She rubbed the sleep off her eyes with the heel of her hand as she yawned. She stretched her arms and her back- she had fallen asleep on her work desk again. She felt the muscles on her arms and back groan in protest from the weird position she had slept in. Renn thought she would be used to sleeping hunched over her desk by now, she’d been sleeping on desks ever since high school. The habit being one of the reasons she would almost get kicked out of the class. She yawned again as she hit the spacebar key to resume her work.

Using her toes as leverage, she pushed herself towards the power supply box towards the far corner of the room. The swivel chair rolled towards the desired end of the room and Renn flicked the switch on to start up her synthesizers. Rolling back to her desk, she took a deep breath and stretched her fingers before immersing herself into her work.

She cocked her head to side as her pointer clicked on several points on the track layer she was working on. Something was not clicking right in her head, and she tilted her head to the other direction as she hit the play button to listen to what she had been working on so far.

Renn tapped her finger against the desk as the hypnotic beat of the Again and Again introduction filled the room, but instead of the digital beat the three repeating notes were originally recorded with, a haunting violin solo could be heard. She closed her eyes as the string section started playing- she wished she could orchestrate a real string section, but for now her duplicating a single violin track would have to suffice.

“That sounds great, you done mixing that?”

Renn paused the track and quickly stood up, stumbling on the wheels of the swivel chair and falling onto her knees, palms flat on the floor.

Jay hauled her up easily, grabbing her by the shoulders and setting her upright in front of him. “Hi,” he said with a cheeky grin.

Renn flushed scarlet and tried to move away from Jay Park. The 2PM leader’s proximity was causing her brain to short circuit and she found that she needed her bearings every time she had to deal with him.

“Hi,” she replied, ignoring Jay’s well-toned arms that were bare for her perusal. Jay had chosen this day, of all days to barge into her office in a tank top.

“Hey, I have a few minutes before Mai comes looking for me, I swear your roommate can be worse than Namyong-hyung sometimes.”

Renn agreed with Jay on that last statement, Mai could be a little too strict on the boys, even more so with Renn, Fuu, and Kass. “She is, she’s really good though,” she said looking at the time. “You should get to practice before someone goes looking for you and finds you here.”

Jay smiled gently at her, both his hands still on her shoulders. “I’ll be fine, I just came in to check on you, you weren’t answering my messages, I figured you were asleep. Did you pull another all-nighter here?”

Renn nodded at Jay, a small smile finally forming on her lips. “I did, I just wanted to get this demo done. I’m working on a few things all at the same time, but you know how I fail at multi-tasking.”

“I know, I figured you forgot to eat dinner too.” Jay turned around to pick up something off the small table behind him. When he faced Renn again, he had a paper bag in one hand, and a paper cup in the other. “I got you some hot chocolate cause I know you don’t like coffee much, and a sandwich, tuna with honey mustard sauce, no onions, just the way you like it.”

Renn felt the flush in her cheeks burn once more as she took the breakfast Jay got for her from his hands. “Thanks, I appreciate it,” she murmured.

“Just get some rest when you’re done.” Jay’s voice was gentle and warm in her ears and Renn felt like she was about to melt. “I have to go now, but I’ll be back.  I’ll see you at lunch.”

Jay turned to leave and Renn watched him slip through the door of her tiny make-shift studio. She could have chosen to work in one of the larger “official” studios, but she preferred her cozy office and the less complicated consoles she operated. She was never one for the fancy soundboards; Renn has always had a predilection for a more organic sound when it came to recording music.

She sighed again as she switched the window to the other song she had been working on. It was still untitled as of the moment, and she only had one verse, but she was hoping she could hand it over to JYP for consideration for any future album projects for 2PM.

Her eyes fell on the food in her hands then towards the door Jay just exited from. She smiled, feeling a slow gradual warmth radiate through her body. Renn felt a surge of determination rush through her veins. This new song she was working on, she was now intent on finishing this one song for 2PM, and only for 2PM.

With a renewed sense of resolve and an upsurge of energy, Renn dropped back down to her chair. Taking a sip from the cup in her hand, she smiled; she had just figured out the chorus to her work-in-progress.

