#30: Pathway to Stardom
Prompt: #30
Title: Pathway to Stardom
Pairing: Chen/Liyin
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word count: 6151
Summary: The path to Jongdae's debut was long and arduous, but every moment spent with Liyin as his guide was more than worth the blood, sweat and tears.
As it was her precious day off, Liyin had been planning on lounging about in her apartment, maybe watch some television and catch up on the shows she hadn't been able to watch in the last three months, maybe play with Beyoncé - anything but actually work. So it had been with more than a little bit of grumbling and a deep frown that she replied to her manager's request to meet in the company building with a short 'I'll be there soon!'
She left her apartment ready to guilt trip her manager into dog-sitting Beyoncé the next time she went on a nationwide tour to make up for both disturbing her day off and making her precious Beyoncé whine unhappily in the entrance way of her house.
She found him seated in the foyer, his eyes fixed on the screen of his tablet.
"You've disturbed my day off," she said by way of a greeting, "and now you must compensate." And she plopped down beside him, pouting sadly up at him.
It only took him one sidelong glance to know what she wanted.
(To be fair, it had been the same request for the past three years. Liyin just missed Beyoncé very much when she had to go on tour.)
"Fine, fine," he sighed heavily, "I'll see what I can do next time."
Liyin let out a quiet cheer of victory, before her expression turned more serious, and she asked, "So, what's this about a meeting?"
"Management wants to see you," her manager said, standing up. "They have a-"
"I'm not in trouble, am I?" Liyin interrupted, wide-eyed with surprise as she stood to follow her manager upstairs. "But I've been obeying their orders to take a break since the end of my last promotion run, and that was four months ago!"
Pausing in her step, she threw back her shoulders indignantly as she cried, "I've been a good girl, I 'ave!" in as close an imitation as she could manage.
"You're not in trouble," her manager cut in, his tone reflecting his exasperation that she hadn't been paying attention to what he had said. "If you had let me finish, you would have found out that they wanted to ask you for a favour, and they wanted to ask you directly."
"Oh," Liyin voiced, miffed, "right."
She said nothing more on their short journey to the meeting room, her mind busily conjuring up ideas of what sort of favours management would want to ask from her. And why were they did they want to ask her personally? Everyone in the company knew that she was generally amenable to whatever idea her manager deemed suitable for her.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed when they had arrived until she felt herself being pulled backwards by a hand on her upper arm, and she thanked the stars that she generally disliked wearing heels. Who knew what sort of damage she may have done to herself and to her ankles if she had been reeled back while wearing those killer heels she wore for performances?
"It's too many hours past your morning alarm for you to still be sleepy and unaware of your surroundings, Liyin," her manager chuckled. "Come on, let's not keep them waiting."
Upon entering the meeting room, Liyin's eyes immediately honed in on the person seated directly opposite the door: the president of the company. For the briefest of moments, she froze in the doorway, the thought that her manager had lied to her earlier when he said that she wasn't in trouble. But it was gone in a flash as her manager nudged her from behind, urging her inside.
(In hindsight, she realised that if she had been in trouble, the president would be watching her entrance like a hawk, rather than conversing with the head of the promotions team seated next to him.)
"Liyin's here, sir," her manager announced after knocking on the door with two sharp raps.
"Excellent!" the president exclaimed, clapping his hands as he stood to welcome them in. He gestured to the empty chairs in front of them, adding, "Come in, come in, before we get too ahead of ourselves with these plans."
Liyin seated herself primly in the seat directly opposite her boss, and she felt her manager move to stand just behind her right shoulder. From this, she guessed that the meeting wouldn't be long at all, which was just as well: it was her day off and she had a date scheduled with Beyoncé, her sofa, and the Beyoncé DVD she had been about to put into the player before her manager had texted her.
(She was still in disbelief that she'd been busy for so long she hasn't even had the chance to watch a DVD released over six months ago.)
"My manager said you had a favour you wanted to ask of me," Liyin began, after watching the other occupants of the room give one another expressions of "You start - no, you start."
"Yes," answered the president, glancing down at the sheets of paper before him and then back at her. "For some time now, we've been planning to debut a new solo artist within the second half of this year. We were wondering if we could count on your expertise to prepare the trainee, both for his debut and his life after debut."
In the silence that followed, Liyin could only blink, not entirely certain she had heard her boss correctly.
Her? Prepare a trainee for debut? She herself had only debuted three years ago - what expertise was the president claiming she had?
Behind her, her manager's clothes rustled, and she guessed that he had shifted his centre of gravity a little to his right, a habit he had when something confused him greatly. It gratified her to know that he was just as confused as she was.
"I'm confused," she said meekly. "I'm not entirely sure where I come in."
The president smiled, as though anticipating that answer, and he turned the topmost sheet of paper in his stack of papers and pushed it towards her. She took it with both hands and looked.
It was a profile sheet, a photo of a boy with short, scruffy hair, geeky glasses, and extremely defined cheekbones staring up at her from where it was stapled in the top right-hand corner.
"His name is Kim Jongdae," the head of trainee development introduced from the president's right. "He's one of our most versatile trainees vocally, and he was cast as a chorus member of the musical we put on last season. When one of the younger leads came down with a cold without an understudy to take on the role, he was brought in to play the part. He was lauded a success that night.
"His assessment results so far show promise, but also that he still has some rough patches to smooth over. But we think that at the rate he's improving, he'll definitely be ready to debut by mid-October, early November. We thought that we could speed up that process by having you work with him, let him have a taster of how top stars work."
"I also remember you expressing an interest in composing and producing songs," the president added, "both for yourself and for your label mates. What better chance than to write and produce the debut song of our up-and-coming superstar?"
Liyin looked down at the profile sheet again as she carefully framed the question that had popped into her mind. It wouldn't do to ask it without the words in the right order, otherwise she might end up beating around the bush.
"What exactly," she cautiously began to ask, "do you hope he'll be able to learn from me first hand? I'd like to know how you think I can contribute to his growth."
The company president fixed her with a calm and steady gaze of assurance. "You've been in the business long enough to know the ins and outs of the industry, what can be done and what should be done. You've also been in the business long enough to know how to conduct yourself in public, how to answer questions and how to field them away. Both of these are things that Jongdae has had no practice in, except during those short five minutes of fame he experienced after the run of the musical, and it's something that is best learnt from someone actually in the situation, rather than on its periphery.
"And maybe you'll not be able to actively teach him anything, but that's okay. I'm sure he will learn just as much from watching you, just as I know you learnt a lot just from observing Junsu when you first debuted."
Ah, she thought, a little bitterly, yes, Junsu. A name she would rather not have to associate with her most career-defining moment.
She was thankful for him, don't get her wrong, and the president hadn't been wrong when he had said that she had learned a lot from Junsu just from watching him. But those memories were also tainted by the bitterness of being largely ignored in favour of talking with his group mates, of being dismissed when he was tired. Junsu had been equally as short with her towards the end of their promotion run as he had been kind to her at the beginning, and it had taught her how to and how not to treat the trainees that came after her.
