Next day had come and honestly, Jiwoo was still in a daze on what happened the day before. Meeting Oh Songyi after five years had taken her feelings on a wild roller coaster, and to top that off, she had confessed to Jung Jaehyun, and it ended to how she hoped. It was all happiness, but it all felt like a dream.

So, she had to call Minah and meet up with her so she can truly rant about every little thing. So, the stylist had rushed over to the seventh floor studio along with drinks and food for them to munch on to have their much-needed chat.

The moment Minah had entered the room, the words had come out of Jiwoo's lips like a waterfall. She tried her best to get in every detail of the day before, from when she had arrived to Queen Kona's to the point where her and Jaehyun had to part ways once arriving back to the SM building. All while eating the black bean noodles Minah had gotten, she listened to every word, hanging on to process Jiwoo's eventful day.

"First, I find out about you and Taeyong's relationship, then met with Songyi-unnie, then the thing with Jaehyun. It doesn't seem all real, does it?" Jiwoo huffed out after taking a bite of the noodles.

Minah chuckled at the younger's reaction to her own life. "Girl, you better believe it. But I gotta say, I'm so damn happy for you. Everything seems to be working out, right?"

"I guess so," Jiwoo nodded. She sat back in her chair and swiveled it around to the soundboard. Her hand ran across the buttons and knobs of the machine. "So much happened that it doesn't seem real. The only believable thing about yesterday was you and Taeyong."

"Jiwoo-yah!" Minah quipped, pushing the girl playfully. "Stop that already, will you? I'm flustered just thinking about how dumb we acted."

"You should be," Jiwoo giggled, turning back around to face her friend. "You two must really like each other to be fighting over something like that. Aish, because of you two were thinking of two different anniversaries? That's so ridiculous."

"All in the name of love." A sigh left the older girl's lips, eyes trained on the plastic bowl of noodles before her. "You'd think we'd learn after all the stuff we went through together. But I'm always a little weird whenever I'm with Taeyongie."

"I knew you two were close, but sometimes you get so close with the others that it doesn't really cross my mind much."

"Well, true, I have known nearly everyone way before they debuted. Probably three years at most?" Jiwoo blinked, that was around the time she had joined back into SM. "I've known Taeyong longer though. Way before he even auditioned for SM, we went to the same school together. That's where we met. Even back then, he was very handsome."

"That's Taeyong for you," the other quoted.

Minah nodded at this. "So, being how I am, I wanted to become acquainted with him."

"And you did."

"More or less," she chuckled. "He was kind of shy around girls. But we did greet each other comfortably whenever we pass in the hallways, you know. He had his own life and I had mine. It wasn't until I saw him again a year after, when he was already a trainee and I was in beauty school, we really gotten closer. I followed this one unnie around, who was like my mentor at the time, whenever she had gigs for models in small pictorials. I was helping her whenever she needed it. Then came the day when my unnie had the opportunity to work with SM and SM rookies."

"That's when you saw him again, wasn't it?"

Minah grinned. "It was. So we were able to talk again. He was a bit more open, I think it was more because I was someone he knew before and it was like a sense of nostalgia or something. So, because I was so close to Taeyong, I was able to work on his makeup myself, as well as a few others. Surprisingly the next day, I was called to help with another SM Rookie thing... and they just continued calling me in to help. I find out weeks later it's only because Taeyong asked for it. Before I know it, the boys at the time, Johnny, Yuta, Hansol, Jaehyun, and Taeyong became very used to me, and that's how I came to work for NCT."

"Wow, that's really cool," Jiwoo uttered in awe at the story. She had seen some predebut pictures of the boys with Minah. She could only wish she had known everyone for as long as as the stylist did. But besides that, she was glad the boys had someone like Minah through the past few years. "And then how did you and Taeyong start dating?"

