Sixty-Three

I stared at the photo on my phone as I sat on the couch in the recording studio after finishing my part. Jaehyeon was recording his parts just then and Hanseol was at the system, talking him through it. The other two were most probably at the gym.

It had been just about a month since our tour had ended and we were already halfway through recording a new Japanese single. Yeojun and Mingyu had already recorded their parts the previous day. There were just a few minor details to care of, which could be done after Hanseol too had done his parts. We were rather satisfied with how the song had turned out so far.

I looked up from my phone when I heard Jaehyeon stop mid-sentence for the third time. It was always the same place. "It's falling a little behind tempo when I try to raise it here, isn't it?" He asked.

Hanseol pushed the button to speak over the intercom. "It's okay, Hyung. Let's try that again. We'll figure something out. Don't rush it. We have time."

Jaehyeon nodded and got ready again. This time, I listened closely. It was clear from his voice that he was being careful about it but he still fell behind tempo again, causing him to stop and look at Hanseol and I.

"Hanseol-ah." I thought about it a moment. "Maybe it's because there are too many syllables to cover within that bar? He could try letting it go as is and raising it at the next bar. A small vibrato in between might give it more life." That would require a lot of control but I trusted Jaehyeon's vocal capabilities.

Hanseol watched me as he thought it over, then pushed the intercom button and motioned for me to speak. Taking the cue, I explained it to Jaehyeon and even went over it once with him, figuring out exactly how to do it. In the end, he managed to pull it off so well that it impressed both Hanseol and I. When that was conveyed to him, he struck a victory pose and grinned. With that part done successfully, they moved on to the next part and I returned to the photo on my phone.

Changmin had sent me the photo a while back. It was a selfie of Minho and himself at Incheon International Airport. Although I had asked him to call on landing in Korea, he had sent me this instead because I had mentioned that I had some recording to do.

We were at DayBreak and the more time that passed, the more impatient I grew. After all, 04:00 am should be here very soon. They still had a few more programs and stages left in Korea but at least they were back home. We could at least go back to our old routines that I suddenly realised I valued too much but took for granted.

"Jeongwoo-ya." Hanseol called when Jaehyeon took a break to go over the next part himself before recording. "Aren't you hungry? You haven't had breakfast either."

"I'm a little hungry but I can wait till Hyung finishes us. Let's get lunch together. Even Mingyu and Yeojun might be waiting for us." I replied, continuing to ignore the hunger pangs.

"Really? You can go ahead and grab something if you want to."

"I'm fine." I insisted. "Let's just wrap up quickly."

"Roger." He turned back to the system and to Jaehyeon who gave a thumbs-up.

A few minutes into it, I got a message from Changmin. 'Where are you?'

'Recording studio.' I replied immediately. Had they already arrived?

'Come out.'

They had arrived!

I stood up immediately. "Hanseol-ah, I'll just step out for a bit." I motioned to the door.

"Okay. They're here? Convey our regards to them too. We'll meet them sometime later when we are more free."

I raised an eyebrow at him. Why did he know that I was going out for that?

He chuckled. "Please. It was obvious from the way you were on your phone the entire time. Plus, everyone knows they're arriving today."

Right…

"Go. We'll finish up here soon." He waved me off.

"I'm going then." I smiled at him and then ducked a head and made a 'Fighting' fist at Jaehyeon before exiting the studio, preparing to jog to Kim PD-nim's office or the entrance. However, I stepped out of the recording studio only to come face-to-face with a certain someone.

"You seem to be in a hurry." He smirked.

"Hyung…" I pretty much froze at that. It was just Changmin by himself too. "How come-? Where are the others?"

"Ditched them." He hugged me without warning. "They should know by now where to find me."

"'Ditched them'? Are you crazy?" I asked but hugged him back anyway. With the gaps that we had recently had in meeting each other, we were past the point where hugging like this in the corridor made us conscious. We couldn't afford to be picky about our interactions. We had learnt that the hard way.

"A little." He nodded and dug his fingers into my hair. "I'm home."

I got light-headed hearing that. "Last year, we had just happened to meet in the corridor when you had gotten back." I recalled.

"Ah. You and your blue hair." He messed up my hair. "And I had realised just how much you had grown. I was feeling quite overwhelmed back then."

"It was such a formal meeting though. And now, you've even ditched the others to come see me." Needless to say, a lot had changed in one year. "Welcome home."

"Ah." He let go and stepped away. That was when I got a good look at him because he had just buried me in the hug earlier. He was wearing khaki pants and a white shirt. The cap that he had called a 'style-statement' sat perched atop his dark hair that seemed to have grown longer than he usually maintained it. His shades were hanging at his left pant pocket. It was a simple straight-off-the-plane look. "But I thought you were going to take a break after 'All Hands on Deck'. How come you're recording again?"

"A project came our way." I said, adjusting my hair a little. It was a Japanese single but it was also meant to be the OST of an upcoming Japanese drama. The Producer apparently had ties with Mingyu's family and, seeing our popularity, had wanted us to do this for them. We were really looking forward to a break but figured that we could finish this off too before that. "What about you? Will 04:00 am be taking a break once your shows are over?"

