After a quick scan of pages after pages of articles on the web, coupled with swift scrolling, another exasperated sigh left the writer’s lips and she slid her mouse halfway across her desk in displeasure.

“Look at you, hanging on the web like a spider.” Contrasting sharply with her lover’s emotions, a small smile played over Irene's lips as she seated herself in the plastic chair that was by the writer who was also her lover and set down a mug of hot yuzu tea.

Wendy, the tabloid writer, casted a baleful stare at her lover as she stuck her hand in one of the pockets in Wendy’s hoodie. With each of her article garnering attention locally and even internationally, no one would have expected that Wendy, the writer, would be so small of stature and was such a youthful individual.

Her lover, who was right by her side, was one of South Korea’s hottest Korean pop idol. Famous for not just her raw talents and ethereal beauty, Irene was also one of media’s most talked about idol because of her boldness which departs from South Korea’s traditional ideals.  

“A very displeased spider. Why, spider? Which imbecile insect has escaped from your web this time round?” Irene poked Wendy’s cheeks playfully as she asked.

Closing her eyes and in a deep breath, Wendy redirected an upgraded stern gaze at Irene. Irene had deflected the strong glare by using her doe eyes to her advantage. Returning a look of innocence to Wendy, with large round eyes and a sad pout, the playful disposition on Irene’s face earlier had completely vanished.

“Are you displeased with me?” Irene asked in a small voice.

Weak to that innocent look of Irene’s face, Wendy caved in. When penning her articles, Wendy could be the sharpest critique, however when she was with Irene, she would become the mellowest individual. Removing Irene’s hand from her hoodie’s pocket gently, Wendy squeezed it. “No, I am not. Of course not. I am just… sick and tired of all these articles defaming celebrities.”

Irene’s curiosity was piqued as she leant forward and asked. “Who?”

Wendy’s face was twisted into a grim smile, “all these articles, take your pick.”

Irene slipped her hand out of Wendy’s hand, took control of the mouse and trained her eyes on the desktop screen as Wendy rolled her chair away to make space for her partner. Snaking an arm about Irene’s waist, Wendy studied her partner’s face as it remained impassive and her shoulder.  

A wry smile wended it way into Irene’s own face as she returned her attention to her writer girlfriend.

“Shouldn’t you be more used to this than me? Why the sudden frustration?” Irene asked.

“Well…” Wendy’s brows lifted as she breathed in deeply again before continue, “yes, I should be but I guess I was agitated after attending a writer’s seminar which highlights the rise of cyberbullying and tabloid writers’ role and involvement in perpetuating such heinous acts and... and well… I know I should not be riding the moral high horse since I have committed that mistake before but… anyway… I think there is a rise in malicious intent of these tabloid writers. It makes me question the ethics of writing and journalism.”

Irene blinked and bit her lower lip as she took in those words. “Wendy… are you still guilty about the article you wrote about me?”

Wendy pursed her lips this time round and the arm around Irene’s waist loosed as she was reminded of her own action two years ago.

Two years ago, Wendy was one of those tabloid writers who had written ill of artistes, some deserving of the condemnation whilst some not so deserving. Irene, who was now her partner, was the artiste whom she had wronged the most gravely. Even though Wendy had done her best to make amends to Irene, the damage was done and anything that was uploaded onto the web was permanent even if she had taken the original article down. Spinoff articles from Wendy’s original continued to spring out like mushrooms on the web and in the past two years. Unbeknownst to Irene, Wendy had fervently demanded for these articles to be taken down from the web, even if it means invoking her influence in the industry with her family name. 

She felt a strong squeeze on her arm from Irene which returned her to reality. Bringing a hand up to cup Wendy’s face, Irene touched her nose against Wendy’s and spoke reassuringly.

“I am thankful for what had happened. It was because of that incident that we are together. I do not want you to have any regrets any longer and we should move on from it.”  

Wendy screwed to a side and scowled. “Okay, I will try.”

“I know that look. You still have some reservations,” Irene said in a disapproving tone.

“Well… maybe…” Wendy replied uncertainly.

Before Irene could utter another word, Wendy had connected her lips firmly with Irene’s. Irene who was already used to Wendy’s sudden need for intimateness had softened immediately and given in fully as Wendy nipped at her lips gently. After their display of affection, Wendy pulled back with a slanted smile on her face.  

“Maybe I don’t want to be forgiven so easily. I want to continue making amends to you,” Wendy said cheekily.

“You are so sickening,” Irene slapped Wendy’s chest as she said despite obviously liking her gesture a lot.

“But you like it.”

Wendy took the huff from Irene as acknowledgement.

“On a more serious note, Irene, I want you to be more careful than ever. Look, this group was forced to disband because of something minor which got blown up into a huge scandal and this actress here had decided to quit the acting industry altogether after her bad behaviour when she was a highschool student was exposed. The media and public is becoming more unforgiving.” 

“And I totally fit the pool of artistes vulnerable to be targeted right? I act like a diva on set and am difficult to please.”  

Snorting a laughter, Wendy pulled Irene close to her. “You deserve to act like one, because you are one. No one can handle the press repeated questions about your gender preference as well as you do. You are the sassiest.”

“Of course, how could I not keep up with my partner’s sass?” Irene japed as she caressed Wendy’s face. 

Wendy shook her head in defeat and changed the topic when she noticed the time.

“Come on, let me tuck you in,”

Irene shook her head. “I don’t want to be tucked in so early. You are flying to Frankfurt tomorrow for that darned seminar of yours.”