"Eh, it was a more gradual thing," the older sighed. "I've always was a bit attracted to Taeyong, but it grew the more we hung out together. The boy went through some things, and I was there for him. I went through some things, and he was there for me. Us dating just sort of happened all of a sudden." She peered over at Jiwoo, her expression soft and dreamy. "I love that boy a lot. Even if we weren't dating, I would still want to stay by his side. He tries so hard to keep up a shield and portray himself as strong, but he just wants to be loved. It makes me thankful for the boys for being the kind of people Taeyong needs... you too."

"Me?" Jiwoo uttered in question.

"Yeah. I think it was very good to have someone else new join us. I couldn't have asked for a better person," Minah replied with a nod. "I can't be the only girl in the group any longer!"

"Yah, I had so much baggage. I seriously dragged all of you into my drama so unnecessarily!"

"It's all in the past now, remember? We're not going to ditch you, Jiwoo-yah. It's not like you have anything else hidden, right?" Minah gestured for the black bean noodles. "Keep eating, my precious dongsaeng."

At the question, it made Jiwoo think. She leaned forward in her seat, grabbing her music notebook from the counter to the right of her. Her hand with the notebook extended out to the stylist. "Well, want to look through the stuff I've been working on for the past year? It's all in this notebook."

Minah set down her chopsticks and instantly snatched the notebook from the younger's hands. "Ah! The day has come when I get to see how much of a musical genius our lovely Shim Jiwoo is~ Has Jaehyun looked in here yet?" Jiwoo shook her head in reply. "Omo, I'm the first? What an honor!"

Jiwoo watched as her friend flipped open the book to a random page and read the notes, as well as lyrics on some of them. The once content expression morphed into one of confusion and shock. The moment Minah glimpsed back over as if for confirmation for her assumption, Jiwoo merely smiled.

"So, I'm NCT's main composer."

"No fucking way!" Minah screeched, bursting out of her seat. She waved the notebook in the air in an accusatory manner, mouth agape. "Shim Jiwoo!"

Jiwoo grimaced at the sudden loudness of her voice. "Are you mad?"

"Mad? No, just a bit frustrated that it's only now I know I've been loving your songs." Minah flipped another page of the notebook. "And these are future songs, oh my lord. My friend is a musical genius! You're SJ Woo?!"

"We can listen to a couple samples I made," the composer beamed.

"Yes please!"

The two girls continued on their hang out over Jiwoo's equipment, going around on her computer and picking out music files that had snippets of unofficial songs. They listened and jammed to every song, and Minah's respect for the girl only grew tenfold.

An hour had passed since they've been listening, they haven't realized that someone had been lightly knocking on the door. Impatient for the composer's answer, one opened the door himself, being cautious not to disturb the girl... however, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Minah-noona?"

The older girl turned her attention around to the unexpected voice. A smile pulled at her lips once recognizing the boy that arrived. "Omo, how cute. You two already having secret rendezvous together? So scandalous!"

Jaehyun scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah, noona, that's not the case--"

"Jae don't worry. Unnie already knows," Jiwoo interjected, with her own warm smile at the sight of her boyfriend. "What are you doing here? I thought you and the others are having dance practice right now."

"Well, we do, but we're on break... and someone wanted to see you."

Minah and Jiwoo exchanged unsure glances. Jaehyun stepped inside the studio so to allow the other visitor to come inside right after him. Both the girls held shocked expressions, but for two different reasons.

"Youngho-oppa!" Jiwoo instantly proclaimed out at the sight of the tall male that she hadn't seen for years. She couldn't help but stare in slight awe, the man truly did change a bit over time. And she should've known this day would come, she knew he was a part of SM Rookies... but again, it was her superstitions that stopped herself from seeing him nor contacting him.

She did want him to succeed in his dream, she had always prayed for the day her trainee friends would debut.

"Wow, it really is our little prodigy," Johnny uttered in bewilderment. "Shim Jiwoo, you're in trouble!"

The girl froze, taken aback by the sudden threat. "Why?"

