What If... [EXO Suho and Apink Eunji Fanfiction]

Chapter 17

Junmyeon was busy in the studio, scanning the sheet music and making notes about the way a particular line needed to be sung. Once in a while, he'd play the instrumental, tapping his pen to the beat before making another note on the paper. 

It was then that Baekhyun walked into the studio with a phone at his ear. 

"Oh, sure," he said into his phone. "I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the episode last night, but I'm not saying I enjoyed it either. In my opinion, it wasn't Lee Minho's best performance."

Junmyeon raised an eyebrow at the younger. Baekhyun then noticed the older idol giving him strange looks.

"Uh...Eunji-ah, I'll call you later," he quickly said, hanging it up. And now Junmyeon's gaze was even more questioning.

"Was that Jung Eunji on the phone?" he asked.

Baekhyun sheepishly laughed. "Yeah, kinda."

"You two have been talking?"

Baekhyun nodded. "Since the date, we both found out we liked the same dramas. That's all, I swear!" He put his hands up defensively. 

Junmyeon was about to probe deeper into his junior and girlfriend's relationship when his phone lit up with a text from Taeyeon. "This is the song I told you about. Listen to it and tell me what you think," the message read.

"Sure," Junmyeon texted back. "I'll listen to it in a while."

"Was that Taeyeon?" Baekhyun asked.

Junmyeon nodded. "Yes, it was." As usual, blunt and clear. He straightened himself up and turned to the younger. "Anyway, how did you get close enough to my girlfriend to call her informally?"

"How did you get close enough to my girlfriend to be texting her?" Baekhyun retaliated.

Junmyeon paused for a moment. "Touché," he said thoughtfully.

Baekhyun then smiled and took a seat on the couch. Junmyeon turned his chair to face him.

"Hyung," Baekhyun began. "I really am happy that you're getting along well with Taeyeon."

"Isn't it usually backwards?" Junmyeon joked. "Aren't you supposed to be jealous that I'm texting your girlfriend?"

"Maybe I should, but I'm not, because I know that's not the case," the black haired idol said. "Since I got to know Taeyeon better, I've realized that there's a part of her that she keeps actively trying to shut me out of." He stopped. "Okay, maybe not shut me out," he said. "But there is an aspect of her that she's virtually told me that I'll never get to know. I don't know if it's because I won't be able to understand it, just that I need to be her rock." He took a deep breath. "That part of her...reminded me of you."

Junmyeon's eyes widened. "Me?"

Baekhyun nodded. "There's a weariness about the two of you that I don't think any of us will ever know," he explained. "Eunji and I talked about this before. We will never know what you two are going through as leaders, but we decided that we'll do all we can to support you two."

Junmyeon stayed silent, nodding with a smile on his face. Then, as if their entire conversation never happened, Baekhyun broke out into a wide smile. 

"Oh, and Lu Han-hyung called earlier," he happily said. "I told him you were busy, so he told me to pass on his regards and congratulations."

"Did he?" Junmyeon asked. "I'll have to call him and apologize."

"Actually, he said that since he was getting on a flight to Europe, he wouldn't be able to talk for a while, that's why he called us before he boarded," Baekhyun said. "Also, he told me that he and Zitao-hyung were doing a collab and he wanted to share it with the rest of us when it got released."

"Are they? That's cool."

Baekhyun noticed that he seemed a little lackluster in his enthusiasm. He sighed deeply.

"Still no word from Yifan-hyung...is that why you're so unenthusiastic?" Baekhyun asked. "Hyung, it's been two years..."

"I know," Junmyeon said. "Don't remind me."

"You're still hoping he'll suddenly show up," Baekhyun pointed out. "Hyung, Kris-hyung is never coming back. He made it perfectly clear when he left that he wanted to cut contact with the rest of us as well."

Junmyeon sighed. "I know we're the last people he even wants to hear about, now that he's doing so well."

"But you're the last one of us who's still hoping for any sort of contact."

Silence fell upon the two of them, with Baekhyun staring at his elder staring at the ground. This silence was only broken with the arrival of Chanyeol, who burst into the studio with his phone in hand.

"Hyung," he said, looking at Junmyeon. "You need to see this."

He showed his phone to him, which was filled with SNS messages.

"Suho doesn't deserve Eunji!"

"How dare she take our leader-nim away?"

"Suho can't be in a relationship with anyone! He belongs to EXO-L!"

Junmyeon sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time that morning. "I'm well aware, Chanyeol-ah."

Chanyeol stared at him with wide eyes. "You knew?"

"Of course I did," Junmyeon said. "Eunji and I very well know that not all of the fans like that we are dating."

"And..." Chanyeol dragged it out, waiting for some sort of response.

"And we don't mind it," Junmyeon completed. "We're idols, it comes with the job. Not all of the fans will like each and every decision we make. We just have to accept that."

"But what if they rile the others up?" Chanyeol panicked. "What if they try to hurt you two?"

"That won't ever happen," Junmyeon assured. "Because we've had enough experiences with saseangs to know how to avoid enraged fans."

Chanyeol didn't seem convinced. "I'm still worried about you, hyung," he said. "I feel like it's been all too quiet lately."

Baekhyun then turned to Junmyeon. "Speaking of which, we haven't had any problems with saseangs, have we?"

Junmyeon shook his head. "Nit lately," he said. "I think it's been nearly six months since our last issue."

"Doesn't it seem too quiet?" Baekhyun asked, referring to Chanyeol's point. "Like the calm before the storm?"

Junmyeon froze at it. Right after, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were called away, leaving Junmyeon alone with his thoughts. No matter how much he tried to focus on the music, his mind went back to Baekhyun's last sentence.

"Like the calm before the storm..."

***

A/N: Notice the not-so-subtle foreshadowing towards the end there.

This one's sort of a filler chapter, and I've also updated the precious chapter to further expand Suho and Taeyeon's conversation, as reading it back I felt like something went wrong with it. Check it out.