Taemin raised his eyebrows at her change of tone out of the blue but followed after her quietly. Like he had a choice, anyways; he'd like to keep on her good side for the sake of his job like anybody would. Partly for Minho, as well. He was scared that if he did one wrong thing with, or to Mrs. Choi, she would become the evil mother in dramas and cut off any connections between them. How could his life get any worse than that? Which is why he is definitely planning being on his best behavior now, even around Minho. 

Feeling just a bit nervous, Taemin's steps were light and inaudible as he started up the stairs behind Mrs. Choi. When they got to the top level, she lead him down the left hall where they caught Jinki on his way back from Minho's old room. He had sidestepped to let them go by first and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you. You may now join the others." She said with a smile and continued on. As they continued walking, Taemin craned his neck around to find the head butler already staring at him with a quizzed look.

Falling a bit behind, the young worker trotted up to Mrs. Choi's heels as they came to a stop at a door at the end of the hallway. Using the sleeve of her coat to wipe the doorknob, he looked back at Taemin and said, "Sorry, I haven't been in here since I left for my business trip about eight months ago. I instruct people not to go in here unless told otherwise, so I'm afraid it could be a bit dusty in here." she warned.

"That's okay, I don't mind a bit of dust." Taemin replied as he watched the woman twist the doorknob and push open the door with a sigh. 

Walking in, the butler first realized that this room was almost the exact set up as Minho's across the corridor. It was furnished with the same colors and furniture but without any beds, dressers, or anything else of personal use which indicated it was a bed room. In the middle of the room two leather couches faced each other with a coffee table separating them. In the very back of the room there was a desk with a computer and a large roller chair on the opposite side hinting to Taemin that she didn't use this room for sleeping, but for her business.

"This is my office. This is where I spend most of my time when I'm not away on a trip. It used to be my eldest son's room before he went to study abroad in America." Mrs. Choi confirmed the man's hunch as she shut the door once they both entered. "Please, take a seat where ever you like." She invited.

With that, Taemin gave a run through of the room and considered the different areas with tempting, plush cushioned chairs. Near the fireplace seemed a bit too casual and sensual which he knew would make him uncomfortable. One corner of the room near some bookcases looked like a possible spot until Taemin realized there was only a single chair. It wasn't Christmas yet, and Taemin wouldn't like to sit on the lap of an aging woman.

The best bet was taking the two couches in the dead center. With his mind made up, he started towards the seats. He rounded the side of the coffee table between the sofas and planted his bottom on the top of the middle cushion. Adjusting his position, Taemin sat on the edge of the pillow and straightened his back in respect for the woman. As he did so, a storm of the soft fibers from under him furiously swarmed through the air surrounding Taemin.
"Ah, I'm sorry." The both of them said in unison and chuckling once the noticed that they said the same thing.

"No need to be sorry, Taemin. It was my fault for not letting anybody come in to air out those things," She assured the younger, "you just can't trust many people lately. I don't have the time to have somebody come and put a lock on this door, so I put all of my trust in the employees not to come in." She then went on to explain while sitting directly across from Taemin with one leg crossed over the other. "Would you like a drink? We could be talking for a while, depending on which way this goes."

Taemin was about to turn down her offer, when he just now noticed how hard its been for him to reply to the mistress, and why he's been mostly quiet. Trying to gather as much moisture as he could from his parched mouth, he gulped it down and agreed.

"Water, tea, or coffee? Any snacks?" Mrs. Choi asked as she leaned in front of her to grab the walkie-talkie sitting on the table top. 

"Water is fine, thank you." The worker placed his order, and waited as Mrs. Choi pressed a button on the side of the device and said, "Yoona? Can you please bring up a kettle of tea and a glass of water?" 

Randomly, Taemin's stomach grumbled out loud, causing the male to blush and the female to giggle.

"Tiny finger sandwiches, too, while you're at it." She smiled into the receiver. The response was a short "yes" followed by static streaming out of the speakers. Twisting the dial on top into the 'off' position, she set the apparatus to her side as she propped herself up on the backing of the sofa. "I'll wait to start talking when our snacks get here; seems like you haven't eaten yet. Did you not eat lunch?"

"A-Ah-" Taemin's brain originally was going to make him tell her that he actually woke up at lunch before he remembered that their 'other' schedule was a secret. Before starting up again, the worker coughed harshly, "I skipped out because I had to- uh- wasn't finished cleaning one of the bathroom's." He lied and nervously tapped his knee with his fingers.

"Oh, I see. Next time, just put it off. I won't kill you if you don't complete a chore in time. I don't want you to go hungry!" She informed for future reference. 

Taemin only nodded with a toothless smile and then began to look down at his dancing fingers as they waited in silence for the maid to come up with their beverages and sandwiches. This, the older woman noticed what a nervous wreck the boy was looking like right now from his awkward sitting posture to his nonstop finger action.

"Taemin," Mrs. Choi finally spoke, gaining Taemin's attention with the tilt of his head, "please, relax. You don't have to be nervous and use fancy etiquette around me. I'm a pretty laidback person and would rather befriend you, than be just a boss." She smiled.