Mai walked down the hallway, looking left and right in search of her missing person. She wasn’t sure why she had been given hunting duty, but Namyong had insisted she be the one to find the missing leader.

“Mai-ah, why don’t you just call him?”

Mai momentarily slowed down to look at the boy accompanying her. “Didn’t you already call him? And he didn’t pick up right? So he probably won’t if you try calling him again.” She turned and continued walking. “Besides, telling him that he’s late isn’t as effective over the phone. I need to find him and tell him in person.”

“Do you really need to? Mai-ah, slow down.”

Mai stopped, finally turning to face him. “Junho-ah, why did you insist on coming with me when you obviously don’t wanna be here,” she retorted gently.

“Namyong-hyung knows I already have most of the choreography down pat, so he let me come. Plus, someone has to save Jaebeommie-hyung from your wrath...” he replied, muttering the last portion more to himself than to Mai, a slow smile spreading across his face.

Mai opened to reply, but shut it as soon as she heard the sound of footsteps echoing down the hall. Recognizing them immediately and not wasting any time, she quickly pulled Junho around a corner and into another hallway, abruptly stopping so close to the owner of said footsteps that he had to back up to avoid running into her.

“Hi Jay,” Mai said quietly with a smirk.

Jay’s eyes widened in surprise as he took another step back. “You’re fast.”

“Why am I not surprised. Did you know Renn’s studio is down this hallway Jay?” Mai asked sarcastically, completely ignoring his comment and eyeing the guilty leader with mock interest.

“Oh, yeah. Really? I had no idea,” he replied casually, giving her his best smile. Mai was not amused.

“Really? That’s a surprise, since there isn’t anything else down this hallway. Even the guy’s washroom is in the other direction,” she stated, her smirk disappearing. “If you really insist on going off to play with Renn, at least do it on your own time, and not during mine. Especially when you’re supposed to be in practice,” she told him, trying to keep her tone serious.

Jay’s forced smile suddenly turned into a more natural one as he cocked his head slightly to the side. “Junho’s looking kinda awkward over there. You know Mai, that doesn’t seem so scary coming from you when you’re holding onto his hand.”

Her eyes widened in alarm as she immediately let go, pulling her hand out of Junho’s grasp. Junho had stayed quiet during their English conversation, seeming to opt for staying still instead of interrupting. Mai hastily shoved her hands in her sweater pockets, heat blooming in her cheeks. Despite her reddening face, she looked up and glared at the older boy.

“You’re still late,” she told him tartly in Korean.

“Aigo Mai-ah, you’re too tense,” Junho finally spoke up, trying calm the girl down. “Jaebeommie-hyung was just visiting Renn-noona cause she’s been in there all day since yesterday.”

“Well, he should have chosen a different time to disappear, and not when we’re trying to learn the new choreography.” Mai finally sighed, turning to Jay. “Did you at least bring her something to eat?”

Jay’s lips curled into another smile. “Of course Mai-ah,” he replied in Korean. “What do you take me for?”

She ignored his question. “No coffee.”

“Nope.”

“Good.” She chanced one last glance down the hallway towards Renn’s studio. “If she spends another day there, she might as well move all her stuff in there too.”

“Mai-ah, if she moves out, can I bunk with you instead?” Jay asked, returning to his playful self.

“Not funny. Let’s go.” Mai turned to leave, but stopped short when she noticed Junho’s eyes on her. “What?”

“Just wondering how you could be sweet and thoughtful, and strict and kinda scary all at the same time. Actually, really scary, a lot of times,” Junho replied hesitantly, giving her a quizzical look.

Mai’s eyes softened as she pursed her lips. “I have an image to maintain you know. Besides, there are already enough girls who try to be cute with that aegyo stuff anyway. They don’t need another person to add to the masses.” She suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder as Jay casually leaned against her.

“I dunno Mai, it wouldn’t hurt to try that aegyo stuff you know. The guys really dig it,” he told her in English. Mai shrugged him off and shook her head with a smirk as he laughed. Mai backed up so that she was behind them both and placed a hand on each of their backs, pushing them forwards.

“We’re really late now. Come on...”