The House

Chapter 10

"Yes."

That one tiny word ended up changing my day to day. No longer did I wear constricting business attire, or bear with Cole's unacceptable behavior. Instead I woke up at the brink of dawn, spend grueling hours on my feet before I left for home again at an ungodly hour. Luckily with better personal finance came better coffee but every now and then I took a swig of day old bitter coffee for the nostalgia it gave me. I'd yet to see Vim though. We'd kinda drifted apart after the advertisement when there was no more work for us to do together. We texted months after trying to keep contact but it soon turned into a hassle and a run on of dry conversations that eventually stopped. Though I had seen him on the cover of a Bvlgari ad campaign months before. Surprised by how different he looked and interested in knowing when he'd switched industries. I'd even asked Leia, my secretary, to remind me to send him a message or a card at least but I'd changed my mind by the time she reminded me.

I truly missed her, Leia, she was my assistant but also my friend and confidant. She had made it a priority to never go home till I did so I wouldn't sleep there or tire myself too much. I honestly owed her if I'd made VP. She was probably reassigned to some white finance man who spent more time evading work than doing any. So a few weeks into my job I sent her a bouquet of flowers, a contract, and a voicemail. Requesting her to be my assistant on set.

She would likely have the same job, making sure my contracts are in order, answering emails and calls, specifically avoiding the ones from my mother, and setting my appointments. But as expected the company wasn't going to pay Leia as much as she was before so in order to complete her, paycheck wise, I pulled a little from my salary without telling her. Not like I was doing much with it anyways.

Months into the job I was once again headed home at 2 AM. I'd despised the director for making us work this late back when I was an intern but now I understood why they did it. Shooting had gone late into the night because we were behind schedule and only had a day at our location. Near the end as we lost daylight we had to pull out lights and reflectors to give the impression of a well lit afternoon on camera.

I cruised through the highway actually happy with my position in life. I wasn't where I wanted before and I used to think that the year I spent off was just a year of good memories before many years of grueling work. Of course not every day on set was like rainbows and flowers but it was what I wanted. I was doing what I wanted to do. Though it was slightly different I had kept the job with Park Industrials. Since I'd worked for them for about a week or two they'd seen the way I worked and I'd started to enjoy my time with the CEO, Park Jihyo, she was actually the one who insisted I kept them as a client by becoming an independent contractor with them rather then working for a firm. It was going well I was a bit overworked but not much I was doing all the work I enjoyed so I wasn't feeling burnt out.

Reaching home I walked in a swaying manner to the front door. On the pristine welcome mat was the daily newspaper and mail. I palmed through it all as I walked in, quickly reading over the news, 'flop movie, flop movie, collapsed bridge,.. murderer on the loose?'

I looked back at the door I closed and haphazardly locked it before taking a gulp and screening through the rest of the doors and windows in the house. Then continuing to look through the mail. I found one by an entertainment company. But what caught my eye was the old-timey wax stamp holding the envelope closed.

I ripped it open and pulled out the white paper inside, it seemed like a contract of sort. I kept reading till I got to the 'sign here' line. It was a contract to be part of a TV show "The House" I read over the paper twice, still confused about what was going on. 'Is this some sort of scam?' I creased my brows before picking up my phone and ringing Dahyun.

A groggy voice spoke up and I looked at the clock to see it was 3AM I bit my lip in a sense of stupidity and spoke,
"Hey what ya up to?"

"Chaeyoung you called me at, 3:04 AM...to ask what I'm doing? What do you want?"

"Hey, what if I was genuinely hurt, you know there's a murderer on the loose, I could've been calling for that."

"Are you calling for that?" She asked

"No.."

"Then what do you want Chaeyoung?"

"Can you look over a contract for me? Please!" I pouted hoping my pleas would reach the other side.

The line was dead for a moment so to break the ice I spoke. "Dahyun!"

"Huh uh yeah, sorry I fell asleep there."

"Okay well I'm coming over,"

"Now?!"

"Um in four hours?"

"Make it five and you have a deal." Dahyun yawned, "See you in a bit." the line clicked.

Early in the morning I washed up, grabbed coffee, chocolate and strawberry milk, and a pair of Dahyun's favorite Belgian waffles as a thank you.

Heading over to her home I buzzed on the doorbell and looked up at the camera. I gave my sweetest smile holding up the bag of waffles.

The door opened to a still groggy Dahyun but she gave a crooked half smile at the sight of food. "You're forgiven." She spoke before letting me in and grabbing the bag.

We sat down in the living room, Dahyun had her glasses on and she was completely serious as she read the contract. I sat in silence looking over her vast collection of paintings while sipping on my strawberry milk.

Breaking the silence Dahyun spoke, "So this contract doesn't seem fake. But I can tell you that but it is a little suspicious as to why they wouldn't reach out to an agent or a lawyer, why just have it show up at your door? I'll check the validity at work and let you know but I'd say you can consider this offer."

"What do you think I should do?" I spoke,

"Hmm" she took a bite of her waffle, "I think this is a great chance to get your name out there. The House is a big show, if you were a client I'd tell you to take it. But I think it's up to you. You'll have to leave and stay in 'the house' for just over two months with no contact to the outside world and constant camera viewing."

I looked down at the contract now sitting on the small coffee table.

"If you want we can bring Tzuyu into this," Dahyun spoke

I took a deep breath and nodded. It was set, that night we would all meet up and decide together how I should proceed.

Author's corner:
Hey guys! Enjoy the chapter! This is the first mention of  The House hope I can make this story exciting!

-C.V.K

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