It had also ingrained in her a fear that she would lead them astray if they ever sought her guidance.
As if sensing her thoughts, her manager laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently, comfortingly. The familiar grasp was enough to pull her out of her thoughts.
"I-" Liyin hesitated.
"I know it's a lot to take in, so think our proposal over," the president cut in. On his face, she could read disappointment, but also understanding. He gave her a small, kind smile, a reassurance. "Will three days be enough?"
"Yes," Liyin answered with a small bow. "Thank you."
The president assured her that it was nothing, and then he nodded to each of the staff, adjourning the meeting.
That night, and the night after, Liyin slept on the question - quite literally, writing it down on a sheet of paper and sticking it under her pillow.
Two days later, she met the president for lunch and announced that she would take up the challenge.
"I knew I could count on you," he beamed.
A week later, Kim Jongdae was informed both of his upcoming debut and of the project that would pave the way to it.
"Oh my God," he gasped, his breathing bordering on hyperventilation - much to the amusement of the trainee co-ordinators and the worriment of his future manager. "Liyin-sunbae- I-"
The head of vocal training reached over the table to cover his hand, gently patting the back of it. "Yes, Jongdae," she said, "Liyin will be personally overseeing the project that will become your debut release. No, Jongdae, you're not dreaming."
And just to prove her point, she pinched him hard on the back of his hand. The shrill yelp he let out was a sound he would deny he ever made to his dying breath.
On the morning of his first scheduled meeting with Liyin, Jongdae made sure to wake up extra early so he could be sure that he definitely looked awake and alert. After all, it was an extremely important meeting - not only would he be meeting with the person responsible for producing the music for his debut, he was (more importantly) going to meet his ultimate idol, the reason why he had chosen to audition for this company in the first place - and it wouldn't do to look sloppy.
As he looked into the mirror after washing his face, he couldn't help but pinch his cheeks, then slap them, just to check that he wasn't dreaming. He still wasn't entirely convinced that this was real, that he was really going to meet Liyin and work with her!
He suddenly let out a little scream of excitement, which was cut short by an angry pound on the bathroom door.
"God, you're so annoying," grouched Kyungsoo in a voice that could only mean he was half-awake - probably having been prematurely awoken by Jongdae's alarm - and not at all happy about it. "Hurry up, will you? I need the toilet."
Jongdae quickly finished his morning routine and left Kyungsoo to his business.
He opted to skip eating a proper breakfast, and instead grabbed a piece of bread from the bag to snack on as he got ready to go. Truthfully, he wasn't sure the food would stay in his stomach, he was so nervous.
As he was putting on his shoes, his phone began to vibrate in his back pockets, and he jerked in surprise, still not used to the idea of having his own manager. He almost didn't pick up the call in time, so mesmerised by the word "Manager" displayed on the caller ID, had it not been for his roommate Baekhyun slapping him out of his daze on his way to the kitchen.
"I didn't know whether to expect you to be up or not," his manager said when he finally connected the call.
"I couldn't sleep," Jongdae admitted quietly.
His manager made a quiet humming sound. "I'll be downstairs in five minutes. Have you eaten?"
"Yeah," he lied, "I had some cereal."
"Good. I'll see you in a bit then."
Jongdae assured his manager that he would be downstairs, and then hung up.
"So," piped up a voice from behind him, unexpectedly, "it's today, huh? Good luck, bro!"
Jongdae twisted round to see Baekhyun grinning at him as he leaned against the back of the sofa.
"Thanks," he said, standing up. They did their handshake, a familiar routine that grounded him, and then he waved goodbye, stepping out of the door.
Liyin had requested that their first meeting take place in a practice room - specifically, her practice room, which contained her special upright piano. It had been a present from the company president on her first music show win, and it has been her favoured musical companion ever since. If she was going to coach and produce this trainee for debut, she would do so in her home ground before letting him fly off on his own.
That, and also because she always felt that her productivity took a beating when she wasn't working in her own practice room.
She was already waiting inside when Jongdae and his manager arrived, fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled meeting time.
"Ah!" Jongdae gasped when he opened the door to find her seated at her piano. "Am I-?"
Liyin smiled, beckoning them into the room. "You're right on time- ah, early, even. Come on in."
Jongdae entered cautiously, walking into the room with small, tentative steps. The grip he had on the strap of his bag was so tight that his knuckles had turned white. He kept glancing around the room, taking in the sight of his idol's training room, a place he had never once imagined he would get the chance of seeing let alone spend time in. And yet, here he was, entering Zhang Liyin's practice room with the prospect of spending much of the coming months in this very room with the very person who had inspired him to be here.
Once he was standing a little way inside the room, he hastily dropped into a low bow, a movement so abrupt that his bag slipped off his shoulder and fell to the floor with a soft thump. Luckily, there was nothing fragile inside and it simply fell on the floor without anything breaking - except, perhaps, Jongdae's dignity and hopes of making a good first impression.
Liyin found the sound positively endearing, but she didn't want to make him feel any more mortified than he must already be feeling, so she stifled down the urge to giggle. Instead, she rose from her seat and made her way over to his side. With a gentle hand, she guided him back up from his bow and pried his fingers from around his bag strap, taking the bag to the edge of the room and leaving it next to her own things.
"Take a deep breath," she told him as she made her way back to her piano. She settled back down on its plush cushion, watching him with a small quirk of her lips.
He did as he was instructed, breathing in slowly through his nose. He felt his rib cage expand as his lungs filled with air.
"Good," she said, "now breathe back out slowly, through your mouth."
Again, he did as he was told, letting his mouth fall open a little as he slowly pushed the air back out. As he did so, he felt the nervousness that had gripped him earlier melt away, leaving his mind calmer and his muscles more relaxed.
"Very good," Liyin praised, clapping a little. "Feel better now?"
"Yes," Jongdae answered immediately, "thank you."
"As long as you feel better and are ready to get to work," she said. "Are you ready to prepare for you debut?"
Now that he had gotten over the first hurdle of meeting his respected idol, he felt ready to tackle anything thrown his way.
"Yes," he answered eagerly, and then he bowed his waist a full ninety degrees. "Please take good care of me!"
"Good. Then let's get started with some scales," she suggested, playing a middle C on the piano. "Show me what you can do."
Working with Zhang Liyin was unlike anything Jongdae had ever experienced so far in his comparatively short time as a trainee. He was used to working with sharp-eared vocal trainers who could pick out stray notes just the tiniest bit off, and strict dance instructors who could spot misplaced arms and legs by millimetres.
Liyin was just as sharp-eared and strict as his previous instructors, but she was also meticulous to the last detail, carefully stringing together fragments of melodies plucked seemingly out of thin air (or off the tip of his tongue) and tying lyrics to each note. They worked from early morning to late night, the days well-structured without many breaks in between, and they only stopped when their manager stepped into the room with take-out boxes of dinner.
