Stylist Noona
E P I L O G U E
2 weeks later...
"Hey." Johnny greeted.
"Hi." Gwen responded upon entering his car.
He picked her up right in front of their company building. They made sure to disguise themselves so they won't attract too much attention.
Gwen sighed heavily once the car started running so Johnny looked at her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm kinda... nervous." she responded.
"Why?"
"What if someone catches us and think that we're dating or something? she asked.
Johnny averted his gaze in the road. "Well, then... our company could deny it, right? I mean this is just a... friendly date, right?" he asked awkwardly.
Gwen just nodded. "Right."
"I'm a little too stressed out, I'm new to this whole idol thing. There's a lot of things to avoid and I... I just don't want to create an issue." she explained, she sounded so worried.
"I understand, Gwen." he comforted her. "Soon enough you'll be able to adapt, for the mean time, just keep being you."
Gwen smiled at him. "Okay hyung, if you say so..."
Johnny smiled back but at the back of his mind he was like... 'He still calls me Johnny hyung and not 'oppa'.'
———
CTTO
So they reached the cafe and entered a private lounge, so it can be just the two of them with no sasaeng fans, no medias, no reporters, no one to ruin their talk.
This was a big night for Johnny... he was planning to confess to her tonight.
"So... how's being an idol?" Johnny asked.
"Stressful." she said. "A lot of guesting, a lot of music show, fan signing, practice, and everything."
"and it's just our second week as idols and it's already exhausting." she said to him.
"You'll get used to it." Johnny said.
"But..." Gwen looked into his eyes. "It's nothing compared to you guys, I know you and your members have gone through stressful times and it's nothing compared to a rookie like me."
"Hey!" Johnny muttered at her. Gwen's eyes widened at him.
"I told you this once and I'm telling you this again... Don't invalidate your exhaustion, don't compare it to others. Your efforts and sacrifices matter too." he said to her.
"Whether you are a newbie or you're already at the peak of your career, your efforts matter." he added.
Gwen just nodded at him. "You're right. I shouldn't be even saying that. I worked extra hard to be where I am today." she said to him.
Johnny smiled. "Good. I want you to be kind to yourself, Gwen."
Gwen just giggled. "Hyung, you're surprisingly nice to me today."
"I've always been, right?" he said.
"No." she said as a joke. John's mouth agape at her acting like he's shock.
"You've always been teasing me." Gwen added.
'That's because I like you, Gwen. Don't you get it?' he said in his mind.
"Well, let's just say I've already changed. I'm no longer childish." he said to her.
"So how are you guys?" Gwen change the topic.
"We're doing fine. We miss you as our stylist though." he said.
"I miss you guys as well and I miss being Johnny Suh's favorite stylist." she said to him and they both chuckled.
Suddenly, the smile in her face was erased.
"But... like I said... this is my greatest dream so... I had to give up being a stylist." she said to him with sincerity.
The smile in Johnny's face disappeared too when he saw Gwen frown. "Have you always wanted to be an idol?" Johnny asked.
Gwen pursed her lips and nodded. "Eversince I was a little girl." she said.
"I've always looked up to Girl's Generation unnies and Red Velvet unnies. They were my idol, my greatest inspiration." she said to him.
"How come you didn't audition for SM instead?" Johnny asked.
"I did." Gwen replied to him.
"Really?"
"But I failed..." she said to him and Johnny felt apologetic, there was a sudden change of facial expression. "I failed tha audition miserably."
"A critique said... I didn't have the visuals for SM." she smiled bitterly while she explained to him but there was sadness in her eyes.
"What?! That's not true." he opposed immediately with his brows furrowed.
Johnny remembered the time he joked about her not getting accepted to an audition because of her face... but he meant that as a joke. But he did not mean it actually, he said it only as a joke.
Now he felt guilty for joking about that.
"Gwen, I- I'm really sorry asking... I'm sorry for joking last ime about the audition thing... I didn't mean it, I-I swear, you I was only joking, right? I wasn't serious at all." he stuttered, he felt a little embarassed and guilty for asking.
"You shouldn't be apologizing, that audition was 2 years ago." she smiled bitterly at him.
"I get that I don't belong in SM as an idol." she said.
