“Please have a seat.” Kim Youngmin, SM’s CEO, told Jooyoung as she arrived inside his office. She was confused and clueless of why she was called there, but she waited until he opened the discussion that he wanted to have with her.

“I received the notice that you want to talk to me urgently, sir.” She said going direct to the point. The CEO nodded.

“It’s about the rumour that just came out, about Onew and Hyorin of Sistar.” He opened up and Jooyoung didn’t know why she felt uncomfortable by the way their conversation was going. “You know, I think I should tell you something so you could help me.” He smiled gently as if he was some nice guy.

“Let me hear it, sir.” She was getting even more nervous about what the CEO was up to, but she wanted to face it anyway. That was part of her job. “Do you want me to ask Onew-ssi to do the show? Is this planned beforehand?” She decided to just ask the questions directly.

“Why? Are you against it?”

“Not that I’m against it, it’s just…” I’m really against it! “This wasn’t planned, and this is supposed to undergo some negotiations first.” She said, trying to sound as professional as possible, hiding the fact that she was against it not as the PR Head but as Lee Jinki’s girlfriend.

“I know, that’s why I’m not telling you to go for it.” Finally, the CEO said. “But according to my secretary, it received a surprising amount of positive responses from the fans. This isn’t common, you know that.”

“I know.” She answered shortly. Actually, while she was looking into the comments earlier, she was feeling a bit annoyed about how a lot of the fans felt happy and positive about it. It was so different than when Taemin was announced to be in the same show years ago.

One comment even said “Onew is too old to play innocent! We must see him in this show and maybe let him do what normal men do! And Hyorin is gorgeous and beautiful!”

She remembered that one time in the supermarket when girls approached Onew and told him they ship him with Hyorin, and she got even more irritated.

“You should know, their company is on the point of bankruptcy. I’m saving it by buying the label, so soon, Sistar will be under our management.” He announced, which made her really surprised. “So I’m asking you to keep silence over this matter. Sometimes, it’s okay to ignore some rumours, and just let people believe what they want to believe, especially if it’s on our advantage. I heard WGM management is going to deny it anyway, so it’s okay.”

Never question the decision of the boss… But it was really hard not to do it.

“You mean to say, sir, that we are going to leave an impression that maybe, since they were rumoured, then something is going on between the two of them?”

“You’re brilliant. You are very fit to be in your job.” He smiled after knowing that Jooyoung was getting his point. “Well, we won’t feed this perception to the people, but eventually, them being the suspicious netizens they are, we could infer that some of them are going to think that way. It would increase Sistar and SHINee’s publicity, and would tighten the bond between the two labels. That’s a good thing, right?”

“I understand.” Actually, she didn’t. There were a lot of thoughts in her head, specifically the effect in the future if netizens really think that the two have something.

“All I ask you right now is to be close mouthed about the issue, and… what do you think about a collaboration between Onew and Hyorin?”

“What?!” She wasn’t able to restrain herself and blurted it out of nowhere. The CEO looked surprised and dumbfounded for a while, until he smiled.

“Well, for now, let’s watch closely at how fans think about them. If they like them then let’s get use of this opportunity and might as well give them some break.” He nodded like he was satisfied and eventually stood up. “You can go back to your office now. Thank you.”

“Have a good day, sir.” She stood up thoughtlessly, trying hard to think where this could lead. She understood what the CEO was trying to do. She understood it very well. She knew he had seen some potential on pairing Onew and Hyorin together, and if the public accepts it warmly, then it’s really good for the company.

Sistar’s going to be in the same company soon. They are already popular as a girl group so she didn’t understand the part where the CEO seemed like he was about to make Sistar a rider on SHINee’s popularity. She didn’t see the need to do it. Sistar already established their own fandom since they had been in the industry for years. They didn’t need SHINee anymore.

So, as what was instructed, she told her staff not to pass the statement to the media anymore. She told them they won’t respond to the rumour and that is according to the CEO’s order.

She tried taking away that thought from her mind so she did something else to keep her busy. Just then, Onew sent a message to her.

“What are you doing, not denying the rumour yet?”

It took long enough for her to respond. Eventually, she told him the truth:

“As per the CEO’s instruction, we are keeping our silence.” She replied.

“What else did the CEO told you?” He replied again while she couldn’t decide whether to tell it to him or not.

It was just really hard to mix business with personal matters at times like this. She just hoped nothing worse will happen soon… at least for her.

Meanwhile, Onew couldn’t keep himself from worrying. It’s been hours since the rumours had come out. WGM denied it already, but his company has yet to say anything. He was getting worried why Jooyoung was not doing anything for it, and what did the CEO told her exactly? On top of that, she didn’t answer his last message asking what else he said.

So during the break, he excused himself to call Jooyoung and talk to her.

“You should be focusing on your work, Onew-ssi.” It was what Jooyoung said the moment she picked up the call. They were like this during regular days, though, and Onew understood this attitude of her.

“I want to know what he said. Did he say something like doing that show?”

“You’re not doing it.” She said seriously. “Is that a bad news now?”

“Hey, stop acting like that.” Onew said, a bit irritated. “Then why not deny the rumour? People won’t stop talking about it until you deny it.”

“He said not to. You are going to be under one label soon. SM’s buying their agency.” Finally, Jooyoung announced. It was better to tell it now than for him to keep asking what’s up. “And he liked how majority of the fans liked the idea of you and Hyorin, so he was thinking of doing that to promote Sistar under SM’s management.”

“Why use me? Do you know where did the rumour come from?”

“Don’t you think some people inside SM probably have to do with it?” Jooyoung said suspiciously, but it seemed like she was okay with it, and could handle the pressure. “I think it came from SM itself, though I don’t know who actually did it. It’s probably part of promoting Sistar which will be under the new management.”

“That’s just ridiculous.” Onew chuckled bitterly then he heard Jooyoung sighed.

“If you’re worried about me, then don’t be. I know for a fact that this is a part of your work, and don’t you think that if this is going to be pushed through, then I am going to be the main person to pursue your coupling with her?” Jooyoung laughed on the other line, but Onew didn’t find it funny.

The fact that he was always being compromised by the things he really didn’t like doing, it irritated him so much, and now, with the fact that he could possibly hurt Jooyoung with the things he might be forced to do, it made him want to get mad.

“It’s not funny.” Onew said seriously.

“I am just glad I will be the one personally handling this matter with you.” Jooyoung then replied seriously. “At least I understand everything well, and I’m going to accept it easier than how I might be if I’m not in this position. Don’t worry about me, Jinki. I know for a fact that this is just for work.”

“I’m not doing anything that might hurt you, though. You know that.”

“I know, and I’m not gonna allow you do things that I won’t like for real. You forgot I have power on what you can and cannot do with your career.” Jooyoung laughed teasingly, implying that she was taking things seriously.

But of course, as a woman, it felt a bit hard to accept if things like what she imagined would happen in real life. What if worse case comes to worst scenario and they might end up pretending that the two were really a couple? Nothing is impossible in this industry. You don’t know how much lie idols tell everyday just to keep themselves in the business. It’s dirtier than how a simple fan would think.

What’s important now is though it might hurt her, she just wanted to know everything, to support and to be on his back no matter what happened. It’s better than not knowing anything and not being able to give them the support and the comfort that he needs whenever he seeks for it.