Melonie

            As soon as Jun and everyone left out of sight, I immediately ran for the stairwell. CEO Song said that they'd be on the fifteenth floor which meant I had some ground to cover before my bathroom excuse was up. To other people this habit might have seemed weird and rather drastic, but my permanent phobia of elevators prevented me from ever being able to be in one for over a couple seconds without freaking out and hyperventilating. I've had a hard time keeping my fear a secret without anyone questioning me so far, but since I've arrived back to Korea it seemed like my constant fear was becoming worse for some reason. Not to mention Jun…he seemed like he was catching on, and rather quickly if I might add. He was definitely someone I had to keep this secret away from. If he found out about it, it could make me seem weak and give him greater ammunition to defy me. I had to stay strong for three months, then I'd be back home in Ohio continuing on with my regular life.

            "Three months…" I chanted to myself while looking up all the steps I had to go up. Clinching my fists I started to jog up the steps at a careful pace. I couldn't get to sweaty, or it would raise questions. Taking out my phone from my pocket I saw that three minutes had passed since I was down stairs with everyone. Picking up the pace slightly I noticed that I was on the sixth floor. "Good a couple more to go…" I thought as I continued at a stable pace. By the tenth floor I started to sweat a bit, and my legs started to sting from all the steps before. My breathing came slightly faster, but I knew that I only had a few more minutes before my time was up.

            As I walked around the corner leading towards the fifteenth floor, I sighed in relief knowing that I’d made it finally.  "Well, well, well look what we have here…" I stopped in my tracks to look up and see Jun standing at the top of the stairs. "Why was he here?!" I thought panic stricken. "Wh-what are you doing here Min-Jun?" I said while straighten myself, trying to seem unaffected by his presence. He stepped away from the railing in a lazy fashion while walking towards me. "That's a good question Melonie…but I was wondering the same thing about you." He said looking at me suspiciously. Curling my arms in front of my chest, I fired back, "I asked first…" He looked at me then down the stairs, then back at me. "Well…ya see I have this theory." He started out. "A theory…?" I asked not liking where this was going. "Yes, a theory. You see ever since I met you, I've noticed that you like to avoid riding the elevator as much as possible…" My heart skipped a beat form his words. " I thought was careful…" I thought. "When you do ride them you start perspiring, your breathing starts to pick up ever so slightly, and face becomes flushed. Plus I've noticed how stairs are always your go to excuse. So my only conclusion can be…" I held my breath thinking that my secret was out with him. "It's over.." I thought. "Is that you don't like to be in closed isolated areas with me…" My eyes widened, not sure if I had heard him correctly. "Wait what?" I asked. "Hey it's ok to feel intimidated about being around me, a lot of women feel that way, but there's no need to go to these extremes about not wanting to ride the elevator with me." He said dead serious.

            I stood there for a moment trying to rack my brain as to how he came up with that conclusion, but instead laughter started to pour through me. Holding on to the railing I had to control myself so I didn't fall down the stairs from all the laughter. "Wait...why are you laughing?" He asked confused. Taking a deep breath I tried to pull myself together. "Whew, and here I thought you were going to say something serious." I said while trying to hold in another giggle. "I was being serious. You don’t like being in the elevator with me because I make you nervous." He said looking at me not amused. Sighing I started to walk up the rest of the stairs. "Wait where are you going?" He asked.  I stopped. "Min-Jun I don't know where you came up with that conclusion, but you are the last person that makes me nervous. Agitated yes, but nervous…not so much. You should stick with singing because detective work isn't for you." I said before opening the door to leave.

            Once out of the stairwell I breathed a sigh of relief. "That was way to close…" I thought. I need to be more careful next time, or he could really figure out what's going on. Walking down the hallway I saw Hyuk-Shik on his phone looking for something. All of a sudden my phone started to vibrate. Looking down I saw that it was him calling me. "Looking for me." I said when I was closer. "There you are. I was a little worried that you'd gotten lost or something." He said putting his phone away. "She's wasn't lost, she was just taking her sweet time." Jun suddenly said from behind us. Pushing past us he proceeded to make his way towards the front of the room, where there was a long table with microphones propped on top of it. The middle of the room was filled with smaller tables with reporters either typing away, or flashing a gazillion pictures.

