13: TROUBLE

According to the letter from SM Entertainment, they saw an old audition video of Soohyun, so they checked her profile and saw that she’s already on their list. Given that, they are officially inviting her to train under their agency. They are expecting her to report next week, Monday, to start with her training.

            This is the sign she’s been waiting for.

            She maps out the plan she will do from then on. She won’t be able to accept this if her father is still on her way. He will always be on her way. Her original plan is to run the company and just goes on with life, but, oh hell, scratch that now!

            She goes home to her own unit that night. Tired from all the paperwork she read all day, she easily falls asleep. She awakes to her doorbell ringing repeatedly. Grabbing her phone from the bedside table, she checks the time—7:47 AM, it reads.

            She gets up grumpily to open the door. A paper bag of a fast-food restaurant on her face welcomes her sight. She shoves it crankily to see her secretary wearing a sly grin on his face.

            “Daepyo-nim, you’re expected in the office at exactly nine o’clock,” he reminds her. She rolls her eyes before walking to the kitchen to drink water. Shin follows behind. “You’re not answering your phone, so I assumed you’re still asleep. I bought you breakfast as well,” he says, putting down the paper bag on the island table.

            “Well, I stayed in the office until after ten, because someone gave me a pile of readings,” she says satirically to her secretary.

            “You are not entitled to read all of that in one night,” he chuckles at her.

            She rolls her eyes, then says, “Newsflash, I am.”

            She returns to her room to get her phone, a glass of water in hand. She checks her phone while walking back to the kitchen as she drinks her water. She put it on silent mode last night, because she keeps getting messages from reporters, asking about her return in the company.

            Upon seeing the notifications, she suddenly spits out the water on .

            There’s 64 missed calls and 28 text messages—all from Baekhyun.

            She reads his messages:

            “Have you eaten lunch already?”

            “Why aren’t you replying?”

            “Yah”

            “Yah!!”

            “We’re on our way home~ ^^”

            “KIM SOOHYUN”

            “WHERE ARE YOU”

            “YOU GO HOME RIGHT NOW”

            “KIM SOOHYUN”

            “ANSWER MY CALLS”

            “THIS IS NOT FUNNY”

            “DON’T MAKE ME DRAG YOU BACK HERE”

            “SOOHYUN”

            “FINE”

            “DON’T GO HOME”

            His text messages become calmer after that:

            “Junmyeon hyung said you went to your company…”

            “Then, when you’re done there, come home to us.”

            “Please?”

            “You can at least answer my calls.”

            “Soohyun…”

            “Please, I’m worried”

            “I HATE JUNMYEON HYUNG”

            Then, he sent angry emoticons afterwards. She stifles a laugh. His last call is around 2:00 AM. She sighs, putting her phone down on the table in the kitchen. She finds her secretary drinking coffee in the island table comfortably.

            “Gone for a few weeks, then you came back glued to your phone,” Shin mockingly observes. “Wow, I can still remember the days when you’re asking me to answer calls and text messages for you,” he jives at her.

            She quickly eats her breakfast to start preparing for her board meeting. It takes about an hour before she gets out of her room, all suited up. Shin promptly stands up upon her presence, ready to leave. He takes her phone on the island table and hands it to her.

            “Is everything ready?” she asks Shin.

            “You’ll surely hit it out of the park, Daepyo-nim,” he assures her.

            They get out of her unit and starts walking to the elevator.

            “Who should I be expecting at the meeting?” she asks her secretary as they wait for the elevator. They get in while Shin summarizes the list of people who will be attending.

            “The major shareholders and some stakeholders will be present, too,” Shin adds as he finishes updating her. “Also, someone called your phone again while you’re in the bathroom. I answered it.”

            “Who was it?” she asks, sounds uninterested. She’s used to him answering phone calls for her since she really hates talking on the phone. She really doesn’t mind if he goes through her phone.

            Shin tilts his head as if trying to remember who. “I forgot the name. And I couldn’t understand what he’s saying, because he keeps on shouting at me in a dialect.”

            Soohyun knits her brows, then she checks her phone logs. Her eyes widen when she sees “Byun Baekhyun” on recent logs. She takes a deep breath, then she faces her secretary.

            “What did you say?”

            Because what Shin has said to Baekhyun matters most than what Baekhyun has said to his secretary. She’s sure the singer concludes things upon hearing her secretary’s voice.

            “I said, ‘hello, this is Kim Daepyo-nim’s secretary. She’s not available at the moment, may I know your concern?’ Then, it went silent for a moment before he start