The air was thick with the scent of pine and freshly cut grass as Joohoney and Y/N walked through the park, their laughter echoing off the nearby trees. It was a rare sunny day, and they had decided to take advantage of it by having a picnic. Joohoney had packed sandwiches and fruit, while Y/N brought a bottle of wine and a blanket. They found a secluded spot under a large oak tree and spread out the blanket, sitting down side by side.
"You know," Joohoney said, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between them, "I've always wondered what it would be like to kiss you."
Y/N's heart skipped a beat. She turned to look at him, her eyes wide with surprise. "Really? Why haven't you ever said anything before?"
Joohoney shrugged, a shy smile playing on his lips. "I don't know. I guess I was afraid of ruining our friendship."
Y/N bit her lip, considering his words. They had been friends for years, sharing everything from secrets to dreams. But there had always been an unspoken tension between them, a spark that neither had dared to ignite. Until now.
"What changed your mind?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Joohoney leaned in closer, his breath warm against her skin. "I realized that I don't want to spend another day wondering 'what if.' I want to know what it's like to be with you, Y/N."
Before she could respond, his lips were on hers, soft and tentative at first, then more demanding as she melted into the kiss. It was everything she had imagined and more—sweet, passionate, and utterly consuming. When they finally pulled apart, both were breathless.
"Wow," Y/N murmured, her fingers tracing the curve of his jaw. "That was... amazing."
Joohoney smiled, his eyes dark with desire. "There's more where that came from," he said, his voice low and husky.
He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small bottle of lube and a condom, setting them on the blanket between them. Y/N's eyes widened, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she met his gaze with a mixture of curiosity and anticipation.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"More sure than I've ever been about anything," Joohoney replied, his hand finding hers and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Slowly, they began to undress each other, their movements hesitant but eager. Joohoney's hands trembled as he unbuttoned Y/N's blouse, revealing the delicate lace of her bra underneath. He traced the edge of the fabric with his fingertips, feeling the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
Y/N, in turn, unzipped his jeans and slid her hand inside, feeling the hardness of him through his boxers. Joohoney gasped, his head falling back as she stroked him gently.
"You feel so good," he whispered, his voice thick with desire.
They continued to explore each other's bodies, their touches becoming more confident and insistent. Joohoney kissed his way down Y/N's neck, nipping gently at the sensitive skin before moving lower, his mouth trailing hot kisses across her collarbone and down to her breasts.
Y/N arched her back, moaning softly as he teased her nipples with his tongue, flicking and sucking until they were hard and aching. She ran her hands through his hair, urging him on, her body thrumming with need.
Meanwhile, Joohoney's hands roamed over her hips, down to her thighs, spreading them wider as he positioned himself between her legs. He looked up at her, his eyes filled with a mixture of love and lust.
"Are you ready?" he asked, his voice hoarse with emotion.
Y/N nodded, her breath coming in short, excited gasps. "Yes, please."
With a slow, deliberate motion, Joohoney guided himself inside her, both of them letting out a simultaneous gasp at the sensation. It was tight, almost painfully so, but Y/N relaxed around him, her body welcoming him in.
They moved together, slowly at first, then faster and harder, their bodies slick with sweat and desire. Joohoney watched her face, his own contorted with pleasure, as she writhed beneath him, her moans growing louder with each thrust.
"Joohoney," she cried out, her voice breaking with emotion. "I'm... I'm close."
Hearing her, Joohoney felt his own release building, his control slipping. He quickened his pace, driving into her with renewed urgency, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
"Me too," he growled, his voice strained with effort. "Come with me, Y/N."
With one final, powerful thrust, they both shattered, their bodies convulsing in unison as wave after wave of ecstasy washed over them. Joohoney collapsed beside her, his chest heaving, as they lay there in the aftermath, their hearts pounding in sync.
For a moment, there was only silence, broken only by their heavy breathing. Then, slowly, Joohoney turned to face her, his eyes filled with wonder and tenderness.
"I love you, Y/N," he whispered, his voice raw with emotion.
She smiled, tears glistening in her eyes. "I love you too, Joohoney."
And in that moment, under the dappled sunlight of the oak tree, they knew that nothing would ever be the same again.
