CHAPTER 03

I walked with them to the car park until they were all in their range rovers. I waved them goodbye and went back inside the house as soon as they had already left. I'm relieved in some way tonight. I have been overthinking earlier about what Dad said during dinner. About my work. I did expect something might not go with what I want to happen but I didn't imagine Dad would put me into such an unfamiliar environment. But after I get to know a little about the boys, I somehow feel at ease.

***

I woke up extra early even though I went to bed late last night. I could not sleep immediately last night. Perhaps it was the wine and other booze we consumed that kept me awake till 2 a.m. I prepared myself and all for the first day of the company tour today. I usually do not like early breakfast so I'll just get myself coffee on my way to the office.

I drove to the company's address, which Dad had given me. They offered to drive me to the company, but I refused and insisted on traveling alone.

"Eomma, the deal. Don't worry about me. I'm not a kid anymore." I said with an assurance smile.

"Alright. Alright." She hugged me instead and headed back inside. Mom is a busy woman as she is and it just makes her busier when she's like this to us.

I arrived at the address and checked if I was in the right building. I sent Levi a text that I was on my way to the company right now because he said I should let him know so that he could accompany me and give me a tour as well.

My phone vibrated and saw Levi's reply.

From Levi: We had an urgent meeting to attend to. Just do the asking when you arrive at the building, okay? I'll catch up after this.

To Levi: No worries. What do you take me for? I can take care of this myself duh.

From Levi: Just making sure. See you.

I asked the guard where the Black Box Entertainment's main office was located. He gave me instructions and I thanked him in return. This is quite a huge building. On my way to take the elevator, I already met some familiar faces we see on tv. This indeed is an artists company. Am I really gonna work here?

"Excuse me, are you Miss Ymira Lim?" As soon as I stepped into the elevator, a petite lady spoke to me. It's just the two of us here.

"Yes, hi. And you are?"

She smiled sweetly at me. "Martha. I'm Martha Miller. Nice to meet you by the way. I worked here and I'll be the one to tour you around." She introduced herself and extended her hand to shake.

"Really? Nice to meet you, too. What a nice coincidence." I said, amazed. I accepted her warm welcome and shook her hands. Glad I will not lose myself finding people in this building.

"Actually, I was going to meet and welcome you at the entrance but I forgot to bring my phone with me. And I was about to go back and get my phone but destiny brought you in front of me already." Martha said. She seems to be so friendly for someone I just met. I'm a friendly type too, I guess? But I prefer formality. We reached the floor of the main office of the BBE. She took me inside a spacious chamber which was divided into parts which made rooms. There she introduced herself formally.

"Hi again. Let me formally introduce myself to you Miss Ymira. I'm Martha Miller, one of Black Box Entertainment's music producers. I work with a couple of producers and I am currently working on something with a boy band group. My job here is obviously to produce music and melodies but I am also flexible to help get any of the job done if it means some units are understaffed. I'm a music producer but can also be an assistant and a cameraperson at times." I feel like she stated the last parts in a joking manner. Why? What's wrong with being flexible at work? I even got to be running my own errand and assisting myself assisting the models during the Women's Fall-Winter fashion show before because we also had some trouble in keeping the number of staff stable that we ended up being short-staffed right at that moment. But anyway, I just nodded and attentively listened to what Martha was saying.

"I think that's all about me. So this is our main office as you can see. This is where important and crucial meetings happen. It's like a conference room." she continued

"And that's our CEO's private office." She pointed to the office with a white door with the Black Box logo on it.

"We have separate conference rooms for artists and producers. This one is for the higher ups. You know what I mean." I nodded in agree

"Is the CEO there?" I asked referring to the private office

"He's out of town as of the moment." she said in reply. "Anyway, she's one of the CEO's assigned secretaries. She's the one who manages and takes care of everything here when the CEO's not around." Martha introduced and the secretary smiled at me and I said my greetings to her.

