"Go sit by the dining table. We have enough chairs there. Wait for me while I get something." Tayaw said as he walked upstairs to the master's bedroom upstairs.
While the group collectively processed the afternoon together at the dining table, Tayaw came back as well.
"Here. It's not legal binding, but let it be at least a symbol that our band is formed today." Tayaw said as he passed them forms to fill out and sign.
"Is it really not legal binding?" Ramil asked in his usual skepticism.
"Yes. If I'm not wrong, Inson is also 17, right? I am too. So any contract given or signed by a minor is voidable. It's just entirely because of my trust to you all that I'm hiring you all without legal powers." Tayaw replied which assured Ramil.
This also assured the rest of the group. They will not steal the instruments, they will not vandalize the house, and they will follow Tayaw's requirements or else, the incentives are gone forever for them. With this decision, they signed the forms.
After the signing, Tayaw is satisfied.
"Thank you guys. At least my preparations have not gone to waste." Tayaw sighed in relief.
"What do you mean?" Inson replied, excited at the future.
"Let me ask first, who here are locals of Ouigab City?" Tayaw asked.
"I'm from the outskirts of West Ouigab." Hoon replied.
"I'm from the suburbs beyond South Ouigab." Ike said.
"How long do each of you take each morning to travel from your homes to the campus?" Tayaw asked.
"About 15 minutes by train, double that by a car." Hoon replied.
"20 minutes with my motorcycle." Ike answered.
"The rest are from outside the city, yes?"
"Yep."
"Wouldn't it be convenient if you all lived here?" Tayaw dropped another to the group.
"YES!" Jenna answered excitedly despite her dorm only of walking distance from the Northwestern University Campus.
"Who else?" Tayaw asked which was met by a silent 'YES'.
"Good. We have four bedrooms. I already occupy one upstairs. You can all look around and decide amongst yourselves." Tayaw said and they all sprang from their chairs and together looked for their own rooms.
"GUYS WAIT!" Jenna who had the shortest stride was left in the dust.
The group after a lively discussion among themselves finally agreed on their arrangements. Jenna was unanimously told to live in the big bedroom next to the living room, Ike and Inson would bunk in another big bedroom upstairs, and Ramil and Bay-an would bunk in the last big bedroom opposite Ike and Inson's room. Hoon, because of his introverted nature, valued his privacy just as much as Tayaw does. Because of that, he chose to be left out. While he doesn't have a bedroom yet, he is actually left with two choices. He can either occupy the vacant closet room facing Jenna's room, or the attic. He does not have his own bathroom but he can just use the guest bathroom by the dining area.
"Hey Hoon. How about the attic? It's very well insulated and ventilated. The temperature can also be controlled by the air conditioning so you won't have to worry whether it's the dry or the wet season." Tayaw helped Hoon decide, which Hoon ultimately agreed with.
March 7, Monday.
The band did not move in immediately last Friday. After they were able to enroll together today and became classmates with each other, except for Ike who enrolled a schedule similar to the rest, did they only start moving in their stuff in the house.
Ike and Inson, who are Ouigab locals, just took what they needed from their own homes and moved in easily. The others terminated their lease in their current dorms, which was easier than they thought, and started to move their stuff to Tayaw's house with a few trips using Tayaw's truck.
While the six are moving their stuff in, Tayaw had an idea.
"By the way, Ramil, you have a driver's license right? A proper one?" Tayaw asked Ramil.
"Yep. How'd you know?" Ramil was surprised.
"I saw your observing me while I was driving you guys here last week. I know you have good experience driving." Tayaw said.
He was lying. He knew that Ramil was an experienced driver based in his previous life. Because of that, Ramil was able to make a fair living by becoming a chauffeur right after college and managed to save up for welding school.
"I see. Yeah. I was actually impressed by your smooth driving. You probably already started driving long before you got your license, right? Someone our age doesn't really know how to take care of a car's tires." Ramil smiled and gave Tayaw a knowing look.
"Yeah. It's not like you also didn't." Tayaw chuckled.
"True. Why are you asking, by the way? Wanna lend me your truck?" Ramil said in jest.
"Actually no. I want to by a Korean van to fit everyone to go to school." Tayaw said.
"Man, just how rich are you?!" Ike who overheard the conversation was surprised.
"What's going on?" Jenna who just came out of her room to pick up more of her stuff in the garage, asked when she heard Ike's exclamation.
"This dude wants to buy a van for our daily transport!" Ike replied loudly.
"What? Really?" Inson also overheard and came over.
"Okay. We should know. We don't want working for someone who might be doing illegal things." Ramil also said seriously.