Genre: childhood friends to lovers, enemies to lovers. Warning: mentions of mental health affections
Words: 5k
Chapter 1
Here, right here is where happiness lies. Or at least that’s what Jooheon thought as he listened to his fans sing the last song of the concert’s Encore Stage with him and his band members. In addition, the fact that he himself composed the song made this moment much more special.
Jooheon had a blank mind as he passed his sight through the thousands of lightsticks that lit the arena where the concert was taking place. Then, he looked at each of his teammates, except for Hyungwon whom he saw nowhere, and felt that he, there, could do everything.
The rapper was in such a state of excitement that he couldn’t hide his disappointed face when the music stopped playing in the middle of the song and the Monbebes stopped singing. The stage lights went out and Monsta X began to ask what was going on. Suddenly, the background screen lit up with a picture of a baby and a soft melody began to sound.
"What? What’s going on?" asked the rapper, who alternated the view between the screen, his bandmates, and his fans. "What’s this?"
At that moment, Hyungwon entered the main stage with a cake in his hands with several lit candles. Then, all the Monbebes and his bandmates started to sing:
“Happy biiiiiirthday to you, happy biiiiiiirthday to you, happy biiiiiiiiiiirthday dear Joooooooooheooooooon….. happy biiiiiirthday to youuuuuuuu!"
Jooheon was on the verge of tears, but he controlled himself enough to blow out the candles and hug his friends on stage.
"Jooheon-ah! Surprised?" Minhyuk asked.
"Hyung, of course" he replied. "My birthday is in a week".
"Yes, we know," said I.M., “but we had to celebrate with the beautiful Monbebes, right?" the maknae finished with a wink that had all the fans screaming.
Typical comment of I.M. Jooheon suppressed the urge to roll his eyes to the contribution of the maknae. Changkyung had changed a lot in recent months, but he was still the same sentimental and emotional child as ever. Oh well, he was family, after all.
"Sure, sure," said Jooheon. "Ah, Monbebe, thank you very much, from the bottom of my heart".
Fans began to scream and Kihyun had to make an effort to make himself heard above the voices of the crowd.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Kihyun said. "The best is yet to come".
Jooheon saw his hyung in the eyes and could see a mischievous look, just the exact look on Kihyun always had before mocking and making life impossible for one of the members.
"Monbebe, can you see the screen behind us?" Kihyun asked.
"YEEEEEEES" answered the entire Seoul stadium.
"Guess who the baby in the picture is?"
"JOOHEON-AAAAAAH" they responded.
"THAT’S RIGHT!" Kihyun shouted excitedly, "and what’s even better, the birthday boy’s mom prepared this very special gift for him, so... LET THE SHOW BEGIN!"
And with those words, on the main screen of the stage began to play a video made with photographs of Jooheon, from newborn until his first years as a trainee.
Every few minutes, the photographs changed and Jooheon began to remember moments from his childhood that he had forgotten. The school playground, the food stalls he frequented with his friends, the water park where he celebrated his birthday... there were also embarrassing photos, like the time he lost a bet in third-grade of school and had to dress up as a fairy godmother, but each photo was a precious memory
As the images passed by, Jooheon noticed the presence of a particular person in most (if not all) moments of the photographs. He hadn’t thought about her in years, but seeing her face as a child made his smile grow. She was present in 3 out of 4 photos of the rapper, as she had been an incredibly important person in his childhood and adolescence.
"Where is she now?" Jooheon thought to himself.
With that thought, the presentation ended and the Monbebes began to shout with joy. The song they had cut started to play again and, with his mind full of questions, Jooheon finished the concert along with the rest of Monsta X, not without first thanking the fans for their dedication and the support they have given to the group.
************************************************
Once they had all taken off their makeup and changed their clothes to their daily outfits, Jooheon ran to the staff team in charge of the audiovisual coordination of the concert.
"Noona, hello" he said to the technician in charge. "Could you give me the video my mom sent?"
"Of course!" she replied. "And don’t worry, your mom sent it straight to the company headquarters and I didn’t let Minhyuk get near it, so this is the only copy" she said with a smile.
