Jaehyun nodded his head and hummed along with the song that is playing on the TV. He glanced to his left to see his wife burying her face behind a throw pillow, only peeking her eyes a little so she could still watch the performance.

“Why are you hiding, it’s a very good performance!” Jaehyun laughs as pulled her in to give her a little noogie on the head which she responded with a grunt.

“We had some disputes regarding this performance, that’s why all of us are not that confident.”

“But it turned out great! You let me hear a snippet of the song and after listening to the finished product I must admit it was really good. That hook, man, it was already stuck in my head now,” Jaehyun laughs.

“Really?” She asked warily.

He nodded as a soft smile played on his lips. “It’s already the fourth episode airing, and you’re about to shoot the fifth. The end is nearing, yeah?” Jaehyun lets his arm hung around her shoulder and she scooted closer, “Mm hm. I’m curious about the last mission.”

“What about the fifth episode’s mission then?”

“It’s a secret! I kept giving you spoilers, you know! Now I’m gonna keep the 2 remaining episodes a secret!”

“Oh, you’re no fun!” Jaehyun sulks and Yerim laughs. “Well, a little spoiler for the fifth episode then. There will be raps!”

Jaehyun pouted, “You also have raps in the past performances, give me a better clue!”

Yerim giggles, “Nope!”

Jaehyun glared at her and she laughed heartily. “It’s a live performance. The last two were MVs right?”

Jaehyun nodded. It was a good enough clue. “Are you going to perform with the kids?”

“Nope. Never. Not a chance.”

“Ah waeee. I was high-key hoping you’d perform at least once you know.”

“Well, oppa, me appearing on this show is enough reasons already to give my parents a headache. Let’s not jump into performances and start giving them heart attacks, shall we?

♦♦♦

“And now… the last mission for our last episode next week is……. Love!” Yoon Seyoon’s voice blasted and all contestants clapped their hands.

Love?

After the shoot ended, the next day she gathered with her pupils in their usual practice room.

“So, Love, any idea?” Yerim asked as she scratched her head.

“Ballads! We haven’t done any ballads, ssaem!” Lami remarked almost immediately.

“Oooh, that’s a good one, Mi. I think a ballad MV would be cool, ssaem.” Renjun nodded.

“How about the others? Lucas, you okay with ballad?” Yerim asked carefully. Because with ballads, there’s a big chance that the ones that are not that advanced in terms of vocal abilities wouldn’t get the chance to shine. She needs to hear the rappers’ opinion on this matter as she wanted to be as fair as possible. The outcome she wanted after joining this show was to give all members equal chance to shine after all.

Lucas grinned, “I’m fine, but I think I have a crazier idea.”

Everyone stared at him curiously. Lucas is notorious for having the most eccentric ideas so he’d better came up with something good, not ridiculous.

“Ssaem, do you have any love songs you haven’t release yet?” Lucas asks.

Yerim blinked her eyes. “Yeah, I do, of course. Why?” She did have a collection of songs that she hasn’t release yet, or have no intentions of releasing ever.

“I personally think, in the past 5 weeks, you have given us your best resources; planning concepts, writing songs, arranging performances, everything! And in return we got the spotlight, and I have to admit, this show brought a lot of positive reviews for us. I think I gained a lot of new fans here. Don’t you think so guys?” Lucas explained enthusiastically.

The others nodded. It’s a bit weird to see Lucas the playful guy to be philosophical so they nodded along, curious on what’s he’s going to say next.

“I want to propose an idea. How about we switch the role here? I mean, none of us are good at writing songs, obviously, so we’ll still give that role to Yerim ssaem. But it’s going to be a great shift to see you perform, ssaem! The rest of us can handle making the video. It’s a ballad, right? I think a simple music video that focuses on Yerim ssaem is going to be good enough. Hina, you can edit videos, right?” Lucas elaborated his plan immediately.

Hina was a bit startled but she nodded, “If it’s just simple cutting and putting things together, yeah, I totally could. And, oh! I can also do some coloring to set the ambience for a nice ballad video!”

“We shall pick the costumes ourselves, pick the spot to shoot, and handle everything by ourselves. Put our love and thought into it. Got it, huh? Love? Hehe...” The giant boy grinned proudly at his own ideas.

Yerim furrowed her brows.

“Wow, Lucas! Sometimes you’re smart!” Yoonoh laughed.

“Well, I do have several Love songs in my collection, but I’m not confident in singing them by myself, alright guys? Let alone starring in a music video,” Yerim reasoned as she furiously shook her head.

“Aww… come on ssaem!” Yiyang whined.

“You have a pretty voice and pretty face, ssaem! This should be easy to you!”

“I have tons of good love ballad song you can choose, but I don’t think I should perform. I’ll give the song for you guys, just not me,” Yerim lifted her hands.

“Nope! We refused to perform. We want Yerim ssaem! It’s going to be a surprising concept, ssaem! Role reversal, think about it. No other group has ever done that!” Ten cheered.

Yerim rolled her eyes and as if on cue, Jongdae popped his head in.

“Oh, sajangnim!” Everyone stood up to bow, except Yerim of course.

