𝗙 𝗔 𝗟 𝗟 𝗜 𝗡 𝗚 （ｔｏｇｅｔｈｅｒ）

12. 𝙝𝙪𝙜

"Hey, kid." Said a voice, which I certainly didn't recognize.

I looked up, only to see an old man with more wrinkles than I could count, and balding head to match. I was sure I hadn't met him before, but he looked awfully professional, with one hand tucked into his suit pant pocket, a warm cup of, presumably coffee, in the other. On top of that, he seemed to carry himself with such pride and prudence. Maybe he was one of the producers? I thought.

"Oh, uh," I began, trying to hide how startled I was.

He shook his right hand out of his pocket, offering it towards me to shake. It felt odd having to look up at him from where I was sitting, and it'd be even weirder if I tried to shake his hand from that position. So, I quickly planted my phone in my pocket, rose up to his level, and gladly shook his hand.

"Furui Kimiwarui, I was the casting director for this project." The man proudly introduced himself. I could practically smell the suggestiveness and edge in his tone, and assuming he was about sixty, I was now beyond uncomfortable.

"I... I'm Y/N Sosore, set designer." I started to shift on my feet, try to stay professional, but not wanting him to try anything.

"Right. How would you like to go to lunch with me? I'll be paying, it'll be-" he placed a hand atop my shoulder, using his thumb to nastily caress it."-fun."

"O-oh, no thank you I'm-" I tried to reason, while making poor attempts at shrugging his nasty hand off of me.

The old man made a fake sad face, now trying his best to make me cave, which wasn't going to happen anytime soon. "Oh come on, no need to be shy sweetheart~" He clearly wasn't going to take no for an answer.

I finally grabbed his hand with mine, forcibly removing it from my shoulder. "No I'd really rather not." I finally demanded. I could see a flash of anger in his eyes, but I knew he was just another old pervert, all bark and no bite.

"I didn't want it to have to come to this but fine," he sighed, fully retracting his hand at last. "I've got a lot of power around here you know, it'd be a shame if this company were to never hire you again..."

Was that supposed to be a threat?

What a joke. The old geezer reached out his hand again, this time going to grab a strand of my hair and twirl it around his gross finger. 'That's it.' I thought.

" I said," I began to raise my voice, harshly swatting his hand away, loud enough to make a 'pop.' "No."

I could feel the attention of everyone left in the room fall onto us, but he clearly didn't get the memo, his face now contorting as if to prepare to yell. "Now you listen here-"

"Woooooah okay, that's enough out of you." My lord and savior, the previously missing man himself, Kongan, had arrived. He grabbed the old man by the shoulder, whipping him around to face him, then giving him a smile that could kill. "I think it's best if you go home for the day, Kimiwarui." He suggestive, though everyone knew it was an order.

The grandpa had met his match, after all, Kongan was put in charge of overseeing this project, so I could only imagine that what he says, goes. The man looked back at me, shooting me one last death glare before reluctantly charging out of the room. I was finally able to breathe, the tension clouding the air disappearing.

"Thank you..." I muttered to Kongan, though my eyes were fixed on the floor in an attempt to slow my breathing.

I looked up, eyes dodging around the room, hoping to gauge who all had seen the interaction, or, who to avoid. It looked to just be some random crew members, but my eyes spotted a familiar crowd of vermillion on the back wall. Hawks.