"Thank you, noona" Jooheon told her, although the possibility that Minhyuk could copy his baby photos was not what motivated him to ask for the video. He just wanted to see her in the pictures and remember the good times.
"Jooheon-ssi!" someone shouted behind his back.
Jooheon turned around to see who was calling him and saw Lydia running towards him. She was part of the dance team that worked at Starship Entertainment, she was very talented and, on some occasions, had also participated as a choreographer for the group. She and Jooheon had come back close and, well, they helped each other release stress every so often.
"I’ll see you in your hotel room today, won’t I?" Lydia told him once she caught up. Even if the group had their dorm and their private apartments in Seoul, this was the end of a long tour, so the members decided to stay a couple of days in a hotel to rest, relax, and then go back to clean and tidy the rooms that hadn’t been used in a couple of months.
"Ah, Lydia, well... I think I will have to pass today" Jooheon told her as he turned back to return to his group and go to rest.
"Don’t tell me you’re tired, Jooheon-ssi" Lydia replied as she cut him off. "If I remember correctly, you have enough stamina for a concert and our little after parties" the dancer said as she grabbed his arm and winked at him. Jooheon tried to get out of her grip, but she just got closer and insisted again, this time in whispers "Come on, Jooheon-ah, if that’s the case, I can take good care of you, you know I can".
"Not tonight, Lydia" Jooheon cut her, a little tired of the girl’s insistence. He managed to get her to release him and continued "And at work, I would appreciate it if you didn’t do or say anything that could make others doubt our professionalism" and with the latter, the rapper turned to his manager, who was looking for him, leaving the dancer with a bad taste in her mouth.
Jooheon had more important things to take care of that night. Changkyung, for one. Even though the youngest had been getting better, there were still some days when I.M. would be down. And it was reasonable after the roller coaster of emotions he had been through, but Jooheon, and the other members, were proud of the rapper’s progress, especially when it came to his confidence and maturity. However, they would still keep an eye on him, just in case he needed something: reaffirmation, something to keep himself busy, whisky…
That last one was Jooheon’s specialty, and it was the plan for the night.
“Yah, Changkyunnie, open the door” Jooheon said while knocking on I.M.’s hotel door. “I know you are not sleeping, open up”.
“Hyung” I.M. said while answering the door, “calm down, what is it?”
“Whisky night, that’s what it is” answered Jooheon while letting himself into the room.
I.M. wasn’t really in the mood, but he knew that he couldn’t stop Jooheon, so he accepted.
“Just one glass” said the maknae “I’m really tired and…”
“Yah, Changkyunnie” said Kihyun’s voice on the other side of the door, “you up? Open up”.
I.M. went to open the door and found Kihyun and Hyungwon standing in the hall with bags of food.
“Oh, nice, you are wearing pants” said Kihyun when entering. “Yah, Jooheon-ah, whisky again?”
“Nothing better for a night’s sleep. What do you have in there?”
Not long after, the six members of Monsta X were in I.M.’s room eating fried chicken, ramen, some meat, and drinking alcohol. Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one who noticed I.M. wired on stage, Jooheon thought.
Sure, idol life was tough, but it meant you could find your life companions, your friends, your other family, just like this one. And that’s what makes this completely worth it.
************************************************
4 months later
Jooheon was in front of his private studio door, two seconds away from punching the wall and ripping the door from its edge. Let’s see, what happened here? This was his private studio, his, HIS. And there he was, in front of the door, looking stupid because someone, SOMEONE, decided to change the password of the digital lock of the door and, well, now HE had no way in.
Of course, Jooheon knew exactly who that SOMEONE was, since the only one who knew his password and was stupid enough to change it was Monsta X’s maknae: Im Changkyung. And of course, he knew why they sent I.M., after all, it was the maknae and surely the others asked him nicely and he just accepted.
Pffff, so predictable... enough to knock him out.
But, well, now Jooheon was cursing the hell out of his friends. The company did not know this place, Jooheon paid it for three years with his own money and it was a space for him, away from the bureaucracy and executive relations that flooded the companies.
Damn memo! Who the hell they thought they were to tell him he needed a break, ah? God, that’s stupid. What Jooheon never expected was that his group mates would take the instructions of his "hiatus" seriously, let alone be quick enough to make a dirty move like leaving him out of his OWN FUCKING STUDIO.
