"No, absolutely not," Cindy Jung immediately said before June could even explain his sentiments.
June sighed deeply. "If you listen to what I'm about to say, then I'm sure you wouldn't hesitate to push through with my idea."
June knew that the public was anticipating the release of the elimination episode after his supposed connection with the Chois had been revealed.
Right now, there are only three ways on how the episode will pan out—the rumor will be debunked, confirmed, or ignored.
And the editing would be stupid if they chose to ignore the situation.
"What? Did you come here to ask me to edit you in a good light?" Cindy asked.
"Yes," June unhesitatingly answered. "Because I am not affiliated with the Chois in any way, and I have a plan to show that to the viewers."
"I'm not stupid enough to believe you," the middle-aged woman strongly said. "The evidence is right under our noses."
June sighed in frustration. "If you would just listen to my explanation..."
Cindy raised her finger to cut him off. "Unluckily for you, I don't have any time to listen to you right now. I have an important meeting to attend to."
With her statement, her phone suddenly rang.
Cindy clicked 'answer' and placed her phone beside her ear.
"Where are you? I'm almost at the restaurant," Jia urged.
"I'm coming. Wait for me inside," Cindy responded.
Jia clicked her tongue. "I'm ordering already if I arrive first."
Cindy fondly chuckled. "Alright. Alright. I'll be there soon."
Cindy ended the call and went back to her cold self. "I don't have anything else to say to you," she said.
"I do," June stubbornly said.
Cindy clicked her tongue. "Young man, I am warning you for the last time. Leave now. Otherwise, I'll be calling security, and you'll have another issue under your belt."
June sighed in frustration as he took a step back.
"Alright," June said in defeat. "I'll be leaving my number with you, then. If you change your mind, then don't hesitate to contact me."
With that, June turned around and left the room peacefully.
Cindy sighed in relief since the young man didn't put up a desperate fight. It was unfortunate. June appeared to be a decent young man, but what Cindy hated the most was people who tried to use their wealth to get what they wanted.
As an editor of more than ten years, she had encountered such scoundrels who wanted to enhance their reputations through her editing skills.
And she never conformed to them. In fact, Cindy did the opposite of what they had asked for.
June was no exception.
Cindy left her office and went to the editing room, where she saw a decent amount of employees still working.
"Miss Jung," the supervisor bowed his head. "You still haven't left?"
"I'm about to," Cindy said. "But I have some instructions for you to carry out until tomorrow."
"Sure, Miss," the supervisor responded. "You can tell it to me, and I'll relay it to the team. We'll make sure to turn the footage over to you tomorrow."
"That young man—June, was it?"
"Ah, yes. The supposed son of Choi Si-woo and Choi Min-ah? Have you thought about how to edit the video? The special mentor of the night had put him under the hot seat during the filming."
Cindy smirked as she tapped her foot on the floor.
"Include it all," she mischievously said. "Edit his scene and make him look as guilty as possible."
"So, evil-edit him?" the supervisor confirmed.
"Evil-edit him. Make it look like he really paid his way to the top."
***
Jia popped a piece of lettuce in her mouth as she waited for her mother to arrive.
For someone who was excited to meet her, she sure is late.
The broth was already boiling, and all of the ingredients had been laid out on their table!
"I'm sorry, Jia-bear," she heard a familiar voice. "I got caught up with something annoying."
Jia clicked her tongue. "Don't call me that in public," she said.
"Why not?" Cindy cheekily asked. "You'd always be my Boo Bear."
Jia rolled her eyes at the cringy nickname. "Why'd you call me out tonight?" she asked as she poured the meat and vegetables into the broth, greedily scooping them into her mouth like she had been starved for days.
"Why?" Cindy asked. "Can't I just go out of my way and see my beautiful daughter?"
"You work one hour away from my school," Jia said, her mouth still full. "You called me on a casual workday. That's unlike you. You rarely visit."
Cindy sadly sighed as she looked at her precious daughter. It felt like it had been years since she last saw her, and it made her wonder if she was so caught up with work that she already forgot what her daughter looked like.
Cindy admits that she had been a workaholic ever since Jia was young. Jia lived with her father in the province when she was a child while Cindy rarely visited because of her workload.
One of the reasons why she didn't renew her contract with her past company is definitely because of Jia. Now that Cindy's in her 50s, she wanted to stray away from work and focus more on her family.
She wanted to make it up to Jia, too.
"Mom," Jia said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Huh?" Cindy asked. "What was that?"
"Why do you have a sad look in your eyes?" Jia asked, weirded out. "I just asked you a simple question—why'd you come here despite your busy schedule?"
Cindy smiled and decided to open up to Jia.
"I really wanted to see you," she said. "It's been a while since we've seen each other, right?"
"I think it was Christmas?" Jia asked. "We celebrated it in the province with dad."
"Yeah, it was fun," Cindy said. "Do you want to go back to the province next month?"
'Alright, this is really getting weird,' Jia thought.
"It's alright," Jia said. "I know you're busy. I can visit Dad on my own. You can just come with us during Christmas. It's always been like that."
Cindy sighed. "It has always been like that, huh?" she sadly said. "I'm sorry, bear."
Jia almost choked after her mom's sincere apology.
Why did the atmosphere turn emotional all of a sudden?
"I know I haven't been that present in your life, but I want to change that. I want to make it up to you. I hope it's not too late," Cindy shakily said.
Jia felt so awkward that she continued spooning hot soup into her mouth.
"Yeah, yeah. It's not too late," she said. "Don't sweat about it, Mom."
Cindy sighed in relief after her daughter's nonchalant response. She was really determined to make it up to her one and only daughter.
Jia, on the other hand, was determined to change the topic.
"So, uh, why'd you come here again?" she asked for the third time.
"Ah, right!" Cindy excitedly said. "I'm working with a different company now—Azure—are you familiar with them?"
"Wait, what?" Jia asked, the glass of water against her lips.
"Yeah, Azure! I signed a contract to become their editor. Under 'Rising Stars,' to be specific!"
