“I didn’t think he would call so quickly...” Irene said as she grabbed her phone slowly, as if she were afraid of it.

“Well, at least we can get it over with now.” Wendy offered with a forced smile.  The call definitely surprised her as well; Mr. Sooman must’ve just gotten off of his call with their manager.

Irene took a deep breath before looking towards Wendy.  As soon as Wendy nodded, Irene answered the phone and put it on speaker for the both of them to listen.

“Hello sir.”

“Irene.” Mr. Sooman’s distinct voice filled the speakers.  “You probably know what I’m calling about.”

Irene confirmed the man’s assumption with a quick “Yes sir.” before staying silent, simply waiting for his next words.

“I would much prefer to discuss in person, so if you could come over to the office building in the next 30 minutes I would greatly appreciate it.” While his tone was polite and his words were nice, both girls knew that it didn’t reflect how he felt about the whole situation.  They weren’t in the clear just yet.

“Of course sir.  Is it all right for Wendy to come as well?”

There was a pause before he answered, making Wendy a bit anxious for Irene.  She didn’t want the older woman to have to go it alone.  But thankfully, Wendy would have to worry about that.

“Of course, it does concern her too after all.”

“Thank you sir.”

The call ended soon after, and both girls scrambled to get ready for their meeting with Mr.Sooman.  Red Velvet had met with Mr.Sooman on plenty occasions, but Wendy couldn’t recall a time where she met with him one-on-one.  She was more than a little intimidated, but she wanted to be strong for Irene, so after Wendy got ready she mustered all of her courage headed towards the SM building with Irene right by her side.

The two girls arrived at the SM building 20 minutes after their phone call, and in no time at all they found themselves sitting outside of Mr.Sooman’s office.  They held hands as they waited, and Wendy could feel Irene’s hand twitch at every little sound.  Red Velvet’s fearless leader had a secret; she was almost always nervous or scared, she was just amazing at hiding it.  Before any performance she was alwa