076 » and you let go of what we have

[sforzi]

[if kanon had left things to his father, the maldini cosmetics empire might have run itself into the ground.

maldini was faltering, not too long ago. not as a family, but as a brand. theirs was an old cosmetics house, admittedly dating back to 1894 — luxury, but with items at reasonable price points, if one looked past the sticker shock prompted by their highest-priced products — but they were losing customers. in the age of influencers and social media stars, of makeup consumers more willing to purchase a glamorous new eyeshadow release than an old classic, most young people had the distinct impression that maldini cosmetics was for old people. grandmothers. wealthy heiresses. dame lauren mirren.

and maybe kanon should have let his family legacy crumble into obsolescence. he had other things to do, a career of his own — more to concern himself with than something as vague as family history and a father who once left him with a black eye for having the nerve to dab a little pink powder over his lids in curious childhood. but he couldn't bear it, how easy it would be to fix things, and how tempting it would be to take the high road, to be holier-than-thou.]

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[sforzi]

[so, it goes like this: after getting the clearance from schneizel that it wouldn't be a problem — and of course it wouldn't be; he's allowed, technically, to have a life of his own outside of his work for the united federation — kanon began uploading makeup tutorials in his free time. quality is as quality does, and quality speaks for itself; given his considerable resources, his eye for detail, and his own skill, it wasn't long before he amassed a dedicated following. nowadays, kanon is instagram famous, whatever that's worth. (he knows it isn't worth much.) it's known that he has a day job as the undersecretary to the (very attractive) chief of staff at the ufn, but he never comments on his work, and he keeps his channel and social media purely about cosmetics and makeup. and maldini's latest releases, of course.

he doesn't get a cent from his father for it, but that's fine. privately, he bought enough stock in maldini cosmetics that he's become the largest individual shareholder of the business; effectively, kanon's dad may still be the ceo, but kanon owns the company, regardless of whether or not he is invited to the board.

when asked to comment, his father said only that he hadn't spoken to kanon in years, which was true.

anyway, none of that is important. or rather, it's juicy to the fans, but many things are juicy to the fans. kanon's own good looks account for a great deal of his appeal. the fact that he is polite and has never responded to criticism from other beauty gurus is widely seen as a matter of class (or perhaps even a matter of international state). tactically, and because schneizel himself finds his little makeup empire amusing, kanon has allowed himself to be publicly seen getting too-close to his boss. he skipped out on vidcon because of a political situation in zilkhstan.

there's a lot about him that people don't know about, but kanon likes it that way.

still, on the advice of his pr team — he has a pr team now — he's been told that he needs to seem more approachable, more down-to-earth. people think you're too uppity, his manager said, reading notes off her twitter feed. that you think you're better than everyone. i mean, your name is kanon maldini! you might as well be named leonardo versace. people know you don't have anything to do with your dad's company, but that doesn't stop them from assuming you grew up with all the money.

so, the plan: to film a makeover session with one lucky fan. down-to-earth. chill. kanon would be able to show off some of his wit, his everyman personality. the fan might get some fans of her own. everybody wins.

the name they pull — and there were a great many names to pull — is one hong seol.

she wasn't the first name pulled, admittedly; the draw wasn't all luck, but that's what they'll tell her. they were looking for a younger girl to begin with — not that it wouldn't have been charming to watch him do an older woman's makeup, but it wouldn't have done much to secure a younger customer base — and kanon rejected the first few real winners on account of their being too overdone. why would i give a makeover to someone who already thinks she knows how to do her makeup? he'd asked.

but seol — she's cute enough, kanon thinks, as she walks into the studio they're using today. a little bit of a plain jane, but that's much more preferable than some bitch who already thinks she's a ten. hopefully, she'll be fun to talk to, and not too shy.

he's not the kind of stuck-up celebrity who wouldn't say hello to her before filming. while his cameraman and sound crew are discussing the lighting, kanon himself walks over to seol, coffee in hand, extending one drink-warmed palm in her direction.]

You're Seol, right?

[he says it casually, like he's just another assistant on set.]

I hope it wasn't too difficult to get here.