You walked quickly through the reception of the SMent building, bowing hurriedly at any seniors that you passed. You were very jittery about this meeting with Lee Soo-man; you didn't want to get into trouble, or cause any. Maybe you were just over reacting.
You checked your watch for the hundredth time. It was finally time for the meeting. You stepped towards the office door, took a long, deep breath, and knocked three times on the door. You shifted your feet around nervously while you waited, taking a mint.
"Come in," You heard a low voice say.
You slowly opened the door, and bowed at Lee Soo-man. He had cold eyes, which made you uncomfortable to look at for too long. You looked at the floor instead. He didn't seem anything like manager oppa. Not fun, or carefree, or...anything. Just cold.
"A-Annyeonghaseyo," You half whispered, stammering a little bit.
You saw Taemin stifle a laugh, and you tried to give him your best threatening look. He just found it even more difficult to hold back his laughter, and let it out, disguised as coughing.
Lee Soo-man said nothing back, but nodded. You quickly sat down in the nearest chair. You looked around, expecting and hoping that someone would break the silence, because you definitely weren't going to. You saw that Girls Generation and EXO were also here with you and SHINee. You were so close to letting out a high pitched scream to fan girl over them, but you were very restrained and civil. You refused to embarrass yourself, so you held yourself back, biting your lip.
"Who are we waiting on?" Lee Soo-man sighed, looking at the EXO members.
"Just Chen, Baekhyun, and Sehun," Suho replied swiftly.
Lee Soo-man tapped his fingers on his desk, as if he was playing the piano. He flicked through some papers with his other hand, restarting the silence. You checked your watch, and they were now officially late.
"I'm rather disappointed by your members' lateness, Suho,"
"As am I, sir. I apologise for the inconvenience, I will talk to the three of them when I next see them,"
"As you should... Even though I would have preferred it if everyone was here, especially Baekhyun, we will continue anyway,"
Especially Baekhyun? You looked at Kai, hoping that he knew the answers to your curiosity.
"We cannot delay this for another day," Lee Soo-man continued calmly.
You looked down, knowing that the delay was your fault.
"This - is your new contract. You need to sign it if you want to stay in this company," He said, slamming a stack of papers on his desk, making a few people jump.
"Why are we signing a new contract?" Taeyeon asked, frowning in confusion.
A knock was heard on the door, and everyone swivelled around to see Chen, Baekhyun, and Sehun walk in, quite out of breath.
"Perfect timing. I will ignore your lateness for now. I'm glad you asked that, Taeyeon. In the recent months, SMent has received numerous accusations of scandals within the company. The two biggest include yours and Baekhyun's, along with Onew and (y/n)'s... So in this contract, in article 2.5, there is a new no dating rule between singers in SMent," He announced, smirking slightly.
Taeyeon and Baekhyun looked guiltily at each other. You glanced at Onew, but his gaze was fixed directly on Lee Soo-man. He looked almost angry.
He handed out the newly printed contracts, which were personalised, with each person's name typed on the first page. You saw many people signing theirs without hesitation, desperate to remain in the company. You were considering to do the same, but you stuck with your common sense, and read through the 28 paged contract. Although parts of it were incredibly boring, at least you knew what you were signing up for - literally. You passed the signed document to Lee Soo-man, who smiled.
Looking around, you noticed that Jonghyun was the last to sign. He was twiddling his pen around his fingers, tapping his foot on the ground.
"Any problems?" Lee Soo-man asked.
"Uh, no...none," Jonghyun confirmed, pausing one last second before signing.
"Return to your schedules and your rehearsals. Work extra hard, since we are putting on a collaboration concert to celebrate k-pop with JYPent and YGent," You let out a squeal, and you were glad that you weren't the only one who did. Sunny from Girls Generation joined you, smiling widely. Even the two boy groups looked excited, and intrigued.
"Who's going to be performing?" Sunny asked.
"You four are the acts representing SMent, and you'll find out who is performing from the other companies when the line up is finalised. Now go, work hard. (Y/N), I want to talk with you for a minute" He instructed.
You watched the others as they all filed out of the room, chattering about the news you were just given. Key gave you an encouraging thumbs up. Lee Soo-man waited until everyone had left before saying anything.
"Everyone is performing two songs at the concert. Of course, your first song will be your debut song, but your second won't be from your album,"
"What do you mean?" You puzzled.
"I want you to write a new song, because you're talented, and I want JYP and YG to be impressed and jealous of that talent. The song needs to be raw, emotional, and personal. It will be acoustic, I'm getting someone to play the guitar for you while you sing. Just write the song as soon as possible. I'm trusting you. I think you'll do well," He told you.
"Thank you," You said. You weren't sure what else to say.
"No slacking now, or I'll know,"
You nodded, and left his office, sighing with relief. That song was one more thing you needed to do. It seemed like you'd be up all night writing those lyrics.
However, the news put a permanent smile on your face for the rest of the day. Not even Hara's cruel choreography, or your stupid cast, or the lyrics that would keep you up at night, could upset you. You were desperate to find out who else would be performing at the same concert as you. Whoever it was, you were sure that some serious fan girling was going to happen.