Zhen couldn’t entirely take Jungkook seriously while she was taking his pictures. He would do his “smouldering bad boy” posing, which was what the entire shoot was supposed to be, but then he would make silly faces, or start dancing at Zhen.

She would laugh and, just because she could, take a picture of his foolish poses. “Seriously Jungkook, come on!” She laughed, shaking her head.

The door slammed open and Mallory strode in, shoving the coffee into the arms of an intern and marching towards Zhen, who turned towards her, confused and waiting for what she was so worked up about. “Look at this!” She said, throwing the magazine into her friends hands.

Zhen read the headline and frowned. “Wow,” She said, opening the magazine to the page the front page had depicted as being the article. “This is getting out of hand.” She said, flipping through the pages until she came across a picture that was labeled ‘LeBlanc and lover fleeing the site of the domestic violence scene.’ “Lover?” She asked, squinting and looking closer. Dark red hair? Who had-

Zhen gasped. “Suga stayed at your house?”

Mallory frowned. “How could you tell that from one picture?”

“The picture of you two walking down the hall has the time on the bottom. And I doubt he would just be swinging by at four in the morning. Where did you guys go afterwards?”

Mallory shrugged. “To get breakfast, but to tell you the truth, I fell asleep before we even started eating.” She moved to look over Zhen’s shoulder at the magazine. “But what I want to know is how they got the story so quickly, and printed it in color, if it happened this morning.”

Zhen shook her head. “Stopped the presses, changed a few things, and since it’s kind of a newspaper tabloid more than a magazine, it was way easier than a magazine would have been.” She turned to Mallory and frowned. “But what was he doing at your apartment? I mean, I figured you must have met up to get here together, but it’s pretty clear he spent the night.”

Mallory sighed. “Maybe I should tell you a few things.”

“Maybe you should tell me a lot of things.” She said, turning to Jungkook. “You’re finished,” She said sweetly. “You should probably go change.” She then turned to Mallory. “I already finished everyone else, so you and I,” She said, taking Mallory’s hand. “Are going to go have a talk.”

Mallory sighed, but followed her friend as she led her towards the now entirely cleaned off snack table. Zhen stopped, turned to Mallory, and crossed her arms over her chest. Before she even opened , Mallory started talking. “Caleb talked things out with my representative and manager, and has full rights, once again, to have me tail him everywhere, and be in my business. I got pissed, like pissed, so I threatened to walk.”

“When was this?” Zhen asked, shifting from one foot to the next.

Mallory had to think about it for a moment. “When I went to France, during the first photo shoot, directly after I landed. Anyways, I told him to revoke the Caleb bits in my contract or I was out and he said he couldn’t. So I demanded it again, and then demanded he get rid of the school portion, and then I walked away, before he could say anything. So he found me in the dressing room and sat me down and basically told me that my contract is actually non existent.”

Zhen made a face. “So you didn’t even have to be there? You could have just left and that would have been the end of it?”

Mallory shook her head. “I’m not eighteen for another few months.” She said with a sigh. “I’m an emancipated minor who needs an income in order to stay out of my parents home. You have to keep in mind that I wasn’t emancipated because my parents couldn’t care for me, it was because they were  gone so I was basically on my own anyways. So legally, if I stop making an income, my parents have to stop their international business and come home to raise me, even though I’ve graduated.”

Zhen’s expression slipped a little. “So what does all this mean? That he threatened you with your contract?”

“Pretty much,” Mallory said, slumping against the wall beside them. “He said that, since he’d signed off saying the contract was legal, there’s no record, aside from theirs, that the contract isn’t official, so no one can prove that I wasn’t actually working for them. He said that he would “fire” me by giving my lawyer the documents, at which point he would legally have to find a judge to revoke my emancipation, and I would be sent back to France, unless I kept up the act. And now he’s cut back on my pay because I was being ‘disobedient’, so already I’m under legal fire.”

“How far back did he cut your pay?”

“Couple thousand.” At this, Zhen gasped. “So that was why I was at the club with Caleb, even though it was against my better judgement. And look where that landed me. I apparently have a secret lover, who did, in fact, kick my fake boyfriend’s , and I was smacked so hard that I fell and knocked myself out.”

Zhen almost laughed at this. “What are you talking about?”

“Caleb came by yesterday to pick me up while Suga was still at the apartment to drop off Kirby. He doesn’t really care for him, for whatever reason, so when he came by this morning and saw him he came into the apartment, called me a very rude name, and slapped me so hard that I fell and, being half asleep when it happened, didn’t catch myself and passed out for a second.” She sighed. “And then Suga beat the crap out of him, and called security to retrieve him while forcing me out of the apartment to this early opened corner shop, where I passed out until we had to come here.”

Zhen frowned. “Mal, this is getting out of control.”

“How do you think I feel?” Mallory murmured. “I’m so freaking tired, and Caleb has been all over me, making me go everywhere with him ever since he found out about my contract. And then, with the pay cut, I’ve had to make a few sacrifices, like the Bentley-”

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