It was a different but equally as educational experience for Jongdae as the time he had spent as just a trainee, learning first-hand how top stars worked and lived.
He wondered if this would be him in three years' time.
Midway through work one day, Liyin's manager appeared in the doorway of her practice room and beckoned her to step outside for a quick word. When she came back in, she suggested that they take a break.
"Not too long a break," she assured when he looked at her with a slightly bewildered expression, wondering at the break in their routine, "just to get a breath of fresh air. Do you drink coffee?"
Jongdae nodded.
She clapped in excitement. "Excellent! There's a great little coffee shop not too far away. We can go there and soak in the atmosphere."
She dug around in her bag for a moment, before pulling out her purse.
"Maybe I'll get my muse back too, after I've had a walk and some coffee," she laughed as they made their way out of the practice room.
When they arrived in the foyer, they were met with the sight of their managers seated on one of the plush sofas; Liyin's manager was tapping his foot, as if impatient. When their managers saw them, they stood up, and Jongdae saw that both of them were holding baseball caps and sunglasses.
"That's the best we could do in the five minutes you gave us to prepare," Liyin's manager said, making an unhappy face as he handed over his ware.
"It should be enough," Liyin assured with a light smile. She took the hat first, slipping it over her head, and as she put on the sunglasses, she added, "We're not going for total coverage, after all. The company wants us to be seen, to create speculation and hype up his upcoming debut. We want them to recognise us - or, at the very least, me."
Liyin's manager made a disgruntled noise while Jongdae took the disguise props his own manager was holding out to him, which tickled a small laugh out of her.
"Be careful," her manager said in parting as Liyin led Jongdae out of the building. "Call if you need me to pick you up."
"I will do," she replied with a quick wave.
She took him out of the building via the side exit, which led out to a largely empty car park - it was the summer holidays, and many of the company's employees were on vacation with their families. More importantly, though, Jongdae noticed, was that there were less fans congregated outside, beyond the guarded barrier on the other side of the parking lot.
"If you ever want a quick escape but your manager hasn't brought round the car, or you just want to go out by yourself," she told him in a quiet voice as they walked towards the barrier, "come out this exit. There are less fans camping outside - because of the guards - and you're less likely to get brained by a camera lens."
"Have you ever gotten hurt, trying to leave the building?" Jongdae asked, although he already knew the answer.
It had been a near-miss, actually: Liyin had narrowly avoided being knocked out by the massive telescopic lenses eager fansite masters would attach to their cameras on the front steps of their old company building. It had happened when she had first made her debut, when she had been working with Kim Junsu, and the fansite master had bowed low in apology after the incident, promising to keep a wider berth in the future, and make sure other fansite masters did the same.
Jongdae knew all this because he had been a member of another fansite, whose master had called out the offending fansite master and initiated a war on Twitter, over keeping respectable distances and things fans should and shouldn't do. At first, he had been indignant that his idol had nearly met with an accident at the hands of a fellow fan; by the end, he had just felt sorry that the fansite master received so much hate for something they had properly apologised.
"Almost," Liyin replied, pulling Jongdae out of his memories, "in front of the old building. But"-and she turned to smile at him, the expression both amused and mysterious-"you're a Chocolyn, aren't you? You must already know all about the incident."
Jongdae flushed, not having expected to be caught out, and out on the streets no less. Thankfully, she quickly turned her gaze back to the streets so he wouldn't feel pressurised by the sudden exposure.
"It was on your profile," she continued lightly, "the reason why you auditioned. And if it hadn't been, I would have come to the same conclusion from the vocal trainer's notes about how much you sing my songs for practice."
Jongdae didn't know what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet as they crossed under the barrier and out onto the streets.
The small gaggle of fans, which had already started moving when they had sighted people leaving the building, suddenly began to make high-pitched noises of excitement. A few of them quickly made to grab their bags - possibly to follow Liyin and Jongdae - but they were held back by other fans around them.
"Oh, good," Liyin muttered, just loud enough for Jongdae to hear, "there are paps in that crowd- Don't look."
Jongdae, who had just been about to do exactly that, faltered in his step, and then carried on as if nothing had happened. Instead, he sneaked a backward glance when they were a little further down the road.
"You'll learn to recognise them the longer you're exposed to the culture," she said. "There are only a few that rotate shifts outside our building, so you'll quickly remember who they are and which social media circle they belong to."
"There was an ulterior motive to this break, wasn't there?" Jongdae suddenly asked, catching on. "Other than to get fresh air and a drink…"
"You catch on quick," she replied with a laugh, turning to him with a large grin. "The company president asked me to get the media speculating, so I'm doing just that. If there's one thing everyone loves, it's a good scandal, and nothing's more scandalous than a company's top star being spotted wandering around with someone social media isn't familiar with. Interest in you will start piquing later this afternoon, and that'll give the PR team something to work with to build up the anticipation for your debut."
True to Liyin's words, Jongdae was accosted by Baekhyun before he could leave the house the next morning, the other trainee's mobile phone shoved in his face. Before he could ask why his friend was showing him his phone, Jongdae's eyes caught sight of the photo on the screen, and his eyes widened - both in surprise and guilt.
"Care to tell me why you're in the same photo as Liyin-sunbae?" Baekhyun demanded, waving the phone.
"Um-" Jongdae hesitated, not sure what to say, how to get out of this situation he now found himself in.
"I think the question Baekhyun is actually trying to ask," Kyungsoo drawled, appearing at Baekhyun's shoulder, "is when you were going to tell him that you've been working with Liyin-sunbae for the last few weeks."
"Um… Soon?!" squeaked Jongdae, curling in on himself.
At Baekhyun's glare, he found himself withering even further.
"Look," he began, throwing up his hand in defeat and a little shame, "I wasn't sure if I was allowed to say anything, or - if I could - how much."
"I thought we were best friends," Baekhyun exploded, grabbing Jongdae's shoulders dramatically. "We do not keep things like meeting and working with our crushes a secret from each other!"
Before Jongdae could apologise, Baekhyun huffed and stomped off. The sight had Kyungsoo chortling, before he shrugged.
"Jealous Baekhyun's funny," he said quietly. "Congratulations, by the way, even though we all sort of knew in the first place." At Jongdae's look of astonishment, he added, "You're not exactly the most subtle person, Jongdae. It's not hard to work out when you come back every evening, whistling or humming happily."
And then Kyungsoo leaned in, squinting. "I hope you haven't embarrassed the name of trainees everywhere with your awkward."
Jongdae spluttered indignantly at that, frowning angrily as his friend laughed lightly.
"Good luck," Kyungsoo said, patting Jongdae's shoulder as he made to leave the room. "We're all cheering you on."
After that initial outing, Liyin took Jongdae out around town quite a few times more. They visited museums and beauty parlours and coffee shops, anywhere they could be seen and photographed together without really being approached. Sometimes, the trips were planned ahead of time; sometimes, they were spontaneous.
