You look so broken when you cry
One more and then I say goodbye...

- heat waves (glass animals)

66. heat waves 

Soojin was worried about Yoon Jaehun, her roommate who had been missing since the last couple of days. She thought he was studying at the local library and spending the nights there to finish with his exams but he had stopped replying to her messages and possibly blocked her contact too.

She wondered if the bullying scandal had affected him and he did not want to stay with her anymore. That would be fine, Soojin was okay with being alone again, but she definitely needed him to confront her. She would rather speak with him and clear the air than let him go.

She had already lost one brother, she could not lose another.

"Ya, Soojin-ah, are you still mad at us?" Jin-ah and Hana, Soojin's favourite colleagues who were avoiding her during the scandal week, peeped in her cubicle. "We are sorry; we just did not know what to say."

"And we did not believe it at all!" Hana said, hands over her heart. "We just did not want to lose our jobs, you know."

Soojin did know and she understood them. Yet, it stung to see them isolate her when she needed them the most.

She smiled at the girls, "I am not mad. I just have a lot of work to finish."

She knew she was being standoffish and drawing boundaries again, but could she be blamed?

The one person she willingly gave her heart and soul had stomped it without a care and she did not have the energy to face another rejection.

On the plus side, she did have a lot of work to finish.

Soojin tried calling Jaehun that evening, texting him to call her back and asking him if everything was okay but she got no answer from him. She cursed herself for not having any of his friends' contact and worried over the boy.

If only he spoke to her then maybe things would have been a lot different.

"Miss Kang, we have to meet with Move tonight." Mr. Choi reminded the woman who was dreading the meeting already. "The handover and the breach of contract settlement needs to be looked over."

Soojin nodded, "what time do we need to be there?"

"By 8." Mr. Choi glanced at the nervous girl trying her best to hide her fears. "Do you want to maybe skip it? I can handle it on my own."

"Why should you when I am the one to be blamed?" Soojin did not care about her personal feelings this time, especially when Mr. Choi had done so much for her. "All we have to do is attend the meeting right? I can do that."

On her dismissal, Soojin rushed out of the cabin and headed straight to her cubicle trying her best to not cry aloud. She had kept herself so busy in work over the last couple of days post the scandal that she did not get a single moment to cry, or search the internet for her scandal, or think about Han Seojun.

It was just a meeting, Soojin reminded herself. And Han Seojun would not be there anyways, owing to the KMF that was to be held soon.

Just a piece of cake.

Except that it wasn't.

It was not a piece of cake. It was a goddamn travesty.

_

The meeting was held at the same fancy hotel where Starlight was residing. They were soon to leave Busan and head over to Seoul where the music festival was to be held. Starlight's manager, few of the associates from Move, Lee Suho and Han Seojun were seated at one side of the huge conference table while Mr. Choi, Soojin and the new team on the other.

One thing that everyone seemed to notice was how Soojin and Soejun did not acknowledge each other's presence.

At all.

It was evident to the lot that there was some kind of history with the way they had interacted with each other in the past. Now it seemed that they were way worse than strangers.

Soojin did not meet Seojun's eyes once in the entire meeting. Keeping her head and her gaze lowered, under the pretext of working on the laptop she carried with her. Mr. Choi on the other hand spoke on behalf of them, ready to face the legal consequences of their actions.

"The contract explicitly states that where the agreement is breached, the party will make good the losses suffered. Starlight has suffered immense loss from the cancellation of the Busan concert and the unnecessary circulation of rumors, the amount has been annexed with the agreement and we will be settling the same out of court."

The penalty amount was insanely high.

Kang Soojin would have to sell all the organs in her body and still not be able to pay the sum in full.

"I am sorry but did we not agree to settle the matter with the assignment being handed over to another team?" The lawyer of HFA countered, "why are we liable?"

"Your company associated an incompetent employee on the assignment in direct correlation with Han Seojun, the face of the band represented by Move. The damages we have suffered cannot be mitigated by a mere transfer of responsibilities."

Soojin looked over at Seojun who was disinterested, but did not seem to oppose the objections raised. She then glanced at Suho who seemed at discomfort, despite trying to be calm and composed. She could read their faces, Suho did not want this arrangement and Seojun did not want to be here.

"We accept." Mr. Choi surprised the lot, Soojin especially. His cool exterior and calm smile was irking the lawyers of Move. "Although, here is our counter lawsuit."

To everyone's disbelief, Mr. Choi handed over a set of documents that cited Move Entertainment and Starlight to account for the losses HFA suffered in both the brand name and revenue and a personal suit for defamation of Kang Soojin's name over the internet owing to Starlight's popularity.

The demeaning comments, the death threats and the doxing were few of the many allegations raised against the agency and the band for completely ruining Kang Soojin's image in the public, rendering her unable to accomplish basic tasks in public without being harassed.

"Are you trying to counter-sue us?" The Chair of the Board was appalled at the audacity of the Non-Profit for suing them. "And for what, to shield a bully from her actions?"

Seojun looked at the old man, ready to speak up but Suho held him back. This matter had already blown out of proportion for it to escalate even further.

"I would mind using that word, Mr. Kim because that will count as baseless accusations on my team member and we will add the same in the list." Mr. Choi seemed to be enjoying the chaos he ensued, a smile on his ever so stony face. "Miss Kang was not a bully, she merely uploaded a video on a forum which may have caused a strain in her personal relationships but unfortunately, personal heartbreaks do not count as crime."