“How’s the preparation for the last episode? The past 5 episodes garnered a lot of positive reviews for both NCT and SRG, and also Yerim in general, people are now trying to track down the songs she had written in the past so several songs rise on chart, such as B side tracks from both NCT and SRG which is awesome for the company, “Jongdae laughed happily, satisfied with how his artists and his sister is performing.

“Well, the preparation is going—”

“Not so well!” Lucas cut Yerim off immediately, causing the director to glare at her own artist.

“Please elaborate,” Jongdae said, raising a hand to stop Yerim from talking and let her students talk. He knows his sister can be stubborn sometimes, and truthfully, he wanted to hear Lucas’ opinion just to tick her off because, why not? He likes messing with his sister.

“Well, Sajangnim, we wanted Yerim ssaem to perform for the last episode but she refused!” Lucas grinned.

“Of course, I refused!”

“Wait, wait, why are you guys asking Yerim to perform?” Jongdae raised a brow in confusion. He knew for sure Yerim will do anything in her power to not perform.

Lucas took a breath before repeating the speech he had said to the others before. Jongdae nodded solemnly as he tried to process Lucas’ explanation.

“I think it’s going to be good to give Yerim a little spotlig—”

“Oppa!”

“Hear me out! Like what I’ve said, after Yerim garnered a lot of attention, lots of songs are now getting famous. If the attention is being focused on her, there’s a big possibility a lot of people now would want to buy songs from you, and songs you’ve made before would rise back on charts. More exposure equals more money, and that’s exactly what I need as a CEO for this company to grow even larger. So yes, I think it’s a great idea, Lucas.”

Lucas pumped his fist and exchange high-fives with Ten as Yerim slumped on her seat. The next hour was spent by letting the kids roam through her ballad folder on her laptop as they skim through songs, scavenging for something good for their performance. Yerim sulked at the couch as she ate through her frozen yogurt, trying to ignore the kids. How is she supposed to sing? Making a song is sure fun, but actually performing it is another case. Yerim is never confident with her voice and plus, she didn’t want to provoke her father. He already gave in by letting her work in the agency again, and she didn’t want to start another fight with the big boss.

“ssaem! I think we’ve found a good song!” Hina smiled.

Yerim raised her brows, “which one?”

“The title is… 1000? Huh. It’s a bit weird,” Ten commented.

“But the song is good! Especially the lyrics!” Lami grinned.

Yerim straightened her back immediately.

1000?

It was a song she had written randomly with Jaehyun in her minds some times ago. And it’s something she’s reluctant to share.

“What’s the song about, ssaem?” the kids scrambled from their current positions to surround her, bubbling with curiosity.

Yerim cleared , “Um.. Actually I wasn’t really doing anything special with the song, I wondered why you pick it. It’s very barren and bland. It was just a song I wrote in my free time for my husband so..”

“That’s it, guys! It’s the song! It fits the theme love so much! We shall now plan the MV!” Lucas beamed and Yerim mentally facepalmed herself as her students scampered to form a circle in the middle of the room to start their discussion. Okay, maybe literally. She probably would actually facepalmed herself. She could only slouch further as her pupils began reciting their plans enthusiastically. She’s really dreading the last episode of the show and the outcome it might bring later.

♦♦♦

“I think I might have to watch the show from the office. I’m going home late today,” Jaehyun spoke through the loudspeaker as he scanned through the document in front of him. 

“Oh really? It’s okay, I’d rather you not watch it anyways, it’s going to be awful.”

Jaehyun laughs. Yerim always have little to no confidence in herself. “Why? I’m sure it’s going to be good. The theme is MV, right? Not a live performance? The kids won’t mess up then,” Jaehyun replied.

“…still. Anyways, don’t tire yourself out okay? I think with the amount of embarrassment I’ll be getting from tonight’s show I won’t be able to sleep early so I’ll be waiting for you, okay?”

Jaehyun hummed before the line went dead. He reached for the television remote to turn on the TV inside his office. The show just started and the panel was conversing about this last episode’s theme. The theme is love. Jaehyun smiled. Yerim is good at making soft love-themed songs, he wondered why she sounded so self-conscious on the phone. The song is bound to be a hit.

He glanced at the TV where a team led by the famous singer Rain presented their MV. It was cute, there were shots of a couple with a café date and stuffs, accompanied by acoustic guitar music which was very fitting for fall. And as he expected, it received a lot of positive comments from the panel.

For the next 40 minutes or so, Jaehyun paid minimum attention to the TV—at least when Yerim is not talking—so he could actually try to finish reading the tons of reports surrounding him. When she talked of course he paid attention!

“Okay, so now, for the last music video of the night, from Lotte’s team!”

Jaehyun has just finished revising the report so he sent the approved reports back to his secretary before putting his attention back to the TV solely.

“This time Lotte team is putting a very special MV to showcase our love to our ssaem, which fits the theme of this episode. Yerim ssaem had always given us her best, so this time we gifted her with a self-made MV.”

Jaehyun recognized the boy talking as Lucas.

“Self-made?”

