Page 32 of A World Apart
Still on my knees, I raised to one knee, now out from under the table, and looked up at him. He’d crowded me, standing so close I couldn’t stand back up without effectively body rolling him.
“Thats a good look for you,” he said so quietly it took me a moment for my brain to actually understand what he’d said.
Stunned, I momentarily froze, still on one knee and looking up at one of the industry’s biggest producers as he openly leered at me. Distantly, an alarm was sounding in my brain, but it was like I’d short circuited. All except for the trickle of apprehension that rolled down my spine like a droplet of ice water.
Just then, the door to the sound booth swung open, the sound proofing bristles along the frame making a loud ‘hissing’ noise. I looked over to see Jihoon, phone-in-hand. He looked over at me and his smile died on his face. God only knows what expression he saw on mine.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, looking between me and Trevor Kyle. The question prompted Youngsoo to look up from his phone and bless him, he immediately stood up from where he’d been leaning against the table and offered me his hand. Gratefully, I took it. Not because I needed the assistance getting to my feet, but because his physical presence made Trevor Kyle take several steps back.
He shrugged as he moved back to the production desk and said, “Interns,” with a tone that seemed to imply I’d somehow done something wrong or was somehow inept.
And damn me, but it worked. I felt shame creeping up from my stomach to my face, bringing with it a flush of redness I’m sure was already burning my cheeks. I just wanted to leave.
I thanked Youngsoo with a grateful bow and hurried towards the door. I opened it and glanced up as I turned around to close it behind me, and just before the door swung closed, I saw Jihoon, but he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at Trevor Kyle, who was openly staring at me.
I wondered what Jihoon was thinking.
I closed the door and practically ran down the corridor and didn’t slow down until I was upstairs.
Chapter 14
My feet were dragging as I headed into Jeremy’s office. As usual, he didn’t look up from where he was tapping away at his laptop.
“Tired?” He asked, gruffly but not unkindly.
“It’s just been a day,” I answered, puffing out a breath as I leaned against his open door.
“Any problems today?” He asked, angrily hitting a key several times in a row.
“Not a one. The boxes have all been arranged in a very Tetris-like way, the hard-drives are all downstairs and Donna has the call list you gave me. Oh, and she told me to tell you to ‘call your own damn covers, next time’.” I said, ticking off my tasks on my fingers. Jeremy huffed a small laugh at the last one.
“She’s a real hard-ass, that one,” he muttered.
“She’s always been a peach to me,” I said, earning me a quick look up from Jeremy, his eyebrows raised in disbelief before he saw my wry grin.
“We should send her to negotiate with these union punks,” he grumbled, “the lot from tech would be back at work within the day.”
Deciding not to comment on that one, I instead asked if he wanted a coffee as I was going that way.
“Only if it’s laced with cyanide,” he groaned, dragging his hands down his face. I flashed him a look of sympathy, even if I was secretly on the side of the ‘union punks.’
“Sorry, boss, we’re all out of cyanide.”
Just then, the elevator down the corridor chimed and I instinctively looked over my shoulder to see who it was. To my surprise, Youngsoo stepped out, followed by Jihoon and another man I’d never seen before. They turned right to go down the corridor that led to the conference room and the lounge, where Jihoon and I had had lunch together on Saturday.
Only once they’d gone out of sight did I go a few further steps down the corridor to sneak a peek around the corner. All three men went into the conference room at the end of the corridor.
I stood there for a few moments, looking in through the narrow window in the door, catching glimpses here and there of the men getting settled into the seats around the table.
Behind me, the elevator chimed again, and the doors clunked open, and then closed.
A hand suddenly ran down my arm from shoulder to elbow, squeezing me slightly and scaring me half to death. I jumped and pulled away before even looking around. When I saw Trevor Kyle standing there, smiling down at me, I had the strongest urge to press myself against the wall. I held myself still, however, trying to control the expression on my face. I could still feel the heat of his hand on my skin. It burned like shame.
“Get us some drinks, would you, sweetheart?” he asked and winked at me, luckily turning around and walking down the corridor towards the conference room before seeing the gag I’d only just suppressed when he’d winked at me. I couldn’t, however, suppress the sinking feeling I had at understanding that I was now on Trevor Kyle’s radar. If I’d had any doubt before, it was gone now.
“Everything alright, Kaiya?” grumbled the far more welcome voice of Jeremy as he walked to where I still stood, next to the elevator.
“Yeah,” I answered on an exhale, pushing myself away from the wall, “TK asked me to get some drinks for the conference room, but there’s not many of them so I won’t be long.”
