Call Me Noona

Chapter 56 - Cake (Mature)

I sat back and watched them. I loved watching them. They were as entertaining off camera as they were in front of it, if not more so because they were relaxed. They truly were family, and I was honored to be a part of it. I noticed that night that they were a little more gentle with me than usual. I think they were afraid I might have a breakdown. When they arrived, each gave me a longer hug than usual, but no one said anything. If they had, I probably would have had a meltdown. I could see it in their faces though, and their thoughtfulness warmed my heart.

After we finished eating, they went back to work, and I proceeded to clean up. They offered to help, but it really wasn't that much. There were no leftovers, so it was just throwing away the trash and wiping everything down.

After I was finished, I sat on the couch behind Minhyuk and opened my laptop. I sat cross-legged and he leaned his head back into the V where they crossed. He turned his head sideways and kissed my shin then turned back to his work.

I started looking through my latest batch of photos, choosing the ones I wanted to edit and get printed. I needed something fresh in the galleries. I was only partially listening to their conversation, but I heard them discussing the stacks of applications. Honey picked up the stack closest to him and said they were the best candidates. They were fresh talent, unsigned and unmolded.

He picked up the one between Minhyuk and him and said these were the idols already debuted, had talent, and might be a good fit. These applicants were soon to renew their contracts, or they had already left and were free agents. Some of these idols had a bit of recognition already. Which should be a good thing for a new company. He mentioned one Korean American rapper who had been a trainee but left the company to go home to the US when his mother had gotten sick. He wanted to get with him soon.

Min held the final stack over his head and declared it the trash pile. He slapped it down on the table and said they were either undesirable for whatever reason or had contracts that would be hard to get out of. 'Undesirable' was not the kind of artist they wanted in their company.

I got up and grabbed a box of mango Melona bars from the freezer and passed them around. The photo attached to the top page in the trash pile caught my eye as I walked past. I stopped and tapped it with my finger.

"This girl looks very familiar," I said, picking it up for closer examination.

"That is Aria from Firefly. Remember her from that day you came by the set? She was one of the first applicants. We rejected her weeks ago. She is not talented. And she is a huge troublemaker, as you know."

"Yes, I remember her, and you rejected her then too. But no, that is not it. She looks like a regular person here." I contemplated the photo for a moment, "I have seen her somewhere before, looking like this." I shook the page and then handed it back to Minhyuk. "It will come to me eventually." I returned the unopened pops to the freezer and refilled my water.

As I was headed back to the couch, I spotted a note Min had written a couple of days ago during his investigation of Ms. Choi, which wasn't really going too well. At first, I felt sadness, then anger. I cursed at her under my breath as I walked. Three steps later I stopped in my tracks and gasped loud enough that all seven men turned to see what was wrong. The answer hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Ms. Choi!" I exclaimed loudly. "That girl is in the photos in Ms. Choi's office!"

It took a couple of seconds, but I saw the expression on Min's face change from questioning to shock. "You are right! She was the girl!"

"Aria is Ms. Choi's daughter!" we shouted together. Min jumped up from the floor and bounced over to me.

"See? I told you something was off. We rejected Aria, and I rejected her too... with you there. This had to be revenge."