NeoNara || TXT || taebin || yeonkai

2014: Friday, Part Two

2014, DAY ONE
Friday, August 15, 2014 2:59 PM

You shout it out
But I can't hear a word you say
I'm talking loud, not saying much
I'm criticized, but all your bullets ricochet
You shoot me down, but I get up

Taehyun doesn't want to look up.

He knows he's caught between a rock and a hard place. Mayumi is standing right offstage, hidden behind the subwoofers, where nobody else can see her. She is watching his every move. If she wanted to, she could march onto the stage and shut him down, pull him off stage, embarrass him. He wouldn't put it past her. She's done it before, during the senior year that he DJ'd, because she was so mad that he was DJ'ing and not dancing with her.

There are a million more reasons for Mayumi Tasogare Hoshizora the Third to ruin King Solomon's career now. But Taehyun has already paid for his crimes. When his Blue Orangeade remix had been released by Waeng, Mayumi had kidnapped him, moving him into her dorm where she could monitor his every move. And when the school year ended and the dorms closed, she simply dragged him home with her, and her absent parents didn't care.

He has spent four months as her slave.

His music is all he has left.

Cut me down, but it's you who has further to fall
Ghost town, haunted love
Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones
I'm talking loud, not saying much

He can hear the crowd that has gathered, but he still does not look up at them. He doesn't want to know how many people have showed up just based on the strength of his Blue Orangeade remix alone. And he can't bear to look for those who might save him. It's not just Soobin -- if he sees Beomgyu, or Daniel Choi, then his face will give him away. And what would Mayumi do then? Probably a lot more than make him her live-in maid, cooking every meal for her, doing all of her homework, and giving her all his free time every night.

He hates how embarrassed he feels, how emasculated this entire situation has been. And he has an hour to tell the truth, through his music. He fades seamlessly to the next track, cutting away from one chorus to go to another.

So I put my faith in something unknown
I'm living on such sweet nothing
But I'm tired of hope with nothing to hold
I'm living on such sweet nothing
And it's hard to learn, and it's hard to love
When you're giving me such sweet nothing

Taehyun's mind buzzes in the background, on pins and needles, waiting for Mayumi to do something, say something, anything to bring the attention on her again. Typically he would find a way to fit one of her favorite songs in the set, or even his first (and only) original song that she had contributed vocals to. But she now hated that song, and she had forbidden him from playing it.

He affords a quick glance up. There are ten to twelve high school kids dancing at the foot of the stage. He recognizes Sam and Maykie and Javonte as underclassmen from Rensselaer, and it helps him loosen up a little. You know this crowd, Terry. You're safe here.

And then he shakes his head. Get a grip. Terry isn't my name.

Get down, get up again
Come on, come on move
Get down, get up again
Work it, do it overtime
A feeling that I know so well
Oh it's got me in its spell
It's such a sweet sensation, oh, oh

The fade is perfect, and Taehyun actually feels on top of his game for once. Now if he can just stay in the zone long enough for Mayumi to not have a problem.

He sways to the beat, just a bit, then affords himself a smile. Mayumi might be able to take a lot from him, but she can't take this new confidence. He got that all by himself by making the remix. And so he lets Cash Cash flow right into the backbeat, drums and bass keeping the crowd going while he queues the remix up. When the synths start playing, Taehyun hears the crowd's reaction, and his smile is even wider.