Birds of a Feather

Chapter 25

Cas had gotten maybe 8 hours of sleep before the press conference prep began. Not nearly enough for a full recovery from a surge heat so soon after her normal ones. She'd been ignoring the questions being asked by all of the guys, telling them repeatedly that the press conference came first. She was going to put out this fire first before dealing with any of them.

Besides, she wasn't really sure how to deal with them. If she was being completely honest, her mind didn't want to even think about it. They'd been the only pack she'd known for so long, who was to say that another pack would be a better option. At least the little devil on her shoulder kept arguing that. The other half of her, the one she'd been fighting so hard to get back after too many months of cowering, shot back that there was no way to know that for sure. Why force herself to stay with someone she hated if there was the potential for a better opportunity? Why was she settling?

The back and forth made her head hurt. She didn't want to have the conversation with them until she was able to figure out her own mind. She had enough trouble articulating herself to them as it was, not knowing where she even stood on the issue would make it worse.

There had apparently been a fight last night between YG Entertainment and BigHit about who should be hosting the announcement. Kimiko had gotten involved with their company's press team and kept her updated on the three-way call between companies that had occurred. YG had said that their group was the one to release the information so they should host things. She had told Cas that one of their key arguments was the fact that BigHit had plenty of time previously to announce things themselves. It had supposedly gotten fairly ugly when BigHit tried to argue that they hadn't known, because YG tried to use that as ammo saying that if they couldn't keep a good handle on their idols how could they be expected to run an effective press release.

Kimiko had told Cas that it was a blood bath to watch. She had let both sides battle it out before informing everyone that their opinions on the matter were irrelevant. Kimiko had laughed while telling Cas about their gob smacked expressions when she produced a contract that explicitly stated all press conferences in which Cas was the main party of interest were required to be held on their company property. So, if they wanted a press conference at all it was going to be held in the lobby of their Japan location. God, she needed to make sure Kimiko got a very nice present when they got back to Korea.

So, here she was, being dressed up by stylists. They were trying to figure out the best outfit for her image. This interview would set the tone for her future, so the stylists were tittering around trying to make everything perfect.

BTS had been banned from her room, instead being debriefed by their manager what their role was to stay silent and to not contradict anything either Big Bang or Cas said. They were there to be decorations, not to actually participate. That had been the unanimous decision of all three companies. The group hadn't earned any favors by hiding this from management for so long. They were made to look even worse when BigHit realized that Cas had shared her situation with her own company, making it abundantly clear where the fault laid for their lack of information.

She'd been reading through the debrief that had been sent to her on what she was and wasn't able to say. Most things were left open to her interpretation and how much she wanted to share about her situation. Cas was making notes as she went through about points she wanted to bring up. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her head hurt and she was bone dead tired. All she wanted was to curl up in a nest of blankets and sleep for days on end.

A bottle rattled in front of her and she glanced up to see Jiho had entered the room, "Thought you could use some heat grade pain killers." She said, handing Cas a few pills.

She downed them quickly before sighing, "You're a godsend. I wasn't sure how much longer I could go before my head split open."

"How you holding up?" the other omega asked.