"Script" - Lee Know

chapter one

Hyejin's POV

It was yet another early morning and all of us were already dripping sweat. "Okay girls, come on. From the top."

The girls and I had been going through a lot lately, and it was all my fault.

Some tabloid had taken pictures of me and a friend going out for coffee and completely distorted reality, making it look like we were on a date, and soon all of the news outlets were sharing the image with the word 'Scandal' in big bold letters across covers. It wasn't the only dating scandal surrounding our company as of late, so this situation certainly didn't help.

Our manager was not happy at all and she made it very clear, she knew if she punished me and sent me on hiatus it would do nothing but prove the tabloids right, so instead she chose to punish us as a group, which I was not happy about. We had been practicing overtime and weren't able to go live for a while, but we all hoped the chaos would come to a halt soon.

We continued to practice our new choreography and I took a step back to help guide my members, as part of my role as leader of ECHO.

Jiwoo, Minah and Sooyoung were hyper focused as always, their movements were graceful and on beat, the weeks of overtime clearly proving fruitful.

Our manager came in soon after and waited for the song to be over before speaking "Hyejin, a word, please?"

I followed her out of the room as the girls gave me a nod of the encouragement. My manager closed the door behind us.

"The CEO called me yesterday, says he wants to speak to you." Her tone calm but stern.
"Okay...When?"
"Wrap up here, take a shower and come meet me. I'll be waiting for you near the offices."

I nodded and went back into the practice room "So? What did she say?" the girls asked.
"The CEO wants to see me." I said, a bit scared.
"Oh, no! Do you think-"
"I don't know, Jiwoo. But I hope it's going to be ok."

We shared a caring smile before trying the choreography one last time, once that was over, we picked up our stuff and were about to leave the room.

A knock on the door.

"Hey! Are you guys finished?" Chan and his members came in, his eyes glistening as usual.
"Yes, we were just about to leave." My eyes met Seungmin's for a second and we exchanged a brief smile.

The girls bowed and greeted the group before we left the room. I went ahead, took a shower and changed clothes before heading to the CEO's office, my manager was already waiting for me.

"Good, you're just on time." she smiled "Listen, no matter what — You are a great leader, and an amazing, talented person. Ok?"

I gave her a pressed smile and thanked her, she knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

We walked in and it took me a second before realizing that on of one the chairs there was Lee Know, accompanied by his manager.

"Please, have a seat."

Lee Know and I shared a confused look as I sat down next to him.

"As you know, our company has been in murky waters lately, and the board and I have decided that we needed to fix it as soon as possible. For that, we need to come to an agreement." He looked between us. "Both of you have been somewhat responsible for the mess we are in, I am not saying you're guilty of anything but it is because of you that our company's reputation is being put into question."