Maybe it was a bit premature but seeing the relief on Kyun’s face had been worth it.
Hence my furious page refreshing.
It was the day of the party and I was seriously regretting taking a day off.
I had been at Atlantis since the early hours of the morning—much earlier than I normally was—to oversee the decorations of the lobby and the final coming together of everything in the function room.
Aside from the repeated checking of the flight status, I hadn’t stopped for anything. Not even a drink.
I had to hand it to the Atlantis crew: they had talent. The casual function room was barely recognizable. It had been transformed into a cemetery. The carpets had been covered with a protective sheet and then the team had brought in wheelbarrows full of fake turf and gravel to cover it.
Springing out of the fake ground were tombstones. I wasn’t sure what they were made of, but after picking one up, I’d discovered that if one were to fall on someone, they were light and wouldn’t do any damage. But my word, they were eerily realistic.
Outside, they had covered the small shelter used by the smokers so that it looked like a grand mausoleum, but the tombstones had been continued as well. If the weather held out—and the weather reports were saying it probably wasn’t going to—there was a light show projecting up against the side of the building.
The catering team had started bringing up some of the food, which meant it was nearly time for the party to start. Which reminded me that I had closed the canteen for the day. Just as my stomach started grumbling and I started to feel light-headed.
I moved to the side, closing my eyes and taking a steadying breath as my phone vibrated in my hands.
Looking down I saw a message from Minhyuk. Will you be coming home at all today?
No, I don’t think I can get away. I replied
There was a brief pause and then Minhyuk sent another message. I thought so. You left your costume at home. I’ve brought it in, along with some dinner. Can you meet me downstairs?
Hell yes, I could meet that marvelous man downstairs.
Following his directions, I ended up at a random room on the nineteenth floor. The building was so big and housed so many teams that I forgot what was in half of the rooms sometimes. This one was just another meeting room, but one of the more casual ones, with couches instead of a table and chairs.
Minhyuk had bought something in two white covered bowls. If my nose was correct, it was jajangmyeon—a noodle dish in black bean sauce. He was busy pulling chopsticks and smaller tubs of cubed radish out of the bag he’d brought them in.
“I love you,” I told him, hurrying over. “Not just because you brought me food, but you did just bring me food.”
“I see how it is.” He grinned, sliding one of the bowls over to me. “You’re still looking too thin.”
“While not intentional, I will take it. You’ve seen my skintight outfit tonight. And I’m going to be surrounded by so many younger, more beautiful idols.”
“Holly, you are beautiful. And twenty-five is hardly old.”
I pulled the lid off the container and started mixing my noodles into the sauce. “There’s normal beautiful and then there’s idol beautiful. No matter what I wear tonight, I’m going to be outshone by all of them, and that’s fine because I really don’t want to be the center of attention, but it doesn’t mean a girl doesn’t feel self-conscious every once in a while.”
I was starving and going to eat all of the noodles in front of me, but it didn’t mean that later there wouldn’t be a moment where I would be surrounded by the girls of Cupcake or Glitter and contemplate my life choices.
“It could be the MAMAs or the HAMAs and you could be surrounded by every female idol in the industry, but I would only be looking at you. They might be stars, but you’re my sun.”
The Mnet Asian Music Awards and the Hallyu Asian Music Awards were two of the biggest and prestigious music award ceremonies in K-Pop. Like the Grammys or the Oscars, it was a red-carpet event where attending idols (regardless of whether they were there as audience members, performers, or nominees) would watch the ceremony in beautiful dresses and suits.
To be able to outshine them was an impossibility for me.
But holy hell, Minhyuk just turned me into a huge pile of mush.
“I know I can’t take you to the party as my date, but can I take you home later?” I asked, giving him a cheeky wink.
Minhyuk’s cheeks turned pink. “You mean…?”
Honestly, while I wanted him to feel comfortable enough to be able to say sex, I also never wanted him to lose that innocence. It was adorable.
“Yes,” I told him, firmly. “You and me, later tonight, in your room, with the door locked.”
“Definitely!” he exclaimed. As though embarrassed by his enthusiasm, he picked up his bowl and started scooping noodles into his mouth.
“Slow down,” I said as I watched him slurp them up. “You’re going to make yourself ill.”
“Nothing is stopping me coming tonight,” he responded, his mouth half-full of food.
Minhyuk left after eating, clearing the used containers away with him. He had to get back to get ready for tonight.
I really did wish that I could go with him so that I could get ready but I didn’t have time. I was exceptionally grateful to him for bringing my costume with him. Along with picking an outfit which required minimal hair and makeup, I also didn’t have to waste time in going between Atlantis and our home.
The problem with hosting a party meant that I needed to be there right at the beginning and I didn’t have long before the staff would be arriving.
As I was carrying my costume up to my office so that I could get ready, I got a message from Tae to say he and Kyun weren’t coming. After everything, Kyun still had bruises on his face, and he was also feeling low about his father. Tae had told him they were going to stay home and chill with some horror movies.
