Little Starlights | Mark Lee

♪ | four

I'm still waiting for you, aren't I?
My heart will always draw you in like gravity

EXO - Gravity ♪

"E-excuse me..."

No reply. He kept walking.

Was I not loud enough?

"Seyeon! Thank god you're still here." I turned around at the sound of my name. Hyerin walked towards me with a stack of papers. It seemed heavy so I quickly took them from her, "what's all this?" I asked.

"This is some of the stuff the lyrics team has been working on lately. I thought it might be helpful to know what you're walking into when you start next week," she said joyfully.

"Wow, thank you! That's so nice of you, thank you so much!"

"No problem, girl," she started going back.

I turned around to where that familiar stranger stood, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hyerin, before you go..." I faced her again, stopping her from leaving, "yeah?"

"What's down that way?" I pointed to the direction in which he disappeared.

"Just some more practice rooms. They're pretty old though, I don't see many people use them... oh, and I think a mirror broke in one of them. I should call someone to fix that," she mumbled the last part mostly to herself.

"I see..."

"I gotta go now. Mr. Kim can get scary if he doesn't get his afternoon coffee," she rolled her eyes playfully and we laughed as she left.

I looked back once more, "no one uses them huh?"

𖥸

Monday morning had arrived and I walked through the glass doors of my new workplace. I dressed up nicely, trying my best to look professional. I greeted Hyerin at her desk and walked to the office where I would meet my coworkers.

I had spent the weekend immersed in the files my new friend had given me and was ready to face any question they would throw at me. I was confident I would do good. I had to do good.

"Hello, I'm Lim Seyeon, it's nice to meet you all," I said entering the door to what was an almost empty office.

Wow, what's with the weird mood change?

Everyone stayed still, just looking at me, not really saying anything back.

"Are you in the right place?" A man spoke. He must have been in his late twenties/ early thirties.

I looked at the sign on the door. Did I just go into the wrong room? "I-is this not the lyrics and production office?" My cheeks reddened at the embarrassment. It's my first day and I'm already making mistakes...

Suddenly the people in front of me started to laugh. I looked up at them, confused.

"We're just messing with you, come in," the same man spoke, "it's nice to meet you Lim Seyeon, I'm Eden," he extended his hand and I grabbed it shakily, just getting over my small panic attack earlier.

Everyone was extremely nice and I was quickly catching up with what the team was currently working on. I didn't get assigned to a big project. I mean, it's not like I expected to be, I was brand new...

Eden was the head of the team. He produced, composed, and wrote lyrics. He literally did everything. I was very excited to work with him and was lucky enough to be able to shadow him that first week.

"We have to work on a couple of upcoming albums. First, we have C&C, who desperately need a comeback, and second, we have to work on the debuting boy group as well," Eden told me.

I screamed on the inside when I heard C&C's name. Can you imagine being able to write lyrics for your favorite artist?! It's a dream come true!

My mind flew to a small fantasy of meeting the girls and having them thank me for my great lyrics.

"This was our best comeback and it's all thanks to you," Sunny said. Sunny is my bias, obviously. The nation's fairy. One of the most well-rounded artists ever!

I nodded excitedly and he continued explaining what we would do, "I have a demo of C&C's title track ready. I'll pass that on to the lyrics team. Listen to it carefully and let's come up with a couple of ideas. Their concept is going to change a little with this comeback. I'm thinking... 'unexpected love', 'rainy skies', 'bittersweet memories', 'old lovers meet again' type of feel."

I wrote every detail down on my notepad. I was going to write the best lyrics ever!

"I want a rough draft for the first verse by Thursday."

WHAT?! That fast?!

My pen almost fell out of my hand. My jaw dropped and I felt people staring at my reaction. I quickly put myself back together and nodded smiling as if there was no pressure.

Is this normal? Wow, they must be used to working this fast, no one seems to be bothered one bit... I looked around the room and noticed I was the only one in distress.

After a couple more minutes of straight directions on what to do, everyone went their way.

I walked to the cafeteria, almost dragging my feet in defeat. I always thought I was a good writer but to write something good in just three days?!

Ugh, why Thursday anyway? That's such an awkward day. Why not Friday? Or next Monday?

Whatever the reason was, I couldn't do anything about it.

"Why are you sulking? Rough first day?"

I turned around and saw Hyerin standing behind me, a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Oh, hi Hyerin. And yeah, kinda. It's just I have a super-fast deadline on my first assignment and am kinda stressed out about it... but it'll be fine," I showed her a small smile. I wasn't going to let this chance pass. I was going to write something good. I knew I was, I just needed some inspiration...