Now he had no choice but to go back to his apartment and think about his options. Although before that, he was going to try his luck at the Starship offices. It was only nine o'clock in the morning and it is possible that some had not yet read the memo they sent yesterday at eleven p.m. announcing Jooheon’s break and the ban he had on going up to the company’s studios. Yeah, he would do that.
Half an hour later, Jooheon arrived at Starship headquarters. Once there, he entered the hall, went to the counter, and displaying his biggest smile greeted:
"Hello, Ha-neul-ssi" Jooheon said.
"Good morning, Jooheon-ssi" she greeted back. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Well, yes" he said, "I forgot my key card in my apartment. Could you give me a guest card? Last week I left some important documents at one of the recording studios and I need to get them back".
"Ahhh, I see. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you get in".
"Emmm, Ha-neul-ssi, I don’t think I understand..."
"I am sorry, Jooheon-ssi, but the instructions in the memo were very clear," the secretary replied. Jooheon cursed that stupid memo inside him, stupid, stupid, stupid... "We have clear instructions not to let you pass, under any circumstances. If you like, you can tell me which studio you left your belongings in and I’ll send someone to retrieve them right away."
Jooheon had to control himself in order to not lose his composure. After all, she was not to blame for the DAMN EXECUTIVE COUNCIL sending him on a forced pause. But by all the gods, why the fuck were they all going against him?
"Ah, Jooheon-ah" said a voice to his right, "what are you doing here? We all got the memo, you should be resting."
COULD EVERYBODY STOP MENTIONING THE FREAKING MEMO?!?
"Hello, hyung," Jooheon greeted the man who spoke to him, Jun, a member of the bodyguard team who worked for Starship and who was often in charge of the rapper "well, you see. I like to go against the current".
"I know that" Jun replied, laughing. He then looked at the rapper and, with a soft brotherly tone, said: "You look tired, Jooheon-ah. It may be difficult at first, but give yourself a chance to rest".
"Hyung, I’m fine, I really am. I don’t need to rest, I’m not injured, I don’t have panic attacks nor I need any type of medication, but I still don’t understand why everyone’s sending me to spend the day drooling on my shoes".
The rapper’s little tantrum made the bodyguard look at him fondly. He came closer to him, took him by the shoulder, and directed him towards the front door.
"If I were you, I’d think of drooling somewhere else. Those shoes you’re wearing are too expensive for you to get them dirty with your spit".
"Very funny, hyung" Jooheon said with a dramatic sigh.
"Come on, in a couple of weeks I have a few days off. If you want, we can go out, hike in the mountain, breathe fresh air..."
"Thank you, hyung” said Jooheon sensing that he wouldn’t win an argument with Jun. “Call me and we’ll see".
"Okay, now get out of here" Jun said fondly. The bodyguard turned around to go back to his post, but he stopped for a second and screamed to the rapper, who was already halfway through the parking lot "Ah, and Jooheon-ah, next time, come up with a better excuse! That of the papers was pathetic!" he said with a laugh.
Jooheon could do nothing but smile and walk to his car. Once inside, he grabbed the steering wheel and took a couple of deep breaths. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, was it? Maybe, just maybe, this was good for him.
************************************************
3 days later
"Come on, come on, answer" Jooheon repeated as he walked back and forth in his linving room. "For fuck’s sake, hyung, answer".
“Hello?"
"Hyung!" Jooheon said, almost shouting. "Hyung, I need you to do me a favor. Lend me your computer, will you?"
"Ah, Jooheon-ah, I don’t think so, I’m sorry" Minhyuk replied on the other side of the line. "The memo said that..."
"Aish, hyuuuuung!!" Jooheon replied. "None of this has anything to do with that stupid memo. I’m serious, I think I’m starting to see things. The walls move, the vases speak to me, hyuuuuuuung..."
"Jooheon-ah, what did we say about ingesting strange herbs?” said Minhyuk with a fake concern in his voice. “The last time you did that you were convinced that Hyungwon was Cleopatra’s reincarnation and you almost married him. Shownu had to separate you two and carry you over his shoulder to the dorm. We don’t want to repeat it, do we?"