"After that audition, I got a little insecure about myself." she said to him.
"So I started... playing with make up." she said. "I practiced doing make up and styling to boost my confidence."
Johnny was just patiently listening to her.
"And then... a friend of mine suggested that I should enter in SM as a stylist 'cause they needed one."
"So I said to myself... if I can't be an idol, maybe I could atleast be a make up artist and stylist for other idols." she explained to him.
"So I applied for SM as a stylist/make up artist... and I got the job." she said.
"It has been an amazing opportunity working with the idols I once admired from afar, Red Velvet unnies, SNSD unnies, and Boa unnie." she said.
"Then I met you guys, NCT." she smiled at him and Johnny smiled back. "It has been so amazingn working with you and your members, you brought out the bubbliness in me that once died when I got rejected for SM."
"I was contented with my job as stylist and I didn't had any plan to quit my job 'til my sister told me about this audition for a girl group in another company." she said.
"I hesitated at first, I fear that I would get rejected... again." Gwen said as she sighed heavily. "It took me like a month to finally decide that I should take the risk. So I auditioned."
"And I'm glad you did, Gwen." Johnny said.
"Luckily, I passed." she said to him with a smile.
"But... I hesitated to enter being a trainee 'cause I'm not sure if my visuals would be acceptable to the beauty standards, what if I just wasted time training only to get rejected again?" she said to him.
"Gwen, listen." Johnny said to her as he heaved heavily and made her look directly into his eyes.
"You are beautiful, okay?" he said to her.
"Inside and out, don't believe what that critique said to you. You are worthy to be an idol. You're beautiful, talented, kind-hearted, smart, hardworking, down-to-earth. What more could they ask for? You're a complete package."
He tried to lift her confidence, Gwen just shed a tear while smiling back at him. She was touched with what Johnny said to her.
"So don't ever feel that way, okay? You are worrhy to be an idol because you're you... because you're Gwen and the Gwen I know is spectacular and she's more than what meets the eye." Johnny emphasized.
"Thank you, hyung. It means a lot." she said as she wiped her tears.
"Don't cry now. You're supposed to be happy 'cause you're an idol now. Yey!" he cheered for him and Gwen giggled.
"So how long did you train?" Johnny suddenly asked her.
"I trained for only four months." she said to him.
"Four months?!" Johnny was surprised to know. "But you left SM three months ago? So you were..."
"Yes." she nodded to cut Johnny off. "I was already a trainee back then."
"Remember when I joked about me delivering pizza as sideline?" she asked and Johnny nodded.
"I just came back from my audition that day." she said to him. "That's why I was late for work."
"Oh." Johnny's lips formed an 'O' shape.
"Gwen, I— I don't know what to say... I'm quite impressed though." he said to her. "You being a stylist for another company and a trainee to another all at the same time, that's gotta be exhausting, Gwen. How did you manage that?"
"Well..." she shrugged her shoulders and gave him a close mouthed smile.
His lips instantly formed a smile after seeing her reaction. "I get it, you are Gwen anyway. What should I expect? You can handle anything."
Gwen then sighed. "But it was so hard for me to leave SM and quit my job as stylist." she said. "I met a lot of people, made a lot of friends in SM, including you guys... It was just so hard for me to leave."
"But I had to follow my biggest dream." she said.
"So I'm really sorry for leaving SM without saying good bye to you and your members, I didn't know how to say good bye to you without even ugly crying and what to answer if you'll ask why I quit. I was too shy and embarassed to say that I was going to train to become an idol."
"There's nothing embarassing about that..." he said.
"I was more embarassed to you though." Gwen said.
"Me?" he asked and Gwen nodded.
"I know you would tease me if you found out about it." she said.
Johnny chuckled. "No, I won't. I would support you on that, Gwen. I swear if you told me about that I would've hyped you up." he said to her.
"Really?" she said with a wide grin and John nodded.
"I didn't had the chance to show my support during your trainee days but I promise to support you on your next journey as an idol." Johnny assured.
Gwen smiled widened at him. "Thank you so much, hyung." she said with the sweetest smile.
