Chapter 15
Jin Ri watched as Kyuhyun grumbled in frustration. Sitting in front of his desk in his room, he picked up an eraser and started erasing what he had just written down earlier. He ran a hand through his hair as he began writing once again, using his pencil.

“He’s been like that since this morning,” Yesung told her, seeing her as he came out of his room. “Solving and solving math problems.” 

Kyuhyun had the habit of solving math problems when he felt perturbed about something. Aside from gaming, it was something he was good at. It made him feel good to be able to answer problems, making him feel like he was in control.

“He should be writing,” Jin Ri responded. Kyuhyun had been stressing over his solo song ever since their manager discussed it with him.

“He should be,” Yesung agreed. “But he’s scared and frustrated.”

She smiled appreciatively at Yesung then walked into Kyuhyun’s room. She leaned over him and gently wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Hi,” she greeted soothingly. 

“Hi,” he responded automatically, lifting his face up to kiss her.

She moved to sit on the bed. “What are you doing?”

He sighed and put the pencil down. It took him a while to answer, like he was deliberating what to say. “I still haven’t written anything,” he muttered, dissatisfaction evident in his tone.

“You’ll get around to it,” she encouraged him.

The company had revealed to him that he would be coming out with a solo, one that he would write himself. It had been a delight to Kyuhyun. Singing something that he had written was one of his dreams. It was until he realized that he’d never written anything worth writing in his life. It scared him. He didn’t want to fail.

“What if it doesn’t come out right?” He sighed. “I can’t write or compose like the other members,” he continued, thinking of the other members who’d written and composed something, making their songs a part of their albums. “I’ve tried, but I can’t.” He looked at his girlfriend, his head on his hand.

She smiled, disarming him. Her smile always made him forget himself and everything else around him. He straightened up and sat on the bed beside her. Just having her around made him feel so comforted and so secure. Putting his arms around her, he sighed once more. After a couple of minute of silence, she lifted her head up and pulled away from him.

“Do you know about the secret word?” she conversationally asked, getting up and sitting down on the chair in front of his desk.

“Secret word?” he repeated, scrunching his eyebrows together, thinking about it. He then shook his head. She began writing down on one of the papers. She handed it to him after she was done. “Genshai,” he read. He looked at her.

“It means never treating yourself or another person in a way that would make them feel small,” she explicated. “When you said that you couldn’t write or compose like your hyungs, you did just that. You treated yourself small. You’re putting yourself in a box.”

He looked down at the word on the paper he was holding. He supposed she was right. But he really just wanted to make his first composition perfect. He wanted it to be right. He wanted Jin Ri to be proud of him. She was the last person she wanted to disappoint.

“Why are you so afraid?” she asked, searching his eyes.

“It’s risky,” he answered honestly. “This could break me and my career.”

“Life is about chances,” she told him without hesitation. “I know this is scary because this is something you haven’t done before. You want it to be perfect and you want to make your fans happy—.”

“I want to make you happy,” he interrupted, correcting her. “It’s not about me and the fans anymore. It’s about you and me.”

She smiled at hi, reaching for his hand and squeezing it. “Kyu, you make me so happy that my family thinks I’ve gone crazy.”

He chuckled. “Is that so?” he teased.

She rolled her eyes. “We’re getting off topic here.” She gave him a comforting smile, squeezing his hand once more. “You can do this.” He nodded, but looked down at the floor. “Hey, let me ask you something,” she called, making him look at her once more. “If you were told that you could do anything in the world and that it would be impossible for you to fail, what would you do?”

He merely looked back at her. He knew that it was a rhetorical question, one that he didn’t need to answer aloud. He sighed and smiled positively at his girlfriend. He pulled her so that she was sitting beside him on the bed again.

“I thought I was the genius between the two of us,” he pronounced teasingly, giving her a kiss on the side of her head.

She chuckled. “Now we know the truth.” 

“So are we the only two people in the world who know this word?” he asked, glancing at the paper again. She laughed in response. “Then why is it called the secret word?

“I have no idea,” she disclosed sheepishly. “You should get back to writing.”

He sighed and nodded. “Yeah, this is due tomorrow. I’ll call you later.”

Standing up, she helped fixed the papers on her desk, removing the ones with the math problems so he could concentrate. She then turned turn to him. “I brought you food by the way. It’s on the kitchen counter with your name on it,” she said, smiling. “I specifically told Eunhyuk oppa not to eat it.”

“Thanks princess,” he replied, chuckling.

Jin Ri had been about to go out of the door when she heard this. She faced Kyuhyun once more, earning a curious look from him.

