make me a liar (part one) (jonghyun/taeyeon)
make me a liar (part one)
jonghyun/taeyeon; pg-13; 10,138 words (in full)
college!au-niverse
It was like any other day on the job. Jong Wan ahjussi was locked away in his office working hard to seem productive when he was actually doing less than the rest of the workers. Jimin had gotten out of her shift with some excuse about having the flu when, in reality, Taeyeon was completely aware of the existence of the concert she was actually attending. Yi Young had wandered off for her half shift break almost an hour earlier and failed to resurface, and Jinwoon…, well, she had no idea what that one was up to. No one ever really did.
This left everything else up to Taeyeon; from keeping tabs on the front counter, to stocking whatever new incoming items she could to keep the store from getting crowded with boxes and boxes of merchandise. Maybe she would had been a bit pissed off about how prone her coworker's were to "slacking off" if she hadn't come to expect it from them. She didn't take it personally or anything - someone had to care to let something like that go to heart.
And she certainly didn't care.
It was honestly for the better, anyway. She appreciated the quiet time - or as quiet of time someone could manage at work. It wasn't like the place was bustling with customers too often anyway. This gave her time to pop in new releases; to check out their quality, to see if they were worth a second or third listen. Most of the time, they weren't. The quality of music nowadays around the city had went so downhill since the crack of the century that it almost pained her to listen to something she knew would just disappoint her in the end. She'd always let her curiosity get the best of her with music though, even after her friends in New York like Rafael, Tim and Serena had told her to not bother.
She couldn't help it - and it wasn't like she was living overseas anymore.
Frowning slightly at the thought as she pressed a fingertip against the "open" button of her dusty disc player, Taeyeon wondered just how pathetic she was that she was still longing to be back in New York two years after coming back home from there. Probably pretty - but it wasn't like anyone had to know. It wasn't like that would have anyway - according to Jong Wan, she was "positively unreadable most of the time".
She didn't strive to be that way, it just sort of happened. Jinwoon could never tell if she was unimpressed or amused by his "joke of the day" (it was usually the latter though, cheesy humor had always been her niche), and she was pretty sure both Jimin was convinced she hated her (which she didn't). Jong Wan seemed to be the only one who'd ever been able to pick up on how she was feeling about something but, even then, she was still "positively unreadable" to him on some occasions. The only time that she was ever really obvious was when it came to music; like right then, as she popped down the top of her disc player, ready to start her listen of what was sure to be another boring new release.
As the intro to the opening track started, she had to stifle a laugh - it sounded like any other electro pop song out there right now. What had had she honestly been expecting? Right, nothing. She'd been expecting nothing. Shaking her head as the song continued on, she waited for it to finished up - relieved that it seemed to be no more than an intro. As the opening chords of the second track started though, she felt herself ease into the melody a little more. It wasn't anything special but it was, by far, better than that other awful excuse for music.
Head beginning to bobble slightly as the pace of the tune picked up, she took a step to the side - pressing her finger onto the touch screen of the front desk computer, readying herself to take an idle surf of the web until she finished up the album and moved on to another. What the hell else was she supposed to do? She'd already finished up all of the stocking for the day. She'd swept, she'd went and realphabetized the entire blues and jazz sections of the store. There was honestly nothing left to do before her shift came to an end in… two hours. Huffing at the realization that she really had that much longer left on the clock, Taeyeon felt her shoulders fall a bit, finger tracing the computer screen until she found the front page of Naver.
Maybe there was a good movie out or something that she could go and see after she clocked out. Yeah, she'd do that, she'd just search around and see what was playing in theaters then and…
"Hey."
Thought process caught off by the small echo of a greeting, one that barely rivaled to the booming of the third track of the album beneath her earbuds, Taeyeon turned her head to the side slightly to catch who had spoken up to her. It was a boy - just like any other who stumbled into the store; ratty but warm looking jacket with a thick hood thrown over the fringe of his hair, standing slightly slumped. The only difference between him and all of the other boys that came in there was that… well, her didn't seem to have any items that he wanted to check out with. Oh god, did that mean he wanted her to try and help him find something? She hated doing that.
Forcing on her best smile, she raised a hand to flick one of the earbuds out of her ear. "Hey," she repeated back, her tone anything but enthused. "How can I help you?" It pained her having to ask that question every time; pleasantries sucked.
"What are you listening to?" The boy questioned, her question seeming to fly over his head entirely, his (what seemed to be) shorter frame straining to look over the top of the counter. Not exactly sure what he might have been looking for, Taeyeon felt her eyebrow raise upward involuntarily. "Oh," he let out with a small chuckle. "I kind of expected you to be using an iPod," he continued, falling back into his previous slumped position. "A CD player though, that's cool."
"Yeah…," Taeyeon trailed off, not exactly sure where he was going his conversation before pulling the other earbud out and dropping it onto the top of the counter, pushing it against the side of the computer along with her CD player, music still blaring from the tiny speakers. "It's just some shit-…, some new release. It's really nothing special, kind of bland actually. I wouldn't recommend," her eyes flickered away from the boy, hands moving forward to stop the album from playing. "Unless you're into that sort of thing."