Johnny missed that smile so bad, his heart started to brace swiftly just by looking at her. The smile on his face suddenly disappeared when he remembered what his goal was today and that was to make a confession.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Gwen laughed awkwardly as her brows furrowed at Johnny who was just staring directly at her.
Johnny snapped back into his senses and shook his head. "No, I'm sorry." he said and seated properly.
He then let out a heavy sigh as he looked down.
"What's t-the matter?" Gwen asked.
"I... uh..." he mumbled, but then he averted his gaze at Gwen.
"I should've told you this when you were still working at SM." Johnny said to her while looking deep into her eyes. His voice sounded so serious.
"Told me what?" she asked.
'Here goes nothing.' Johnny said in his head.
"Gwen... I..." he was having a hard time finding the correct words. "I... Gwen, I..."
"You what?"
He was so tensed that his cheeks started burning red but he had to confess, it was now or never.
"Gwen, I like you." he said with all his might.
'There goes all the confidence I built just to confess to Gwen.'
Gwen did not respond, she just looked like she couldn't believe what he had said. Now Johnny's heart braced even faster and he started sweating profusely.
"You... what?" she asked again.
Johnny swallowed the lump in his throat before repeating himself. "I...like you, Gwen."
"Is this serious? Or is this..."
"I'm serious, Gwen."
Her brows were still raised. Johnny started to think that confessing to Gwen was a very bad idea, now everything's awkward.
"You like me?"she repeated and pointed to herself. "Like? You actually? 'Like' 'like' me?"
Johnny nodded, there was no turning back at this point so might as well. "I'm sincere with what I said. I really like you, Gwen." he said. "I've had a big crush on you since you became the stylist of NCT."
Gwen's mouth agape at his words.
"I know... it's kinda awkward." he added.
"I've been teasing you a lot when you were still our stylist 'cause that was the only way I could catch your attention." he explained.
"I even got so worried when you started to skip work with us, I got a little paranoid. I kept asking Haechan and Ten if you were working with the dreamies or WayV whenever you're MIA." he said to her.
"I just didn't want to admit it to myself that I like you, but I started to realize that it was more than just 'like'..." he said. "I was starting to fall in love with you, I confirmed that when you left SM without saying good bye."
"I was miserable, I didn't know what to do just to reach out to you. I started to think you were seeing someone that's why you never respond to me." John said. "I started to regret not confessing to you earlier."
"My members were right, I fell so hard for you. So now, I'm taking this opportunity to confess the things I should've told you a long time ago."
"I'm in-love with you, Gwen." Johnny said with a smile.
"Who could blame me? I mean... You're charming, charismatic, you have a great personality, you have a good sense of humor, you're talented, nice and..." Johnny tucked the hair falling in-front of Gwen's face to her ears before continuing his words. "You're beautiful, inside and out."
Gwen suddenly blushed at what Johnny said, she couldn't say anything but she was flattered by John's compliment.
Johnny gave her an awkward smile. "Please, don't just stare at me, it's making me more nervous." Johnny laughed but he sounded a little awkward.
Gwen giggled along with him and she was now more conscious of herself. "Ghad, I don't know what to say." she said and hid her face in her palms, she was hiding her face 'cause she was blushing.
"But you're blushing though." Johnny pointed out as he tried to remove Gwen's hands covering her face.
Gwen giggled as he resisted him. "Stop, hyung."
"I want to see your face, Gwen. I missed my crush, it's been a while since I last hang out with you." he was starting to become confident again.
Gwen just giggled and she removed her hands from her face and her face was all red. "The Johnny Suh? Has a crush on me?" she repeated as if she couldn't believe and John just nodded.
"I guess Haechan oppa was right." Gwen said.
* Romantic music stops *
"Wait? What?!" Johnny suddenly asked.
His facial expression suddenly changed and Gwen laughed at his reaction. "Haechan told me about it."
"Told you about what?"
"About you having a crush on me..."
Johnny paused for a while giving her a look of disbelief.
"That little rascal." Johnny whispered. "When did he tell you?"
"When I was working with the dreamies." she explained.
"And he also said you were kinda getting jealous because of Jaemin oppa? Is that true?" Gwen asked him.
Now he was caught up. "I... never said... I was jealous."
"Ten too, right? I could tell by how you confronted him last time." Gwen said to him as she giggled.
