Jongin’s POV

 

Slightly past 14 weeks

 

“HAPPY 100 DAYS!”

 

The members stood in front of the twins, who were sitted in their high chair. Both twins were dressed in their very first traditional hanbok and they looked absolutely adorable. Each member then pulled out his party poppers and pulled the string to release streams of colourful paper into the air. Stunned by the loud pop, Dongwoo flinched and burst into tears. Jungwoo, on the other hand, stared fascinatedly at the paper floating in the air.

 

All twelve of us were in our living room, celebrating the twins’ 100th day. EXO M had returned from China after their promotional activities, just in time for this party. Kyungie had prepared a small feast with Suho and Lay and they brought the table of food out. Rice cakes and red bean cakes filled the table for luck and longevity for the twins.

 

Then, it was the highlight of the ceremony.

Dongwoo and Jungwoo foretelling their own futures.

 

Each baby took turns to be seated before a table of various foods and objects such as thread, books, notebooks, brushes, ink and money which were brought by the members.

 

Each time we set the baby in front of the table and urged them to pick up an object from the table.

 

Jungwoo immediately grabbed the book. Seemed like he had taken after Kyungie who exceled in school. Kyungie and I wouldn’t be having too many issues with Jungwoo’s studies.

 

When placed in front of the table of items, Dongwoo sat there just stared at us. It took us a total of fifteen minutes to coax him into choosing an item. He picked the ball. Ha. Dongwoo seemed to be taking after me. Sports. Maybe he might grow up to be a professional baseball or soccer player.

 

This is followed by feasting, singing and playing with the twins. The members presented gifts of clothes for the boys as they were started to grow out of the baby clothes that they had.

 

My sons were growing up so fast.

Way too fast.

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Kyungsoo’s POV

 

Stepping into the recording studio, I felt extremely nervous. My sweaty palms intertwined with each other repeatedly as I fidgeted with them. Jongin was not with me to calm my nerves. He had to run some errands before coming into the studio.

 

Today was my first day returning to the recording studio.

 

I was beyond uneasy.

 

I hadn’t practiced from who knew when; singing to the twins were my only form of vocal practice. And those were hardly as difficult as the ballad I was singing with Baekhyun was. There weren’t any high notes or difficult chorus. Just nursery rhymes.

 

Once I entered the soundproof room, the familiarity of the place hit me. This was what I loved to do. This was what I chose to do.

 

“Kyungoo ah, welcome back. You may begin when you are ready.”

 

The music director gave me a thumbs-up of encouragement. It was just the two of us in the recording studio. I shouldn’t have anything to fear, right? I took a deep breath and started singing the ballad. I concentrated hard on reaching the right notes and hitting the right tone.

 

But somehow I just couldn’t reach it. In fact, my voice cracked at the very last note.

 

“Um… Kyungsoo ah, do you want to try again?”

 

I sang the ballad three more times and still got the same results. Cracking voice and off-tuned singing. No matter how hard I focused and concentrated. 

 

Disappointment filled my soul, having expended too much in hope and expectation. I did hope that my transition back to singing and performing would be smooth. I didn’t expect the road back from parenthood to idol-hood would be easy, but I sure didn’t expect it to be so hard. Especially not in the vocals aspect. Ever since I was a trainee, I had prided myself in being an excellent singer. I had received many praises from our trainers; I’d even managed to attract the most handsome boy in our trainee cohort with my voice. I never had trouble hitting notes or singing in tune. And yet, here I was, singing completely off-tuned and missing the end notes.

 

“Why you take a break, Kyungsoo ah.”

 

I could hear the disappointment in his voice. I was his favourite student after all. As I exited the soundproof room, my footsteps were heavy and reluctant.

I sat down beside the music director and grabbed a bottle of water.

 

“Kyungsoo ah, what’s wrong?” He turned to me with concern.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I haven’t sang in a while. I try to do better.”

 

“Try is not going to be enough. The expectations for this album are way too high to screw up. After the long hiatus that EXO has been on, the fans are getting anxious for new music.”

