Neptune

Chapter 2 | The Meeting

Once I step inside my house, I storm into the meeting room. Indeed, my team is waiting for me.

There are four people in the room. Morgan, who is my manager and stepmother. Peter, her assistant. Oscar, her boss, who also happens to be my songwriting partner. And Paul, my makeup artist—as to why he's here too, I don't have any idea.

Along with Mike, my bodyguard, and myself, there are six of us.

"Surprise," Oscar hums, but the look on his face is deadly, like he's not happy with whatever he found on the news.

"I'm on holiday," I groan, sinking into one of the couches, throwing my head back.

This meeting room is more like a living room but not as huge as the real one in the house. But there are definitely a big TV and a projector.

"With how you've behaved, you don't even deserve any holiday," Morgan snaps, and I roll my eyes. "For God's sake, Cassie, it's time for you to grow up."

Each of her words stings, but never in million years would I ever show her again how much it affects me. I gave up a long time ago.

"Come on, Morgan, she just finished her tour," Paul says nonchalantly before sipping his wine. "She deserves a break."

I appreciate Paul's effort to take my side, and so I give him a soft smile.

"And why are you even here, Paul?" Morgan asks, sounding annoyed, her wavy blonde hair tossed as she snaps her head toward my makeup artist.

"For moral support." Paul winks at me.

Right. The people in this room who understand me better are Paul and Mike. I often rant to them about my life problems, telling them about all the struggles I'm going through when my stepmother doesn't even want to hear me.

I can't hate Peter, though. To me, he's just an innocent and hardworking guy who always helps Morgan when things get hectic.

I wouldn't be surprised if he told me that he'd changed his surname from Parker, because he looks just like that handsome nerd in the movie.

As for now, when I shift my attention to him, he just grins, adjusting his glasses.

"Did you see the news?" Oscar asks, a frown touching his lips like he's trying to figure out whether I give a damn about the consequences of my actions. "Or did you check the comments on your Instagram at least?"

With the number of my Instagram followers almost close to that of Justin Bieber's, I definitely can't check all of them, and only the comments with the most likes show up at the top.

Right now, I can guess where they come from.

From the haters.

Fully aware that hateful comments affect me ten times more powerfully than the good comments, I choose not to open my Instagram just yet.

"So, what did they say this time?" I ask, my voice small.

Oscar lets out a long sigh, shaking his head in disbelief. He looks really tired, and I suddenly feel responsible for causing him to look older than his 32-year-oldself.

Usually, he would take my side when Morgan scolds me and approach the topic more diplomatically, but right now, I feel like he's just going to scold me too.

"Cassie, your charts are going down," he says, ignoring my question about the hateful comments.

Yes, I'm aware of that. I know that my career is about to be ruined.

"Cassie."Oscar sighs again. "Four guys in one year. Really?" he asks me in disbelief.

OK. Here we go.

"You know that the news of you breaking up with Jude last year has caused too much damage," Oscar says.

"That's because they didn't know that he cheated," I snap, defending myself.

It's not my fault that I broke up with my ex-boyfriend, Jude Scott, who is currently the world's most loved superstar.

He won three Grammys last year, and I guess that he'll win again this year, with all those heartbreaking songs that he created for me.

He's been saying that in most of his interviews, causing me to be the world's most hated person.

"Unfortunately, the world doesn't know that he's the bad guy here, that he betrayed me and chose that back-up dancer." I scoff, hating that I have to talk about him again, hating myself that I haven't been able to completely move on.

Oscar looks at me with sympathy. "Yes. Unfortunately, Cassie, the world thinks that you cheated on him instead. It's easy for them to think so when they saw you kissing that actor, Brian Russel, only a few days after your breakup news was announced."

I feel my blood boil, anger consuming me.

"He kissed me without my consent," I shout. "Look, I told you and the media that I went to his hotel because I was working on the soundtrack of the movie he's starring in. He just listened to my song and shared his opinion about the character that I'm talking about in my song. I never expected that he would kiss me when he sent me off. I'm not responsible for his divorce."I'm breathless at the end of my sentence.

Peter's mouth hangs open, while Oscar shakes his head again. "Unfortunately, Cassie, the world thinks that you cheated on Jude with a married Brian. In their eyes, you broke their favorite superstar's heart, and are a homewrecker."

"It's not my fault," I shout again.

"Then what about that K-pop star?" Morgan interrupts. "I sent you to South Korea to do a cover photoshoot for their local magazine, not to hook up with one of their golden maknaes."

"I did not hook up with him." I grit my teeth. "He's a great musician and songwriter. We just happened to be at the same event, and we stayed the night working on my songs. But those sasaeng fans apparently snapped a picture of us getting into his car. "

"Well, did you know that most of the K-pop stars are under a contract that they can't have a girlfriend for a specific period of time?" Oscar asks me. "He's still under that contract. The news affected him more than it affected you. He received a lot of hate from his fans, even worse than you did."

I gulp. I can't help but feel guilty for this particular guy. Unlike Jude and Brian who are clearly assholes, he was genuinely interested in working with me. I still keep in touch with him, though, both of us asking each other about how we've been doing lately, talking about how miserable life has been.

"And last but not least, about that Spanish football player," Oscar says. "Did you sleep with him?"

I take a deep breath. "Yes, I did."

Sleeping with Alejandro might not be as controversial as breaking Jude's heart, ruining Brian's marriage, or dating a K-pop star, but I can't help but admit that I really did it this time.

Top that with all the previous misunderstandings, I've just successfully made everything worse.

"Goddammit," Oscar curses under his breath.

"Cassie, I've never taught you how to be a slut." Morgan's harsh comment slices my heart.

"She's not a slut," Paul and Mike say in unison.

Morgan, however, just shakes her head slightly, looking at me like she's humiliated by the fact that I'm her stepdaughter.

I shift my attention back to Oscar. He stares at me—he's never looked so serious. Oscar has never given me that look. That makes my stomach drop.

I know that something really big is about to happen.

"Is it that bad?" I echo, holding my breath as I wait for his answer.

"Darlin', you've heard nothing," he says, his voice calm but strangely causing me to shudder. "It's time for you to make a life-changing decision."