"Are you serious?" Mike asked as he looked at me.
"I couldn't say no," I said as I shrugged my shoulders. "Now that I think about it, this is a bad idea."
"You were supposed to know that even before you agreed."
"What do you think? I said no to RM but everyone else started to plead and I couldn't say no."
"Well, this is going to be great. It's just like that time when BigBang challenged us in that bowling game."
I rubbed my neck as I thought of what might happen. There was no turning back now. And I regretted ever accepting to all of this in the first place.
Mike and I were standing by the doll claw machines away from everyone else in the gaming area. I was having a bottle of water alongside him waiting to be called for the challenge. Aside from everybody else, Mike was the only person in his right sense who found all of this to be a pretty bad idea.
"I think I should just call it quits," I said as I screwed the lid back on the bottle and threw the empty bottle in the waste bin nearby.
"Too late for that, sis," said Mike. "As much as I think about it now, this isn't much of a bad thing after all."
I threw a look at him. "What are you saying? You're supposed to be supporting me. Not thinking like everybody else."
"Okay, you're right. But come on, Sam, it will be so much fun. People will get to see that it's not only Daniel and I that having some gaming blood."
"Thanks, I feel a lot better now." I rolled my eyes.
"Don't be so sarcastic. It will be good for you in some way. At least you get to challenge a member of BTS. That's one thing not every fangirl gets to experience."
"As much as you have a point on that one, I still don't feel any better. What if I embarrass myself?"
"Trust me, you couldn't be as worse as Christine. I know you. You might think you aren't ready but you've got this and you'll definitely win."
"Thanks Mike." I smiled at him as I gave him a small punch on the shoulder. "I really needed to hear that."
Mike smiled back at me and we soon noticed Suga and Jin approach us. Looks like it's game time.
"Are you ready?" Suga asked with that corky smile on his face as he looked at me.
"To be honest, no," I replied as I felt my cheeks flush.
"Well, you better be because it's time."
"So, what challenge are we going for first?"
"The basketball game," said Jin.
"That will be easy," said Mike as he looked at me.
I shook my head. "I don't know. I've to be fast enough to throw the balls in the hoop and gain enough points."
"It might be easy, but its as tough as it gets," said Suga.
I blew out a sigh. "Okay, here goes nothing."
Mike and I followed Suga and Jin to the small crowd of spectators who had come to watch the challenge. I found RM waiting for me at the basketball game machine. In the crowd were BTS, WINNER and The Toxins. Gosh, this felt terrifying. I had to pull myself together and do what I had to do.
"Are you ready?" RM asked me.
"No," I answered.
"Okay," came Lee as she came towards us. "Looks like the players are ready." She smiled at the both of us.
"Looks like you're the one spearheading this challenge like last time," I said.
"Hey, don't complain. You know I'm older than you and I just have to. So, listen up you two. This is going to be a multiple game challenge. You will only get to play five games."
I sighed in relief. Five was a reasonable number and an odd one for that matter. That meant there wasn't going to be any issue of a tie.
"So, whoever manages to win the most games is winner of the whole competition."
"Is there a prize for the winner?" RM asked.
"Loser does whatever the winner wishes."
Really? I hated such conditions just to win a game. Why couldn't I just get a doll for a prize or something and walk away free minded?
"So, your first challenge is the basketball court. Whoever manages to gain more points than the other wins. Are you ready?"
"Yes," RM and I replied at the same time. I turned to look at him and I found him looking back at me.
"Okay, so, stand in front of the basketball machine, please and I'll tell when to begin."
I turned towards the machine and stood there staring at the basketball net. I've never really played this game before. Better yet, I was never a fan of basketball even back in my school days. If it ever came to ball games, basketball was never really my thing.
"All the best, Sam!" I heard Seunghoon cheer behind me. I turned to look at him and I smiled. The rest of WINNER all gave me a thumbs up, wishing me the best of luck.
"You look nervous," said RM who stood next to me facing the machine next to mine. I turned to look back in front of me.
"Not really a fan of basketball," I answered, trying to keep calm.
I noticed him smile at the corner of my eye with those cute killer dimples on his cheeks and said nothing more. Looks like he thought he had an advantage over me in this game. Well, he had another thing coming. I was going to do whatever it takes.
"Okay," came Lee. "Now, you already know what to do. Throw the basketballs into the net and gain enough points before time runs out. You already knows what happens when you miss the target. Are you ready?"
RM and I nodded our heads. I looked at the basketballs all lined up in front of me and shook my hands. I just hope I would be fast enough to throw all those balls into the net.
"In the count of three, you begin," said Lee. "Ready? One, two.....three!"
