??? : Where is Oppa?

At the perception of her face, Seol Ah felt a sense of familiarity. She creased her temple in thoughts over where she could have seen this visual before.

The pretty guest was the absolute definition of beauty- fair tone, evenly shaped eyes with fine trimmed brows, blending in impeccably with her eye makeup. A gradient plum tint kissed her well curved lips, and her flawless creamy skin was next to perfection.

To Seol Ah, who had very less of Asians growing up, the young woman seemed to be the template for the typical beauty standards set by society.

But before, the new manager could entirely study her perfect features and admire them, the femme fatale lady welcomed herself inside the house—without a bother to her.

She casually walked in, putting on the koala slippers near the shoe rack. Seol Ah noticed her acquaintance with the house and presumed, it wasn't her first time there.

??? : Oppa~ Where are yo-..

She stopped mid way through her words and turned to Seol Ah. The latter looked up at her with widened eyes at the former's sudden attention.

??? : Are you his new manager? (-examines her up and down-)

SEOL AH : Yes, I am. May I ask, your identity?

??? : (-ignoring her question and talks to herself-) Tacky-some.

SEOL AH : I am sorry?

??? : (-chuckles-) Oh, did you hear it? Anyways, I was just saying you're of no harm to me. So, we are good. (-smiles and turns to find Namjoon again-)

Seol Ah was a little offended by her belittling conduct towards her and having commented on her casual clothes. Self conscious about her skin tone being too pale, after middle school sadly, she never put on something revealing and covered her body as much as she could.

With determination, she decided to prioritize her work then and overtook the lady who attempted to go for his studio's door knob.

SEOL AH : I am sorry, I can't let you in. I have to ask Sir for an approval first. May I know, what this is in reference to? 

??? : (-rolls eyes-) Yah! Do you even know who you're talking to?

SEOL AH : No, and I would like to know that.

The mysterious lady glared at her for a while, before forcing out a chuckle and trying to act cool.

??? : Alright. I will spare you this time, so just move out of my way.

SEOL AH : I am sorry, Ma'am. He has strictly asked me not to let anyone insid-

The younger now, not paying anymore heed, excused Seol Ah and forcibly went inside— whining out a call to Namjoon. 

??? : Oppaa~

SEOL AH : (-bowing-) I am sorry sir, I will take her out.

Seol Ah, attempting to arm handle her now, was stopped by Namjoon.

NJ : It's okay. Let her be. You can leave.

Although, she wanted to witness his expressions as he said those words to her, Seol Ah kept her eyes down while quietly leaving with a slight bow.

She could hear their conversation that continued the moment she backed her steps from his room, the closing door letting her listen to a few lines.

NJ : Why are you here?

??? : Why would I be? Of course, I came to see you~ (-door closes, shutting all the voices from coming outside-)

Seol Ah, apart from giving an ear, also faintly caught the sight of the lady— walking to Namjoon's side and leaning to him, after.

The click of the closed door then, brought her back from the island of eavesdropping and peeking. That, she simply named, a curiosity.

Mindlessly, she retreated towards the couch, back to her work.

.

.

.

"Why is she so pale? Is she sick or something?"

After a transfer of school.

"Are you one of those vampires we read about? Do you too drink blood for food?"

Being bullied.

"Go back to your country!"

Being bitched on and belittled.

"You must save a lot on your eye makeup. It's not visible with your single eyelids anyways."

All these years that she endured through for the whole of her life in Amsterdam, replayed rigorously at once like a long due film.

Only a simple comment, "Tacky-some" -yet so vicious, that the delivering mouth would never realize the extent of the harm caused.

Seol Ah, having made peace with every unfair worms that sucked on her past, wiped them aside yet once again- trying to focus on her work.

She concentrated, forcing her attention to the notepad and remembered the alter Namjoon had requested her of.

Finding herself the right opportunity to divert her mind, she dialed the producer to make the necessary changes.

