“We are gathered here today,” Jonghyun began somberly, “to remember the life of someone important to all of us. Park Sungkyu was an inspiration in the composing community and to all those he worked with.” Jonghyun raised his arms and spread them wide, as if encompassing all those gathered at the people. “He inspired us all to work harder, to be kinder and to do our very best each and every day. I think I speak for us all when I say that there has been a great loss in the composing community this day and it is unlikely the field will ever be the same.” Jonghyun rubbed his eyes with one hand before he continued speaking, “So, I would like to raise a toast. A toast to the most wonderful mentor a person could ask for and my guide over the last ten or so years. To Park Sungkyu.”

“Park Sungkyu!” The assembled people chanted, some more enthusiastically than others.

The group took up an entire corner of one of Jonghyun’s mentor’s favourite restaurants. The restaurant specialised in home-style Korean cooking and Sungkyu would often head there after work for a bowl of their stews. At the table were many people who knew Sungkyu in various ways, most of whom Jonghyun knew well – there was a couple at one end of the table that Jonghyun didn’t personally know but, judging by the male’s slick business suit, he was a big-wig of some sort.

All the people were all looking at him with varied expressions. The employees of the purchasing office, where Jonghyun used to work, were looking on with small smiles. The other big names from the composition crew at SM Entertainment had long-suffering looks, like they were too used to Jonghyun’s antics. The unknown-couple looked confused, as if they weren’t sure what to think of the blonde and Sungkyu’s wife and daughter looked disapproving. Although, their frowns could be due to their innate dislike of Jonghyun ever since he burnt a hole in their table cloth the one and only time Sungkyu had invited him for dinner at his home. In his defense, the blonde had been telling a story about how he was often clumsy and, to illustrate a key point of the tale, he had made a dramatic hand gesture and had knocked the candle off a decorative table decoration. The resultant fire hadn’t even been that big, the two women just held a grudge, apparently. Finally, at the very head of the table, the man himself had his face in his hands and was shaking his head in disbelief.

“You make it sound like I died, Jonghyun. I’m retiring, not disappearing forever.” The elder composer commented.

“You basically did, old man.” Jonghyun teased, flopping back into his seat and exchanging a high-five with Youngchul who sat next to him. “You cut me off and everything.”

All conversation halted as a waitress approached their table with a large pot of stew in her hands. She placed the meal in the middle of the large table and mentioned that she would be back with the remainder of the food momentarily. Soon the sound of many people serving themselves and beginning to eat permeated their side of the restaurant. The waitress, a young, nervous-looking woman in her early twenties (if Jonghyun had to guess), hovered around their table until she was certain everything was to their liking.

After five minutes of solid eating, Sungkyu turned to Jonghyun and placed his chopsticks down on top of his rice bowl, “I’m not cutting you off, you know?”

“I do.” Jonghyun said, his mouth full of kimchi. Chewing quickly and swallowing the mouthful, he continued to speak, “I was just messing around. I know you wouldn’t do that.”

“I wouldn’t.” Sungkyu agreed. “If you ever need help or my input, I’m always willing to give you it.” Jonghyun went to speak however Sungkyu didn’t allow him to, “But, I don’t think you need me. You’ve been in this industry for years now. You’re leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at your age. I mean, you’ve written hit songs for nearly every major group under SM Entertainment at this point. It’s a major feat and you achieved that all on your own. You don’t need me anymore.”

Jonghyun sniffled lightly, then much harder, trying to disguise the sudden burst of emotion his mentor’s words had given him. “Who would ever need you?”

Sungkyu chuckled, seeing straight through his protégé’s blasé words. Reaching out, he wrapped one arm around the blonde man’s shoulders and pulled him tight against himself. “Clearly not you.”

“Exactly,” Jonghyun agreed, pulling away from the older man and smiling at him. “Hey, this pork looks delicious. I gotta try some of this.” Jonghyun gasped and grabbed his chopsticks, grabbing a piece of meat and stuffing it in his mouth. The blonde ignored the stifled chuckles emanating from those of the purchasing department and from Sungkyu himself and pretended he hadn’t done anything embarrassing.

“Are you looking forward to your days of relaxation?” Junghee asked the composer. Despite not working in the same department, the woman had become fast friends with the composer during the time he worked in the office next door.

“Absolutely,” The man grinned, swallowing his mouthful of rice. “I have so much DIY I need to finish.”

The man’s wife coughed obnoxiously, “You’ll never finish those, dear. No matter what you say.”

The man puffed up, offended for a second, before the truth of the woman’s words hit him. “Yeah, I suppose.” He agreed, shrugging awkwardly.

Jonghyun chuckled, the sound muffled around a mouthful of broccoli. The man was famous around the office for his inability to finish any household project. At one point, Jonghyun and Sungho had had a running bet going about when the man would finish rebuilding the step outside his house. However, after over a year of the man continuing to say he would finish it ‘eventually’, the pair had given up the bet as pointless as it was never getting done. At least, not by Sungkyu himself – a professional had eventually been called by the composer’s impatient wife and the project had been finished without Sungkyu’s input, much to the man’s chargrin.

“So, Jonghyun,” The blonde’s mentor spoke, ignoring the laughs of his ex-coworkers and his wife, “how’s your composition going? I heard SHINee approached you again.”

Jonghyun chuckled, seeing the man’s question as exactly what it was – an evasive measure, “They always approach me, you know that. Onew loves me.”

