Producer's Corner

Chapter 18

A/N: Thank you so much for 3.8k reads!! I really appreciate y'all for clicking on my story and giving it a chance.
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Rolling around in bed, Kiki is startled by the sudden ringing of her phone. Turning around to face her bedside table, she grabs her phone off the table.

Her eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness, Kiki squints at her screen. Eyebrows furrowed at the name tag.

"Hello?" Kiki starts off confused and sluggish.

A deeper voice echoes through the phone. "Hello... Did I wake you?"

Sighing and rolling back into her original position, she answers his question with a simple reply. "No."

"Sorry, either way." He was being very awkward about the phone call, which is kind of weird since he's the one who initiated it.

"Do you always call people you barely, kind of, know at one in the morning?"

Silence fills the call. "I- no. Not really. But! The reason I called was because, if I recall correctly, you mentioned you work best at night, so I figured we could finally start working on our collaboration. Although now that I'm saying it out loud, it sounds a little ridiculous. I could have just called in the morning to set up a meeting or something. I also didn't consider that you may prefer meeting in person..."

Kiki relaxes even more, the tension leaving her shoulders as she listens to Chan rant about why he called. Her chest warming at the consideration he had. How he actually listened and took in the information she had spouted out during their first meeting.

She finally cuts off his rant. "I'm happy that you listened to me, but you are right; I prefer working in person. Also, I do my best work at night. But you need to rest. I know Straykids is promoting their new album right now, and from what I heard, is a pretty busy schedule. I've worked during regular working hours before, so it's no biggie."

He, himself relaxes at her own rant. Tired from the long hours of practicing and recording interviews. But it's all he could hope for; he's excited for this new album. A small smile makes its way onto his face at the mention of rest. He's happy that she's considering his own schedule and not just hers. His smile grows bigger at the mention of Stray Kids. He can't wait for her to meet them.

"Hello?" Kiki asks, moving her phone away from her face to see if he hung up or not.

"Chan? Are you still there?"

"Sorry! Sorry. I was thinking a little too hard." He sheepishly states.

"Oh okay. But back to the original topic, I don't mind working at night with you or anything. You just have to make sure you get enough rest and eat properly. Though, I'm not sure if I'm going to need a special pass or something for nighttime. I've never gone to a company during the night."

"I'm sure we could come up with some sort of schedule or deal. And I'm sure JYP isn't going to mind. You might have to be extra careful of the paparazzi." Chan easily refutes.

Softly smiling at his stubbornness, Kiki finally gives in to the idea of working at night. However, she's not complaining.

"Fine, we could go over this properly at a later date, you know, when it's not one in the morning."

Quietly cheering, Chan started to think about when his next free time would be. "If it's the easiest, we could go for a drive again."

Her thoughts stray to their first and only drive. It was easy, and probably the most comfortable she has ever been when meeting someone new. She had fun going back and forth between questions, learning anything but nothing about each other. "Yea. That sounds fun."

"Great, I'll text you a time and date then. I guess that's all I really called for then."

"Wait before you go, how was this topic brought up? Were you working this late or something?" Kiki asks before he has a chance to hang up.

Mulling over the past hour, Chan takes a moment to see what initially brought up the idea. "I guess you could say it was work, but I was doing a livestream for fans. It never feels like work when I do these live streams, though."

Kiki takes a brief moment to think about whether any other artist had mentioned live streaming.

Maybe once or twice, but it was never a topic we dove into.

"And usually do these livestreams late at night?" She questions.

"That does sound a little ridiculous, doesn't it? I try to do it when international stay can tune in. Sometimes I do a live stream after concerts."

Interesting; maybe I'll tune into a livestream.
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Later in the morning, Kiki once again startles from her sleeping daze. This time to her door slamming open.

Trying her best to stay at least half asleep, she shoves her head under her pillow....

She groans as the pillow is pulled from her hands.

"Whatttt!!!" She practically whines.

Smirking at Kiki's whining form, Lucas started "gently" hitting her with the pillow. "Wake up, sleepy head. It's already eleven. And you need to at least eat lunch."

Groaning again, Kiki sits up while rubbing her eyes. "You would be complaining if you had trouble falling asleep the previous night and then were startled at one in the morning because somebody decided to call you about meeting up again."

Gasping at the last part of the statement, Lucas jumps onto her bed and settles against the wall. Her pillow sitting in his lap.

"I'm kind of surprised he was the one who called first."

Rolling her eyes at his antics, she states. "I'm glad you listened to everything else. Your gossiping tendencies are getting out of hand. Stop egging on Meg when she gossips."

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "We aren't talking about me. When will you and Chan meet up again?"

Falling back into her bed, she says, "I don't know; I haven't checked anything. Stop acting like me and Chan are dating or something. You've never shown this much interest in other idols before; why is Chan so special?"

"You're literally no fun. I did my own research about him and Stray Kids. He seems like a nice person."

Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Kiki pulls the pillow away from him and kicks him out of the bed. "Love you; I'm glad that you're caught up on gossip; I'll eat in a few. Now go away."

Mimicking her in a small, squeaky voice, Lucas picks himself up off the floor and childishly stomps out of her room.

Rolling her eyes at his antics once again, Kiki grabs her phone from the side table.

Unlocking it, to see a new text message, sent at two in the morning.

A soft smile appears.

Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. is the next time I'm free. I'll pick you up.
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Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you have a great morning, day, or night! I don't know if this story is considered a slow burn, but I don't have an actual story line. I have main story plots that I want to incorporate but that's it.

Word Count(not including a/n): 1,150

Character Count: 6,444