“Ow… Ow… OW!” The man with the fashionably-styled dark hair shrank away from the hot towel in pain. They had managed to wake him up and help him back into the dressing room, into a chair as he was tended by Alex.

“Does it feel better?” Alex asked as he shot Dae a dark look.

“What?” Dae blinked, holding his hands in a gesture of innocence. He made it seem as if Dae was the one that knocked out the young man, when in fact all he did was dodge and this guy was unlucky enough to get in the way.

“I apologize sincerely,” Saeko bowed formally, her expression filled with intense remorse and anxiety. Saeko had arrived at the scene just in time to see the young man getting knocked down by one of the staff who immediately got kicked out of the room for his actions. “To have allowed you, Donghae-shi, into harm’s way.”

“What was he doing here anyway?” Riku whispered softly.

“Donghae-shi was here to as guest MC for our late night show!” Saeko frowned at the two of them, they always seemed to be causing trouble for her.

“A job I owe to Saeko-nim’s hard work, she arranged it all for me!” Donghae was fresh-faced and had the perfect appearance of an idol. His good looks were coupled with a gracious mannerism and his heroic act from before really made him seem like the perfect man!

“But of course! I want to take good care of Donghae-shi too,” Saeko fluttered her eyebrows slightly at the young man as she approached him. For some strange and scary reason, Riku felt like Saeko embodied the persona of a black widow spider at the moment. Alex, meanwhile, was glaring at his lover with frustrated anger as it seemed the two of them were flirting during their short conversation.  The boys of Persona, who were now used to Saeko’s quirks, shuffled aside to whisper.

“He is so cool!” Dae gushed quietly.

“And I heard he’s one of the most wanted idols of the moment which means…” Riku giggled softly, “He is still single!”

“Yah! This isn’t the time to talk about relationships!” Alex had joined their whispered conversation and scolded them, “You are guys now!”

“Hey! You three!” Saeko barked at them .”Get over here and apologize to your sunbae!”

Alex nodded and joined their side, followed by Riku as Kai grudgingly trailed behind them. He didn’t do anything wrong so why would he have to apologize? But still, he did as he was told and joined Riku’s side before the two of them bowed deeply, “We are really sorry!”

“Ani! That’s okay,” he waved off their apology as he rose up from his seat and walked up behind them, placing his hands on one of their shoulders in a friendly manner. “Picking a fight backstage hm? It’s rare to see young men trying to break through in the industry who actually have some backbones and literally try to break through!”

“Well, they are lucky no further harm has been done. If words spreads out about this they wouldn’t even have to try and make their debut, they would get chewed up and spit out before their single releases!” Saeko scoffed lightly, still glaring at the two young boys.

“Ah, don’t worry! After their hero act during the showcase, people wouldn’t care about things like this!” the experienced idol chuckled lightly.

“Anyway, they’re off to work on their single some more.” Saeko bowed low before looking up at the young man again. “Thank you for all your hard work and good luck on the MC job.”

“I will surely make you proud, Saeko-nim!” Yunho smiled, returning the bow. He snapped his fingers as if he suddenly remembered something and turned to the guys. “You guys aren’t from around here, right? We could always use some people to party with! Why don’t you guys give me your number and I’ll call you guys if we go out? Sort of a welcome to SM party.”

Riku hesitantly glanced over to Saeko, not sure how to respond to this offer. As their manager started nodding frantically, Riku gave his number to the young idol.

“Alex, take them to the recording studio.” Saeko said breezily. “I need to discuss something with Donghae, I will meet you at the entrance.”

“But I… -- Of course.” Alex pouted slightly, his cheerful personality disappearing completely. “Come on, you two! You have a lot of work waiting for you!”

The two of them gave a light bow to Donghae before quickly following after Alex who had already marched out into the hallway.

“The nerve of her!” Alex was muttering as he marched quickly through the hallway.

“Alex-ah!” Dae frowned slightly as they followed the young man. He was so different from the two of them. While Riku was rather serious and professional, Dae was more brash and cool. Alex, as assistant, was sweet and eager to please so it was rare to see him in such a bad mood.

“That woman. She loves a lot of people, but most of all she loves herself!” he continued muttering as they walked out to the car.

They arrived back at the studio shortly after where the band was already waiting for them. They were going to finish their first single today so they mostly had to sing. The guys let out a tired sigh as they climbed back to the booth. They loved their “3 Seconds” song they had been working on but they had been singing it non-stop! A little change would have been nice.

Late that night they returned to the office apartment that they were forced to live in as opposed to living in an actual dorm like all the other signed idols. As soon as they reached their room they stripped away from the disguises that transformed them into the dashing young men of Persona, leaving the two girls, Chanhee and Yurin.

“Ah~ I still hate having to disguise myself as a man!” Yurin grumbled, feeling a lot more comfortable in her loose shirt and shorts. “It’s distressing to be so close to such hot idols and not have a chance to flirt with them…”

“Yah…” Chanhee sighed, watching as the smaller girl plopped down onto her futon.

“What?” she pouted.

Just as Riku was about to explain why they had to focus on their debut and keeping their identities a secret, a loud crash coming from downstairs and Alex’ raised voice managed to make their way up to their rooms. The girls exchanged looks as all thoughts of guys were pushed aside and they tiptoed out of their room to check out what was going on.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“I would do everything to help these kids make their debut,” Saeko’s back was turned towards Alex. “Persona is my own ambition. They are going to be the best-selling group in the industry, no matter how many idols I’d have to wink at, I will help them make that ambition come true!”

“You don’t have to flirt with idols though! Or with any man!”

The girls listened in shock at the way their manager was speaking of their ambition. She seemed so passionate and determined to make their dreams come true, as if it was her own dream. But their feeling of gratitude soon disappeared as Saeko turned to Alex, carrying a feather in her hand and a devilish look on her face.

“My dear Alex, are you jealous?” she purred, running the feather lightly over Alex’ exposed collar bones in his low-cut white shirt.

“Even if you say that… I’m not…” He took a moment and gasped, obviously . “I’m not letting you off that easily!”

“Is that so?” Saeko smirked slightly, moving behind her secretary as she proved to be a complete and utter turn-on to the younger male, leaning in to kiss his bare neck from which Alex released a soft groan in delight.

“I’m… Letting you off again…” He hushed out as the older, experienced female proceeded to on his sweet spot in his neck.

Yurin felt like she was about to throw up a bit while Chanhee didn’t have as big of a reaction, but still felt really awkward when Saeko and Alex decided to do it in public places, especially those where the girls were likely to walk in.

“PDA+19!” The three whispered in dismay.

Saeko does seem like the one who wears the pants in this relationship, hm? Maybe because she is so much older than Alex.