To Carry a Torch | KTH ✅

Chapter 6: Bang.tan.sonyeondancheoreom

Tae's POV 🎺

Lily and I have been working all morning, and it has been amazing to work with her in a writing capacity. We've always sung together and played piano, but to work collaboratively on an actual album...she makes it feel so much easier than anybody else. She's so encouraging and open to ideas. She asks me questions to open up my mind and encourages free writing, where we spill our ideas onto paper and see what feels good. Music lives inside Lily, it courses through her veins, and it's magical to be part of it with her. Her business partner, Ha-Kun, who happens to also be a trusted friend of mine, worked out all the contract details with the company just as Lily promised, and it's been smooth sailing ever since.

The other thing Lily is good at is managing the entire creative process. When I see how Namjoon and Hobi work, it feels foreign to me. The organization and how they methodically create an album differ from how I work. My mind sees things in pictures sometimes -it's almost cinematographic - I feel more fluid in my approach and spend a lot of time getting distracted by my own creative mind, so much that sometimes it feels overwhelming, and I push off the project. Lily is so like Yoongi; they can see things both ways creatively, as I do, but also organized like Namjoon and Hobi. Lily just naturally takes care of the organization for me, and it puts me at instant ease. She's a fantastic producer and musician, and she leads by example. For the first time in well over a year, I finally feel excited about music again. It's as if she's breathed new life into me.

"Tae-Tae, I'm so proud of all of your hard work and focus today...but I need to eat now," Lily says while rubbing her hand over her belly. "And if I don't get another cup of tea into me, I'm sure I'll vanish into nothing!"

"You're addicted," I laugh. "Okay, let's go, but let me go grab Yeona to join us. I'll meet you in the lunch room."

"Oh, things are going well there?" she asks, trying to act casual, and I love that she's trying to cover up her excitement.

"Well, we've been eating lunch together more often and having little chats. We've uh, we've been getting really close over the last few weeks...." I begin to explain.

"Oh, really," Lily smiles sweetly as she rests her chin on her hand and leans in to listen intently.

"You know this isn't a K-Drama, right? We're just becoming friends....I really enjoy her company..." I smirk.

"Isn't that how a classic friends-to-lovers trope begins?" she shoots back with an eyebrow cocked, and it is absolutely hilarious.

"Apparently if you're writing the script it is," I laugh. "I'll meet you in the kitchenette..."

I let Lily's words roll around my head as I make my way to Yeona's office to see if she is available. Sometimes it is unsettling how well Lily can read me when so many others can't even come close to understanding me -Lily knew the first time she saw me interact with Yeona that she had already stolen my heart.

When I approach Yeona's door I find her unzipping her lunch bag at her desk while pouring over some photos. She smiles at me when I enter the room, and I can feel the butterflies start to take flight in my stomach. She's a vision with her soft hair pooled over her shoulder. I've fallen in love with how smart she looks in her black-framed glasses, and I've found myself often daydreaming about the way I always catch her pushing them up the bridge of her adorable nose.

How can one simple smile make me feel this way?

I glance at the photos splayed across her screen, but instead of merchandise, it looks like photos of some of our trainees, and they are really well done.

"Wow, what's all this?" I ask.

"Taehyung, you will never guess what happened today! Eun-Ji asked me to take photos of some of the trainees for a project she is working on!" she says breathlessly.