I wanted to spend more time with Minhyuk since he came but at the same time, I've been trying to avoid seeing Wonho or even accidentally bumped into him on the road. I stayed inside as much as possible. Intentionally I ignored his calls and messages. Unfortunately, since going back to work it's getting hard to dodge.
We finally took a break from work. Just when I was leaving, my phone rang and Minhyuk called. "Lea, come on down! We'll have lunch together." he said. "Sure, I'll be down in just a minute, okay?" I stepped out from the block but was stopped by a voice. "Lea, wait!" Hyungwon came jogging towards me. "Mr Alvin just wanted to let you know that we're going to the venue again today." And he calmed down. "Sure. And it seems like you've been busy, Hyungwon." He then replied in an annoyed tone, "These days, I went from a photographer to a messenger now." "Even Kihyun's been irritating." I let out a laugh.
"Aren't you two always sticking together?" I joked. "Not all the time." he protest and as if he thought of something, he took out a small piece of paper from his pocket. "Before I forget, Kihyun told me to give this to you." I took the paper from him and looked. imprinted on it was the location. "Thanks." And he left.
I proceeded outside the building where my friend was waiting for me. He saw me and waved "Hey, you waited long?" He stashed his book in his pocket and said "It was only for a while." As we got in the car, I asked "Where are we going?"
"We're going to eat, silly." He added, "But first, we'll go to the cinema." I was puzzled and said again "Cinema, what?" "We can't." "I still have to get back here in a few hours." I panic a little. He looked at me and smiled "Don't worry, we'll still make it back in time, okay?" And we drove in silence as I slumped down the car seat.
We went to the big shopping mall where the cinema was located on the other side of the section. We went up the escalator and straight to the tickets area. Minhyuk and I queued in the long line of people. "Min…" I tucked at his shirt. And as if reading my mind, he said "No, we're not watching a movie now. We'll watch it later tonight." I shrugged "Oh, you could have told me that earlier."
Before our turn, several customers took their time by ordering a lot of snacks and beverages, while the other one could not decide on a movie and kept changing from screen to screen. At last, it was our turn. Minhyuk let me pick but I told him to choose instead. Since we both love action movies, he chose the latest ones then picked a time slot. He paid for it and then we left the mall, just in time for me to go back to the company. Suddenly I remembered the piece of paper Hyungwon gave me. We walked to the parking lot and I told Minhyuk to drive us to the venue. "Here's the location that we have to go." I gave the small piece of paper to him. "You're coming too right?" I turned to him, just in case he changed his mind. "Sure! I told you I want to see how the stage looks like." I smiled and we drove on.
Minhyuk followed the directions on the paper using a digital GPS map to guide us there.
Shortly after, we arrived at the venue, registered myself and Minhyuk and went inside the big where I saw the rest of the crew were already busy unpacking as I searched around for familiar faces. These halls always have the catch to surprise me somehow. "There you are!" I recognised that voice anywhere. Mr Alvin's gruff voice spoke up. "Where were you? And what took you so long?" His eyes moved from me to my friend. "And who's this?"
"This is my friend, Minhyuk." I introduced them in greeting. "He is just here to see the stage or hang around." I showed a slight smile as he awed at the big runway. "I need you to check on the collection dresses backstage." "Quick!" He snapped. So I dashed off as fast as I could to the other room, leaving my friend hanging though I'm sure he'll be fine. "He always does". I thought aloud.
What I didn't know next was so terrifying that I would not know it until after it happened. Wonho and Ivy came to the venue too. Too pretty for her own good, she had her minions with her to take her things. She grabbed his ex's elbow, not letting him go free.
The truth is, Ivy and Wonho used to be a couple for two years until a month right before Lea had arrived in New York City ruining her every chance to make up their relationship again as well as her plans. And how she despises Lea everytime she tries to find fault.
I walked to the room backstage and found that there were no hangers or dresses for the show to be found. I looked around behind the curtains and the drapes. But it wouldn't be missing like this because I remembered I've put in here.
Nothing.
Confused, I went to ask someone if they've seen those dresses. A man told me that they've moved all of it upstairs. "People in these events go in and out of the backstage. It's possible those collections you talk about would be upstairs." he mumbled a little. "Most of the things that went missing were put there." "Upstairs?" "Oh, thank you!" I thanked him and dashed up to the elevator.
I saw some buttons that said "Store rooms." and another says "Dressing rooms."
"Oh!" I smacked my forehead realising. "I've forgotten to ask which floor it was!" I then thought to myself "Well, I'll choose the dressing rooms first." I pushed the button and the elevator moved slowly upwards. Very soon I got to the upper floor and walked to the dressing room without having a loss of direction. The room was located at the far end, passing through many rooms.
Finally I found the dressing room and stepped inside. The whole space was stacked with many boxes and no labels on them. So then I took the trouble to take those boxes down one by one. "Sigh…" As I randomly open those boxes and look more thoroughly behind them and the corners (you never know the corners you missed would bring you surprises, well most of the time). Carefully, I put the large stack of boxes back to where I found them and left.
Disappointed. "Now how am I going to explain to the designer?" I pondered, back to the elevator.