I quickly got the first basketball in front of me and threw towards the net. I didn't even check to see if it had gone in or not because I was already getting the second ball and throwing it at the net. I saw that one go in, I got my third one and it went in too.
There was cheering behind me and I couldn't tell you who was supporting who. There cheers seemed all muffled up in my ears because I was too focused on the game throwing the balls towards the basketball net. I couldn't even look to my side to see how RM was doing because I might just cost myself in the game.
I felt like I had been throwing balls forever that I felt my arms get weary. This time around, I found myself throwing the balls with one hand. I would throw the ball with my left and my right one would be picking up the next one ready to throw. I kept on doing that until I ran out of balls and the buzzer from the machine soon rang, announcing that the game was over.
Thank goodness! I turned around and sighed as I felt my arms ache after all the throwing. There was clapping and cheering around me and I couldn't care less because my arms ached way too much.
"And the winner of the this round is.....!" Lee announced. There was still cheering going on that at first I didn't get to hear the name.
"Huh?" I asked as I stretched my arm back and forth.
"You won the first round, Sam," said Christine as she over to hug me. "You were awesome."
"I won?" I asked with a surprised look on my face after she broke away from me.
"Look at the scores behind you."
I turned towards the basketball machine and I noticed the score meter right next to the basketball net. I looked over at RM's score. I beat him and that made my mouth drop.
"What the.....?" I grew too speechless. I didn't expect this, to be honest.
"Congrats, Sam," said RM with a smile. "Were you lying that you weren't good at basketball just to fool me?"
"Aren't you seeing the surprised look on my face right now?" I asked pointing at my own face. "Trust me, I meant what I said when I said that basketball was never my thing."
"Well, you showed him," said Mino as he came towards me. "Not only were you fast at throwing the balls, you only got to miss the net once."
"Really?" I now scratched my head.
"I told you could do it, sis," said Mike as he came over and smiled at me.
"Thanks, but can I take a break?" I asked. "My arms are too tired. Just a few minutes."
"Sure you can," said Lee. "I'll give you two five minutes then we can go over to the next challenge."
"I think I'll also need to rest my arms too," said RM. "Just know that this isn't over yet, Sam."
RM went over to join his BTS mates while I was surrounded by my own and WINNER.
"May I ask where Zoey is?" I asked.
"Forget about her," said Seungyoon. "She just joined BTS and will be supporting RM from now on."
I had my eyebrow raised. "Really?"
"I've always told you that Zoey will never last being your best friend," said Mike mockingly and he laughed.
I looked towards BTS and I could see Zoey standing right next to Jimin. They were all talking and laughing. She seemed to be having a good time with them.
"It's only for now," I said. "She can support anyone she wants."
A few minutes later, Lee came over to to us.
"Okay, Sam, ready for the next round?" she asked.
I nodded my head and she nodded back. She went over to RM obviously asking him the same question. He also nodded his head and we all followed Lee to the next game machine.
The motorcycle race.
"No way," I said as I shook my head. "You can't expect me to play this game."
"But that's the next challenge," said Lee.
"May I ask who chose this apart from you?" I asked with my arms folded.
"Zoey and Suga," Lee replied.
I rolled my eyes. Zoey and Suga. No wonder. One of them had decided on this and I'm going to know who.
"What's wrong, Sam?" came Suga behind me and I turned to face him. "Scared of a little motorcycle ride?"
I didn't answer him at first because finding the right words to tell him was proving to be really difficult.
"No, it's just that motorcycle games aren't my thing either," I answered.
"Okay, this is just wrong," said Mino. "Aren't these two supposed to play games they can manage to play?"
"Well, yes," said Lee. "I had no idea that Sam wasn't really a fan of motorcycle games."
"Trust me, she's one who crashes," said Daniel. "A lot."
"See, even my brothers know that," I said as I looked at Suga.
"But I'm afraid the challenge has already been set," said Suga with a smirk. "So you better get ready. Who knows, you might just be lucky with this like you were with the basketball challenge."
I shook my head and turned away from Suga to look at the motorcycle arcade machine before me. If it was one thing I sucked at apart from basketball, was race car or motorcycle games. The reason why I hated them was because I would always crash. Though there was a time when I used to practise a lot and I had almost got it right. But right now, I was afraid that I might as well just crash big time.
"Sorry about Suga," came RM as he came to stand beside me. "He might be a little bit of a prick sometimes."
"Don't apologise," I answered. "I might as well have lost this round anyway."
"You know what? I'm not going to take your word on this one."
"Why?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Because of the basketball game?"
"Yep. It's true what people say about you. You're just full of surprises."
I didn't say anything as I blushed and thought of what the hell I was going to do in this game.
