“Of course, to round out the collection.” She makes a sweeping gesture with her hands, bangles jingling, to show off her invisible property portfolio.
I nod. “As one does.”
“Seojun and I are thinking of Maui for our next purchase,” Grace mentions, trying to sound both nonchalant and posh. “What about you?”
Shrugging, I’m happy to play along with her. A little whimsy goes a long way during the work day. “Keeping my options open. Maybe Seychelles, maybe Fiji. Wherever the vibe feels right.”
“Mmm, yes. I look forward to the two weeks there you will gift me for my birthday.” She bats her eyes and smiles, knowing full well if I actually had a vacation home anywhere, she would definitely have access to it.
“Just don’t hold your breath, okay?” I suddenly wonder if her birthday is closer than I realize and make a mental note to check after we’re done talking. I really should know this bynow, but I’ve never been good with dates. I would probably fail to realize it was my own birthday, were it not for the 5:42 am phone call my mom insists on each year to remind me of the exact time of my birth. “Do you want the highlights or the whole thing?”
“Just give me all of it, because you know something always comes up later and one of us has to pretend like we know what’s going on,” Grace says, fingers poised above the keys, ready to type.
“Again, this is why you are my favorite,” I remind her. “Okay, so Chokollit’s debut has been moved forward to… next week? Or soon. Something like that. I was hungry and got distracted by their name. They are working on putting together a new girl group…”
“GlamBop? Or another one?” Grace clarifies.
“A different one. Babeidol, I think. Nine members. One of them comes from a chaebol family, apparently, so that will be news,” I grumble, because I know that will be the only thing the media will focus on and not how talented or hardworking any of the members are. “The idea of a making-the-band survival show is being tossed around, but for international trainees? I think they were trying to call it Glow+ball? Oh, wait,Glow+ball, global, I get it now.”
She stops typing and snorts. “Sometimes your brain amazes me, and sometimes I think it’s a good thing you’re so attractive.”
“Awww, you think I’m attractive?” I give her my best ladies-love-me smile.
Grace shoots me a withering look and immediately turns her eyes back to the screen. “You do not need me to stroke your ego. You know what you see in the mirror.”
I still preen a little, though, before I do a rundown of the rest of the latest updates and random Task Force gossip.
“Anything with RYSING?” she asks, before closing herlaptop.
I scan my scribbles again, just in case I missed something. “They’re on a break right now, so I don’t think there should be. Why?”
“Just curious. You know I love those boys.” Grace stands and starts to walk out, before tossing one more comment over her shoulder. “And I know at least one of them is a big fan of yours!”
Her cackling laugh follows her out the door and back to her desk and I have to roll my eyes. She loves to tease me about the crush she’s sure one of the RYSING members has on me. We were all in the same room one time for about five minutes, and she swears she saw everything she needed to know.
I think she’s exaggerating, but I will admit, I have noticed that Lux’s gaze lingers on me a little bit longer than necessary sometimes. I’m humble enough to dismiss the idea that an idol would have any kind of interest in me, but self-assured enough to know it’s not the first time a man has looked at me and liked what he saw.
Something I remind Jase about all the time, much to his dismay.
I grab my phone and start to text him back, but realize he’s just going to call me anyway, so I tap his number and wait for the phone to ring.
“Heeeyyy,” Jase says as soon as he picks up. “Good day at work? You’ve been busy, huh? You want me to order something for dinner tonight? I can have it waiting if you let me know when you’re leaving the office.”
“Jase.”
“Yeah? No on delivery? I can meet you somewhere. Maybe that would be better anyway.” There’s a pause, some rustling. “Noel! Please no. No, not those, too… oh my god.”
“Jase.”
He laughs, all awkward-sounding. “So, thosekinda tan-brown slippers you wear all the time? Were those, uh, designer? Like, could I go buy a pair of those right now? If that were something I wanted to do?”
“I know the dog ate my slippers,” I interject before he can keep going.
“Damn,” he sighs. “I’m sorry. I think she’s just all discombobulated from the move and not having a yard, and she doesn’t understand why she can’t see Nikko more often, and…”
I cut him off again. “Please tell Noel that I forgive her. Go take her for a walk at that park you swear she prefers or something and do whatever you want for dinner. I have another after hours thing to go to.”
“Again? Is it like every week or what?” Noel is growling near him, like she’s angry about this development.
