Writer
[January 30, 2020 | 9:45 pm]
at the Restaurant
"More people?" Yeji asked as he nodded.
"Oh, nevermind. They're here." Their manager bowed at the guys who came in.
The girls looked at the people who entered the restaurant and bowed at them.
"Who are they?" Lia whispered to Yuna beside her but she just shrugged.
"You may not recognize each other with those masks and hats on. You guys can remove it now. Don't worry, this place is hidden." The other manager told them.
"What is this? A blind date?" Yeonjun asked Soobin as he gave an obvious 'what the hell' look.
Both groups obligated and removed their disguises.
As soon as all of them finished removing them, both groups looked at each other shocked and confused.
"So you recognize each other now?" ITZY's manager asked them.
"Oh, so TXT are the more people." Yeji exclaimed. Yes, she was confused too. But it'll be rude to ask questions at the moment.
Yeji started their greeting and the other members quickly responded to her cue.
"Hello, we are ITZY." They bowed.
TXT bowed at them and also greeted them back.
"Hello, we are Tomorrow By Together." All of them smiled at each other.
Still confused.
"We should sit now." The managers gestured them to sit down as they did. The girls on the other side, while the boys on the other. So both groups are facing each other on the table.
A lot of questions still flooding inside all of their brains. All ITZY know is that their JYP PD-nim prepared this dinner while all TXT know is that Bang PD-nim prepared a dinner for them.
They were at the same place, coincidentally. Or is it?
"You guys can start eating now. I'll just fix something outside." Jihan, TXT's manager told them and went outside.
"He didn't even explain what's going on." Beomgyu whispered to Soobin and attempted to get a piece of meat but Soobin slapped his hand.
"Later. Let ITZY get food first."
The 10 of them was just sitting silently. No one dared to touch the food.
"Unnie, I thought you're hungry." Yuna asked Ryujin.
"Yeah." She looked at the food and pouted.
Suddenly, a phone rang that caught all of their attention.
"Sorry. I'll just answer this." Heeun, ITZY's manager told the girls as they nodded and followed Jihan outside.
All of them watch both of their managers left. And they were left confused and silent.
"So um, should we dig in?" Yeonjun blurted. He's hungry already and it's taking so long so he decided to finally speak.
"Please, go first." Soobin gestured the girls in front of them. They nodded and silently put foods on their plates.
As soon as they finished, the boys also got their own food and sat down. Especially Yeonjun who just wants food since they got at the place. All of them ate in silent, awkward silence.
"I'm sorry for breaking the silence but." Ryujin spoke as they all looked at her. "Does anyone know why we're here?"
"I know it's dinner but it's just odd that we are together at a hidden restaurant. Late at night." She added.
"Honestly, we are confused too." Soobin wiped his lips with a napkin. "Not to mention, our manager left us here."
"Our manager just said that our PD-nim prepared a dinner for us here." Lia joined the conversation.
"They told us that too." Yeonjun said while munching his food. "Sorry." He swallowed the food.
"Bang PD-nim." Beomgyu spoke.
"JYP PD-nim." Yuna also spoke.
"Is this for a collab?" Huening Kai asked.
"But it's so late at night though." Beomgyu replied and sipped his drink. "I don't mind actually. The food tastes great."
"I know." Ryujin said.
"So we actually don't know what's happening." Soobin chuckled nervously.
Just then, both of their managers barged in holding a cake each. One for TXT and one for ITZY.
"Congratulations for the Rookie Grand Slam!" They both greeted and placed down the cake at the center of the table.
"That answered our question." Taehyun said and stood up to see the cake. "Wow."
"That looks delicious." Chaeryeong said.
"Your PD-nims prepared this dinner together so that's why you are all having a dinner together." Jihan explained while they all nodded at him.
"I thought it's for a collab." Huening Kai spoke.
Both managers looked at each other and shrugged.
They all sat down again and ate silently. Jihan noticed it and elbowed Heeun. He pointed using his lips as Heeun got what he meant.
