Mark

We have a meeting today. A second meeting to finalize everything and make a few more compromises. At nine sharp we hear a knock on the door. Thanks to the blue file I now know everything I need to know about Jackson Wang. Everything that isn’t personal. But yet I know  nothing about Song Mino. I did some research on him. Mostly things about him leaving to China multiple times. “For private business”. And nobody finds it suspicious that he came back to Korea with Jackson at all.
“Good morning!” Mino says as he strolls into the room. He seems upbeat and happy. The total opposite of Jackson. He was happy yesterday but then again that was before the contract was forced on him.
“Morning Mino. Morning Jackson,” Jaebum says. He moves to the sofa sitting area with a large stack of paper work. “And Mark make sure to take notes,” he tells me. I roll my eyes and grab my notepad.
“Okay so I’m assuming Jackson and you talked it over last night and made a decision on how things will work out from now on,” Jaebum says.
“We have,” Mino says.
“Perfect. This is Jackson’s stack and this Mark’s, and here’s mine,” Jaebum says. Jackson’s stack consists of probably fifty sheets of paper. Mine thirty and Jaebum’s only four. “But before we sign we must come to terms with things.”
“How do you guys like the apartment?” I ask them.
“Oh it’s perfect. Thanks so much for picking it out,” Mino says.
“Oh that’s all Bambam. He’s a real gem.”
“Bambam?” Jackson asks and snickers. There’s a pause.
“That view though,” Jaebum says pointing his pen at Mino.
“Ah it’s beautiful. I love it,” Mino replies.
“It could be bigger,” Jackson says.
“The view?” Jaebum asks.
“No. The apartment,” Jackson says. I look at him a bit confused. It’s a pretty big place. Bigger than my house and that’s an apartment. Mino laughs and pats Jackson on the back.
“He’s just kidding. He loves it, really. He wouldn’t stop staring at the tv. The curved flat screen nice touch,” Mino says. I turn to look at Jaebum giving him wide eyes. How much money did he put on this place? He gives me a look that says ‘it will all pay off soon’. I shuffle in my seat. It better.
“So you’ve read the contract. Anything you’d like to add or take away?” Jaebum asks.
“The ten years,” Jackson mutters.
“Uh sorry that’s the standard here. You could go for the deluxe version that’s twenty plus years,” Jaebum says with a fake smile. Jackson sinks deeper into his chair.
“The only thing I’d like to discuss is Jackson’s hours,” Mino says.
“Ah that,” Jaebum says. He shifts his glasses and picks up sheets of paper. “You see that differs depending on the scripts he chooses. His hours aren’t on us but on the director.” Mino nods.
“Then I hope we don’t pick anything too late or too early. And I’d like Jackson to attend all of my important concerts like the first and last for each album once I get started,” Mino says.
“Um okay. We can make that work. Can’t we Mark?” Jaebum asks. I write this down. By that he means I have to make it work.
“Of course,” I tell him mustering up a smile.
“Anything else?” Jaebum asks.
“A jacuzzi,” Jackson says.
“Ah we’ll discuss that after you finish your first drama okay?” Jaebum says. He’s wearing one of his fake smiles. He obviously doesn’t like working with Jackson and Jackson’s the same way. Mino seems to ignore all of this. I start to wonder how exactly does Jackson’s acting career will benefit him in anyway.
“Since his hours are unknown I guess we can’t into that. Should we continue into genres and such?” Mino asks.
“Yes of course,” JB says. He flips his packet of papers to the needed page. “Just to make sure. Everything else is okay?”
“Everything is perfect.”
“Cool Jackson if you will. You can read and sign the first twenty pages.” Instead Mino picks out the first twenty and sets it in his lap with a pen in his hand. Both JB and I stare at him.
“Um what are you doing?” I ask.
“Forging his signature. All you need is a signature right?” Mino says sending a blinding smile our way.
“Yeah that works,” JB shrugs. I give him a look. “It doesn’t. Anyway is there anything that’s on the no-no list for Jackson?” JB asks.
“Yeah, no scenes,” Jackson says.
“Come on I’m sure you have a nice body,” JB says. Jackson looks up at him.
“I do.” The side of my lip picks up.
“What he means is not completely . Anyway. He will not take part in horror for his first 8 years he can fight but never ever attempt to make him be his own stunt unless he’s fencing or dancing. Does his file say he’s good at martial arts?”
“It does,” JB nods.
“He can do that. We would also greatly appreciate it if he didn’t actually kiss the girls in the romance department. Do the acting tricks, get him a stunt double, look alike whatever. His lips will not make contact with anyone’s on camera. Understood?”
“Completely.” Jackson only slumps deeper into his seat. I write all of this down wondering why.
“May I have a look at the offers? I’m hoping for his debut to either be a comedy or an action film. Preferably a movie rather than a drama so he can get started with something less time consuming and fast. That way he can be on the streets faster and gain fans faster.”
“Smart idea,” JB says. He picks up a file from his side and hands it to Mino. Mino puts down the contracts and looks each offer over.
“Mark you can start signing all of yours except for the last two,” JB tells me. I nod and start to sign them. I keep glancing at Jackson and he stays in the same position. It looks as if the couch might swallow him up.
“This one is perfect,” Mino says. He passes that sheet over to JB.
“Ah this is a nice script and all but filming for this starts tomorrow,” JB says.
“So? We can start right away,” Mino says oblivious to what exactly that means. JB and I exchange a look.
“Um I’ll give them a call,” JB returns. Mino nods proudly. “If we do end up starting tomorrow this is how every day will go down. Mark will come with the company car every day and fill you in on the day’s agenda. He will come two hours before your first appointment of the day. Take you here where we’ll work some magic on you- make-up. And then drive you to the needed location which you should always be on time for. Are we good?” JB asks.
“Wonderful,” Mino says which is supposedly Jackson’s answer. JB looks at me and only then I realize he was asking me too.
“Yeah it’s fine,” I tell him.
“Great now we can sign the last few pages. Mino once you’re done you’re free to leave and Mark stay with me. We’ll call you promptly after we get back from the producers of the movie,” JB says. He has a big smile on his face as he shuffles his papers and then signs them all. Ten more minutes go by of just pen scratchings and paper turning. The sounds fill the air. Everyone’s busy and everyone’s eyes are focused except for Jackson’s. He’s probably sleeping by now. Mino puts all the papers down on the table and sighs.
“Well guys it was nice doing business with you all,” Mino says. He stands up and stretches. At the sound of his voice Jackson sits up and rubs his eyes.
“We can go now?” he asks. He looks around like an excited kid. It makes me happy to see him like this. Mino nods at him. And Jackson and Jaebum stand up I decide to too.
“Ah same to you,” Jaebum says. He shakes Mino’s hand. “I’ll have the copies sent to you by tomorrow morning. And Jackson welcome to the family.” He then puts his hand in front of Jackson to shake. He only puts his arms in the air and gives Jaebum a nasty look.
“Yah don’t put that thing anywhere near me,” Jackson tells him. Mino laughs. He then looks at me and winks.

