Page 20 of Fallen Starboy

Chapter

Sixteen

JUN

“Alright, people, places! We have to shoot this part of the video before lunch! Places!”

The director of the music video shoot screamed obscenities and orders left and right, determined to make everything perfect for the next section of the shooting. Of course, there was no such thing as perfect, but nobody seemed eager to tell him that.

I was no exception.

I took my spot and prepared to be micromanaged, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t concentrate. Not after the other night.

I didn’t need another distraction. But ever since I reminded myself what it felt like to bury myself in someone—in Arista, specifically—my brain was a hot mess of jumbled chaos.

I gave Yejin two different shoes to put on this morning. I forgot my phone on the counter when I left the house. Hell, I even managed to put my shirt on backward, and had a polite backup dancer not brought it to my attention, I’d likely have never noticed.

“Mr. Kim, are you with us?”

I shook my head free of the emotions clouding my thoughts and smiled politely at the man whose time I was taking up. “Sorry, director. I’m ready to go again.”

“From the top. I want you to really get into it this time. You’re back, you’re bigger than life itself, show me the zest! I wanna see life and excitement in every move you make.”

I nodded and put my hands atop the back up dancers’ connected hands, letting the music flow through me as we went through the movements. Left, right, up, down, circles, there wasn’t a direction we didn’t move. But it still wasn’t perfect.

“I’m not feeling you connect with the music, Mr. Kim. You’re here with us, but your heart isn’t.” The director called for a break, giving me a moment’s reprieve to breathe and regroup with my thoughts.

If I could get my runaway imagination under control, this would all be so much easier.

“Struggling out there?”

A steaming cup of coffee appeared in front of my nose, and I took it without thinking, closing my eyes as I inhaled the potent, rich scent. Fuck, I needed this.

Arista frowned as she surveyed me up and down, clearly concerned with my performance. “Whatever’s bothering you, you’d better deal with it. We don’t have time to pencil in a mental breakdown on your schedule.”

My laughter was as dry as her sense of humor. “I’ll try to remember that while the director screams at me about how my heart’s not in it next time.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Why does he think your heart’s not in it? Where else would it be?”

With you. “Right where it’s always been.” I jammed a thumb into my chest. “He’s just mad he doesn’t look this good when he wakes up.”

She rolled her eyes, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Crisis averted. “Okay, well, Mr. Perfection, we have to rush over to the company in a little bit. You have a short appointment with HR and legal, and then we’re off again to the studio.

” She glanced sideways at me with another frown.

“I assume you can handle yourself at the company without getting into trouble?”

“I’m not a child.” The fact that she would even suggest I wasn’t capable?—

“Okay. I won’t be far if there’s any issues.”

“Mr. Kim, are you still filming, or should we pack up and go home?”

I glanced back at the director, wishing it was appropriate to roll my eyes at the man. He had a way of sounding offensive and polite in the same breath. When I turned back, Ari was gone.

Great.

“Alright, I’m coming, keep your shorts on, man.”

We wrapped filming about an hour later. I’d never been so happy to leave the dance studio in my life.

Arista was nowhere in sight, though. I spotted a familiar face at the corner of the room and made a beeline for Pujin as he scrolled through something on his phone.

“Pujin, my man!” I faked a friendly punch to his shoulder, and he checked me back, smiling from ear to ear. “What brings you here?”

“Ah, your detail had something to attend to today, so I took over his shift for the rest of the day.” He patted his pockets down and frowned. “We’re supposed to go to the HR department, but I don’t quite remember where it is. Miss Arista drew me a map, but I seem to have misplaced it.”

“Did you say the HR department?”

A vaguely familiar voice echoed from behind me, and I turned to find a face I’d rather not have run into anytime soon.

Han Mi-Soo, a Korean model and soon-to-be actress, flashed her pearly whites and winked at me, wrapping herself around my arm with a giggle that set my teeth on edge.

“Oh my gosh, Kim Seo-Jun, I can’tbelieve my luck! When did you join kNight Rising?”

I tried, and failed, to pry her off my arm, sighing when it became very apparent she wasn’t about to loosen her grip.

“I’m new,” I admitted, scowl deepening as Ari chose that moment to walk around a corner, her eyes zeroing in on my predicament.