"That was Wonho’s fault, but let’s not stray" Jooheon said. "It’s important. I have a great idea for the next title track, it will be GREAT and I need to record it before I forget".
"Really? And you had this idea before or after the conversation with the vases?" Minhyuk said with laughter.
"Ah, hyung, I’m serious!! I can’t forget it. Pleaaaaaase. I promise it’ll only be a couple of hours."
"Sure, I see that. Well, I guess it’s your lucky day, Jooheon-ah," Minhyuk told him.
"Hyung, thank you..."
"As you seem to have such a bad memory, this is a perfect opportunity to improve it! The perfect challenge for this period, so, Jooheon-ah, hwating! Don’t forget the tune, and when you get back, we’ll have the best comeback yet”.
“No, wait, hyung…” Jooheon started to complain but was cut by Minhyuk mid-sentence.
“If anything, ask the vases to help you remember the song. Well, I have to go, see you!" and with those words, Minhyuk cut off the call.
Jooheon was silent holding his cell phone. He wanted to scream, but he only got to snort a few times to calm down. Jooheon threw his cell phone on the sofa in the living room of his apartment and began to walk from one side of the room to the other. When he had calmed down a bit, Jooheon sat down on the floor and decided to do more than stand there tearing his hair out.
There was one last thing he could do. One last person he could turn to who wouldn’t be so... so... so... ARGHHH as to cut the phone call: Changkyung.
Jooheon arrived in record time at I.M.’s apartment. He knew the code to the door, so he was able to enter the place without problems. It was empty, which was strange considering it was raining outside, but the weirdest thing was that the maknae’s cell phone was on a table in his room. The brute had left without it... a very Changkyung move. Anyway, what we came for. Jooheon knew the maknae had set up a small studio there and knew he wouldn’t be angry if he used it for a couple of hours. Perfect plan.
Or so Jooheon believed because when he saw the door of the studio, he saw that the sucker had put a fucking digital lock on it. Just what he needed. For the second time that week, Jooheon wanted to spit lava.
"Okay, no, let’s calm down" the rapper said to himself. "It’s Changkyung, how hard can it be to crack a four-number code? Let’s see" and with that optimism, Jooheon started to try different combinations of numbers. After TEN MILLION ATTEMPTS… Jooheon decided to give up.
"Well, if I can’t use your study, I’ll eat your food" Jooheon said heading to the refrigerator. Inside, he saw leftovers from some dishes from the restaurant on the corner. There were also eggs, bread, orange juice, apples, rice, beef, and something that looked like artisanal yogurt. In the cupboard were cookies, popcorn bags, ramen, and soju.
“Alright, let’s dig in” Jooheon thought.
I.M. arrived a few hours later with a smile on his face, but that smile faded from the moment he saw Jooheon sitting on the couch in his apartment, eating what would be the third popcorn bowl of the night. Also, in the kitchen, he saw open packages of ramen, eggshells, a half-eaten apple, cookies on the floor... It looked like a hurricane had passed through there. Hurricane Jooheon.
With that scene, I.M. took a deep breath and prepared for what was coming.
"Hyung, how long have you been here?" asked I.M.
"Ah, a few hours" Jooheon replied with his mouth full of popcorn. "Where were you?"
"In a coffee shop"
"A coffee shop?" Jooheon asked. That was unusual, considering the rain and the fact that he could just order some coffee. Besides, he was wet, so he had clearly forgotten to take an umbrella, alongside his phone. Why would he go there?
"Yes... with Liv" confessed I.M.
It all made sense now. Jooheon knew how much I.M. had expected Olivia to come back or contact him. He also knew that she had returned a while ago, but had not said anything to the maknae because he did not believe it was his place. In any case, he was glad that they had finally met and talked face to face after two years. This explained why I.M seemed so happy when he got into his apartment... this was the perfect moment for Jooheon’s plan.
"That’s great, Changkyung-ah" Jooheon said in all sincerity. "Did you have a good time? How is she?"
"We had a good time, hyung. She looks... different, but in a good way. Like... in peace" the maknae said.
"That’s good" Jooheon said. "I’m happy for both of you".
It was now or never.