JB puts the phone down and rubs his head.
“So it didn’t work,” I say for him. He looks up at me a mask over his face.
“No, it did.”
“What?! But they’re filming tomorrow! Shouldn’t they already have an actor for this?” I ask. JB nods and stares at the pen on his desk.
“The moment I said “Jackson Wang” they referred me to the director who was really happy for my call,” he says then looks at me. “That’s how life works Mark. The rich keep getting richer.”
“That’s unbelievable,” I mutter. “He still has no idea what’s in the script, he didn’t go when they reviewed it over. He didn’t attend press conference. And he got the part, just like that,” I say in disbelief. Jaebum taps the table slowly. He slides a sheet of paper towards me.
“This is his number give him a call,” he says softly.
“Who is he playing?” I ask out of curiosity. 
“Lee Jin You,” he says. My jaw drops.
“He took the lead role?” I ask. He nods at me.  This keeps getting more and more ridiculous. I head for the door.
“It’s the views Mark. Jackson Wang is really hot right now. Put him in anything and people will pay to watch.”

Mino

“Ah I really don’t want to do this,” Jackson complains. He rests his head on my lap as he hugs his pillow tightly. I play with his hair. Twirling it over and over.
“Jackson it will be fine,” I tell him.
“Everything to you will be ‘fine’,” he mutters. “‘Don’t worry Jackson this drink will be fine. The hike to the middle of nowhere will be fine. Getting lost in the dark will be fine. This relationship will be fine’. Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine!” I bend my head over his face and smile down at him.
“Isn’t our relationship fine?” I ask him. He puts the pillow in his face.
“I don’t know anymore.” The comment makes me raise an eyebrow. I pull the pillow down and look at his face.
“What do you mean?”
“Any relationship that contains a person selling the rights of the other is wrong,” he tells me. Before I can say anything Jackson’s phone rings. I reach over and answer it. Jackson doesn’t mind at all he just turns toward the television.
“Hello?” I say into the phone.
“Mino?” the person on the other end says. I can feel a small smirk place itself on my lips. The voice is familiar. Jackson’s manager.
“Yes? This is the manager correct?” I ask.
“Yeah it’s Mark by the way,” he says on the other end. “I just wanted to tell you Jackson got the part and we will start tomorrow. I’ll be there by 8 so it would be nice if he’s up and ready.”
“Excellent,” I tell him. “Thank you so much for the good news.”
“Uh yeah. Is this Jackson’s number?” Mark asks.
“It is.”
“Okay.” He sounds a bit off. I can almost feel what he’s feeling. A bit awkward and confused. “Make sure to save my number he’ll need it.”
“Of course,” I tell him. “Bye Mark.”
“Eh bye.” I hang up and save the number under Manager. I smirk even more. I think this kid just might like Jackson. I push the thought aside that’s something I can worry about another day.
“Guess what?” I tell Jackson.
“There’s nothing interesting on?” he guesses.
“No, you got the spot. We start tomorrow.” I kiss him on the cheek.
“We?”
“I’ll be with you every step of the way. Well at least the beginning process. Just like in fencing.”
“You weren’t with me in the beginning,” he mutters.
“But I was there in the end. And I’ll always be around from now on.” He flips the channel and smiles.
“Something is on,” he says. I look up and it’s a fencing competition.