In addition to piquing media interest, though, the trips were also chances for Jongdae to sneak a peek into his role as a celebrity.
The trips to various beauty parlours were chances to introduce Jongdae to people he might be working with in the future. The outings to the museums and galleries were for Jongdae to acclimatise himself with being surrounded by objects of cultural significance. The jaunts to coffee shops were to show Jongdae the landscape around the company building.
Beyond the trips, too, Jongdae often found himself staying up late into the night, doing late night readings and watching documentary re-runs. It exhausted him, but he knew that everything would eventually contribute towards the persona he would show the public once he'd debuted, and that was motivation enough for him. Liyin was considered one of the most cultured, most knowledgeable artists in the industry, and it was the same sort of image that he wished to be branded.
But the more time he spent preparing for his debut, the more bogged down he felt. There was just so much he needed to learn, so much he needed to remember, and he was beginning to realise why so many budding stars never made it to the place they deserved.
Maybe, his traitorous mind hissed from time to time, he'll end up being one of them.
Liyin was quick to notice his insecurity, which had begun manifesting on his face in the form of dark circles around his and long, heavy expressions.
At first, she chose to say nothing - neither encouragement nor discouragement. She had gone through a similar process of self-depreciation and doubt in the run-up to her own debut, and she knew that there were some things that could only be resolved through self-reflection.
But as the days passed, and Jongdae's face grew longer and heavier, she knew that she had to step in and give him some form of motivation.
She found the time to do so in the middle of a particularly gruelling day of work. They had spent most of the morning in the recording studios, letting Jongdae familiarise himself with the equipment before experimenting with a few test runs.
The first couple had gone smoothly, Jongdae's voice warming up as he pushed for higher, brighter notes. But on the third go, his voice became stuck halfway up a run, and he huffed angrily as he stepped away from the mic. It happened again on the fourth, fifth and sixth run, at which point Liyin called him out of the booth for a quick break.
When he stepped out, all she could feel was pity at the sight of distress on his face. The expression made his face look almost gaunt.
"Take a seat," she instructed, gesturing to the sofa pushed up against the back of the room.
As he did so, the intern she had flagged down earlier with the request of making some tea popped back in, two steaming mugs in her hand. She thanked the intern as she took the mugs, and chuckled after the star-struck intern had left.
"Drink this," she said as she handed him a mug, and a great cloud of steam wafted towards him, smelling distinctly of citron. "It'll soothe your throat."
Jongdae took the offered mug with a weak but grateful smile.
"These last few days," she began quietly a few moments later, after they'd both had a sip or two, "how many hours of sleep have you averaged?"
The question startled Jongdae, who then looked away, cheeks pink. Not enough was the unspoken answer they both knew.
Liyin sighed.
"I admire your motivation and ambition, Jongdae," she said, "so I sincerely hope that you won't destroy yourself before you have the chance to realise your dreams. You have so much potential - the company has recognised that, and so have I - and the world deserves to hear the brilliance of your voice. It would be a shame for it to go to waste before you've even begun."
Jongdae drew in a shuddering breath. "I-" He stopped, not knowing where to even begin.
Liyin waited patiently, eventually putting down her mug on the glass coffee table and stretching her hands over the surface to cover his own.
"You won't fail, Jongdae," she assured, squeezing his hands. There was firmness, a conviction in her voice that made him look up from his mug. "I won't let you fail, Jongdae, but you must also do your very best not to burn out, okay?"
He nodded automatically. The movement was more of a jerk of his head than anything else, but it was still a nod nonetheless.
"Promise me you'll take good care of yourself whenever you have the ample time to do so, now and in the future," she urged. "Promise me you won't spend the time you could be resting researching and reading up on things, unless the thing you're researching is relevant for your activities the next day."
He nodded again, and this time the movement was less mechanical, more resolute.
"Good," she sighed, looking relieved as she pulled away. "Take your time finishing the tea, then go and grab a bite. We'll pick up where we left off after lunch."
Jongdae made a noise of acknowledgement through his nose, his mouth busy slurping down the tea, and then he went to find something to eat.
After lunch, he managed to make a lot of progress with the sound tests they were running. When he stepped out of the booth at the end of the day, Liyin happily informed him that she thought they were ready to record the tracks of his debut release.
That night, he slept the deepest sleep he'd slept in a long time.
Work picked up soon afterwards, and before Jongdae could really comprehend it, it was mid-September and the production team was putting the final touches on the mini-album he would soon be releasing. The months of hard work he and Liyin had put into writing, composing and arranging songs culminating in a shiny plastic disc.
Liyin called him into her practice room when the initial final product was ready for listening.
"After we listen to this," she said as she waved the otherwise generic-looking CD in the air, "I'll be turning this project over to the promotions and artistic teams. They'll take care of everything, from the styling and filming of your music video to the schedule of your promotion round.
"In other words, once we've listened to this CD, you'll be on your own, stepping out into the music industry as a debuted artist."
Jongdae blinked, not having expected things to move so swiftly. He had thought that he would still be spending some time with Liyin, working on any adjustments that had to be made and discussing promotion strategies.
She laughed when he told her that.
"No, sorry," she said, looking a little apologetic. "Unfortunately, this is as far as I'm going. The details after this, they're beyond my ability, so once we've listened to the album, I'm going to hand the project over to the professionals."
Jongdae hung his head.
"Hey," she called gently, making him peek up through his fringe, "if it's any comfort, I listened to bits and pieces as the producers were putting it together and it sounds fantastic. You have so many options to work with for your title track, and the team you'll be working with for promotions has worked with me on lots of occasions. And it's not as though you can't come to me for any advice and words of comfort when you need them - you know where to find me, after all." She laughed, pointing to the door of her practice room.
Despite the soft laugh and encouraging sound of her voice, Jongdae could sense finality behind her words, and he could only nod in understanding that this session would be the last time he'd be spending extended time in Liyin's company. After this, the project that was his debut would be handed over to "the professionals."
He suddenly heard a little buzzing sound from the other end of the room and he looked up to see Liyin standing beside her CD player. The disc tray had been opened and the shiny disc she had been holding earlier was hovering an inch above the tray.
"Ready?" she asked with a small smile on her face.
He nodded, the movement a little jerky, and she put the CD in.
~ E P I L O G U E ~
"And the winner of the Best Male Newcomer award is…" The announcer drew a breath as he opened the stiff golden envelope and slid out the card inside.
"Kim Jongdae!"
Jongdae beamed as he bounced onto his feet, half propelled by giddy excitement and half by congratulatory slaps to his back. As he made his way up onto stage to accept the award - delayed by the deluge of well wishes from fellow artists around him - he caught sight of Liyin clapping enthusiastically along with everyone else from the other side of the stage, and he grinned, flashing her a double thumbs up.
"Thank you," he mouthed.
She shook her head, both to say that it was nothing and in fond resignation, before waving him up onstage.
You made it here on your own, her gesture seemed to say to him, and he would have begged to differ if he had the chance.