"For falling off the face of the earth for five years!" To continue her surprise, he stepped over to Jiwoo and engulfed her into a crushing hug, encasing her close to his body. With the boy being way taller than she remembered him, her face squished onto his chest. "Holy shit, I didn't want to believe you're the same Jiwoo that the boys kept going on about. But you are and you're back here." He pulled away from her, hands firm on her shoulder, his eyes boring into hers. "You're very mean!"

"I-I'm sorry, oppa," Jiwoo murmured with a frown.

"But I'm really happy to see you and that you're with us. How about you and me try to figure out a day to hang out so we can catch up? I would invite Sehun too but he's always so busy nowadays."

"That sounds nice."

"Wait up!" Jaehyun unexpectedly squeezed himself between the two reunited friends, cautiously removing Johnny's hands off of Jiwoo. "Just the two of you?"

A chuckle escaped Johnny, quickly noticing the surge of jealousy in his group member's eyes. "Don't worry, Jaehyun, I'm not going to steal your girlfriend away."

"You know?" Minah asked, blinking over at the fellow 95-liner.

"Um, doesn't everyone now?" Johnny laughed. "This boy returned back to the dorms basically screaming and shouting in joy that he's finally dating Jiwoo. He was completely mush."

Jiwoo peered over at the very flushed Jaehyun with a raised brow. "You did?"

"Hyung, I told you not to mention it... ever."

"How cute!" Jiwoo cooed as she linked her arm with Jaehyun's. She patted at the boy's heated cheeks, grinning at the mere thought of him being like that.

It was just reassuring that she could do that to Jaehyun... just as much emotion he gave her.

"What? I don't know about you but Jiwoo and I have a lot to make up for, so I think it'd good to show my loyalty by exposing you."

Minah chortled at Johnny's reasoning. "That's horrible!"

"I'll accept it," Jiwoo laughed as she gave the American boy a hi-five. "But wait, so everyone knows about mine and Jaehyun's relationship now?"

"Yeah, and I think the babies caught on too," Johnny replied with a shrug. "You know how Haechan is."

"Of course it's Haechan," Minah sighed.

"Don't think you're free either, Minah-yah. Everyone knew about your relationship with Taeyong too."

"What?! Jaehyun-ah?"

"Um, yeah. We all knew about it, but we didn't want to bring it up," the younger boy confessed to Minah. "Taeyong isn't really the most discreet when asking us for relationship advice."

"Oh, I'm asking for a friend, is what he'd usually say," Johnny added with a roll of his eyes. "He thinks he's sly, when he isn't."

"Aw, poor Taeyong," Jiwoo snorted. She glanced over at her her best friend. "I guess we're on the same boat."

Minah pouted, "I guess so... but if word gets out about either of our relationships outside of the group, you're dead, Johnny Seo!"

The tallest of the four frowned. "Just me? I think you should be worried about the others." Minah's stern glare didn't lighten up, and so in response, Johnny agreed, "Yes ma'am."

"By the way, Jiwoo-noona," Jaehyun popped up all of a sudden. "And Minah-noona, want to come and watch our dance practice? We've just about got down the moves to Limitless."

"Sounds good to me," Minah agreed.

"Same."

"Well, then let's go. Our break is about over." The four then left the music studio to the NCT practice room.

And while they made their way there, Jaehyun and Jiwoo managed to link pinky fingers without being caught by anyone. As small as the touch was, it was enough to show Jiwoo how very much real her relationship with the rookie idol was. Surreal, but this was something she was willing to hold on to. And it was even better to know that her whole group of friends supported it very much.

And she'd be completely stupid if she were to let her lucky charm, her source of strength and happiness go to waste.

~  *  ~  *  ~  *  ~

It was a new other day.

Later today, the boys participating in NCT Life will be filming their finale episode, in which they'll be having their last competition at the company's S Restaurant. Jaehyun being one of the two finalists brought Jiwoo great joy, very proud that he was an impressive chef... at least between the two of them, one of them can cook. And yeah, she was proud of Ten too, she got to admit that his dishes were unique and delicious, she had to give him props as someone with even less cooking experience than her.

