Fire On Fire [TK]

(3) The circling sky

"Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky
Tongue-tied and twisted
Just an earth-bound misfit, I"

— Learning to fly, Pink Floyd

❀

— V —

Taehyung lay in bed with his hands on top of his chest, staring at the eggshell coloured ceiling, letting the buzz of his brain ebb through the darkness of the night.

If someone had asked him how he reached here, he wouldn't have been able to form a proper answer to give. It seemed like a fever dream, hazy around the corners, still hard to believe. It was only yesterday, or maybe that's what he felt, when he had been joking around with his friend at the hagwon, and now—all of a sudden, he had been catapulted head-first into a world that only existed at the far reaches of his life.

It wasn't like he planned to do any of this. It was more of a fluke than anything else. One fine spring morning, he had happily agreed to accompany his childhood friend, to cheer them on for an audition, Taehyung knew it was important to them and from one moment to the next, he stood in front the selection committee because they asked him to. He could've said no, or peharps refused to perform anything, but it was not supposed to make a difference. It was not like they were going to select him out of hundreds of talented people.

Except, they did.

They selected, much to the surprise of his own self, only him.

The betrayal in his friend's eyes was evident, though he smiled and congratulated him. The guilt gnawed at his chest, didn't the person who wanted this deserved this more?

The thoughts were zapped as soon as he stepped foot into the local training centre, and now, with the start of September, he started his new life in Gangnam.

Seoul, Gangnam-gu, Dosandaero 16-gil! 13-20, was where he had been dropped off by his father. Sejin, the manager responsible had explained the scenario, the rules, and the selection process. He would be housing with the other trainees in one of the dorms, and through the year, he would be judged and scored on the basis of his performance and effort. If he managed to do well, he would be selected to debut under the company. If not, then it was a long way home. Taehyung's emotions had swirled in a disarray with the amount of information dumped on him in such a short span of time. What was he supposed to do next? Process all these feelings at once? It was appalling. He did not know whether to be lost in the city lights, be mesmerised by Gangnam's opulence, fly with the anticipation of a new beginning, or let the sorrow in being wrenched away from his home and his family consume him whole.

He was just sixteen after all or rather about to be in three months.

Sejin had dropped him to the designated apartment where he was supposed to be living now. He had also taken the liberty to tell him about his flatmates before heaving all of Taehyung's luggage and leaving for the company again. There came a moment just in between the time Taehyung rang the doorbell, and someone opened the door, where his stomach dropped in dread rather than flutter in excitement, for life was now hopelessly uncertain, and his fingers trembled upon the straps of his backpack, which was all but forgotten when a feline-looking guy had opened the door, a casual smile on his lips and Taehyung had wanted to hug him.

He hadn't. His parents had explained in great detail how it could be considered rude, a fact Taehyung was previously unaware of. He always found hugs to be soothing.