To Carry a Torch | KTH ✅

Chapter 5: A New Generation Anpanman

Tae's POV 🎺

Lily has been diligently working all morning on trying to save my album, working her producing magic by reimagining some of the tracks. She finally gets up from her chair and approaches the soft sofa against the side wall, gently shaking me on the shoulder.

"Tae, you dozed off, Sweetheart. You stayed up late again last night, didn't you?"

"Hmm, what?" I let out a long breath as I rake my hand through my hair, trying to refocus my eyes as I pry them open. "Ugh, I'm sorry. I haven't been able to sleep lately."

"What's wrong? Tell me about it," Lily says as she sits facing me while resting her elbow on the cushion.

"It's my album. I know you are trying to help me, and honestly, your ideas are amazing, but my heart just isn't in it. Every time I listen to the songs, they just don't feel like me anymore. Too much time has passed, or maybe they never really felt like me at all. I just know it all feels...well, it feels off," I admit.

"I knew it!" Lily declares. "I have sensed this since we got into the studio together. Fuck it! Let's scrap the entire album and start from scratch!" The words fall off her tongue so casually that it snaps me to attention when what she is saying starts to really sink into my thoughts.

"I don't think I can do that. I'm pretty sure the company will have something to say about it."

"What are you talking about? How many times have I watched you delete entire songs, and they haven't done a damn thing about it?" she scoffs with a mischievous grin painted on her lips.

"True, true, but those were individual songs. Drafts, really. This is a whole album, Lilly!" I explain.

"If they have a problem, well then, fuck them! Come over to my studio, and I'll produce the entire album myself. In fact, let's do an entire jazz album collaboration -you and me," Lily says matter-of-factly.

I sit up a little straighter, completely taken by surprise, "You can't be serious..." I whisper, feeling the air leave my lungs, excitement growing in the pit of my stomach.

Suddenly the door swings open, and Hobi's head pops in, "Am I interrupting?"

"No, come in," I nod and watch as his eyes light up. He practically tackles Lily, and they fall into a fit of giggles as Hobi pulls her into him, casually slinging an arm around her as she tucks into him.

Lily is close to all of us, but it's no secret that she and Hobi have a bond that seems unbreakable. If I'm being honest, when the group first met Lily, I was a little jealous of their friendship, but over time it dissipated, and we've all found we each have our own special bond with her. Hobi's is just a bit different. Her heart may belong to Yoongi, but Hobi and her have a pure friendship, a soul-inspired bond that could never be broken.

"Hobi, ask Tae why he loves Lady Gaga more than me? Always going on about how he'd love to make a jazz song with her, but when I offer to make an entire jazz album with him, he just looks at me like I have three heads..." she sasses and then flashes me a bratty pout as she sinks into Hobi and then rests her feet on my lap with a satisfied grin.

Hobi's mouth drops open, "Are you serious right now, Lil? Are you seriously offering to do an album with him? Do you mean produce -like you did for Namjoon?"

"Of course she does," I cut in, but my brain doesn't believe the words I'm saying. It's as if I'm trying to protect myself from getting my hopes up.

"No. I mean you and me, the whole album, writing together, producing together, perhaps singing together in some of the songs. A real collaborative project that is made by us and whomever else you want to bring on," Lily says as she looks into my eyes intently. "I've been playing with this idea for a long time in the back of my head but didn't want to say anything since you already had an album banked and ready to go. What do you say, Tae-Tae? Want to set our creative sides free together and see what kind of magic we can unleash? We could set the world on fire!"