We had all gathered around the console with the producer, Yang Hyun-suk, Collins and Lee taking their seats while we stood around. The producer got the instrumental from Bang Yong-guk which he put in a flashdrive. 

 

As much as I didn't feel nervous like I did before, I still found myself playing with my fingers that I hid behind me. I felt Yong-guk nudge me on the shoulder with his as he stood next to me. I turned to look at him. His smile told me to remain calm and that everything's going to be fine. I smile back, assuring him that I'm okay. 

 

If I'm okay, then why do I feel uneasy? 

 

We watched the producer insert the drive in the USB port of his laptop right next to the console. 

 

I realise that the place is quiet, and I can feel the tension amongst ourselves. I looked at the other Toxins, and I can tell they're nervous. I wish I could tell them that all is well, but I would only be repeating what they said earlier. Let’s just see how all this goes. 

 

Soon enough, the tune came flowing through the speaker after the producer hit the play button on his laptop, then came along the beat and other sound effects. I had my fingers crossed for the few seconds that passed. I just hope they like it. 

 

"Wait a minute, pause," said Yang Hyun-Suk. 

 

I felt my heart jump to my throat. What could be the problem now? 

 

The producer did likewise and all our eyes turned to Yang Hyun-suk. I could sense nervous tension in the air as we all looked at him. Could there be something wrong? We only just started. 

 

There came a long pause as his eyes were fixed on the see-through glass of the recording booth. I can tell he’s thinking of something, but what could it be? Maybe, he doesn’t like the song. Could it be that bad? For him to stop it so soon, anyone could assume the worst. 

 

"May I see the lyrics?" he asked as he turned around to look at us. His eyes fell specifically on me, though. 

 

"Of course," I said as I quickly rushed back to where we sat. I left my bag there with the paper with the lyrics in it. I picked the bag, looked inside and removed the folded paper. I make my way back. 

 

I give the paper to Yang Hyun-suk and he quickly unfolded it. I’m glad I wrote the lyrics on a clean sheet of paper, because the other had a lot of scribbles and cancellations. That’s just the life of a song-writer, I guess. 

 

He looked at the paper and now the nervous tension in the room got a whole lot worse. I saw him raise his eyebrow and I turned to look at Yong-guk. Surprisingly, he had a smirk on his face as he looked at me. How is he not scared right now? 

 

Yang Hyun-suk turned around on the swivel chair, then turned back to look at us. This is it. His final judgement. 

 

"This is good," said Yang Hyun-suk. "Once we fuse the instrumental with these lyrics, it will be a great hit." 

 

I sighed in relief while the rest clapped and cheered a little, especially the ladies. I felt Yong-guk put his hand on my shoulder with a smile. He mouthed out an "I-told-you-so" and I couldn’t help but blush. 

 

"This is an excellent piece of work, Sam," said Yang Hyun-suk as he handed the paper to Collins. "As much as it is a breakup song, the tune and the beat make it fun to sing to." 

 

"That was the whole idea," I said. "We wouldn’t have done it without Yong-guk, though. And the rest of BAP." 

 

"It’s why we think Yong-guk should help out with the album," said Collins after looking at the paper. 

 

"Wait, did you say the album?" Mike asked sounding surprised. 

 

"Yes, we had a long talk about it before coming here," said the producer. "I think he’ll make a great contribution." 

 

"Wow," said Jennie as she turned to look at Yong-guk. "I didn’t see this coming." 

 

"No one did," said Daniel. 

 

"This is going to be so exciting," said Jisoo. 

 

The others started to talk amongst themselves excitedly and I couldn’t help but look on with a smile on my face. I felt a little nudge on my shoulder and I turn to see Yong-guk looking at me. 

 

"Didn’t I tell you that everything is going to be alright?" he asked me. 

 

"Ya, you did," I said. 

 

"I’m the one who assured you a 100%," said Seunghoon as he came to stand on my other side. Goodness, standing in between these two is getting unbearable by the minute. 

