Dying Tigers: A Strange Love Story

Meetings - Part 1

There was a knock on my office door.

"Come in." I called.

My boss, Genten Sterts, pushed open the door and stepped in, closing it quietly behind him.

"Is it good news or bad news?" I asked warily. The boss himself didn't come down to the lowly intern offices unless there was important news of some kind or another to deliver.

"That depends on who you ask." He replied cryptically.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I've got a position to offer you. Since you're our most eager female intern, and no one else wants the position anyways, I thought you might like a crack at it."

I took that as the backhanded compliment it was, since those were the only type of compliments my boss knew how to give.

"What's the position?" I asked. I had wanted to be a talent agent since going on a field trip to a film studio in high school and had pursued it relentlessly all through college, getting a double major in visual arts production and business management. I'd been interning at the company for the past five years hoping to work my way up to an agent position. I wasn't hopeful that this was an offer for an agent position, not if no one else wanted it, but I wasn't about to pass up a potential opportunity.

"It's a personal manager position for two of the company's talent." He explained.

My eyebrows arched. "We don't do personal management." I stated. Our company was one of the bigger names out there. Not the biggest by any means, but big enough that we required newcomers be able to deal with their own schedules without us providing a personal manager. The agents would represent them, find them work and schedule appointments, but getting to those appointments and everything else was up to the individual talent to coordinate.

"The higher-ups decided to make an exception for these two." He informed me, making it sound like it was no big deal. But the company never made exceptions like this, there had to be something more.

"Why? What's so amazing about them?" I was skeptical of the whole situation.

"They came to us from our sister company, on the recommendation of its president. Z-Company works mostly with singers, but these two have more of a model's talent. And I've seen composites of some of their introductory work. If we can straighten them out, they'll become one of the biggest assets this company has ever had. They've got potential talent like I've never seen." He pulled a folder out of the stack of papers he was holding and started setting out pictures on the desk in front of me.

I leaned forward to get a better look and sucked in a shocked breath. Two beautiful, blond-haired males sat perfectly poised against one another in every shot. They had a natural grace, their bodies holding a beautiful form, seemingly effortlessly, and there was a sense of power and energy behind their eyes. But there was also an edgy feel about them, something that sent a little warning whispering through one's brain, saying danger, fear, stay away.

"You see what I mean about their talent?" He commented.

"Yes." I breathed in awe. They had a naturally aloof look that didn't often come easily. Usually such a look and feel took years of training and experience to make work, and even then, didn't always succeed. Why hadn't they been snapped up by a model agency years ago? And for that matter, why were the higher ups making such a big exception and allowing them to have a personal manager?

"Their names are Tareiji and Jareka." Sterts added.

"Interesting names." I commented, still staring at the photos in front of me. "Are they stage names?"