"And, well, what better inspiration for art than that, huh? Come on, I’m sure we can do something in the studio" Jooheon finished saying with the greatest innocence he could.
"Ah, hyung, I don’t think so" said I.M. "The memo, remember?"
"How could I forget it? It’s everything everybody seems to be talking about" replied the rapper. "But, come on, a couple of hours won’t hurt anyone. Let’s go, tell me the code to the door and I promise in two hours we’ll be out".
"Hyung" said I.M. with a dry laugh, "I’m sorry, really, but this time I can’t help you. It’s for your own good."
"Ahhhh, Changkyung-aaaahhhh" Jooheon said with all the aegyo he was capable of... but the maknae didn’t even flinch. "Aish! When did you get so bitter?"
"HAHAHAHAHA! Weren’t you the one who wanted me to beat the shit out of me a couple of years ago, for not being mature enough?"
"That was something completely different" Jooheon argued, "I am not asking you to define our relationship nor do I want to take you to bed, I only ask you for two hours with the computer".
"Computer?" the maknae asked. "What happened to your laptop? What about your tablet? What about your desktop computer? The one you have in your apartment".
"I left the tablet in one of the Starship booths and they won’t even let me come up to pick it up. As for the laptop, I left it at Kihyun’s house and the fool won’t give it back to me. And the computer... I still don’t know how he did it, but that idiot of Hyungwon came into my apartment one day and took it. The very brazen one".
Changkyung couldn’t stop laughing and Jooheon’s sharp eyes only made it worse."Well, hyung, I think you have no choice but to wait" said I.M. once he had calmed down enough to talk. "Come, let’s watch movies today. We can order food, too. What do you think?"
************************************************
2 weeks later
Jooheon was lying on his back on his bed. He had been in the same position for three hours, looking at the ceiling with his mind blank. Suddenly, the door to his apartment opened and a smiling Minhyuk entered.
"Jooheon-ah" he said, "where are you?"
"Hyuuuuuuung" Jooheon said in a tired voice.
Minhyuk entered Jooheon’s room with a couple of documents and envelopes in his hand and saw the state of the rapper: he had not shaved for a couple of days, and apparently had not taken a bath either. He was wearing pajamas, even though it was 3:00 in the afternoon, and what he had on his cheek was dry saliva?
"Wow, Jooheon-ah, you look pitiful".
"Very funny, hyung. Why did you come?"
"I just came to invite you to lunch, but I don’t think you’re in the mood" Minhyuk said, unable to hide the smile. The whole scene was really funny, but he couldn’t tell Jooheon. "Ah, and I checked your mailbox. You had these letters" he said, showing him what he had in hand.
"Checking someone else’s mail is illegal, and who the hell sends letters these days?" Jooheon replied.
Minhyuk just laughed and started checking his friend’s mail. One of the envelopes caught his eye.
"Jooheon-ah, look," he told him showing him what looked like an invitation to a party. "It says here that your high school class is having an alumni meeting on Saturday. You could go, sure be fun to meet your old classmates again".
Yeah, right. Of course. Jooheon could only think about making music. He was tired of staying home and doing nothing productive. Besides, who would he talk to? He hadn’t been in touch with anyone of his classmates, not because he didn’t want to, he was just too busy and idol life was not something everybody understands. With time, his old high school friends got tired of waiting for him and of him canceling plans last minute. Not that he could blame them, their lives just happened to drift apart.
"Mmmm, the name of the organizer is cute" said Minhyuk. "Seo Julianne. Must have a foreign family".
That name made Jooheon raise his head.
"What did you say?"
"That her name is cute, though rare here in Korea" said Minhyuk, to whom the rapper’s reaction did not go unnoticed. "Do you know her? It says here that she is the organizer of the event and that if anyone has doubts about the activity, they can contact her" with the latter, Minhyuk passed the invitation to Jooheon, who was already sitting on the edge of the bed and showed much more interest in what Minhyuk was saying.
The rapper grabbed the invitation without saying a word and Minhyuk decided not to insist on the issue. Despite what others thought, he knew when not to push. Of course, as soon as Jooheon was a little better, he’d get all the deets out of him.