“Listen, Mi-Soo, I think I forgot something in my car, so maybe you should head along on your own this time?—”

“Han Mi-Soo, just the woman I was looking for,” Arista said cooly, her eyes narrowed to near slits as she regarded the other woman like a shark eyes an injured seal. “I hear you’re giving my guy Tanner a hard time with the contract negotiations.”

Ari glanced at me and then just as quickly, her eyes returned to Mi-Soo, dismissing me in a flash. Mi-Soo, however, looked like she might throw a childish temper tantrum right there in the hallway of the label.

She pouted at Ari, crossing her arms over her chest and thankfully releasing me in the process. “I did no such thing. He’s being unreasonable is all it is.”

Ari’s lips twitched. “I’ll just bet.”

I took a step backward, preparing to bail with Pujin in tow if I needed to. Last thing I wanted to do was get in between two women who looked ready to kill.

“What was he so unreasonable about, Mi-Soo?”

Ari’s glare was on point, and it had me shaking in my boots. How Mi-Soo stood there acting like she wasn’t known for being the biggest pain in the ass in the industry was beyond me.

“He said there’s no precedent for me choosing my own staff.” Her foot stamp would have been hilarious if she was five. “I should be able to make any demands of my staff that I want.”

“You requested all male staff,” Ari said slowly, her nose twitching. “And then you said they’d have to look a certain way. And after that, you propositioned your security guard?—”

“I would never!” Mi-Soo blushed, ratting herself out. “Whoever accused me of that is a liar.”

“I’m not here to play whodunnit, Miss Han.

I’m here to tell you that I’m no longer offering any negotiations on the contract.

As a matter of fact, I’m making some amendments to the contract to protect your future staff.

If you’d like to sign with us, then by all means, head down to legal and have them walk you through the changes.

But should you decide to go elsewhere, I wish you all the best.”

“Excuse me?” Mi-Soo probably had never been turned down in her life by a label. So for her to be summarily dismissed so out of pocket by Ari must’ve been a hell of a blow. “Do you know who I am?”

“I do. Han Mi-Soo, daughter of Han Do-Hyun, internet sensation and ex-idol. Cousin to one of our best male model clients. Oh, and you’re a spoiled brat, too, with a reference sheet to back it up that’s a mile long.” Ari cocked her head and frowned. “Did I miss anything?”

Mi-Soo looked like she might explode. I honestly hoped she would do it while I was around to watch.

“You’re a bitch, and I’m going straight to your bosses about this.”

“Contract expires in a few hours, Ms. Han. I would worry less about trying to get me fired, and more about whether your agent needs to submit your portfolio to other labels or not.”

Mi-Soo turned away from Ari and batted her lashes at me. “See how they treat their clients? It’s horrible.”

I shrugged. “I don’t have any issues with the label.” My eyes cut to Arista, and I fought to contain a soft smile that threatened the edges of my lips. “Or the staff.”

Mi-Soo reached for me again, but before I could move out of her way, Ari was there with a rolled-up newspaper, thwacking her on the arm like a puppy who piddled on the carpet.

“Hands off the merchandise, Ms. Han. You wouldn’t want any dating scandals to get back to your current label, now, would you?”

Mi-Soo’s eyes narrowed, and with a huff of frustration and defeat, she stormed off, hands balled into fists, growling like a feral cat.

I turned to thank Ari, but she already wore an expression of irritation that warned me away from opening my mouth at all. She probably thought there was something going on between me and Mi-Soo, but she couldn’t be more wrong.

Mi-Soo took a shine to me at an event a few years back, and ever since then, she’d been pushing her dad to try and put us together.

Fortunately for me, her father didn’t think I was good enough for his princess.

He had his eyes set on a doctor or politician for the family tree. And I was neither, thank god.

“You should probably keep your hands off of women like her. She’s nothing but trouble.” Her eyes crawled over me, making me feel an inch tall. “And you’ve got a daughter to think of.”

She had no right to tell me who I should and shouldn’t have around my daughter.

“I am well aware of my decisions and how they affect the daughter I’ve raised on my own for seven years now. Maybe you should mind your business regarding my love life.”

“Have it your way,” she said dismissively, crossing her arms over her chest. “Legal is waiting for you in the HR meeting rooms. Don’t keep them waiting.” Her finger pointed the way, and then without a word she left me standing there in the dust as she walked away again.

Just like always.