It was pure sweet and utter indulgence as Renn took another bite of the rich luxurious triple chocolate cake that melted in . The cake was moist and completely soft, sweet, and almost sensual on her tongue. The fudge rolled along sending waves of the sweet and bitter treat creating a symphony of sensation. It was delicate like an oboe section, but there was a tartness and strength like a string solo. It was much too much addicting.

“Good, noona?”

Renn opened her eyes and nodded at Junho who was in a constant eye-smile ever since he came upon her this morning in the corridors of the JYPE building. Renn had been walking around aimlessly when she bumped into the younger boy that morning and they had been talking about nothing in particular ever since. They now sat inside Renn’s studio enjoying a slice of triple chocolate fudge cake that Junho just happened to have that day.

“I hope you’re feeling better,” he said, smiling.

Though she would never say it out loud, Renn wasn’t about to deny the warm comfort Junho had consciously or unconsciously brought her, though it wouldn’t have mattered to Renn if Junho realized this or not. The younger one, while he wasn’t much of a talker as seen by the public, was rather talkative in nature, or at least he was with her. They would talk about anything that came to mind and there were would-be moments of laughter, and moments of seriousness, or like now, moments of silent comfort passing between them.

“I am now, thanks Junho.”

It was safe to say Renn was close to all boys albeit in varying degrees and on a different level of consciousness from the way they were close to Mai. She and the choreographer were too different in too many aspects, enough to say that while they got along, it was superficial at most, with Renn being the receiving end of what she considered Mai’s maternal instincts. To Renn, any favor Mai did for her was not because they were friends in the exact denotation of the word, and thus she never felt the need to return said acts. More often than not, what she and Mai had was a professional relationship even when they were both at the dorm. Renn would hold her tongue in the younger one’s presence, and Mai found no need to speak to her aside from reminding her to pick up after her mess or some other reminder of the like.

The same went for their individual relationships with each member of 2PM, Mai was a strict teacher who looked out for them, while Renn was, well, she was simply Renn, another one of JYP’s proteges. Renn knew the boys more while Mai simply spent more physical time with them. The same went for Kass, while it was the opposite for Fuu.

Renn’s relationship with the two maknaes were, as of the moment, still in the early stages. While they may have known each other for a few months now, there really wasn’t any time for them to physically interact. Fuu she constantly bothered online, and Kass constantly bothered her in their shared room. Renn was receptive to the both of them, but there was just something innate about her that held her back.

Junho played around the 01:59pm tracks Renn remixed, and he appeared suitably impressed by the way his eye-smile grew. “Noona, I like the slow version of Tired of Waiting the best,” he said after listening to the track for about five times.

“I like that song,” she replied softly.

Renn would never admit it, though she probably didn’t have to as it was probably obvious, to Junho especially, why she chose to expend a little more effort on that track. She didn’t produce it, but she was a big fan of JYP and his team for writing that particular song. It seemed oddly fitting, such a cruel irony in the turn-out of events in the last quarter of this year.

She had converted the track into a slow piano and string ballad while keeping the agonizing quality to the song. Without the electronica and synthesizers, the more organic sound created a more soulful, more pained effect, even without the vocal track added in. Renn could sing, but more often than not she chose not to and coerced Ian, or Junsu to sing for her. Taec volunteers many a times, but Renn could only reject him outright. It never seemed to faze him though. Perhaps it was one reason why she depended on Taec as much as she did in Ian’s absence. Only this time, Taec was busy too, so she was left to herself as Khun had prior engagements as well.

Well, maybe not to herself as she returned her gaze to the younger boy in front of her computer. He was thoroughly engrossed with the vocal-less tracks, and an idea instantly popped into her mind.

“Junho-yah, sing for me.”

Junho snapped his head towards her and blinked a couple of times before completely absorbing what his noona had asked of him. “Huh?”

“Sing,” she repeated. “I took out the vocals because they didn’t really...create the effect I wanted, besides, I rearranged everything so the original vocal layers don’t fit right anymore. So, will you?”

Junho smiled hesitantly but he nodded his head nonetheless. All of a sudden it appeared as if he wasn’t very confident of his singing, while he wasn’t his Junsu-hyung, and not even like him, he was a competent singer in his own right, but of course Renn wouldn’t say that outright either.

The door to Renn’s office chimed open all of a sudden, and both heads turned to see the older of the Junbrothers enter the room. “Figures I’d find you here,” Junsu said, completely comfortable in his dialect.

Renn smiled and waved at him. “You got my message, yay,” she chirped, pulling out a few music sheets and standing up from her large and comfortable swivel chair.

Junsu took the sheets from her hands and started reading off the notes, “You made it much slower, I like it.”

