Seungwan would be lying if she said she isn’t curious about Joohyun’s different demeanour. The soloist seems to be barely holding back a smile when she gets in the car. And she actually looks more well-rested than the previous days too. The manager glances at the paper bag in the shotgun seat containing the artist’s coffee and donut. She either really likes donuts or some aliens abducted the real Joohyun last night, Seungwan ponders in amusement. I vote for the latter.

To test her theory, she picks up the paper bag and hands it over to the soloist tentatively, “Your breakfast.”

To her slight surprise, Joohyun accepts it without grumbling this time.

Huh, who would’ve thought? I guess she has a soft spot for donuts after all. Seungwan almost lets out a chuckle at the thought.

“It’s…glazed.”

The manager facepalms internally. I spoke too soon.

“Sorry, I wasn’t sure what flavour would suit your taste so I got the original,” Seungwan sets the GPS and pulls out of the pickup point, “But what’s your preference? I’ll get it for you the next time I do a donut run.”

“I…” Joohyun trails off as she stares at the warm donut sitting in her hands.

Her next words are soft, almost shy, “I like them glazed.”

Seungwan feels her heart clench a little. She clears and focuses on the road ahead of her, “That’s…good. I’ll get them next time then.”

Joohyun hums absentmindedly in reply and bites into the donut. Warmth fills and she relishes the sweetness melting onto her tongue. Her mind wanders back to her neighbour, excitement thrumming through her at the thought of finally meeting.

Wait. Joohyun freezes mid-chew as an eerie question enters her mind.

What if they’re a crazy anti-fan or worse, a stalker?

Damn it, Bae Joohyun! The soloist berates herself internally. Getting so caught up with a mystery guitarist and all that note-leaving and asking to meet that you forgot you. Are. A. Celebrity. How stupid could you possibly be!

Joohyun breaks out into a cold sweat as she starts to calculate the thousand and one ways things could go south should she meet her neighbour and reveal herself not as just the girl-next-door, but as South Korea’s number one sweetheart. Her neighbour could end up inviting paparazzi to the apartment just to make a quick buck. Her neighbour could be some crazy fan who’d try to break into her house and Joohyun would have to move out. Heck, maybe her neighbour would cuss her out because they hate Irene Bae for some reason.

So much for wanting to make a genuine connection, Joohyun huffs as her mood takes a dramatic turn for the worse. She takes a large mouthful of her coffee to calm herself down. Whatever the case, I can’t tell Wendy. I don’t need her to think I can be this…reckless and stupid. I’ll never hear the end of it.

“I have a meeting with Mr. Ahn at ten, so I won’t be with you for an hour,” Seungwan speaks up as they take a left turn, “I’ll see you at the studio after eleven. You’ll be okay?”

“What am I, a five-year old?” Joohyun snarks, “I’ll be fine without you.”

Geez, first she seemed so happy to see donuts and now she’s back to being her mean self, the manager rolls her eyes.

[The 19th floor of La Rouge Entertainment HQ, CEO Ahn's office, at approximately 10.00am]

“Manager Son, good to see you,” Kangta greets his new hire with a bright smile, “I trust you’re settling in well?”

“Yes I am actually,” Seungwan’s thoughts flash back to the pink post-it notes for a second before, “Thank you for all your help so far.”

“Please, sit,” Kangta gestures across his desk to the seat opposite him, “And no problem. You’ve been such a great help to me and the company.”

“Well, it is part of my job,” Seungwan chuckles and shrugs, “I’m glad you’re not turned off by my approach to the management team. Especially since yesterday…”

“To be fair, being a manager for a La Rouge artist wasn’t in the job description,” the CEO grins, “But after seeing you in action yesterday, I now fully understand why you insisted on it.”

“As your Chief Operations Officer, I need to investigate every nook and cranny of La Rouge’s current management system for what it really is, in order to propose a working management strategy,” Seungwan replies, “It’s unfortunate that there may be more individuals like Manager Oh who will be too resistant to change.”

“Do what you must,” Kangta answers calmly and pours the manager a glass of water, “I trust you.”

“Is that why you appointed me to Irene?”

