A few days later, Kairo was in the back of the company van, leaning his head of the glass as the lights frosted through the windows. And the world outside this office? This was a place of endless motion, sound, and pressure. But in this short space of time between things happening, he could pause.
His manager, Hana Park, sat opposite him, engrossed on her tablet. 'You read about those Yeseo rumors no?' she asked without looking up.
Kairo blew air out, scratching his head that held black hair. "Yeah. Another baseless story. That's why they're so mad about fixing us up."
"It's what they do," Hana said quietly, but assertively. "You know the game. If it's not true, ignore it. If it is, we manage it."
"Well of course it isn't true." Kairo grumbled somewhat furrowing his eyebrows. "I see her mostly at work and that is often not even together with her."
"Good. It is intertwined that way," Hana said, finally directly looking into his eyes. "Your image matters, Kairo. The fans—"
"I know," I wound up, suddenly conscious that his temper was savage. "I know how it works, Hana."
Hana furrowed her eyes again at some point but she surpressed it. Kairo had certainly been under a lot of pressure recently, more so with the imminent world tour. However, she still could not allow herself any mistakes—least of all with the emerging Yeseo controversies and the weird stans.Kairo walked out from the meeting he had with his manager, his thoughts scattered. "Don't try to think about Yeseo, focus on your music," manager Kim had advised him.
Once he entered the common sitting room, he was met with a few of his Pulse mates already seated on the couch busy in a video game showdown.
"Hey, Kairo! Come play with us," Haneul shouted and threw him a controller.
Kairo wasn't sure and what he was sure was what his manager had instructed him. But the friendly atmosphere that engulfed his members attracted him.
They did not interact for long yet Kairo could not get the glee out of his head.
"Kairo, you alright?" Minsoo inquired, watching him.
"Sure, just a little inside," Kairo laughed awkwardly while smiling.
Soon after the evening got most of the members of Pulse talking about their schedule. Kairo was quite lost, picturing how Yeseo would look smiling.
Later that night when heading to his room, Kairo during his second round of the app noticed how he ended up on Yeseo's account. It was embarrassing and disturbing and he quickly shut it down.
"Is there anything you would like to share? Any tales that can be spun please?" Junho's voice echoed when he passed by Kairo.
"Huh?" Kairo replied, piercingly ignoring Junho's question, "Nothing, just give up please."
Junho's brow went up. "You are not over reacting about manager are you?"
Kairo shook his head, "no I'm fine."
However, when he went to bed, one thought that kept nagging at him was that his affairs with Yeseo would ruin his future prospects.
The night seemed to last for an eternity. He located himself in the shadows of his apartment, phone sitting on the table and continuing to vibrate. Every notification made him sick in the stomach because it was some kind of a scandal and it had his name in it. It was not as if he had wanted to see it, but his instincts forced him to. He viewed one picture, then another. There was an opinion or a hypothesis regarding every fan, a random person, or a reporter. It felt like he was a spectator watching snippets of his life unravel before his eyes.
He was frustrated and questioned himself about how this mess began. Who happened to be the first person that opened their mouth? Was it someone whom he thought was trustworthy? It was an unanswerable question and that pressure was like a blade piercing his heart. He was back on his cellphone thinking how unreasonable the agency would be to not contact him. Maybe they already had a press release ready for this, one which was meant to quell the situation. Or maybe they were on the same page as he was, shaken and astonished.
Kairo wanted to shout, but the only thing he could do was stay put, overwhelmed by his inner self. "How would this affect me? My work?" How about the supporters—what would their response be? How about support? Or would they walk away, just as several others in this business have already done?
They say in situations such as this, one is meant to be strong. Hold your head high, it will eventually blow over. But it is difficult when everything you've done in your entire life, every effort you've put into, could be at risk by a couple of statements, a couple of whispers in the shadows.
Once again he raised his phone. There were some text messages supportive in nature sent to him by his close friends, there were even some messages from a few fans who defended him against the allegations but even those felt so far away. All prayers seemed too much to ask for, the storm was too bad. And right in the center of all these, he was simply…waiting for the night to over and expecting something in the morning, without even knowing whether there would be anything or not.