“Um yeah, a bit,” I say, chewing on my lip. “I’ll just need to run it by management and make sure I’m available.”

“Please do and have them get back to us soonest.”

I hang up with Cynthia and stare at my phone in a daze. I can’t believe it. Did that really just happen?

I quickly fill in Leah, then race back into DB headquarters. The Discipline shoot is just over a month away. I can’t waste a minute getting DB’s permission.

“Excuse me, Mr. Noh?” I tap on his open door lightly. “Sorry, I didn’t see your assistant out there, and I know Jongseok is at the vet with his dogs this morning—”

“Ah… yes.” Mr. Noh looks up from his desk. He seems distracted, but ushers me into his office. “Come in, Rachel.”

“I’ve just been given an opportunity to do a photo shoot for Discipline Sportswear,” I say as soon as I’m seated. “They’re offering to fly me to Switzerland for the shoot in mid-September. Do you think there’s any way we could have that worked into my schedule?”

Mr. Noh stiffens. “I didn’t get a request from Discipline to work with you,” he says.

“They reached out to me directly,” I say carefully. “They said you were all in a meeting this morning?”

There’s an awkwardness in the air as Mr. Noh glances down at the papers on his desk, then hastily turns them facedown.

“Yes, well,” Mr. Noh says, “you’ll need to get me the exact dates. You leave for the LA concert on September thirtieth—obviously we can’t have this trip brushing up against that.” I nod. “But,” Mr. Noh continues, “I suppose if the timing works, and you’ve already said yes… then we can’t turn them down, can we?”

I let out an inward sigh of relief and bow in thanks. “Thank you so much, Mr. Noh.”

As I turn to leave, Mr. Noh holds up a hand, stopping me.

“Just a reminder, Rachel”—his eyes flash behind his glasses—“to keep your priorities in order. I certainly hope you’re not forgetting what they are.”

Priorities. The word replays in my mind over the next several weeks.