lyricist°l.jn [editing]

chapter one: love at first sight?

  "Our songwriter hyung retired, didn't he?" Jisung asks as they all sit scattered around the recording studio's waiting room.

  Renjun furrows. "I thought, he moved away."

  "Oh, right," the other remembers.

  Donghyuck flips through his lyric sheets. "The songs are good, though."

  They listened the demos before so it's much easier for them to catch on and they all do agree, the songs are nice.

  But the idea of working with a composer and lyricist they're not familiar with does make them feel a bit out of place.

  "Meraki, that's the name," Mark reads the composer's name written below on the sheets.

  Chenle hums. "That's new. It's my first time hearing this name."

  "I heard manager hyung saying that the composer is new but her songs have been bought before by other groups and those songs all became hits," Jeno tells.

  "Really?" Jaemin asks.

  The door leading to the recording room suddenly, opens and the assistant producer pops his head in. "Alright, you all can start going in now."

  Mark enters first and from outside they can faintly hear his powerful rapping. Of course, it's Mark we're talking about.

  Renjun and Donghyuck start talking about their parts as they wait. Chenle plays games with Jisung, Jeno plays with his phone in silence while Jaemin lies his head on his shoulder sleepily.

  They all turn their heads to the door when Mark exits.

  "How is she?" Renjun asks in a whisper- afraid that their new songwriter will hear.

  Mark starts whispering too. "She's really nice and young, actually."

  "Young?" Chenle furrows. It's not very common for them to have staff near their average age. And since Mark calls her young then, she must be around that.

  Mark nods. "Yup. Like, us. Jaemin you're up."

  The younger goes in and again, after a while, he's done and the first thing he says is,

  "She's pretty. Reminds me of Deiji."

  "Please, you're lovesick," Donghyuck scoffs and Jeno just smiles at their bicker as he ambles into the recording area.

  He looks at the composer who's focused on her notebook with her long hair covering her face.

  "Ah, Jeno-ssi. Just go inside the box and practice your lines while we prepare the audio," the male producer ushers warmly.

  Jeno nods and bows a little before heading in.

  "Jeno-ssi," a female voice calls just after he puts down his lyric sheets.

  He raises his head and his sharp, charismatic eyes meet with her round, gentle ones.

  For a moment there, they both seem oddly entranced before she breaks it.

  She grins softly. "You can start now."

  Jeno wears the headphones, puzzled for a slight.

  He starts his rap strongly- more vigorous than usual and he, himself notices that.

  It's almost as if he's trying to impress her.

  "Wow! That was great! Perfect!"

  Her bright exclamation brings his mind back to where he is and he looks at her beaming face- radiating blindly even, for the eyesmile prince.

  "With this, we don't even need a retake," she says and listens to his recorded raw voice.

  She nods along with the fierce beats of his passionate tone and smiles subconsciously at how nice it sounds. "Great! This is amazing! If you're ready and satisfied, you may proceed with your next verse."

  Jeno's heart flutters, oddly more flattered than usual. "...I'll go to the next verse."

  "Alrighty, take it away!"

  The corners of his lips curl up at her easygoing way of speech and he shakes his head- focusing back on the recording.