During the car ride, Manager checked her watch a grand total of eleven times. When the building of A.N. Entertainment finally came into view, she was practically twitching with her anxiety. The driver had barely stopped the vehicle, but that didn't stop her fro yanking me out and tugging me towards the building at a fast trot.
"You don't look to shabby." She murmured to me once we were inside and waiting to get visitor passes from the receptionist. "Only a little disheveled," she added hastily as I glanced at her. She then proceeded to tug on the bottom of my plain black shirt and brush imaginary dust off of my shoulders. I shrugged her off and accepted the passes from the kindly receptionist.
"Well, I think I look absolutely wonderful for someone who just spent the last fourteen and a half hours on a plane with little to no sleep." I mustered all of the cheeriness I could into my voice. Apparently, my sarcastic smirk threw it off, annoying Manager.
"You would look better if you stopped refusing to wear make-up." She snapped, trying to hit me where it hurt. I rolled my eyes, allowing her to know that the comment had been easily deflected.
"You'll just have to respect my decisions as I respect most of yours."
She scoffed at me. "Hold the elevator!"
I hesitated as I saw who was inside, but Manager either didn't notice, or was purposely ignoring me again. Sometimes it was hard to tell, but I was putting my money on the second option. After a split second, though, I followed her, putting on a light smile for the A. boys.
Shin Woo was the only one to return the gesture before letting the elevator door shut behind me. Manager was too busy chatting up Jeremy to notice the eye-daggers Tae Kyung was shooting at me. Instead of cringing like I was probably supposed to, I plastered a big grin on my face.
"You must be Arisu Moon, yes?" Shin Woo asked me.
I stuck out a hand for him to shake. "The one and only."
"The Arisu Moon who is going to be joining us?" Tae Kyung asked, his tone indifferent, though I sensed that he really was not. I nodded, releasing Shin Woo's hand from my grip. Tae Kyung scoffed. "You seem a little too plain."
"Well thank you very much." I answered pleasantly – purposely trying to irk him.
Suddenly, the elevator stopped, the lights growing extremely dim. I stiffened, reaching behind me to touch the door. Its substance and realness calmed me a little.
"Well this is excellent…" Manager hissed bitterly. "Now we'll be late for the meeting and you won't be able to join the band. Your whole career is literally going down the drain right now, Arisu. And yet you're just standing there!" She babbled on, bemoaning to Jeremy about how hard life was. For once, I was too mentally detached to care.
"Madam, please, silence your wailing." Tae Kyung said in a polite, quiet, but unmistakably annoyed voice.
Surprisingly, she did. I was aware enough to notice, and to smile slightly in the dim space. The silence I had longed for the entire day had finally arrived.
Tae Kyung pulled out his cell phone, shining its light onto my face. "Now you," he continued, "sing, please."