In The Car
VALENTINE COOKIE's debut single, Love Crunch blasted through Taeyang's headphones. Since he would be working with Gong-gi, Taeyang thought it would be wise to listen to their discography. He was unsure if the storm outside hindered or enhanced the music experience.
One thing he was sure of from the tensing of his fingers, he was in a different world. If the driver turned around and told him he had been transported to Mars, he would have believed him. He was at the age where he believed everything he read on the internet, but he was so used to spending all day studying for his exams. Any evening that was spent playing video games was a privilege.
As Taeyang's body rocked towards the window, his breath left vapour marks. He kept himself warm with his oversized pink sweater. Hugging his feline pillow, he admired the neon lights in the city's district. "Everything at night seems to pretty."
It was as if there was nobody in the car, and was moving by itself. He would have struggled to hear them with how loud his music was, but he could see the driver and front passenger's tight lips. His manager, Flo was too busy applying make-up to care. She wasn't always like this though, she was a woman who cared about her appearance so needed the utmost concentration.
Everything about the bustling nightlife interested him: not even the rain was stopping them. Couples held umbrellas together. In a restaurant window, he could see people eating octopus legs with their beers. He bit his tongue resisting to gag as he saw one of the legs moving. At least a dozen motorcycles whizzed by. He pressed his face against the window, watching what he saw as normal people having fun after a long day at work.
Taeyang never considered himself to be a normal person. It was likely it would never happen. People outside were having fun, but he had no idea what fun meant. His newly appointed manager, Flo Glitz, promised him fun, fame and glory. The fame and glory didn't bother him that much. He didn't even want to be a pop star in the first place. All the things he did at school were deemed as a failure. Baptised as a monkey in class, he wondered why he should care about his education when nobody else did?
Being the black sheep of the family was hard work. His brother was a doctor, and his cousin wanted to become a lawyer. How could anyone expect him to have a normal education if he came from a strange household? His parents were no longer the pop idols they wanted to be, so they injected their desires into him.
Taeyang saw millions of paths, but the only one that seemed open for him was the road to failure. Years of never being picked on the sports team, cramming studies leading nowhere and snarky comments from relatives, it was a miracle that his family never murdered him. Life being the bane of his family's existence wasn't nice. At the same time, he couldn't see himself being a doctor or a lawyer.
His brother always got all the affection. Taeyang couldn't bring himself to eat at the dinner table. His parents were so scared that he would become a hermit that they reached out to Flo. His dad was Flo's accountant whilst his mother used to be her PA.
As amazing as the opportunity was to be a part of a K-pop band, Taeyang couldn't feel the joy. He faked a smile to his chauffeur and Flo to appear excited, but a part of him was dying inside. There was an emptiness that had to be filled.
Drifting off to sleep, he dreamed of a better world where he was no longer the shadow. The world around him became infested with golden roses as his clothes transformed into a regal cloak with a gigantic crown.
"WAKE UP!" Taeyang widened his eyes, and everything had returned to normal. Feeling the rain splash on his face as Flo opened the car door. "Move over! Gong-gi is going to sit next to you."
Taeyang obeyed. His parents warned him that annoying Flo Glitz would lead to serious consequences. She had a reputation of making people work so hard their muscles burn. Many had tried to sue her, but none succeeded.
The first thing that came into Taeyang's head was: WOW! He's sexy. He may not have been as polished and was missing the latex and purple quiff from the album covers, but he had that diamond-in-the-rough vibe about him. He was a man of experience.
"Nice to meet you," Taeyang said, shaking his hand.
"Likewise."
Flo hopped into the car with them as the driver started the engine. Clapping her hands, she grinned. "We are all going to be so rich. Welcome to the band, guys. Your band is going to be Taegong. You're going to be an all-singing, all-dancing homoerotic k-pop duo that will smash chart records all over the world. From this moment on, you two are a couple."
"WAIT!" Gong-gi shouted. "We've only just met."
"It's love at first sight," Flo chuckled. "Isn't it romantic? You two are so cute and hot together. All the fans are going to go wild."
"Are we in a relationship?" Taeyang asked. He never considered himself to be sexually attracted to men, but he appreciated beauty when he saw it, gender had no role in that.
"Yes. You are going to be role models for the LGBTQ+ Community."
"We don't need a showmance for that," Taeyang said. Biting his lip, he knew he had stepped out of line, but he believed that love is love. He had heard many cases where celebrity romances were staged, and it never ended well.
"Denial is always the first step. You two are gonna fall in love and be the most talked-about couple on the internet."
Taeyang and Gong-gi glared at Flo then looked at each other. Was this woman for real?