 

"Okay, settle down, everyone," said Yang Hyun-suk as he stood up from his chair to address us. "Don’t get so excited. We need everyone’s cooperation to make this album a success." 

 

We quieted down, but it’s obvious that the moment he walks out of here, the room will burst with excitement again. 

 

"Now, we would like to say something before we leave," said Collins. "We know that we don’t have enough time on our hands to make the album, but if we all cooperate, we won’t have any problems." 

 

"So, as we mentioned to you some time ago, you’ll be working with other lyricists and producers for the album, so we’ve to work effectively," said Yang Hyun-suk. "It will be tiring for you, but this song should be perfected today so as to make time to create others." 

 

We all looked at each other. It won’t be the first time any of us has had to perfect a song or an album in a short period of time. Looks like us Toxins have to burn the oil before leaving. 

 

"And not forgetting that we should shoot a music video," Yang Hyun-suk soon added. 

 

"Huh?" the rest of us muttered. There’s going to be a music video? 

 

"I know, this seems sudden, again, and we’re sorry about that," Yang Hyun-suk apologised. "We thought it would be nice to shoot a music video for the fans in order to promote the album. It will be stressful, but in the long run, it will be prove to be very effective." 

 

The thought of making a music video still didn’t sit well with me. We’ll be so stressed out from making the album that I don’t know if we’re ever going to manage making a music video. But just like Yang Hyun-suk said, it will be effective when it comes to promoting the album. I look around and the excitement we had earlier just dissipated like it wasn’t even there to begin with. 

 

"So we’ll leave you to it, then," said Collins. "The earlier we start working, the better." 

 

"Yong-guk, Sam, you’re in charge," said Yang Hyun-suk. "Lee will be here if you need anything." 

 

Yong-guk and I gave a nod of our heads. The two managers started to make their way out of the recording room wishing us the best. As soon as they left, there is silence amongst ourselves. A few seconds later, I went for the door and opened it to peek down both ends of the hall. They are gone. I closed the door and turned to address the others: 

 

"They are gone. You can let it out now." 

 

Like a tidal wave, everyone started to talk at the same time. 

 

"This is so not fair," I heard Zoey say. "Why do we’ve to make a music video? Isn’t the album more than enough?" 

 

"What are we going to do?" I could hear Rose ask her fellow BlackPink members. "The album is more than we can handle and we’ve to focus on our upcoming one. Now there’s a music video? No way!" 

 

I clapped my hands loudly to try and capture their attention. It worked, surprisingly. Usually in such a large audience, it doesn’t. 

 

"Okay, I know this isn’t what we were expecting," I said. "Trust me, I feel like bursting right now, but it isn’t going to help us finish the album. A lot of people are expecting this BTW collaboration to happen, and we’ve to give them the best that we can offer. So can we please, settle down so that we can find a way to work around this? Complaining won’t do us any good." 

 

The others all looked at each other as though I had just said something strange, but it soon dawned on them that they had to chill out. Some even went to settle on the couch. 

 

"I really need to sit down," said Jinwoo as he is the first to settle. "I feel like I just ran a marathon." 

 

"Alright, everyone just take your seats, please," I said as I went for those who were still standing and pushing them towards the couch. 

 

"What is it, Sam?" Mino asked as he is one of the people I am pushing to go take a seat. 

 

"All of you are my problem," I said as I put my hands on my waist, looking at them. 

 

When they had all settled, Daniel asked, "how can you say we’re your problem?" 

 

"Because I’m in charge. You all look depressed and angry. It will be a problem to deal with because we can’t work like this." 

 

"I know," said Seunghoon with his lower lip out in a pout. "Making a music video is hard." 

 

"Not forgetting that we also need to work on dance moves," said Mike. 

 

"And there’s also an issue with wardrobe," Lisa pointed out. 

 

"Also the theme and equipment for the music video," said Christine. "Thinking about it makes my head want to burst." 

