CHAPTER 219: EMBARRASSMENT

The walk back to the practice room was quite tense, and as soon as the door shut, it was like a switch flipped in William’s head, and he cornered Levi angrily and began shoving his shoulder.

"Why would you say all that in front of the judges?"

"Why not?"

"You made me look bad!"

Shove!

"That’s a personal problem. Don’t push me."

"You didn’t have to say all that to make me look bad. You’re supposed to be my friend."

Shove!

"Family acquaintance at best. And it’s the truth. I said Don’t push me."

Shove!

William shoved Levi again in frustration, and Ari saw the first eyebrow twitch and Levi’s head tilt to the side as he cracked his neck.

Seeing Levi look at William as if he were contemplating whether he had lost his mind, Ari sat beside Benjamin to watch the unexpected showdown.

"5 quid on Levi swinging this time? His right eyebrow twitched. Probably going to blow, innit." Benjamin glanced back and forth between the two blondes fighting.

"1 dollar bets only."

"Stingy."

"Blame the PD for not giving me my prize money. She cut my microphone the last time I complained about it."

"Fine. 1 quid. First hit. Right hook."

"1 dollar, he shoves him down first."

"It doesn’t matter. You’re supposed to be on my side. You wouldn’t even have known about this if it wasn’t for me."

Shove!

"Last warning. Acquaintance or not, the next time you put your hand on me, I’ll swing."

"Another quid. His nostrils just flared. He’s aiming for the mouth."

"Nah, look at the lowered stance. I think he’ll grapple him down."

"Can both of you shut up?" William yelled as he spun around, causing Ari to arch an eyebrow before responding

"No."

"Why?"

"You-"

"Alright enough! Break it up! Everyone, sit and be quiet! We have a lot to discuss."

At Rex’s shout, the practice room became deathly quiet as they all sat down.

"Do you have anything to say, William?"

Everyone on the team sat there staring at William, expecting him to take some form of accountability.

"I was just trying my best and now you’re all ganging up on me-"

"There are no cameras here, so quit pretending and wasting everyone’s time." Ari cut in with a bored yawn.

"I wasn’t talking to you, so shut up, you damn thief!"

"Ohhhh~ scary, gonna bruise my other hand too? Or are you going to shove me around like you were pushing Levi?"

"Seems you didn’t learn your lesson the last time. Don’t worry, I’ll correct it very soon." William snarled, and Ari laughed in his face before standing up.

"Wait right here. Let me get the cameraman so you can repeat that threat for the people. I still have the last one, you know. Saving it for a rainy day. How’s your nose feeling? A little bloody perhaps?"

"I’ll show you bloody-"

As William stood up and began stomping towards him, Rex got in his way before glaring at Ari.

"Ari, that’s enough. You’re wasting our time."

"I’m the one wasting our time? Me? Fine."

Seeing Rex choose to nag him once again, Ari sat and waved his hand. "Carry on."

"Sigh. William, you heard what Jelissa had to say. Do you have anything you want to tell us?"

"No."

"Nothing at all. Maybe even an apology."

"Why should I apologize. They didn’t blame me. You heard that woman say that it was Larry Jackson’s fault."

"That woman’s name is Jelissa, be polite."

"Enough, Ari." Rex cut him off before turning back to William, "But you lied that Larry Jackson signed off on it, and he said he didn’t even hear this copy that you made. You don’t think that’s wrong?"

"Yeah, we asked you multiple times? You made literal rubbish and tried to pass it off. That’s a bit crazy, innit? What’s the reasoning behind that?"

"What is this, the Spanish Inquisition? You know what. I don’t have to take this. If you hate the arrangement that I made so much, I refuse to do it again. You do it!"

Then, without waiting for a response, he stomped out of the practice room.

As the door slammed shut, there was silence before Levi muttered, "Childish."

Rex sighed while rubbing his head,

"Fine. Then we need to figure out what to do about our arrangement."

"We?" Levi looked at Rex before standing up and heading to the door. "Who’s we? You chose him to do it, and the rest of us have already done our part in preparation. This is now a problem between you, him, and the trainer. Let me know when you figure it out and it’s time to practice to a proper song."

Then he left.

The remaining five boys just stared at each other before Rex sighed again.

"Then let’s have individual practice today and regroup tomorrow. Ari, don’t leave. I want to talk to you."

"Ari, I’ll be next door, yeah?"

"Got it."

As the room cleared out, Ari met Rex’s dark eyes.

For some reason, he felt like he could guess where this was going.

"What?"

"I want you to do the arrangement."

There it was.

And the answer was simple.

"No. Get William to do it. That’s his assigned job."

"Don’t be difficult. As you can see, he quit."

Ari couldn’t help but stare at Rex as if he were crazy.

"How am I being difficult for not wanting to do someone else’s job? Go drag him back by the ears and make him do his job."

"He’s clearly stated that he won’t do it no matter what, and you know how he gets. It’s easier for me if you do it and you’re better at it." Rex replied with a frustrated groan.

"No offense, but I don’t care if it’s easier for you or if that’s how he gets. It’s his job; this is a team effort, get him to do it, and if he doesn’t, go tell the trainers and the PDs so they can force him to do it."

"Why would you want to air out the dirty laundry of the team to production?"

"We just had a fashion show where people saw the dirty laundry from all angles, so what do you think you’re hiding exactly?"

