The Butterfly Effect | A Hwang Hyunjin Story

Chapter Five: The Meeting

-Arden's POV-

I don't think I've run so much in one day before. First, I ran from screaming fan-girls and now I'm running into my certain doom. I thought Charlie was going to kill me before, but now she actually might kill me.

I look down at my watch and realize that I'm now over an hour late to this meeting. Shit, Shit, Shit. I haven't even been able to look at the messages Charlie sent me, and something tells me I don't want to read them anyway. Plus , there is no way I'm taking out my phone while sprinting; I've run into enough people for today.

I finally arrive at my company building and slow my pace to a speed walk as I make my way to the second floor board room. When I burst in, I find Charlie and the other members of my team sitting at the table. The only person missing is our boss, aka our project manager, aka the person who is supposed to be leading this meeting.

"I can not believe you" Charlie states with just a bit too much venom in her voice. "You're lucky Mr. Song had an emergency conference call with the brand, otherwise your ass would be deep fried right now"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry" I respond out of breath, taking a seat next to Charlie.

Across from me is Sieun, and next to her is our fourth team member Minho. They both laugh at Charlie's remark and agree with her fully.

"Also what happened to you?" Charlie asks, gesturing to my coat, which I completely forgot was not only incredibly stained but was also not mine.

"Very, very long story I'll have to tell you later. Anyway, what's with the emergency conference call? What's it about?" I ask no one in particular.

"We have no idea" Sieun pipes up, "We just saw him run right past this room towards his office, and his secretary came in to tell us about the call"

"And he's been in there for over an hour?" I question honestly in disbelief because this can't be a good thing.

"Yep" Minho sighs out, leaning back further into his chair.

I take this chance to grab my phone out of my pocket and make sure it's still working alright since I apparently couldn't hear it ringing earlier. I look down at it and push the power button on the side. Dead. Of course.

Wait. This isn't my phone.

I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion as I flip the phone over to find a face hand drawn on the case. If I hadn't just seen this exact phone case on the phone of a certain Stray Kids member in their Instagram post, I would've still been confused. Instead, I gasp loudly and practically cram the phone back in my pocket at lightning speed, as if someone around me would know whose phone it is; which, of course, they wouldn't.

The other three group members look at me very confused and definitely a little worried.

"uhh... What just happened?" Charlie is the first to ask.

Before I can even respond, the meeting room door flies open, and Mr. Song comes marching in.

He heads to the end of the table and looks down, pinching the bridge of his nose before releasing a huge sigh. The four of us all stare at him in immensely tense silence.

"Good news, bad news." He sighs again, dropping his hand from his nose. "Good news is the brand really likes the ideas we've come up with so far and wants us to begin executing them"

We all slightly exhale in relief that we weren't being taken off of the project, but we haven't heard the bad news yet.

"Bad news, the brand wants to meet us in person..." he pauses as if he can't believe he has to say this, "... in Busan"

We all look around at each other confused as to how that's a bad thing, I mean Busan is definitely far from where we are in Seoul but I'm sure we could plan something that would work well for all of us, right?

"...Tonight" he finishes, and we all lightly gasp at the short notice of things.

"Now I know this is not convenient for any of us but this project is really important to this company and I'm sure to you all as well" He lets out another heavy sigh before continuing "So we're gonna have to make this work. Since it's Thursday, we'll probably end up being there until Saturday morning"

Now, a chorus of groans arise from the four of us as we realize that we are absolutely being forced to go on this work trip.

"And lastly..." Oh god, here we go. He looks down at his watch, "We leave in 3 hours. that should give you enough time to go home and pack some things and have lunch before we head off. Alright, let's make the best of this" he gives one loud clap and then exits the meeting room, leaving us all flabbergasted.

"Three hours?" I ask in utter disbelief. "How are we even supposed to manage that? Do we have enough to show the brand?"

"Let's hope so" Sieun responds as her and Minho begin packing their things to head home.

"Well, Fuck" I say as I collapse back onto my chair.

"Let's get moving then" Charlie mumbles as she stands from her chair.