"Oh, thank you. I apologize for looking uncomfortable." The worker then scooted back and let his body rest from the cramped, imaginary box that he had mindlessly put himself in. Barely ten seconds of silence passed by when a knock was heard at the door.

"Come in," Mrs. Choi looked at the door and then back at Taemin, "this is why I always ask Yoona to do these things for me; she's always fast." She said with a grin to Yoona who was carrying a familiar silver tray in her hands. Taemin observed the maid as she balanced the tray of glasses and petite plates with ease and then walked to the small coffee table.

"Now that our things are here, let's get down to business, shall we?" Mrs. Choi scooted to the edge of her seat, ready to grab her steaming concoction coffee and cream. She watched as Yoona placed the drinks and tiny plates of sandwiches gently on the table and began to talk to Taemin, "I want to offer you a deal," making the young woman's eyes flicker to her mistress and ears perk up. "Ah, sorry to disturb you on your day off, Yoona, you may leave now."

"It's fine; I'll gladly serve you anytime." Yoona smiled, bowed, and then made her way to the door, turning back only to send Taemin a fierce scowl that Taemin ignored, yet made him wonder why he deserved that. Dirty looks never worked on him.

"Anyways    oh, please fill your stomach as I talk    you said you were going to college here, right? Where will you be going in the fall?" The aging woman wondered.

Before replying, Taemin chugged down half the glass of water that he was given and pinched a small turkey sandwich between his first two fingers. "I'll be attending Seoul University of Performing Arts to major in dance." He said and then shoved the little square, whole, into his mouth.

"Wonderful; same school as Minho-" Mrs. Choi couldn't even finish her sentence when Taemin started to choke on his sandwich. Instead of helping the poor young boy, the woman just laughed, knowing that the two of them have a thing going on between them if she read Key's body language correctly earlier.

As soon as Taemin settled down gripping his chest, Mrs. Choi continued, "I'd like for you to consider taking singing and acting as well." Taemin eyed her curiously, wondering why she kept insisting on these extra classes even when he said on the plane that he wasn't interested in anything else.

"I barely have enough money to get me through the school year with only my dance and other basic classes, so how can I afford to add more? They won't even be relevant to what I'm striving to be." Taemin brushed off the breadcrumbs that had fallen on his shirt as he stood from his chair, "I'm sorry, if this is what you wanted to talk about, then I would like to break up this conversation because I'm not interest-"

"I want to offer you a position as an entertainer in my company."

Taemin gasped and froze mid movement simultaneously with eyes as huge as the moon, "Are you," he plopped back down on the sofa with his mouth open, "being serious right now?" the young man asked in a unbelieving way.

Mrs. Choi took a tiny sip from her mug, "Do big owners, like me, joke around with things as serious as that?" She countered. After taking consideration of that question, Taemin slumped back against the smooth feeling fabrics of the couch in dead silence; his face unchanged. 

A minute passed, and the only things they heard were the loud but inaudible echo of conversations being exchanged downstairs and the occasional audible slurps of tea and milk that Mrs. Choi took. By the time that she started to see the bottom of her cup, the woman finally spoke up again.

"If you accept, I will pay for all of your extra classes plus training at our entertainment agency. If I were you, I'd take this. I guarantee triple the salary that a choreographer makes. You have the face, the singing ability, and I'm pretty sure the dancing ability since you were one chosen out of the hundreds of thousands who apply there." The woman sighed as she took her gaze away from Taemin and moved it to the floor. "You'll be very successful, I assure that."

The deal was tempting in every way. He realized now, that Mrs. Choi was actually the biggest label out in the music industry of Korea; the world actually. She owned the five member group DBSK, thirteen members of Super Junior, another five membered group named Big Bang, and soloists including his own son. Now that Taemin thought about the benefits, how did he not realize that this woman he had met on the plane was the owner of Hallyu Entertainment? I mean, he knew that Minho was under his own family's agency. He was just a bit too starstruck to notice these things he assumed.

Not only would he gain popularity and money, but he would also become something way higher than his dad achieved. It would be good enough for him to become the choreographer he had set his mind to being, but becoming a pop star would add extra fun in shoving his successful life in his father's face. No, not only that; all the people who has doubted him, bullied him, and looked down on him. It would be a definite slap in the face to and Taemin will enjoy having his turn to look down upon those who had treated him like nothing.

Maybe by signing his name on a contract into the world of Hallyu he could help people bear situations even worse than what he had to live through; To help those who have Death hanging over their head, ready to take their life with any opportunity it has. Whether it's an illness like cancer or something mental like depression Taemin feels the need to pass on the good messages of life, since he was, literally, passed that message by a pop star.

Taemin hadn't noticed that Mrs. Choi had moved from her spot until she came back with a stack of papers and a pen in hand.
"I see that you're thinking hard over this, and I'm glad that you are. If you go through with this, your life will change considerably and will never be the same again which may also be the downside of this deal. If you're happy living as a bystander and have a phobia of the limelight, this job will be the death of you. Make sure you can handle everything from rumors, to interviews, to dramas, because in this industry, nobody will rest until they shake and break you."

