Chapter 3

Mannequin

On the next day morning, I received a phone call. It was an unknown number, but I picked it up anyway.

"Hello, this is Incheon Airport Luggage Management. We recieved a few boxes with your name and phone number…"

"Yes, those are mine. When can I pick them up?" I asked before the poor woman could finish her sentence. I realized that I was rude and I apologized fast.

"You can come anytime you want this week or the next one. The faster, the better. But if you don't come by next weekend, we'll send back the boxes on your account."

"OK, thank you. I think I'll drop by today in the late afternoon or in the evening. And about the boxes… Is there any company who can help me bring them home?"

"Yes, there is. When you come, I'll show it to you."

"Thank you very much. See you later!" I hung up.

I was in the office at TS already. I took another look at the sketches I drew yesterday. There were many of them, at least two for every girl. I threw the worst ones in the dustbin. I took the others down to the dance practice rooms where the girls were at.

The three older girls, Soo Hee, Eun Ji and Hee Min started rolling their eyes when they saw me, but Kye Rin greeted me smiling. I ignored their impoliteness and asked the choreographer if they could have a few minutes break. I tried to sound as polite as I could, but the guy still looked like he had some serious problems with me. Like in high school, where there are the popular kids who just pick on another kid for no reason, but that one kid becomes unpopular and no one likes them. It was the same feeling.

However, he let the girls have a five minutes break. I handed them the sketches, and told them to choose each.

"These are just sketches. How are we supposed to choose? What if I choose one and it turns out ty? Come back when you have real drawings, girl. Now go away." said the leader, Soo Hee.

I wanted to talk back. I never wanted to talk back this much. But this was my second day on my probation period, so I couldn't make any mistakes. I swallowed my rough words and tried to ignore Soo Hee's ones. She was the only one who was the same age as me. Actually, she was still younger than me by a few months, but that doesn't mean much. All the other girls were younger than me.

"Just take a look at them. When you choose one, I'll draw them properly, and I'll come back with them. If you won't like it, I'll draw it again."

Soo Hee sighed and took a look at the papers. After a few minutes, all of the girls showed me which outfit they liked. I thanked them, bowed slightly and left the room. Kye Rin also bowed, but the other three turned away. I think I have to get used to this. I went back to the office and started drawing properly. I wanted to be ready before lunch.

~~

"Unnie, you were really rude with Minseo." Kye Rin stated after the stylist left the room.

"I know." came the answer from Soo Hee "I have to be rude. Don't you remember? And also, I don't like her. She just comes here without any university first, and think that I'll look at her as a professional? You're kidding."

"She draws well" said suddenly Eun Ji. All of them nodded, including their leader. "And yes, Kye Rin, we have to be rude with her. Remember what they said. I don't want to be rude with her too, but we're still trainees after all and they can kick us out at any moment."

"But why do you say that we have to be rude with her?"

"Don't say you don't remember what Seok Hyun said." said Hee Min, smiling.

Kye Rin tried to remember their manager's words, but she couldn't. She shook her head, and the others started laughing. The maknae always forgot almost everything. Eun Ji started to explain, but the choreographer came back and they continued the practice.

~~

B.A.P were having a little break at the photoshoot they were doing. Daehyun attacked the food corner, and the others slowly followed.

They were all eating, and Yongguk broke the silence.

"Did you hear what the CEO said about the new stylist girl? He has a request, and everyone talks about it."

The others shook their head. Yongguk explained, and the members looked at him with an expression mixed with surprise and disgust.

"I cannot believe this. I don't want to believe this. He can't be this evil to the girl."

"He has his reasons, but you're right, he crossed the line." Himchan said, and the rest of the boys nodded.

"I won't obey this." Jongup said and all of them agreed. "I don't care if he is the CEO. I don't agree with this."

They kept eating silently, but soon a woman came to inform them that they need to get back to work.

~~

I finished all the four drawings in the afternoon. I went down to the practice rooms again. Luckily the girls were already having a break, so I avoided another weird dialogue with the choreographer. I handed the drawings to the girls, all of the girls approved. I was happy about it, because I expected them to complain and make do the whole thing again.

I asked them once again if these outfits are OK.

"Don't you have ears? We already said yes. Now get lost." came the rough response from Eun Ji. I saw Kye Rin biting her lip but she didn't say anything, and neither did I. I left the room and went to have lunch.

~~

After lunch, I met Jisoo. I showed her the drawings and she nodded, smiling. She handed me the drawings of the girls' other outfits for the MV. They all fit the concept well.

"Here's the address of the company who'll make the outfits for the girls. I also wrote down how you get there. On the other paper, there's the place of the MV filming. I wrote how you get there from the outfit company. As you know, I won't be here from Monday, so, I guess we won't meet." Jisoo said and hugged me. This gesture really surprised me, but I hugged her back. "Please take care of yourselves."

