Chapter 35
NOAH
I’d officially found my new happy place. A new core memory to lock away, thanks to Team Olympus. Lying on the floor of the dance studio, sweaty and exhausted, with my head in Minho’s lap while Torin drew cherry blossoms on my hand and wrist with colorful markers.
August was still on his feet, humming under his breath as he practiced the choreography Minnie had just come up with to support his former K-pop bandmate’s solo release. We’d filmed our best take, and he’d sent it to his friend for feedback, so we were just waiting to hear back.
“Do you miss it?” I asked, looking up at Minho from my comfy position. “Being in a group, I mean?”
“I am in a group,” he replied with a teasing smile, his fingers combing through my hair lazily.
I rolled my eyes. “Not the same thing. You still seem like you’re on good terms with your old group. Would you ever get back together?”
He shook his head, a sad sort of smile playing across his lips. “No, what happened was deliberate. I miss some parts of being in 1-4-3, but there are so many aspects I’m incredibly lucky to have gotten away from.”
“Deliberate?” I repeated, frowning my confusion as I remembered the rumors of Minho being fired due to a scandal with his boss’s daughter. “What do you mean?”
Minnie sighed, raking his fingers through his own hair before leaning back on his hands.
“Uh, it was a setup. We were all really young when we signed the contracts with our record label—like, I was sixteen when we debuted and nowhere near mature enough to understand what I was agreeing to. I’m sure you’re not shocked to hear it was a really bad contract. ”
Torin huffed a sound of agreement, clearly already having heard this story. “Always read the fine print, bro.”
Minnie extended his middle finger toward Torin before shifting his focus back to me.
“Yeah, well, by the time we realized, we were already in too deep. For a while we made it work and focused on the benefits, focused on the art, but we eventually hit a breaking point. Two of my group members had started dating in secret, and when production found out, it was not pretty. Idols are meant to always maintain the illusion of availability to sell the boyfriend concept, so literally any relationship is forbidden. Long story short, they were miserable, it was impacting everyone’s mental health, and we knew we needed to break contracts by whatever means necessary. ”
“You couldn’t just walk away?” I asked, despite the fact I knew full fucking well these things were never that easy.
“Not if we didn’t want to spend the rest of our lives in debt to the company, we couldn’t,” Minho replied with a grimace. “The only way to get out was for them to end the contract. So…” He shrugged.
“So you live streamed while fucking your company CEO’s daughter?” I finished for him, trying not to sound judgmental, but at the same time, given what I’d just gone through with Rich, it was ick.
Minnie let out a long sigh. “Yep. But to be perfectly clear, it was her idea. She wanted to launch her CB:AO account and thought it would be a great publicity hook…not to mention it’d piss off her dad, who was majorly absent for most of her life.”
“And it got you fired,” I murmured, understanding their plan and relieved to hear the girl had been a willing participant.
Minho nodded. “Morality clause. Which in turn triggered a disbandment clause, allowing the rest of the group to cancel their contracts with no financial repercussions.”
I was quiet for a moment, turning that information over in my mind and finding a new respect for what, on the surface, had seemed like a shallow act from an arrogant celebrity.
“Things must have been really bad, to go to those lengths,” I finally said out loud, looking up at him as his fingers returned to my hair.
He shrugged again. “It worked out in the end.”
“What about your friends?” I asked with curiosity, wondering if it was the group members I suspected but not wanting to pry. “Did they stay together?”
A warm smile curved his lips and he nodded. “Yes. Still technically a secret—for publicity purposes they’re just living together as friends—but they got married last year and have adopted three cats.”
“It’s sad they have to hide it,” I commented, glancing down to where Torin was extending the cherry blossoms up my forearm. “Even though you broke your contracts?”
“It’s a business decision,” Minho replied with a shrug. “And at least they’re together.”
“Meanwhile, Minnie is still paying off the consequences for the whole group,” Torin muttered under his breath, keeping his eyes lowered to the drawing on my arm.
Minho just scoffed and poked Torin in the arm. “Good thing you fuckers and Olympus Corp took me in to help pay the debt off, huh?”
Before I could ask what that all meant, the door opened and my least favorite team member came strolling in with his phone in hand.
“What’s your secret, Little Dude?” Xavier asked with a suspicious look.
Alarm shot through me and I sat up, making Torin growl as his marker slipped. “What do you mean? What secret?”
“You tell me,” he shot back, eyes narrowed. “Someone is spam-commenting on every one of our team Bytes saying they ‘know your secret.’ So, what is it?”
Ice formed along my spine, and my stomach twisted. Was it just a troll or did someone actually know? Had someone connected the dots and was ready to out me as a fraud? Fuck. Where was my phone?