"Hey, Sam," came Zoey. "Hope you two are ready. We're about to begin."
"Did you suggest that putting in the motorcycle game in the challenge?" I asked giving Zoey the eyebrow.
"Ummmm," Zoey scratched her head looking somewhere else. "Oh, look, Mino is calling me. I'll be back soon."
Zoey soon left RM and I alone again. He started to laugh while I just rolled my eyes.
"What was that about?" RM asked.
"Just wanted to know if she was the one who suggested bringing in this challenge. I've no doubt that she did," I answered.
"Sam," I heard someone call behind me. It was Jimin and alongside him came Jungkook.
"Hey," I said as RM and I turned to face them.
"We didn't wish you all the best earlier," said Jimin.
"But aren't you supporting your leader on this?" I looked at RM with my eyebrow raised.
Jimin shrugged his shoulders as he smiled at me. He looked so adorable when he smiled, I couldn't help but smile back.
"I care less who wins," he said. "As long as you guys are having fun and we are all with you."
What Jimin said bore deep in my mind. He was absolutely right on this one. This wasn't some kind of competition where we would win a grand prize. We all came here to have fun and I forgot about all that because I so much as cared about winning this thing to prove how much of a gamer I was like my brothers.
"Sam?" A hand waved in front of me and I came back to reality.
"Are you okay?" RM asked. He was the one who had waved his hand in front of me.
"I am. Why?" I asked.
"You were smiling to yourself. What were you thinking about?"
I turned to look at Jimin and Jungkook in front of me, still smiling.
"Nothing," I replied. "Jimin said something that reminded me what I came here for."
"Mmmm, I'm glad I helped," said Jimin as he chuckled. Gosh, he was just so adorable.
"For a moment, I thought you were falling for Jimin," said RM.
"Don't all girls?" I asked giving RM a smirk. "I'll tell you one thing, I like all of you BTS members, it's hard to chose who's my bias."
"Even Suga?"
I laughed. "Well, ya. Let's just say his cold sarcasm is what draws me to him."
"Someone should tell him that," said Jungkook.
"For now, don't say a word," I said. "I'll be the one to tell him one of these fine days."
"But I really want to know," said RM. "Every fan girl has a bias and you saying you like us all, doesn't count."
"You want to know who my BTS bias is?" I raised an eyebrow at RM.
"I also want to know," said Jimin.
I looked at Jungkook. "What about you, Kooky? Wouldn't you like to know?"
Jungkook looked startled. Looked like he didn't expect me to call him Kooky and he ended up staring at the floor, then back at me without a word.
"Okay, the motorcycle race is about to begin!" Lee announced, drawing everyone's attention towards her. "Players, please step forward."
"We better go," I said.
"All the best," said Jungkook.
I smiled at him and Jimin. As I turned around with RM, I couldn't help but wonder if I had seen Jungkook blush earlier. But I brushed that off when I approached the motorcycle game machine.
"Players, mount your motorcycles," said Lee.
I got on my motorcycle and I couldn't help but feel familiar with it. It was almost like getting on a bicycle. I smiled at myself. Maybe with this, I wouldn't do such a horrible job as crash in the game.
RM mounted on his motorcycle. I turned to look at him and he at me.
"Hope you don't crash," he said.
I made a flapping noise with my lips. "Please, crashing is almost my middle name," I said with a smirk.
I held the handlebars of the motorcycle and I noticed the buttons on it. The forward, reverse, acclerator, the brakes and nitro booster buttons. I took a deep breath and prayed that I shouldn't crash.
"Okay," came Lee. "Ready? When the lights turn green, you go."
I turned to look at the screen in front of me. I was facing a long tarred road. The traffic robot above the screen showed red, seconds later, it was yellow. I took a deep breath and my thumb was ready to press on the accelerator button.
The green light came on and I pushed on the accelerator. My motorcycle on the screen sped forward and I was on the road. So far so good as I was doing okay. When it came to every corner, I would turn smoothly holding onto the brakes so as not to skid off the road, moving the motorcycle I was on side to side. There was only one problem though.
RM was ahead of me.
I didn't care though. As much as I was having fun, not crashing or anything, I had a trick up my sleeve.
One good thing was that we were only going for one round. I stared at the map on the side of the screen. We were almost close to the finish line and I was close on RM's tail. I stepped on the accelerator and I was now neck and neck with RM.
There was cheering behind me going on and that made me motivated. RM pulled a little further away from me and just as we were almost close to the finish line, I pushed on the nitro booster and my motorcycle on the road dashed at a high speed and passed the finish line. The words "WINNER" flashed on my screen.
"WOOOOHOOOO!" I exclaimed happily with my hands in the air. I felt so alive like never before.