“Is that really what you’re calling me now?” she inquired straightforwardly.

“A prince needs a princess,” he told her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “PrinceKyu,” he explained, pointing at himself. “Princess,” he went on, pointing at her.

Rolling her eyes at him, she turned towards the door, saying, “There’s no way I’m calling you that.”

~ * ~

She never thought that there would be an image more beautiful than him singing. When he sang, his eyes just smolder into you with so much emotion, making you feel like you’re in whatever story he was conveying with his song. She now knew that it was possible for him to look even more handsome—it was him singing and playing the piano. His slender fingers glided across the keys, making beautiful music that blended so well with his chocolate-coated voice. She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes, leaning against the doorway. 

Jin Ri had immediately taken a break from work when she found out that Kyuhyun was rehearsing in one of the practice rooms. She had left the company to buy food and had come back to surprise him. But as soon as she opened the door, she couldn’t bear to interrupt him. She’d never really seen him play the piano and sing in person yet and so she wanted to enjoy that. He was singing another one of his favorite Sung Si Kyung songs, which brought a smile to her face. He just adored that sunbae of his and truly worshipped the ground he walked on.

There was a poke to her back that made her jump, almost screaming in the process. She hurriedly turned around and found an adorable and hysterically laughing Taeyeon. Jin Ri closed the practice room door and watched in amusement as the leader of So Nyuh Shi Dae continued laughing like there was no tomorrow.

“You should’ve seen your face,” Taeyeon managed to choke out in between laughs. “You looked like you were caught doing something illegal.”

“I’m happy to have made you laugh,” Jin Ri dryly indulged. She waited patiently for her giggles to subside.

In the beginning, Jin Ri never thought she would be closest to Taeyeon out of all the many more outgoing SM Artists she had met. The petite girl was very quiet when she had met them the first time a couple of months back. But during the first day of Super Junior’s Super Show 3 in Seoul, where they had sat down beside each other, she found that she was very fun and incredibly nice. They had since started hanging out a lot. At present, whenever they were back from Japan, like they currently were, Taeyeon always gave her a call to check if she wanted to get together.

“What were you doing anyway?” Taeyeon wanted to know when her laughing bones finally gave her a break. “You looked like you were stalking Kyuhyun oppa.” She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing all over again.

“I was going to surprise him with food,” Jin Ri answered, gesturing to the lunch box on the floor. “But he seems busy. I didn’t want to disturb him.”

Taeyeon waved a hand dismissively. “It’s you. It’s not like he would mind you coming over to surprise him. Especially when you have food with you.”

Jin Ri merely shrugged, but she had a smile on her face. “So how are things in Japan going?” she eagerly asked. SNSD had been a big hit in Japan after they performed on their first showcases.

“Tiring,” Taeyeon confessed, making a face. “Some of the girls are sick so we’re trying to get all the rest that we can, which is practically nothing since we’re also doing some shows here.”

“How are you holding up?” Jin Ri asked her concernedly. She knew that the leader, even though she’d always said that she didn’t want to be a leader, took her responsibilities very seriously. It always brought her stress, feeling like she wasn’t doing enough for her girls.

Taeyeon smiled warmly at her. “I’m managing,” she responded. “You should come visit us some time and help me with the stress,” she went on, chuckling. “Besides, Japan is really beautiful. You’d love it there.”

“Would you even have time to babysit me if I do go?” Jin Ri teased.

“No,” Taeyeon said at once, smirking. “Take Kyuhyun oppa with you.”

Jin Ri made a face. “I would probably end up babysitting him.”

“You have a point,” Taeyeon agreed. It was no secret that Kyuhyun could be a big baby, being the spoiled magnae that he was.

“So… have you talked about the whole music thing?” Taeyeon cautiously asked, watching her friend’s reaction.

Jin Ri sighed and shook her head. Kyuhyun had been trying to get her back to music ever since Leeteuk had let slip to him that she had composed a song, which he also forced her to perform for him. “I don’t really know why I’m resisting,” she admitted. “I just feel like it’s something that I’ve moved on from.”

“Maybe because it reminds you of things that happened in the past,” Taeyeon suggested. 

Jin Ri looked down on the floor and bit her lip for a moment then looked at Taeyeon. “I should just get over myself, shouldn’t I?” Taeyeon’s answer was a smile and a nod. “Alright then,” she sighed.

“I’m sure your boyfriend would be willing to help you out,” Taeyeon said, somewhat teasingly.

“He better,” Jin Ri scoffed. “I’m doing this for him. That reminds me, will you help me get some stuff for Kyu? Zhoumi gege said he’d go with me, but I need a girl’s perspective, too. It’s going to be six months for us soon and I want to make him some sort of scrapbook.”

