Heart and Seoul (The Seoul Series Book 1)

by Erin Kinsella

  “The vice president,” UpBeat whispered to Tessa.

  “Thank you for coming so quickly.” She nodded to them both.

  They followed her to a meeting room where the rest of the executives were waiting around a long oval table. A woman in her forties with short-cropped hair and sharp brown eyes approached them, dressed every bit as impeccably as Gyeong Suk.

  “Tessa-ssi, this is my manager, Sun Kyung Mi,” UpBeat said, introducing the woman.

  Kyung Mi ushered them to seats next to one another, then sat on the other side of UpBeat as the president of the company turned his frown upon them. Gyeong Suk stood behind him, staring them down.

  “It’s been some time since you’ve caused a dating scandal for us. We’re disappointed, Baek Eun Gi.” The president’s brow furrowed.

  “There’s no dating part of this scandal,” UpBeat insisted. “We’re not together. This is a misunderstanding.”

  “Public sentiment says otherwise.” The president clasped his hands in front of him. “She has been photographed being carried into your apartment building by you, wearing your clothing when leaving the next day, in the company of the other members, and with your arms around her on a separate occasion. If it had been a single instance, it would have died out.”

  UpBeat sighed deeply. “So what am I supposed to do? Should I just never be in public with anyone except the other members?”

  The president was entirely unperturbed by UpBeat’s words. “You knew the obligations of your role when you signed on with us. You are not forbidden from entering into romantic relationships, but you are obligated to be discreet. Sun Kyung Mi, you also bear responsibility for this indiscretion.”

  “It’s not her fault,” UpBeat interrupted before his manager could speak. “She was visiting family when this happened. It’s entirely my doing.”

  Gyeong Suk and the president stared at him, displeasure plain on their faces.

  “Regardless, I will do whatever I can to assist with the recovery of the scandal,” Kyung Mi added. She patted UpBeat’s hand in a sympathetic gesture.

  Tessa pressed her palms against her knees, sorting through the words, trying to ignore the rising panic vibrating through her.

  The president turned to her. “Hale Tessa-ssi, we’re sorry that you’ve been caught up in this. Unfortunately, you are not associated with us, and your protection is not one of our concerns. Today was a courtesy to get you here so this matter could be dealt with.”

  UpBeat’s hands clenched into fists. “That’s not fair.”

  The president continued, ignoring him. “This has been picked up by too many outlets, and the fan forums have exploded.”

  “You can’t disregard her safety,” UpBeat snapped. “There are reporters hounding her where she’s staying. You have to do something.”

  “This is your scandal, Baek Eun Gi.” The president’s eyes narrowed. “If you are concerned, then perhaps you should be in charge of her security.”

  “What?”

  Gyeong Suk stepped up, smoothing her hands over her black pencil skirt. “We discussed everything before your arrival, and the level of intimacy in these photos can’t be disregarded. Tessa-ssi, are you familiar with the standard of public relationships?”

  “Um, no?” Tessa squeaked.

  “Fans are under the assumption that you two are in a long-term relationship to explain the closeness and multiple occasions. I realize the international fan community has different ideas about these things, but our national fans do not. If you come out and say there is nothing, a different assumption will be made, and it could damage the reputation of Baek Eun Gi and the group as a whole. Fans do not want their idols to be seen taking liberties.”

  “I wasn’t,” UpBeat protested.

  “It would be safest on all accounts if you two agreed to the rumors. Come out and say that you’re together and that you’re serious to deflect the worst of the criticism. We’ve agreed an engagement would offer the most flexibility for the situation. There would be no question of your devotion to one another within the context of these pictures, but it prevents additional criticism for not having been honest with the fans about a wedding having taken place.”

  “A w-wedding?” Tessa choked out. She grabbed the edge of the table, lightheaded.

  “What?” UpBeat burst out.

  Kyung Mi put a hand on his shoulder. “Surely there’s some alternative?”

  The executive stared at them all, deadpan. Gyeong Suk spoke. “This is an issue of your own making. The ineptitude of handling this situation by the three of you has created this problem, and we are offering a solution.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Tessa, “but I don’t understand. What are you asking me to do?”

