The Stylist

Chapter 5

So quick author's note, I realized that my auto-correct has been fucking with Hongjoong's name, so I wanna quickly apologize for it before someone decides to try and tear me apart for it. I WILL go back and fix it, I just want to have more content published before I do that so any future updates won't be confusing for anyone.

My next meeting with Mr.Kim was pretty uneventful. We went over more terms for my contract and all of my benefits and "bonuses". Where I would have a pretty high budget for most of the wardrobes for Ateez, I would be required to be at 20 performances throughout the next year. It was definitely gonna be a tight squeeze for what I already had going on with Stray Kids, but I was sure that I could fit it all in and not worry about missing any deadlines. I made sure to double check what I had on my schedule to make sure nothing overlapped in a way that I couldn't get done. I asked for all of the manager's phone numbers as a just in case, because I didn't have the same luxury of being related to one of the members. KQ still didn't know that I was Felix's older sister, and I wasn't bothered enough to explain it.

My schedule started with being officially introduced to the members. It was explained to me that the member that was missing from Kingdom: Legendary War, Mingi, would be present so that he wouldn't feel left out when he came back from his hiatus. The poor thing had to take a severe mental health break, and I could completely understand that.

For the next couple of days, I arranged my plans and sent them to Felix and Stray Kids' manager so that everything could be pre-approved and cause less strain on me. While in the midst of that, I messaged Ateez's back and forth to talk about what to expect from this first meeting and what would be preferable for me to bring with me.

Once everything was set in stone,I met with Ateez's manager to have him walk me to the meeting room where the eight men who I would be working with were would be in. The moment I walked in with their manager, there was momentary confusion on most of the member's faces, some of them falling into brief recognition. I gave them a small bow, just because they were all close to my age didn't mean that they didn't deserve respect.

"My name is Chloe Lee-Patterson, I'll be working with you from here on out on your stylist team, thank you for having me." I gave them a polite smile.

"Weren't you part of the staff on the Kingdom show?" A smaller man with dark blonde hair- Hongjoong if I remembered correctly- asked, eyeing me warily. I wasn't offended, these guys generally have to be wary of anyone that they see repetitively around their sets and shows in the background.

"Not quite, but that is probably where you've seen me the most." I slightly tilted my head with a sheepish smile. "I am a main stylist for Felix and Chris- I mean Bangchan- from Stray Kids. I've come up with a good majority of their looks since their God's Menu music video. JYP wanted someone who was pretty quick at coming up with concepts and fleshing them out while the guys were on the show. I also work really closely with the other's stylists so that everything can stay coordinated. Chr- I mean Bangchan says that his more open shirt wardrobes make him feel awkward," I chuckled at the memory of his lie "but I've seen him walking around in nothing but a pair of shorts and socks around their dorm-'' I grimaced at my oversharing. "Sorry, forget you heard that."

The one with half black, half blonde hair that fell just to the nape of his neck- Wooyoung I think- started laughing at me.

"Hongjoong-hyung, she's pretty funny." The one with fuchsia hair-San- nudged Hong Joong giggling, matching the energy of Wooyoung.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." I smiled before looking back over at Hong Joong. "I've heard that you and Mr.Seonghwa are very fashion-inclined, so if you don't mind, I'd like to keep you two in the loop whenever I'm working on concepts for you guys, if that's okay?"