By the time she ended the call after a diplomatic persuasion, the lady too came out of Namjoon's studio— making Seol Ah look at her and stand automatically.

??? : (-approaching her-) Don't worry, I didn't tell him about your misbehavior with me.

SEOL AH : I strongly believe, it was the other way around. 

??? : Yah! Do you want to say, I mistreated you?

SEOL AH : If that's how you perceive your behavior as.

??? : You-

She was cut off by Namjoon, coming out of his studio and asking why she was still there.

??? : Onh, I was just leaving Oppa.  

The young lady walked to the door, giving Seol Ah the last death glare on her way out.  

NJ : (-after she left-) Seol Ah-ssi. Can I get another cup of coffee, please?

SEOL AH : (-straight expressions-) Sure.

In a short while, she went in his studio with his hot beverage, blowing up smoke.

Namjoon noticed her, avoiding his eyes as she quietly placed his cup in his front. Her actions, a little different from the way she carried herself during the day.

NJ : Don't you want to ask about her?

SEOL AH : (-finally looking at him-) Can I do that?

NJ : If you're curious enough. Besides, I never said that you cannot. (-holds his cup-)

Seol Ah, giving his offer a few casual thoughts, shot the flooding questions at once. Namjoon tried answering them one by one with the best interest. 

NJ : First, she is a model named Kim Ha neul. You might have seen her in advertisements and commercials.

His words now prompted her into the realization, that she had seen her in a mall poster, few months ago. 

NJ : She wants to debut as a solo singer that is, my junior and often visits me for advices— which answers your second question. Although, even after my repeated attempts to get her to call me instead, she always drops by.

For some reason, Seol Ah felt skeptical about her motives. But, soon reasoned that out to be her unfamiliarity with the inside workings of the industry.

NJ : And thirdly, she is not my girlfriend. She is like a baby sister to me, so I let her call me Oppa. I feel bad for her, the innocent Ha Neul-ie is unaware of her father's dark sides.

SEOL AH : Do you know her father personally?

NJ : Not too personally, but quite well. He is the 'SK' of the SK Entertainment, Seong Kim. The program director and the very owner of the agency.

The name immediately struck her to a few articles, that she had read about the very agency last night.

SEOL AH : What's so great about it though?

NJ : Well, apparently all the solo artist under them, have the most successful careers at this moment. SK's got a top reputation for that, giving birth to a superstition which goes by, "If SK rejects you, you can never be successful as a solo artist."

These words took her recollections to a controversy between him and SK, among those articles.

SEOL AH : (-reluctantly-) I happened to read about the controversy.

NJ : (-chuckles-) Well, it's conspired. In actuality, although I did want to have a contract with them. After learning it's price, I rejected right away.

SEOL AH : How much did they ask for?

NJ : An amount I can never put a price-tag to. (-avoiding her eyes-) He couldn't handle my rejection and so circulated it, the other way around. To add, I don't have the time and power to meddle with him now. Therefore, that controversy is the only truth people know. 

SEOL AH : If, what you're saying is the actual truth. Then, why do you think I will buy it?

NJ : Aren't you already? (-faint smirk-) You are new to know me, so you would believe in anything I say with a sincere face. Am I wrong?

SEOL AH : (-scoffs-) What? That means, whatever you said could be white lies too?

NJ : What do you bet?

SEOL AH : (-finds it unbelievable-) Nothing! Oh, but I did learn one thing from this conversation, to never trust you. (-leaves-)

Namjoon smiled, seeing the expected reactions from her. He, not wanting to burden her shoulders with the weight of the unacknowledged truths, blew a sense of uncertainty to his words.

Meanwhile, no matter how hard she tried to completely eradicate the conversation they had a while ago, Seol Ah couldn't fully rule out his words as lies. The sincerity in his eyes were too convincing to take lightly.

Shaking off the unproductive thoughts, she headed to her room to take a warm shower for the tiring day she had.