Mark

I straightened my tie probably for a total of fifty times today. I’m nervous. I’ve never been a manager before I have no idea how this works. And fixing my tie is the only thing I can do to keep  from biting my lips- which is something I always do when I’m nervous. To avoid the embarrassment of bleeding lips or have lips that looked like they’ve been chewed on all morning. I fix my tie that doesn’t at all need fixing. I take the elevator up to Jackson’s room. I hope he’s ready.
I then remember the phone call. To hear Mino on the other end was. . . unnerving. Is he always around Jackson? Does he always answer Jackson’s phone? Like an assistant or like a boyfriend. I shake the thought away. That’s none of my business. My business is the work side of Jackson not his personal side. But I can’t seem to get Mino’s voice out of my head. His slow deep words. And the sound of confidence he had over the phone. All of it almost said ‘yes he is mine so back off’ in between each of his words. I’ve been trying hard not to think about it all night only to end up thinking about it since I woke up in the morning.
So what if they’re dating? It has nothing to do with me, right? I get to room 3011 and ring the bell. I ring once, twice, then three times. No answer. Is it not working? Then I knock on the door with the knocker. Three shallow knocks. Nothing. Then three really hard knocks. Five, six, seven, eight. Then I pause I wait for over three minutes then five and knock again. Then it occurs to me he isn’t awake. Are you kidding me?! I’m not saying Mino’s irresponsible or that Jackson’s some great guy who’s prompt. But I’m pretty sure if I talked on the phone with Jackson yesterday he wouldn’t be sleeping right now. I hurry down the stairs because the elevator’s a bit slow. Going down several flights isn’t very smart but I did it anyway.
“Hello my name is Mark Tuan and I’d like to get into room 3011. My client Jackson Wang is inside and he’s going to be very late for his appointment,” I tell the lady at the front desk. She looks on her computer to make sure my information is correct.
“May I see your ID?” she asks. I slip out my JYP ID because I know his room is under the company. Seeing that she should be able to know I’m telling the truth. And plus there’s the fact that my name should be under the contact list if Jaebum and Bambam knew I was going to be his manager this entire time.
“Okay. May I just ask for your boss’s name?” she asks.
“Jaebum Im,” I tell her. I refrain myself from making it sound like a question. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say his name or JYP subnim’s name. She nods her head and hands me the key card. The place actually uses regular keys but since this is an emergency I’m allowed a card that will only work once. I take the elevator back up and hurry to Jackson’s door. I swipe the card into the password slot and rush in. Nope not in the kitchen or living room. I’m half hoping he’s in the bathroom half not. But I head to the bedroom anyway. And there he is. Sprawled in bed the sheets over him. To my surprise there’s another body in the bed. Song Mino’s. I move to the window and rip the curtains open. I then take out my phone and blare my favorite song Follow Me. Who’s it by I have no idea. Mino’s the first to wake up. He sits up and the sheets slip down to reveal his very chest. Jackson on the other hand groans and shuffles around for a bit before opening his eyes. When Mino makes eye contact with me he smirks.
“My, my, manager breaking in already?” Mino asks.
“He’s late.”
“Is it 8 already?” Mino asks. He covers his mouth as he yawns. “Sorry lost track of time.” He doesn’t sound sorry at all. He sounds happy.
“What’s at 8?” Jackson says. His words slur. He’s obviously still tired.
