Four STARZ Members Came to Hide, Then Fell for the Cat Café Owner novel · Chapter 30 of 40

Chapter 30: The Third Step

They went up the cliff path at nine, all six of them, under two umbrellas and a rain jacket Jisung refused to share.

The manager was waiting inside the cabin with every lamp lit and a pot of tea nobody had asked her to make.

She had taken off the long coat.

Without it she looked smaller, a woman in her forties in a grey sweater.

Her eyes were tired, and her hair was coming out of its clip.

"Thank you for coming," she said. "I'd like to say something and have no one interrupt."

"Go on," said Chan.

"I was a trainee once. Eleven years. I never debuted."

Nobody moved.

"I stayed because I was good at the other side of the door. I handled contracts, curfews and phones."

She looked at the five men.

"I made sure a tired boy never said something that ended him. I know what the company takes. I thought I was the one who saved you from it."

"You were," said Hyunjin, softly.

"I was the one who wrote clause seven."

Missy sat down on the arm of the sofa.

"And now?"

"Now the company's lawyer lands tomorrow. He's the one who drafts the fines. He will not be kind, and he'll have the waivers, and he won't ask twice."

"We already said no," said Felix.

"He doesn't hear no. He hears a price." The manager turned to Chan. "You told me you'd pay anything. He'll hold you to it."

Chan stood by the woodstove with his hands loose, a position she'd never seen him take.

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