be free || k.hj

008

c h a p t e r e i g h t : a d i f f e r e n t
a p p r o a c h

Hongjoong watched you walk away with Minsung by your side. He stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and headed back to his studio.

Once there, he took of his jacket, only to have something fly out of the pocket. Upon picking it up, Hongjoong noticed it to be the picture he and you took.

He let out a sigh as he placed the photo in his desk drawer and sat down to work on the song. Though he had worked through the night, Hongjoong still had nothing. All he could think about is the way he acted with you the night before. He ruffled his hair, hanging his head low. "Why did I do that? I must be an idiot."

Hongjoong glanced out of the window in the studio only to see the sun beginning to rise. Deciding that there wasn't much he could do about the song, Hongjoong grabbed his things and headed home for the first time in days. Heading down to the basement parking lot, Hongjoong entered his car and began the drive home.

After being able to drive with ease due to the lack of cars on the roads, Hongjoong finally pulled into the the driveway of a large house. Locking his car, he pulled out his house key and entered. As he was taking off his shoes, he heard a voice call out his name.

Looking up, he saw his best friend, Park Seonghwa, with a look of joy on his face. Hongjoong smiled and the two tightly hugged each other, as if they hadn't seen each other in months.

It was only a matter of moments for the rest of his friends to realize that he had come home as one by one they had exited their rooms.

After exchanging their hellos, the other boys left to go along with their day, leaving Seonghwa and Hongjoong alone in the living room.

"So, how's work? Aren't you working on a new song?"

Hongjoong laid back on the couch and let out a sigh. "Yup and it's stressful as ever. I can't think of a song and the deadline is in a day."

Seonghwa softly smiled as he patted his friend's shoulder as he got up to get the two of them drinks.

"Don't you have the help from a new producer? The contest winner?" Hongjoong went quiet, his mind going back to you and him the previous night.

Seonghwa noticed the silence that fell over the room as he returned with two cans of beer. He placed one in front of Hongjoong and opened his own can, taking a long sip from it.

"Sounds like something happened. Want to talk about it?"

Hongjoong sat up and looked at his best friend, explaining to him the events that had happened  yesterday night. "I may or may not have almost tried to kiss my new producer last night."

The silver haired male watched as Seonghwa snorted on his beer before letting out a roaring laugh. Hongjoong glared at his friend, waiting for him to finish.

Once he saw Seonghwa finish laughing, Hongjoong scoffed before taking a sip from his beer. "I'm sorry Joong. This is hilarious. I didn't even know a workaholic like you could even do something like that."

Before he could retaliate, Hongjoong felt a buzzing in his pocket. Fishing his phone out, he noticed that it was an unknown number and let it be. As he went back to his conversation with Seonghwa, the same number was calling him repeatedly.

Just as he was about to block it, he noticed the list of text messages from the number. Realizing it was a you , Hongjoong remembered the fact that he was supposed to be finish writing the song with you and the deadline was the next morning.

Without a word, he left his half full beer can on the table and grabbed his keys and headed to his car, waving goodbye to his friend before he left.

Hongjoong sped as fast as he could to the entertainment but kept getting stopped by the morning rush traffic. After spending almost an hour in traffic, he hastily parked his car and ran toward the elevator.

As soon as he headed to the elevator, he noticed how packed it was. Letting out a small groan, he squished his way into the small space.

Once the elevator stopped on his floor, he quickly headed towards his studio. Opening the door, he saw you sitting on the couch, your head hanging low in your hands.

He quietly closed the door and slowly walked towards you. "Jina.. are you okay?"

Turning around, you saw an out of breath Hongjoong walking towards you and taking a seat on the opposite side of the couch. You let out a sigh of relief as you laid your head back against the wall.

"Thank god you're okay. I thought something had happened to you."

You turned to your side to see Hongjoong with a wide eyed expression. "Were you worried about me?"

Letting out a small laugh, you nodded. "We're partners. We need to look out for each other."

Hongjoong nodded as he stood up and headed towards his computer. "Well, I guess it's time to write a song. You have any ideas?"

Thinking about the conversation you and Hongjoong had the night before, you looked at him with a spark in your eyes that intrigued him. "Let's write a song that we want to write about it. Not what we want people to listen to mindlessly."

You could see that he was interested in the idea, but something was holding him back. Determined to write a proper song, you pulled up a seat next to Hongjoong.

"Please Hongjoong. I can tell you don't like writing these meaningless songs. For once, can we write about what we want?" You searched his eyes, looking for any type of approval.

The room went quiet as you saw Hongjoong deep in thought, thinking about your proposal. Finally, silence was soon broken. "Let's do it. We've run out of options and the deadline is in the next couple of hours."

You smiled brightly as the two of you began to work on the song. You knew that Siwon wouldn't be happy with the way you wrote the song but deep down, you knew that it wouldn't be worth it it to write him a pointless song.

You didn't work hard your entire life only to write what other people wanted.

[UNTITLED]