→ Sosuke:

“Come on,” Tobias said and grabbed Sosuke’s hand. “We probably shouldn’t keep the scary lady waiting.”

Sosuke laughed at his bestie’s comment and let Tobias pull him along to the front entrance. They conquered the small stairwell in no time and dashed into the spinning, glass doors. There were normal doors on the sides they could’ve taken, but what fun would that have been?

While the gray bricks and glass-pane wall design for the building’s exterior were the modern day standard for architecture, Sosuke guessed that the place’s owner couldn’t entirely let go of their 90’s roots with all the fuzzy, pop-themed interior decorations he saw. Even the black-and-white portraits of previous magazine covers gave him 90’s vibes, given the nature of the frames (and they were all a hot pink color).

Why didn’t I expect all this pink? Sosuke’s eyes felt assaulted by all the pink-themed decorations, save for the silver statue of a runway model in the center of a fountain stationed in the middle of the lobby. Tobias led him around said water fountain and to the large, cherry-wood reception desk. Sosuke was grateful for his best friend’s ability to laser-focus on things sometimes, because he would’ve been easily distracted by the plush seating area and complimentary beverage stations—or the fancy, innovative vending machines.

The machines reminded Sosuke of when his family went to visit their grandparents in Japan. Sosuke was certain Sienna had been to Japan before given her status, but he didn’t think she’d gain an interest in the vending machines, of all things. He briefly wondered if there might be a ramen one…

A lady with auburn hair cut into an angled bob sat behind the large, pink Apple Mac desktop monitor. She was looking at the screen with dark, empty eyes and made no move to even acknowledge the boys’ entrance. As much as Sosuke hated to say it, the young lady totally had a resting bitch face, which was immediately off-putting for the teen. Tobias faked a cough and somehow didn’t even flinch when the lady turned her icy gaze onto him.

“Can I help you?” the receptionist said in a monotonous tone after a moment of hesitation.

“Yeah, actually,” Tobias started and stood up onto his tiptoes. “We have an, uh, meeting with Mrs. Johnson and wanted to know where to go.”

Sosuke was impressed that the lady had yet to blink since fixing her evil gaze on them, but he lost any respect he may have reserved the second she blew a bubble of gum until it popped.

“Just have a seat in the waiting area and I’ll page her over,” the young lady said and picked up a pink landline phone. “And what are your names?”

“Tobias Torres and Sosuke Takahashi,” Tobias responded promptly and squeezed Sosuke’s hand tight.

“Right,” she drawled and popped another bubble. “You two look awfully young, by the way.” The receptionist scrutinized them like she didn’t understand why a couple of high school boys were there.

“Okay! We’ll be over by the vending machines, then. Thanks for the help!” Tobias squeaked and forced Sosuke to flee with him. They slid over to the fuzzy pink waiting area and took a seat on the cushiony bench.

“What’s with that receptionist?” Sosuke leaned forward so his arms rested on his thighs, and whispered to Tobias.

“Dunno, but you think she’d be nicer.” Tobias shrugged then ran his hands along his too-tight business pants.

Sosuke stared ahead at the floor-to-ceiling glass pane observing the parking lot outside. “Yeah,” he said after a pause. “But I’m also just surprised there’s a receptionist on a Saturday?”

“Was wondering the same!!” Tobias tapped his feet and looked around the area. His eyes narrowed in on the vending machine section and he clicked his tongue.

“Say, you think they have Red Bull in one of those vending machines? Like, why are there so many?”

“I don’t know, but I really wish I’d grabbed one of the sodas from that limo,” Sosuke said with a sigh. He squinted over at the vending area himself to see if he could make out any specifics. “And I doubt there are energy drinks in a high fashion building.”

They both stared at the vending machines before Sosuke shifted back around to shrug at Tobias. “I don’t have any cash on me, anyway, so what does it matter?”

“Yeeeaahhhh,” Tobias sighed and frowned, eyes still fixed on the station.

