02

just a little, let go

Jaehyun stood in front of a familiar doorway, one hand clutching a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of Moscato, the other hand fiddling with his tie, adjusting the bit that just seemed to cinch his throat unbearably.

Please wear one, Seulgi had begged, following him all the way to the recording studio at the end of the hall on some fortunately empty Friday. Something about her groupmates not receiving the news of their newfound relationship that well, and Wendy probably about to assassinate him in his sleep with a shotgun. Jaehyun wasn’t worried –he was an intermediate boxer, he liked to think– but Seulgi kept giving him puppy eyes and tugging at his sleeve, rendering him weak in the knees.  

She was going to owe him, big time.

He cleared his throat and knocked smartly on the door. As the door swung open, he straightened himself and plastered a smile on his face, expecting an assembly of women staring at him with similar looks of disdain. It was Seulgi, however, who emerged, her dark tresses cascading down her shoulders and framing a rather flustered expression.

“Oh, Jaehyun, thank god you’re here,” she breathed, panting heavily. If he didn’t know they were about to have a formal, sit-down dinner, he would have thought she just ran a full-length marathon.

“Hey, wha–“ Seulgi pulled him into the apartment before he could air his confusion, slamming the door shut.

His attention was quickly diverted to the rest of the girls, who were crouched at the corner, yelping and pointing hysterically at some invisible force on the other side of the living room. A few steps in and Johnny came into view, a hand clamped over his eyes, swatting aimlessly at the wall with a rolled-up newspaper.

He stared at the wall and caught sight of the culprit – a gecko, whose split tail was waggling in another alcove. Ah.   

Jaehyun chortled. He extracted the newspaper from his startled band member and strode towards the wall. With one swift hit, the gecko crumbled onto the floor with an anticlimactic thud.

Holding up the newspaper, he shot Seulgi a broad grin. “Wacko gecko,” he said, dimples and all.

Seulgi didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or splutter in laughter. She narrowed her eyes, judging his taste in humor. “What?”

Their moment was quickly ruined by Irene, who bounded towards them and threw her arms around Jaehyun’s shoulders.

“Our hero!” she gushed, smiling at Jaehyun. “What we do without you?”

He offered her the flowers, wine and a reciprocal grin. “I brought gifts, too.” From the corner of his eyes, he could see Seulgi wrinkling her nose at the corniness of the sentiment.

“Aren’t you sweet?” Irene beamed, scooping up his offerings and bustling about the kitchen. “Sit wherever! Sehun’s still showering the kids, so we’ll serve dinner when he’s done with the two troublemakers.”

Jaehyun nodded politely. On the other end of the room, Wendy gave Johnny a stinging slap on the arm, causing the latter to yelp loudly.

“Jesus, you couldn’t even kill a tiny gecko?” Wendy barked.   

Johnny stared at her, his 6’0 frame looming over her tiny 5’2. “Coming from you? You were under the couch, cowering in fear!”

“W-well,” she spluttered, struggling to find a comeback. Johnny looked smug. “That’s always been your job! If Jaehyun wasn’t here, we would’ve been warring with that thing for another hour!”

“Is that gratefulness I hear?” Jaehyun chimed in.

If she wasn’t already embarrassed, Seulgi would have covered his mouth and dragged him away. Johnny and Wendy had explosive personalities that made for a disastrous combination, and Jaehyun was purposefully fanning the flames. She counted her lucky stars and prayed that Wendy was more relieved about the dead gecko.

She was, apparently. Wendy stood up, dusting her skirt and straightening her expression. “It is,” she snapped, sticking out her lower lip.

“I thought you didn’t want me to come today,” Jaehyun shot back, and Seulgi began seriously contemplating the dragging-Jaehyun-and-his-smart-mouth-out option.

“I don’t,” Wendy replied truthfully. She threw him a wry look. “But you just killed some stupid thing that my sorry excuse of a husband couldn’t, so I’m going to play nice.”

“Hey!” Johnny protested.

 “Wow,” Jaehyun said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “That’s not going to cut it, Seungwan. I need to feel your gratitude.”

Seulgi buried her head in her hands – she could kill him. Or die of laughter.

“Don’t push it, Jeong.”

“Spell it out for me – thank you, Jaehyun, it would have been a gecko apocalypse if you didn’t save us all–“

“You little runt, I’m going to–“

“Uncle Jaehyun?”

Before World War III could erupt, a groggy-eyed toddler wobbled out of a bedroom. She stared at him in innocent confusion, eventually breaking into a wide smile. Jaehyun reciprocated, scooping the girl up into his arms.

“Aw, Youngran,” he cooed, “did you just wake up from your nap?”

The girl nodded shyly, biting her fingers. “She doesn’t even look for her own father wh