"Come in.", said a male voice. I looked up from my phone. Infront of me stood a tall man with a kind look on his face. Only now I noticed that he had spoken Japanese. "You must be Taeyong-san. My name is Tamura Reiji. I'm here to set the basic agreements for the song with you."

I stood up and bowed. "Yes. Nice to meet you."

Behind Tamura-san stood my manager, who gave me her thumbs up. Tamura-san and I sat down and the both of us pulled out our note books.

"I hope it is okay for you, if we do this in Japanese, my Korean is not the best." Tamura-san said and smiled at me.

"Yes, of course. That's no problem at all." I answered.

Tamura-san explained to me the song was suppose to be a bit dark, though not too much. It should be about suffering as well as about hope given by a loved one.

"We want the song to be written by you and your partner, which is why you will be expected in Japan next week. I hope you manager has already told you about that." I nodded. Yes, she had already told me about it, and it didn't bother me at all. As long as I didn't have to meet Yuta, everything would be fine. After all, I still saw this as a chance to improve my Japanese.

During the car ride back to my apartment I started to think about the meeting. Why hadn't they told me who I was going to work with? Wasn't that important information?

My manager must have noticed my frown, because she asked me "Is everything alright?"

I nodded. "Yes, it's just they haven't told us who I'm going to be working with. Isn't that weird?"

"I was told that they have trouble finding someone who fits. They said they're going to call me within the week, so don't worry."

"Mmh..." I still found it weird. Shouldn't they have someone by now? We're starting to work next week after all...

When I got home I turned off do not disturb on my phone and immediately my phone started buzzing with incoming messages and calls from Thea. I sighed. "Why can't she just leave me alone?"

I read some of the messages:

Call me back!

You can't ignore me forever

Who do you think you are?!

This is not over!

I sighed again. That seemed to become a daily routine by now. Slowly I massaged my temples. Thea was giving me a headache. Why did she have to become that way after we broke up? She never was like this when we were together. The phone kept buzzing and buzzing, the sound never left my ears, no matter where I went in my apartment.

Two days later, during one of the few breaks Thea took from calling me, my manager called. At first I didn't even bother picking up, after all chances were high it was Thea, but when I saw my manager's name I immediately answered.

"God, you have no idea how many times I had to call to get through... Is she still calling you all the time?", my manager said when I picked up.

"Yes, sadly."

"I'm so sorry, Taeyong..."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. What is it?"

"They told me your co-singer. You're going to work with Nakamoto Yuta. I didn't even know he coud sing!", my manager laughed.

I was so shocked, not a sound left my mouth. With Nakamoto Yuta? With Yuta?! My worst nightmares had come true.

"Taeyong? Is everything all right?"

"What, um, yeah, of course. Thank you for telling me." That's how the call ended.

"Oh my god."

I spent the evenig before my manager and I left for Japan at Johnny's place. To be honest, I was panicking.

"Everything will be allright Yuta. I'm pretty sure Yuta is one of the kindest human beings on this earth. At least that's what Jungwoo told me. There's nothing to be afraid of." Johnny tried to give me courage, but sadly, he was failing miserably. I sat on his couch, my legs constanly moving and my head in my hands. My nervousness was tiring me so much, that after two hours I spent at Johnny's place I fell asleep. 

I felt really bad the next morning, when my manager came to pick me up One, because of Johnny, because he always had to put up with my selfconciousness and anxiety, especially since he is busy himself and because of my manager, who had to come to pick me up from Johnny's place, when we had a place to be at. On time.

Yuta was already waiting for us, when we arrived at the studio. What did I get myself into...?

On the day I would be working with Taeyong for the first time, I had been in the studio since morning. Because it was the first day, they had given me the whole day off filming. Now I was pacing around nervously in the studio, much to the annoyance of my manager. To be honest, I would much rather be filming right now, than be in this studio with nothing else to do than pacing around.

"God, Yuta, would you calm down please. You're getting on my nerves.", my manager said in an annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry...", I said and sat down. However, sitting couldn't really stop my legs from bouncing up and down and my hands from sweating. Nervously I tried to rub them dry on my thighs.

Just in that moment the door opened and Teyong came in, followed by who I assumed to be his manager. Okay Yuta, calm down, I told myself.

This is really weird, but when I saw again how beautiful and handsome Taeyong was, I immediately calmed down. I guess normally, one would be even more nervous, but in my case it was the exact opposite. Taeyong had this calming aura around him that made my heartbeat slow down.