August took a smooth step closer, like he was presenting a physical barrier between Xavier and the rest of us, putting his hand out. “Dude, is that why you came up here? To poke at Noah about some spam commenter? Surely you have better things to do.”
Xavier shrugged, drawing far too much attention to his smoothly toned shoulders in the black tank top he wore. “This seems fairly important. So what are you hiding from us, Little Dude?”
“Nothing you need to know, Godzilla,” I drawled in my most unaffected voice possible, considering the utter panic filling my chest. “Don’t you get tired constantly thinking about me?”
Xavier’s eyes widened a moment before he sneered back at me. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m simply worried that whatever bullshit you’re mixed up in will eventually hurt this team. So what is it, huh? Gambling debt? Murder? Porn?”
I flinched because that last guess hit way too hard to home, and damn if his eyes didn’t narrow further with the sharp recognition that he’d hit a sore point.
“Xavier, that’s enough.” Minho pushed up off the floor and offered me his hand up. “Don’t we all need to be somewhere that’s not here?”
“Literally anywhere else,” Torin agreed with an eye roll and scathing glance Xavier’s way.
That only seemed to push his buttons, though, and he glowered pure venom my way.
“Fuck off, you guys. I’m not being an asshole just for fun; I’m looking out for our team.
Little Dude has been shady since day fucking one, and you’re all going to pretend it doesn’t bother you?
Like you don’t notice how secretive he is with that supposed back injury that doesn’t actually seem to hinder any activity? ”
“It’s none of our business,” Minho growled, stepping slightly between Xavier and I, as though he thought this was going to turn physical. Was it? Fucking hell, that’d be a first for me and really not likely to end well given my lack of fighting ability…or strength in comparison to actual men.
“Back off, Xavi,” August warned, folding his arms and shooting Xavier with a hard glare. “Or do you want us to start digging through your closet for skeletons? We all have our fair share, and you’re no exception.”
Xavier cast a long look in August’s direction, and I thought for sure he would ignore the warning, but instead he shrugged.
“Whatever, this isn’t worth my time. I’m sure your secret will come out sooner or later, Little Dude.
This commenter seems determined enough to out you, so maybe you need to think about damage control while you still can. ”
Ace appeared in the doorway a moment later, casting a worried look between the lot of us. “Everything okay in here?” he asked with concern.
“Xavier just came to remind us about the photoshoot this afternoon,” Torin replied with a glare in Xavier’s direction. “Right, Xavi?”
“Right,” he agreed with a brittle smile. “The underwear campaign. This will be interesting.” He gave me a long look, and I jerked my gaze to Ace in confusion.
“Not you,” Ace replied with a reassuring head shake. “You get the night to yourself, Eight.”
Xavier whirled around in outrage. “Why? It’s a team campaign, isn’t it?”
Ace arched a brow as if to tell Xavier to reassess his attitude fast. “Yes, but the contract was signed prior to Noah’s joining, and his personal contract excludes him from any preexisting brand deals and sponsorships.
Not that it’s any of your business. Min, Tor, Aug, you all need to shower before we go.
Let’s move, please. I don’t want to be late. ”
He stepped to the side, gesturing for the boys to all leave the dance studio and making it real clear he wouldn’t be leaving us to continue arguing while his back was turned. When it was just me and him left, his expression softened.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, his gaze scanning over me ever so quickly. “Do I need to speak with him?”
I shook my head, tucking my hands into the pockets of my sweatpants. “Nah, he’s just the same old Xavier. Getting bent out of shape about a troll commenter.”
“Ah, that one. He should know better.”
I shrugged. “It’s whatever. So…underwear shoot? What’s that all about?”
Ace grimaced, running a hand over the back of his neck. “It’s a brand collaboration thing, but on the upside, we will get a shitload of free underwear out of it. I’ll bring some back for you, if you want. Boxers or briefs?”
He gave me a thoughtful look, pursing his lips. “Briefs.”
I gave an outraged gasp. “Boxers, thank you.” Which was extra funny, seeing as I used to be a micro G-string kind of girl.
Ace laughed, shaking his head as we exited the dance room together. “Yeah, sure, if you say so. If you go out, make sure you take a security guard with you, all right? I’ve got a weird feeling about how intense some of our fans have been getting with this extended silence from Clik Games.”
“Valid, but I have no plans. Probably hang out here and doom scroll while planning my next content batch.” At least I was honest about it.
Ace laughed, ruffling my hair. “I’m jealous. Enjoy the quiet, Eight. We’ll probably be gone most of the night with the shoot starting so late.”
A whole night alone in Mount Olympus? Definitely unexpected, but at the same time I wouldn’t be letting my guard—or binder—down for a minute.
It’d be just like Xavier to show up unannounced and find me strutting around naked with full tits and vagina on display.
Nope, not risking it. My willpower was stronger than that.