The music room was filled with the boys' laughter and singing throughout the entire lunch as they each took turns to sing their favourite songs (momentarily forgetting that they were still in school rather than a karaoke room). After a few rounds of warming up their vocal cords, Taehyun gestured for all of them to take a seat.
"Thank you, again," he beamed, looking up to his group members, "I got one of the sign-up forms from Ms May, so I guess we should start filling it in now," he continued, waving a piece of paper in front of them before laying it down as they began to give it a read:
SEOUL'S JUNIOR SINGING COMPETITION SIGNUP FORM
Kindly pick one of the following categories:
☐ solo
☐ duo
☐ group (a minimum of 4 members is required)
Name/Name of duo/Name of group: ___________
How could I forget? Taehyun thought to himself, of course, we'd need a group name. "
We need a name," he said, turning to the four as he looked up to them in hopes of some potential group names being shouted out.
"What about 'The 5'?" Hueningkai piped.
"Cringe," replied Beomgyu flatly. The brunette frowned at him.
"'Eternity in Succession'" Yeonjun spoke, earning a ripple of chuckles at how serious he looked while saying that. "What?" he retorted, the tips of his ears turning red from embarrassment.
"How about 'TXT'?" Soobin said. The others flicked their eyes towards his direction with interest.
"TXT," muttered Taehyun, the name slowly growing onto him. It was unique, he has definitely not heard such a name like that before. But it felt as if something was missing; like a diamond without its shine. "What will it stand for, though?" he asked.
"'Tomorrow by Together'?" Beomgyu suggested. "Well, it's the synonyms of what Yeonjun suggested, just that, 'Tomorrow by Together' sounding a little more catchy."
"I like it," Hueningkai said with a smile.
"Oh my god, we should have a signature pose or intro—like those kpop groups! Like, 'One Dream!'" Yeonjun curled both of his middle and ring fingers, then crisscrossing both of his index fingers, making a T X T gesture with his hands.
"That would be so cool!" Soobin agreed, attempting to mimic the gesture Yeonjun had just created, messing it up to which the latter let out a chuckle as he helped the lost boy.
"'Tomorrow by Together it is then," said Taehyun with a satisfied expression on his face as he scribbled down their group name with "TXT" beside it in brackets.
Choice of Song: __________
What kind of song will we even be performing? Taehyun thought to himself, being brought back to reality and the chances of him winning the competition remaining minuscule. He looked up to his group member's faces, each looking just as serious as the next- he needed to have faith in them.
"What if we write our own song?" Soobin said.
"We can be a band! I know how to play the keys, Soobin can play the guitar," continued Hueningkai.
"I can play the guitar," Beomgyu raised his hand nervously.
"Well, I guess I know a bit of the drum," added Yeonjun.
"I actually haven't played in years—I used to play the guitar and piano but I doubt I'll be any good at them now," mumbled Taehyun.
"I don't think you're going to need to play anything, to be frank," laughed Yeonjun. "You're going to be our main vocalist, remember?"
"But I thought we're all going to sing—well, at least that was what I had in mind when you were talking about entering with our own song," said Taehyun, turning to Hueningkai.
"I guess we can all sing a line or two, but you're obviously going to be getting more than the rest of us. Plus, we can also be the backing vocals," Beomgyu advised.
"Sure," grinned Taehyun as he then filled in the rest of the forms. Just as he was finishing, the bell rang as the five began to get up and pack their things.
"So, when will we start on the song?" Asked Hueningkai.
"Does after school in the cafe nearby work for you guys?" Asked the brunette, turning towards the four, who nodded their heads in response.
"I'll see you guys later then," Taehyun smiled, feeling a little bit more confident as he left the music room.
»»—— ♡ ——««
It was 4:26 in the afternoon as the five boys took a table in the corner of the cafe to start writing the lyrics to their first song. Perhaps it was because they just got off from school that their brains were dead. No one had spoken anything about what kind of concept they would be choosing, thinking about it for 5 minutes now as nothing but the cacophony of plate clatters and awkward slurping filled the awkward tension.
"Let's go for a nostalgic vibe, what about soft rock?" Soobin finally started.
"That sounds good," replied Taehyun, tapping his pen on his chin as he scribbled down some notes—they had to start sooner or later, and now with a prompt given, he might as well use it.
"Perhaps we should add some empathetic value to our song, like a song people can resonate with... a song about feeling alone? Just think about it!" Hueningkai quickly added, reading everyone's rather puzzled expression by his bizarre suggestion, "a soft-rock song with a consistent rhythm about a person feeling alone, with a hint of nostalgia."
"I actually think that would work," Beomgyu chimed in. "Let's put our song into a certain point-of-view, like from someone's perspective; how they're feeling when he doesn't hear back from a friend, and how that person experiences an emotional turmoil after being ghosted. It's something we can all relate to; being alone and feeling abandoned."
"Mhm..." Taehyun mumbled, writing down everything they had said, "I've already got the first line and chorus down, have a look, and maybe you guys can tweak and add on too," he continued, sliding his notepad towards the others as they each gave it a read.
One by one, the boys started to add lines of their own, drawing out a picture through the lyrics of a song. Like a puzzle, its pieces starting coming together as they worked together, bridging and compiling all of their emotions and thoughts into one as they eventually came up with the final complete lyrics of their new song, Ghosting.
"We did it," Taehyun said, exasperated as he laid back onto his chair. "Thank you so much, you guys," he beamed, smiling at his group members. The sky had blossomed into a beautiful canvas of rich warm colours with a tint of blue as the lights of nearby buildings and streetlamps began to flicker on.
"Of course," Yeonjun replied as he heaved his school bag over his shoulder. "Are you guys free? We can have dinner together before heading back."
"Sure," Beomgyu said, getting up as well.
"Where are we eating?" Asked Soobin as they left the cafe.
"Let's go to Kyochon," Hueningkai suggested, his eyes falling onto the brightly lit sign across the street. Following the youngest, they entered the restaurant, the savoury aroma instantly greeting their entrance along with the warm welcomes from the staff members.
"Y'all can go find a seat first, Taehyun and I will order the food and drinks," said Beomgyu as he walked towards the counter to order their dinner.
A few minutes later, the two came back with 3 boxes of fried chicken, 2 bowls of kimchi fried rice, and some ice lemon tea to wash down all the grease. Helping themselves to the food, the five of them began to dig in, occasionally joking and clowning about which resulted in the very chaotic mess of either one choking on their food and having to cough for 5 whole minutes, or if not, someone accidentally dropping a spoonful of rice onto the table (cleaning it up once they were done, of course).
It was safe to say that they instantly had a well-bonded friendship, miraculously getting along well and having the same sense of humour as they spent the rest of the evening together, in a fast-food restaurant while having the time of their lives as all their worries and concerns melted away in the lively atmosphere of all five of them being together.
[A/N: I searched up the synonyms for "tomorrow" and "together" and BOOM. Eternity by succession was created and I can't even read the name without having myself cringe and curl into a ball while sobbing over what kind of name that is 🤠]