"Bland things?" The boy questioned, a smile crossing his features as he leaned against the corner of the counter. "As in: boring? That kind of strings, you don't even know me yet and you're calling me "boring" already."
"Yet?" Taeyeon was almost flabbergasted; who was this guy and what did he think he was doing? He'd seriously been talking to her for less than three minutes and he was going on like she wanted to let the conversation continue on. "Sorry, Sir, but I'm not sure I understand where you're going with that." Maybe that'd make him go away; who under the age of sixty enjoyed being referred to as "sir"? "I'm the help. If you need assistance with anything related to your pending purchases, I'll gladly lend a hand. Otherwise, I'm not sure if I can be of service."
Everything sounded so perfectly scripted out; like she'd had this conversation with her before - because she kind of had. Maybe not the exact, but a few variations of it. "How to get out a conversation before having it" or "how to tell a customer to fuck off without actually telling them to fuck off".
"Okay."
Okay.
It was all she got out of him before he turned on his heel and left the store entirely. Taeyeon gave a shrug of her shoulders - whatever. It was probably good to get that one out of the way before it became a problem anyway. Because a conversation with someone who seemed… social like that (he had to be social, right? Why would he have started a conversation with a random if he wasn't?) just led to them thinking you wanted them to come back for more. And she didn't need that; not at work.
Removing the album from her CD player and placing it back into it's rightful case, she moved back to trying to find theater showtime information, whatshisface falling from mind entirely. Just another face in the crowd, right?
----
Not exactly.
Two days later, Taeyeon resisted the urge to let out a heaving sigh as the same boy rubbed elbows with Jinwoon, who she'd been scheduled with for the first half of her shift that day.
They were friends; he was a year older than Jinwoon. Apparently his name was Jonghyun, unless she'd heard wrong.
Not that she cared.
Running her fingertips along the front of a new shipment of vinyls of various classic rock vinyls that Jong Wan ahjussi had ordered in for his own enjoyment, Taeyeon let out a small, almost wistful sigh as the old record smell wafted off of them. They had to be first or second print; there was no way that there wasn't. These things were probably ten to twenty years older than she was and she wanted them all to herself but she knew she didn't have the money (and Jong Wan wasn't going to just hand one off to her as a "act of kindness", as much as she wanted him to).
Sighing at this thought, she took a step or two backward, tilting her head to take a look at them from a different angle. The cover art was so different from the art on albums nowadays; far more precise, far more…
"Wow, they're beautiful, aren't they?" Taeyeon clenched her eyes together as the familiar voice struck her from behind, almost taking the words right out from her own thoughts. "They don't make them like anymore, do they?"
Hands moving down to the front pockets of her jeans, she gave a small shrug of her shoulders before stepping to the side, distancing the two of them another foot or two. She could practically feel his breath running down the nape of her neck; didn't this guy have any sense of personal space?
"I guess not," she answered back simply before spinning in the opposite direction, readying herself to go back and hide behind the counter again and he decided to leave.
"I don't normally see people look at vinyls the way you just were, do you listen to any of them?" The question was simple enough - nothing too prying but Taeyeon couldn't help but feel a rush of annoyance at his curiosity.
"Yeah, I guess I do." She guessed - no, she did, she just didn't want to give him a person to pry further. To ask her more about it when, honestly, she wasn't in the mood to talk (at least, not with him).
"You guess?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?" Her own question escaped from her lips, laced with the annoyance she was feeling, before she could stop it from doing so. Not bothering to catch sight of his reaction, Taeyeon turned back in the direction she'd been beforehand, before beginning in the direction of the back room.
At least he couldn't get to her there.
----
Two more days went by, and then three, four, and five, six, and seven, which gradually faded into another week, and two more. Taeyeon would have expected this guy, this Jonghyun, to go away but he never really did.
After the first two or three visits, he seemed to swing by more to see if Jinwoon was around or out of genuine curiosity about what "hot new releases" were out but he never failed to ask about her day or if she had stumbled on any new music that she liked.
Their conversations never lasted very long. He did most of the talking, while she attempted to focus on anything but the words he was spewing out at her. It was rude, sure, but she really did other things do - not necessarily better things, but still things.
Eventually though, it was becoming difficult to even do that.
The guy really wasn't doing any harm to her and some of the things he had to say were interesting - when she actually bothered to tune into his ramblings for more than two minutes, that was.
It was on a Thursday afternoon, exactly twenty-five minutes before her shift was due to end, that she figured it wouldn't kill her to interact back with him for once.
"… so, my band and I were trying to finish up the set, right? When one of the strings on Jonghun's guitar snapped in two and… god, it wasn't pretty at all. I was convinced that he'd severed one of his fingers when I saw the puddle of blood by his feet and…, it was just gross. We haven't played a show since."
Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion as he digressed - did he always go on about things like that? Wow, she really had been tuning out on him.
And who was Jonghun? Wasn't he Jonghun?
"But you guys are still together, right? I mean, when Rick Allen lost his arm, Def Leppard came back together stronger than ever. I'm pretty sure that you guys can make it through a few split fingers," she shrugged somewhat as she finished off, jumping up onto a cleared off space at the top of the counter behind her.