“You two are sickeningly sweet, you know that?” was Taeyeon’s way of agreeing to her request.

“Thank you,” Jin Ri replied, giving her a hug.

Taeyeon sighed. “I should get a boyfriend,” she muttered as she walked away.

Jin Ri chuckled as she watched her friend leave. Suddenly, the practice room’s door swung opened before she could touch the doorknob, revealing Kyuhyun looking surprised to see her standing there.

“Princess!” His eyes then narrowed, a smirk forming on his handsome face. “Are you stalking me?”

“You wish,” she shot back, rolling her eyes. “I was just talking to Taeng and—.”

“Is this for me?” he interrupted her, grabbing the lunch box she had picked up from the floor. He grinned at her when she chuckled and pulled her into the practice room, hurriedly shutting the door and locking it.

Her eyes moved from the now locked door to him smirking. “Uh, why are you lock—?”

“A boy needs peace and quiet when eating,” he reminded her, not allowing her to finish what she was saying. He sat down on the floor and began unpacking his food. But he paused and looked up at her, a bigger smirk on his face. “Unless… you want to do something else?” he asked suggestively.

“You and your greasiness amazes me,” she commented in amusement. She walked towards the unoccupied piano.

Kyuhyun was so concentrated on eating, having not eaten since early that morning, that he hadn’t immediately noticed that someone was playing the piano. What was more was that, even when he did, he didn’t realize that it was Jin Ri doing so. It was when she started to sing that he dropped his chopsticks to the floor.

“My friends say that I smile more
My friends say that I have a lot more secrets
To be honest, I am cherishing them”

He stood up and walked over to the piano, a smile on his face as he watched her. She smiled back at him.

“You are a special person to me,” she sang, looking into his eyes. “All the songs and love stories exist for us. What do you feel?*"

She stopped and laughed, her cheeks tinged with red spots. “I’ve only finished until there, but… what do you think?” She slowly and uncertainly met his eyes.

He sat down beside her. “It’s beautiful,” he sincerely told her. “I didn’t know you started composing again.” Whenever he brought it up, she would always just smile at him and somehow change the topic.

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” she replied, blushing.

“For what?” he wanted to know. Her answer was a mere shrug. “I don’t want you to start music again if you don’t really want to. I don’t want you to do it because you think it’s what I want.”

She shook her head. “I am doing this partly for you,” she admitted. “But I’m also doing it for me. Once I started anyway, I couldn’t stop anymore. I really missed it.”

He smiled and intertwined their hands together. “I think you’re doing really well. You write and compose amazingly.”

“Stop being biased,” she stated.

“But how will I get you to praise my songs?” he innocently retorted. She rolled her eyes at him, chuckling. “So…” He suddenly sobered up, glancing almost shyly at her. “Do you want to know what I feel right now?”

“What?” she asked apprehensively.

“I want to kiss you,” he confessed, looking embarrassed.

She looked taken aback. “Are you asking for permission?”

“Well we are in middle school,” he reminded her cutely. “Or are you telling me that we’ve already graduated to high school?” He looked excited at the prospect of such.

“What exactly happens in high school?” she inquired, an eyebrow raised.

“This.”

Kyuhyun closed the gap between them and pressed his lips against hers, a hand cupping her face, the other on her waist. It was a good thing they were sitting down because the way he slowly but intensely moved his lips against hers was making all her body parts not function at all. She tightened his hold on the arm that was snaking around her waist. When he pulled away, she felt breathless and dazed.

“Did you kiss girls like this in high school?” she demanded, blinking.

“No, I’m just showing you how I would have kissed girls if I had wanted to kiss anyone then,” he corrected her. He had a satisfied smirk on his face, knowing that she had enjoyed it very much.

“Liar,” she muttered.

Suddenly, she slapped his arm.

“What did I do?” he wanted to know, rubbing his arm where she had hit him.

“Stop smiling like that,” she commanded. “You’re starting to look like the Joker, greasy and creepy, not a good combination.”

He chuckled. “So are we in high school now?” he teased.

She blushed. “I like KidKyu better,” she adamantly declared, crossing her arms on her chest.

“e,” he snapped, poking his tongue out at her.

“Very mature, Kyu,” she shot back, rolling her eyes at him.

“But you love me,” he insisted, knowing he was right.

“In your dreams,” she replied. “Besides, if there’s a e between us, it would be you. If you had forgotten, you’re older than me and—.”

“Oh shut up,” he interrupted, pulling her towards him and kissing her again, making her giggle.