Midnight

Contract

They did not talk much the next morning. Taeyong drove them to the same building he thought he won't be stepping his feet their anymore.

as soon as they entered, he spotted the guys.
"yangyang! hold the door!"
the said man quickly punched the button to halted the door from shutting.
"Hyung!" dery punched Taeyong lightly on his shoulder. "how dare you left us behind? I thought you said we're in this together." clearly disappointed evidenced in his voice.

Taeyong scratched his neck in guilt. "well, i-"
"he's back now. Let's not talk about that." jeno butted in. And for a split second, his eyes met the only girl in the room, standing awkwardly.

this is aeri's first time meeting the other guys, and clearly she looked misfitted.

"and this must be our new joiner." yangyang smiled at her, holding out his hand. " I'm the maknae, Yangyang. You can call me Yang, or yangyang, or handsome, or-"
"- annoying sheep." dery finished the sentence, making the group giggled. aeri accepted his hand. "I'm aeri."

" sooner to be giselle."
that unfamiliar name got aeri confused.
"you don't know?"
"who is Giselle?" Secretly eying her brother who also shrugged.

"we looked at the draft proposal from director, he gives you a new stage name." jeno explained.
just begpfire aeri can complain, the elevator door opened, leading them to the same stressful office of director's kang.
They all walked out, except jeno and her.
"if you don't like the idea, I can suggest a change."

aeri bit her lower lips, it's one of her habit when she has thoughts going on inside her head.
"Let's just hear their perspective first. beside, this is not the only thing I have to personally discuss with them."

-

The executives all were having bright smiles on their faces, clearly loving the idea of their first ever band to be debuted when they entered.
Taeyong pulled a chair for aeri, as he sat next to her. to her left, jeno quickly took the sit.
she didn't know why, but having these two besides her, kinda make her feel at least calmed, and safe.
It's usual for her to feel protected whenever her brother is around.
For jeno, she didn't know why or how. Or probably the assurance he just gave earlier. She kinda got a feeling that he somehow owns power here to get this much confidence. But again, it can be entirely wrong. He could've suggested to debut the band right away if he has the much of a power.

"lovely to see you again, Taeyong." Director Kang shook Taeyong's hand, clearly happy and relief that one of his best producer gave a second thought about his job.
"Before we begin, let introduce you to our creative team here since some of you is new." Referring to aeri.

He pointed to the person to his right. "This is mrs. oh seo-ah, the newly appointed creative director for the Midnight band. You guys will be working closely with her throughout your whole career."
The beautiful, elegance lady, short hair, porbably in her early 40, greeted the crowd.

Director kang continued the introduction around the room.
"And last, our assigned band head's producer, lee Taeyong."
Taeyong got up to give his greeting. "Very delighted to working with all of you, Let's take care of each other."

Without further time wasted, the meeting soon started with mrs. oh presenting her proposal in which jeno mentioned earlier.
Since Taeyong already left the time she sent out proposal, he didn't get to receive the agenda beforehand like the others in this room. Clearly, this is new to him, and his sister.

From time to time, he took glances at his sister to check up on her. She's doing fine so far when they're discussing about the band's planned career for the next three years including local and international promotion.
It went quite well until the topic specifically involved aeri's individual career.

The other guys had their wanted individual exposure throughout the group's promotion. It seemed like they've discussed before.
"Yes, miss Kim." Mrs. oh nodded at her when she raised her hand to halt the presentation.
"may I ask why am I still going to continue the artist's career after the end of my contract with the band?"

it kind of threw the latter off. "why? Don't you want it?" She glanced at director to confirm this unusual question.
"no I don't." aeri confidently responded. "I have no problem with the band's future plan for the next two years that involves me. It's well-thought out and smart."
Mrs. oh nodded. "then what is the point?"
"I thought you have an idea that I will be leaving the band after two years."
The exclamation led the whole room into shocked, except her brother, director, and the band's leader.

"You do?" Mrs oh verified.
"I thought you have discussed about this, director." Director kang avoided her gaze.
"Well, aeri has a suggestion." The man sighed and got up.

"In fact I have multiple . And if we don't agree, at some point, the contract cannot proceed."
"For a starter, you seem to have a lot of complain." Mrs. oh scoffed, clearly not liking her attitude right now. Someone who talks back.

Taeyong usually held her back, but this time he has no say in this. It's her own decision, her own future.

-

After two hours long of heated discussion, the executive team finally found a stable ground with her suggestion through personally meeting.
Taeyong was the first to approach her when aeri exited the meeting room, looking all exhausted.
"how did it go?"
"fine."
The man lightly groaned at her vague answer.
" what? It's really fine."
Her eyes met the rest of the guys and they all seem to have the same thought in heads.
"Come on, guys. it went well. I signed the contract if that's what you worried about."

"You did?" Yangyang lit up, clapping a little.
She gave a confirmation nod.
"wanna get some coffee before another meeting? Im so burn out."
Hendery was quick to take the suggestion and dragged yangyang with him to get drinks for them.

"Producer lee." director's assistant called. "Director kang wants to have a word with you."
"Coming."

"You two go back to the studio first." He grabbed her shoulder. "take some rest, ok?"
aeri hummed.

After he left, aeri took a right turn, in which jeno stopped her. "that's not the way-"
"since I'll be joining here soon, how about you give me a small tour around? Just in case when I get lost, or accidentally enter the quote-unquote forbidden space again and someone accused me as intruder."
That someone clearly refered to him.

"I had no idea that you're his sister." Following behind her, although he should be the one leading.
aeri shrugged. "I don't know, maybe you're just very sensitive and possessive?"
She turned to give a teasing smirk.
He rolled his eyes. "no, I'm not."

"Yeah yeah. Said the one who about to throw me out of building just because I touched the unclaimed guitar."
" that's not unclaimed!" Surprisingly, his voice raised a little. aeri kept her smile, proven that she's wright about him being sensitive.
"Why? It's not yours, nor any of the guys. So, it must have been the company's asset."
"It's not." Jeno took a deep breath to calm himself down, before walking pass her.
Now, she's keeping up with his pace. "Well... if it's none of yours, then why is it there? Whose is that-"
"Can you stop?" He suddenly brake and turned, almost bumping into her head if she didn't halt.

He looked very serious to her, giving a sign that she really should stop.
"If you say so."
and noted this is one of the topic that might have meant something deep to him which got him so worked up.
teasing aside, she should take a reminder that this shall not be brought up again.

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A/N: hi 👋