“Remember? Your big day is today,” Mino says. His voice quiet, calm, deep, and rather happy. Jackson rolls out of bed and lands on the floor. He looks as if he did it on purpose. The first thing I notice is that his chest is also bare but to my relief he’s wearing very long pajama pants. I have no idea what to make of these two. Really close friends? Or boyfriends? Or is it complicated? Well just seeing them is complicated. Jackson stands up and walks past me.
“Do I have time for breakfast?” he asks. I look at my watch 8:20.
“You can eat at the company. You need to get ready now,” I order. Jackson nods and stalks off to the bathroom.
“Bit harsh don’t you think? At least we should sit around and have a cup of OJ,” Mino says. He has a playful look in his eyes one I don’t like at all.
“Maybe if you told him to be up and ready by 8,” I tell him. He smirks at me an evil one sided smile.
“He’s not my responsibility anymore. He’s yours,” he says. 
“Right. Anyway here’s a copy of the signed contract. And deals we made yesterday. Please read and review to make sure everything is fine so we can finalize everything completely.” He gets out of bed to reveal his fuzzy pajama pants and takes the file. He then goes over to the closet. He pulls out a shirt, suit jacket, and slacks. And he starts to put them on.
“Uh what are you doing?” I ask.
“Getting ready. Oh I’ll be joining you guys today.”
“You’re doing what?”
“Don’t get comfortable. I’m just making sure Jacks is comfy.” 
“I’ll be in the living room.” I walk out and actually get a look of the place. It’s even more breath taking than I remember. The amazing view is stunning. The floor is so shiny I can see my reflection. The glass sparkles, the space is huge, it’s literally the perfect place to live. Yet Jackson doesn’t appreciate it. I guess he is some brat. Jackson walks out of the bathroom. A towel around his waist and one drying his hair. He looks at me with a green toothbrush in his mouth.
“Are you going to hurry up anytime soon?” I ask him. He looks down at himself and walks back into the restroom and then the bedroom. He has no idea what that eight seconds of seeing him like that has done to my heart. Within eight minutes both Mino and Jackson are ready to go. We go down the elevator and hurry towards the car. I take shot gun and let the two sit in the back. I hand Jackson the script.
“Do you think you can at least memorize the first page by the time we get to the office we’re ten minutes away,” I tell him.
“Do you think I can improvise?” he asks back in a rather sarcastic tone. I frown at him.
“Who is he exactly?” Mino asks. I can already tell from the sound of his voice that he knows the answer but he’s going to ask anyway. I think he enjoys messing with me. Playing with me like I’m a mouse.
“Lee Jin,” I tell him.
“Ahh!” Mino says happily. “That’s the lead role Jack.”
“Oh yay me. More lines,” Jackson mutters. We get to the office and JB’s waiting in the lobby.
“What the heck happened? You guys are forty minutes late setting us back another forty minutes unless we speed things up!” he shouts.
“They woke up late,” I tell him. 
“What?”
“Sorry,” Mino says removing his sunglasses. “We stayed up pretty late last night watching the game.”
“What game? No never mind. Let’s go, go, go.” We lead Jackson and Mino into the stylist department where Bambam works his magic. Yeah he picked the place and does hair and make up. He’s our beauty boy. 
“We need you to hurry Bam,” JB says. Bambam nods and takes Jackson away of course Mino follows. He comes back ten minutes flat.
“It’s the best I can do.”
“Don’t they have makeup artists on set?” Mino questions.
“You see Mino. We prefer our clients to look their 100% all the time. When Jackson walks in there all eyes need to be on him.”
“They already are,” Jackson says. Then laughs at his own joke.
“Uh okay. I’ll meet you guys on set. We’ll have to skip the meeting he needs to be there in 20 minutes and it’s a 20 minute drive. And that’s excluding traffic.” We get into the car and before we reach our first stop light there’s already traffic.
“Ah early morning traffic,” Mino sighs. “Nothing better than this.” I look back to see Jackson diligently reading the script.