After a few minutes of silence, Jooheon got out of bed and went to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and said:
"Hyung, I think I have to shave".
"Yes, because I imagine you will want to make a good impression on Julianne" Minhyuk said with a half-smile. "Well, I’ll leave you to get pretty. See you Jooheon-ah".
"Mmmhmmmhm" was the response of Jooheon, whose mind was already elsewhere.
After so many years, he would see her again. Jooheon couldn’t help the stupid smile that now adorned his face. Yes, he would see her again. Jules.
************************************************
Saturday came earlier than expected.
Jooheon was nervous. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so nervous about meeting someone. He finally arrived at the hotel where the meeting was to be held. He got out of the car and tried to walk with the confidence he didn’t really feel. "Come on, Jooheon, what’s the matter? It’s Jules, calm down" the rapper thought as he headed to the hotel lobby.
Jooheon asked one of the hotel employees in which room an alumni meeting would take place and they told him it would be in a fourth-floor room.
The rapper then went to the elevator. His hands began to sweat, not only because he would see Jules, but because he did not know how the others would receive him. After all, he had not attended any of the activities that his class had done over the years, he always had work or some commitment. Will they remember him? How would they greet him? Would they even speak to him? It would not be the first time he was treated differently because of the recognition that Monsta X had gained with time. Whether out of interest or hatred, Jooheon had lost friendships time and time again, all because of his work. Nothing new, it didn’t hurt as much as it did at the beginning, but it was still awkward.
How would Jules react to seeing him there? Deep down, Jooheon was afraid that his reunion with his childhood friend would not be... good. The last memory he had of her was the night after he won No Mercy and it was, well, like a dream. For the first few months since his debut, Jooheon remembered that night from time to time and found it hard to believe it was real. Over time, other experiences, faces, aromas... other names replaced that night, mostly because Jooheon needed to forget. Although he could never do it completely, no name could replace hers.
Jooheon arrived at the entrance of the hall where the event was to be held. There was a woman at the entrance welcoming everyone who arrived. The rapper approached and did not have to introduce himself, since she recognized him instantly:
"Jooheon?" she said "Lee Jooheon? Is that you?"
The rapper recognized Areum as one of his classmates.
"The one and only" he replied with a half-smile.
"I cannot believe it. You were finally able to come to a meeting. It is a pleasant surprise" the girl said as she approached to hug him. They had both been friends at school, along with... "Julie will be happy to see you and I think..."
"JOOHEOOOOON-AH" shouted a voice behind his back, interrupting Areum.
The scream came from one of the people Jooheon hoped not to meet that day: Kim Kyug-Bok, former soccer team captain and the class’s official playboy.
With the yell of the ex-athlete, the whole hall realized that Lee Jooheon had arrived. One by one, they began to approach to greet him. Jooheon got along well with most of the class in his school years, but he didn’t remember being so... close to all of them. Anyway, Jooheon hoped something like this would happen.
While trying to navigate the sea of people with smiles, hugs, questions, and flirtations, the rapper was looking for a specific face, but he didn’t see it with so many people around.
Hours passed and Jooheon still didn’t see her anywhere. And his constant company didn’t give him much room to maneuver either. The rapper was going to give up when he heard it: that laugh, he would recognize it anywhere. He looked up and saw her. She wore a short, dark pink dress (although Jules was never a skirts type of girl) and her long hair was down and style in waves (although Jooheon remembered that she always liked to wear her hair tied in a ponytail or in braids).
Jules was standing in front of the bar they had built on one side of the salon. She was talking to someone, laughing while waiting for her drink. Jooheon didn’t care who she was talking with. There she was, at last. The rapper saw how her companion left and snuck out of his fan group, who were too drunk to stop him, as he started to make his way to her. He stopped a few steps away, swallowed the knot in his throat, and said:
"Jules, it’s been a while".
Her back tightened. For a few seconds, nothing happened, until Julianne turned and smiled at him. But it wasn’t the smile Jooheon remembered. This was distant and did not reach her eyes. Was there something wrong?
"Hello, Jooheon-ssi" she replied. "Yes, it’s been a while".
‘Jooheon-ssi’? That wasn’t good.
The rapper’s smile wavered a bit as his excitement plummeted.
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