"For a month." He nodded. "Most of us will be working on our solo careers in the meantime but 04:00 am would officially be on a break."

"I see." Then a thought occurred to me. "When?"

"We have two more weeks' worth of programs. After that." He replied. "Why?"

Well… "We're scheduled to finish this by then."

"You mean… you'll also be going on a break then?" He asked slowly on realising what that meant.

"Yes. Maybe not for an entire month but… at least for two weeks." I smiled, the implication of that putting a smile on my face. In the past nearly six years, this was the first time that our breaks were coinciding. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

"Jeongwoo-ya." He caught my arms, his face lighting up. "Let's go away together. Just the two of us."

"We'll plan something." I nodded. "Things have to get finalised for the both of us first. I'll keep you posted."

"Yes. Do that." He paused to look into the recording studio through the glass on the door. "YoonJae's recording?"

"Yes." I glanced back before turning to him again. "I finished my parts already."

"Hm. Do you… have anything else to do today?" He enquired.

"We've still got to work on the song but… Why?"

"Go out for dinner with me."

"You just got back though. Shouldn't you rest?" I asked although dinner did sound good to me.

"I'll sleep in tomorrow or whatever but now that I'm here, let's just go." He said curtly. "I want to have dinner with you. I even ditched my members and came all the way here just to invite you."

I laughed. "Okay. Let's go. I'll let you know when we begin winding up." The fact that he even asked me was plenty to make me satisfied. That he wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with him was all the reality I needed to get me through the rest of the day.

He smiled, then furrowed his brows and smiled. "I'm proud to see you working so hard."

All of a sudden? "I think I've proven myself plenty already-" I poked his chest. "-that I can succeed just fine without you."

He caught my hand. "Mean." His eyes then fell on his watch. "I… have to go. Before Hyeonwoo Hyung starts calling. Everyone's just waiting to get home and they'll kill me if I keep them longer."

"Okay. I should tentatively be done by 08:00 pm tonight. I'll call to confirm." I withdrew my hand after giving his a strong squeeze. "Go."

"Mm. Fighting, Jeongwoo-ya." He returned, gave me another quick hug and jogged off in the direction of the stairs.

The dinner date, over and above the fact that I finally saw Changmin in person, had put me in a good mood immediately. Smiling to myself and letting a few seconds pass so that I could contain my joy, I returned to the studio. Hanseol immediately raised an eyebrow at me. "Back already?"

"Yeah. Changmin Hyung had come here. I'll meet him later today. Dinner." I reported, trying not to smile too much.

Jaehyeon was still recording so Hanseol couldn't divert his attention too much. There was a break while instructing Jaehyeon before talking to me again. "Dinner, huh? Just you and Changmin Sunbae?"

"Yes." We were close enough friends for that according to others anyway. It was okay to reveal that much. "They have tomorrow off and we don't have anything scheduled for later today."

"Fair enough. It's been a long time." He nodded, still partly listening to Jaehyeon. "You barely got to interact at the party too."

"Mm. Yeah." 'Barely' had different magnitudes…

I leaned against the back of his chair by my hands and watched Jaehyeon. He was carefully listening to what he had just recorded. We then discussed it and he went right into recording the next part. "Hyung… is really cool."

Hanseol chuckled. "Why don't you tell that to him directly when he finishes this part?"

The way that he was holding the music sheet in one hand and holding the headphones with the other hand, singing so passionately into the mic, swaying just enough to makes him look like a truly admirable professional musician- so much so that I couldn't help but comment on it.

As Hanseol had said, as soon as Jaehyeon had finished recording that part, I pushed the intercom button and repeated what I had told Hanseol. "Hyung, you're really cool."

"What?" He looked at me, laughing.

"You're cool. Really." I said. "I just genuinely felt so. You look very cool when you're all focused like that." The sudden compliment had gotten him obviously a little flustered and at a loss for words. So, I decided to press on a bit more. "May I take pictures?"

Hanseol was silently watching the whole exchange and laughing behind a palm pressed to his mouth. He couldn't laugh aloud and ruin the mood when I was being so serious.

"That's fine but… you seem to be in a good mood." Jaehyeon observed, more amused now than embarrassed.

Of course, I was in a good mood. And I wanted to share that warmth. "Because you're cool."

"Ya!" He laughed full on at that, then raised an eyebrow at me. "What? Falling for me now?"

"Yes." Plus, I knew that this was all the motivation he would have needed to.

"Okay. Okay. That's enough." Hanseol interrupted and took over control of the intercom button. "Hyung, two more parts and you're done. Since you're all cool, let's wrap this up quickly and go find our Dongsaengs before they start feeling neglected."

"Yes." Jaehyeon responded with new-found fervour and turned to the music sheet again.

I continued to stand behind Hanseol's chair and watched our cool Hyung do what he was best at.