We finally get there and Jackson is in his element. It’s like he did a 180 because he’s a completely different person. He flashes smiles and waves at everyone. Greets everyone who looks important and he even walks with a little prep in his step. Mino looks at Jaebum’s stunned face and my very shocked look. He spreads his arms wide as he takes off his sunglasses.
“And this people is Jackson Wang,” he says almost too proudly. We follow Jackson’s trail to find him talking animately with the director. They’re laughing too. “Hey manager suprise is a very good look on you,” he tells me. I glare at him.
“Was he pretending not to like this?” Jaebum asks.
“He’s probably one of those people who do it only if he’s forced to and then makes a whole show of it,” I tell him. He nods in awe.
“Sounds about right.”
In less than an hour they’re ready to start and Jackson’s amazing. I don’t know how he did it but he was able to memorize the lines. His acting took my heart away. He actually made the jokes funnier than I thought they were just from reading them. It’s like he was born to act. Even Jaebum couldn’t keep the awe off of his face. Mino would glance over at us and smirk with an obnoxious huff every now and then. I really just want to punch him in the face.
“And cut!” the director says. Jackson walks towards us when I realize I left his bottle of water and snacks in the car I could almost kick myself for it but luckily for me Mino is here. Woo. . . He meets up with Jackson before he can get to us and hands him a bottle of water. He even starts massaging his shoulders.
“You were amazing,” Mino tells him.  
“Sweaty,” Jackson mutters. Mino realizes he doesn’t have a handkerchief. I remove mine from my pocket and hand it to Jackson. I smirk at Mino giving him an up and down look. Mark 1, Mino 100. Still have one though. Jackson accepts it but Mino wipes his face.
“Hey are you hungry Jacks?” Mino asks. He looks at me while he asks the question.
“No.” The director comes over and taps Jackson’s back with a bright smile.
“There’s our star. And I mean that literally!” he says. His voice booming through the room.
“Uh no you don’t,” I tell him. The director looks at me. “He’s not literally a star. . .  in the sky.” Jackson cackles.
“Don’t mind him. He’s simple minded,” Mino says as if I’m some child. If I didn’t know any better I would tell him to stop acting like I’m younger than him. But thanks to last night I found out he’s older than me by six months. I’m not sure if he’s aware of that but he talks to me pretty informally. I’m not sure if he knows he’s older or if he’s just being rude.
“Anyway I’m going to shoot the next part with the parents. If you like Jackson you can leave now and rest up. Because tomorrow is going to be a long day for you,” the director says. 
“Ah okay. Thank you very much,” Jackson tells him. The director gives him one more pat and waves before leaving. Jackson decided to go up to everyone and thank them for their hard work. He even bows. Jaebum’s suddenly next to me again.
“He’s like a wolf in sheep’s skin,” he tells me.
“You noticed it too?” I tell him. He then comes back to us. 
“Yah I’m exhausted! You better treat me to lunch for all of this. And he made me skip breakfast,” Jackson says pointing at me.
“Blame Mino. I told him what time to wake you and he messed that up,” I tell him. Jackson rolls his eyes at me then looks down at himself.
“I’m going to go change. Don’t forget lunch,” he says and puts up the ‘okay’ sign. He walks to the dressing rooms.
“Lunch is on you,” JB tells me.
“Uh what?” I ask. He buttons his suit jacket.
“I paid a fortune on his room. I’m not getting him anything until we get paid from this. Now it’s your turn.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I tell him. Jaebum shakes his head.
“Just do it Mark. It’s one meal. Besides you gotta spend money to make money,” he says. And then he leaves. I wait for Mino and Jackson. Does this mean I have to buy Mino lunch too? I get an email that I quickly read. It’s Jackson’s schedule for the week. I put my tablet away and continue to wait patiently for the two. Jackson comes back with a cap on and the clothes he was wearing this morning. He’s the only one dressed casually and I wonder if he knows that. We get into the company car.