 

“I know. I will do my best.”

 

He gave me a pat on my back and said, “Hwaiting!”

 

I tried several times more but to no avail. My voice just didn’t seem to be at the standard it was before.

 

Feeling defeated, I decided to give Jongin a call. After all, if anyone could give me the encouragement that I needed, it would be him. 

 

“Jongin ah?”

 

“Hey, love. What’s wrong?” Sometimes I just loved it when he could guess exactly how I was feeling just by the sound of my voice.

 

“I can’t sing.”

 

“Are you kidding me?! Sweetheart, you were born to sing. I’ll gladly attest to that.”

 

“This is serious, Jongin ah. I’m completely off-tuned! And my voice keeps cracking!”

 

“Kyungsoo ah, stop worrying about how to sing or what notes to hit. Warm your throat up and just relax your mind. Let your heart take you through. Singing is second nature to you. Just let your heart take over and sing.”

 

After hanging up, I decided to look through and pay closer attention to the lyrics.

 

A love song. A song about breaking all odds.

 

I shut my eyes and let the memories flood my mind.

 

The day I found out I was pregnant. Telling those around me. Feeling sick every morning. The crazy cravings and mood swings. The big growing belly. The kicks. The false alarm. The actual labour. The actual birth of the twins. Seeing the twins for the first time. Holding them in my arms. Watching Jongin cry when he first saw the babies. Watching the babies grew each day. Overcoming the baby blues.

 

 

 

 

The unwavering love I felt for the twins.

 

The tremendous love I got from Jongin.

 

And then I realised that life was very much like a song. In the beginning there was mystery and uncertainty, in the end therewas confirmation and consequences; but it was in the middle where all the emotion resided that made everything worthwhile.

 

Leaving my eyes closed, I took a deep breath and started singing.

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Jongin’s POV

 

After completing my errands, I rushed to the recording studio, eager to be by Kyungsoo’s side.

 

I had always loved sitting in the recording studio, listening to his angelic voice. It was the thing that attracted me to him in the first place. And he said he couldn’t sing? Nah. That was just his self-doubt talking. I never doubted his ability to sing. His voice was a gift from the heavens.

 

The moment I stepped into the studio, I heard it.

 

A voice so enchanting. So magical. So spellbinding.

 

There he stood, in the recording room. The headphones covering his ears, his face in front of the microphone and his eyes shut tightly.

 

His voice was filled with raw emotions, raspy and rough and yet the words flowed out of his mouth sweet and smooth like silk.

 

Like waves crashing down on coarse sand.

 

It was intoxicating, powerful and addictive and yet it was warm and fluid like a cup of hot chocolate. It was so rich and vibrant and yet so hauntingly pure.

 

Listening with absorbed attention more to his voice than to the words of the song, and thinking how like he was, flowering through his voice into beauty, shining his way through the darkness into the light.

I just stood there at the door, mesmerised by the sound of his voice.

 

It was amazing what the sound of a voice you've been longing to hear can do to your heart. He sang just one song but in thetime it took him to sing that ballad, my heart was shredded and tore apart by the raw emotions of his voice, then placed back inside my chest with the expectation that it would somehow know how to beat again. The brightness in hisvoices reached out to me, while the depth drew me in. The timbre of his voice made my insides curl inward on themselves and then opening again by the beauty in the wings of his voice. Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and your heart when that special someone comes along to get inside you and mess you up.

By the time he finished singing, my emotions were all over the place and my eyes were wet from crying. The music director and I just stared, shell-shocked; the silence so profound and loud that it spoke volumes.

 

 

Sometimes there just weren’t any words to describe.

 

Sometimes words weren’t even needed.

 

I just walked into the recording room and flung my arms around him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was the voice of his heart.

 

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A/N: EXO IS COMING BACK!! ERMAGEUDDDD!! Finally!

 

I'm in Prague right now (it is seriously beautiful here!) and it's 5 in the morning. And I just saw their teaser pictures. Now I'm beyond excited and can't go back to sleep hahaha so here's an update!