I smiled and bowed, and I really meant both of them.

I went in the office to get my stuff.

~~

"I think I'll go back to the company, I forgot something there yesterday" said Jongup while they were in the car going home. The manager stopped in front of TS and Jongup got off.

He went in and headed towards the top floor to their practice room. Yesterday morning was really cold, but by the afternoon it disappeared and he forgot his sweater. Though this was not the main reason he wanted to come here.

It was easy to find it, and he didn't want to waste time. He picked up the sweater and started to go back to their dorm.

He decided to stop on the third floor to say goodbye to Jisoo. She had been with them almost since their debut, and it was hard to believe that she is leaving. All the boys had already said goodbye, and he didn't want to be rude.

While he was walking on in the corridor, he was lost in his thoughts, and he didn't notice the girl coming in his direction, until they bumped into each other and the girl fell on the floor, along with some of her papers, that were now scattered on the floor.

He kneeled down to help the girl collect the papers. She looked up and their eyes met.

She had green eyes.

They couldn't bare looking into each other's eyes even for a few moments. They looked down and silently continued to collect the papers. Jongup was smiling, as always.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you." he said.

"Oh no, it's my fault for being so clumsy." the girl said, without lifting her gaze.

"You're the new stylist, right? I've heard about you." they stood up.

"Yes, I'm the new stylist, Seon Minseo. Please take care of me." the girl bowed.

They were still not looking at each other, just standing in front of each other, not saying anything. Jongup broke the silence.

"Is Jisoo still here? I want to say goodbye to her."

"Yes, she's in the office. Sorry for holding you up." she was just about to go, but Jongup stopped her and wiped off some dust from her shirt. Then he let her go, and the girl went, still not lifting her gaze. Jongup felt kind of sorry for her. She probably thought that he is also against her as anyone else. However, he shook his head to get rid of these thoughts and went into the stylists' office to properly say goodbye to Jisoo.

~~

The order of the outfits went smooth. As I got to know earlier, it was already paid. The process didn't take more than a few minutes, and the guy was kind with me. I told him that I'll drop by on Monday 8 am to pick up the outfits.

I left and I took the train to Incheon Airport to get all my stuff that my mother sent from Engand.

~~

There were three really big boxes. I mean, they were really big.

One of them contained my clothes, one was the kitchen stuff and one was the miscellaneous stuff. Random memories, books, magazines and everything I packed earlier.

I told my mother to wait a week after my arrival, so that I was sure that I found a flat. She didn't wait that much, but I didn't mind. I have a flat or what.

The woman whom I've spoken to in the morning showed me the cheapest company which helped me to bring my stuff home. They were father and son, and another man. They were so kind that they let me go with their van and also brought up the boxes to the flat.

The boy (who was not much younger than me) turned to me when they were about to leave:

"Noona, I can stay and help you unbox."

I smiled and told him that there's no need, and I also realized the ulterior motive. His father apologized to me, and I assured him that there's no problem. I paid, and the three men left.

I decided to unbox the kitchen stuff now, and the other two in the weekend, because I still had clean clothes and there was nothing in the miscellaneous box that was urgently needed. I threw my bag on my bed, but it fell and all of my stuff came out of it. I went there to pack it again, cursing myself.

There was a little paper which was definitely not mine. It was folded a few times, so it was really small, I almost missed it. I unfolded it, and saw there was a small letter inside.

You probably wondered why everyone is against you. The CEO requested it. He didn't want to hire you, but Jisoo did. He hoped you lose control and start shouting at someone or stuff, so that he can fire you. I also heard that few stylists are also jealous of you. You cannot help that, but the first, please just endure. If you go through the probation, it will be harder to fire you.
Also, you cannot tell anyone that you know about this. However, if they find out, please don't tell them that I told you. I can get into trouble for this.
Jongup

I stared at the letter for a while. I was relieved to know that the staff wasn't hostile because they wanted it… well, at least part of them. On the other hand, I was really hurt because of the CEO's move.

I decided not to give up and survive this month. I'll hold onto this job like my life depended on it.

And actually, it was some kind of true.


Author's note: I told you I'll be getting out of control. 

The first chapter was not long here, but it was like three pages in Word, so that's why I thought it was long.

However, I'll be out of town again (I was out of town last week and the week before etc), but it's grandparents time, so the villagewifi returns and my humiliation with the bycicle continues. Regardless, I'll try to write chapter 4 as soon as possible.

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akumu_no_musume
Skydive MV is out! Did you guess X right? I did :3

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Donnakiins
#1
Chapter 4: This is interesting so far! Jongup was my first bias (even tho Himhan is my ultimate bias now LOL) so I'm enjoying this story :)