Work Text:
“Jaehyun, please check over the final draft. I emailed you the link already. Vogue asked us to check over everything if you’re satisfied and nothing needs to be changed. They want a reply by tonight. Also, remember to submit the second draft for Hot Sauce by Tuesday.”
“Sure thing,” Jaehyun bid farewell to his manager and stepped into the lounge space at his workplace. It was around 4 in the afternoon and he had just finished a long day full of meetings with new talents at the entertainment company as well as a recording session with an idol group. Working as an author and songwriter was a busy life but he made things work.
He was waiting for Doyoung to finish up with a meeting with another artist. They usually took the same car to grab dinner and then go home to their shared penthouse apartment.
He sat down on his favourite couch near the window and placed his laptop on the table in front of him. He quickly found the link to the video in the email and seeing as he was the only one occupying the entire lounge, he didn’t need to wear his earphones.
-
VogueKR_73Q_JJH_final_draft.mp4
Click.
The camera faced a window that was inside the elevator that led up to the 127th floor showing a beautiful view spanning the entire city of Seoul during the day. Then, the video sped up until the interviewer, who was behind the camera, rang the doorbell to the suite. The video had the suite number blurred out. “This has got to be the fanciest apartment we’ve ever had an interview on,” the interviewer’s voice behind the camera finally spoke.
“Come in, it’s open!” Jaehyun called out.
“Hi, Jaehyun!”
“Hi, Vogue. Welcome to my home!” The camera pointed at Jaehyun who was in the middle of his living room sitting in front of a classic black grand piano.
“Hope you’re ready for the 73 questions interview today.”
The screen flashed a serif font that said “73 Q's with Jeong Jaehyun”.
“I am. Thank you for having me. But first, some background music?” Jaehyun grinned and played a quick tune on the piano from one end to the other.
“Sounds great. By the way, what’s the name of the scent in your home? It’s absolutely refreshing.”
“It’s from Chungdam Fragrance’s Marble Diffuser series. This one is called ‘Back To You’, it’s supposed to smell like the ocean. It takes me back to the times when I was having writer’s block. I would visit the beach near my childhood home and it would calm me down.”
“Well, the scent smells great. What have you been doing lately in your free time?”
“I’ve been reading lots of books on the terrace and drinking fruit juice. Sometimes I take out my bike and go around the park nearby.”
“Nice. Are you working on any new music lately?”
“Always. I’m working on the title song for SM’s latest movie, Hot Sauce. It’s very fun collaborating with the other songwriters like Kim Doyoung and Mark Lee.”
“Speaking of Kim Doyoung, you’ve recently announced that you two are in a relationship on V-App last week. We know he is a very notable songwriter in SM as well but when did you meet?”
“We’ve actually known each other since high school. We were in the school orchestra together. He played flute, I played piano. But we didn’t get close until later.”
“Until when?”
“We reconnected during university when our senior, Jongdae, married his wife. Doyoung was the wedding singer and his friend, Kun, was going to play the piano, but Kun didn't feel well and had to leave. I filled in for him and the rest was history.”
“How long have you been playing the piano?”
“Since I was five. My father is a piano teacher and my mother sings. Music runs in our family.” Jaehyun fiddled around with his sheet music in front of him. It was a copy of Schubert’s Impromptu Op. 90 No. 2 which he was learning for fun. He closed the sheet music folder and stood up.
“Which parent do you resemble more?”
“My father. I have his dimples!” Jaehyun pointed at both of them as he grinned for the camera. They slowly walked over to the kitchen area.
“So back to you and Doyoung.” The interviewer spoke while Jaehyun nodded, “Who cooks more?”
Jaehyun went to the fridge and opened it, looking for something to grab. “We both do actually. Although, he’s been cooking more lately. I’ve been working on a new book so I haven’t had that much time. Oh, and our good friend, Xiaojun, usually sends us some recipes to try out. We’d test it out and give him feedback on how difficult it was for us.”
“Ah, the Youtuber, DJ Cooks?”
“Yep! We met him through Ten, one of the choreographers in SM. He’s a long-time friend of ours. Want some?” Jaehyun offered a bottle of Pocari Sweat he took out earlier.
“I’ll pass, but thanks. What’s your favourite thing to eat lately?”
“Doyoung makes really good kimchi fried rice and japchae. I’ll never get tired of his cooking. But for me, I’m good at making spicy pork stir-fry as well as ramyeon. We like eating it for dinner but I always make too much so we have leftovers for the next day. It makes a good lunch too.”
