you two could be together without anyone knowing.” Jonghyun’s fingers gripped onto the cat’s fur and he looked up at his sister in surprise. “He really wants the best for Onew, it was cute.”

Jonghyun smiled softly, “I’m glad Jinki has people like Key around him.”

“Me too,” Sodam said, “From what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen, he’s an amazing guy.”

“He is.” Jonghyun agreed thinking back on all the times Onew proved just how wonderful he was. Like when he stopped to sign autographs for a young fan who recognised him, even when he was in a rush. How he always made sure to message Jonghyun at least once a day, no matter how busy his schedule was and didn’t get annoyed if Jonghyun didn’t answer; he just wanted to stay in contact. How he tackled the bullying scandal and actually approached Jonghyun in the first place. How he remembered Jonghyun from all those years ago. How, when they were together, he was always gentle and caring but also not afraid to play around and tease. How he didn’t get annoyed with Jonghyun’s friends, no matter how weird they were. How he actually loved Jonghyun.

“Sadly, I didn’t have any ideas.” Jonghyun looked at her questioningly, if she didn’t have any ideas, then how did the job come about? “But I casually mentioned that you worked at SM now. Apparently, Key didn’t know.”

“He didn’t? I could’ve sworn he did.”

“Maybe he did know but forgot. I don’t know. He knew you composed still, he liked your song for Taemin by the way,” Sodam commented, shifting in her seat to get more comfortable. It was a nice desk chair but after a while of sitting in the same position it could play havoc with your back. “But he didn’t know you were at SM. He went super silent after I told him that, then he asked me if you still wrote songs for SHINee. Apparently you mentioned once that you wrote loads of songs for SHINee or something.”

“I did.” Jonghyun said, his hand pausing its movement as he considered when exactly that was. “But that was five years ago when I first met them. He remembers that?”

“Apparently so. When I told him I’m pretty sure you did, you do right?” Jonghyun nodded, “Good, so I wasn’t lying. He went really quiet for a while and seemed to be thinking hard. Then he did that thing, you know in movies when people snap their fingers when they get an idea? He totally did that. It was great. So he snapped his fingers and grinned at me, his grin is actually a little scary,” Jonghyun nodded his agreement, shuddering. Key could be very intimidating when he wanted to be and, around Jonghyun, that seemed to be almost all the time. “He starts explaining how you could be SHINee’s personal composer and how he’ll have to talk to Sooman and all these big wigs I don’t remember the names of. He was basically talking to himself at this point. Then he stood up, super suddenly, shook my hand and expressed his thanks for meeting him and left. So yeah, your new job is because of me and Key.”

“Weird,” Jonghyun said. “Super nice but weird.” Then something seemed to dawn on him, “Wait, did you say he went to Sooman about me? Sooman knows my name? Oh god, the pressure.” His grip on the cat tightened until he practically strangling the poor thing. Catching himself doing so he lifted the toy up and hugged it to his chest instead.

“Are you freaking out?” Sodam asked, looking concerned for her brother’s sanity.

“Nope,” Jonghyun said breathily, his voice a little high. “I just found out a guy who I thought hated me got me an awesome job and told the CEO of the company I work at about me. I’m just peachy. Tip top. It’s all good.”

“You’re freaking out,” Sodam deadpanned. “I’ll go get you a drink, you try not to hyperventilate or something.”

“Kay,” Jonghyun agreed, not really paying full attention to the girl. “I’ll do that.”

-

“I got this job because of Key?” Jonghyun asked as he sat in his usual seat in Sungkyu’s office.

“Hmm,” the man said, looking up from his computer screen. “Oh, yes. The boy was quite insistent that this position be created and you fill it. Upper management liked the permanent composer idea but were set on having a more experienced member of staff take the role. It was Key’s insistence that resulted in you being hired.”

“Woah,” Jonghyun said, leaning back in his chair. It was like his entire world was tilted on its axis. This stuff just didn’t make sense. “I mean, Sodam told me it was him but I wasn’t sure I believed her completely.”

“You owe a lot to that boy.” Sungkyu commented, “When upper management disagreed with him choosing you, he approached me for evidence that you were the best fit for the role. He requested a personal recommendation about why I believe you would be fit for the job,” Sungkyu slid a sheet of paper out of one of his neatly organised paperwork piles and slid it to Jonghyun. A quick scan told him it was the recommendation itself. The blue haired male vowed to read it later. “He also requested a portfolio of your works. I gave them some of your unpublished work, I hope you don’t mind. I assumed more SHINee oriented work would appear more impressive.”

“I don’t mind.” Jonghyun said, absently.

“He really proved himself as a keen negotiator.” Sungkyu commented, “He makes his points well. You have a good friend there.”

“Friend...” Jonghyun said, not quite sure how he felt about that word. He and Key weren’t friends, they had barely even spoken and when they had it was never completely civil. However, this action was not something someone who hated him would do, surely? Even if it was mostly for Onew and his happiness, Key would not be doing this if he truly hated Jonghyun, right “Yes he is. Or will be, I hope.”

“I’m happy for you Jonghyun.” Sungkyu said, smiling gently at his protégé. “You’ve really impressed me since you started working here. I’m a little sad to see you go but you’re moving on to bigger and better things. I think you’ll do wonderfully.”

“Thank you,” Jonghyun said.

His mentor pushed himself to his feet as a clear indication that the conversation was over. Walking around his desk, the man held out his hand for Jonghyun to shake. Grasping it in a firm grip, Jonghyun smiled up at his mentor.

“Congratulations Jonghyun, you’ll be fantastic. Good luck with your future endeavours and remember, if you ever need any help or input on anything, even a single note, don’t hesitate to contact me. In fact, contact me whether you need help or not, I want to know exactly how you’re doing in your high flying new job.”

“I will and thank you.” Jonghyun said. His eyes felt a little wet and he knew, if he stayed here much longer, he would actually cry for real. Cursing his weak control over his emotions, Jonghyun squeezed his mentor’s hand one final time before releasing it and heading out of the office.

“Go and I don’t want to see you round here again,” Sungkyu joked, “You’re a distraction.”

“As if old man, you love having me around.” Jonghyun quipped as he left the room. He chuckled as he heard a shout of protest as he snapped the door shut.

He would miss being in this office and around these people every day but Sungkyu was right, he was moving on to bigger and better things. He was going to make the most of it.

Heading towards the purchasing office for one final time, he steeled himself for a hard goodbye. He knew he would stay in contact with Sungkyu, he had done for years now, but these three, they were his friends but they were unlikely to stay in contact outside of work. He would miss them and their wonky humour.

He had only headed in today to gather his things. After the initial meeting with SHINee, Manager and their staff it had been decided that he would start officially the following week. So, Jonghyun used his free time to sort out all his affairs. Today he was to clear out his office, which he was going to do now, and then he must bid goodbye to his co-workers. The group had already had their official farewell lunch which had been nice, especially as the company payed, but this was the farewell for real. He was sad to be leaving but he was excited to see what challenges his new job would bring – even if it would be slightly awkward to be around Onew.

 

---

CHAPTER NOTES: An end of an era and a start of a new one. Or something equally deep and meaningful.

Also, sorry i haven't written an AF blog in forever. I got stupid busy (still am stupid busy). When I find time, I'll write a whole bunch at once to update you guys. A lot has happened.