Soojin glanced over at Seojun who was also looking at her at that moment. For a brief second, their eyes held all the words they wanted to speak to each other, but Seojun was the first to break contact.

"This is outrageous-"

"Or completely acceptable." Lee Suho intervened, done with the entire charade. "It does not matter who will win or lose in the endless suits, but Starlight and Move cannot afford topping another headline for a while."

"We can if we win." The Chairman, a grumpy 55-year-old man who had nothing better to do than work said with a smirk. "And we can have enough evidence to show your employee as a bully and tarnish her reputation for life, along with HFA."

"Is that a threat, Mr. Kim?" Mr. Choi asked, his voice held contempt.

"I call it a counter-attack. Move is not going to be threatened by a small company nor its employees, so we will be moving to court and stripping the company's reputation for your lowlife employee."

Seojun had enough of it. He stood up, really angry at the old man for even thinking about harming Soojin's reputation and tore the agreements.

"Please take it on record that I, Seojun Han, want to voluntarily rescind the contract with HFA on account of my personal reasons and that I am ready to pay the penalty for the breach of contract from our side." Seojun said that in the softest, crudest way possible. "HFA can sue us for tarnishing Kang Soojin's name, but we will not be counter-suing anyone nor do we demand any compensation for what happened. This ends here."

There was silence after Han Seojun's dramatic take.

Soojin looked at the singer who was seething in anger yet suppressing it. He was wearing a black hoodie over his tall frame, in an attempt to hide his tattoos and in a way, hide his true self. She, on the other hand, was wearing a formal dress and not afraid to be herself anymore.

The tables had turned for them.

Their worlds had changed too.

The lawyer of HFA took hold of the meeting and said that they did not have to institute any suit if everything was taken care of quietly. All that was left was consent and signatures of both parties and that would conclude the agreement and the two parties would never have to confront each other again.

Seojun signed his set of dotted lines, followed by the Chairman of the Board and then by Mr. Choi. However, when Soojin was about to sign the documents, she got a call from a person she desperately wanted to talk to.

Without excusing herself, she picked the call and fumbled over the conversation.

"YA YOON JAEHUN!" She yelled, standing up at once and caused the people in the room to look attentively at the woman. "JAEHUN, YA-"

Seojun looked sharply at the woman, losing her mind at whoever the caller was. He watched Soojin speak over the call with mindless 'hellos' and grab her things hurriedly, bowing at the professionals before excusing herself out of the conference room.

At once, Seojun and Suho moved out of the room but Mr. Choi beat them to it when he got hold of Soojin who was panicking and running out of the hotel.

"What is it?" He asked, holding her arms and facing her. "Tell me what is wrong?"

She tried calling the number but it was unavailable. She was nearly in tears and hyperventilating when Mr. Choi held her.

"Yoon Jaehun-" She said, breathing heavily and losing track of herself. Everything seemed blurry and the world seemed to be at a standstill. "My brother, he... he said he..."

Seojun and Suho caught up to the duo and watched Soojin cry aloud. They were worried, knowing how Soojin never cried aloud, especially not in public.

Seojun's eyes stayed fixated on Mr. Choi's hands on her shoulders and he felt a whirlpool of emotions in that moment.

"He what?"

"Noona, gomawo (thank you)." Jaehun's muffled voice came as a scary surprise to Soojin, "thank you for everything you have done for me. I can never repay what you did for me in this lifetime..."

"YA YOON JAEHUN-"

"Don't overwork yourself arachi? And don't mind the internet trolls, I know for a fact that you can never bully anyone. Mianhe Noona (sorry, sis)."

That was all he said before switching off his phone and causing Soojin to break down in the middle of a busy hotel. Mr. Choi held her close, asking her to breathe while he offered to help her find the boy.

Suho immediately called for additional help and the police through his contacts, assuring Soojin that they would find the boy at once. The clan dispersed to get as much help as they could, with Mr. Choi calling the people at work to join them.

Only Seojun stood frozen, watching Soojin in pieces, crying over someone who held the same fate as him. He wanted to help, he wanted to comfort her and help her, hold her, hug her.

But what right did he have?

After all, he did choose to deny any association with her.

And more than that, he would be instilling the same pain on her soon.

Was that what he wanted?

When he could not watch her whimper in pain, how could he even dare be the reason for it?

Seojun walked towards the anxious girl. She was just a couple of steps away and yet seemed like an eternity away. He reached out his hand towards her, almost touching her shoulder but stopped when Mr. Choi approached her.

"It's going to be fine, we are going to find him. No matter what." He reassured her, his hand on her chin and Soojin nodded, "I'll find him."

Seojun fisted his hands, watching the duo leave the hotel as he stood in his place, unable to comprehend the situation.

"When I spoke to him, I could hear... I could hear cars zooming in the background."

"Gwangan Bridge, it has to be that!"

The duo rushed out of the hotel, while Seojun was stopped by his manager before he could run behind them too.

"We cannot get into another controversy, Han Seojun."

Seojun shrugged his manager's arm off himself and watched Soojin go away from him. Her hand was entwined in another man's hand and that was the first time Han Seojun felt like himself.

Watching someone steal his girl once again while he did nothing.

_