"Is Lisa okay? she looks awfully pale."
At Jisoo's comment, Jennie glanced worriedly at her author. Lisa was awfully pale. She'd thought so in her room, but she seemed even more so under the lights here in the large reception area of the welcome brunch. She should have insisted that she bite her.
She had tried, of course. She'd told her to just do it, but Taehyung had been knocking insistently on the door, and Lisa had refused. she'd feared she might be faint afterward, and she didn't want her trying to get ready, suffering a dizzy spell and perhaps falling. Besides, there wasn't time, she'd said. she'd do it later.
Now, as she took in the pallor of her skin, she could have kicked herself for not being more insistent.
"Jennie?"
She turned and forced a smile for her boss. "She's a little jet-lagged. She'll be okay."
Jisoo accepted the lie and turned her attention back to her meal, leaving Jennie to fret over Lisa. She was going to make her bite her first thing upon leaving the brunch; they could run upstairs for a quickie before going to the reader hospitality suite. And then she'd have to find a way to get her a real supply of blood. She'd considered the matter, and even if they were able to get hold of Jeongyeon today, she was sure it would be tomorrow before she could arrange another shipment to be delivered.
Jennie frowned as she realized that Jeongyeon could be calling right this minute, and there was no one in their room to answer the call. And there wouldn't be all day. Or tonight either if they attended the cover model reunion. Perhaps they could skip that. Lisa wasn't really needed there. The fans would all be interested in the male cover models and might not notice her absence. Jisoo and Jimin would, however. No, Jisoo wouldn't. Jimin would. Jennie frowned down at her plate. As far as he was concerned, the company had paid for Lisa to be there and he would want his money's worth.
"Does she speak?"
Jennie glanced sharply up at Jimin's acidic question. She had made sure that Taehyung was on one side of Lisa and she on the other. Jisoo was directly on her right, and Jimin was next to Allison, but the publisher was leaning in front of the editorial director,his chin practically resting on his chest as he spoke. Jisoo was seething, and Jennie couldn't blame her. Jimin was something of a pig, hitting on all the women in the office and trying to look down their tops. He wasn't well liked by the staff, and they could hardly wait for him to be replaced. As a rule, presidents at YG were changed almost yearly. Jennie just hoped Jimin wasn't the exception. No one at YG had been happy when he had arrived to replace Jin. Their last president had been an exceptional man who had moved to publishing from radio and television, bringing all of that savvy with him. He had done wonderful things for YG. No one had been surprised when he had been snapped up by a bigger company. Jimin was a poor replacement.
Her gaze drifted past her sneering face to Park Ji hyo, the writer who sat beside her. Ji hyo was throwing curious glances at Lisa. Jennie wasn't surprised. Aside from her being an attractive woman, Lisa was receiving an unusual amount of VIP treatment. The editors and personnel of YG were supposed to be spread out among a couple of tables so that all their writers felt included. But Taehyung and Jennie weren't going to leave Lisa's side all week, and Jisoo and Jimin had wanted to meet the mysterious Ms. Manoban, so they were all grouped around her.
"I said, does she speak?"
Jennie's gaze shifted back to Jimin. He was one of the few men whose features reflected his unpleasant nature. He had a pockmarked, florid face, a drooping gray mustache and a bespeckled, balding head.
Jennie considered the question. Unfortunately, Lisa was rather taciturn at the best of times. At the moment, she was silent as stone. She opened her mouth to offer an excuse for her silence, then just as promptly changed her mind. They had wanted her here; she had got her. Perhaps if they weren't happy with her performance, they wouldn't make her pester her in the future. She merely shrugged and said, "Not much."
