Epoch

(noun)

- a particular period of time in history or a person's life

Glancing down at her watch, Taeyeon ran faster towards the elevator, almost certain she'd be late for the pre-recording if she didn't catch this one. Everyone went ahead to prepare, but she had to make a quick stop to the bathroom first. Last night. Taeyeon had a hard time learning their routine’s fast-paced position changes and stayed up late practicing their B-side choreography. With barely any sleep, she hastily dabbed concealer on that morning and hoped she looked presentable enough. She lets out a heavy sigh after seeing her reflection. Of course, my sloppy makeup skills didn’t stand a chance against these eyebags. If it weren’t for her massive prescription glasses, ‘journalists’ outside the KBS building would’ve gone on an online frenzy over her ‘lacking’ visuals by now.

"Hold the elevator, please!" Taeyeon cries out. G-Dragon, standing near the controls in his flashy hip-hop glory, pauses and offers her a polite smile. Bowing to her sunbae, Taeyeon quickly mutters her usual line of greetings and scoots to the opposite end of the elevator. Silence and awkward tension fill the air for the remainder of the ride. When his floor arrives, he bows slightly in her direction and walks away. They follow the same routine for one week. For them, quiet elevator trips were the uncomfortable norm.

On the eighth elevator trip, someone finally breaks the ice.

"It seems like secret elevator meetings are kind of our thing now."  

Taeyeon, caught off-guard and positively tongue-tied, could only stare wide-eyed at G-Dragon. Covering with her hand, Taeyeon couldn't help but snort. He made it sound so scandalous—these (totally unintended) meetups. 

"I guess the timing always works out for both of us?" she answers. Wringing a finger around the hem of her shirt, she asks, "How are you, sunbaenim? Are promotions going well?"

 He nods, giving her a small smile. "I feel like passing out from exhaustion every 15 minutes. And please, drop the formalities. You’re killing me here.” That earned him another chuckle from his hoobae. He decides he liked the sound, as dorky as it might be to others. It bounces off elevator walls, homely and unpretentious.

“But yeah, it’s going great. Solo promotions are always nerve-wracking, but I get more freedom with what I do. It’s fun and the fans love it," Jiyong adds.

Taeyeon could only nod. “Ah, I’m really jealous of you, sunbaenim.”

Sensing her situation, Jiyong faces Taeyeon and gently places a reassuring hand on top of her head. "It's tough, I know. Especially when you have so many ideas of your own. You'll get a solo eventually.” Jiyong grins at her. “Everyone adores you.”

The elevator suddenly dings and the doors slowly open. Quickly ruffling her hair, he steps away from the elevator. She breathes out a sigh of relief. Lingering outside, he makes a hwaiting gesture and cries out teasingly, “Ya, just call me Jiyong oppa! I mean, how old do you think I—” before getting cut off by metal doors.

I guess age is a whole new conversation for another day. Taeyeon fixes her hair again. She would never admit to anyone that she already missed the hair ruffling or the fact that him carding her hair felt so relaxing. No way in hell. The girls would definitely make a big deal out of it. Taeyeon took a deep breath. At least she was alone again.

“His scrunched up face when he gets worked up is... cute, I guess,” she finally mumbles to herself.

The following days consisted of minute-long conversations. Both never bothered approaching each other outside the confines of their safe space—after all, they were no more than acquaintances. The 20th day saw them get pushed into one corner of the elevator with employees rushing to fill up the extra space that usually separated the pair. From what Taeyeon gathered from the staff’s busy chatter, the higher ups called for an emergency meeting that included the junior members. Of course, it just had to be right now. The doors finally close and Taeyeon realizes that, for the first time in weeks, she’s forced into close proximity with her sunbae. Not that it’s a big deal or anything. It’s not the first time a guy’s shoulder had pressed against yours! What’s up with the sudden hypersensitivity, Kim Taeyeon?  

After quickly recovering from a brief mental breakdown, Taeyeon notices GD sunbae clutching his stomach. Nudging his sides lightly, she silently dangles a Ritz crackers pack she had in front of his face. There wasn’t much left since she practically demolishes whatever morning snack she could get her hands on, but she figured it was high time she did something nice for her senior. Jiyong quickly understands and mouths a ‘thank you’ before grabbing the crackers from her hand. Warm fingers linger for a second too long, (it’s probably my imagination going wild, she thought) so Taeyeon paid no special attention, fixing her gaze on the red numbers above the door instead.

A loud ding echoes and several employees rush out of the elevator. Turns out, it was Jiyong’s floor as well. He turns to her, offers her a small smile, mouths ‘I owe you one,’ and slowly heads out. Again, for a brief moment, he stalls outside of the elevator a tad bit too long, brows furrowed in concentration, left hand clutching the silver container of crackers. He faces her suddenly, gaze steady, lips slightly parted like he's struggling to find the right words. He turns away just as quickly and walks ahead. To Taeyeon’s eyes, it’s as if it was against his better judgement. Once more, she shakes her head, brushes it off and blames her inappropriate mind for blurring in conjured up fantasies with reality. He is her senior, after all.

Taeyeon quickly learns that promotions end soon for G-Dragon and that day was his last music show performance. She tries not to think about it too much. Just another day in the music industry—nothing more. Elevator rides were a little bit lonelier, but she’s used to it anyways.

What didn’t cross Taeyeon's mind was the likelihood of their 'chance' encounters, how fast her sunbae traveled from one show to the next just to be there early for recordings, Jiyong’s insistence on resting near the main lobby—coffee in hand—for this person to arrive, his requests to park nearest the left wing elevator, his frequently sweaty palms, his occasional side glances, the progressively stronger scent of her sunbae's Giorgio Armani cologne.

Unfortunately, Jiyong doesn’t get to point all of this out to the female singer until years later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night, I had a dream about you

In this dream, I'm dancing right beside you.

Oh, I don't know what to do

About this dream and you.

Digital Love   /   Daft Punk

t/n: Hey guys! It's been a while, but I am back! (forgive me friends) I hope this chapter wasn't overly boring! lol I'm trying my best with the fluff and romance genre but oh man something about this pairing STILL screams out 'angst!' to me.

I intended this thing to be a one-shot fest but I guess I unconsciously made all of the currently posted chapters follow one single overarching storyline (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong heh). Basically: all chapters are events that happen in my fictional Gtae world but rearranged to fit a nonlinear storyline aka the timeline is all jumbled up but they all fit together somehow. Does that make any sense?  And is it just me or is formatting the most incredibly frustrating thing on this site? Sighs. 

I eat constructive criticism and polite comments for breakfast, so feed me guys! Thanks a bunch for reading this one-shot!