The time had come. Thousands of worrisome and careful thoughts ran through the early thirties man’s head. His eyes were focused on the notebook paper filled with messy scribbles of words. I must write her a song, was his main thought and he tried to concentrate on it alone.

  Another half hour passed as Kim Joonmyun, stage name Suho, wrote down what came to mind and then pondered about it if it fit for yet another half hour. 

  “This is too hard,” he let out an upset huff and changed to a laying down position on the practice room floor. Letting both his eyes and thoughts wander, he later said, “Why can’t I just let Jongdae or Jongin write it for me? They’re better at these type of things.”

  “What about Jongdae? I’d like to know if my name’s mentioned, especially if it’s by such a quiet hyung. Did I do something wring with the new choreo again? I didn’t know you could s-”

 “Kim Jongdae! Shut your mouth, you’re hurting my muse!” Joonmyun yelled as the younger male strolled in curiously. He immediately regretted acting that way and sat up against the wall, “I’m sorry for that, I’m just really frustrated.”

  “That’s okay, what are you frustrated about? Maybe I could help,” Jongdae finished walking over and slid down to sit next to him.

  He had to spill, it’s not like the members wouldn’t know after her decision. “I’m proposing to my girlfriend and I want to make a song for her but I don’t know what to write.”

  The younger of the two chuckled, he was the second of the EXO members to marry, behind Yixing. “There’s a lot of ways to propose you know, if you’re so troubled, why don’t you do it another way?”

  “I already looked up ways earlier, all were way too corny and my girlfriend would prefer something I thought of myself,” he passed over the notebook defeatedly. “This is all I have...” After Jongdae had mouthed the written words he added softly, “It’s terrible isn’t it?”

  He returned the paper and scoffed again, it sounded like boasting to Joonmyun. You think you can do any better? You little punk. “Not terrible, just messy.” After examining the other man’s expression, he added, “Don’t look like that, I’m not trying to be better than you or anything. I’m just saying that you should fix around some lines and add less about her outside appearance. Girls love it when you talk about both their inside and outside beauty, especially my wife.”

  “Thanks I’ll make sure to add about that,” he grabbed his pencil off the floor and began thinking again. 

 “Add about when you first met and other stories, memories are always good too.” A new voice chimed in, and the carrier of it traveled into the room to join the two. “I know my wife loved that in my vow.”

  “Smart idea Minseok,” Joonmyun’s mind was invaded with memories of he and his girlfriend’s various dates. “It feels weird being the only one not married in the room.”

  “Not anymore you’re not,” Kim Jongin, better known as Kai, entered the mirrored room proudly flashing a smile. “Single and ready to mingle baby.” The newcomer emphasized his words with a small dance, making small laughter escape from the other three. Curiously he made his way to the two at the wall and leaned against it, resting his left foot on it. “What’re doing down there anyway? Writing a diary?” Minseok added a tiny chortle at the assumption, for he had known since earlier that day of the leader’s plans.

  “Hyung’s writing a song to propose to his girlfriend with but he needs help with the lyrics.” Jongdae blurted out thoughtlessly and Joonmyun secretly got a bit irritated by the fast response. 

  “Add a line about how she makes you who you are and a little why you want to marry her, leave the rest for the vows,” Jongin’s sudden knowledge of marriage surprised the older members, but they kept silent. He also moved his head a bit lower, trying to read the current lyrics.

  The two husbands in the room nodded enthusiastically, “The vows need a lot of heart.” Minseok added even more about the vows, “Have 1/4 of your heart in the song without not trying at all and 3/4 in the vow.” [i]Man that’s all he talks about, the vows...[/i]

  “Then why isn’t this a piece of cake?” Joonmyun complained, hitting his head with medium force to his notebook. “Should I change my way of proposal? Should I just be like Yixing and straight out say it coolly? I’m not very confident about this song stuff, even the rhythm of it I’m not sure about.”

  Jongdae patted the older male’s shoulder gently, “It’ll all come to you when you least expect and everything will end up perfectly, trust me.” He proceeded to slowly get up from the floor and head to the door. “I’m off to practice that choreography again, I’m starting to worry about my form on the chorus.”

  “I’ll help you,” Jongin jubilantly added and practically leaped from his position on the wall. “Kill ‘em Joonmyun hyung!”

  And then there were two. Minseok slid down to where Jongdae had been and took a good look at the assorted mess on the notebook. “I like it so far, what’s the melody?”

  Joonmyun sang the beginning, saying, “There’s going to be piano accompanying it but it isn’t really set in stone at the moment so I’m afraid she might not like it.”

  “How could she not like it? You’re her boyfriend that’s playing a song for her, about her, and why you love her. I think that’s sweet enough to charm anybody.” 

  “Thanks hyung, I’ll try to remember that while I’m writing. Now to get to work on those changes,” Joonmyun tried to relax himself with those reassuring words, although it didn’t work much.

  After he was left alone again, he worked on his proposal song for the whole night until he had to prepare for the next day’s schedules at five in the morning. He worked and worked on the small song for another two sleepless days and nights, all until he finally finished his plans on the closest Saturday.

  The day of his proposal he was constantly nervous and made continuous mistakes at every schedule he went. It was hard for himself to make the excuses, so the members did it skillfully for him. 

  That evening as he was getting dressed for ‘The Big Date’, the restaurant he reserved had cancelled, talking about the weather or something that seemed useless. He fought for it the best he could before giving up and texting his girlfriend about changing the venue to an open church hall. The only place with a working piano. She happily agreed to it and the night continued a little less formal than planned. 

  After they had finished their dinner of chicken and sides, he ambled over to the piano and began his serenade: 

 

  The Proposal Song (Love’s Way)

by Kim Joonmyun

 

[1-1] We met on a windy day quite like today, you smiled as you introduced yourself and I saw it (your spark)

[1-2] We came across each other three more times before I got the courage (courage). You were special, I could tell (tell)

[hook] You make me feel like I’m on cloud 9 when I hear your voice, just say any word and it’ll brighten my day. You’re an amazing lady and I’d like to tell you something

[chorus] I love you, saranghae, wo ai ni, aieru, there’s not enough languages to describe this feeling. From head to toe, I want you to be mine. From your inside to your out, I want you to be mind. First to last, all mine.

[adlib] Dudududu~ rururu~

[2-1] Remember that silly day when we played tennis in the park? I really lost because you’re so good at that art.

[2-2] I never told you about the time when you made me change my mind, some people say love can do that, I think maybe they’re right.

[hook] You make me feel like I’m on cloud 9 when I hear your voice, just any word will brighten my day. You’re an amazing lady so I’d like to tell you the truth

[chorus] I love you, saranghae, wo ai ni, aieru, there’s not enough languages to describe this feeling. From heard to toe, I want you to be mine (mine). From your inside to your out, I want to be mine (inside and out). First to last, all mine (all mine).

[bridge] Everything I’ll do will lead to you, everything I say will try to help you in anyway, every thought about you makes me pink, I think I’m in love. I’ll try to make myself worthy of you ooh ooh~

[chorus-revamped] I love you to the moon and back (moon), and there’s nothing stopping me. No language can describe this correctly, baby. I want all of you to be mine, every part (mine). You’re beautiful personality isn’t something to hide, baby, be mine?

[end] There’s no hiding it anymore, I’m in love.

 

The embarrassed thirty-first year old blushed wildly while getting down on one knee, the black box in his hand, “Will you marry me?”

  A little bit of silence while his girlfriend went back to the real world, she had been so touched by the song that she’d frozen in place. Her eyes sparkled as she breathed out, “Of course!”