Jonghyun was willing to be candid around these people. Sungkyu was the only person at the table who knew the true nature of his relationship with the idol. However, the other people at the table – with the exception of the big-wig couple – knew Jonghyun well enough to assume he was friends with the man. Thus, his statement, if overheard by those at the table, would not sound too suspicious.

“I hear Taemin also approached you about his latest solo project.”

“He did.” Jonghyun agreed.

“I’m jealous of how much SHINee loves you.” One of the other composers at the table commented. Jonghyun wasn’t sure he knew the man’s name. He was younger, a new hire, roughly twenty five years of age, who worked in the composition office. Jonghyun, due to the overcrowded conditions when he first started to work at SM Entertainment, had avoided ever having to work in that office and, after his placement with SHINee, the blonde had been relocated to his own personal office. The higher-ups were apparently very impressed with his work and determined that he would function better with his own private work space.

“It’s well earned.” Sungkyu commented. “Few people have such innate understanding of a group’s musical skills as Jonghyun does for SHINee.

Jonghyun grinned at his mentor, feeling proud. “Thanks boss.”

“Not your boss, anymore.” Sungkyu commented, idly.

Jonghyun pouted, stuffing a piece of meat in his mouth. “You’ll always be my boss.” He commented around his mouthful.

“And you’ll always be the pretentious nineteen year old I first met. With your punky three-toned hair and a closet love for SHINee.”

Jonghyun pouted, “You said my hair was good.”

“I thought it looked good,” Youngchul commented, reaching over Jonghyun for access to the kimchi.

“Did you ever even see that hair style?” Jonghyun asked, unsure.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to be involved in the conversation.” The purchasing manager shrugged. Jonghyun snorted a laugh and patted the man on the shoulder. The older man shrugged off the appendage and grabbed another load of kimchi, shoving it in the blonde’s mouth before he could say anything in response. “Eat up and pipe down. The adults need to talk now.”

Jonghyun swallowed loudly and gasped, the kimchi was spicy, “I am thirty years old! How am I not an adult?”

“Pretentious nineteen year old.” Sungkyu commented, chuckling.

Jonghyun pouted and crossed his arms. Sungkyu, taking pity on him, patted him on the head and said, only a touch condescendingly, “Honestly, you’ve grown into a fine man. I’m honoured to have called you my pupil.” Jonghyun sniffed a little, taking another bite of his rice. “Your compositions were always good but, over the years I have watched you learn and grow and now you are writing some incredible pieces of music.”

“They aren’t that good,” Jonghyun denied, waving off the compliments.

“I have learned many things from you-“

“Not as much as I have from you,”

Sungkyu continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “and your work inspired mine in many ways. When you got offered that job with SHINee, I was so proud. I felt like you had finally matured and become a composer in your own right. It might be a little selfish of me, but I like to attribute a little of your growth to myself.”

“Nearly all my growth is because of you.” Jonghyun said, his voice suspiciously uneven. “Although, being offered the SHINee job was only because I was friends with Onew at the time.”

“That might be why you were initially considered,” Sungkyu agreed, “but you know you wouldn’t have gotten the job if you didn’t have the talent.”

Jonghyun looked up at the man. He did know that, innately. However, he still had doubts about his work and he was always appreciative of people complimenting him. “I guess so.”

“I know so. I also know that now, now that I have retired, you will thrive even more. As one of the greatest composers I have ever met, I know that you will be able to handle any and all challenges sent your way from now on. I know for a fact that you just got asked to compose the title track for that upcoming new boy group.”

“That was you!?” The same young composer from earlier exclaimed. Apparently, he was still listening to their conversation. After a quick scan of the table, Jonghyun confirmed that it wasn’t just the young composer. Absolutely everyone else at the table was listening too. Which would have been fine but Jonghyun could feel his face getting red and his eyes getting wetter, the more his mentor spoke. He knew he cried easily and he knew that he wasn’t the cutest crier out there. He wasn’t sure this was how he wanted to be seen by many of his coworkers.

“I know that you will do as amazing a job as you have on any of your previous pieces and I know you will continue to do so in the future.”

“I thought we were here to honour you. Not to talk about me.” Jonghyun said, wiping his eyes in his napkin, sniffing obnoxiously.

“Come here,” Sungkyu said, gesturing towards the blonde. Jonghyun hesitated for a second before giving in and embracing the older man fully. “You were rarely at the office at the same time as me anyway. It’s not like anything is going to change with me gone.”

“I know,” Jonghyun said, his voice muffled in his mentor’s shoulder, “It just feels like the end of an era.”

Sungkyu pulled him closer temporarily before releasing him. “You’re still the teenage sap I first met.”

Jonghyun pulled away completely, ignoring the coos from Junghee and the snickers from Youngchul, and smiled wetly at his mentor and, by all intents, one of his closest friends. “Good luck with your retirement. I hope you get all those DIY projects finished.” Jonghyun said, “You deserve all the relaxation and rest you can get after putting up with me all these years.”

 

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CHAPTER NOTES: and that’s the end of the official chapters. Only the epilogue(s) left to go now.

I'm actually really sad I'm so close to finishing this. But at the same time, this story is over 150 thousand words already so I'm not sure adding more would be a good idea ;P

On a happier note, I broke that 100 subscriber mark I wanted. I love you guys, you know :3 <3