Wendy chuckled. “Well… you can take it up to my father. He put me up for this seminar about media regulations.”

“All the way in Frankfurt… Why… Father Son…” Irene whined.

“Maybe he thinks that I will be able to learn a thing or two and take over his role.”

Irene’s brows shot up quizzically. “Really? Are you going to be taking over the conglomerate? Already?”

“Of course not, I was joking.” Wendy Irene’s hair lovingly as she said.

Irene blew out a breath. “Scared me for a second there. I cannot imagine having a CEO as a partner.”

Another chuckle broke from Wendy’s lips. “Seriously. You do not have to worry about that yet. I have an elder sister and a couple of older cousins in line for succession. They should be considered for the role of leading the company before me.”

Irene blew out a breath and her shoulders sagged slightly.

“Then I am relieved. I cannot imagine more attention being drawn to us now.”

Sniggering, Wendy pinched her partner’s nose. “You should know that you are the cause of that attention. Anyway, come on, if you don’t feel like sleeping then let’s practice that script of yours for your interview tomorrow.”

“Oh right… I nearly forgot about that.”

Wendy furrowed her brows and tutted disapprovingly. “And I bet you don’t know what movie this is for nor who the director is as well right?”

Irene shook her head and giggled like a naughty child who was caught stealing cookies from a jar.

After the two of them spent some time analysing the script for the characters, Irene found herself more intrigued than expected. It was about a female celebrity who rose to stardom after experiencing several hardships along the way and caused her personality to change from being kind to conniving. After the character’s rise to popularity, she had several crossings with her best friend who had also entered the entertainment circle with her and became a popular female celebrity. Jealous of how her friend had seem to have had a smooth sailing life in the industry, this female character vied aggressively with her best friend, sometimes resorting to extreme means and ultimately ended up betraying her friend’s trust. 

“This script is about perspectives. Even though this character is portrayed as an antagonist to others but from her perspective, she was actually being true to herself and fighting for what is rightfully hers even though her methods could be borderline ruthless,” Irene said.

Wendy nodded, “not an easy character to act out. This is an easily misunderstood character and given how she had drawn from her past experience from being unfairly treated by the people around her… I would think that the transition between her emotional states and the change of her personality would be the most difficult.”

Irene sighed and nodded her head in agreement as she flipped her script back and forth. “I hope the public will not hate me after this. I wonder if this character is the female lead or…”

Wendy smiled and pinched Irene’s cheeks lightly. “Silly… don’t think too much about it and just give it a go. I would say this character has a wonderful character development.”

Pouting, Irene acquiesced and the two of them got to work till late into the night.

**

Irene could not keep the yawn away in the limousine. Riding along in the same car was her manager who had a look of disapproval on her face.

Yeri, who used to manage Irene’s activities when she was an intern had become her full-time manager now and her prowess at fussing about the artiste she manages had gone up several notches.

“Irene, you have dark pouches under your eyes and your face look slightly puffy. Did Wendy keep you up all night?”

Irene sighed. “Well, nearly. She does something different every night, it is hard to keep up.” Irene spoke unabashedly and Yeri squealed.

“Oh my god, I regret asking. Please do not go into details of what you have done. Irene, I just turned twenty-one.”

Grinning despite her sleepiness, Irene decided to stop teasing the younger girl.

“Why do you regret? We spent the entire night practicing some lines and before that we were debating about both writers’ and artiste’s rights and responsibilities. Tell me if it isn’t something different to talk about.” Irene supplemented cheekily.

Releasing a sigh of relief, Yeri had her lips pressed into a thin line before she went through the details of Irene’s schedule for the day.

“You have a photoshoot with Chanel and another with Hyundai. The Hyundai one is a reshoot, they want you to shoot with a red sedan instead of the blue one. It was a change on Hyundai’s marketing team’s end and they will compensate you for this additional shoot.”

“Thank you, I was about to ask that part about compensation.”

Yeri gave a smug grin. Of course, she would have gotten all these details covered and presented to her artiste she was managing. It was not pure luck that Yeri got to become the manager of one of South Korea’s most popular idol, it was a lot of hard work and of course, Irene had appreciated her well enough.  

“Then… you have an audition for a role in the movie”

“Which movie was it? Was it the one I was practising lines for yesterday?”

“’Drawn to You’ the one by Director Cho In Young. The character has a rather interesting background and character development.”

“Oh I see… yes, that was the one I was practising with Wendy yesterday. Have other cast members been confirmed for that movie?”

“No, not yet. They are holding auditions for your role as well as the role for other characters on the same day.”

“Director Cho… her movies are notoriously hard to get. Yeri, remind me how did I end up with an interview for this role. Was there any recommendation or did the company decide to blindly push me for it.”

Yeri tutted. “See, you really have been spending too much time up at night with Wendy and is becoming forgetful. I reminded you multiple times that Director Cho had wanted a fresh face in the movies’ industry so the company thought it might be good to send you for it. You have gotten a few roles on small screen but only one or two cameo appearances on the big screen.” 

“Ah right… that does sound familiar. I am sorry Yeri but thank you for being such an amazing manager. I won’t forget this time round.”

“Of course, you can’t! The interview is later. Have you memorised all the lines? And also the template answers for the interview?”

Irene smiled sheepishly. “Well… I am confident about the lines… but as for the template… you know I hate those… let me just answer honestly on the spot.”

Yeri exhaled aloud. “Whatever the diva says… okay… that pretty much sums up your day…”

Irene gave another triumphant grin as she reclined into the limo’s leather seat. Her day seemed pretty short and she did not care too much about getting the r