A familiar number comes up when my phone rings—Richard’s assistant. He must have heard about what’s going on, although I have no idea how since he’s not one to follow gossip sites. I debate answering, but the need to make sure things are good at work is too strong to resist. I need to mitigate whatever Richard’s heard.
“Please hold for Mr. Havings,” she says. She doesn’t wait for me to agree before she puts me on hold. It’s about seven in the morning back in Toronto. She’s never liked me, so I’m spitefully glad Richard hauled her out of bed to make the call because doing his own is beneath him. A minute later, Richard’s smooth, cultured voice comes through.
“Ariadne, hello.”
“Richard, good morning.” My voice shakes, so I leave it at that.
“I had a call from Karina,” he says.
It takes me a second to compute this. “The communications manager?”
“Yes. She received a message about you from a television channel, ZedTV or some such thing.”
He waits for me to pick up the story.
“ZZTV.” No. Oh no.
“That’s it. Is there something we should know?”
It’s the oldest trick in the book, to let someone hang themself with their own rope, but I’m a lawyer, too. “Something you should know?” I repeat. He can say it himself.
“Karina tells me you are involved with a celebrity, a member of some Asian singing group. South Korean, I believe.”
Something about how he says it makes my hackles rise, as if where Jihoon is from makes this whole thing somewhat ludicrous.
“Exactly so.” A desire to be contrary rears up. “He’s a Korean performer. A K-pop idol.”
The long pause says exactly what Richard thinks of this. “Idol.” He rolls the word around in his mouth. “Yes, Karina mentioned that.”
Sounds like good old Karina gave him a thorough briefing. “What did ZZTV want?” I ask.
“To confirm you were one of our lawyers. Karina says you’re listed on our website, which is no doubt how they discovered your connection to us. She’s updated the site so you no longer appear.”
He downgraded me to being merely a connection and then erased me, as if working at Yesterly and Havings around the clock for years meant nothing. Before I can answer, he continues, “Karina assures me she’s equipped to deal with the issue.”
“She is?” The last I checked, her biggest task was doing the staff newsletter. In which, I also remember, she insisted on featuring me in Yesterly and Havings’s first and only Face of Diversity! column. Hana had it on the fridge for a month, laughing every time she looked at it.
“Karina is very well qualified. Her mother is on the hospital board with me. I’ve decided it will be best for you to take some time away until this gossip dies down.”
I nearly drop the phone and have a moment of inelegant clutching to get it back up to my ear. “I beg your pardon?”
“Karina has pointed out that your relationship with this man does not match the image we’d like to maintain with our clients.”
I drum my fingers on my chest, feeling the soothing thumping against my sternum. I should tell Richard that we’re only friends and the whole thing was blown out of proportion. That might change his mind. Then I see the tiger statue on Jihoon’s desk.
No. I’m not going to do that. Jihoon is important, and I’m not going to hide him away. “My relationships are private, as are anyone else’s in the firm.”
“We are a serious group, Ariadne. This absurd pop culture media talk isn’t the type of thing we’d like to be associated with.”
“Are you firing me?”
“Of course not. You’re an excellent lawyer,” he chides. “I’d like you to take a month off until this calms down. We’ll redistribute your clients. You’ll agree with me there’s a risk to their privacy.”
“I don’t agree,” I say, fist clenching at my side. “I’m unsure how anyone would find out which are my clients unless someone at Yesterly and Havings tells them.” If the leak comes from the client side, they can’t complain about the publicity.
“I understand you think that.” Richard’s voice doesn’t change because he’s been at this for decades longer than I have. “However, I look at the bigger picture, and we need to prioritize the firm.”
I give it one last attempt. “Richard, clients like Hyphen and Luxe won’t care—”