  Gyeong Suk frowned. “The reputation of 24/7 is our priority. You are an anomaly. If you care at all, then you will agree to going public with a relationship. An engagement to protect them.”

  Tessa pressed a hand to her chest. “You want me to pretend to be engaged? To Baek Eun Gi? I, um…” Each set of eyes in the room burned into her.

  UpBeat put his hand on her wrist, and she turned her panicked gaze onto him.

  “You don’t have to do this.” His voice was firm, and he glared at the executive. “They can find another way.”

  “Hale Tessa-ssi, what is your opinion on the matter?” Gyeong Suk asked. “We do require your consent before we put out a press release.”

  Words. Say words.

  Her heart buzzed at dizzying speeds.

  “I don’t know.”

  UpBeat’s fingers twitched against her arm. He was looking at her so intently, sympathy and panic alight in his eyes.

  She took a breath, as slow and steady as she could manage. “I mean, I don’t understand. Isn’t this excessive?”

  Gyeong Suk calmly laced her fingers together. “Tessa-ssi, are you familiar with the group Essence?”

  “Um, not really.”

  “Exactly. A similar situation arose with the group several years ago. Photographs, intimate assumptions, but they refused to cooperate with our measures. There was a turn in fan approval. The member in question was banned from events at fan request, and was eventually removed entirely. The rest of the group did not recover. They became unprofitable, and there was nothing to be done to salvage the situation. Their contracts were not renewed. Do you wish the same fate to befall 24/7?”

  “Of course not, but I was planning on going home in a couple weeks. We don’t even live in the same country.”

  “We’ve thought of that too. Your passport currently allows you to be in the country without a visa for six months. We can handle the sponsorship after that.”

  UpBeat stood up from the table. “You can’t ask her to do this. She has family and a job. You can’t expect her to just drop all that to make things easier on you.”

  “We’re not expecting her to,” said Gyeong Suk, “but we are asking. It’s a simple matter. We’ll do a press release, provide photographs of your wedding, you’ll live in the suites we own, and in a year, after your drama has finished its run, you can file for divorce.”

  Tessa sat in shock, sifting through what they were saying. Stay in Korea, live with her idol, marry her idol, and then divorce him.

  “It plays to our advantage that you’re a foreigner,” Gyeong Suk continued. “Divorce won’t be considered unusual, and you’ll be able to go right back to your own country, avoiding any scrutiny here. The fans are opinionated and vocal. This is to protect the group, and we only require a year of your time.

  A year. Tessa trembled.

  “But my parents…”

  “Will be thrilled. A whirlwind romance resulting in a picture-perfect wedding.” Gyeong Suk had an answer for everything. “We’ll set up a photoshoot so fans feel like they’ve been a part of the celebration. It would be soon; engagements here tend to be quite short, and we’ll file the paperwork with the government so the press can do all the digging they want without worry.”

  A y
oung man stepped forward and put a small box into Gyeong Suk’s hand.

  “We anticipated agreement with this and already had a ring prepared. A lot of Koreans forgo them, but we’re bending to the expectations of you as a foreigner.”

  Kyung Mi chewed her lip. “Could I please speak with them in private?”

  Gyeong Suk nodded, and Kyung Mi took them both outside the room.

  “You have to stop them,” UpBeat said immediately.

  Kyung Mi frowned. “My boy, I’m a manager, not a miracle worker. What do you want me to do when they’ve convinced themselves of this path?”

  “Something. Literally anything.”

  Kyung Mi turned to Tessa and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Tessa towered over the petite woman. “Are you all right? You’re quite pale.”

  “What am I supposed to say?” Tessa settled against the wall, pressing her palms to the cool surface.

  “I am not going to let them do this to you. You can tell them no, and I’ll deal with it.” UpBeat spoke with such conviction, and she wanted to believe what he said. Badly.

  “Eun Gi,” Kyung Mi said softly. “It’s not a bad suggestion. I agree it’s not ideal, but there are certainly worse ways to resolve this.”