Just like that, I wanted to skip the party so I could go home and cuddle Kyun.
Instead, I locked the door to my office and changed into the outfit I had bought.
Thankfully, I wasn’t quite regretting the noodles as I stood back and examined myself in the small mirror that I’d brought in to get ready with. My costume was D. Va, one of the female characters in a computer game called Overwatch.
I didn’t really play it, but both Minhyuk and Jun did, and I would often sit with them while they were playing, so I didn’t mind it.
Plus, the outfit was cute.
D. Va wore a body fitting catsuit, mainly blue with some pink and black sections, and white boots. Boots which came up to my thighs and mercifully had no heels to them. I’d run the flat iron through my hair, painted some pink stipes on my cheeks and slipped the character’s headphones onto my head.
The best part of the whole costume was that there were pockets. Much as I wanted my phone to stay locked in the office, I wasn’t attending this party; I was working it.
Dressed, and feeling like I could kick as much ass as my costume’s character, I made my way back upstairs.
Inhye had arrived. Although she had been there for most of the day, she’d escaped late afternoon so that she could change.
My mouth dropped open as soon as I realized it was her.
She was dressed as Maleficent, complete with horns. “Inhye, you look incredible,” I told her as I hurried over.
Inhye did a quick twirl. “Sejin never let me dress up for these things.”
“And thankfully, Sejin is staying in China. In fact, I don’t want to hear his name mentioned again tonight. I might have to pour a drink over anyone that does that.” It was never going to happen and both Inhye and I knew it. This had been Sejin’s thing in the past and there were enough of his colleagues and industry connections attending tonight, I had been mentally preparing myself for the inevitable onslaught of comparisons that were coming.
“Are you ready?” Inhye asked, as though knowing what I was thinki
ng. She probably did. It was part of what made her an amazing secretary. “It’s almost time for people to start arriving.”
I shook my head. “I’m missing…” I trailed off as I saw the person I was looking for. “Let me get the DJ to start playing music and let’s get this party started.”
Hui, the second oldest member of B.W.B.B. had been the first to complete his required military enlistment and was keen to do some solo DJing work while he waited for the other members to finish too. I was happy to let him, and he was due in a couple of hours for his set, but before then, I had gotten one of the rookies from Zodiac to take the booth first.
I’d discovered Kota liked DJing and had done some club DJing back in Tokyo when he had lived there. Music was an easy escape for him and he was more than happy to take up the challenge.
When he had first moved out to Korea, he only spoke Japanese. I’d found him a Korean tutor and now I could have an easy conversation with him. “I know you want to have fun with this, but please keep it to a background level until ten and then we can start to build it up.”
“Yes, of course, Vice Chairwoman,” he responded with a bob of his head, even though I could see his disappointment.
OK, maybe it was more of a formal conversation than an easy one…
“We have the industry suits attending, but they won’t stay late. After that, you can have your fun,” I promised him.
The industry suits was the polite name for the people I associated with Sejin, and dealing with them was one of the things I hated the most. As I moved around the party, playing my part as doting host, I could sense that they were going to be reporting back to Sejin.
Let them.
This party kicked ass.
Almost all the idols and actors on the roster had attended and they had all been so creative when it came to their costumes.
As I finished my final sweep of the room ‘working’, I figured it was time to have a little break and find some people who I wanted to speak to. Standing on the raised area by the bar, I stood on my toes, scanning the room.
And my eyes fell on a giant disco ball by the window. My best friend, Kate, and also one who was probably going to make me go gray, what with her also dating a whole group and being pregnant.
But she was still my best friend. I hurried over, just as she took a goblet from a waitress. I grabbed a non-alcoholic version from a different waitress and held it out in front of Kate.
She turned and looked first at my costume, frowning as she clearly didn’t recognize it. “What are you?”
I plastered an innocent look on my face. “Were you expecting me to be the yellow Power Ranger?”
Kate’s eyes narrowed as she jutted out her jaw. “I hate you. And again, I’m sorry for my drug induced rambling.”
“D. Va,” I offered.
I was rewarded with a blank stare.
“Overwatch?” I supplied.
Kate just shrugged.
In all fairness, I hadn’t expected Kate to get it. She wasn’t into computer games. I only knew who D. Va was because of Minhyuk and Jun.
It wasn’t important. Instead, I wanted to catch up with my friend and see how she was doing with her pregnancy. Much as her having a baby was a major pain in my ass when it came to working out a contingency plan in case anyone ever figured out who the father might be, I was still ridiculously excited and couldn’t wait to meet Baby Gem, as she was referring to it.
Realizing I was still holding onto the goblet, I held it up again. “You want the red ones. They’re non-alcoholic.”
Kate took the drink and took a sniff of it. “Your party is rocking,” she told me before taking a sip. She pointed to the DJ booth at the far side of the room. “I can’t believe the design details, and is that DJ who I think it is? I thought he was still enlisted?”