Renn was clapping her hands as she scurried around the room pulling out various pieces of equipment from here and there. To a visitor’s eye, they just seemed to magically appear under the pile of music sheets scattered all over her studio. Renn was well aware that many people didn’t understand how she was able to work under all this clutter. Her worksheets, books, CDs, and various other equipment, and sheet music were all over the small studio that it left many wondering how she even knew where everything was.

When she turned back to the other occupants of the room, Junho was still sitting dumbstruck on his stool while Junsu was already poised at the mic stand adjusting the windscreen. “Junho-yah, what are you still sitting there for?” the older one asked him.

Renn placed a pair of headphones on Junho’s head and pulled him up from his seat by his forearms and all the way to Junsu’s side. She then sat back on her chair and rolled towards her computer and tapped away at her keyboard. “The Junbros are Tired of Waiting demo one,” she said into the mic and tapped the enter button.

A slow piano introduction followed by a string section replaced the backbeats that started the official track version of Tired of Waiting. It was slower and much more heart-wrenching, and each bow of the violin solo flowed down almost like tears from from a shattered heart.

“Oh, I forgot,” Renn mused. “You’re supposed to sing first.” She chuckled to herself bopping her own head with her fist. “Silly me.”

She rewound the track and turned to the lead vocalists who curiously stared back at her. “Hmm. Junho-ah can start, and Smelly-oppa can take the first verse and first chorus, then Junho-ah can do the second half of the first verse and second half of the chorus with Smelly-oppa adlibbing in the chorus because he’s great at that. Do the reverse for the second verse. I took out the rap portion so there’s a short instrumental with some adlibs from oppa then head straight to the bridge then last chorus and then fade to end with Junho-ah seconding the top,” she mumbled monotonously, almost to herself, and both Junsu and Junho had to strain their ears to listen to her instructions.

Renn held out three fingers, and Junsu took this as his cue as a countdown to start singing, once the last finger was down, he began with the lyrics, sheet music in hand following Renn’s messy notations. He was used to it though, Renn only ever wrote neatly if she was passing official sheets to her professors or producers, or JYP.

“Try a little more desperation?” Renn suggested after Junsu sang the first few lines of the song. It may not have been a track for official release, but if they were really going to do this, then they might as well do it properly. Junsu could always use the practice anyway, especially since this was the scheduled follow-up song to Heartbeat.

Junsu hit his notes perfectly, adding that bit of Kim Junsu into his melody and Renn was, as always, suitably impressed with his vocals. It was another thing she was not quite willing to admit out loud. The over-all quality of Junsu’s voice had always been honey to her ears, his perfect pitch, the tone and timbre of his voice, all of it together was honestly very seductive, until of course the Daegu man spoke, and the whole image of this mysterious man with the gorgeous heart-melting voice collapses into a pile of disillusionment.

Yet Renn found herself smiling despite herself. Not a lot of people knew, but Junsu was a very funny person to be around, and he had been one to regularly check up on her during the times her presence crossed the boundaries of evanescent.

It wasn’t as if she had been avoiding people, she had been receiving everyone’s messages but she was also being honest when she said she was busy with both work and school. However, Junsu would always seem to come at the right time at her studio. Apparently he hadn’t told the others about this as Taec and Khun, and her dormmates constantly worried about her.

Following Junsu’s part in the new recording, Junho sang out all his frustrations and it was evident to Renn’s ears. She had picked it up immediately, but the reasons were unclear to her. Junho was tired of waiting, but for what exactly, Renn could only ponder as his greatly improved voice filled her ears.

Renn realized just how much was resting on Junho’s shoulders at this point in their careers. After he left, an empty slot haunted 2PM not just in dancing and singing, but also in their hearts as well. It was strange seeing them dance in broken formation, the all too commanding presence he brought with him created such a large gap that it took six members to fill. The strain was more evident on Junho as Renn knew the boy would take it upon himself to pick up where the leader left of. Wooyoung had been in a pinch lately because of his vocal node problems and Junho had had to sing over some of Wooyoung’s lines to make up for it. Thinking of Wooyoung made the melancholic smile on Renn’s face drop into a genuine frown. Her Woodongie needed a lot more cheering up, much more than Renn knew she was capable of.

“Noona, NG?”

She turned to face Junho and shook her head. “No, that last segment was fine.” She smiled. “Ready for the last chorus?” She was well aware of the worried gaze Junsu had sent her, and she forced another smile at his direction. “Junsu-oppa, sustain that last E and D on the last chorus, and Junho-yah you keep missing the high Gs.”

“Renn, relax will you, not everything has to be perfect.”

“Everything has to be perfect Junsu, everything.”

Everything, because everything had to be perfect when he comes back. It was only when everything was perfect that people come back for what they left behind. Renn knew this for a fact, and while she, too, was getting tired of waiting, she couldn’t allow herself to fall behind.