"Wow, you really haven't been listening to me."
"What?" Eyes shuffling from the face of the other to a corner of the counter across from her (really, she wanted to be looking at anything but him right now, especially when being called out on something so painfully true), she let out a small chuckle. "No, no, no. I've been listening to you, I just…, uh…," tailing off, not sure where to begin her lie, she was halted at the sound of a matching chuckle from the other.
"It's cool, I never thought you were anyway." Turning back to look at the other, she gave him a quizzical look. "It's okay, I don't mind, really, I'm used to it."
Wow, and now she just felt bad. "Shit," she mumbled under her breath. "I'm sorry. I just kind of space out at times." No, it was more like she didn't care as much as she should have but telling him that would have just made her feel worse. "But I'm obviously listening now, so…"
"And that's good enough for me!" He let out, his shoulders perking upward - a smile crossing his features that, if she didn't have such eerie control over her own muscles, she wouldn't have been able to help but return back.
"That's kind of… sad, but okay. Whatever makes you happy."
And then came another laugh from Jonghyun. It almost confused her; what she had said hadn't been particularly warm or funny, and he was still laughing? What was the deal with this guy?
"You're funny," he let out, only causing her further confusion. "But… wow, I should probably get going. I was supposed to be to practice, like, ten minutes ago and we have our big "comeback" show tomorrow and all, so the more preparation, the better."
"Tomorrow?"
Her eyes followed him as he begun to take slow, backward steps toward the exit of the store. "Yeah, tomorrow. I mentioned it a week ago," he paused before giving her another smile. "But you weren't listening, right."
Feeling that same guilt begin to weigh down on her again, she gave off an apologetic shrug. "I'd asked Jinwoon if he'd bring it up to you but I'm guessing he didn't. So, this is me asking you if you'd be interested at all."
Shifting against the top of the counter, "I'll think about it?" It was the most she could give him right now - and as close of an answer to "yes" as anyone ever got out of her.
"Cool, just ask him for the details if you're in it." And, with that, he was gone and she was left wondering why she wasn't already trying to figure out a way out of it.
----
She hadn't been to a club, or good party, in awhile - not since New York. It'd been over two years, sure, and her friends were constantly badgering her to go out with them but she couldn't help but feel all the parties they went to were a little lacking when she'd been to some of the places she had overseas.
Clubbing here was virtually the same as it was in the big apple, but the parties? They were nothing like the ones she'd went to there. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that all the ones she'd attended weren't exactly college parties and had a high attendance of what people there called "bros" but whatever. It'd still been exciting and she was pretty sure that no one here would have been into the idea of a keystand, or been able to withstand one.
Maybe she wasn't giving them the benefit of the doubt though. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it didn't matter because she'd buckled at that invitation to come to this gig of Jonghyun's.
She hadn't told anyone about her decision to come - well, minus Noeul, but that'd been a fluke. She'd kind of already made vague plans with her before she'd been invited to this… thing and didn't have the heart to turn her down. She was her best friend, after all, of twenty-one years and figured she'd understand the change in plans.
And understand she did, Taeyeon thought as she watched her strawberry blonde friend hang over the barricade in front of the terrible excuse for a stage set up. It'd been about ten minutes since she'd wandered over there with a mumble about how "cute that one guitarist was". It hadn't taken long for Taeyeon to figure out that 'said' guitarist was a member of Jonghyun's band, probably that other Jonghun he had mentioned, when she caught sight of a thin layer of medical gauze wrapped around his plucking hand. She'd considered following her friend momentarily before deciding against it - she knew what happened when you were that close to a stage. You either became a risk of getting tramped by the more wild inhabitants of the crowd or being drenched by the sweat of someone in the band playing.
Gross.
Her expression turned sour at the thought as she turned in the direction of the bar, taking a few steps forward to grab an unoccupied seat. She sat in silence, shifting her position once or twice to get a better look at the stage (if she was going to be here, she at least wanted to see everything that was going on up there). Gaze fixed on the counter of the bar, her attention was only pulled away at the sound of a guitar being tuned - the very familiar sound. She hadn't hear that in awhile. It went to show how long it'd been since she'd actually been to any sort of show.
Settling into the sound of practice chords, she was taken off guard by the sudden appear of another body in front of her - just on the opposite side of the bar. Figuring that it was the bartender, she gave a weak smile, trying to put a finger on one of those crazy concoctions that she used to drink back in New York but falling short. "I'll just take a water," she requested lamely, watching as the man's lips turned upward into a million watt smile.
"Nothing wrong with that," he commented back to her as turned a hand under the counter to grab a clean class. Using the tab to fill up the glass, he slid the glass across the counter in her direction. "Hey, this is going to sound weird and I'm pretty sure he'd wring my neck if he knew I told this to you, but…" he trailed off. "Jonghyun - the shorter one up there, you know him, I… hope, he spotted you when you came in here and I'm pretty sure he would have split in two from smiling so hard if he hadn't been drug away by… taller Jonghyun to get ready for the set."
What was this guy talking about?
"Huh?" Was all she could manage out - confusion rushing through her system.