I stood up and bowed, then I proceeded to shake their hands.

"Nice to meet you." I said. "My name is Nakamoto Yuta."

"I'm Lee Taeyong." Taeyong answered. 

After first introductions, our managers left the studio together, probably to compare our schedules or something.

There was an awkward silence between Taeyong and me. If there's something I hated the most, then it was awkward silences. Especially when they involved me. I could act them out, but when it came to real ones, I could not bear them.

"How about you sit down? Do you want to drink something?" I asked because I couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Ahh, yes, thank you." Taeyong sat down and I handed him a glass of water.

"Do you know what the song's going to be about?" he asked after another long silence.

"Yes, of course. Is there anything in particular you want to include? I mean, you'll have to do most of the writing, since I really don't know anything about songwriting and composing..." I smiled triumphantly when he let out a small chuckle.

"No, not really. You'll have to help me with the Japanese though." Though Taeyong's voice was kind, he didn't look me in the eyes once during our conversation, which made me frown. Doesn't he like me...?

When I entered the studio, my heart began beating faster immediately. Yuta was sitting on a couch on the side of the room and was looking at me. He stood up and bowed to us, then he offered his hadn to shake. Since I didn't want to seem rude, I took his hand in mine, hoping that he wouldn't notice how sweaty my hands were. He gave me a big smile when he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you." he said. "My name is Nakamoto Yuta." I know.

Nervously I answered "I'm Lee Taeyong." I hoped so much that he didn't hear the tremble in my voice.

When he offered me something to drink I gladly accepted. My throat was dry and my heart was beating so loudly I almost couldn't hear my voice anymore. The whole time we were spending together I didn't dare look in his eyes. I feared he would become suspicous, that he would catch my feelings and distance himself from me. Maybe he would even be disgusted. I didn't want that to happen, if it did I would probably crumble to pieces. Loking back now, thet probably wasn't my wisest decision.

When we started to speak about the song I tried hard to make my heart beat less loud, less fast, but none of my attempts were successful.

"Do you know what the song's going to be about?" I asked him. Immediately afterwards I felt like slapping myself. Of course he knows, you idiot! He probably knows better than you!

I heard the laughter in his voice when he answered "Yes, of course. Is there anything in particular you want to include? I mean, you'll have to do most of the writing, since I really don't know anything about songwriting and composing..." I let out a small chuckle. I mean I was still nervous, but somehow I found that really cute. I don't know why, but that sentence made me want to squish his cheeks. And that made me feel weird about myself.

"No, not really. You'll have to help me with the Japanese though." I said. I was also going to tell him that I was learning Japanese, but he cut me off when he said "How about we start with a mindmap or something? That way we can include both our ideas."

"Yeah, sure." I said. "Could you maybe tell me the plot of the series, as an orientation? I mean, only if you're allowed."

He let out a chuckle. "Of course. The story is about a young man who has lost his family. They were murdered. He swears to find their murderer, but when he finds out it was actually his father who murdered his family and then killed himself he goes mad. He becomes a killer himself. During the day he is a normal student but at night every few months he loses contol and kills somebody, without remembering it the next day.

Then one day he falls in love, with someone who has witnessed him killing somebody. Of course he doesn't know that. To prove him guilty, the girl tries to get to know him, to get him to fall for her completely. She knows how dangerous it is, but does it anyways. And they become close, very close. The man tells her all his secrets, his fears, the story of his life and that's where she realizes her mistake. She has started caring about him, in a way she shouldn't care about a murderer."

A shiver ran down my spine. What a disturbing story. "What's your role?" I asked.

"I'm the protagonist, the murderer. It's actually a quite typical role for me. And my best friend Himura Miako plays my love interest." I nodded.

"Should we start?" I asked and got my tablet.

"Yeah."

Yuta's Korean was really impressive. I wanted to ask him about it, but I was afraid to do so. I mean, I already knew he spoke good Korean. He had roles in korean dramas and movies, so of course he spoke the language but still. I could only dream of speaking Japanese or even English like that.

In the evening I was laying in my hotel room, feeling like an idiot. Why hadn't I just tried to get to know Yuta a little bit more, why did I have to have these stupid feelings?

I turned to lay on my stomach and buried my head in my pillow. There was no use in dwelling on things I should have done, the only thing I could do was change my behaviour the next day.

Of course that's easier said than done.