He'd made it here because of her.
Title: Pathway to Stardom
Pairing: Chen/Liyin
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word count: 6151
Summary: The path to Jongdae's debut was long and arduous, but every moment spent with Liyin as his guide was more than worth the blood, sweat and tears.
As it was her precious day off, Liyin had been planning on lounging about in her apartment, maybe watch some television and catch up on the shows she hadn't been able to watch in the last three months, maybe play with Beyoncé - anything but actually work. So it had been with more than a little bit of grumbling and a deep frown that she replied to her manager's request to meet in the company building with a short 'I'll be there soon!'
She left her apartment ready to guilt trip her manager into dog-sitting Beyoncé the next time she went on a nationwide tour to make up for both disturbing her day off and making her precious Beyoncé whine unhappily in the entrance way of her house.
She found him seated in the foyer, his eyes fixed on the screen of his tablet.
"You've disturbed my day off," she said by way of a greeting, "and now you must compensate." And she plopped down beside him, pouting sadly up at him.
It only took him one sidelong glance to know what she wanted.
(To be fair, it had been the same request for the past three years. Liyin just missed Beyoncé very much when she had to go on tour.)
"Fine, fine," he sighed heavily, "I'll see what I can do next time."
Liyin let out a quiet cheer of victory, before her expression turned more serious, and she asked, "So, what's this about a meeting?"
"Management wants to see you," her manager said, standing up. "They have a-"
"I'm not in trouble, am I?" Liyin interrupted, wide-eyed with surprise as she stood to follow her manager upstairs. "But I've been obeying their orders to take a break since the end of my last promotion run, and that was four months ago!"
Pausing in her step, she threw back her shoulders indignantly as she cried, "I've been a good girl, I 'ave!" in as close an imitation as she could manage.
"You're not in trouble," her manager cut in, his tone reflecting his exasperation that she hadn't been paying attention to what he had said. "If you had let me finish, you would have found out that they wanted to ask you for a favour, and they wanted to ask you directly."
"Oh," Liyin voiced, miffed, "right."
She said nothing more on their short journey to the meeting room, her mind busily conjuring up ideas of what sort of favours management would want to ask from her. And why were they did they want to ask her personally? Everyone in the company knew that she was generally amenable to whatever idea her manager deemed suitable for her.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed when they had arrived until she felt herself being pulled backwards by a hand on her upper arm, and she thanked the stars that she generally disliked wearing heels. Who knew what sort of damage she may have done to herself and to her ankles if she had been reeled back while wearing those killer heels she wore for performances?
"It's too many hours past your morning alarm for you to still be sleepy and unaware of your surroundings, Liyin," her manager chuckled. "Come on, let's not keep them waiting."
Upon entering the meeting room, Liyin's eyes immediately honed in on the person seated directly opposite the door: the president of the company. For the briefest of moments, she froze in the doorway, the thought that her manager had lied to her earlier when he said that she wasn't in trouble. But it was gone in a flash as her manager nudged her from behind, urging her inside.
(In hindsight, she realised that if she had been in trouble, the president would be watching her entrance like a hawk, rather than conversing with the head of the promotions team seated next to him.)
"Liyin's here, sir," her manager announced after knocking on the door with two sharp raps.
"Excellent!" the president exclaimed, clapping his hands as he stood to welcome them in. He gestured to the empty chairs in front of them, adding, "Come in, come in, before we get too ahead of ourselves with these plans."
Liyin seated herself primly in the seat directly opposite her boss, and she felt her manager move to stand just behind her right shoulder. From this, she guessed that the meeting wouldn't be long at all, which was just as well: it was her day off and she had a date scheduled with Beyoncé, her sofa, and the Beyoncé DVD she had been about to put into the player before her manager had texted her.
(She was still in disbelief that she'd been busy for so long she hasn't even had the chance to watch a DVD released over six months ago.)
"My manager said you had a favour you wanted to ask of me," Liyin began, after watching the other occupants of the room give one another expressions of "You start - no, you start."
"Yes," answered the president, glancing down at the sheets of paper before him and then back at her. "For some time now, we've been planning to debut a new solo artist within the second half of this year. We were wondering if we could count on your expertise to prepare the trainee, both for his debut and his life after debut."
In the silence that followed, Liyin could only blink, not entirely certain she had heard her boss correctly.
Her? Prepare a trainee for debut? She herself had only debuted three years ago - what expertise was the president claiming she had?
Behind her, her manager's clothes rustled, and she guessed that he had shifted his centre of gravity a little to his right, a habit he had when something confused him greatly. It gratified her to know that he was just as confused as she was.
"I'm confused," she said meekly. "I'm not entirely sure where I come in."
The president smiled, as though anticipating that answer, and he turned the topmost sheet of paper in his stack of papers and pushed it towards her. She took it with both hands and looked.
It was a profile sheet, a photo of a boy with short, scruffy hair, geeky glasses, and extremely defined cheekbones staring up at her from where it was stapled in the top right-hand corner.
"His name is Kim Jongdae," the head of trainee development introduced from the president's right. "He's one of our most versatile trainees vocally, and he was cast as a chorus member of the musical we put on last season. When one of the younger leads came down with a cold without an understudy to take on the role, he was brought in to play the part. He was lauded a success that night.
"His assessment results so far show promise, but also that he still has some rough patches to smooth over. But we think that at the rate he's improving, he'll definitely be ready to debut by mid-October, early November. We thought that we could speed up that process by having you work with him, let him have a taster of how top stars work."
"I also remember you expressing an interest in composing and producing songs," the president added, "both for yourself and for your label mates. What better chance than to write and produce the debut song of our up-and-coming superstar?"
Liyin looked down at the profile sheet again as she carefully framed the question that had popped into her mind. It wouldn't do to ask it without the words in the right order, otherwise she might end up beating around the bush.
"What exactly," she cautiously began to ask, "do you hope he'll be able to learn from me first hand? I'd like to know how you think I can contribute to his growth."
The company president fixed her with a calm and steady gaze of assurance. "You've been in the business long enough to know the ins and outs of the industry, what can be done and what should be done. You've also been in the business long enough to know how to conduct yourself in public, how to answer questions and how to field them away. Both of these are things that Jongdae has had no practice in, except during those short five minutes of fame he experienced after the run of the musical, and it's something that is best learnt from someone actually in the situation, rather than on its periphery.
"And maybe you'll not be able to actively teach him anything, but that's okay. I'm sure he will learn just as much from watching you, just as I know you learnt a lot just from observing Junsu when you first debuted."
Ah, she thought, a little bitterly, yes, Junsu. A name she would rather not have to associate with her most career-defining moment.
She was thankful for him, don't get her wrong, and the president hadn't been wrong when he had said that she had learned a lot from Junsu just from watching him. But those memories were also tainted by the bitterness of being largely ignored in favour of talking with his group mates, of being dismissed when he was tired. Junsu had been equally as short with her towards the end of their promotion run as he had been kind to her at the beginning, and it had taught her how to and how not to treat the trainees that came after her.
