Jihoon reached over to his satchel, pulled out a fresh music sheet, and handed it across the table to Taeyeon.
"Alright, switch gears for a bit. This one's a bit more demanding. If you pull it off, it might just rival 'If'—maybe even top it."
Taeyeon didn't take the sheet right away. Instead, she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him with that classic pouty glare.
"I heard you went out last night… with Yejin sunbae. And six other women. Right after I left your place?"
Jihoon froze like a deer caught in headlights, then rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward smile.
"Ehh... Yejin noona asked me to dinner. She had something she wanted to discuss. Just some business stuff."
Taeyeon's glare deepened, her cheeks puffing out like a kettle about to boil. She looked like she might actually explode.
"Don't give me that look," Jihoon said, raising both hands in mock surrender. "You're making me feel like I just got caught cheating in bed by my wife."
That did it. Taeyeon burst out laughing, a blush rising to her cheeks. Whatever storm had been brewing in her eyes vanished instantly, as if someone had pulled the plug on her anger.
"There," Jihoon said, relaxing a bit. "You look way better when you smile."
"What's with that bratty team-captain act anyway? Don't carry everything alone. Taeyeon-ah...This group's not just yours to shoulder."
"You've got the girls, you've got me. And for the love of god—stop hurting your body when you're stressed."
Taeyeon looked away, suddenly quiet.
"I saw that new piercings of yours," Jihoon added, his voice softer now but firm. "That's not how you cope with stress!"
"That's not the excuse to punish your body for it," Jihoon shot back without missing a beat.
"Didn't you used to escape to the Han River Bridge? Blast ballads and cry it out? Why not go back to that instead?"
"I tried," she muttered. "But there's a swarm of paparazzi camped there now, waiting to catch 'wild Kim Taeyeon in her natural habitat. I'm basically a rare Pokemon there now..."
Jihoon couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing. "Catching wild Kim Taeyeon, huh? That's… okay, that's kind of hilarious."
Seeing her stubbornness, Jihoon let out a small sigh and shook his head before getting down to business.
"Alright, I'll stop nagging. If you want, you can warm up your vocal cords first."
Taeyeon took a breath, her fingers brushing the edge of the lyric sheet. "No need," she said, her voice quiet but certain. "Just record it. This song… it already feels like mine."
Jihoon gave a single nod. "Alright. Let's roll."
The countdown flickered on the screen, and as the final beep faded, Taeyeon closed her eyes—and began.
Her voice came in soft, fragile, like a confession wrapped in melody:
"Even if the pain is small, it lingers deep,"
"And the tears—oh, they don't fall, they break from my heart."
"You are my everything, the dream I keep breathing for,"
"But when I'm near you… I forget how to breathe."
It wasn't just the clarity of her vocals that struck Jihoon—it was the weight behind them.
Every note carried something more than sound.
Something real. Something between them.
He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, but his chest tightened as the words continued.
"It's like fate forgot to write our names together,"
"Like we were only meant to pass, not stay."
"You stood there, letting me go like I was never yours,"
"And I—I couldn't even take a single step forward."
"You leave me restless, you leave me undone,"
"Like a fool trying to smile through the ache."
"The closer I move, the more afraid I become,"
"Yet my heart… it just won't let go."
"Why is it always my love that arrives too late?"
"Why is it always my love that has to ache?"
"You are the sky, the sea, the air I chase,"
"But I'm frozen—just watching you from inches away."
By the time the song ended, the silence in the studio was heavy. No one moved.
Taeyeon pulled off her headphones slowly, her cheeks damp with tears but her posture unshaken.
Then, without hesitating, she opened the door and walked straight to Jihoon.
He was still seated, his hand half-raised, unsure if he should speak or stay silent. But she didn't wait.
She slipped behind him and wrapped her arms around his back—gently, firmly, like someone anchoring themselves during a storm.
In a soft murmur, she said, "You heard it, didn't you?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
She wasn't asking about the clarity of her vocals or the precision of her technique.
No.
She was asking if he had heard the emotion—the unspoken truth she had laced into every line she sang.
Jihoon's eyes lingered on the empty booth for a moment, the weight of her meaning settling in. Then he looked down and replied quietly,
"Yeah. I did."
They both knew they weren't talking about the song anymore.
Even if the track was titled "Can You Hear Me", this was something else entirely.
It was a question neither of them had dared to ask directly, and an answer both had already given in their own quiet ways.
A feeling. Unspoken but understood.
Something that had been building in glances, in silences, in moments like this.
Taeyeon moved to sit beside him, brushing her hair behind her ear, her voice light but carefully measured. "It's a beautiful song," she said. "It says a lot."
Jihoon smiled faintly, but his eyes gave him away. "Too much, maybe."
She let out a breath of laughter, one that trembled at the end.
Her hands folded in her lap, tightly. His stayed at his sides.
And in that silence, everything was said.
They felt the same thing. They knew they did.
But there were too many reasons not to say it out loud.
She was an idol—barely past her debut, every move scrutinized.
He was a director with a name and reputation that had already caused enough tension in the industry.
Whatever was forming between them—whatever had already formed, it existed in a fragile space.
A space where timing mattered more than truth.
So they sat there, side by side, feeling the weight of the unsaid.
It wasn't a confession with words. There was no declaration, no kiss, no promises.
Just presence. Just the knowing.
A shared feeling that lingered quietly in the room—like the last note of a song that refused to fade.
And maybe, one day, they'd be brave enough to play it out loud. But today wasn't that day.
It wasn't long after they quietly settled into that unspoken feeling that they both turned back to the work at hand.
There was still a schedule to keep—Taeyeon had a radio broadcast coming up, and time was running short.
She packed up quickly and headed for the door.
But just before stepping out, she paused in the doorway, her hand resting on the frame.
Turning back with a smile that was both playful and a little wistful, she called out, "Jihoon-ah!"
Seeing Jihoon looked up, and when their eyes met, she said softly,
"I can hear you… so, can you hear me?"
A smile spread across his face, warm and certain.
"I can hear you too," he said.
And with that, she left—no more words needed.
An hour passed.
Jihoon stayed in the control room, tweaking the mix, adjusting levels, making sure every breath in Taeyeon's vocals landed just right.
The last echoes of "Can You Hear Me" still lingered in his head—not just as a song, but as something unspoken between them.
Something too fragile to name.
With a deep exhale, he finally shut the laptop. The OST was done. At least on the surface.
He slung his coat over one shoulder and stepped out of the recording room.
The hallway outside was quiet—eerily so.
Most of the staff had already gone home, and the building's fluorescent lights flickered dimly with that late-evening hum.
As he turned the corner past the main stairwell, a faint sound reached his ears.
A soft, muffled sob.
He paused, uncertain.
It wasn't loud.
In fact, most people would have missed it. But Jihoon—sensitive to sounds like this—picked it up right away.
His brows knit with concern. Quietly, he stepped toward the stairwell door and pushed it open.
A low creak.
And then—eyes met.
Big, glassy eyes.
Those familiar eyes that should've been cheerful and innocent were now rimmed with red and blurred by tears.
The girl flinched at first, startled.
But she didn't try to run or hide.
She just froze, like a deer caught between wanting to flee and hoping someone might notice she was there.
Jihoon took a careful step forward, the door closing gently behind him.
His voice was soft, non-threatening.
"Are you okay..?"
[Author's Note: Heartfelt thanks to Wandererlithe, JiangXiu, BigBoobs, Night_Adam and Daoistadj for bestowing the power stone!]