“Hmm?” Kangta raises a brow, “Is there a problem with her?”

“Not really a problem, but,” Seungwan sighs and takes a deep breath before continuing, “Okay, scratch that. It is a problem.”

“What’s up?”

“I get the feeling she’d rather I hadn’t showed up in her life,” Seungwan responds honestly, “She’s really stubborn and I still don’t know what exactly did I do to make her…hate me so much.”

Kangta chuckles, “Joohyun can be hard to approach at first. It takes some time for her to warm up to people.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon,” the manager huffs, folding her arms, “I wish I could get along well with her, but she can such a…brick wall sometimes. No, wait. I mean, all the time.”

“I’m sure you with your sunshine energy will break through to her soon.”

“If I’m sunshine, she’s a big, dark storm cloud.”

The CEO can’t help but throw his head back in laughter. He then fixes Seungwan with a searching stare, mirth dancing in his eyes, “I must admit, this is the first time I’ve seen you all whiny and petty like that. It’s like not even the ist Manager Oh holds a light to…the prickly Bae Joohyun when it comes to riling you up.”

“You must find this very entertaining huh,” Seungwan’s not impressed, “I’m telling your cousin.”

“If you must tear down my company’s current management plan, I’d like to have some entertainment while you’re at it,” Kangta isn’t perturbed by her threat, “And it seems Joohyun is keeping you well on your toes.”

“You still haven’t really explained why you put me with her.”

The CEO ponders for a bit before straightening his seating position and looking Seungwan right in the eye, “I meant it when I said I wanted her to taste the changes that our company will be going through first.”

“Why? I get that she’s a senior artist in the company, but why her specifically?”

“I suppose you’re referring to why her, and not BoA or Taeyeon,” Kangta muses, “Joohyun as a trainee, unlike the other two, had the misfortune of being in a very harsh and messed up training programme dictated by the CEO before me. Even after her debut, La Rouge's management style continued to do its number on her. Because of that, she’s grown hard and guarded.”

“And you think I can change that? What about Manager Seo?”

“Manager Seo fully supported your appointment as her replacement. She said, and I quote, ‘Wendy is Joohyun’s anti-thesis. Joohyun and I are similar in many ways, so she is too comfortable to even consider change. She needs someone who will snap her out of the status quo’.”

“Anti-thesis?”

“Don’t ask me,” the CEO raises his hands, “Manager Seo likes to use complex words like that.”

“Perhaps I’m too much of an ‘anti-thesis’ to be of any effect,” the manager frets.

Kangta smiles, “Well, you’re only three days into your job as Joohyun’s manager. These things take a lot of time. But if you’re not up for it, I can always make you the manager of Blue Lemonade. They seemed particularly enamoured with you. Especially Joy. Seulgi did say you’re into cute girls, are you not?”

“First of all, I don’t think you should be encouraging that sort of relations between your artists and managers, because it will clearly end in disaster,” Seungwan returns without a second thought, “And next, when you put it like that, I have to do it, right? ‘Anti-thesis’ and whatnot.”

“I see Seulgi was wrong. Chic, mature girls are more your type,” Kangta winks playfully.

“Okay, I’m pretty sure you know concepts like ‘cute’ and ‘chic’ are simply industry constructs made to better market people as idols,” Seungwan protests, “No one is actually either one or the other.”

“But you didn’t correct the ‘mature’. Guess you like them older, huh!”

“That’s not what I meant at all!”

The CEO bowls over in laughter from teasing his cousin’s best friend. Seungwan stares at him, her eyebrow twitching.

He wipes his tears from his eyes and composes himself enough to finally speak his mind, “You said becoming a manager prepares you to make a difference in my company in the future. While you’re at it, make a difference in someone else’s life too. And maybe she’ll make a difference in yours. After all, if you’re her ‘anti-thesis’, she’s yours as well.”

[An hour and a half later]

Not more than a split second after entering the dance studio does Seungwan hear Joohyun call out to her.

“You’re thirty minutes late.”

“Figured you’d enjoy the extra time without me hovering around,” the manager answers as a-matter-of-factly, not sparing a glance in the soloist’s direction. She strides over to the couch at the corner of the studio and sets her bags d