"Sorry, that was completely out of left field. I'm Lee Jinki, or… just Jinki, just call me Jinki. Jonghyun's my best friend." Jesus, did he know everyone?
"You're his best friend," she repeated back flatly as another smile crept across his face. "Sorry, I'm just kind of thrown off by the entire situation. I came here because he wouldn't shut up about this comeback gig or whatever it was. I have no idea why he was going on about me like I'm more important than anyone else here."
Not entirely sure why she was voicing her opinion to someone she'd only known the name of for fifteen seconds, Taeyeon turned her head back in the direction of the stage, just as the bandaged Jonghun stepped up to the mic - mumbling something about being "happy to be back" before strumming the opening strings of an unknown songs.
Feeling the presence of Jinki disappear from behind her, Taeyeon took grip on this side of her water glass, drawing it up toward her lips for a quick sip. The song was good - not amazing, but better than anything she'd sampled over the last few weeks. It had a nice authentic feel to it, which she could appreciate.
It wasn't until the middle of the second song that she actually started to focus on Jonghyun - he was bassist. Of course he'd be bassist; he seemed like the type, that didn't surprise her really. He was good - she had to admit that, but he seemed to be a better singer than bassist.
She casually wondered why he wasn't the one singing lead vocal, as opposed to bandage boy, eyes flickering down to look at the top of her glass (and the water inside, which was quickly becoming less in volume) before turning back up to look at the band - and Jonghyun. It just hadn't occurred to her that he may have been looking back at her.
This Jinki guy had told her that he knew she was here - so, it made sense that he'd try to scope her out in the crowd, especially with how excited he'd apparently been to see her there. It was still strange to her why he'd been happy about her being there, to begin with, but she shrugged it off. It was kind of hard to focus on trying to answer the question for herself when he was starting at her as contently as he was anyway. Eyes locking with his for a moment, she turned them back downward just as he shot a knowing smirk at her, a hot red flush rising up the back of her neck.
Maybe that was her sign to go. Taking a final gulp of her water, bottoming out the glass while doing so, she sat it back down on top of the counter - jumping up from her seat and awkwardly (and unnecessarily) bowing at the again lingering Jinki before beginning off toward the exit of the club.
It was only when she stepped outside the door that she remembered - damn it, Nouel was still inside and if she had any say in the matter, she would have been lingering around the club until it closed if it meant flirting around with bandaged boy for a bit. Letting out a small huff at the realization, Taeyeon took a step back toward the brick wall just outside of the door, back against a wide array of flyers promoting various struggling bands from within the community.
Eyes raising toward a small light above the door, she waited - hands clenched inside the deep pockets of her jacket, breath ghosting in front of her. It wasn't exactly freezing but far from a comfortable temperature - maybe she would have faired better if she'd chosen to bring a hat, scarf and gloves with her. But, no, just a jacket tonight. Just… her luck.
Groaning, she sidestepped toward the opposite side of the door, huddling herself a small corner between a trash can and bike rack, attempting to ignore the rush of people who soon exited at her side. The gig must have been over already. Either their setlist was pathetically short or she'd completely lost track of time. Attempting to fish her phone out of her front jean pocket. When finally managing to do so, she flicked the top open, scrunching her nose when reading the time: after midnight. Late, but there was still a good two to three hours before the club was going to close up and God forbid if she was going to stick there the entire time.
Sliding her fingertip across the top of her screen in an attempt to start a text to Noeul, the painfully undeniable presence of another human stuck her again. She didn't want to look up at first - afraid of who it may of been, a serial killer or scalper or something possibly worse - but caved into temptation, eyes turning up to meet…
Oh. It was just him.
"You left pretty early into the gig," the voice of the other rang true - and completely obvious. "If you hated it, please spare me the pain of having to hear so."
Eyebrow raising, something that was seeming to become a common happening when it came to Jonghyun being around, Taeyeon shook her head. "No, you guys were good," she paused. "I don't know why I left, to be honest. I just… got up and started walking and didn't bother stopping."
"You missed out on my solo though, it's the best part of the set."
She couldn't help but snort at his confidence (was that even the right word for it? maybe cockiness was more accurate). "I'm sure it was fantastic."
"It was, I could play it for you sometime, you know," he paused and, as strange as it was, she could feel that confidence he'd possessed moments beforehand drain away with the few words. "If you're into that sort of thing."
Feeling a charge of nostalgia at the comment (hadn't he said something like that to her during their first conversation?), she gave a shrug. "I might be."
"Right now?"
"No," she rushed out. "Wouldn't it look a little strange if you just pulled out a bass and started soloing to me… right here? No, you know where I am usually."
"The store."
"The store," she repeated back before taking a step to the side. "Anyway, I have to go in there and find my friend. Have a good night."
It was a simple and almost too formal ending to the conversation - considering that look that he'd given her while on stage. Maybe that was why she'd barely been able to look him in the eye just then. She was afraid of the embarrassment she may have ended up causing herself if he pulled that shit again within close proximity.
The only problem now? She'd have to deal with the consequences that came along with not knowing when he may just show up at work and whip his bass out to her for a solo serenade.
