Producer's Corner

Chapter 24

"That's fine." Is all she says.

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Kiki sat still, waiting for Chan to begin talking. Her eyes were focused on their hands. She took in any detail she could, from the warmth that emitted from them to the size difference compared to her own hands.

"Alright, I'll do my best to explain how I deal with insecurities and writer's block, producing block, whatever you want to call it. Feel free to ask questions or for further descriptions." Chan says, pausing to wait for an affirmative from Kiki.

Her eyes stayed on their hands. "That's fine." It was easy to tell that she was still not all there, but he wasn't sure what to do about it.

He started tapping a simple pattern onto her hands, doing it in different spots to keep her somewhat focused on the conversation.

"When I'm not happy with anything that I'm producing, I force myself to take a step back. It being for five minutes to a few days. Of course, that doesn't always help, especially when I have a deadline approaching. When that happens, I either ask for help or force myself to work on something small and nonimportant."

He stops his short explanation to let the words sink in.

"I don't have people to ask for help." Is what Kiki says.

"You most likely don't want to bother Meg or Lucas, but sometimes they're going to have the answers. Answers for small things or insights on bigger things. It's okay to ask other people for their opinions—people that are important to you. And I hope I can help at least a little bit as well."

She nods her head along with his answer, trying her best not to automatically shut down his answer and offer.

"What about the working on small things?"

"That's a little easier to do. When I have trouble working on a current project for the group, I force myself to temporarily back away from it. And if, for some reason, I can't ask for help, I work on something different. Something that isn't important to me or the current project. It being easy beats, or some random chords put together."

She easily shakes her head at his answer. That was something easier to do than ask for help.

Now for the next set of questions: It was definitely harder to come up with answers for that. He wasn't too sure what he actually did when he wasn't happy with anything he wrote. Especially when he had fans in mind.

Chan finally decides on an answer. "Okay, for the question about pleasing fans, this is going to be harder to do, but you need to focus on yourself. This does depend on the fact that you're not having trouble producing. Either way, you need to focus on making yourself happy with what you produce. I get that you're trying to keep your fans pleased, but if you're not happy with what you're making, it most likely won't be good. So, before worrying about what your fans will think, be happy with what you made."

At that point, Kiki finally looks away from their hands. Her eyebrows furrowed. She knew it made sense, perfect sense in fact, but she didn't think she could do it.

He looks at her face, and a small smile forms. "Oh, come on, don't give me that look. You know it makes sense. I know it's hard; even I still have trouble. But now you have one more person to help you."

She releases a breath of air. Her eyes found their way back to their hands. "Fine, I'll try my best. I'll keep you updated on my progress."

He gently pulls away from her, detaching their hands. "That's all I ask for."

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They sat there, back in their comfortable semi-silence. It was starting to get late—later than the time Kiki had gotten there.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you're not scolding me about staying up as late as we are." Chan says, eyeing the time on his computer.

"That would make me a hypocrite." She laughs out loud.

"Do you have plans for later or anything?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I don't." She says, after thinking for a moment.

"How about we go home and sleep for a little bit, and then shower and produce on our collaboration for a bit?" He suggests.

Nodding her head along, Kiki starts to grab her things and the empty containers. "Yeah, that sounds fine."

Chan gets up to interfere with her. "No need to take out the trash; I can do it on my way out."

"I can do the same thing; I have no problem with it." She easily retorts.

Before being able to retort, Chan is interrupted by a knock on the door and someone letting themselves in.

"Chan, you've been in her for like ten hours. You need to come back to the dorms and sleep." They say, while looking down at their phone.

Kiki and Chan both start to panic. They both weren't ready for anyone to meet Kiki yet. Of course, both of them were excited for Kiki to meet Stray Kids. But they wish it wasn't at five in the morning after an emotional-ish talk. And where neither of them looked like they had just come back from the dead.

"Uhm, why are you here? I'm glad you guys worry about me, but why didn't you just text or call me? Plus, I was about to go home." Chan tries his best not to physically start to panic. Although Kiki is having a harder time.

She was a step or so behind Chan, and the person in front of them was not in full view. Either way, she started to work herself up. She knew it was dumb, especially when it was only one person. For God's sake, she was going to eventually meet the rest of the members. So why was she freaking out so badly?

I was not mentally prepared for more than one person's interaction tonight. I already feel so drained. I can't panic more; I'll embarrass myself more.

Wow, wasn't the last twenty-four hours depressing?

Sensing Kiki's panic, Chan backs up a little bit, putting himself fully in front of her.

"No need to sound so mean about it. Anyway, I already showed up here to start my day. And the group chat was once again asking if you had gotten home or slept. So I came by to check." They said.

And when no one said anything else, their eyes finally lifted from their phone to question the silence.

Noticing this, Chan takes a step back, feeling Kiki lean her head against his back. He wasn't one hundred percent sure if she actually wanted to meet anyone yet, but from that reaction alone, he could easily guess that she wasn't.

"Why didn't you answer me? Are you hiding something? Now that I'm looking at you, you do look worse for wear. Did you really not sleep at all?" The person starts to question him, half-heartedly accusing him.

Do they really not see me hiding behind Chan? I mean, I know I'm short compared to Lucas and Meg, but I'm not that much shorter than Chan.

"Uhm, no particular reason. I don't think I'm hiding anything from you guys. Well, besides my collaboration with Ki- Producer's Corner. But that's a given. And no, I didn't sleep." He was getting nervous; it was obvious to anyone watching. It doesn't help that he almost slipped up on the name.

Their eyes narrowed. "Ki?" was all they questioned.

Both producers stiffened at the question.

The person finally started to look around the room. Noticing the takeout boxes and bags. Confusion making its way onto their face. They looked back at Chan, only now noticing the barely visible top of a head.

"Who's that?"

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I know, I know, I left it on another cliff hanger. Who's the mystery person? I don't know either. But for real, I still have no idea who the mystery person is, can y'all suggest who Kiki should meet first. This chapter is shorter than I wanted ;-;. Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you have a great morning, day, or night!

Word Count(not including a/n): 1,307

Character Count: 7,238