"Girl, you have no idea," Esko said, sticking his phone right in front of Kaija's face. "Word's spread about your performance at the vocal class yesterday!
"Just one day, and now everyone at KE knows your name! My goodness, I got chills watching the videos.
"Everybody's talking about you in the group chats. Just imagine how big you'll get after debut! You're making me a happy manager already."
The blue-eyed girl blinked a few times at the screen, which was showing group chats she obviously hadn't been checking.
Five seconds later, she pushed the phone away from her face, dropping her focus back onto the race on her phone.
"Er, sounds like a good thing," she said. "If that makes you happy, I'm happy too, I guess."
The rambling went on and on as they made their way toward the restaurant.
Around this hour, the restaurant was packed, but unlike yesterday, when the two of them had settled into a corner and quietly eaten, this time the moment they walked in, all eyes turned their way.
As soon as they sat down, a few people approached. Some faces she recognized from vocal training, others she'd never seen before.
"You were amazing," a guy said.
"You absolutely killed it!" another chimed in.
"Can I have a photo with you?"
Kaija's face remained as blank as ever, still not really understanding why they were suddenly saying all this, but she nodded anyway.
"Yeah, sure," she said with a small shrug. "Come on, Esko, I think they want photos of you too."
They didn't.
The poor green-haired manager was quickly pushed aside from his own seat and ended up coordinating the entire photo request session on behalf of his new artist instead.
When Kaija finally realized this sudden chaos was about the small performance she'd done yesterday in vocal training, a brown-haired girl practically lunged at her.
"My goodness, Kaija, right?" she asked, laughing loudly. "You were absolutely insane, girl. I've never seen Karl that speechless before."
A redhead jumped in, grinning brightly. "You really put him in his place," she said, contempt dripping from her tone. "You have no idea how many people I know from that class have suffered under his attitude, let alone this whole label. His peak is basically over now, and yet he still acts like he's king of the world."
"I guarantee you, pretty soon you'll be more famous than Karl. I'm already feeling jealous of Esko here," the brown-haired girl added, her gaze darting toward the green-haired manager struggling to keep the crowd in order.
Kaija didn't reply, because she wasn't really listening.
Her focus was on the menu resting in her lap, wondering what she should have for lunch today.
Suddenly, the chatter thundering around her died.
Kaija glanced up from the pages, wondering if the crowd was finally dispersing so she could eat in peace, or what.
Slowly, the crowd parted to either side. The two girls who'd been mocking Karl turned around, and the color drained from their faces as if they'd seen a ghost.
Karl had been standing there without their noticing.
"You done talking?" he asked, wearing a calm, angelic smile.
The brown-haired girl jumped to her feet. "Karl!" she babbled, rushing toward him and bowing repeatedly. "No! It's not like what you think! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean any of that!"
The redhead followed quickly, her voice trembling with fear. "That's right!" she stammered. "It's not what it sounded like, Karl! We were just… just making a new friend! She's our new friend. Right, Kaija?" She turned desperately toward the black-haired girl, shaking her arm frantically.
"Yada yada yada," Karl mocked, his smile sharpening. "Just a couple of stray dogs who've forgotten who their master is. Maybe it's time I find myself a new manager and a new stylist."
The two girls completely broke down, scrambling to their feet as they rushed toward Karl.
"No, no! Please don't, Karl! Please!" the brown-haired girl cried, clutching his arm. "I've been with you for almost half a year now!
"No other manager has ever managed to stay with you that long! I've tried my best to please you that entire time, haven't I?
"Please, Karl! Please forgive me! I don't want to be with any other artist but you!"
Karl looked down at her coldly, then yanked his arm free so hard she fell backward onto the floor.
"You don't wanna be with any other artist because being with me pays you three times better than the rest, doesn't it? Otherwise, you'd have bolted for the door and probably out of this label the first chance you got," he sneered, yanking his hand sharply away from the girl and sending her toppling backward.
"You want me to forgive you?" he added, flicking imaginary dust off the sleeve of his jacket where her hand had touched. "Then kneel. And beg. Like the dog you are."
Around them, everyone froze in terror.
No one dared move to help the girl to her feet, or speak up to protect her, just standing there in dead silence as if watching some gripping drama unfold.
From her table, Kaija raised a hand. "Sorry, but um, could you please keep your volume down a bit?" she asked. "Your voice is already naturally insanely deep. When you crank it up, it sounds like those sound effects they use for evil devilish ghosts in horror movies, which is kinda nice, actually, but it's a little loud for my ears."
At once, Karl's murderous glare shot from the brown-haired girl scrambling on the floor to the black-haired girl sitting with her back leaning nonchalantly against the chair at the white table.
"Look who's barking now," he muttered, his volume dropping, but only into a dangerous growl. "Two days on this campus, a few dickheads clinging to you like mosquitoes in a swamp, and you're already thinking you're the superstar of this whole place? How insolent."
The crowd instantly parted as he stepped straight toward her.
"Well, first of all, I'm not a dog, so I wasn't barking," she said, raising one finger.
With a second finger, she continued, "Secondly, I just don't like screaming people. So if you feel like yelling at those two, take them to another room and deal with them, alright?"
Karl's steps came to a halt. "The fuck is wrong with you?" he muttered, turquoise eyes narrowing with displeasure. "You think just because you sang my song well, you get to talk to me like this?"
"Oh, so this is about that song," she mumbled to herself, lightly smacking her forehead. "And here I was thinking you didn't like it when you stormed out without a word yesterday. Turns out you thought I did well."
Her voice suddenly lightened, the sleepy trace gone as she smiled up at him brightly. "Alright then! Guess I was wrong about you. You're not exactly that big of a jerk, are you? Do you like boba tea? I'm thinking of getting one. I could grab one for you too."
Karl's face twisted violently, his rage warping with it. First it was confusion, then it turned into pure disbelief, before his fury snapped back in full force, his volume rising again as he barked straight at her face.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? What the fuck does boba tea have to do with any of this?"
Both of Kaija's hands flew up to her ears, shielding them from the auditory assault.
"See, if you like boba tea," she said, wincing, "I can get you some when I'm at the counter. I could get you lunch too. You came here for lunch, right? You must be hungry. What do you want then?"
Karl's whole body trembled, both fists clenching tight as if fighting the urge to smash something.
"I don't want your fucking lunch!" he roared, back at full volume.
He stormed up to her table, slamming a hand down with a violent BANG that made every shoulder in the room flinch, his words spilling out with utter disdain.
"Two Earl Grey teas, white pearls, salted milk foam. Fifty percent ice, fifty percent sugar!"