Minjeong is hell-bent on self-destructing and drags Ning down with her. The party with the backup dancers turns into an improvised orgy. Jihye finally makes her true feelings clear to you.
━•✦•━•✦•━
That fucking reporter already had you frankly fed up.
He had you, the staff and the girls acting paranoid with anything you did. No matter where you went, you always had to have extra eyes on your back and every part of your body to make sure there weren’t any nasty moles lurking around. Sometimes you weren’t even allowed to go out of the hotels as a precaution, and it was like that in DC, as well as in Chicago, as well as in Boston.
Cornered like a flock of sheep with a wolf on the prowl, and limited like a caged bird, so you were ever since. And it was a fucking pain in the balls.
Of course the girls weren’t exactly saints. Quite the opposite: they were still the same four horny demons who didn’t hesitate for a second to squeeze every drop out of you. The only thing was that now they had to be more cautious, and think with their brains instead of with their hormones, which wasn’t easy considering their recent history.
And you, well. If we went back to the flock of sheep metaphor, you could perfectly be the shepherd dog and Jihye your owner. You didn’t really know how you could have everything so under control, but you weren’t going to complain. If there was something you were grateful for, it was that you were not immersed in collective hysteria in every city you visited while distrusting even your own shadow.
“The good thing is that after the show you can all relax a little,” Jihye said, after handing you printouts of the schedule for that day and explaining a couple of things to keep in mind. “The next stop is Mexico City, so that should be a little more comfortable.”
During this stop you were in New York for a show in Brooklyn, staying at the Conrad New York Downtown. As usual, that morning the six of you were having your breakfast, in a beautiful restaurant within the same building full of natural light thanks to the multiple windows, a low ceiling and a parquet floor. You had chosen a circular table in the back, which would have had a view of the financial district if not all the windows were covered with white curtains.
“Do you have any news about… you know, the reporter?” asked Rina, who had already finished her breakfast and was just finishing drinking her apple juice in slow sips. “It’s been a while now, the girls and I are worried.”
They all nodded, and fixed their gaze on Jihye, who had taken a bite of her toast and had her mouth full to respond. She first wiped her mouth and swallowed.
“We already confirmed that there are no snitches among us, or anything like that,” she said, and then chuckled. “Though there will certainly be raises in the near future,” she then looked at you. “Because a few staff members know your real job, especially the backup dancers.”
You stared at her without blinking, a crumb of bread on your upper lip. That was unexpected.
“Don’t worry, they’ll keep their pretty little mouths shut.”
You shook your head and looked down at your breakfast again. Nothing heavy that morning. Just some French toast with ricotta and a bowl of berries.
“Well I fucking hope so,” you said, and put a blueberry in your mouth.
“But I do have to say that you are quite popular among them,” Jihye said, with a mocking voice. “Some even requested time alone with you.”
The toast you were eating would never have been as fascinating as that moment, where your cheeks felt hot. Finding yourself with the mocking glances of other girls? No way, the very interesting bread texture was a better option.
“What did you say to them, Noh Jihye?” Rina asked, and from that low, raspy tone of voice you could tell that she wasn’t too happy.
Even the raspberries and blackberries looked very interesting that morning. You put one of each in your mouth.
“That he’s an adult and if they wanted to ask him for help they could, of course,” Jihye replied. “But, that your needs are the priority, chill.”
“Ha!” Rina laughed. “They are all afraid of me, they would never ask him under that condition.”
“Hey!” Jihye gave the air a little swipe. “You need to be nicer to them, you know? Besides, who knows…?” you noticed how she looked at you again. “Maybe he wants to rail them too.”
You almost spit your coffee on the white tablecloth. In fact, a small droplet escaped from between your lips and landed on your thigh.
Rina tried to protest, but Jihye raised her finger at her to shut her up.
“Hey, moron,” she grabbed a napkin and passed it over your lips. You couldn’t help but look at her with a frown. “Do you have any updates we should know?”
You raised your eyebrows, leaned back in your chair, and let out a sigh as you looked at your cup.
“Well, I know that bastard keeps sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong,” you said, and crossed your arms to look at Jihye. “Apparently he found out where my apartment is in Seoul, and gave Chaery a good scare while she went to check to make sure everything was okay.”
“Fuck, I really want to smash that guy’s face…” Aeri said as she played on her phone.
“Same” you said. “But that itself is nothing incriminating, she passed it off as if we were friends and that’s it. She also made sure to remove all her belongings from the apartment in case the guy got bold and decided to go snooping around.”
“You can sue him for that, right?” Rina asked. “In case he really dares.”
“I could, yeah. Only with the necessary proofs, of course,” you shrugged. “I have another news,” you looked at Jihye. “But I don’t know if it’s appropriate to discuss it here because it has to do with… you know, Red Velvet.”
Jihye stared into space and pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek, smart enough to know what you meant.
“Just say what you have to say.”
“Alright,” you nodded and took a breath. “Seulgi and Yeri both called me separately, and they both told me that Irene had been… quite strange lately. You remember the closed-door meeting at SM to discuss all this stuff back in Seoul with my previous clients, right? Well, that’s where she started acting weird, according to them.”
From the moment you mentioned Irene’s name, Jihye’s face changed completely. Now she seemed shocked, yes, but also angry. The girls did not have a very different appearance; they were all about to release steam from their nostrils.
You put a hand on Jihye’s knee and grimaced. You felt genuinely sorry for her.
“I wish I could have told you this at a better time, but it had to be said,” you looked at the others. “But hey, that could mean nothing and just be a coinc…”
“That fucking bitch…” Ning muttered, interrupting you.
Your heart skipped a beat hearing Ning call Jihye’s ex-girlfriend that in front of her, but to your surprise, she nodded herself and let out a heavy breath through her nose.
“It could mean a lot,” she corrected you, looking up at the ceiling. “That woman has always been vengeful… and fucking toxic,” she said in a lower tone.
There was an awkward silence at the table, which lasted for a few long seconds in which all of you thought about it.
“We will discuss this matter later,” Jihye chimed. “Today is the last show here in the USA, and we must give our best.”
“Yeah,” you and the girls said at the same time with a nod. And then you dedicated yourself to finishing breakfast in silence.
Going to venues early with the staff was already something common for you, and also something you genuinely enjoyed.
You went from place to place on stage, making sure the tape marks for the choreography were all in place. Then you went to the team that did all the mixing and sound engineering, and helped them tune up some speakers and replace some cables.
A few weeks ago you were practically a disaster at all of that, but along the way you became more and more familiar with every possible facet of the staff of that super act called Aespa. The most curious thing is that you never expected to enjoy it so much, but how could you not? Every time you learned something new, and you lost track of time when they taught you about something you were passionate about. You had even made some good friends within the staff, very nice people by the way.
When you got off the stage, the first thing you did was go straight to the snack area to look for a cold drink, but on the way you came face to face with a pride of hungry lionesses.
When you passed by the backup dancers you heard some giggles that weren’t a surprise to you considering what Jihye had told you that morning. You were nervous as shit at the idea of dealing with these girls you didn’t know at all, but you had to be a little daring in life.
You turned a little more than a meter away from them, and you found that five of them were looking at you in a not very hidden way. You stared at the blonde one. Not for anything specific, it was just where your eyes fell first.
“I’ll be sure to give you my phone and room number when we get to Mexico City, don’t worry,” you said, trying hard not to sound like Johnny Bravo.
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