In quite a short span of time, she managed to work on a few more things in the very day, after the refreshing bath.

She recorded a Q&A video for which she had asked her subscribers, to write down their questions in the comments, last night. The video quality wasn't as good as her camera would provide. It would work just fine for the content of her current video, she thought.

Answering the few selected questions that came in the maximum, she spoke a little more about her busy schedule for the coming 3 months.
Since, she wouldn't be able to vlog or shoot a video in his house, she figured out to take a break from YouTube while promising a lot more worthwhile and informative content in future.

It hit the dinner time, right when she completed her video and headed out, keeping the edits and uploads for later execution.

Since this time, she was present to make a choice, they ordered two different dishes for dinner.

Soon after the sumptuous repast, Namjoon was—as expected—in his studio while Seol Ah sat around the dining, to edit the clippings for the finishing touch in her slim yet classy extravagant laptop.
In a few hours, the entire 12 minutes video came out in its finest state; ready for the upload.

Waiting for the slow running seek to reach 100%, her eyes lazily fell on Namjoon's studio. It was quite late. She found herself wondering, if he ever went to his bedroom. All the time, she has seen him in the house, were only in his studio and rarely in the hall.

Her wonderment was instantly cut off when the black door she was staring at, suddenly opened with him coming out.

At every cost, she avoided his eyes and focused on the seek, which showed 71% complete. Fixing her toes on the ground, she rapidly moved her heels up and down anxiously, as Namjoon neared her.

NJ : What are you doing here at this hour? (-casually-) Want to be late tomorrow as well?

SEOL AH : No, I won't be. It's almost done. I will sleep right after.

88%...

Namjoon shifted the laptop to his view, not further enquiring her. On careful notice, he got a hold of what was happening and did the necessaries, before giving it back.

She cross checked to speculate his clicks while he headed to the kitchen—to quench his thirst for cold water.

SEOL AH : (-comes on him-) What did you do? Why can't I see my channel, let alone my video?

NJ : I deleted it.

SEOL AH : (-can't believe it-) What?! W-why did you do that?

NJ : You are not allowed to communicate with public, if you remember.

SEOL AH : It was just a harmless Q&A video, which had nothing to do with you.

NJ : But, I can't afford to trust you. Can I? (-gets a bottle from the fridge-)

SEOL AH : (-teary eyes-) You could've just stopped me from using YouTube then. Why did you have to delete my whole channel? Do you know how hard it was for me to have those subscribers around?

NJ : You'll be compensate-

SEOL AH : (-cuts him off-) Why do you hate me so much?

She could no longer hold her tears and stormed out of the kitchen, clutching her laptop against her trunk.

While Namjoon drank a few gulps of water straight from the bottle, the door slam echoed in his ears for a moment after she went inside her room.

He kept the bottle back and reclined to the refrigerator, with a long sigh leaving his mouth.

NJ : I can't let people know you work for me, Seol Ah-ssi. I can't afford to be careless twice. (-closes eyes-)

Not a second later, a tear drop sneakily escaped from the corner of his closed eyes– paving down to the smooth cheeks till the sharp jawline.

Next morning~

Even with the sleepless night's tears, regrets, frustration, angst and wronged feelings—she managed to present herself, five minutes ahead of time.

With two knocks, she rather blasted inside than to politely head in. Seol Ah had a single thing in her mind, that she singled out at last night.

NJ : You're early.

SEOL AH : You said, you'll compensate for my channel, if I remember correctly.

NJ : (-nods sincerely-) That's right. All that you receive from your subscribers will be transferred to your account alongwith your entire pay.

SEOL AH : That's not enough. I want something more apart from that as for the redeem.

Namjoon, with a little thought and examination of her stern and resentful expressions, eventually fell in and agreed.

NJ : Okay. Go ahead.

SEOL AH : I want you to..

________

Him to? ;)