Chapter 78 — The Sound of Her Silence
10:02 AM
AUREUS Dorm — Live Broadcast
The camera had shifted to the kitchen.
Hyunjae was lecturing Minjae about cutting onions like a child, Sungchan had flour on his nose, Rin was escaping into the laundry room with a mug of black coffee, and the chat was flooded with fans asking for Jaeheon to smile.
But Jaeheon…
Jaeheon was writing.
He sat cross-legged on the floor near the window, a battered black notebook open on his lap. A mechanical pencil in hand. No music playing. No headphones in.
Just silence.
And the scratch of graphite.
"I watched."
He had written the phrase ten times already.
Not because he needed to remember it.
But because it deserved to be written.
It was not a confession.
Not a question.
Not a closure.
It was contact.
And contact, from her, after six months…
It felt like touching the edge of the divine.
Meanwhile, Across the Room
"Are you sure he's not writing a diss track?" Sungchan muttered to Hyunjae, nodding toward Jaeheon.
"Maybe it's a poem," Hyunjae said, stirring his omelet with exaggerated care.
"Maybe it's a will," Rin murmured as he passed, sipping from his mug.
Minjae chuckled. "If he dies before releasing those songs he keeps hoarding, I'm leaking them all."
More laughter.
More banter.
None of it touched Jaeheon.
Because in his head, the message was still echoing.
"I watched."
Inside the Notebook
He wrote without hesitation now.
The words came like breath, natural and inevitable.
Day 184. You replied.
I won't ask why.
I won't ask anything.
Your silence taught me to listen.
And now, even your one word sounds like thunder.
If that was all you ever say, I'll still write you forever.
He didn't notice when the camera turned toward him.
Didn't notice the fans losing their minds in the live chat.
HE'S WRITING AGAIN I'M SURE IT'S FOR HER
what is he thinking?? his face is unreadable i'm going insane
this man has written 100+ songs for a woman who never replied… until now???
But even the fans didn't know.
Not really.
They thought he must have gotten a reply before now.
They thought maybe he was just dramatic.
They didn't know it was the first time.
And no one—not even the other six members sitting within ten feet of him—had the slightest idea.
Manager Lee's POV — 10:41 AM
He stood just outside of camera frame, arms crossed, watching the boys move through their normal rhythms.
He'd been in this industry too long not to notice shifts in people.
Today, Jaeheon was different.
Not visibly. Not obviously.
But there was something settled about him now. Something… grounded. As if a weight had been realigned inside him.
Manager Lee narrowed his eyes.
Did she reply?
He'd never ask.
He wouldn't dare.
But he knew better than anyone—Jaeheon wasn't the kind of person who needed to hear a thousand words.
Just one from her was enough.
Later That Night — Off-Camera
At exactly 3:12 AM, when the broadcast was paused for a short break, Jaeheon stepped out onto the dorm's narrow balcony.
He took his phone from his pocket.
The screen glowed faintly in the cold.
He opened the chat again.
Still just that one message.
Still nothing else.
He didn't smile.
He didn't cry.
But he did what he always did.
He began to type.
Day 185. You watched.
Thank you.
He paused.
Then typed more.
I didn't think you would. I wasn't waiting for a reply.
But I think I was waiting for you.
And now, I'll keep writing.
Because I don't know how to stop.
He hit send.
And then he put his phone away.
The city lights blinked in the distance. The cold wind tangled in his hair.
And somewhere in the silence, there was an echo that no one else could hear.
A silence that had finally spoken.