Producer's Corner

Chapter 15

A/N: If you have read chapters 1-14 before I rewrote and edited the story, I advise you to go back reread them. I have majorly changed most of the chapters, from who Kiki worked with to writing styles.
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"Would you like a drink or maybe something to eat?" Bang Chan asks. Looking at Kiki.

Her eyes gazing over the cafe, Kiki realizes how full the cafe was. Her nerves from meeting Chan have fully disappeared and is now being replaced with anxiety.

Chan, noticing her gaze, furrows his eyebrows. "Is everything okay?"

Quickly looking in his direction with her eyes falling to the table, she quickly blurts out a response.

"I know you chose this place for our meeting, but can we maybe grab a drink or something and leave? I'm not a fan of crowds."

Chan's eyes soften a little bit, realizing she has some sort of anxiety. "Of course. We can figure out where to go after we grab a drink. Would you like me to order for you?"

Heaving out a sigh of relief, Kiki nods her head. "Yes, please. Can I have some sort of sandwich? I don't mind which, just as long as there's no avocado or tomato on it."

Smiling at her willingness of letting him help, Chan simply nods his head. "Come on, let's go place an order then."

I'm glad he was so willing to move locations or that he didn't ask why I wanted to leave.

Maybe he got the gist of why.

Kiki grabs her bag and waits until he stands up before following behind him.
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"I don't actually know where else we could go. I originally chose the cafe because I wanted this meeting to be casual." Chan explains while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, sorry. Uhm, we could just walk around the park near here. Wait, that might be a bad idea, fans and all. I have no idea either." She tried her best to think of places that wouldn't be too crowded or where fans could see Chan. In addition, some were causal.

"Did you get here by car?" Observing her minor annoyances, he suggests, "We could drive around while we talk."

It wasn't either of their ideal meeting, but it would be the easiest and fastest solution.

"Yes, I did bring my car. I parked it in the parking lot next to the park." She says, pointing across the park. (I'm sorry; I found that sentence very amusing.)

Looking over to where she was pointing, Chan hums in acknowledgement. "I'll drive."

Her head snapping over to his, Kiki scrunches her eyebrows. "Why? I can perfectly drive my own car."

Huffing out a slight chuckle, he replied, "Yes, I know you can drive your own car; at least I would hope so. But I offered because you still haven't eaten your sandwich. So I figured you could eat it while we talked."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Sorry." She softly apologizes.
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Buckling in her seat belt, Kiki looks over at Chan. Who was adjusting the seat and mirrors.

"You know. This might be the weirdest way I've had a meeting with a musician."

Pulling out of the parking spot, Chan smiles: "I didn't mean for it to go this way. I didn't even think about how crowded the cafe could get. Sorry."

She takes her sandwich out of its container and starts eating. Enjoying the surprisingly comfortable silence.

About five minutes into the drive, Kiki tilts her head in consideration.

Noticing this, Chan questions her. "What are you thinking about?"

She looks up at his question before eyeing him and answering.

"I'm wondering why you wanted to have a casual meeting. When I meet idols for the first time, it's usually at the company. And we've usually already begun talking about production."

He rubs the back of his neck with one hand and smiles awkwardly.

"Yeah, I guess this meeting really is weird. But I asked to meet somewhere casual because I was curious. Stay had recommended you, and when I couldn't find anything out besides the artists you've worked with, I was intrigued. The fact that my manager or boss didn't want to say anything about you also intrigued me. So, before jumping into the song, I wanted to get to know you better. Because that was the original plan."

Nodding her head along with the explanation, Kiki realizes how often idols didn't actually want to get to know her. Only meeting with her strictly because of a song collaboration.

I mean, I understand their reasoning, but I can't help but feel hurt.

I enjoy working with these people and seeing how they work.

I never really thought that maybe it was their idol persona interacting with me.

"I'm glad you wanted to get to know me ahead of time. I would love to get to know you more than just your idol persona."

Smiling at her answer, Chan started to question her. "How much do you know about me?"

She laughs softly at the question. "Actually, not a whole lot. Just that you work at JYP and what you said during your introduction."

Tilting his head in confusion. "Huh. Why? I would have figured you did some sort of research before hand." He continues to question.

She nods her head in understanding, used to Lucas always questioning her.

Kiki eventually responds, smiling at the memory of her many arguments with him. "I like to personally ask people about their job and how they perceive them. Not how articles and interviews perceive them. It can get repetitive."

Humming in acknowledgement, Chan sits in silence, thinking over her explanation.

It makes sense. The media can get really repetitive and make up random information.

But I've never thought to hold off research.

"If you don't mind, I have another question."

"I don't mind; you can ask me as many questions as you want."

"How did you get into producing?"

Kiki freezes at the question; her eyebrows furrow. She had never actually thought about the question.

Has no one ever asked this question before?

She wasn't sure if she should actually say it was through an accidental visit to a K-pop cafe.

She settles on an answer. "It was on a whim. I didn't think about it before hand. I did simple research on music and decided this is what I wanted to do." Not technically a lie, but not entirely accurate.

If they became friends, she might tell him it was through a café. It's not like it's the biggest secret ever.

"Eh? Really, you didn't even, like, play an instrument or something?" He asks, confused.

"Nope, I didn't even know the basic chords for piano."

Chan eyes her for a moment, trying to see if she is joking or not. "How on Earth do you just casually jump into a career and stick to it? You didn't even hesitate, from what it sounds like."

Laughing at his bewilderment, she brushes off the questions. "What else would you like to know? Or did you only have questions about my job and how I do it?"

He shrugs his shoulders slightly. "I was kind of only thinking about those two questions. Though I would love to know the little random facts."

Nodding along, she states one random fact. Before, she sat in silence.

"My favorite color is dark purple and viridian green."

Holding back a laugh, Chan smiles to himself.

I hope we can keep in touch after the collaboration.
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I'm back! Sorry for how long it took for me to rewrite and start new chapters, but I wanted to be happy with what I wrote. I will now be posting more often. Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you have a great morning, day, or night! (This chapter has been edited)

Word Count(not including a/n): 1,217

Character Count: 6,735