With that, they kicked her out of the room, not before slamming that thick document back into her hands to "look into the details further."
"Hmm," she muttered, eyeing the thick document in her hand. "Look into details and lull myself to sleep again? Nope, thanks.
"I wonder how much they pay for human organs these days. Maybe I should start with that..."
Stepping out of the building, she pulled out her phone and checked the taxi app.
"Thirty dollars back..." she read, the number already dancing on the screen to her eyes.
"Nah, forget it," she muttered, clicking her tongue, checking the maps instead. "One hour and thirty minutes estimated time on foot. Alrighty, let's walk then."
Her feet started forward on their own.
All the way home, she reached out to all of her old contacts for singing gigs, but they all gave her vague answers. Most had already booked new singers after she quit, including Vance. The desperation just piled up higher with each call.
By the time Kaija was about to reach home, completely spent and sweating like a pig, her phone rang.
It was some stranger's number again.
She had no mind to even think of who might be calling anymore, just picking it up at once.
"Who's this?" she said, voice heavy with lack of sleep and exhaustion.
No answer came from the other end. Just faint rustling, and the sound of someone's steady breath brushing faintly against the phone.
"Listen, mate, whoever you are," she muttered flatly into the phone, "I don't have time for—"
"It's me," came a familiar steely voice. "Charles Kosonen."
Her brow shot up slightly, lowering the phone to have a good look at the number again.
Huh, did he actually use this number the last time he called? Her sleepless mind couldn't even recall that anymore.
"Mr. Kosonen," she said over a small yawn. "Why are you calling again?"
The other end went completely silent again, during which she almost fell asleep, until at last his voice came. "Kaija, I thought I would see you on flight STAR420 this morning, like I told you last time."
"Oh... right," her eyes wandered, still couldn't conjure the memory. "Well, Mr. Kosonen, see, several things happened during these past few days... but anyway, I'm no longer with Starlight Airlines. Maybe that's why you didn't see me on that flight."
Charles went speechless for another brief while, but this time, he managed to recover faster than the last time. "I know," he said, "I asked the flight attendants on the flight. I heard what happened."
"Oh, good!" she said brightly. Then her tone dropped. "Then why are you still calling?"
"Like I said," he replied, patient as ever, "I'd hoped you'd change your my about my offer."
Her finger hovered in the air before she could press the elevator button to her flat.
Then she smack herself hard on the forehead.
"Right..." she muttered, "You uh... offered me a job, at your label."
"I did," he confirmed, "and you should know that I'll happily settle that S$200,000 debt for you."
This time, it was Kaija's turn to fall speechless.
Her eyes darted from left to right, thinking hard through her hazy mind whether what happened since the beginning of the day until now was just a bad dream that she might wake up from very soon.
So, first of all, the airline wanted her to pay them S$200,000 within a year.
One hour and a half of walking later, there was an ultra rich guy calling, offering to settle that same debt for her?
She slapped her face a few more times until the pain became too real to be a dream.
"Look, Mr. Kosonen," she said, "I thought I made it clear to you that my singing is nowhere near the level of the artists at your KE. My mom has always told me—"
"Then your mom has been terribly wrong," he cut in gently. "I remember every single word you told me that night at the dinner table. But I must tell you this.
"You have the deepest, saddest, most haunting voice I've ever heard in my life.
"It's just you, who haven't listened to yourself properly."
For a while, no response came from Kaija.
The phone went still in her hand, blue gaze softened as heat came creeping up her neck, tinging her cheeks faintly pink.
Hearing no reply, Charles shifted nervously in his seat. "How about we discuss this in detail when I'm back in Z City?" he went on. "I'm already in V City now."
Her sleepy voice came again, now lower and softer than before. "When will that be?"
"In three days," he said. "I'll call you."
"Okay, three days then," she agreed.
Before she could bring the call to an end, his voice came again, now dry with irritation. "One last thing though. Do me a favor and save my number."
Then the man just hung up, and the phone went into beep beep.
Kaija stared at the phone, face blank with confusion.
The guy definitely had a thing for calling out of nowhere and dropping something shocking, before hanging up abruptly, just like when he had asked her out for a dinner that night.
Was it just her, or did her sound a bit annoyed before he hung up?
Hm. Maybe he had a point.
He did say he'd call again. She'd better not answer with "Who's this?" next time.
She swiped open her contacts and started typing in his name.
"Hmm, what should I put?" she muttered, thinking hard. "Mr. Kosonen? Nah, too weird. Charles Kosonen? Too long. Besides, who even does that these days?"
Then something suddenly hit her mind.
Though she couldn't recall much of what they had exchanged that night when they stood in front of the hotel waiting for the chauffeur, she remembered stealing glances at him when he was enjoying his cigarette.
From her point of view, his face, half-lit by the dim golden light, seemed much sharper, though the silver of his eyes became much softer.
Just looking at him suddenly reminded her of some cute lion cub she'd seen on nature documentaries.
"Mister Lion King it is," she said firmly, hitting save.
A quiet sigh escape her.
It seemed her perfectly normal life wouldn't get to be so normal anymore very soon.