The thought alone was enough to make her anxious.
PART TWO
jonghyun/taeyeon; pg-13; 10,138 words (in full)
college!au-niverse
It was like any other day on the job. Jong Wan ahjussi was locked away in his office working hard to seem productive when he was actually doing less than the rest of the workers. Jimin had gotten out of her shift with some excuse about having the flu when, in reality, Taeyeon was completely aware of the existence of the concert she was actually attending. Yi Young had wandered off for her half shift break almost an hour earlier and failed to resurface, and Jinwoon…, well, she had no idea what that one was up to. No one ever really did.
This left everything else up to Taeyeon; from keeping tabs on the front counter, to stocking whatever new incoming items she could to keep the store from getting crowded with boxes and boxes of merchandise. Maybe she would had been a bit pissed off about how prone her coworker's were to "slacking off" if she hadn't come to expect it from them. She didn't take it personally or anything - someone had to care to let something like that go to heart.
And she certainly didn't care.
It was honestly for the better, anyway. She appreciated the quiet time - or as quiet of time someone could manage at work. It wasn't like the place was bustling with customers too often anyway. This gave her time to pop in new releases; to check out their quality, to see if they were worth a second or third listen. Most of the time, they weren't. The quality of music nowadays around the city had went so downhill since the crack of the century that it almost pained her to listen to something she knew would just disappoint her in the end. She'd always let her curiosity get the best of her with music though, even after her friends in New York like Rafael, Tim and Serena had told her to not bother.
She couldn't help it - and it wasn't like she was living overseas anymore.
Frowning slightly at the thought as she pressed a fingertip against the "open" button of her dusty disc player, Taeyeon wondered just how pathetic she was that she was still longing to be back in New York two years after coming back home from there. Probably pretty - but it wasn't like anyone had to know. It wasn't like that would have anyway - according to Jong Wan, she was "positively unreadable most of the time".
She didn't strive to be that way, it just sort of happened. Jinwoon could never tell if she was unimpressed or amused by his "joke of the day" (it was usually the latter though, cheesy humor had always been her niche), and she was pretty sure both Jimin was convinced she hated her (which she didn't). Jong Wan seemed to be the only one who'd ever been able to pick up on how she was feeling about something but, even then, she was still "positively unreadable" to him on some occasions. The only time that she was ever really obvious was when it came to music; like right then, as she popped down the top of her disc player, ready to start her listen of what was sure to be another boring new release.
As the intro to the opening track started, she had to stifle a laugh - it sounded like any other electro pop song out there right now. What had had she honestly been expecting? Right, nothing. She'd been expecting nothing. Shaking her head as the song continued on, she waited for it to finished up - relieved that it seemed to be no more than an intro. As the opening chords of the second track started though, she felt herself ease into the melody a little more. It wasn't anything special but it was, by far, better than that other awful excuse for music.
Head beginning to bobble slightly as the pace of the tune picked up, she took a step to the side - pressing her finger onto the touch screen of the front desk computer, readying herself to take an idle surf of the web until she finished up the album and moved on to another. What the hell else was she supposed to do? She'd already finished up all of the stocking for the day. She'd swept, she'd went and realphabetized the entire blues and jazz sections of the store. There was honestly nothing left to do before her shift came to an end in… two hours. Huffing at the realization that she really had that much longer left on the clock, Taeyeon felt her shoulders fall a bit, finger tracing the computer screen until she found the front page of Naver.
Maybe there was a good movie out or something that she could go and see after she clocked out. Yeah, she'd do that, she'd just search around and see what was playing in theaters then and…
"Hey."
Thought process caught off by the small echo of a greeting, one that barely rivaled to the booming of the third track of the album beneath her earbuds, Taeyeon turned her head to the side slightly to catch who had spoken up to her. It was a boy - just like any other who stumbled into the store; ratty but warm looking jacket with a thick hood thrown over the fringe of his hair, standing slightly slumped. The only difference between him and all of the other boys that came in there was that… well, her didn't seem to have any items that he wanted to check out with. Oh god, did that mean he wanted her to try and help him find something? She hated doing that.
Forcing on her best smile, she raised a hand to flick one of the earbuds out of her ear. "Hey," she repeated back, her tone anything but enthused. "How can I help you?" It pained her having to ask that question every time; pleasantries sucked.
"What are you listening to?" The boy questioned, her question seeming to fly over his head entirely, his (what seemed to be) shorter frame straining to look over the top of the counter. Not exactly sure what he might have been looking for, Taeyeon felt her eyebrow raise upward involuntarily. "Oh," he let out with a small chuckle. "I kind of expected you to be using an iPod," he continued, falling back into his previous slumped position. "A CD player though, that's cool."
"Yeah…," Taeyeon trailed off, not exactly sure where he was going his conversation before pulling the other earbud out and dropping it onto the top of the counter, pushing it against the side of the computer along with her CD player, music still blaring from the tiny speakers. "It's just some shit-…, some new release. It's really nothing special, kind of bland actually. I wouldn't recommend," her eyes flickered away from the boy, hands moving forward to stop the album from playing. "Unless you're into that sort of thing."