            "Why are there so many people here Hyuk-Shik?" I asked. "They're reporters and writers for important blogs, magazines, and news stations. Jun's and your incident is big news." He said looking forward at all the action taking place. "But why though?" I asked still confused. "Well Ms_ I mean Melonie, all news is big news especially if it's coming from a big company like STARINK. Plus I doesn't really help if fans are tweeting and posting blogs about it either, It only gets messier by the day. Melonie anti-fans could ruin Jun's career because of what happened. If he can't straighten this out now, then it's most likely that he'll have an even harder time later." He said seriously. "All because of what I said yesterday?!" I said shocked. "Dae. (yes)" He said quietly.

            From the corner of my eye I noticed Jun's manager quickly walk in to stand close to him. He whispered something in his ear and Jun nodded. Then CEO Song stepped in looking suave as ever, as he opened his the button of his suit jacket to sit down. "We should get closer." I said walking forward while pulling on Hyuk-Shik's sleeve. "Ms. Melonie we really shouldn't_" "*Ahem* We will now start the press conference." CEO Song's deep voice rang through the room as he spoke through the microphone. Everyone settled down, and became quite while waiting for the explanation they've been looking for.

            "As we all know, news got out about an incident happing in one of the dance studios at our company. Two of my artists and one of my chorographers got into a small dispute, but I can assure you the problem is now taken care of, and we can all hopefully move on from this slight disruption." CEO Song spoke with such authority and confidence that it somehow put me at ease as the hands started to rise from some of the reporters to ask questions. One of them suddenly spoke up amongst the rest. "Is it true that you just hired this choreographer, and that she's in fact from the States?" "Yes, I did currently hire her for Min-Jun's comeback for this summer. She's very qualified for the job, and the company and I thought she was best fit for Jun." He replied simply. "Is it true that you couldn't find another choreographer for Jun in Korea?" Another reporter asked. This seemed to catch CEO Song of guard, but he quickly responded, "No that's not true. STARINK wanted to take a new approach with Min-Jun's new album. In order to produce something new and invigorating for him we decided to look somewhere with a new style of movement. America wasn't our first choice, but while looking into the matter we ended up finding a chorographer like Ms. Carter." "Min-Jun how do you feel about having an American choreographer for the first time in your career?" Someone asked.

            There was a stillness in the room while everyone waited for Jun to answer. Looking around the room he seemed to be searching for something, until his eyes stopped on me. Turning back to the crowd he proceeded to answer. "At first I was a little uncomfortable about changing my whole style for the sake of staying relevant for my fans…" He stopped and glanced over at CEO Song who seemed to be giving him a look of intimidation. "…but I quickly realized that music changes every day. So for the sake of my fans I want to always give them something new and exciting, but also stay true to myself. I believe…that Ms. Cater will be able to provide to for me for my upcoming comeback." The last part seemed forced, and could tell some of the reporters weren't buying it. "Are you sure because we've had witnesses say that you argue quite often with each other." My head snapped towards the reporter that said that. "T-that’s not true…Ms. Carter and I have a very professional relationship with one another." Jun replied carefully. "That's not what this blogs says…it states that Ms. Carter were in the parking lot this morning arguing about seating arrangements. It even says that Ms. Carter spoke informally to you, disregarding you." The reporter continued. Cameras started to flash vigorously, while trying capture the slightest reaction from Jun.

            He looked around seeming lost for words for a moment, but he calming stated, "I can assure you Ms. Carter and may have our differences, but_" "Where is Ms. Carter?" Someone asked. "Shouldn't she be up here also explaining her actions for yesterday?" Another person asked. Soon everyone had forgotten about Jun and was looking around for answers. "Everyone please if we could continue_" CEO Started to say but  was interrupted by the restlessness of the crowd. This wasn't going very. If this continued Jun could be in big trouble afterwards. Even though Jun and I never really got along, I hated to see him in such a tight situation. Especially for something that I did.  Looking over at the crowd I took in a deep breath before I stepped forward. "Excuse me!" I yelled slightly over the crowd. Everyone momentarily stopped talking to look over at me. "I'm Ms. Melonie Cater, and I have something to say..."

***Uh oh! Melonie just gave herself up to the wolves! What will she do? What will she say? Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Your Move! Also don't forget to vote and leave your comments and thoughts down below. :D***