"Fine. Fine. Gather everyone to the living room." Tayaw said as he went to the garage and picked up a box containing copies of his fairy tales. As he made it back to the living room, the six mates are already sitting on the couches.
"Hey. What's in the box?! Ramil said you're doing something illegal." Bay-an said as he saw Tayaw walking over, the box he's carrying seemed suspicious in his eyes.
"That's not what I said! Ike! You better say what I said accurately." Ramil replied in annoyance.
"Bay-an, Ramil said he doesn't want working for someone who might be doing something illegal. There's a huge difference." Tayaw chuckled. He's not doing anything illegal, so he was not offended..
"Alright. Calm down and read these for a few minutes before you ask your questions. After five minutes, I'll answer your questions. Trust me." Tayaw said as he took out copies of the book.
"Oh. I know this book. It's quite popular nowadays." Jenna said as she flipped over the pages and started reading.
"What's with the fairy tales?" Inson asked while appreciating the book's cover. The others also opened their copies.
A few minutes later. "YO! THEY HAD THEIR EYES PECKED BY BIRDS! How is this for children, dude?" Ike exclaimed as he read the ending of Cinderella.
"Hey stupid! You're holding the adults version!" Inson shut Ike up.
"Oh. That's right. I thought I was holding Children's version because that's what Ramil's holding." Ike said as he realized he did not carefully read the title of the book he's reading.
"I didn't know fairy tales could be this fun to read. Too bad the stories are too short." Ramil said as he closed the book. The others closed their copies as well.
"So, can you tell us now?" Bay-an urged Tayaw.
Tayaw then grabbed Bay-an's copy and stood up.
"T is i who is't wroteth the books thee holdeth in thy palms." Tayaw said theatrically.
"Uhh.. What?" Ike asked.
"You wrote the books!" Inson said, understanding the first part of Tayaw's sentence.
"What?!" Jenna exclaimed. Ramil, Bay-an, and Hoon just stared at Tayaw.
"Oh my god! It's true! Look! T.L.D. Grimmauld! T.L.D stands for Tayaw's initials! I've wrote his name many times before!" Jenna exclaimed as she figured it out.
"Whoah … We have a world famous author right here."" Ramil said and just stared at Tayaw in amazement.
"I've heard rumors about you. I think they're saying you're an old man enjoying his retirement." Bay-an said.
"I heard that too. I also heard that you are actually a famous author who published the fairy tales in another pen name." Jenna also informed them of what she heard.
Hoon, on the other hand who already recovered from his surprise is giggling to himself at the contrast of the rumors to the actual person. Tayaw, who saw Hoon giggling, started laughing as well.
Because he locked himself inside his studio practicing for the entirety of February, Tayaw did not have the time to scour the internet enough to find rumors about him. Many tabloids and online news portals expressed their difficulties in finding T.L.D Grimmauld's real identity. He also did not follow up with Ophelia from Nabla Observer for an interview so the rumors just snowballed into various theories.
"Anyway, that's the source of my fortune. Questions?" Tayaw said the the group.
"Well. You're already rich. Why the music?" Ike asked.
"My real passion is music. Why else would I go the trouble to build a recording studio and form a band?" Tayaw told them.
"I don't know. Because you can afford it?" Inson just said while started daydreaming about becoming rich as well.
"While that may also be true, how else did I become good enough to live as a musician? I was a musician first before an author." Tayaw explained.
"That's true. I think you're a genius guitarist. I don't even know how to play like you." Hoon nodded at Tayaw's reasoning.
"So you just got lucky?" Ramil said.
"While luck has something to do with it, I think it's also because I happened to have written something for an untapped market that is fairy tales." Tayaw explained.
"Hmm. I get it. I didn't know fairy tales could be better until I read your book, actually." Jenna said.
"I understand. If the movies we've been watching are like the old fairy tales, and someone would release greater movies, of course the world would watch it." Ramil said while nodding to himself. Ramil's simile however almost gave Tayaw heart palpitations.
"Aherm. Yeah. It's just like that." Tayaw affirmed.
".. I bet the taxes are a btch though." Hoon casually said, but made Tayaw obviously flinch in their eyes. Seeing this reaction, Hoon's brows rose.
"I know it's not right to ask, but how much?" Hoon asked seriously.
"I earned 400,000 last year and I paid 128000." Tayaw answered.
"Holy sh*t." Hoon's eyes widened.
"yeah…" the rest of the group was also speechless.
Unknown to them, Tayaw's tax in the first half of 2011 will be enormous.