I turned and looked. Kate was a photographer. I’d hired her initially to help with H3RO’s comeback, and then taken her on to shoot Onyx’s world tour. She’d returned to Korea pregnant…
I’d had her do some other photography work for me, including working with some of the Zodiac units, so she would have recognized Kota.
Seeing Hui behind the decks, I nodded. “Hui. He was discharged last week. He was DJing while in B.W.B.B. and wanted to continue with it until the rest of the members had also been discharged. They went in close together, so they should all be out by the new year—the Korean new year,” I added for clarification.
Korea, like China, celebrated a new year based on the lunar calendar and it usually fell around the end of January or the beginning of February.
“Where are H3RO?” she asked, looking around.
That was a good question. “Jun is here somewhere, and Nate and Minhyuk will be arriving later.”
“What about the others?”
Dante was in China and Kyun and Tae were… While I could have told her about Dante’s whereabouts, Kyun’s—and Tae’s explanation was much more complicated and personal. And that was Kyun’s business anyway.
“That’s a very long story that I don’t want to talk about here, and couldn’t talk about anyway,” I muttered, feeling exhausted again. Just as I sucked in a breath, ready to push the bad thoughts from my mind, Kate peered at me.
“Dude, are you OK?”
That felt like the million dollar question some days.
“Running a company is exhausting, and the only reason I know I’m doing a half decent job is from the fact half the problems haven’t made it to the media.” I took a breath, ready to share some of the annoying things I’d been dealing with, but stopped when I spotted Onyx’s managed, Sang Sungmin making a beeline for us. That conversation could wait for another time.
He bobbed his head at me. “Hello, Vice Chairman.”
“Hi Sungmin. How are-”
Before I could finish the question, I saw Inhye walking towards me. She had taken her costume off, instead wearing a pair of leggings and a T-shirt which she’d probably had on underneath. More importantly, she also had a troubled expression on her face.
“Holly, you need to come to your office. Now.” She gave me a pointed look.
Inhye would not have come to me like this if it wasn’t important.
“Despite what people will have you believe; I don’t stop working. I’ll see you later.” Giving both Kate and Sungmin an apologetic look, I hurried after Inhye. “What’s wrong?”
Inhye glanced back at me and shook her head. “Not here.”
I waited until it was the two of us in the elevator. “Park Inhye, what has happened?”
“Um, you’re not going to like this one,” she muttered, playing with the hem of her T-shirt. Looking down, she realized what she was doing. “I’m sorry about the unprofessional appearance.”
“I don’t care about your clothes. I want to know why I’m leaving the party.”
“You have a visitor waiting for you in the office. Um… she’s saying she’s Sejin’s girlfriend.”
“Sejin is in China.” The elevator doors pinged open and we hurried towards my office. “And the last I checked; he doesn’t have a girlfriend… Not that I particularly care about his personal life.” The guy could go get a blowjob from a Venus fly trap.
“I think he’s been keeping this one a secret,” Inhye said as she darted ahead to open the door for me. “Holly, this is Divine9’s Ruby.”
Standing in the middle of my room was one of the most beautiful women I had seen. Korea’s sweetheart was the visual of Divine9 and had the looks of an angel.
She was also VERY pregnant.
My mouth dropped open before I could stop myself.
Ruby was pregnant.
Ruby was Sejin’s girlfriend?
Sejin was in a relationship with an idol too?
So many thoughts flooded my mind that I froze up.
One look at Ruby’s face told me that whatever she had to say, I wasn’t going to like it.
“I need help.”
… I was right.
To be
continued…
Is this your first time reading J.S. Lee? You can see how Holly and H3RO met in Idol Thoughts. Also available, in a completed reverse harem series is a steamier K-pop reverse harem—Onyx. Start the series with ONYX: Truth.
About the Author
International bestselling author, Ji Soo Lee spends most of her days lost in a K-Pop haze, which inspired her to start writing stories about her idols at Atlantis Entertainment.
Under the name Ji Soo Lee, you will find YA contemporary romances, with romance levels like a K-Drama.
You can also sign up for Ji Soo’s newsletter here.
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The Devil’s Lantern
Niobe Marsh
About The Devil’s Lantern
Every 300 years ‘Old Jack’ sets his lantern out for one unfortunate soul to find… and this time, I found it. Well... I tripped over it.
Jackie was a non-believer—a skeptic—but now she’s trapped in an urban legend with only one way out: Return the Devil’s Lantern to its resting place, or the gates of hell will open and she’ll be dragged down through fire, ash, and armies of lost souls to become the Devil’s Bride.
Returning the lantern to its cradle is Jackie’s only hope of getting her life back on track and bringing this nightmare to an end. But will she be strong enough to face the guardians of hell’s watchtowers alone?
The Devil’s Lantern is a paranormal ‘why choose’ romance featuring a doubting heroine, a couple of hellbound helpers, and a demon who won’t take no for an answer…
One
“You can’t be serious.”
Jackie groaned and turned her face into her pillow. What time was it anyway?
She didn’t even have to put the phone to her ear to hear Katie’s exasperated sigh.
“I’m dead serious.”
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 124
