"Give it back!" Kaija snatched the paper from Antony’s hand and jolted to the corner before she could sohow accidentally touch him.
He raised a brow, totally unbothered by her overreaction. "You wrote that?"
"I did!" she scowled, flicking her head away. "Just, please, don’t say anything!" She was so not in the mood for whatever an comnt he had lined up next.
"It’s not bad," he said evenly.
Her mouth fell open in disbelief. She flicked her gaze back at him. "What are you doing here this late?"
"Work," he muttered. Through the elevator reflection, she could see his gaze fixed on so distant spot in this small box rather than on her.
"Work?" she shot him a skeptical look. "You sure you’re not in the wrong building? This is the Production building, not the Performance building."
"I’m aware of that," he said curtly, with no further explanation.
She frowned in confusion, but let it go. She had no desire to test that unpredictable temper of his she’d co to know too well.
Though her dancing had made significant progress thanks to Dani’s ticulous observation and the girls’ support, her trainee–instructor relationship with Antony still remained as lukewarm as ever. Whenever it was just the two of them in the studio, the air turned painfully awkward, just like it did now.
The elevator stopped. Kaija was feeling more than ready to escape this suffocating space and get so decent sleep.
The doors slid open... halfway. Then they shut again imdiately.
Kaija startled, staring at Antony. He was jabbing the close button repeatedly, making it go click click click click click.
Before she could wrap her head around what he was doing, the button labeled 18 lit up white.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she jumped toward the panel, frantically hitting the G button.
Too late. The elevator was already going up again. Floor 18 was the exact floor she’d just left. The one with Raimo’s office.
She shot him a furious glare. "I was gonna get out on the ground floor!"
"If you’re gonna get out," he said calmly, his gaze dropping to the paper in her hand, "what are you gonna do about that song?"
Her brow furrowed, still not getting what he ant. "What do you an?"
For once, his eyes t hers, the gold in them glinting with smug confidence. "You want that song produced, don’t you? That’s why you ca here."
She hid the paper behind her back, her cheeks burning. "Of course I do! But I just t with a producer right before I ran into you, and I already got rejected! I’m sad and tired. I just want to go back to sleep!"
"Who rejected you?" he asked coolly.
"A guy called Raimo."
"What did he say?"
She hesitated, not wanting to recall those harsh words. After a mont, she lifted the paper in her hand again, gaze falling to the wrinkled lines. "He said it’s amateur work. That he wouldn’t put this on anyone’s album. That I’d never win the festival with this."
"This one’s for the festival?" His voice rose slightly in surprise.
She let out a long sigh. "It was supposed to be. I waited a whole month just to et a producer. Now I don’t have ti to find another one... But even if I did, it’d probably get turned down again anyway. Raimo said no producer in this building would work on sothing like this."
Antony went quiet.
The elevator doors slid open, fully this ti.
He stepped out, then turned back to her, his face unreadable.
"Thanks for listening to my rambling. Good night, then," she said awkwardly, reaching for the close button.
He slipped a foot forward, stopping the doors from closing.
Kaija stared up at him, stunned.
"What are you waiting for, dummy?" he grumbled. "Get out of there. Now."
Her body moved on instinct, jolting forward out of the elevator like it was already well-trained from the dance sessions to obey whatever command spoken from Antony’s cold voice. Antony had already started walking, his footsteps heading straight toward where Raimo’s office was.
"Hey! Wait up!" she called after him. "What are you up to, huh?"
He glanced back over his shoulder, pressing a finger to his lips, his voice dropping low. "Will you keep your volu down? This is the production floor. Everyone’s still working in these offices."
She imdiately clamped a hand over her mouth and followed him at a safe distance, a dozen questions spinning in her head.
Just as they passed Raimo’s office, the door clicked open behind her. Raimo’s tired voice imdiately followed. "Kaija Sepala, what are you still doing here? I thought I told you to leave?"
She froze, turning around. Antony’s footsteps stopped too. Raimo’s sleepy eyes widened in disbelief the mont they drifted past her and landed on Antony.
"AK...?" Raimo stamred. "You’re... you’re back?"
"AK?" she echoed, glancing at Antony. AK, as in... Antony Kosonen?
"Raimo," Antony greeted coolly, hands in his pockets. "Still making trash music?"
Raimo’s face tightened with disdain. "What do you know? Aren’t you supposed to be at your dance studio teaching twerking or sothing? Why are you here?"
Antony shot back coldly, "Just checking how badly the departnt’s declined, with producers like you around."
"Shut up!" Raimo shouted, his sleepy face now flushed with anger. "You know nothing about how much we struggle here with this workload, AK! You know nothing but your little dancing hobby. Your main post is here, in the Production Departnt! With us! Can’t you fucking make up your mind?"
At Raimo’s raised voice, doors along the corridor opened one by one. Curious and irritated faces peeked out. But the mont their eyes landed on the three of them, their expressions changed. One by one, they retreated inside and shut their doors without a word.
Kaija frowned at the strange phenonon. Were they scared of Raimo? Or was it because of...
She glanced at Antony. He looked completely unfazed, if not calm, despite Raimo’s outburst and the sudden attention, totally unlike him. If it had been her who told him those words, with that attitude, he would have gone demon mode by now.
Wait a second. If what Raimo said was true, then Antony wasn’t just a dance instructor. He was also... a producer?
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