Whatever. He could ignore me the entire three months for all I cared.
I shrugged and crossed my arms as if to say, what? Is that all you got? I mean, I had to deal with Aisha Taylor for four years of high school—I could handle anything at this point in my life, and even our school counselor had been scared of her.
I lifted my chin in defiance and waited for them to say more. It’s not like I could understand them anyway… I mean, it sucked the same, but whatever, I was here to learn, I was here so that I could do what I loved, cultural barriers be damned.
One elbowed the other.
My eyebrows arched as if to say, you really wanna go down this road?
And weirdly enough, they all looked away.
All but one.
The one who called me ugly.
Well, if he wanted war.
He’d get it.
Because I wasn’t quitting.
I wasn’t leaving.
And I would stay even if it killed me.
Chapter Three
Wolves
Grace
I survived middle school.
I could survive some rich kid calling me ugly, it wasn’t like I was on the Korean Bachelorette, right? I mean, I’d take a rose from any one of them based on looks alone, but personality?
Pass.
Besides, as long as we all did our jobs, shared the work, and didn’t kill each other, all would be well!
Suddenly feeling better about my internal pep talk, I turned to Siu and asked,” So are we all in the internship program for the next few months?”
Solia looked ready to strangle me from where I stood; her expressions were getting more and more hostile the more I spoke.
You would think I’d just asked if we were going to hurry up and get naked, then rub our bodies down with mayonnaise while watching Game of Thrones.
Siu shot me a warm smile instead of an answer. Weird. “Normally, I would go over all the details with you on your first day, but we’ve had a bit of an emergency with SWT, meaning I need to put out several fires all at once without losing sponsorships and contracts for the upcoming Showcase.”
He was speaking English, and I was still completely, hopelessly lost. I settled for, “Right, okay.” And almost gave him a thumbs up. I’ve never been more aware of my awkward Americanness than that moment. All I needed was to shout “get ‘er done!” and I’d be solidified, written down in history, maybe they’d give me a trophy? Ugh. Where was a flag and a fanny pack when I needed one? I knew I should have grabbed mom’s!
“So…” He eyed Solia. “Until then, Assistant Solia will be in charge of not only training you but making sure you have everything you need. Normally things aren’t this chaotic, but again, it’s an emergency. We’ve had a lot of issues over the past few weeks and, well, you’re family—I trust you, and right now I need people I can trust more than anything, people that won’t,” he shared a look with Solia, “leak things to the press, specifically.”
His face paled as he clenched his hands into fists at his sides.
With the dorm I was standing in? The label?
SWT?
Wouldn’t someone from the label handle that? Not a brand new intern?
I kept my mouth shut and nodded again.
He breathed a sigh of what appeared to be relief. “You’ll do fine. I’ll be back to check in on you as soon as I can. You have my cell phone number—use it only in emergencies —and it’s so wonderful to see you, Grace. Your father mentioned you had a hard time in the States getting your foot in the door. I hope this is mutually beneficial.”
I beamed. “It already has been; thank you again; I’m really excited to be a help.”
I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to shake his hand again, but he made the decision for me as he stepped forward, did a little bow, and whispered, “Only a short bow is needed when you meet people who you’re familiar with. Besides, we’re family. Say thank you, hello… you’ll get used to it. People will forgive a lot since you’re American. Respect the culture, and you’ll be just fine.”
I nodded as my emotions got the best of me, my eyes filling with tears. “I’m going to work really hard. I promise I’ll try.”
“I know.” I could see the stress in his posture. I wanted to diffuse the situation, but I had no clue what the situation even was and was semi afraid to ask.
He turned away from me and barked out in Korean, “Josu Solia,” then switched to English. “This falls on your shoulders. I trust we won’t have any more situations in the next week before the Showcase?”
Solia gave him a confident smile. “SWT is in good hands as always.”
He exhaled and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. “Let’s hope so.”
He looked ready to walk away when she took a step in front of him and whispered something in Korean.
My body felt hot as all the guys stared me down with knowing smirks like she was saying something horrific about me. I probably looked like an absolute train wreck. Then again, why did I care? As long as I did my job well, right?
My body still felt hot as their stares penetrated to my very soul. It would be easier if they were unattractive, but calling them ugly would be a bald-faced lie.
My skin was sweaty and probably smelled like plane pretzels.
Theirs?
Flawless. I’d never seen a guy with such perfect skin, let alone five of them.
“I see.” Siu took a step back and eyed me up and down quickly. “Grace, did you happen to bring any more work-appropriate clothes?” He cleared his throat like he was embarrassed to even be asking me.
Heat flooded my face. “Um, I have a dress.”
“A dress?” he repeated in astonishment.
“I’ll go shopping,” I offered quickly, trying to smooth things over. “I assumed I’d be running a lot of errands and grabbing coffee, so I went for more work casual, but whatever I need to do, I can do.” There, that sounded good.
He gave me a curt nod while Solia just shook her head like I was hopeless and offered in a smooth yet calculated voice, “I made a list of things she’ll need. I’ll go over it after curfew.”
Interns had a curfew?
Was that a cultural thing?
Weren’t these guys the same age? And why did I suddenly feel like I was back in high school?
“Good.” Siu checked his watch and looked back up at me. “Tonight, Solia will have you start with elevator duty. Again, she’ll go over the requirements and studying materials once I leave.”
“Okay…” I gulped. “I may need help if I’m going to be guiding people to their floors. It’s a big building.”
“Oh!” Siu let out a chuckle. “You won’t be helping people to their floors—you’ll be guarding it.”
“So people can’t get in, gotcha.” Was I at least going to get a taser?
“No.” He sighed in exhaustion, rubbing his eyes. “So they can’t get out.”
All five interns grinned at me; each of them had smiles that told me I wasn’t going to be taking a nap anytime soon and would most likely hate my job within the first hour.
Why was I protecting fellow interns? Was it dangerous here? Oh God, why hadn’t I thought this through? We had to guard the door to the elevator? Seriously? Why hadn’t the internet helped me with this?