Page 33 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 13-16
Jaewoong crossed his arms. “Just do it.”
Jun glanced at Geun and Yohei. The two older members were stoically silent, their faces tight with excitement and nerves. They both nodded, meeting his eyes.
Jun locked eyes with Mi Hi, hands hovering above his own keyboard. “Do it.”
Mi Hi pressed her lips together. She pressed the send button with her finger, then squealed. She jumped up and danced right there in the middle of the kitchen.
Jaewoong pressed a hand towards her mouth. “Baby!”
She gulped, eyes wide, looking at Habibi.
Jaewoong lowered his hand. “Why’d you do that?”
Mi Hi grinned at him. “I never, ever thought I’d be publishing the announcement for a comeback for one of my favorite idol groups!”
Jun grinned. Geun shook his head, eyes crinkling up fondly. Yohei hugged her on his other side, still not letting go of Su-jin. He said something in her ear that made her hug him back. Jun’s heart expanded in his chest as he watched, full and warm and afraid.
“Email. Invitations.” Mi Hi calmed herself down, focus in her eyes. They were all written, just waiting to be sent. Jun turned his attention to his computer.
Jaewoong had his phone open, watching their social media as Mi Hi and Jun worked. Because of the short notice, Mi Hi was running “Raw”, the new release, as a teaser for the full album that would be dropping that summer. It made it more acceptable to be handing out such short notice invitations, an overall more casual event. Showcasing the Church complex as they brought it back to life was an excellent secondary reason for their quickness. The invitation list included investors recommended by Émeric.
“The fans are eating up these teaser images,” Jaewoong reported.
“It’s been five minutes.” Geun sauntered to Jaewoong and looked over his shoulder. “Well, fuck.”
“Geun said fuck,” Su-jin gasped. He crowded over.
“It’s blowing up,” Jaewoong held his phone up to Mi Hi and Jun. “Like really blowing up.”
Mi Hi nodded. “We’ve been promising this for weeks.”
Jaewoong’s eyes were wide. “Yeah, but, we didn’t have numbers like this so fast before, did we?”
“You’ve had way more press since you hired me.” Mi Hi smiled beatifically. “And you have a really interesting story. Also, abs.” She patted Jaewoong through his oversized hoodie.
He stumbled back, “Woman, you mean, if we’d just found you a few years ago, we could have been pulling numbers like this before?”
“Who knows?” She smirked. “But you have me now.” She went back to her computer.
Jaewoong leaned across the table to Jun. “Do not let her get away, ever.”
“I’ll talk to Gigi about that,” Jun grinned.
Mi Hi’s cheeks flamed, even though she pretended to ignore them, fingers flying over her keys. There were very, very light rope marks around her wrists. She was going nowhere and she liked it. Jun would bet money on that.
A less pleasant thought ran through him. Mi Hi was going nowhere, but what about him? Would he still be there, the day the comeback dropped?
Jun kept the smile on his face. That wasn’t yet a burden to share.
Damian
Damian stood, nodding to the nine people around the conference room table. It was heading into evening in Mexico city outside the windows of the modern high rise. “Thank you, everyone. That’s a wrap. You have yourselves a contract. Congratulations.”
Additional exclamations went up. Men and women pushed back from the table, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries in several languages. U.S. importers and local factories cheered each other for the mutually beneficial deal well struck. Damian checked his watch. He had an hour to get across the city to his next meeting, the one that wasn’t on his calendar.
“Dinner on me.” A large midwestern man with pronounced Germanic heritage clapped Damian on the back. “I knew I could count on a hometown boy to pull through for us.”
Damian grinned at his client. “Myers, I’d love to, but I’ve just had an emergency crop up with another client. They’ve tied themselves into a knot.”