"Bland things?" The boy questioned, a smile crossing his features as he leaned against the corner of the counter. "As in: boring? That kind of strings, you don't even know me yet and you're calling me "boring" already."
"Yet?" Taeyeon was almost flabbergasted; who was this guy and what did he think he was doing? He'd seriously been talking to her for less than three minutes and he was going on like she wanted to let the conversation continue on. "Sorry, Sir, but I'm not sure I understand where you're going with that." Maybe that'd make him go away; who under the age of sixty enjoyed being referred to as "sir"? "I'm the help. If you need assistance with anything related to your pending purchases, I'll gladly lend a hand. Otherwise, I'm not sure if I can be of service."
Everything sounded so perfectly scripted out; like she'd had this conversation with her before - because she kind of had. Maybe not the exact, but a few variations of it. "How to get out a conversation before having it" or "how to tell a customer to fuck off without actually telling them to fuck off".
"Okay."
Okay.
It was all she got out of him before he turned on his heel and left the store entirely. Taeyeon gave a shrug of her shoulders - whatever. It was probably good to get that one out of the way before it became a problem anyway. Because a conversation with someone who seemed… social like that (he had to be social, right? Why would he have started a conversation with a random if he wasn't?) just led to them thinking you wanted them to come back for more. And she didn't need that; not at work.
Removing the album from her CD player and placing it back into it's rightful case, she moved back to trying to find theater showtime information, whatshisface falling from mind entirely. Just another face in the crowd, right?
----
Not exactly.
Two days later, Taeyeon resisted the urge to let out a heaving sigh as the same boy rubbed elbows with Jinwoon, who she'd been scheduled with for the first half of her shift that day.
They were friends; he was a year older than Jinwoon. Apparently his name was Jonghyun, unless she'd heard wrong.
Not that she cared.
Running her fingertips along the front of a new shipment of vinyls of various classic rock vinyls that Jong Wan ahjussi had ordered in for his own enjoyment, Taeyeon let out a small, almost wistful sigh as the old record smell wafted off of them. They had to be first or second print; there was no way that there wasn't. These things were probably ten to twenty years older than she was and she wanted them all to herself but she knew she didn't have the money (and Jong Wan wasn't going to just hand one off to her as a "act of kindness", as much as she wanted him to).
Sighing at this thought, she took a step or two backward, tilting her head to take a look at them from a different angle. The cover art was so different from the art on albums nowadays; far more precise, far more…
"Wow, they're beautiful, aren't they?" Taeyeon clenched her eyes together as the familiar voice struck her from behind, almost taking the words right out from her own thoughts. "They don't make them like anymore, do they?"
Hands moving down to the front pockets of her jeans, she gave a small shrug of her shoulders before stepping to the side, distancing the two of them another foot or two. She could practically feel his breath running down the nape of her neck; didn't this guy have any sense of personal space?
"I guess not," she answered back simply before spinning in the opposite direction, readying herself to go back and hide behind the counter again and he decided to leave.
"I don't normally see people look at vinyls the way you just were, do you listen to any of them?" The question was simple enough - nothing too prying but Taeyeon couldn't help but feel a rush of annoyance at his curiosity.
"Yeah, I guess I do." She guessed - no, she did, she just didn't want to give him a person to pry further. To ask her more about it when, honestly, she wasn't in the mood to talk (at least, not with him).
"You guess?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?" Her own question escaped from her lips, laced with the annoyance she was feeling, before she could stop it from doing so. Not bothering to catch sight of his reaction, Taeyeon turned back in the direction she'd been beforehand, before beginning in the direction of the back room.
At least he couldn't get to her there.
----
Two more days went by, and then three, four, and five, six, and seven, which gradually faded into another week, and two more. Taeyeon would have expected this guy, this Jonghyun, to go away but he never really did.
After the first two or three visits, he seemed to swing by more to see if Jinwoon was around or out of genuine curiosity about what "hot new releases" were out but he never failed to ask about her day or if she had stumbled on any new music that she liked.
Their conversations never lasted very long. He did most of the talking, while she attempted to focus on anything but the words he was spewing out at her. It was rude, sure, but she really did other things do - not necessarily better things, but still things.
Eventually though, it was becoming difficult to even do that.
The guy really wasn't doing any harm to her and some of the things he had to say were interesting - when she actually bothered to tune into his ramblings for more than two minutes, that was.
It was on a Thursday afternoon, exactly twenty-five minutes before her shift was due to end, that she figured it wouldn't kill her to interact back with him for once.
"… so, my band and I were trying to finish up the set, right? When one of the strings on Jonghun's guitar snapped in two and… god, it wasn't pretty at all. I was convinced that he'd severed one of his fingers when I saw the puddle of blood by his feet and…, it was just gross. We haven't played a show since."
Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion as he digressed - did he always go on about things like that? Wow, she really had been tuning out on him.
And who was Jonghun? Wasn't he Jonghun?
"But you guys are still together, right? I mean, when Rick Allen lost his arm, Def Leppard came back together stronger than ever. I'm pretty sure that you guys can make it through a few split fingers," she shrugged somewhat as she finished off, jumping up onto a cleared off space at the top of the counter behind her.
