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"how about this," niko said as she grabbed some old lyrics she'd written a while ago. she cleared her throat before reading out loud to taeyong and haechan, who were sat on the two beanbags she had in her bedroom. "don't say it isn't fair. you clearly weren't aware that you made me miserable. so, if you really wanna know, when i'm away from you i'm happier than ever."
haechan clapped his hands together loudly, startling the girl sitting cross-legged on her bed. "that!" he shouted, pointing at the partially crumpled paper in niko's hand. "that's it. that's your title."
niko blinked at him. "what is?"
"happier than ever!" he replied, clumsily standing from the beanbag to flop onto her bed and riffle through the old pages in her lyrics journal.
taeyong slowly rose to his feet before joining the two on the bed, tapping a tune on his thigh as he silently read over the other lyrics on that page. "we could do a beat switch. that could be the main attraction."
when niko's expression showed how lost she was, taeyong rolled his eyes and began humming out a tune before waving a hand. "whatever. what i'm trying to say, is that we'll have two songs in one. we can start the song off slow and sad, like your other heartbreak songs, but then do a beat switch to something more raw and powerful."
before niko could open her mouth to agree, haechan flipped her lyrics book over and pushed it into her lap. he pointed at an older page, one niko had completely forgotten about. it was slightly crinkled in one corner, and after squinting, the girl realized it's because she'd been crying when she wrote this.
"read it." he said, his voice impossibly steady.
she did. and even now, years later, niko could feel how passionate she'd been when she wrote those words. "i could talk about every time that you showed up on time but i'd have an empty line cause you never did. never paid any mind to my—" she paused to swallow the sudden knot in her throat as she stared down at the page. "to my mother or friends, so i shut them all out for you because i was a just kid."
she felt a hand on her thigh and placed her own overtop of his, giving haechan's hand a little squeeze.
there were scribbles in the top corner, the page folded over, but niko couldn't help but chuckle when she read it out loud. "i'd never treat me this shitty. you made me hate this city. wow. what a rhyme from seventeen-year-old nik."
"i'm sorry to butt in, but i think these are the lyrics, nik." taeyong said. she nodded, sniffing once before collecting the pages into her hands and handing them to the boy across from her. "here. turn them into something wonderful. i have some ideas i want to write down, if you guys don't mind."
they caught on straight away, jumping off of her bed and making their way to the door. "i'll text you when i come up with something," taeyong said as he waved goodbye, and haechan gave niko a quick wink. "i'll make sure he actually does his job."
