I growl at no less than four people who get in my way on the way to the elevators, and they move out of the way with a range of expressions on their faces, from shock to fear.
This is more like it. This is the deference I'm used to back home. I'm not what you'd call an easy guy. In fact, I have a reputation for being difficult to deal with because I expect a certain level of work ethic from those around me. I want people who show up and give it their all, and sometimes that comes off a bit bossy and demanding. But I'm good at what I do, so most people overlook that side of my abrasive personality.
I have a softer side, but I reserve it for special people. None of these strangers has earned that side of me yet.
I've become hardened by the industry out of a need for self-preservation.
When the elevator doors open on the fifth floor, I step out and am immediately greeted by someone holding a chipboard and a smile too chipper for six thirty in the morning.
"Are you Mister Kobayashi?"
I eye the young woman in the too-tight pencil skirt and stuffy blue blouse and sigh. "Yes, that's me."
She turns and extends her hand, gesturing down the long hallway before us. "This way, please."
I follow her to a conference room where three people wait for me—one of whom I recognize immediately.
It's my old friend, Seo-Jun, and, well?—
"You've looked better, mate."
He's got his arm in a sling, he's still a bit bandaged up, and he wears a grimace of dull pain, but he still stands and shakes my hand, then tugs me into a hug that I know must aggravate his injuries.
"Kai, man, how have you been? The flight wasn't too bad, was it?" He checks me over as we catch up, and I take a seat next to him, if only to encourage him to return to his own chair. I'm an asshole, not inhumane. He's weak, and he should be at home, resting. Instead, he's here, with?—
"You remember Ari?"
It's been years. Alotof years. But there's no mistaking the woman who stands at his side, staring down at him with a look of worry in her gorgeous eyes.
"Arista Simmons, you've grown up."
She has, too. She's filled out, and where the last time I saw her, she was a girl, now, she wears the mantle of a woman, and well, at that.
Too bad she's already spoken for.
Her head dips gently as she spears me point-blank with a knowing stare. "You've gotten no taller in your time away from the limelight, Kai."
Sassy as ever. Some things never change.She's had the playful attitude ever since she met Jun. He gave her a confidence she didn't know she could own. And in return, she gave him a reason to keep going when he was at his darkest.
I'm happy for them. They deserve their own love story. But I'm not here to play catch-up right now. "So, what's the plan?"
She sits down across from me and shoves over a folder with several sheets of paper inside it. When I flip it open, the firstpage is a structured year-long comeback plan, complete with a mini-tour, several talk show interviews, and several black-tie dinners and parties to make an appearance at. It's nothing overwhelming, but there are red lines in the gaps where she's made notes in the margin, likesqueeze in an interview with local paperandfind time for several philanthropic endeavorsand evencharity work for image promotion.
I've been living the busy life of a celeb for years, but this isinsane.
"Are you out of your mind? Will I even have time tobreathe?"
She shrugs, looking at Jun. "It's not that bad. Jun was doing twice that workload."
I eye Jun, and he just shrugs. "She's not wrong."
Clearly, the life of an idol here is no less busy than one back home. And I've been living a leisurely life for the past two years, acting in whatever dramas spark joy and taking my sweet time doing what I want, when I want. This will take some adjusting to.
"And the contract?"
She flips the page, and I skim through a two-page nightmare that locks me into one of the wildest prospective career moves of my life. "Vocal coaches? Dance practice? What am I, a trainee again?"
No way. I'm better than all this. I didn't agree to come here and start over. I came to fill in, help a friend.