"Wow, you really haven't been listening to me."
"What?" Eyes shuffling from the face of the other to a corner of the counter across from her (really, she wanted to be looking at anything but him right now, especially when being called out on something so painfully true), she let out a small chuckle. "No, no, no. I've been listening to you, I just…, uh…," tailing off, not sure where to begin her lie, she was halted at the sound of a matching chuckle from the other.
"It's cool, I never thought you were anyway." Turning back to look at the other, she gave him a quizzical look. "It's okay, I don't mind, really, I'm used to it."
Wow, and now she just felt bad. "Shit," she mumbled under her breath. "I'm sorry. I just kind of space out at times." No, it was more like she didn't care as much as she should have but telling him that would have just made her feel worse. "But I'm obviously listening now, so…"
"And that's good enough for me!" He let out, his shoulders perking upward - a smile crossing his features that, if she didn't have such eerie control over her own muscles, she wouldn't have been able to help but return back.
"That's kind of… sad, but okay. Whatever makes you happy."
And then came another laugh from Jonghyun. It almost confused her; what she had said hadn't been particularly warm or funny, and he was still laughing? What was the deal with this guy?
"You're funny," he let out, only causing her further confusion. "But… wow, I should probably get going. I was supposed to be to practice, like, ten minutes ago and we have our big "comeback" show tomorrow and all, so the more preparation, the better."
"Tomorrow?"
Her eyes followed him as he begun to take slow, backward steps toward the exit of the store. "Yeah, tomorrow. I mentioned it a week ago," he paused before giving her another smile. "But you weren't listening, right."
Feeling that same guilt begin to weigh down on her again, she gave off an apologetic shrug. "I'd asked Jinwoon if he'd bring it up to you but I'm guessing he didn't. So, this is me asking you if you'd be interested at all."
Shifting against the top of the counter, "I'll think about it?" It was the most she could give him right now - and as close of an answer to "yes" as anyone ever got out of her.
"Cool, just ask him for the details if you're in it." And, with that, he was gone and she was left wondering why she wasn't already trying to figure out a way out of it.
----
She hadn't been to a club, or good party, in awhile - not since New York. It'd been over two years, sure, and her friends were constantly badgering her to go out with them but she couldn't help but feel all the parties they went to were a little lacking when she'd been to some of the places she had overseas.
Clubbing here was virtually the same as it was in the big apple, but the parties? They were nothing like the ones she'd went to there. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that all the ones she'd attended weren't exactly college parties and had a high attendance of what people there called "bros" but whatever. It'd still been exciting and she was pretty sure that no one here would have been into the idea of a keystand, or been able to withstand one.
Maybe she wasn't giving them the benefit of the doubt though. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it didn't matter because she'd buckled at that invitation to come to this gig of Jonghyun's.
She hadn't told anyone about her decision to come - well, minus Noeul, but that'd been a fluke. She'd kind of already made vague plans with her before she'd been invited to this… thing and didn't have the heart to turn her down. She was her best friend, after all, of twenty-one years and figured she'd understand the change in plans.
And understand she did, Taeyeon thought as she watched her strawberry blonde friend hang over the barricade in front of the terrible excuse for a stage set up. It'd been about ten minutes since she'd wandered over there with a mumble about how "cute that one guitarist was". It hadn't taken long for Taeyeon to figure out that 'said' guitarist was a member of Jonghyun's band, probably that other Jonghun he had mentioned, when she caught sight of a thin layer of medical gauze wrapped around his plucking hand. She'd considered following her friend momentarily before deciding against it - she knew what happened when you were that close to a stage. You either became a risk of getting tramped by the more wild inhabitants of the crowd or being drenched by the sweat of someone in the band playing.
Gross.
Her expression turned sour at the thought as she turned in the direction of the bar, taking a few steps forward to grab an unoccupied seat. She sat in silence, shifting her position once or twice to get a better look at the stage (if she was going to be here, she at least wanted to see everything that was going on up there). Gaze fixed on the counter of the bar, her attention was only pulled away at the sound of a guitar being tuned - the very familiar sound. She hadn't hear that in awhile. It went to show how long it'd been since she'd actually been to any sort of show.
Settling into the sound of practice chords, she was taken off guard by the sudden appear of another body in front of her - just on the opposite side of the bar. Figuring that it was the bartender, she gave a weak smile, trying to put a finger on one of those crazy concoctions that she used to drink back in New York but falling short. "I'll just take a water," she requested lamely, watching as the man's lips turned upward into a million watt smile.
"Nothing wrong with that," he commented back to her as turned a hand under the counter to grab a clean class. Using the tab to fill up the glass, he slid the glass across the counter in her direction. "Hey, this is going to sound weird and I'm pretty sure he'd wring my neck if he knew I told this to you, but…" he trailed off. "Jonghyun - the shorter one up there, you know him, I… hope, he spotted you when you came in here and I'm pretty sure he would have split in two from smiling so hard if he hadn't been drug away by… taller Jonghyun to get ready for the set."
What was this guy talking about?
"Huh?" Was all she could manage out - confusion rushing through her system.