A serious tone hardening her once jovial voice as she set the packets of paperwork right in front of the thoughtful man. Both Taemin and Mrs. Choi were on the edge of their seats hunched over. As if giving the butler a few more seconds to think it over, the woman slowly extended her arm, pen squished between her thumb and index finger, and said,

"Taemin, the choice is yours."

~~~~~

"Yah! What's the big deal?! I came to visit Taemin, not you guys!" Jongin struggled as he tried to get through to the door which was blocked by Minho, Kibum, and Jinki all at the same time.

"Sh!" Key hissed, "Be quiet, Minho's mother is back and she doesn't allow visitors of her employees. You need to pretend not to know Taemin and be Minho's friend instead." The older pressed his hand over Jongin's mouth, succeeding in muffling his voice until he swiped Kibum's whole arm away from him.

"But I don't want to be Minho's friend!" Jongin whined with a pouty face and attempted to push the men to the side by leaning his entire body against Minho and Kibum.

"Look, nobody wants to be his friend, but you have to understand-"

"Yah!"

Jinki glanced over at the back of Jongin's head, sighed, and then left his post to try to talk some sense into the teen. Grabbing the younger boy by his shoulders and pulling him up into a standing position, Jinki cupped Jongin's face between his hands and said, "Kai, please hang out with us; just for a little while? We need you to stay until Taemin comes in here to pick you up and you out. Will you do that, for me?"
Kibum and Minho giggled as they watched the youngest's face fade into a light coral color.

"I-I-" He stuttered as Onew pressed his forehead against his own, "O-Okay." He finally agreed. Jinki sent the teen a gentle smile and walked him over to one of Minho's couches.

"Now that's out of the way~" Kibum raised his arms above his head and stretched as far up as he could, releasing a sigh of relief after. "So about what happened last night with Taemin," He started.

"Wait, what happened?! Taemin didn't tell me any specifics!" Jongin popped up from his seat just as Jinki got him to sit down. "Did you guys do anything? If you did, I'm going to kill you, Minho." He threatened with a fist waving around in the air between them.

"Nothing happened." Minho said solemnly as he took a seat on the couch across from the raging younger boy.

"He ended up on top of Taemin, trying to kiss him~" The manager danced around the area next to Minho while trying to avoid the idol's punches of fury.

"I fell on top of him, okay! It wasn't intentional, and," Minho paused and turned away from the group, blushing, "I was just in the mood. I can't even go out to find a girl since you won't let me out of this prison." He said in attempt to excuse himself from his actual intentions.

"The mood? So you were ready to Taemin on the floor of the dance studio?!" Kibum shouted and then bursted out laughed clapping his hands like a seal.

"No, no! That's not it!" Minho held up both hands in front of him, trying to deny the lie that he had bestowed upon himself.

"Just give it up. We    literally the whole staff    already know that you have feelings for each other. If you wanted to hide it, you should have used your acting skills." Jinki said as he wrapped an arm around Jongin and pulling him down to sit with him on the couch. Minho bolted up from his seat and walked around his room blindly, while rubbing his face and releasing angry animal-sounding noises.

"Even I know about it, Minho. Taemin calls me for advice about you. You shouldn't hide this anymore; you know he has feelings for you too, right?" Jongin said, snuggling into Onew's chest and receiving a short glare from Kibum. Kibum was mad that Jonghyun wasn't there at the moment.

The idol stopped I'm his tracks, remembering the time he rummaged through Taemin's personal life and learning way more than he needed to. "Yeah, kind of." He said guiltily. "Truth is, I was about to kiss him because I thought it was a good moment to let him know how I felt. But no, Dumbhyun and his ownrer needed to come barging in."

"Shut the hell up! And don't call Jonghyun, Dumbhyun; that's my nickname for him."

Minho mocked Kibum in a high pitch tone and a received a pillow to his face when Jongin began to speak again, "I still can't believe you were about to Taemin in a place like that. A least find a bed. How classy of you, Minho."

"I said that I wasn't going to have with him!" Minho raised his voice just a little bit, but not high enough for anybody outside to hear. "What do you even know about these kinds of things; go back to playing with Barbies or something."

Not offended one bit, Jongin scoffed at Minho's ignorance, "If you want to tell Taemin that you have feelings for him, do it soon. Let me teach you my ways, young grasshopper." The four men huddled together and hovered over the coffee table between the two couches, listening to Jongin's tips and tricks.

A/N: Ohohohohoho~ Did Taemin sign to Hallyu Entertainment? (Very creative name I made up, yes? ><;;) What kind of tricks is Jongin giving to Minho? Will he actually use them? Waahhh, I got some good sleep over this weekend! I stick to a better sleeping schedule, so my writing schedule might have to change. I'm still unsure about it though! I'll be starting after school curicular activites which might take up my time. Maybe.... I will write a whole chapter over the period of two days? Maybe. Until next chapter!
      Annyeonhigaseyo!~ Queen S