Johnny's cheeks was burning in shame as he held his nape. "Well, I — I was..." he stuttered.
But Gwen just chuckled at him. "Now, who's the one blushing?" she asked him.
Johnny just gave her an awkward smile. "Don't worry, John Jun Suh." she said to him and made eye contact with him.
"I like you too, Johnny hyung." she said.
"Huh?!"
"You... like me?" Johnny repeated.
Gwen just nodded at him with a wide smile. "For real?"
"Yeah." she said to him.
Johnny's eyes widened at her. "Can you say that one more time, please?" he asked her.
Gwen chuckled while rolling her eyes. "I like you, Johnny hyung." she repeated.
Johnny's stomach was filled with butterflies when Gwen confessed to him. He heart brace even faster and thhe awkward atmosphere was replaced by somethhing else.
"Again? Can you repeat that but change the 'hyung' to 'oppa'." he requested.
"You really wanna be called 'oppa' so bad, huh?" Gwen teased.
"Please?" Johnny pouted at her.
Gwen just giggled at him. "I like you too, Johnny 'oppa'..." she made emphasis. "I had a crush on you too since I started becoming in charge of you during make up and styling." she said to him.
"And who could blame me too?" she copied him. "You're talented, you're charming, you're funny."
"and..." Johnny asked more.
Gwen narrowed her eyes at him. "Of course, you're hot and handsome. Is that okay now?" Gwen sarcastically asked while giggling.
John was so happy at this point he's on cloud 9. Imagine your long time crush, having a crush on you too.
"Is it weird that I have a crush on you?" she asked and covered her face again.
"No... of course not. Why would it be weird?" he said to her.
She shook her head. "I don't know, I think..." she said. "I think I was a little delusional to have a crush on you, I told Jaehyun oppa about this last time and he said there was nothing wrong with it but I was still hesitant to tell you that I like you. I mean... you're an idol and I'm only a stylist, I can't imagine 'the' Johnny Suh liking me back." she said.
Johnny raised his hands. "But here we are now, confessing to each other."
Gwen laughed along with him. "It so crazy, everyone knew we already liked each other but it was only us who were trying to play dumb dumb." Johnny said.
"I just wasn't sure if... you and I had mutual feelings that time too, it was really hard to assume." she said to him.
So the two had a long chat because they did have a lot of catching up to do. Their orders finally arrived and they started to dig in while chatting. The conversation was going so well when Johnny thought of something.
"What's the matter, hyung?" Gwen asked when she noticed Johnny spacing out.
"Oh? Uh..." Johnny shook his head then he gently averted his gaze right back at her.
"I was just thinking that..." he paused as he placed a hand on his nape. "Now that... I conf-fessed to you... a-and you also... confessed to me... a-and our feelings are mutual." he stuttered.
"Uh huh." Gwen nodded to him but she looked lost as to what he was trying to point out.
"So... do you think... we should... you know..." he said to her.
"Should what?" she asked him and raised an eyeborow.
"Start dating?" he said.
Gwen's eyes widened at him. "D-date? You mean... us go on dates? As in 'date' dates or just friendly..."
Johnny cut her off. "A 'date' date."
"Not friendly dating or what, if there's such a thing." he said. "I want to... get to know you better Gwen." he said to her.
She was still speechless with what Johnny said to her but her cheeks were burning as she blushed from mixed emotion.
"Johnny, I —"
Johnny cut her off immediately. "Please." he pouted at her making cute faces.
Gwen started to giggle as she hid her face in her hands due to embarrassment. "Is this... for real? I mean, are you serious? You want... you want to date me?"she asked him.
Johnny nodded. "Of course, I am a hundred percent serious. I've hidden my feelings for you for a long time because I was a coward so I'm not wasting an opportunity for me to prove that I really adore you, Gwen."
There was a hint of sincerity in his eyes and Gwen could feel that he was sincere with every word.
"Please Gwen..." he suddenly reached out for her hand. She felt his warm grip around her hand and it made her heart go crazy.
But she was hesitant...
"Hyung, I am a little scared." she said to him.
"Why?"
"I'm... I'm a newbie, I just debuted. Our group just debuted, I don't want to be... involved in dating issues as much as possible. I might... ruin it for our group." she explained.