"Sorry, that was completely out of left field. I'm Lee Jinki, or… just Jinki, just call me Jinki. Jonghyun's my best friend." Jesus, did he know everyone?
"You're his best friend," she repeated back flatly as another smile crept across his face. "Sorry, I'm just kind of thrown off by the entire situation. I came here because he wouldn't shut up about this comeback gig or whatever it was. I have no idea why he was going on about me like I'm more important than anyone else here."
Not entirely sure why she was voicing her opinion to someone she'd only known the name of for fifteen seconds, Taeyeon turned her head back in the direction of the stage, just as the bandaged Jonghun stepped up to the mic - mumbling something about being "happy to be back" before strumming the opening strings of an unknown songs.
Feeling the presence of Jinki disappear from behind her, Taeyeon took grip on this side of her water glass, drawing it up toward her lips for a quick sip. The song was good - not amazing, but better than anything she'd sampled over the last few weeks. It had a nice authentic feel to it, which she could appreciate.
It wasn't until the middle of the second song that she actually started to focus on Jonghyun - he was bassist. Of course he'd be bassist; he seemed like the type, that didn't surprise her really. He was good - she had to admit that, but he seemed to be a better singer than bassist.
She casually wondered why he wasn't the one singing lead vocal, as opposed to bandage boy, eyes flickering down to look at the top of her glass (and the water inside, which was quickly becoming less in volume) before turning back up to look at the band - and Jonghyun. It just hadn't occurred to her that he may have been looking back at her.
This Jinki guy had told her that he knew she was here - so, it made sense that he'd try to scope her out in the crowd, especially with how excited he'd apparently been to see her there. It was still strange to her why he'd been happy about her being there, to begin with, but she shrugged it off. It was kind of hard to focus on trying to answer the question for herself when he was starting at her as contently as he was anyway. Eyes locking with his for a moment, she turned them back downward just as he shot a knowing smirk at her, a hot red flush rising up the back of her neck.
Maybe that was her sign to go. Taking a final gulp of her water, bottoming out the glass while doing so, she sat it back down on top of the counter - jumping up from her seat and awkwardly (and unnecessarily) bowing at the again lingering Jinki before beginning off toward the exit of the club.
It was only when she stepped outside the door that she remembered - damn it, Nouel was still inside and if she had any say in the matter, she would have been lingering around the club until it closed if it meant flirting around with bandaged boy for a bit. Letting out a small huff at the realization, Taeyeon took a step back toward the brick wall just outside of the door, back against a wide array of flyers promoting various struggling bands from within the community.
Eyes raising toward a small light above the door, she waited - hands clenched inside the deep pockets of her jacket, breath ghosting in front of her. It wasn't exactly freezing but far from a comfortable temperature - maybe she would have faired better if she'd chosen to bring a hat, scarf and gloves with her. But, no, just a jacket tonight. Just… her luck.
Groaning, she sidestepped toward the opposite side of the door, huddling herself a small corner between a trash can and bike rack, attempting to ignore the rush of people who soon exited at her side. The gig must have been over already. Either their setlist was pathetically short or she'd completely lost track of time. Attempting to fish her phone out of her front jean pocket. When finally managing to do so, she flicked the top open, scrunching her nose when reading the time: after midnight. Late, but there was still a good two to three hours before the club was going to close up and God forbid if she was going to stick there the entire time.
Sliding her fingertip across the top of her screen in an attempt to start a text to Noeul, the painfully undeniable presence of another human stuck her again. She didn't want to look up at first - afraid of who it may of been, a serial killer or scalper or something possibly worse - but caved into temptation, eyes turning up to meet…
Oh. It was just him.
"You left pretty early into the gig," the voice of the other rang true - and completely obvious. "If you hated it, please spare me the pain of having to hear so."
Eyebrow raising, something that was seeming to become a common happening when it came to Jonghyun being around, Taeyeon shook her head. "No, you guys were good," she paused. "I don't know why I left, to be honest. I just… got up and started walking and didn't bother stopping."
"You missed out on my solo though, it's the best part of the set."
She couldn't help but snort at his confidence (was that even the right word for it? maybe cockiness was more accurate). "I'm sure it was fantastic."
"It was, I could play it for you sometime, you know," he paused and, as strange as it was, she could feel that confidence he'd possessed moments beforehand drain away with the few words. "If you're into that sort of thing."
Feeling a charge of nostalgia at the comment (hadn't he said something like that to her during their first conversation?), she gave a shrug. "I might be."
"Right now?"
"No," she rushed out. "Wouldn't it look a little strange if you just pulled out a bass and started soloing to me… right here? No, you know where I am usually."
"The store."
"The store," she repeated back before taking a step to the side. "Anyway, I have to go in there and find my friend. Have a good night."
It was a simple and almost too formal ending to the conversation - considering that look that he'd given her while on stage. Maybe that was why she'd barely been able to look him in the eye just then. She was afraid of the embarrassment she may have ended up causing herself if he pulled that shit again within close proximity.
The only problem now? She'd have to deal with the consequences that came along with not knowing when he may just show up at work and whip his bass out to her for a solo serenade.
The thought alone was enough to make her anxious.
PART TWO