“What’s this?”

Seohyun glanced out from her parents’ kitchen to see Yonghwa look up from his own phone towards hers in interest.

She’d been playing music from her phone to fill the companionable silence as she made dinner and he grabbed some much-needed downtime. But now the American and Korean pop songs had given way to a melody she’d added a rough guide to but had been struggling to add fitting lyrics to for days.

“Oh!” Wiping her hands on her apron, she came over to grab her phone, but he’d already heard enough.

“That’s your voice,” he said as she paused it, fire in her cheeks.

She her lips. “It’s a demo from the SM repository that I liked,” she offered softly. “I wanted to try writing lyrics for it.”

“For Sonyeo Shidae?” he asked doubtfully, acutely aware that her songs kept getting rejected by the higher-ups at SM Entertainment. Meanwhile, sometimes he brainstormed music or lyrics for CNBLUE or himself with her and it went swimmingly at his headquarters.

Seohyun shook her head, worrying her lip. “For me,” she corrected quietly.

He blinked, then shot up like an arrow, his mouth stretching into a huge smile. “They’re letting you have a solo? And write? That’s amazing, Hyun!”

Cringing, she shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

They’d been pretty clear: they didn’t like the idea, but they’d agreed to look at what she came up with. She’d found this demo buried in an obscure folder, the melody rough and incomplete, but it had instantly gripped her with its heavy jazz lines. It was… sensual.

He reached excitedly. “Let’s hear it.”

Seohyun hesitated, clutching her phone to her chest. “But dinner…”

“It’s kimbap. There’s no fire.” At her continued hesitation, he tilted his head pleadingly. “Come on, Hyun. I’ll sign an NDA if that’s what it takes.”

Rolling her eyes in defeat, she finally pressed play and then scurried back into the kitchen to hide.

Technically he shouldn’t even be allowed within a two-metre radius from any intellectual SM property, or her near any intellectual FNC property, but Yonghwa had started it all, working in her presence on melodies or lyrics. So she’d begun throwing caution to the wind and letting him in on songs she was working on. And eventually, they’d started helping each other, even secretly collaborating.

They had a tacit understanding that only the other CNBLUE members knew about: Seohyun wanted to create, and Yonghwa wanted to give her that power knowing her company repeatedly crushed her hopes. In return, the knowledge that CNBLUE songs she contribut