Johnny was silent for a while 'til he composed himself to answer back.
"I understand what you mean, Gwen. I don't want to put you into a bad situation but I... I can't help my emotions, I know we're idols and there's a lot of rules to follow, we have to make sure we don't disappoint people... but I just... I just want to express my emotions freely."
"After all, idols are humans too, we crave to love and be loved in return." he explained.
"Now, I'm not forcing you Gwen, I'm definitely not. I respect your decision and I'll accept your decision. You know what's best for you." he said to her politely. "But please..."
She then looked into his eyes and he was already staring right back at her. "Hear me out and give me a chance to prove myself to you." he pleaded.
Then a pleasant smile creeped into Gwen's lips, she could no linger contain her emotions as she felt butterflies in her stomach. "Sure hyung, I'd love to go on dates with you."
Johnny's mouth gently agape as the burden in his chest went away. That was all he needed to hear.
He then smiled widely at her and she just giggled at his reaction.
"Why are you smiling from ear to ear?" she giggled.
Johnny snapped out of his senses. "I am lost for words, Gwen. I don't know what to say... I'm so happy! I finally confessed to you, you also feel the same way and you agree to go out with me. This is the happiest day of my life! I thought you would reject me." he said like he couldn't believe.
Gwen chuckled at him. "Why would I reject Johnny Suh? The guy I secretly admired." she winked at him. "I would be dumb if I rejected you."
Johnny started blushing like crazy from what Gwen said. Gwen really knows how to flirt back.
"Oh my gosh, hyung, you're blushing." Gwen pointed out as she laughed at him.
"So are you, Gwendolyn." he said to her.
"So... it's official?" he asked her.
"What's official?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"This is officially our first date." Johnny noted.
"Oohhh." she said. "Well, I guess? Since... we are hanging out." she said.
Johnny nodded and smiled back at her. "How many more dates will it take to make you mine, Gwen?" he asked her and Gwen almost choked.
She saw him giving her a taunting smile so she played along. "Hmm, let's say... 49 more just to be sure that you're not pulling a prank on me." she joked.
Johnny giggled at her words.. "I'm not pranking you, Gwen. I'm serious. No matter how long it takes, I'll wait patiently. For now, I just need to prove to you that my intentions are good and I'm willing to court you and make you my girl."
He gently grabbed her hand and suddenly placed a kissed on the back of her hand.
"Hyung, you are such a flirt." Gwen said to him.
"Oh, enough with the 'hyung' call me 'oppa' instead." he said to her.
"You want to be called 'oppa' so bad, huh?" she teased.
"Yeah and I'm not ashamed anymore." he answered straightforward to her and they both chuckled.
"Okay then Johnny 'oppa'."
"There, much better." he smiled in victory.
So basically, this is what happens when two flirts go on a date. Charot, just kiddin'.
They were heading out of the restaurant on their way to Johnny's car while they walked Gwen heard camera shutters so she got startled.
"What's wrong?" Johnny saw her flinched and was looking at the parking area.
"I think... I heard camera shutters?" she said. Johnny looked around but saw no one in the parking area.
"A-are you sure?" he asked her. "No one seems to be around."
"I'm not sure either, maybe I'm just hearing things."
she said to him.
Gwen shook her head. "Forget it, I must be overthinking about the possible dating issue that's why I'm hearing things." she said and Johnny giggled.
He then patted her head gently. "It's okay. Everything will be fine, don't worry too much.." he said and Gwen nodded.
"You're right."
So both of them entered Johnny's car and before starting the engine Johnny had to say something. "Besides, we're on full disguise. No one could recognize us."
———
Boy was he wrong.
The next morning, social media was flooded with rumors stating...
"NCT Johnny and Empress Gigi rumored to be dating."
T H E E N D
Date ended: November 2, 2020
Hello dear readers, sorry it took me a while to publish the epilogue. I was busy with online class.
I've finally completed this story, please comment your thoughts. I love reading your comments guys.
More NCT fanfics to complete. Up next... " Knots - NCT Mark x Gugudan Mina FF "
— Gwendolyn is now signing off ❤️
Thank you so much for reading.
Love, demigxddess