It had also ingrained in her a fear that she would lead them astray if they ever sought her guidance.
As if sensing her thoughts, her manager laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently, comfortingly. The familiar grasp was enough to pull her out of her thoughts.
"I-" Liyin hesitated.
"I know it's a lot to take in, so think our proposal over," the president cut in. On his face, she could read disappointment, but also understanding. He gave her a small, kind smile, a reassurance. "Will three days be enough?"
"Yes," Liyin answered with a small bow. "Thank you."
The president assured her that it was nothing, and then he nodded to each of the staff, adjourning the meeting.
That night, and the night after, Liyin slept on the question - quite literally, writing it down on a sheet of paper and sticking it under her pillow.
Two days later, she met the president for lunch and announced that she would take up the challenge.
"I knew I could count on you," he beamed.
A week later, Kim Jongdae was informed both of his upcoming debut and of the project that would pave the way to it.
"Oh my God," he gasped, his breathing bordering on hyperventilation - much to the amusement of the trainee co-ordinators and the worriment of his future manager. "Liyin-sunbae- I-"
The head of vocal training reached over the table to cover his hand, gently patting the back of it. "Yes, Jongdae," she said, "Liyin will be personally overseeing the project that will become your debut release. No, Jongdae, you're not dreaming."
And just to prove her point, she pinched him hard on the back of his hand. The shrill yelp he let out was a sound he would deny he ever made to his dying breath.
On the morning of his first scheduled meeting with Liyin, Jongdae made sure to wake up extra early so he could be sure that he definitely looked awake and alert. After all, it was an extremely important meeting - not only would he be meeting with the person responsible for producing the music for his debut, he was (more importantly) going to meet his ultimate idol, the reason why he had chosen to audition for this company in the first place - and it wouldn't do to look sloppy.
As he looked into the mirror after washing his face, he couldn't help but pinch his cheeks, then slap them, just to check that he wasn't dreaming. He still wasn't entirely convinced that this was real, that he was really going to meet Liyin and work with her!
He suddenly let out a little scream of excitement, which was cut short by an angry pound on the bathroom door.
"God, you're so annoying," grouched Kyungsoo in a voice that could only mean he was half-awake - probably having been prematurely awoken by Jongdae's alarm - and not at all happy about it. "Hurry up, will you? I need the toilet."
Jongdae quickly finished his morning routine and left Kyungsoo to his business.
He opted to skip eating a proper breakfast, and instead grabbed a piece of bread from the bag to snack on as he got ready to go. Truthfully, he wasn't sure the food would stay in his stomach, he was so nervous.
As he was putting on his shoes, his phone began to vibrate in his back pockets, and he jerked in surprise, still not used to the idea of having his own manager. He almost didn't pick up the call in time, so mesmerised by the word "Manager" displayed on the caller ID, had it not been for his roommate Baekhyun slapping him out of his daze on his way to the kitchen.
"I didn't know whether to expect you to be up or not," his manager said when he finally connected the call.
"I couldn't sleep," Jongdae admitted quietly.
His manager made a quiet humming sound. "I'll be downstairs in five minutes. Have you eaten?"
"Yeah," he lied, "I had some cereal."
"Good. I'll see you in a bit then."
Jongdae assured his manager that he would be downstairs, and then hung up.
"So," piped up a voice from behind him, unexpectedly, "it's today, huh? Good luck, bro!"
Jongdae twisted round to see Baekhyun grinning at him as he leaned against the back of the sofa.
"Thanks," he said, standing up. They did their handshake, a familiar routine that grounded him, and then he waved goodbye, stepping out of the door.
Liyin had requested that their first meeting take place in a practice room - specifically, her practice room, which contained her special upright piano. It had been a present from the company president on her first music show win, and it has been her favoured musical companion ever since. If she was going to coach and produce this trainee for debut, she would do so in her home ground before letting him fly off on his own.
That, and also because she always felt that her productivity took a beating when she wasn't working in her own practice room.
She was already waiting inside when Jongdae and his manager arrived, fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled meeting time.
"Ah!" Jongdae gasped when he opened the door to find her seated at her piano. "Am I-?"
Liyin smiled, beckoning them into the room. "You're right on time- ah, early, even. Come on in."
Jongdae entered cautiously, walking into the room with small, tentative steps. The grip he had on the strap of his bag was so tight that his knuckles had turned white. He kept glancing around the room, taking in the sight of his idol's training room, a place he had never once imagined he would get the chance of seeing let alone spend time in. And yet, here he was, entering Zhang Liyin's practice room with the prospect of spending much of the coming months in this very room with the very person who had inspired him to be here.
Once he was standing a little way inside the room, he hastily dropped into a low bow, a movement so abrupt that his bag slipped off his shoulder and fell to the floor with a soft thump. Luckily, there was nothing fragile inside and it simply fell on the floor without anything breaking - except, perhaps, Jongdae's dignity and hopes of making a good first impression.
Liyin found the sound positively endearing, but she didn't want to make him feel any more mortified than he must already be feeling, so she stifled down the urge to giggle. Instead, she rose from her seat and made her way over to his side. With a gentle hand, she guided him back up from his bow and pried his fingers from around his bag strap, taking the bag to the edge of the room and leaving it next to her own things.
"Take a deep breath," she told him as she made her way back to her piano. She settled back down on its plush cushion, watching him with a small quirk of her lips.
He did as he was instructed, breathing in slowly through his nose. He felt his rib cage expand as his lungs filled with air.
"Good," she said, "now breathe back out slowly, through your mouth."
Again, he did as he was told, letting his mouth fall open a little as he slowly pushed the air back out. As he did so, he felt the nervousness that had gripped him earlier melt away, leaving his mind calmer and his muscles more relaxed.
"Very good," Liyin praised, clapping a little. "Feel better now?"
"Yes," Jongdae answered immediately, "thank you."
"As long as you feel better and are ready to get to work," she said. "Are you ready to prepare for you debut?"
Now that he had gotten over the first hurdle of meeting his respected idol, he felt ready to tackle anything thrown his way.
"Yes," he answered eagerly, and then he bowed his waist a full ninety degrees. "Please take good care of me!"
"Good. Then let's get started with some scales," she suggested, playing a middle C on the piano. "Show me what you can do."
Working with Zhang Liyin was unlike anything Jongdae had ever experienced so far in his comparatively short time as a trainee. He was used to working with sharp-eared vocal trainers who could pick out stray notes just the tiniest bit off, and strict dance instructors who could spot misplaced arms and legs by millimetres.
Liyin was just as sharp-eared and strict as his previous instructors, but she was also meticulous to the last detail, carefully stringing together fragments of melodies plucked seemingly out of thin air (or off the tip of his tongue) and tying lyrics to each note. They worked from early morning to late night, the days well-structured without many breaks in between, and they only stopped when their manager stepped into the room with take-out boxes of dinner.