I felt someone from behind lift me off the motorcycle. It was Seunghoon. Immediately I was off the motorcycle, he hugged me properly.
"That was so cool, Sam," he said as he looked at me.
"And you didn't even crash," said Jinwoo as he came to join us. "You were really in the game."
"Thanks," I said.
"How did you know when to press nitro to win?" Seungyoon asked.
"I learnt from the best," I said as I turned to look at my two brothers.
"If dad were here, he would think you really deserve a driver's license," said Daniel. Mike and I laughed.
I heard clapping behind me and I turned around to see RM. He had also just mounted off the motorcycle he was riding on and was applauding for me.
"Once again," he said. "You surprised me at the last minute."
"Hope you aren't mad," I said as I winced.
"Do I look mad? I'm being beaten by a girl, left, right and centre. This probably is the most surprising day of my life."
"Tell me about it," said Mike. "She beat me in a Tekken game. That was also a shock on my part."
"Looks like she's just like us after all," said Daniel.
"Mmm, excuse me," I said with my eyebrow raised. "I was born first, so, you got the 'it' for gaming, from me."
"That's so not true," said Mike, shaking his head.
"It is. It's just that you boys were born in a time and era where video games became so popular that it was a must for every boy to know how to play."
"I think I agree on Sam on this one," said J-Hope as he came to join us. "If playing video games was a girl-thing, they would be unstoppable."
I smiled at J-Hope. "I definitely like your thinking."
"Just because females are proven to be the smartest doesn't mean they are unstoppable," said Daniel.
"I don't know what you're all arguing about here," said Zoey as she approached us. "But we have to move on to the third challenge."
"Which is.....? RM and I asked at the same time.
"Dance Dance Revolution," answered Christine as she appeared behind Zoey.
"Christine! I was then one whose supposed to tell them that," Zoey complained. "Not you."
"Finally, a real competition," I said as I looked at RM.
"Why? Because we can dance ourselves?" RM asked.
"Yep."
"Let me give you a tip," said J-Hope. "RM isn't that much of a dancer. I bet in this round, you might as well have won it."
"We'll see about that," I said. "Who knows, he might just surprise me."
We moved on to the Dance Dance Revolution game and RM and I got on with the challenge right away. I was having fun and so was he. Everyone else who watched was cheering for us because they were also enjoying it. I ended up winning the challenge.
"Ha, I win again!" I said happily after the game was over.
"Okay, it's pretty obvious that you've won this challenge," said RM. "You've already beat me in three games."
"You want to back out on the challenge?" I smirked.
"Ya, I should have listened to your brother and Christine that you were on your A game today."
"Is that a forfeit plea I hear?" came Lee as she approached us from behind.
"Yep," said RM as he turned to look at Lee then back at me. "Sam's already beat me in three games with two more to play. She's already won."
"Okay," said Lee as she smiled at RM, then she turned to look at me. "Looks like we've our winner."
"Does that mean the challenge is over?" Jin asked.
"Yep," said Lee as she turned around to address the whole crowd. "Sam's our winner."
Everyone watching cheered and clapped for me. My two brothers and Christine came to the Dance Dance Revolution platform I was standing on to hug me.
"Now can we please just have fun now?" I asked. "I mean, we all came to the arcade to have fun right? Not just watch a challenge."
"I agree," said Zoey. "Now that I see everyone having fun, I think I also want to join in and play a game or two."
"Okay," said V as he came to stand next to her. "Let's go play darts. You and I."
Zoey smiled. "Sure."
"Ha! I told you would fall in love with the arcade today, Zoey," said Mike.
"Ya, ya, whatever." Zoey playfully rolled her eyes.
"Speaking of which," came Seunghoon as he came to approach me and took me by the hand. "You and I have a Tekken game to play."
"I forgot about that," I said, blushing as I looked at his hand holding mine.
"I want to go against her too," said Suga as he gave me a smirk. "I'll have to see for myself if she's really that good as others say she is."
"Same here," said RM.
"I think I'll be here dancing," said Mike. "Who's with me?"
"I am," said J-Hope. "This is going to be fun."
"I think I'll join you," said Mino.
After walking away from the Dance Dance Revolution game machine, I went along with Seunghoon, Suga and RM to play Tekken and everyone else dispersed heading to play other games.
We all had fun, The Toxins, BTS, WINNER and Lee. We played various games together that it didn't matter who was better than the other. We even had fun at the doll claw machines. Though it was funny how most of us failed to get the dolls out a number of times.
Time seemed to have stopped when we were in the arcade. Because the time we were all leaving the place, we were surprised that it was way past lunch time, late in the afternoon.