Lee Yong sat back and watched others' reactions. Everyone understood the dig he took at Ra Soo-Ri. Apart from Lydia and Ra Soo-Ri, the two other girls felt awkward and wanted to shrink into the chair. The rest of the celestial members looked awkward as their band leader sprouted lies as rumours just to insult Ra Soo-Ri.
Lydia gritted her teeth and glared at everyone on the table for mindlessly gossiping and adding more to the baseless gossip. "Bullshit! These kinds of rumours ruin people. Could you not listen to it? And never test your ability to write the story by ruining someone's life."
She had previously witnessed how these rumours ruined someone close to her during her trainee days. She glared at Lee Yong for adding to the gossip while he intended to put Ra Soo-Ri in her place. She could not accept that he ruined an unrelated stranger's reputation for personal benefit.
All of them knew what was true, but the passerby would believe Lee Yong's words and ruin a stranger's life.
Lee Yong looked away from Lydia's glare, and he felt guilty. So he decided to stay quiet and observe what would be transpiring. He was never big on socialisation, majorly because he tended to speak without thinking when he got annoyed.
"Unni… you do not understand. What if such a person works with us?! It will ruin our reputation and affect our career. I am scared. Unni… please ask the company to fire him." Ra Soo-Ri held their band leader's hand and tried to ignore the fact that everyone knew the truth.
Lydia brushed off the concern as if it was not their issue. "The choreographer will be working with the boyband. Even if he is part of our band, I don't want you to taint your opinion of him based on the rumours. I would never take part in ruining someone's life based on some stupid rumour. And you better not do something stupid too."
Lydia sat straight and looked at two important band members engaging in ruining someone's life and gossiping as if other's life did not matter. She could not stomach it. "Rumours are not always even closely related to the truth. He hasn't even shown up at the company, and there are these many rumours. It only means two things - either he is really like that, or he was too good at work that people are out there to get him. My bet is on the latter part."
"Here I thought Lydia doesn't have any brain cells left. Thankfully you still have a few left, and you know how to use it." A male voice mocked them.
Everyone turned back simultaneously and saw their company's ace actor Go Dae-Kyun looking as if he wanted to pick a fight with Lydia. Again!
Everyone in the company knew Go Dae-Kyun and Lydia never get along. Even though they trained together and were with the company for the longest time, there was some unspoken enmity between them.
Whenever they were in the same room, there would be fights between them, like cats and dogs. Lately, Lydia refused to engage Go Dae-Kyung in fights no matter how much the other edged her.
Lee Yong had heard about their legendary fights before. He was hoping to witness them fight.
No one could blame him as nothing was going right in his life, and he was bored. He was still having writer's block and could not write any songs. Worse, he was hitting roadblocks in finding his brother and was annoyed with his parent's attitude.
"Since when has the Ace actor of our company visited the company? Did you take the wrong route or the wrong medicine in the morning?" Lydia rolled her eyes and did not fall into the trap of a stupid fight.
Go Dae-Kyun sighed and spoke softly as if speaking to a kid. "Lydia… Sweetheart… you are really low on brain cells these days, aren't you? How could you not realise what's going on?"
"I am not going to engage a trash like you in a conversation." Lydia took her phone and earphones, intending to listen to some songs.
Their bickering amused Lee Yong. Even though everyone claimed they were arch enemies, he felt their bickering was like an annoying insult one would throw at their siblings.
Go Dae-Kyun snatched her phone and earphones as he spoke to her seriously. "Let me enlighten you. When was the last time such crude rumours flew fast around our company? Who was it about?"
Lydia frowned and thought about it. She remembered the last time rumours spread like a forest fire only to ruin her best friend's life. She remembers her best friend being kicked out of the company after many false accusations.
After that day, no one knew where he went. It was like Choi Haneul had vanished off the face of the earth. Even her boyfriend, Choi Haneul's school senior, did not know his whereabouts.
"No way…" Lydia stood up, toppling the chair she sat on. Her eyes teared up as she looked at Go Dae-Kyun, hoping she had heard the truth.
Everyone was startled when the chair fell with a bang, but they saw Lydia and Go Dae-Kyun conversing without throwing insults or getting into fights.
Not only Lee Yong, everyone was surprised by the turn of events.
"He would never come back… He vanished on us! He was... He suffered here!" Lydia spoke, and everyone could hear the pain in her voice.
Go Dae-Kyun gave her an understanding smile. "I know. But my bet is on him."
"Why?" Lydia wanted to meet her best friend, her protector. But not in the place that ruined his life.
Go Dae-Kyun did not have an answer, but he smiled helplessly and still held on to the hope.
"What if it is not him? What if????" Tears ran down Lydia's eyes, shocking everyone.
Go Dae-Kyun took a handkerchief from his pocket and was about to pass it to him, but Lee Yong beat him to it by passing the tissue from the table.
No one at the table understood the conversation, but they all stayed silent, not wanting to disturb them.
Go Dae-Kyun sat next to Lydia as she silently cried on his shoulder.
Soon they got the news that president Lim Tae-Ri had come to the company for the first time. And she did not come alone. She personally picked up the new choreographer and took him to the HR head to complete his hiring process.
Lydia and Go Dae-Kyun looked at each other for a minute before marching to the president's office to demand the truth.
Lee Yong watched their back, and his curiosity about the new choreographer spiked.
He glared at Ra Soo-Ri as a warning to never get close to him and walked away, hoping that at least Lydia and Go Dae-Kyun would find what they were searching for...