  “You can’t be serious?”

  Tessa deflated. Her options were disappearing in rapid succession and this insane engagement was a trap closing around her ankle. How could she possibly handle the guilt of saying no if 24/7 collapsed because of her?

  Kyung Mi ignored UpBeat and focused on Tessa. “If you choose to go along with this, you will be compensated. I’ll make sure of it. Eun Gi is a good man. I realize this is a sham marriage, but I’m certain he will do his best to care for you during the arrangement. If he does not…”

  She turned to him, the threat hanging unspoken in the air.

  Tessa shivered. “I don’t know…”

  An agreement was on the tip of her tongue. She swallowed hard. Marrying him was a thought that had crossed her mind more than once over the years, but always in the vein of impossible wishful thinking. Accepting under the pressure and scrutiny of EchoPop’s executive board was not how things were supposed to go.

  “How about this,” said Kyung Mi. “I propose a trial period. They’ll need some time to prepare for the wedding. If by then you find the situation unbearable, simply reach out to me. We’ll deal with the repercussions then knowing we’ve tried it their way. I don’t believe they’d enforce their wishes if you were truly miserable.”

  Tessa wasn’t so sure. Gyeong Suk would feed her to a crocodile if it improved the company bottom line.

  “Okay.” Every other word froze in her throat.

  “Fine,” UpBeat bit out.

  Kyung Mi brought them back inside and nodded to Gyeong Suk.

  The vice president passed the ring box to Tessa. “Baek Eun Gi, put the ring on your future wife and get to the studio for filming. We’ll draft a press release. Felicitations on your upcoming nuptials.”

  Chapter 7

  Tessa

  “Let me see it again.” Kelly held out her hand expectantly until Tessa dropped hers into it. “God, they went all out on this rock, didn’t they?”

  A chunk of emerald-cut diamond set in platinum sat on her ring finger. A glittering shackle.

  “Do you think it’s real?”

  “It looks real, but it felt rude to ask.” Tessa pulled her hand back and tried to focus on packing.

  “I still can’t believe you’re moving in with UpBeat,” Kelly repeated for the fifth time that day. Tessa scurried around the apartment, rounding up her belongings.

  “I can’t believe it either.”

  “Nineteen-year-old you would be so freaking jealous.” Kelly laughed. “You’re living the dream. I know it’s a lot more serious than that, but it’s exciting.”

  “It’s awful.” Tessa buried her face into the shirt she’d been folding. “My parents are going to freak out. I’m freaking out. God, what do I even tell them? ‘Hey, Mamãe, Appa, I’ve been pressured into a fake marriage by a huge company and have to live with a stranger, and oh, by the way, I can’t come home until the drama is finished airing, and then I’m getting a divorce.’”

  “Whoa there, girl. Take a breath.” Kelly squeezed her tightly. “It’ll be okay. Focus on the good parts of this. UpBeat seems nice. You said he defended you and tried to get you out of this whole situation, right? You guys can be a team against the world.”

  “It’s not that easy. He doesn’t want anything to do with all of this and I have so much to try and sort out. They emailed me a bunch of papers to sign, and I’m waiting to hear back from my lawyer to see if they’re screwing me over. Amelia is on full time hours for a while, but it’s still a lot to handle. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with all of my work during this.”

  “You’ll figure it out. I have every faith in you.” Kelly took the shirt from Tessa and tucked it into the suitcase. “Try to go into this with an open mind. If it goes well, you get to be friends with your idol, and if it goes poorly, they’ve given you an out to go home.”

  “I guess. I feel like it’s all my fault this is happening. I shouldn’t have gone to that work dinner, should have turned down the drinks, done literally anything besides what I did.” She flopped onto the couch and screamed half-heartedly into the cushion.

  “You can’t control when you have migraines. It’s not your fault.” Kelly put a gentle hand on the back of Tessa’s head, scratching softly.