It was a different but equally as educational experience for Jongdae as the time he had spent as just a trainee, learning first-hand how top stars worked and lived.
He wondered if this would be him in three years' time.
Midway through work one day, Liyin's manager appeared in the doorway of her practice room and beckoned her to step outside for a quick word. When she came back in, she suggested that they take a break.
"Not too long a break," she assured when he looked at her with a slightly bewildered expression, wondering at the break in their routine, "just to get a breath of fresh air. Do you drink coffee?"
Jongdae nodded.
She clapped in excitement. "Excellent! There's a great little coffee shop not too far away. We can go there and soak in the atmosphere."
She dug around in her bag for a moment, before pulling out her purse.
"Maybe I'll get my muse back too, after I've had a walk and some coffee," she laughed as they made their way out of the practice room.
When they arrived in the foyer, they were met with the sight of their managers seated on one of the plush sofas; Liyin's manager was tapping his foot, as if impatient. When their managers saw them, they stood up, and Jongdae saw that both of them were holding baseball caps and sunglasses.
"That's the best we could do in the five minutes you gave us to prepare," Liyin's manager said, making an unhappy face as he handed over his ware.
"It should be enough," Liyin assured with a light smile. She took the hat first, slipping it over her head, and as she put on the sunglasses, she added, "We're not going for total coverage, after all. The company wants us to be seen, to create speculation and hype up his upcoming debut. We want them to recognise us - or, at the very least, me."
Liyin's manager made a disgruntled noise while Jongdae took the disguise props his own manager was holding out to him, which tickled a small laugh out of her.
"Be careful," her manager said in parting as Liyin led Jongdae out of the building. "Call if you need me to pick you up."
"I will do," she replied with a quick wave.
She took him out of the building via the side exit, which led out to a largely empty car park - it was the summer holidays, and many of the company's employees were on vacation with their families. More importantly, though, Jongdae noticed, was that there were less fans congregated outside, beyond the guarded barrier on the other side of the parking lot.
"If you ever want a quick escape but your manager hasn't brought round the car, or you just want to go out by yourself," she told him in a quiet voice as they walked towards the barrier, "come out this exit. There are less fans camping outside - because of the guards - and you're less likely to get brained by a camera lens."
"Have you ever gotten hurt, trying to leave the building?" Jongdae asked, although he already knew the answer.
It had been a near-miss, actually: Liyin had narrowly avoided being knocked out by the massive telescopic lenses eager fansite masters would attach to their cameras on the front steps of their old company building. It had happened when she had first made her debut, when she had been working with Kim Junsu, and the fansite master had bowed low in apology after the incident, promising to keep a wider berth in the future, and make sure other fansite masters did the same.
Jongdae knew all this because he had been a member of another fansite, whose master had called out the offending fansite master and initiated a war on Twitter, over keeping respectable distances and things fans should and shouldn't do. At first, he had been indignant that his idol had nearly met with an accident at the hands of a fellow fan; by the end, he had just felt sorry that the fansite master received so much hate for something they had properly apologised.
"Almost," Liyin replied, pulling Jongdae out of his memories, "in front of the old building. But"-and she turned to smile at him, the expression both amused and mysterious-"you're a Chocolyn, aren't you? You must already know all about the incident."
Jongdae flushed, not having expected to be caught out, and out on the streets no less. Thankfully, she quickly turned her gaze back to the streets so he wouldn't feel pressurised by the sudden exposure.
"It was on your profile," she continued lightly, "the reason why you auditioned. And if it hadn't been, I would have come to the same conclusion from the vocal trainer's notes about how much you sing my songs for practice."
Jongdae didn't know what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet as they crossed under the barrier and out onto the streets.
The small gaggle of fans, which had already started moving when they had sighted people leaving the building, suddenly began to make high-pitched noises of excitement. A few of them quickly made to grab their bags - possibly to follow Liyin and Jongdae - but they were held back by other fans around them.
"Oh, good," Liyin muttered, just loud enough for Jongdae to hear, "there are paps in that crowd- Don't look."
Jongdae, who had just been about to do exactly that, faltered in his step, and then carried on as if nothing had happened. Instead, he sneaked a backward glance when they were a little further down the road.
"You'll learn to recognise them the longer you're exposed to the culture," she said. "There are only a few that rotate shifts outside our building, so you'll quickly remember who they are and which social media circle they belong to."
"There was an ulterior motive to this break, wasn't there?" Jongdae suddenly asked, catching on. "Other than to get fresh air and a drink…"
"You catch on quick," she replied with a laugh, turning to him with a large grin. "The company president asked me to get the media speculating, so I'm doing just that. If there's one thing everyone loves, it's a good scandal, and nothing's more scandalous than a company's top star being spotted wandering around with someone social media isn't familiar with. Interest in you will start piquing later this afternoon, and that'll give the PR team something to work with to build up the anticipation for your debut."
True to Liyin's words, Jongdae was accosted by Baekhyun before he could leave the house the next morning, the other trainee's mobile phone shoved in his face. Before he could ask why his friend was showing him his phone, Jongdae's eyes caught sight of the photo on the screen, and his eyes widened - both in surprise and guilt.
"Care to tell me why you're in the same photo as Liyin-sunbae?" Baekhyun demanded, waving the phone.
"Um-" Jongdae hesitated, not sure what to say, how to get out of this situation he now found himself in.
"I think the question Baekhyun is actually trying to ask," Kyungsoo drawled, appearing at Baekhyun's shoulder, "is when you were going to tell him that you've been working with Liyin-sunbae for the last few weeks."
"Um… Soon?!" squeaked Jongdae, curling in on himself.
At Baekhyun's glare, he found himself withering even further.
"Look," he began, throwing up his hand in defeat and a little shame, "I wasn't sure if I was allowed to say anything, or - if I could - how much."
"I thought we were best friends," Baekhyun exploded, grabbing Jongdae's shoulders dramatically. "We do not keep things like meeting and working with our crushes a secret from each other!"
Before Jongdae could apologise, Baekhyun huffed and stomped off. The sight had Kyungsoo chortling, before he shrugged.
"Jealous Baekhyun's funny," he said quietly. "Congratulations, by the way, even though we all sort of knew in the first place." At Jongdae's look of astonishment, he added, "You're not exactly the most subtle person, Jongdae. It's not hard to work out when you come back every evening, whistling or humming happily."
And then Kyungsoo leaned in, squinting. "I hope you haven't embarrassed the name of trainees everywhere with your awkward."
Jongdae spluttered indignantly at that, frowning angrily as his friend laughed lightly.
"Good luck," Kyungsoo said, patting Jongdae's shoulder as he made to leave the room. "We're all cheering you on."
After that initial outing, Liyin took Jongdae out around town quite a few times more. They visited museums and beauty parlours and coffee shops, anywhere they could be seen and photographed together without really being approached. Sometimes, the trips were planned ahead of time; sometimes, they were spontaneous.