"Why are you guys so quiet?" He asked. The 10 looked at him then looked at each other.
"Be comfortable. If you are worried about media things, don't be. We got this all covered." Jihan told them
"But what if you guys get in trouble?" Soobin asked.
"Trouble? Us?" He pointed at themselves. "No. There is no trouble Soobin. Besides, your PD-nims themselves told us to make you guys comfortable with each other." He explained.
"Really?" Yeji this time asked as both managers nodded.
"Now, go along. We'll just be outside." Heeun slung his arms around Jihan's shoulders and closed the door after they left.
"Now that's interesting. Our managers are friends." Yeonjun blinked his eyes.
"Our CEOs are friends too. You know, Bang PD and JYP." Ryujin answered as they all chuckled.
"By the way, how about let's introduce ourselves to each other?" Yeji clasped her hands and smiled.
"Great idea. Girls first." Soobin said.
Yeji cleared her throat and stood up as well as the other girls.
"Hello, I'm Yeji and I'm the leader of the group."
"Hello, I'm Lia."
"Hi, I'm Ryujin."
"Hi, I'm Chaeryeong."
"Hello my name is Shin Yuna. I'm the maknae.
The boys nodded, gave them an applause and stood up.
"Hello. I'm Yeonjun."
"Hello, I'm Soobin. Also the leader of the team."
"Hi, I'm Beomgyu."
"Hello, I'm Taehyun.
"Hi, I'm Huening Kai."
The girls also gave them an applause as they bowed at each other and sat down.
"By the way, congratulations on the new album. We are always looking forward to your new releases." Chaeryeong spoke shyly.
"Thank you so much, Chaeryeong-ssi. Congratulations too. We really loved Icy." Taehyun replied.
"Yeah, especially him. He's a MIDZY." Beomgyu pointed to Taehyun.
"Really? We are MOAs too especially Ryujin." Chaeryeong pointed to Ryujin was eating her food.
"I really love Run Away." Ryujin said and gave a thumbs up.
"Actually we saw the video where you danced to it at a showcase." Beomgyu told her as she gasped.
"Woah really? I think I had some wrong parts though." She chuckled.
"You did a great job. Don't worry." He reassured and smiled.
"We also saw that fancam where you guys were singing along Run Away. That fancam was so high quality." Huening Kai spoke. "And it's so cool to see you all memorized the lyrics already."
"It's on our playlist of course." Yuna cutely boasted. "I heard you produced Roller Coaster too Huening Kai-ssi."
"Yeah, I did." He scratched his temple.
"It sounds awesome." She gave him a thumbs up as he thanked her.
"We all go to Hanlim. I just realized." Ryujin looked at them as they nodded.
"We rarely see each other at school though." Beomgyu said and took a bite of the cake.
"I saw Yuna-ssi once." Taehyun said as Yuna nodded.
"Yes, we bowed at each other. Just once though." She pouted.
"Me and Ryujin will graduate this year ." Chaeryeong smiled.
"You two are our seniors at school." Beomgyu looked at his members. "We three are all in the same grade level."
"Beomgyu-ssi." Ryujin called while he raised a brow. "We are the same age. Why are you our junior?"
"I stopped for a year because of training." He explained as Ryujin nodded.
"I know you are from Practical Dance too." She held her chin. "So we could've been classmates and graduated together! You aren't free from school yet."
"It's okay Ryujin-ssi." He chuckled. "At least, I'll get to graduate with our maknaes." Beomgyu told them as they laughed.
"We could've lunch together if we weren't idols." Chaeryeong chuckled. "Kind of sad though." She added.
"This is actually the first time we interacted freely with a boy group on another company." Ryujin informed.
"Us too. For a girl group. ITZY is the first one. I feel very glad." Taehyun said and laughed.
"His MIDZY heart is shaking." Huening Kai teased while he went to the flow and held his chest as they laughed together.
On the other side of the table, the older members are looking at them with so much awe.
