An August Wedding

Ch. 28 - Moving Forward

Finally, Taehyung sat down next to him with a magazine he'd picked up. He flipped through a couple of pages, stopping on one of a model posing with some sort of foaming cleanser. Yoongi leaned over to him.

"Hey, aren't you hot in here?"

"I'm fine." He glanced side-long at his friend. "Nervous?"

"I am not--"

"It's okay. I get nervous before my modeling shoots. But all you have to do is go in there and show Lee that you have what it takes. He already likes your music, right? Shouldn't be too hard for you," he added with a boxy grin.

"Thanks."

"Min Yoongi?" the receptionist called. "Mr. Lee will see you now."

Yoongi took a deep breath, walking over to the door separating the producer's office. He pulled on it, stepping through quickly.

The office was nothing too special. A large computer desk and a couple of bookshelves lined the back wall. Closer to the door were two couches facing each other and a small circular table. Some framed album covers lined the side walls along with a plant or two. It wasn't what he had expected from this kind of office.

And the man behind the desk was the same way. He was tall and slim, with broad shoulders. His dark five o'clock shadow and long hair gave the illusion that he was older, but looking at his face he couldn't be more than his mid-thirties. Someone this young was in charge of his own producing company?

Yoongi cleared his throat. "Mr. Lee?"

"Min, nice to see you. Come sit over here with me."

As he spoke, he gestured to the couches. Lee sat on the one closest to his desk. Yoongi followed suit, sitting on the opposite one. He expected him to shake hands, but instead, he leaned back and gave Yoongi a quick once over. 

"So, what do you think?" Lee asked, spreading his arms around the office. "Pretty nice, right?"

Yoongi nodded slowly. "I guess."

"Relax, Min. I like your work or I wouldn't have invited you here. I'm prepared to offer you a contract."

"A contract?" he repeated.

"That's right. You've got songs that I want to produce. In fact, you have enough songs to make at least two mini albums. Or maybe even a full length and then some."

Yoongi hesitated. "Wait, but you rejected the ones I sent. You said that they had to be fixed. I've only had time to adjust a few of them so far--"

"Don't worry about it. Those songs are perfectly fine."

"W-what?"

"They're fine," Lee repeated, leaning forward over the table. "See, you aren't going to make it in this industry if you get downhearted at every rejection. It's how I weed out my prospective partners. I rejected you, and you started fixing them right away. That's the spirit I'm looking for, not to mention how many you've already written."

Yoongi frowned. The quality didn't matter to him? As long as he had spirit, that was enough to make it?

Lee stood up and walked over to his desk. "Let's see, ah! I have a draft here if you'd like to go ahead and sign it." 

He slid the piece of paper across the table along with a pen. Yoongi didn't move.

"What's wrong, Min? You have a lot of songs waiting to be produced, don't you? If you sign the contract, your dreams become reality."

Yoongi picked up the contract. Scanned it briefly.

Then he looked at the producer.

"If you'd actually listened to my songs, you'd know this isn't my dream."