Light A Flame || Hoshi (editing)

Chapter 32

Just as Hoshi promised, he promptly arrived 3 days later, waded his way through the airport, and plopped down into the tinted-window Mercedes to go check in with the company. The other few members on the trip still had other commitments, thus they agreed to go on separate flights to minimize logistics issues and have enough time to complete all their schedules.

After arriving at Hybe a few hours later, he walked straight into the manager's office. Not that it was much of an office, it was barely a room and more like a 3-walled indoor gazebo, in a sense. Nevertheless, he clenched his jaw and made his way inside.

"Hi manager hyung, I'm back," he announced. Not that the manager wouldn't know that anyways. But who knows - with their manager's lackluster organization, maybe even this was a detail he would've missed.

"Soonyoung, come, take a seat," the manager pat down the leather chair facing his. Hoshi gingerly sat down.

The manager leaned in. "So, how did it go? Any important news?"

"All good. Glenn was very happy with how the event went, and he said they're open to more collaborations both here and overseas if we're happy to do that. There was a group-wide marketing campaign mentioned, but I think that's only in the early stages and nothing really concrete yet."

"Good, good. Well, I'm glad to hear that's all going well. I trust you're aware of tomorrow's schedules?"

"Yes. Elle photoshoot 12 to 3, then filming and practice from 7 to 12. I'm aware," he recited his timetable, almost as if it was a school one.

"Great. Well, I won't hold you back much longer then. Enjoy the rest of the day."

"Thank you, hyung. Oh - and I have one more question," Hoshi said.

The manager tilted his head upwards expectantly. "What is it?"

"I would like to invite Jang-mi over for practice tomorrow."

The manager tensed. "Now, Soonyoung, you already know I was being too lenient when I let the two of you stay together. We agreed that anything beyond your duties as an idol and to the company were yours to take care of, but that's something I just can't allow. This is bringing her on company territory - and, well, with her track record here, I wouldn't be surprised if more measures were to be taken than already have the second she shows up here."

"I'm inviting her over as a guest. Not a significant other, not anything else."

"Soonyoung, I-"

"Hyung, please? I know she really wants to go back to dance, even if just for a little bit. What happened was not her fault and she got thrown through the ringer for it. Just this one time? And I've brought my sister over before, there were no complaints then. How is this any different?"

The manager sighed, slowly deflating. "Okay, fine. But just for practice, and I better not see any PDA from the two of you or she'll get escorted out faster than I can switch the security cameras."

"You have access to the cameras?"

"Precautionary measure. Since I'm the closest Pledis contact to the members, I need to alert you all in case anything happens. There were multiple attempted sasaeng break-ins this past month alone, so the company decided to stream me the feed, as having the security contact their people then get that sent to me and then to you would take too long in case of anything urgent."

"Alright, I understand. Thank you so much, hyung," Hoshi walked to behind the desk and hugged the manager in gratitude, then quickly bowed once more and left the room.