"Look at them." Yeji whispered loud enough to be heard by the other three.
"It's so good to see our younger members interacting freely with idols their age." Yeonjun spoke while looking at the six who was talking.
"Why? They don't?" Yeji raised a brow.
They both shook their heads. "Not much. Not really. We both are friends with some idols but with them, it's rare to meet an idol their age that they can vibe with. All I know is Beomgyu's friends with Hyunjin and Jeongin but they rarely talk. Those 3 doesn't have much idol friends unlike Yeonjun-hyung." Soobin explained.
"How about you?" Lia asked Soobin.
"I have a few. I'm introverted and shy too." Soobin admitted. "But it's alright. As a leader, I feel happy seeing my members happy. Relate Yeji-ssi?" He asked as she nodded.
"Very." She chuckled.
"So how is it taking care of 4 members Soobin-ssi? I can't help but to be curious since I know how Yeji handles us." Lia placed her chin on the palm of her hand.
"Well, it's not that hard. Yes, they're extroverted while I'm not." He chuckled. "But it's fun."
Lia nodded and looked at Yeonjun. "How about you Yeonjun-ssi? How is it taking care of 4 younger members?"
"Stressful." Yeonjun shortly answered as the two girls chuckled.
"Wow, Yeonjun-hyung. You are such a joker. You are more chaotic than me. I'm the one who is stressed." Soobin slapped his arm.
"Aw sorry sorry." Yeonjun ruffled his hair.
"Look at this." Yuna approached the older members followed by the others and showed them her phone.
"TXTZY is trending." Yuna spoke.
"What is TXTZY, Yuna?" Yeji asked while the other three was curious too.
"Both of our group names combined. TXT and ITZY?" Yuna explained as they all nodded in realization.
"Why are we trending?" Soobin furrowed his eyebrows.
"Oh no, are we screwed?" Lia bit her lip and looked at them anxiously.
"No, unnie. Look." Yuna clicked the trend and gave her the phone. Yeonjun and Soobin also stood up and went behind the girls to see what it is.
"Oh, it's about the rookie grand slam." Yeonjun spoke and looked at them.
"Yes, we made history. That's amazing." Huening Kai said excitedly.
"And we are now in the list of rookie grand slam achievers together with Shinee sunbaenim, iKon sunbaenim, and Wanna One Sunbaenim." Taehyun told them as they widen their eyes.
"And those are big names." Chaeryeong added.
" 'Can't wait to see TXTZYㅡ how do you even read that?" Lia stopped. "To achieve more awards soon. TXT AND ITZY besties."
"Powerful 2019 ROTY besties." Soobin scrolled the screen down.
"TXTZY bestfriends." Yeji read the other one.
"Woah, we must have lot of supporters combined." Yeonjun said and put his hands on his hips.
"They even call it MOA- what is it again Ryujin?" Beomgyu tapped her shoulder.
"MOAMIDZY. They call it that." Ryujin told them.
"MOAMIDZY...They're creative. Cute." Lia spoke and handed Yuna her phone back.
"Our fans must be friends." She said while accepting her phone back.
"We achieved awards together since day one. No wonder." Huening Kai shrugged.
"I also heard that fans mostly vote for both our groups together since we debuted." Chaeryeong spoke and sat down.
"Like they say, bestfriends~" Beomgyu joked as all of them laughed.
"Come to think of it, we actually never interacted like this with another group before and Yeji-ssi told me earlier that ITZY never did too." Soobin looked at them.
"We have seen each other since 2019 on shows and even had an interview together."
"Not gonna lie, this is actually fun." Ryujin said. "I wished the industry isn't that strict. Who knows what could happen."
"It's just 10 pm. We still have time. And eat more. We deserve this!" Yeonjun cheered and stood up to get food again. His members shook their heads while laughing as well as the other girls and went to join him.
Both groups enjoying the time together as they guessed that it might be the first and the last time they'll be this free to interact with each other.