“Yes! We shot and edited the MV by ourselves, and as a surprise, performing the song is our Yerim ssaem herself! She also wrote the song and played the music accompaniment by herself! We want to reverse the role here. Our beloved ssaem gets to perform, and we get to plan the performance for her. It’s a very special song which meant a lot not only to us but for our favorite ssaem, Yerim ssaem, so please look forward to it!”

“Alright then, I’m also getting curious myself. So, without further ado, let’s play Lotte team’s MV!”

Jaehyun relaxed on his seat.

So Yerim is finally singing? That’s why she’s self-conscious? Jaehyun chuckled, really anticipating to hear her voice as he turned up the volume a bit. The screen turns dark for a bit before a sweet piano melody came and to Jaehyun’s surprise, he saw Yerim’s face on the screen.

1000

Kim Yerim

He couldn’t take his eyes off the screen as the song plays. She looked ethereal. And her voice… her voice is everything. He didn’t get why she’s feeling shy because everything about the song is perfect. The song ended and the MV faded away to pan back into the panel’s face. Everyone clapped but Jaehyun couldn’t take his eyes off his wife who was bowing and covering her face in embarrassment. Typical her.

“Yerim-sshi! That was amazing! You have a really pretty voice! Look, even Narae-sshi here is crying! Narae-sshi why are you crying?”

The MC said.

“The song has a very sweet and touching lyrics I don’t even know why I cried! The lyrics are simple but I feel like I could relate to it. May I ask what the song is about, Yerim-sshi?”

“Uhm.. Actually it was a random song I wrote a few months ago. I have a habit of randomly writing songs when inspiration strikes. I wrote it thinking about my husband. I had a lot of hardships during that time…”

“Ah, were you in a slump?”

“Well, you could put it that way. At that time, he constantly supported me, and I feel very thankful for him.”

“Ah, this song is for Hyundai then?”

The MC joked and she blushes. And the only thing he could focus on was her statement. Jaehyun blinked his eyes. He wasn’t really caring about people knowing about Hyundai but really, the song is for him?

“Do your husband know about this song?”

“Actually no. It was just a spur of the moment thing. Like I said, I got inspired and wrote this song. It happened a lot to me, just making random songs without intending to release it. I never intend to release this song but the kids here urged me to release this. The song you heard just then... I haven’t edited it at all. It was the raw version, the same as the one I recorded the first time.”

Jaehyun zoned off as he listened to the rest of the show. Before the ending ment ended, he turned off the TV, feeling he should rush home. He still has 3 reports to supervise, but really, those can wait.

♦♦♦

Yerim turned off the TV, feeling embarrassed. Jaehyun must’ve watched the show from the office. She had calculated, he probably would come home in another hour or two but he will surely call. He always gave her immediate response after the show. He hasn’t called and Yerim hoped it’s because he didn’t pay attention to the TV.

She stood up, feeling the need to brew herself a cup of tea to calm herself down. She watches the water boiled down before pouring it into the cup and dunking the filter several time, watching the color of the water turned brown. She was about to take a sip when she heard the front door open and before she could react or think if it was a burglar or not, she saw Jaehyun marching inside the house. What is he doing at this hour? He’s supposed to still be in the office!

“Oppa? Why are you already hom—”

Her words are cut off when she felt him pulling her into a very tight hug.

“Thank you,” Jaehyun whispered into the crook of her neck.

“What?”

“Thank you. For the song. For writing it for me.” Jaehyun said as he kissed the top of her head and she was grateful she had her face hidden away from his sight because she’s blushing madly.

“It’s nothing,” she mumbled against his chest.

He pulled away from the hug to stare at her. She was wearing her favorite sweater and sweatpants combo, her short brown hair framing her face, her eyes are staring at him.

“We’ve been married for nearly two years,” he talked carefully.

She nodded.

“I think I was crazy that I never thought about how perfect my life is after marrying you,” Jaehyun sighed and she smiled.

“That’s exactly why I wrote the song. I felt really thankful. You were very supportive of me. You stood up for me in front of my parents. Jaehyun oppa… I’m really grateful I was arranged to marry you,” she responded meekly as she played with the hem of her sweatshirt nervously.

Jaehyun stood there and he felt himself trembling. He loved this woman. He’s just bursting with emotion and feelings for her right now.

“Jaehyun oppa… I think... I think after 18 months… I love you. Yeah, I do,” Yerim whispered as she looked up to see at his clear eyes and soft facial features.

Jaehyun closed his eyes to take a deep breath. Yerim loved him. And no doubt he loved her too. So he did the most rational thing to do. He pulled her in for a kiss.

“I love you too.”  

finally, eh?? how's the double update? hope's everyone liked it! and oh... the ending's near! like very near! i like this pairing so much so i'm thiking of making an epilogue as well. if i'm bored and in need of jaeri fluff i might as well make a bonus chapter! idk, let's see ;)

BTW this is the 1000 song that i mentioned in the story. yerim wrote it for her fans during her 1000 days of debut anniversary. it's such a good song and someone made a beautiful fanmade mv for it. go check it!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_E1jf30DGA

p.s NCT DREAM COMEBACK IS NEAR Y'ALL!!! the teaser is killing me! my nct dream bias is chenle btw!