  “Yeah, but I was expecting it. I was jet-lagged and stressed. It’s the basic ingredients for one to start up, and then I drank anyway and couldn’t take my pills. God, what if he loses his job because of me? What if they all do? I would never forgive myself. It’s not fair. I don’t want to get married, but they all mean too much to me, and I can’t just do nothing.”

  Kelly snapped her fingers in front of Tessa’s face. “Hey! You stop that thought spiral right now. There’s no sense in feeling guilty about getting sick. If these efforts don’t work out then we’ll deal with that when it comes, but right now you’re doing a hell of a lot more than nothing.”

  “Why are you so calm about all this?”

  “You and I both know how you get when you dwell on the shitty parts of things. There’s no way I’m adding to the dwelling. You’re stuck with super positivity until you find good things in your own time. We’ll get through this, Tess. I’ve got your back.”

  Tessa smiled. “Thank you.”

  “Now, you go have a rest so you don’t stress yourself into another migraine. I’ll finish up your packing. Go climb into our bed and pull the curtains.”

  Eun Gi

  “How the hell did you end up engaged?” Min Jae asked through a mouthful of chips.

  “We’re not engaged, we’re just…trying it out.”

  Eun Gi had been avoiding thinking about it. He was furious with the company and every time he let his thoughts drift in that direction, he wanted to scream.

  “Yeah, but like, she’s going to live here, isn’t she? Where’s she even going to sleep?”

  “On the couch.” Eun Gi shrugged. He’d offer his bed, but that was somehow far too intimate.

  Please stop making me think about this.

  His stomach twisted.

  “You can’t make your fake wife sleep on the couch,” Sung Soo added. “Especially not if she ends up staying for the year. There are other units the company owns on this floor that won’t be used for a while. Hwan, why don’t you move into one of them?”

  Hwan looked horrified by the idea. “I can’t live alone! I don’t know how to function as an individual.”

  “We could move into the three-bedroom unit. The others won’t be needing it until they’re back from the military, and we can figure out something more permanent then.”

  “That could work,” Hwan said. “More space for all of us.”

  “I could live alone,” said Min Jae.

  “That’s bullshit and you know it.�
�� Sung Soo chuckled. “You’d get antsy after the first day.”

  “I could get a dog.”

  “You’re not getting a dog. I’m not letting you be in charge of an animal. I’ll email Kyung Mi to see about switching units.”

  Eun Gi sank onto the couch, pushing back his panic. She’d be here tonight, and he had no idea what to do with her. “How am I supposed to live with a woman?”

  “The same way you live with us?” Min Jae suggested.

  Hwan burst out laughing. “I don’t think she’ll appreciate him playing video games in his underwear.”

  Min Jae glanced up from his chips. “Maybe she has an appreciation of video games?”

  “Or Eun Gi in his underwear,” Sung Soo teased.

  “Can we please not make this any weirder than it already is?” Eun Gi curled up around one of the couch pillows, preventing himself from wandering to the fridge and finishing off the soju bottles in there. “I don’t want to live with a stranger.”

  The cushion dipped next to him as Sung Soo sat down. “She won’t be a stranger for that long, and Kyung Mi wrangled you an out if you need it. We’ll all be down the hall, so the only thing that changes is that Hwan is a few more steps away than he was before.”

  “When’s she arriving?” Hwan asked.

  “Sometime tonight. She hasn’t answered my last message.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a good sign,” Min Jae said. “Is she mad at you?”

  “Why would she be mad at me? I didn’t do anything.”

  “You are kind of moody.” Sung Soo nudged Eun Gi. “Did you make her feel like you didn’t want her here after she agreed to this huge favour?”

  Eun Gi squeezed the pillow, hard. “I think my being moody is completely justified given the circumstances. We all know I’m terrible at this.”

  “Understatement of the year.” Hwan lifted Eun Gi’s head and set it on his lap. “But you’re both kind of stuck. No sense in making things more miserable than they need to be. She seems pretty nice so far. Maybe it’ll be fine.”

  Eun Gi’s phone buzzed. He peered at the screen over the pillow’s edge, as if it could act as a shield. “She’s getting ready to head over with her two friends and asks if there’s anything we need.”