Chapter 6

Taemin groaned softly as he turned, pushing his hair off of his forehead. He sighed softly as the sunlight protruded through the curtains, hitting his eyes. As he slowly began to wake from his sleep, his senses began to heighten, the soft sizzle in the distance and the smell of suculant meat. With small hum, he opened his eyes and glanced around seeing unfamiliar surroundings. Quickly, he shot up and looked around in panicked confusion as he tried to remember where he was. Taemin let out a breath of relief once he realized that he hadn't been kidnapped and placed his hands in his face, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes. He had completely forgotten that he was at Jin's house and how she had practically saved his the night before. Pulling the blanket off him, he swung his feet over the edge of the couch and squinted to sheild his eyes from the bright sun. Following the scent, he stood from where he sat and walked towards the kitchen where the sizzle and smell came from. Inside, he saw Jin wearing a pale green apron and grocery bags on the counter. She stood with her back facing him, a pan in one hand and a pair of chop sticks in the other. Whirling around, his eyes quickly looked for the clock that hung on her wall, wondering where she found the time to go out and buy food. It was 9:47 am. Looking back, Taemin cocked his brow watching her scrap the meat into a plate before opening the small rice cooker that sat in the corner of the kitchen. Walking closer, he glanced over her shoulder and watched as she prepared breakfast.

"Need any help?" He asked. Jin jumped and on instinct, her elbow flew back into his gut harder than she had expected. A muffled umph came from Taemin as he doubled over, holding his stomach tightly. Jin widened her eyes and gasped remembering that Taemin was also in the house and dropped .

"Oh my god Taemin!" She said leaning over as she pat his back, "are you ok? Oh my gosh, I forgot that you were here! It was natural instinct!" Taemin gave her a pained look and shook his head. 

"No, no, its fine." He said weakly as he rubbed the area that throbbed lightly, "it was completely my fault. You don't have to apologize." Taemin slowly straightened and rubbed his stomach groaning softly, stil surprised to how  powerful her jab was.

"Gee, you're a lot stronger than you look." Jin gave him and apologetic expression and took one of the plates off of the counter, holding it out to him. 

"Um... Breakfast?"

Jin watched as Taemin snuck out of the complex and nodded once he was out of sight. Since she had done it, she did nothing but think about their first meeting. The only difference was that Jongin, at the time, had had other motives than to help her cook. Finding it all sort of ridiculous, she shook her head and prepared for work. 

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"B-but Mr. Choi! I can't handle something like this! I don't have the skills or the, the tools or the experience! I can't possibly--"

"Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh," he said waving his finger at her, "I expect you to do this for me. You've been with me longer than any other assistant has so I trust you with this."

"I've only been here nearly three months!" She tried to reason. "I can't do something like this! How do you expect me, a rookie, a person who isn't even experienced enough to write a song for their album?" Five minutes after she had entered the door, he told her that he had come up with a great idea for EXO's new album: for her to write the lyrics to one of their songs. It actually took Jin a minute or two to actually realize what he told her. She would be writing a song that would go into EXO's new album. EXO, the hottest rookie group of that year and she only had 6 months to come up with something. Jin could barely believe her ears and the fact that her boss was the type of person who'd play these types of tricks on her didn't help either. She was at a loss of words. She understood that he wanted to challenge her but how could he make a rookie like her write a song for one of the most popular artists in the industry? Once he had left to go to another meeting, she slowly trudged after him, still trying to differentiate if it was a dream or reaity.

"Mr. Choi, i understand that it's your intention to test mean and  truly test out my skill, but i amnot ready for such a-a large and professionsal task!"

"Calm down Jinhye," Jinhyuk said as he continued to type on his laptop, "What you write will only be a draft. Of course I'll have to go over it before i decide whether it's suitabe or not but as for now, just do as i ask. Instead of seeing it as a task, think of it as... a homework assighment of some sort. You've got plenty of time to work on it." Jin gave him a look of disbelief. She didn't understand why he didnt get what she was trying to say. She was a rookie at this, scratch that, she was only an intern. Getting him coffee and filing papers was what she was supposed to do, not write songs for a professionsal album.

"Oh come on, Jin. If you can't handle something like this, how are you supposed to handle writing 6 different songs all due on the same deadline date?" he asked. "If you really can't do it then there really isn't a need for you be here as my intern--"

"I'll do it!" she said quickly, "I'll do it..."

"Fantastic!" Jin Hyuk said closing the id to his laptop, "Get started on it soon, alright?"

"How does he expect me to do this?" she asked herself, "How does he possiby expect me to do this?" Jin sighed heavily and leaned onto the metal railing. She didnt even know where to start. It seemed as if the 4 years she spent learning how to write lyrics had gone to waste. She didn't even have any inspiration. As she thought about it, the burden she felt only intensified. Not only would it be a song for anextremely popular group, but a song that her old friends, her step-brother, and her ex-boyfriend would be singing. If the song she wrote ended up being terrible, she could say goodbye to her career. Jin let out an irritated groan feeling the beginnings of stress and dropped her head. She had come to korea to gain experience in writing and composing music, not to get stuck with a crazy boss, not to meet people she ha even thought about seeing again, not to reconnect with a past lover. Everything she had done so far since she had been baack in korea were things that would only hinder her career, not stregthen her chances at becoming a composer like she had dreamed. Aggitated, Jin stood and began walking towards the recording stuio with a handful of files he wanted her to look over. 

"What did Kyungsoo hyung say he wanted again?" Tao asked as he ran through the list of beverages they had to gather, "Was it coffee? Or was it Baekhyun hyung who wanted that?"

"No, Jongdae wanted the coffee, Tao, and Sehun wanted the aloe drink. Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon hyung just wanted water, right Jongin?" Chanyeol passed the small peice of paper to him and gestured to the drinks and names on the list. Jongin took the slip of paper from his hands and scanned through the list, humming softly in thought before sighing.

Jongin furrowed his brows and sighed with a shrug. "They were all talking at once so i can't remember." he said, "We shoud just get a couple of each and save the extas for water when they're thirsty again