 

"Okay, okay, I get it," I said. "But you’re forgetting that all of this will require a large number of people. We’re not alone in this. Everyone has a part to play, so can we try and do ours? Well, after we rest a little first. I won’t lie, this is a surprise for me too." 

 

"You can come sit here with me," Seunghoon suggested creating space on the couch next to him. 

 

Goodness. I forced myself to go there anyway. 

 

We all sat in silence for what felt like forever. A lot of us seem to be deep in thought while others started to look through their phones. Yong-guk who had stayed behind with the producer by the console, stood up and came to stand in front of us. 

 

"Okay, guys, break time is over," he announced. 

 

"Huh? Really?" Jennie asked as she is looking through her phone. She scratched the back of her head, making her look more confused. 

 

"He's right," I said as I stood up. "We’ve had enough time to settle, so let's get to work." 

 

"But are we really going to manage this?" Mino asked. 

 

"I know we can." I went towards Yong-guk to stand next to him to face the others. "It's like I said earlier. We aren't alone in this. We've Yong-guk and the producer over here to make sure we finish this song today. We've lyricists and other producers coming in later to help finish the album. I know the music video is a real pushover, but there will be a lot of people helping us out with it. I don't want to make some boring speech about teamwork, but all I can say is that we're doing this for the fans to show that we love them." 

 

A sudden round of applause filled the room coming from BTW. It startled me a bit. I didn’t expect this. 

 

"You've made an excellent point," said Lisa as she clapped and jumped up from her seat. "Let's do it for the fans, guys." 

 

Everyone is now in agreement and the excitement that we had earlier came back. I smiled with relief. For a moment there, I thought I was going to lose them. 

 

"Nice one, Sam," said Yong-guk. "That must be one of the greatest speeches I've ever heard. Short, but simple; straightforward and motivating." 

 

"Uh..., thanks," I said, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. 

 

"Good job keeping your people under control," said Lee as stood on my other side. "I don't know how you did it, but you got everyone motivated again. You really deserve the best leader award." 

 

"I'm glad that doesn't even exist," I said, smiling at her. I turned towards the rest of BTW. "Okay, settle down, guys. We need to organise ourselves, ASAP." 

 

Everyone soon became attentive as they now had their eyes on Yong-guk, Lee and I. This is going to be one of my toughest times yet. I didn’t expect to lead such a big group. 

 

"Okay, everyone, we don’t have enough time to goof around," I said. "So we’ve to be serious on the get go. You heard what the managers said. It’s going to be tiring, but I believe we can do it." 

 

Yong-guk went on ahead to explain that we will have to hear how the song will play out first before we start to give out parts to sing. Mike and I were with him when making the instrumental and we knew how the lyrics will flow, so we would do a test-run and see if everything will be alright. If need be, we all know there might be a change here and there with either the tune on some parts of the lyrics. 

 

"Let’s get this on the move, Mike," I beckoned to him to follow me to the recording booth. 

 

I reached the booth first with Mike behind me. Yong-guk and Lee went over to the console to join the producer with others joining behind them. 

 

"You do the best you can in there," Yong-guk said to me before I went inside. 

 

I gave a nod of my head while Mike said, "don’t worry. We’ll do it perfectly." 

 

"Oh, don’t forget this," said Lee as she handed over the paper where the lyrics were. "All the best." 

 

"Thanks," I said. Everyone is actually hoping that all this will go smoothly, and that sort of builds up pressure. I turned to look at Mike who stood beside me and I can tell he’s feeling it too. I placed a hand on his shoulder assuring him that it’s all going to be okay. 

 

The two of us go in the booth to the centre of the room to the microphones and the headphones mounted, ready to be worn. We put the headphones on and Yong-guk instructed through the mic on the other side that they will first play the instrumental, then we can see how to fuse in the lyrics. The good part about working with Mike and Yong-guk yesterday, is that even when we were making the instrumental