"And this is Ymira Lim. She's a fashion stylist from New York." I bowed as a sign of respect

"It's true I just got here from NY a week ago. But technically speaking, this is where I originally came from. Nice to meet you by the way." After Martha introduced us to each other, we proceeded to the next part of the company tour. She led me to different rooms of the building that is owned by the entertainment company. We passed by the departments of each of the artists and groups, went to the studio where the producers work and introduced me briefly to them, and went to the huge dance studio of the artists. It was so huge overall but it was divided by a thick wall that made each room soundproof.

"This is where our artists usually practice their choreographies and stuff. But each of the groups have their own territorial rooms. I won't be touring you to all of those. It will be a hassle because you will just be assigned to one group anyway." Martha stated

"Do you happen to know which group?" I asked out of curiosity

"I'm not sure because I have not been informed yet. What I know is that as of the moment, the group of AMD is a bit short-handed. There's a possibility you'll be assigned there."

I nodded, a bit disappointed that it was not Levi's group. "I see."

We were walking around the building and dropping by every room that we passed by.

"This is the schedule of our three-day company tour but if we could finish these all earlier, we could make it in two.'' She gave me the folder where the schedule was clipped. We stopped by in Martha's team's room, the producer's quarter, and had a break from walking. Luckily I decided to wear my comfy white sneakers rather than that of my leather boots with heels. My feet are at least at ease.

We didn't realize the time had passed until we were both hungry from touring around. At 3 p.m., we had our late brunch. We ordered food and stayed in the producer's quarter. We had a good time chatting and discussing their work here.

"I heard you're one VIP in the fashion industry, Miss Ymira. I was surprised when someone like you will be working with us here. I don't know much about the field you are from but as I've heard, you only dealt with famous models and brand ambassadors abroad, not music artists."

I was a bit dumbfounded by the abrupt change of subject. "It's a long story but even I myself was still in awe about me working in this field. And for the record, I think I can adjust with the environment. No, I will definitely adjust." I positively said in response. We finished our late brunch over a small talk. I felt my phone vibrating and found an unregistered number calling. I don't answer unregistered numbers so I ended it. People who know me well would introduce themselves first before using an unregistered number when contacting me. I had issues with spam calls.

My phone vibrates once again.

Unregistered number: It's Levi, pick up my call.

I answered the call after I read the message. So it's Levi the nut-case. I excused myself for a bit.

"Are you done for today?" Levi asked

"I'm not quite sure about that. Why?"

"The meeting has ended just now. Where are you? Do you want me to go there?."

"I'm at Martha's quarter. It's fine, you might be busy. I brought my car with me so I can go home on my own."

We were still in the middle of the call when the door swung open and there the boys entered. I rolled my eyes as I saw them. They're crazy.

"I know this is like your home but don't you guys know how to knock?" I awkwardly scolded them in a soft voice. It's embarrassing when they're acting like this in someone else's room.

"You know each other?" Martha interrupted us. She's still indulging in her meal.

The boys were in their jolly vibe as soon as they entered but straightened themselves when I upbraided them in such a manner. They greeted Martha the moment they realized she's with me in the room. See? We can be formal at work, why act unethical and unprofessional?

"Yeah, we already met each other. Because you both work here, I suppose you already know each other." I told Martha

I found out that Martha is one of the producers of Levi's group. I also found out that they are called Masterminds for that's the name of the group一 Mastermind. There are seven in the group. I already met 6 of them including Levi. And they're almost complete here except for the missing one. So who's this always missing in action?

I wondered why all of them are gathered here when they have tons of work to do because they are preparing for a comeback album. And wondered why they are still incomplete now. I kicked them out of the room so that they can leave and we can go on with the company tour after we finish our food.

"I guess we can call it a day." Martha spoke up after I successfully kicked the boys out. "We're almost done by the way. I think we will be able to complete it in two days."

"Are you sure?" I asked just to make sure. This is work, I don't want to slack off. And yeah, I can say I'm pretty professional when it comes to things like these. I built dignity and respect in my former work environment because I don't like being treated like an easy-to-get colleague.