In addition to piquing media interest, though, the trips were also chances for Jongdae to sneak a peek into his role as a celebrity.
The trips to various beauty parlours were chances to introduce Jongdae to people he might be working with in the future. The outings to the museums and galleries were for Jongdae to acclimatise himself with being surrounded by objects of cultural significance. The jaunts to coffee shops were to show Jongdae the landscape around the company building.
Beyond the trips, too, Jongdae often found himself staying up late into the night, doing late night readings and watching documentary re-runs. It exhausted him, but he knew that everything would eventually contribute towards the persona he would show the public once he'd debuted, and that was motivation enough for him. Liyin was considered one of the most cultured, most knowledgeable artists in the industry, and it was the same sort of image that he wished to be branded.
But the more time he spent preparing for his debut, the more bogged down he felt. There was just so much he needed to learn, so much he needed to remember, and he was beginning to realise why so many budding stars never made it to the place they deserved.
Maybe, his traitorous mind hissed from time to time, he'll end up being one of them.
Liyin was quick to notice his insecurity, which had begun manifesting on his face in the form of dark circles around his and long, heavy expressions.
At first, she chose to say nothing - neither encouragement nor discouragement. She had gone through a similar process of self-depreciation and doubt in the run-up to her own debut, and she knew that there were some things that could only be resolved through self-reflection.
But as the days passed, and Jongdae's face grew longer and heavier, she knew that she had to step in and give him some form of motivation.
She found the time to do so in the middle of a particularly gruelling day of work. They had spent most of the morning in the recording studios, letting Jongdae familiarise himself with the equipment before experimenting with a few test runs.
The first couple had gone smoothly, Jongdae's voice warming up as he pushed for higher, brighter notes. But on the third go, his voice became stuck halfway up a run, and he huffed angrily as he stepped away from the mic. It happened again on the fourth, fifth and sixth run, at which point Liyin called him out of the booth for a quick break.
When he stepped out, all she could feel was pity at the sight of distress on his face. The expression made his face look almost gaunt.
"Take a seat," she instructed, gesturing to the sofa pushed up against the back of the room.
As he did so, the intern she had flagged down earlier with the request of making some tea popped back in, two steaming mugs in her hand. She thanked the intern as she took the mugs, and chuckled after the star-struck intern had left.
"Drink this," she said as she handed him a mug, and a great cloud of steam wafted towards him, smelling distinctly of citron. "It'll soothe your throat."
Jongdae took the offered mug with a weak but grateful smile.
"These last few days," she began quietly a few moments later, after they'd both had a sip or two, "how many hours of sleep have you averaged?"
The question startled Jongdae, who then looked away, cheeks pink. Not enough was the unspoken answer they both knew.
Liyin sighed.
"I admire your motivation and ambition, Jongdae," she said, "so I sincerely hope that you won't destroy yourself before you have the chance to realise your dreams. You have so much potential - the company has recognised that, and so have I - and the world deserves to hear the brilliance of your voice. It would be a shame for it to go to waste before you've even begun."
Jongdae drew in a shuddering breath. "I-" He stopped, not knowing where to even begin.
Liyin waited patiently, eventually putting down her mug on the glass coffee table and stretching her hands over the surface to cover his own.
"You won't fail, Jongdae," she assured, squeezing his hands. There was firmness, a conviction in her voice that made him look up from his mug. "I won't let you fail, Jongdae, but you must also do your very best not to burn out, okay?"
He nodded automatically. The movement was more of a jerk of his head than anything else, but it was still a nod nonetheless.
"Promise me you'll take good care of yourself whenever you have the ample time to do so, now and in the future," she urged. "Promise me you won't spend the time you could be resting researching and reading up on things, unless the thing you're researching is relevant for your activities the next day."
He nodded again, and this time the movement was less mechanical, more resolute.
"Good," she sighed, looking relieved as she pulled away. "Take your time finishing the tea, then go and grab a bite. We'll pick up where we left off after lunch."
Jongdae made a noise of acknowledgement through his nose, his mouth busy slurping down the tea, and then he went to find something to eat.
After lunch, he managed to make a lot of progress with the sound tests they were running. When he stepped out of the booth at the end of the day, Liyin happily informed him that she thought they were ready to record the tracks of his debut release.
That night, he slept the deepest sleep he'd slept in a long time.
Work picked up soon afterwards, and before Jongdae could really comprehend it, it was mid-September and the production team was putting the final touches on the mini-album he would soon be releasing. The months of hard work he and Liyin had put into writing, composing and arranging songs culminating in a shiny plastic disc.
Liyin called him into her practice room when the initial final product was ready for listening.
"After we listen to this," she said as she waved the otherwise generic-looking CD in the air, "I'll be turning this project over to the promotions and artistic teams. They'll take care of everything, from the styling and filming of your music video to the schedule of your promotion round.
"In other words, once we've listened to this CD, you'll be on your own, stepping out into the music industry as a debuted artist."
Jongdae blinked, not having expected things to move so swiftly. He had thought that he would still be spending some time with Liyin, working on any adjustments that had to be made and discussing promotion strategies.
She laughed when he told her that.
"No, sorry," she said, looking a little apologetic. "Unfortunately, this is as far as I'm going. The details after this, they're beyond my ability, so once we've listened to the album, I'm going to hand the project over to the professionals."
Jongdae hung his head.
"Hey," she called gently, making him peek up through his fringe, "if it's any comfort, I listened to bits and pieces as the producers were putting it together and it sounds fantastic. You have so many options to work with for your title track, and the team you'll be working with for promotions has worked with me on lots of occasions. And it's not as though you can't come to me for any advice and words of comfort when you need them - you know where to find me, after all." She laughed, pointing to the door of her practice room.
Despite the soft laugh and encouraging sound of her voice, Jongdae could sense finality behind her words, and he could only nod in understanding that this session would be the last time he'd be spending extended time in Liyin's company. After this, the project that was his debut would be handed over to "the professionals."
He suddenly heard a little buzzing sound from the other end of the room and he looked up to see Liyin standing beside her CD player. The disc tray had been opened and the shiny disc she had been holding earlier was hovering an inch above the tray.
"Ready?" she asked with a small smile on her face.
He nodded, the movement a little jerky, and she put the CD in.
~ E P I L O G U E ~
"And the winner of the Best Male Newcomer award is…" The announcer drew a breath as he opened the stiff golden envelope and slid out the card inside.
"Kim Jongdae!"
Jongdae beamed as he bounced onto his feet, half propelled by giddy excitement and half by congratulatory slaps to his back. As he made his way up onto stage to accept the award - delayed by the deluge of well wishes from fellow artists around him - he caught sight of Liyin clapping enthusiastically along with everyone else from the other side of the stage, and he grinned, flashing her a double thumbs up.
"Thank you," he mouthed.
She shook her head, both to say that it was nothing and in fond resignation, before waving him up onstage.
You made it here on your own, her gesture seemed to say to him, and he would have begged to differ if he had the chance.
He'd made it here because of her.