Part 3

The EXO boys were gathering in the dance studio when their Manager came in after hanging up the phone.

“Jongdae yah, you’ll need to be at SM tomorrow afternoon at 3pm for a meeting for a new project by Lee Soo Man. You’ve been chosen.”

Chen who had his head on Baekhyun’s stomach, sat up after hearing the news, “New project?” he asked.

“Wahhhh! Daebak! Congratulations, Jongdae yah!” Luhan hopped over and threw his arms over Chen’s shoulder.

“It’s so rare for Teacher Soo Man to be involved fully in producing an album! I heard he’s been resting for the past few years?” Kai said.

“Any idea what project it’s going to be?”, Baekhyun asked, excited for Chen. Manager hyung just shrugged and said, “No idea. Jongdae will find out tomorrow!”

--

Chen took a deep breath and prepared himself to enter the meeting room; he doesn’t know why he is feeling butterflies in his stomach. He turned the door knob and stepped in to bang into someone.

“Owww…” He heard a soft groan.

Chen looked down to see Liyin. His heart skipped a beat and he quickly apologized, “I’m soo sorry, Ri In sunbae-nim! Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Chen. I was about to open the door for you after seeing your silhouette, you were taking so long to come in. I guess we really have the fate of banging into each other huh?” She joked and giggled.

Chen looked at Liyin and was astounded at how simply beautiful she is. Her smile is beautiful and genuine, her face radiating with happiness. And he couldn’t stop staring into her eyes, chocolate brown and clear, he thought he could lose his way just by staring into them.

“Chen?” She called his name, and frowned.

“Ah? Oh, haha, yea, we really do. I’m so sorry about it though, I hope I didn’t hurt you.” He said and let out his dumbest laugh, trying hard to not be awkward.

“Kiddo, are you not going to greet me?” Zhoumi asked jokingly.

“Zhoumi hyung!” He greeted and the both gave each other a hug.

Slowly, Jonghyun, Changmin, Krystal, Taeyeon, Lee Soo Man, a few other producers, executives and their managers filled the room. Lee Soo Man then announced that they are the selected few who he personally selected for this S.M The Ballad 2^nd Album. There will be 3 different versions, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. Yesung recorded a solo track before he enlisted back in May, and now they have finally chosen a song for the title track and also a few songs for the rest of the album.

“The title track will be Breath, a duet song. Jonghyun and Taeyeon will be singing the Korean version, Changmin and Krystal the Japanese version and lastly… Chen and Jang Ri In the Chinese version.” Lee Soo Man announced with a determined smile. He is confident the people he chosen are suitable for the song.

‘Chen and Jang Ri In.’

‘Chen and Jang Ri In’

‘Chen and Jang Ri In…’

It repeated in Chen’s mind. And that was all he could remember from the entire meeting.

At the end of the meeting, Liyin approached Chen and held out her hand, “Let’s work hard together from today onwards.”

Chen took her soft and tiny hand into his and grabbed it lightly, “Let’s work hard together, Ri In sunbae-nim.”

And they smiled at each other. Liyin had on her genuine smile and Chen had on his best smile.

Chen is stubborn. He always believes that if he is determined enough, if he doesn’t give up, the things he want in life would be his.

This fate and opportunity that God gave him, he is never gonna let it go easily, it is now in his hand.

--

Chen sat on his bed and went through the scores for the new song. He had 3 songs that needed his attention, but the one in his hands… it’s different. He have exactly 1 week for this before stepping into the recording studio. He listened once to the demo and decided he needed extra help with the lyrics.

Chen went to his roommate and shook him awake, “Lay hyung, I need your help.”

“Hmm….?” Lay pushed his hand away and covered the blanket over his head.

“Hyung! I really need your help!!” Chen jumped on Lay and continued shaking him.

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Lay threw the blanket off his head and sat up, eyes still half-closed.

Chen chucked the lyrics into Lay’s hand as Lay rubbed his eyes with his other free hand.

Chen waited patiently and looked at Lay, excited.

“What do you want to know?”

“Every meaning of it. The emotions, the meaning of every sentence, just everything.”

Lay threw Chen an unbelievable look, it’s 4am in the morning, they have to wake up in another 4 hours for a morning schedule, all of them haven’t been able to catch any sleep and Chen sits on him and expect him to translate everything, now. NOW, at 4am!!!

Lay passed Chen the piece of paper and patted his shoulder, “Let’s do this tomorrow during lunch. I promise. Now, go to sleep.” He then pushed Chen off him and covered himself with his blanket again.

Chen pouted and sat on the floor. Determined, he left the room and went into the living room. Usually he doesn’t like to drink coffee as it might hurt his throat; he made himself a hot cup of coffee and sits at the living room table with his laptop and lyrics.

He is going to search all of the words on dictionary. Even though it might not be 100% accurate, it might even be impossible,  at least he gets a gist of it.

“Okay. Jongdae ah, you can do this! Hwaiting!”

He is determined about this. He is going to perfect his part to help Liyin. A duet is about enhancing each other, not only harmonizing each other; they need to execute the song well together, with the right emotions. It’s Liyin’s comeback, it’s her chance to shine again, and he feels that she deserves this.

He wants to be the one who help her.

That night, only catching an hour of sleep, he went through the words, matching the pinyin with the Chinese character and translated them, with the demo playing on repeat on his mp3.

He can’t wait to hear Liyin sing. 

---

I've decided this shall be more than 3 parts. Haha~ 

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