“What’s something you two do together to destress besides work on music?”
“On the 50th floor, there’s an indoor court that has a view of the entire city. We go there a lot when we’re free. I play basketball by myself a lot while Doyoung watches. Then, on the rooftop, there’s an infinity pool. Both of us love swimming and that’s something we do together a lot. You can see the stars from there too. Some wine by the stars, doesn’t that sound lovely?”
“Haha, they don’t call you a romantic for nothing. You love this building, do you?”
“I do, it’s such a nice place to live. I’m really blessed to be able to afford living here every day.” Jaehyun always stayed humble even when he was in a better spot in life. He walked over to their gigantic balcony which was filled with various types of plants.
“You have a lot of plants. What’s your favourite out of these?”
“This one. It's called a sophora. I got it recently. It’s actually my first plant. The rest belong to Doie. Admittedly, I’m not much of a plant parent until we moved in together. I don’t really like having an extra responsibility but I guess things have changed.” Jaehyun looked warmly at the plant in a peach-coloured pot. “Want to sit?”
“Sure.” The interviewer sat down on the lounge chair there along with Jaehyun who took a sip from the drink. “Let’s do some speed questions, Jaehyun.”
“Alright.”
“Vintage or new?”
“Vintage.”
“Morning or evening?”
“Evening.”
“R&B or rock?”
“R&B.”
“Favourite purchase in your early 20s?”
“My turntable for my vinyl collection.”
-
Jaehyun took out his phone and checked his text messages while mindlessly listening to the video. He remembered that the next few questions were pretty basic. Doyoung sent him a message saying he would be done in a few minutes. He then replied with a pompompurin sticker that did a thumbs up. A few minutes later, he shifted his focus back to the video.
-
“An interesting gift you received lately?” They were in the living room again, this time sitting on the couch.
“One of our friends on this floor, Jungwoo, gave me a drone on my birthday. We used the drone to film some fun stuff around the neighbourhood during morning jogs.”
“Who goes on the morning jogs?”
“Besides me, there’s Doie, Yuta, and Jungwoo.”
“Yuta? The famous Japanese soccer player?”
“That’s the one.”
“Speaking of sports, what sports do you like besides basketball and swimming?”
“Bowling. I only got into it last year. My friend, Chanyeol, introduced me to his coach and I took lessons for fun. I love bowling now!” He loved learning new things after all.
Jaehyun finally got up from the seat and they walked to the reading room which had large bookshelves covering the walls and a reading nook by the window. “That’s a lot of books. You love writing, right, Jaehyun?”
“I do.”
“Which work are you most proud of so far?"
“My recent book, The Moon. I’m really proud of that one. I did a lot of research for it.”
“That one will be getting a drama adaptation soon, right?”
“Yes. It’s a science-fiction love story between a human from the earth and a psychic who lives on the moon. They meet and fall in love through music. We're also collaborating with Bang Chan for the score."
“Great! That is something to look forward to!” They walked back to the living room and walked to the dining area. “Your culinary presentation looks impressive. Are you expecting guests?” The camera sarcastically panned to the simple table setting with six plates and silverware sets.
“I already have my guests here — Vogue and the viewers watching this!” Jaehyun winked at the camera while extending his arms dramatically to welcome the viewers as his guests. The interviewer laughed along while Jaehyun walked around leading him into the kitchen once again.
“I forgot to ask, Jaehyun. Why is there a keyboard in the kitchen?” The camera pointed down at the Yamaha keyboard that was resting on the kitchen island and then back to Jaehyun. The kitchen was somewhat closed off from the rest of the apartment.
“The grand piano is too far. I sometimes play the keyboard beside Doie while he cooks. As cheesy as it sounds, we like to spend our time beside each other as much as possible.” Jaehyun smiled, ears turning red.
“Alright, that’s all of the questions we had for you today.”
“Thank you for having me!” Jaehyun bowed while they walked towards the door.
“Hopefully, next time Doyoung can join us.”
“Sounds great. My fiancé will be looking forward to it then.”
Jaehyun let out a fake gasp and shut the door.
-
Jaehyun chuckled. I guess they decided to keep the last part in after all. He wondered if he should ask Doyoung first before sending his approval.
“Jae, have you been waiting long?” Doyoung came into the lounge with his messenger bag and coat already on.
“No, darling. Let’s get dinner now. I’m starving.” They walked out, holding hands, and headed on over to the parking lot. Jaehyun suddenly stopped his tracks before they reached the car. “Wait, Doie.”
“Hmm?”
“I may have spilled something to Vogue…”