CHAPTER TWELVE

The plate of spinach lasagna in front of me smelled amazing. The restaurant specialized in European cuisine; the lasagna was the only dish I had ever eaten before being the only thing that was comfortable ordering it. But now, looking at the beautiful layers of pasta and the green vegetable, I wasn't so sure about eating it anymore. That or anything, really. The reason was that I was hyper-aware of the woman across the table. I wasn't confident eating in front of my favorite singer, fearing I'd make a mess and embarrass myself.

Regret was all I wanted to swallow. The regret of having agreed to go to a restaurant, because it was the only time available in Wendy's schedule. It would have been so much easier to have gone to a cafe, but she doesn't like to trade a full meal for what she considers a snack. I was also regretting having agreed to this business meeting, after all, I was supposed to be disconnecting from everything involving Kepton4. What I was doing now was the exact opposite, I was wrapping myself in a figurative spider's web trying to manage the future of the band.

This situation started that very week of the first rehearsal in the TV studio. After meeting Wendy outside the rehearsal room, I feared she would show up again the next day. I was on high alert and ready to shoo her away from them, never mind a production request for her to be there. I would watch the rehearsal from the sidelines like a sentry and Wendy wouldn't lay eyes on the band. Turns out, she didn't. She didn't show up for the second day of rehearsal on Tuesday.

On Friday, however, it was an entirely different story. That day we were taken to the third floor where the recording booth was. Although bands were required to sing live at each performance, a studio version was available for purchase on digital channels. The band had never recorded a song in a studio before, obviously, I had never been in a place like that either. I had already seen in videos how a recording worked and it was exactly the way I saw it.

Inside the room, the music producer, whose name I forget, was sitting in front of a computer with a table full of equipment that aids in the creation of music. The table was positioned in front of a glass window that looked into the acoustic recording booth. The first hour was devoted to capturing the instruments that Sooyoung would hear when singing. The boys had to record a few times, but overall, they were efficient. It was a clear sign of how well they'd mastered their chosen song over the week.

Park Jinyoung was there and he seemed pleased with the band's performance. Sooyoung and I sat on the couch while the boys did their work inside the booth. During that time, we managed to exchange a few words with the coach, mostly Sooyoung chatting about music and telling him about how we left Gokseong for Seoul. It looked like the day was becoming peaceful, and I let my guard down again because of it.

Wendy opened the studio door just when I no longer expected a surprise appearance from her. At that moment, the boys had also left the booth and Sooyoung had gotten up to take their place. She was closest to the door, closest to Wendy. My heart raced fearing the worst among the former friends. However, Sooyoung only scanned the woman from top to bottom, she was wearing the same outfit as on Monday, before turning around completely and walking towards the cabin door. She completely ignored the rock star's presence, unlike her bandmates who were taken aback by her there.

“Noona!” Taeyong was the first to speak, "It's good to see you once again."

“Oh! Good to see you too, Taeyong-ah. How are you?" she said bowing slightly toward the boys. She looked subdued, almost embarrassed, not like the last time they were all gathered in one room.

"We are good. People in Gokseong are fine too, Seungwan-noona,” he replied with a kind smile.

“I'm glad to hear that, Taeyong-ah. Thanks!" Wendy spoke more excitedly this time, with a huge smile on her face. Then, she turned towards the couch where I was and said “Park Jinyoung-nim, I brought the songs that I intend to use next week. Please take a look and see if you want to use any of them,” she held out a sheet of paper towards me, the man sitting at the other end of the couch got up and took the sheet.

Taking advantage of the vacant spaces on the small couch, the boys ran to find a place to sit after playing for an hour. I took the opportunity to stand up and give them more space, I intended to follow closely when Sooyoung sang.

“You are very efficient, Wendy-ssi,” Park Jinyoung said as he looked at the contents of the paper. I think they were already discussing what the other bands on each team were going to rehearse next week. Tomorrow, four bands from each team would perform, the bands that passed to the next stage would only come back for a new round in a month. "I'll let you know if we need to talk."

The mood in the room was strange. No sparks were flying, but it wasn't a picnic on a beautiful sunny day either. Nobody but Taeyong was willing to talk to Wendy and she didn't leave after handing the paper over to the other coach, as expected. She was standing in front of the open door, smiling without showing her teeth. And everyone in the room was looking at her with the most neutral faces, except for Park Jinyoung who was looking at the list of songs in his hand.

“Irene-ssi, may I have a word?” Wendy asked me out of nowhere, this time looking straight into my eyes. “Preferably outside.”

Before answering, because I was curious to know what she wanted with me, I listened to the confusion of the band members. They didn't know I used that name. In addition to Wendy having used it days ago, it had been years since anyone had called me that.

“I'm busy,” I replied, solving the mystery of who the Irene woman was inside the room.

“It won't take long, I promise,” she insisted with a wider smile. I had the brilliant idea of ​​looking towards the cabin, to check if I was going to miss much.

To my surprise, Sooyoung hadn't made it past the cabin door yet. She looked at us, more specifically at me. I held my gaze and saw her arch her eyebrow as if she was asking me something. If it was about my other name or what the other woman wanted, I couldn't tell. So, I responded with an almost imperceptible shrug, which caused her other eyebrow to arch.

“I'll wait for you, Unnie,” Sooyoung told me so sweetly that I almost doubted what she just said. Even so, I nodded and walked through the door.

Wendy followed right behind, making sure the door was closed and no one inside could hear what she wanted to tell me.

“Did any producers ask you to come here again?” The first thing I did when we got to the record room was look for cameras in that place.

There were none, just as there was no sign of cameras here in the hallway.

“No, Irene-ssi! I really needed to talk to you,” she replied, leaning towards me. “Thank you for giving me your time.”

“Well…” I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, I wanted to look nonchalant and chose not to look at Wendy, “What do you want with me, Wendy-ssi? I don't want to keep Sooyoung-ah waiting.”

“We need to talk about the songs,” she replied, walking away from the door and standing in front of me. That woman didn't care about personal space.

Park Jinyoung was right when he said that Wendy smelled really good.

“What songs?” I asked already knowing what songs she was talking about. The music Kepton4 played that day, as well as the other songs they performed in concerts on the tour, were written by Wendy.

"My songs. I figured I need to talk to the band about the copyright.”

“And why are you telling me this?” First of all, I didn't expect her to want the rights after all these years. That took