Mino

“I know a good place for brunch,” Mark says from the front seat. I put my arm around the seat next to me.
“If I’m not mistaken. You’re buying us lunch today?” I ask him. There’s a pause. I know he doesn’t want to buy me lunch but I’m just going to hit all of his buttons anyway.
“Yes,” he says through clenched teeth.
“I want McDonald’s,” Jackson frowns.
“Hey you’re an actor now. Eat like one,” I cox him. 
“But I can-.”
“That’s when you were a fencer. Let’s just play it safe in case you have to take your shirt off,” I tell him. Jackson glares at me and then takes his script in his hand.
“I’ll be reading if anyone needs me,” he says. He turns to the script. I smile at him. For someone who didn’t want to do this he’s very diligent. But I’ve known that for a while about Jackson. That’s why I push him to do things now. He may not want to do things but he’ll end up enjoying them. The next ten years will be a breeze.

We get to this place Mark talked about. It’s a pretty fancy place I nod my head showing him I’m satisfied with the overall look. When we get out of the car I walk really close to him.
“You can afford this?” I ask. Only to mess with him. I know he likes Jackson and because of it I’m making it my job to put him off. He gives me a rather nasty look and walks in. We get inside and we’re greeted by cold air. Jackson sighs with happiness. It’s a type of place where you grab a tray and pick up whatever you want. Jackson’s the first to get his and Mark and I follow.  Jackson fills his tray and Mark only gets one item. So he can’t afford this well not really.
“Not hungry manager?” I ask him. He only glances at me and grabs some juice. “I recommend orange. It’s the best.”
“I don’t like orange juice,” he says making it clear that he has apple juice in his hands. I shrug.
“Your loss. Jackson loves it.”

When we get to our floor I stop dead in my tracks. Standing by the door is someone I’ve been avoiding for two weeks now. How he found me I have no idea. But he’s here now and there’s no way I can avoid him now. And he looks far from happy.
“SONG MINO!” he yells at me the moment we make eye contact.

I feel like this story is long and boring. I'm so sorry!! It wil pick up soon I promise. Just as soon as Mino leaves to be a kpop star which I think is in chapter 3.Keep reading. And thanks for reading in the first place and the comments. 

If you read A Tiny Obsession. Can you give me suggeetions? I've hit writers block with that story.