However, Jiwoo decided, just one last time, she was going to visit the Shaman. After all the events, the girl finally felt free. She no longer felt like she was restricted and limited by her fears. Bad luck? That didn't faze her as much nowadays, much to her awe.

She had depended on the Shaman for the past three years, and now she can finally move on from him and be able to make her own decisions.

"Jiwoo, that makes me really happy to hear," Shaman Sanghyuk quipped after taking a sip of tea that he had freshly prepared for the two of them. The young girl nodded with a small smile. She was happy too that she could overcome this. "Finally, I can feel at ease. I feel like I ruined your life..."

"I don't know, Shaman-nim. You meant well when you tried to warn me about not debuting that day," Jiwoo replied. "We were meant to meet and cross paths, and now we no longer have to... I mean, I'll definitely visit from time to time!"

The scruffy-haired man let out a laugh. "Please do. Plus, Rosie and Subin would love for you to visit at times too."

"Of course! I'm also a valued customer at this boutique, how can I not come by?"

Jiwoo's eyes wandered around the room once again, possibly the last time she'll see it. The masks, the bottles of varying items, the scrolls... She remembered when she was once so appalled by it all... and once so obsessed with them. And now they had little to no effect on her. Being with NCT for four months truly changed her and it really wasn't that long they've been altogether. It's amazing to wonder about.

"I hope all the best for you, Shim Jiwoo because even I can see that your future is just going to get better from here on out."

"Thank you, shaman-nim," she beamed. "I guess my curse for seeing idols and trainees are over?"

"Long over. You can feel rest assured."

"That's great. Maybe I can finally watch a SHINee performance live for once too."

It was actually yesterday when Lee Sooman had randomly called the composer to his office. With the comeback only coming out in a couple days, the CEO decided that he would try his luck again and give the girl passes to the music show the five-boy group will be making their comeback stage. And to his surprise, and a little bit to Jiwoo's, she accepted the passes without complaints, an extra one for her to invite. She was ready to see her bias group without feeling guilt and worry. She'll finally be able to cheer on wholeheartedly.

"And I'm sure they'll greet you warmly."

"Yeah, here's to hoping." She sipped on the soothing, warm tea to the last drop and set the porcelain cup back onto the table. A sigh of content left her lips.

"I'm very glad everything is resolved with Oh Songyi. Do try to visit her often when you're not busy."

Jiwoo nodded. "I will. She's my unnie, after all. Plus the cafe she runs has some pretty delicious stuff, so I'll definitely be returning there. It all feels surreal, to be honest. Since everything that happened within the past few months were things that I've been dreading for years. And now that I've gotten past all of it, it... all of it is truly over. I have nothing to stop me now."

"Yes, this was something I was wishing to happen for the longest time," the shaman responded, running his hand through his beard. "Jiwoo, you've been through too much for such an age, please try to live as comfortably from now on."

It really is a new page in my life.

And I'm going to be happy with it from now on.

"Well, since you said so, shaman-nim, I guess I'll definitely have to."

A/n: VIXX's Us Now basically is the song that inspired the chapter. However, it was more for as Taeyong and Minah's own song, since the lyrics fit so well for the kind of relationship I imagined for them to have. And we do get a bit of back story for them! (Thank you to Inês for this sprouting this idea for me)

Plus hello to Jiwoo and Johnny reunion (lol as if the gif wasn't a hint enough) I know some people had caught his name back in the last chapter~ it was inevitable for this reunion to happen.

And so, this chapter was more for me to start wrapping up things, as Jiwoo is beginning to be more open with herself and accepting life as it is. She had grown into a strong woman, y'all 😭

I'm honestly very close to finishing this story, with either one or two chapters left to pick up any loose ends.

So I want to ask everyone who's reading if there's something you want to see! More interactions with certain people? Any particular event to happen? I'm open to suggestions, but please keep in mind I might not do everything if it doesn't really flow with the story!

Anyways, thank you to all who read. Let's push on to the end!