I'd like to aplogize in advance for the shortness, but I didn't want to add anything more to or take anything away from this chapter, so I kept it as is. The other chapters should not be this short.

~Chapter TWENTY~

“Nervous Andrea is nervous.”

“Annoying Murphy is ing annoying.”

“No dude, that’s not how it goes.”

“Not giving a Brandon doesn’t give a .”

Murphy clapped Brandon on the back. “That’s more like it! Sort of...”

“Guys. Come on,” Andrea hissed across the table to the two boys. Usually, she didn’t mind putting up with their antics, but right now, Andrea didn’t want anything to go wrong. She had planned everything; from what she was going to say to what her crew were wearing. Though the boys fought the dress clothes at first, they succumbed when Andrea told them that if they didn’t wear what she bought them they could go home. And, as Murphy put it, that was a long way to go just because they didn’t want to wear a pair of pants not made of denim.

“We’ll behave once the meeting starts,” Murphy told Andrea, trying to soothe her, mostly to keep her from letting her nerves get the best of her. “I promise.”

“Seriously?” Andrea arched an eyebrow, something she had only recently learned from Ryan. Ryan had told her that if she could raise only one eyebrow, people would fall in line quicker than she could imagine. So far, Ryan had been right. Her crew could be rowdy, but the second Andrea’s eyebrow went up, they calmed down and focused.

“Promise,” Murphy said, reaching his hand across the conference table towards Andrea, offering his pinky. When Andrea just looked at his hand, Murphy chuckled and said, “It’s a pinky promise.”

Andrea scoffed playfully. “I know what it is. Aren’t we a little old to be making pinky promises to each other, though?”

Murphy shrugged. “I saw people our age doing it on TV here, so, isn’t it one of those ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’ things?”

“But we’re in—”

“Yes, I’m well aware that we are, in fact, in Korea, not Rome!” Murphy cried before Brandon could get the entire sentence out. “It’s just a saying!”

“How do you know those Koreans on TV weren’t promising their lives to each other?” Tony chimed in.

“What does that even mean?” Bre asked, breaking away from her conversation with Lizzy to question Tony.

“You know,” Tony started. “they promise themselves to each—”

“My goodness, you guys!” Murphy cried, looking around at everyone. “Shut up! I was trying to actually talk to Dre!”

Andrea chuckled again and leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest. “Frustrating, isn’t it?” she asked Murphy, who stuck his tongue out at her.

“It’s just a pinky promise,” Murphy sighed, calming himself now that everyone had quieted, extending his pinky towards Andrea again.

Andrea sighed, but took his pinky with hers. “We promise, that when the meeting actually starts, we’ll be the most well-behaved batch of children that you’ve ever seen.”

“Fine,” Andrea consented.

Murphy grinned and let her pinky go, prepared to turn back to Brandon and start some kind of running joke. But just before Murphy spoke, the door to the conference room opened and a series of people walked in. A couple they could recognize; they were international lawyers that would help the Americans negotiate the terms of their winnings from the dance competition. The rest were strangers.

The entire crew stood and bowed, well-versed in how to handle themselves in this situation. Murphy shot Andrea a look; as though she knew that the meeting would start right after they had made their promise. Andrea, already grinning, giggled quietly. She hadn’t planned it, but it was really convenient for her that it had happened, and she hoped that this was a good sign for the coming hours.

The last person that walked into the room, before he got to his seat, went around the room, shaking everyone’s hands.

He got to Andrea last; introducing himself as he shook her hand. “Good to meet you Andrea. I’m Jin Young Park, and welcome to JYP Entertainment.”

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