"Yeah I'm definite. The remaining thing on the schedule is your meeting with the president. She'll brief you about your work and assign you during your meeting on which department you will be working at. After that, you will be officially introduced to the group's staff and producers and that's it." She's adamant but I feel like there's a swift of emotions with the way she speaks to me now. Or am I just imagining?

Maybe Martha saw me annoyingly pushing the boys out of the room that's why she's determined to call it a day. I didn't oppose it more if that's what she wants. We agreed and called it a day.

"See you tomorrow. Nice meeting you and thank you for the tour." I said

"No problem. It's part of the job." she smiled

***

I went on my way to the first floor. I stopped by the coffee house inside the building. I want some caffeine in my system ugh. I saw Lui and Matt with some other guy in the lobby. They looked like they're waiting for someone because I saw them scanning their eyes to the people that passed by them.

I entered the coffee shop and placed an order for coffee. The tour did not exhaust me in the least. It was nothing but because I didn't have enough sleep last night, I felt a bit sleepy, that is why I needed caffeine to wake me up. I'll be driving home, so I'll need to concentrate. I don't wish to doze off and crash my car that would cause me death. I still have lots of things to accomplish in my life.

"Noona! Ymira! Over here!" I turned my back and saw Lui and Matt shouting my name.

"Hey, what's up? Geez, why are you guys so loud?"

"We were waiting for you."

"For what reason?" I questioned

"We're inviting you. You know, dinner and hangout?" Lui declared

Didn't they say they are super busy nowadays and can't even afford to sleep a wink because each second is important? "I thought you had a tight schedule?" I made sure to ask because I do not want to be involved if the agency would scold them if ever.

"And we have time for food?" I didn't know Lui could be the sarcastic type. He's the youngest among them all by the way. What a sarcastic baby. He's younger than me also.

"We don't accept no as an answer." Matt added while wiggling his eyebrows up and down. "Let's go." without waiting for my reply, he started to walk towards the elevator

I rolled my eyes and said, "Okay sure." I consent abruptly even though it was partly disregarded already. I don't have second thoughts when it's food though, maybe that's why they assumed I'm going. "So where are we going?"

"Where's your car first? The rest will come after us. Something came up and they have to handle it first in the studio." Lui explained, pointing his fingers up.

"In the parking lot in the basement. Don't tell me you'll make me your chauffeur?" unbelievably, I asked in such a facial expression. "No way, let's each have our own service to use." I said and started walking to the elevator, leaving them behind. "Of course not. He's driving." Lui said, pointing at the guy they are with.

"Yeah, he's volunteering." Matt added to the conversation. I took a peek at the strange man. Oh, I didn't notice his presence earlier. And I've never met him before. The guy is obviously perplexed by them volunteering him to drive because he didn't volunteer in the first place, but he maintains his composure in front of me..

He threw a stare at Lui and Matt that it looks like he's going to kill them later and just shrugged after that. "Fine. Keys." he extended his hands to me with his hands open, asking for my car key. I was hesitant to hand over my keys to him. He's a stranger to me, and I don't even know who he is. Why would I give him my keys? Won't he introduce himself first before anything else?

We were staring at each other for at least a minute. I can see Matt and Lui standing by our sides, waiting to see what will happen next. I think they're also waiting for me to hand over my car key. Uhm, this is kinda awkward.

"Oh! I guess you don't know each other yet." Matt broke out the silence. Thank God one of them realized. Why are they so slow? "Exactly. I'm Ymira and you are?" I stretched my arm, pointing my open hands to him and asked the unnamed guy in front of me who was asking for my keys.

Without hesitation, the unnamed guy reached out for my hand and held them in such a prince-lyy manner and said, "Hi, I'm Jackson. Jackson Tan." I was overwhelmed and stunned at the same time for quite a minute with what he did. I thought he'll gonna pay respect by kissing the top of my hands just like what we saw in movies. But instead, he just caressed my hands with his thumb. For a couple of minutes, he didn't let go of my hands and I could feel how warm and big his hands are compared to mine.

So Jackson is the name.

We were like that for a few more minutes. And then out of nowhere, I started having hiccups I can't control. This is no good, I don't like having hiccups. I hate this.