“By the way,” Sosuke said, bringing Tobias’ focus back onto him. “I guess now’s as good a time as ever to talk?”

Tobias snorted and waved his hand by his face. “Honestly, all that happened was that she basically just said that it would be easier if we came in person and asked her questions,” he said and dropped his hand. “Like, I texted her that we would like to ask her more questions, and she just called me a second later. Said she wanted to show us around the building and explain how it worked and stuff.”

“Sounds to me like she thinks her ‘tour’ will help convince us,” Sosuke commented and Tobias laughed.

“You’re not wrong! Maybe she thinks this giant building will convince us on its own?”

“Or the super nineties aesthetic.”

“Dude!” Tobias smacked Sosuke’s thigh. “We weren’t even born then.”

“But you gotta admit they had good taste then,” Sosuke said and bumped his friend’s shoulder. “Though you and I both prefer the eighties instead.”

They both giggled, and Sosuke reminisced over the one time they had an eighties-themed Dungeons and Dragons session with their online friend group. Tobias’ mom had even been kind enough to make them themed snacks, although Sosuke thought some of them could’ve been a little less spicy.

“Hey teens,” came the stale voice of the receptionist. Sosuke and Tobias both looked behind them and saw her still sitting at the desk, staring them down.

Guess she couldn’t be bothered to get up and walk over, Sosuke thought. He didn’t show his disdain for being called a teen like he was beneath the icy receptionist, but he sure as hell felt some type of way about it.

“You can go back that way,” she said with a jerk of her thumb toward a pair of open doors on the left-side of the front desk. “Sienna will meet you inside.”

“Thanks,” Tobias said and they both stood up. They walked around the plush bench and past the vending machine area, where they both quickly checked out the options for future reference as they approached the double cherry-wood doors.

“Yeeeeeer welcome,” the brunette drawled and blew another bubble with her gum. The boys ignored her and passed through the propped-open doors.

The double doors immediately shut behind them with a resounding click, and they paused to look at each other. Curious, Sosuke turned back around to investigate. The only thing that could explain the self-locking mechanism was a black box on the wall adjacent to the doors.

“Must need a card to get inside,” Sosuke said. He turned back around and shrugged. “At least we know we’ll be safe back here?”

“I doubt it was installed just for omega safety,” Tobias laughed and reached out for Sosuke’s hand. The smaller teen took the hand offered and walked down the large hallway with him.

“Yeah. It’s probably to keep everything secret until release.”

“Bingooooo.” Tobias swung their conjoined hands and Sosuke studied the framed portraits all along the pale pink walls. Most of them were solo shots of prior models in, again, black-and-white, but a few group pictures were also showcased.

“Tobi,” Sosuke suddenly halted and said. “We probably shouldn’t keep walking when we don’t know where to go?”

Tobias looked back at him with pursed lips. “Yeah, but I don’t just want to stand in the hallway, either, so what else are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, look for a waiting room or something?” Sosuke shrugged, giving his best friend his full attention. The pink walls were too distracting. “There’s gotta be somewhere the models rest in-between photoshoots?”

“Wondering where to go?”

Both teens jumped at the sudden sound of the older female’s low voice. Sosuke looked around Tobias and fixed his widened eyes on the scary lady approaching them, the click clack of her deep red pumps echoing off the pink walls.

The CEO was wearing a dark red and satiny long-sleeved blouse to match her heels, and a high-waisted short and black pencil skirt. Her black hair was wrapped up into a clean, high bun with a pair of red hair sticks adorning it. She dressed sharp like her no-nonsense attitude, and it definitely fit her. In a weird way, she reminded Sosuke of his own mother, and he didn’t know whether or not to take comfort in that.

“We can talk in my office, or I can give you both a quick tour?” The OMEGA CEO said when she was halfway to where the boys still stood frozen in-place.

The lady’s subtle accent sounded like she could have either migrated from Japan, or spoken the language first before learning English. If only she was Korean, Sosuke thought, then she could definitely pass for my mother. She has that strict attitude down-pat, at the very least…