Notes to my Heart | TAEIL

Chapter 23

As much as Taeil wanted to work with Haechan to avoid the awkwardness with Iseul, he couldn't. He knew he had to give Iseul the challenge or everyone would think that he was favouring Haechan.

It's not that they didn't sound good together, they were definitely far from that. It's just that after what happened and Iseul's lack of response to Taeil's recording, he knew that they simply weren't as close as they were before.

Luckily, with the difficult challenge for the week, Taeil spent most of his time working with the two of them together, which meant less time alone with Iseul. But he could only prolong that time for so long.

Taeil took a deep breath before entering the small practice room where Iseul was waiting, tuning her guitar. Taeil had brought his along as well, setting it in the corner before sitting down at the piano, the bench located across from Iseul's chair.

There was clear tension between them and Taeil desperately wished there was no cameras in the room, but obviously, the show had to record each and every moment.

Iseul glanced at her mentored and Taeil could hear a big sigh escape her lips as she put her guitar down.

"Taeil, I'm sorry."

What?

Those were not the words he was expecting to hear leave Iseul's mouth but there they were.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those words that night. You were just trying to help." Iseul continued.

"Oh, it's alright." Taeil said softly, feeling flustered. "You weren't yourself."

"Yeah, I wasn't." Iseul said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

The atmosphere had somehow became more awkward than it was before. The two of them figuring out what to say to fix it, but it was definitely hard.

"I... uh... heard the recording you sent." Iseul said. Taeil noticed that her cheeks were now rosy, and Taeil couldn't help but smile. "It sounded really good."

"Thank you." Taeil said, holding in the urge to reach out and grab the girl's chin, making her look him in the eyes.

"So, what are you thinking about for this cover?" Iseul asked, looking at him with eager eyes. Taeil motioned her to come closer to him.

"There's a few I have in mind." Taeil said, taking out his earbuds and passing one to her.

The two of them sat there, listening to Taeil's ideas. Taeil glanced over at the girl who was tapping her fingers against her thigh to the different beats, thinking about the songs Taeil had suggested.

"What do you think?" Taeil asked, once they were done.

"I really like the second one. Like a lot." Iseul told him.

Taeil couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's comment. "That's actually my favourite too."

"Really?" Taeil nodded.

He went into his bag, pulling out a folder containing sheet music and lyrics, passing a set to her.

"Why don't we start rearranging this?" Taeil suggested.

Iseul smiled back and Taeil slid over, giving the girl some space to sit on the piano bench beside him.

...

Iseul was glad that the air had cleared between her and Taeil as the two made their way out of the training facility.

They had spent a good few hours going over their cover, splitting up the different parts of the song and learning how to harmonize with one another. It didn't take long for them to figure that out though, already having experience singing with each other from their cover.