A/N: GD and IU finally performed Palette live together, y'all! I'm deceased~ I think I spent the whole afternoon fangirling over it. Anyways, here's a new chapter for you guys as a reward for that historic moment. (Also, the supposedly original rendition of Palette in this story is from this video where she performs it in Yu Huiyeol's Sketchbook - minus the rap, of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaQCqgXCVNI)

***

“All right, Jiyong… oppa?”

Hearing her says it brings something warm inside of him. It sounds nice to his ears. “Jiyong oppa sounds better.”

He notices her expressions slowly starting to relax, the ice that is stopping her from being more open to him is starting to melt. He realizes at that moment that this could be the beginning of a good friendship between them. What he doesn’t know is that this would be the start of something more.

*

Who knew being open to Jiyong oppa would be this easy? After a slow awkward start between them, things just started to pick up between them. They were talking about any random things possible (“Seriously, you prefer palette over painting?” he asked her as if she has just committed a sin. “Why? What’s wrong with that?” she remarked) as they worked on the possible ideas on how to add to the blank space between the last two choruses. So far, a rap part has been the popular decision but they are still trying out other possibilities such as a bridge.

“You know oppa, there’s actually more to Palette than what you listened to just now,” she tells him all of a sudden, as if the thought just came to her head. He gives her a questioned look, not understanding what she is trying to say.

“Originally, there are more lyrics to the song but I decided to scrap them off afterwards. Do you want me to play it for you?”

“Oh… sure, why not?”

She reaches for her acoustic guitar around the corner and practices strumming it. She looks back at him, noticing how he is beaming at her, clapping his hands lightly as a way of encouragement. This would be the first time she plays the raw version of this song in front of someone else. Here goes nothing.

Even if my life doesn’t change, I would like to live with a little bit of whining. To be honest, I think it’s not that bad right now.

I probably should stop being kind to the others expecting something back from them. Hmm, I think I’m a little sad.

*

As soon as she finishes singing it, he claps his hands louder than before. He jokingly wolf-whistles at her and chants ‘encore!’ with that playful look on his face. She lightly laughs back at him, feeling rather flustered from the over-the-top reaction.

“Jieun ah, why not just put them in the final cut? It’s so good!” he asks her seriously once they both settle down.

“I want to but…”

“But what?” He looks at her expectantly, waiting for her answer.

“It’s just that… the lyrics… they’re just too honest that I just think that the netizens would nitpick on them,” she answers honestly.

“Screw the netizens, who cares about what they think?” he retorts back.

“I know. But after Zeze, I just don’t want to deal with any controversies… especially one that concerns with my music.”

She becomes quiet at that moment, recalling the backlash she faced from writing that song. Sure she ‘survived’ from having her reputation being completely tarnished in the media, just like what happened with the supposedly dating scandal with Eunhyuk a few years ago, but it still hurts to read and hear bad comments from people. She was so lost in her thoughts that she does not realize exactly when he started putting his right arm on her shoulders, comforting her.

“It’s okay,” he comforts her with kind words, rubbing his thumb on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry for going all quiet like this and wasting your time. We haven’t really gotten much work done, have we?” she weakly smiles.

“It’s okay, Jieun ah. Besides, you just can’t rush finishing art.” He reassures her.

They both stayed like that for a couple of minutes, pondering all the past scandals they faced in their career before they get back to brainstorming some ideas and themes.

*

“Oppa, since you said that a rap part would be a good addition to the song – how about you do the rapping?” she says it as if it was such a genius thing.

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t mind doing it but since you said that this could be your title track, I don’t know if I will be able to promote it with you in music shows.”

“It’s okay, oppa. I’ll work something out in the future about that. But please, can you do it? Since you pretty much know the song and all.” She hopes he could say yes.

He pauses for several seconds. He already makes up his mind about whether or not he is going to do it. But he decides it would be fun to prolong his answer – makes her sweat a little. He playfully hums, as if he is still trying to decide. He playfully taps his chin repeatedly.

Jieun is getting annoyed with his antics once she realizes that he is messing with her. “Oppa, hurry!” He chuckles loudly upon hearing her expression of annoyance. She tries to hit him in the arm but he is quick to miss it.

“Yes.” He finally says after half a minute of torturing her.

“Yes?”

“I’ll do it.”