Rex’s mouth opened and closed before he sputtered, "It’s the principle of the matter."

"Does the principle pay the bills? And you think the production team cares about principles? You think he cares about principles? As the leader, go and drag him back and force him to do his job."

"Of course, I can’t do that. I’m not like you. You can’t act like...like..."

"Act like what?"

"An embarrassment."

Seeing Rex’s face turn red as he spat out the words, Ari laughed.

"Don’t worry, I’m not embarrassed. It’s literally not my job, it’s Williams? The person who stalked out angrily after deflecting. Why are you forcing me to do something instead of going after the person in the wrong?"

Ari couldn’t understand why Rex wouldn’t just go grab William and force him to do his part.

He was clearly in the wrong.

Everyone saw it, including the trainers, so it would be easy to pressure him into fixing things because he couldn’t spin the story.

"As the leader, you have to take on the burdens of the team and fill in the gaps that might be missing. And sometimes that means leaning on other members when one is failing and incapable. The trainers have already spoken and won’t touch on it again, and if the conflict happens, it most likely won’t be aired because of the favorable light in which William is edited. We, as his team members, need to fill in to make sure our performance is a success."

"He’s neither failing nor incapable; he’s just lazy. I would give him an ultimatum and force him to redo the arrangement until the team was satisfied. If he didn’t comply, then that’s fine. I love a good game of chicken, and I don’t need the PDs to air anything. The first thing I would do as soon as we got on stage would be to announce to the crowd that the arrangement was by William and that he had refused to listen to the team’s opinions. Then we could start the performance. I guarantee that clip will be posted, and people will ask questions, and he will never do such a thing again."

"And that’s why nobody wants to debut with you."

"Oh? Why’s that?" Ari asked with full interest.

He had gotten a version from Benjamin, but he was always curious as to what others had to say.

"Because you’re the type of person who would constantly be in a controversy and eventually be the downfall of your group! From the beginning of the show until now, rather than focusing on your talents, it’s all about controversy. From your appearance, to your sharp words, to the way that you treat people. All because you couldn’t bite your tongue, hold it in, and take the higher road. Who would want to debut with that!"

"Why do I have to take the higher road when someone else is behaving badly? Why do I have to coddle somebody or suffer in silence when this is a team? Just like Levi said, we all did our part. Justin and I stayed up to write out every little detail of the concept, and he even helped you with the choreography. Benjamin, Jerome, and Levi fully translated everything to English, making it easy to sing and flow smoothly. You did the choreography. He insisted on doing the arrangement, which could have been handled by the trainer or another team member, but instead, he made a mess. And rather than calling him out for not taking accountability, especially when he stomped out, you ask someone else to do his job. Look at your conscience and ask yourself if that’s fair and if that’s the kind of team you want to be a part of and lead."

"That’s just the way things are."

"That is NOT the way things are or have to be."

"You’re clearly not on the Korean side of Pop Star academy, so you don’t know how it is. Every move is scrutinized. You have to be perfect in everything. With my experience and previous roles, I’m under a lot of scrutiny and cannot behave like a crazy person."

"And yet, I, the crazy person, am the one you’re coming to, even though I’m the person you don’t want to debut with because of x, y, z reasons. See how that logic doesn’t work?"

Ari watched Rex just stare without saying anything and sighed.

"Whatever. I’ll do it. And for the record, I’m aware that I have a sharp personality, which might not be the best for an aspiring idol to have, but honestly, I don’t want to debut with someone who would let someone get away with bad behavior and put the burden on people who have done their part because some people on the internet won’t like it. But if that’s how you want to live your life, go for it. In the end, we don’t need to be friends, and even if we debut together, we just need to work together as if we’re coworkers. All I’m asking from you is, at the very least, treat me the same way you would treat others, or just ignore me the same way you do William. Don’t put your messed-up behavioral expectations on me. Keep that nonsense to yourself. That’s the least that you can do as the leader of the team." Ari told the Korean boy honestly, cracking his neck as he stood up.

"I’ll get the arrangement redone, hopefully by tomorrow. See you in practice. And my advice to you is to avoid him to get well quicker. Or don’t, I don’t care. It’s a free country, and you supposedly have free will. Not that you use it."

*****

Throughout the week, Ari spent his time practicing, forcing himself through the sexy moves, while the PDs forced them to have an impromptu beauty salon day and photoshoot before making them sign a bunch of random objects.

Their team decided which station they wanted to work for the fan showcase, tried on their costumes, and made slight changes to their performance.

It was finally the day of the very first fan showcase, where Ari sat getting his makeup done in preparation to work his station with his team.

What was supposed to be a quick 10-minute touch-up had transformed into a 1-hour affair as the stylist continually played around with his face and hair.

After the first iteration, Ari really couldn’t tell what had been added and changed, so he just dozed off until she woke him up again.

"Which side do you like better, Ari?"

Ari turned around to face the stylist, tilting his face from side to side so she could choose one.

"They both look good, but you’re the expert. It’s a pirate concept, so which one do you think looks better and can be easily adjusted after my shift at the fan showcase?"

"But- but they both look so pretty~ let me add a little more eyeshadow and you can look again."

As his face was turned side to side with even more things being brushed on, Ari just closed his eyes and let her enjoy herself.