"Wait, let me get this straight," said Collins over the phone. "You guys want to throw a party at the hotel?"
"Yes," I answered slowly. "We do."
"And what makes you think I'm going to allow that?"
Zoey leaned in closer to me and answered, "because you are invited."
Collins laughed. "Are you serious? Just because you're inviting me to your party doesn't mean I'm going to allow you to throw a party."
Zoey looked at me with a hopeless look on her face. I on the other hand wasn't giving up. I turned to look at Mike.
"Hey, which piñata do you think is best? One with rainbow colours or the all red one?" Mike asked.
"You guys want a piñata?" Collins asked sounding confused. "Are you already buying stuff for the party?"
I didn't answer him right away as I answered Mike, "let's not make it a Mexican party, Mike. We can leave it out."
"But Daniel really wants one," Mike insisted. "He said he hasn't had candy in a long time."
"Ya, a piñata will be awesome," said Zoey.
"Hello, is anyone listening to me?" Collins called out.
"Yes, Collins, we already started buying stuff for the party," I answered.
"Gosh, what to do with you monkeys," Collins muttered. "Okay, you can have your party. Let me talk to the hotel manager to give you guys a permit. You don't want to end up in a cell."
I smiled. "Thanks, Collins."
"Whatever. Just don't tear up the place, will you?"
"We promise," said Zoey.
Collins cut the line and the five of us, Toxins couldn't stop smiling.
"Well, that went well," I said.
"How did you know he wasn't going to refuse if he thought we were already buying stuff for the party?" Zoey asked.
"There was nothing he was going to do about it even if we were to bring all the party decorations back at the hotel without telling him in the first place. He would still say yes no matter what," I answered.
"I told you Sam had it all figured out," said Daniel.
"Now that that's been sorted out, we better get shopping," said Christine.
The five of us all came out of the car parked in the parking lot of the mall. We hurriedly walked up to the entrance to avoid any of our fans from spotting us.
As soon as we entered the mall, I turned to look at the others before we could go any further.
"Okay, so how is it going to be?" I asked. "Should we we split up and buy what we need or stick together?"
"I think we should stick together," said Christine. "We can't split up and just buy what we want. We didn't even make a list."
"I agree. At least if we are together, we can remind ourselves of what we need," said Zoey.
"Okay, then sticking together it is," I said. "We better hurry. We only have three hours till twelve so we better be done with shopping within an hour and a half."
To make our shopping more easier, we quickly found ourselves at a party supply store. Daniel first got red ballons. Lots of them because he was so excited about the party. They were almost too much that I had to put some of them back on the shelves when he wasn't looking.
We even got red confetti. That was all on Zoey. She's a huge fan of such. She reminded me of the old days when we used to make confetti out of cut out paper and put glitter on them. She really liked glitter. She still does, though she seems not to show it sometimes.
Mike was lucky enough to even find an all red piñata. I raised an eyebrow but didn't ask any questions.
"You don't seem pleased that I found a piñata," said Mike.
"Oh, I'm scared for Lee," I said. "She's really going to faint when she sees we actually found one. We aren't Mexican, you know?"
"No, but it will be good to have a good sense of mixed culture."
"That I agree. You can put the piñata in the trolley."
Mike did just that and went off into another aisle to see what other supplies he could get. I was the one slowly pushing the trolley and looking around as well.
Christine came to me with red party hats.
"How many are in each packet?" I asked.
"Ten," Christine answered. "Just got some more just in case."
"In case what?"
"In case some get to spoil their party hats. Especially the boys."
"You're right," I said. "I've no doubt Seungri and Seunghoon will do so."
I felt my phone beep in my purse and when I retrieved it, I found Lee was calling.
"Lee is calling," I said.
"I'll go check for more supplies," said Christine as she disappeared down an aisle.
"You guys just never stop surprising me," said Lee immediately I answered her call. "I was just in the middle of a pedicure when Collins called telling me that you're throwing a party."
"Ya, we are," I said.
"All I wanted was for you to go and have a normal fun time with BigBang. Not decide to throw a party out of the blue because you wanted to."
"If I told you what really happened, you're going to have a huge laugh," I said as I rolled my eyes.
"Don't tell me, save if for after the party. I called to ask if you need anything or else if I don't help, Collins might just fire me."
"You know he wouldn't." I thought for a moment. "In fact, you can help us, Lee. And it will be the easiest thing to do because you don't need to move out of that beauty salon at all."
"There is no way that can happen." I could already imagine Lee making a corky smile and shaking her head.
"We need food and snacks for the party. Just enough to carter twenty to twenty-five people. It shouldn't be all that fancy."
"Okay, I know of a catering business around."
"Can they prepare something in two hours? The party's at twelve."
"Sure they can. It's not one of those massive dinner parties so you need some light food and snacks. They might have something in store for a regular party. I'll call them."
"Ya, you do that."
Lee paused for a moment. "You're right. I don't have to move out of here at all."
"Told you. Tell me if they agree to do so."
"Okay. Am I invited to the party?"
"Of course you are. You're no stranger. Just one thing though. Come dressed in red."
"Red? Why red?"
"Well, it's the theme for the party."
"I wonder why you chose the color. You guys mostly fancy blue or purple."
"The colour choosing is part of the long story."
"Would you need a white and red cake to go for your party?"
"Mmmm baking cakes is a lot of work. A cake would be nice but I bet these guys would expect a big one for the party."
"Leave that to me. I know a bakery that sells already made cakes and I bet they have a red and white one."
"Thanks, Lee."
"Don't mention it. What's a party without cake?"
Lee cut the line and I put my phone away in my purse. I continued to push the trolley when Mike and Daniel appeared in front of me all of the sudden. I almost bumped into them with the trolley.
"Whoa, you two, I would have run you over," I said.
"Thank God it isn't a car," said Mike.
I rolled my eyes. "What's up?"
"Guess what we found?" Daniel said as both him and Mike raised what they were holding in their hands.
"Oh, confetti guns," I said with a smile. "This is going to be fun."
"Cool! Confetti guns!" Zoey appeared behind me with party blowers.
"We're so going to make a mess at the party," said Daniel.
"All the more for Collins to hate us," I said.
"So what are you saying?" Mike asked. "We shouldn't get them?"
"Of course we can, it's a party after all."
"Yes!" the two boys cheered as they put the confetti guns into the trolley and ran off.
"Aren't we almost done here?" Zoey asked as she came over to the trolley to put in the red party blowers. "I mean, we are almost at the end of the store."
"I think we got all that we need," I said as I looked into the trolley. "But let the others scavenge through the last aisles and see what they get."
"I wanted to ask about the food," said Zoey. "You know there's no party without it."
"I know. Lee called to ask what else we needed and I told her about the food and snacks. There might even be cake."
Zoey's eyes lit up. "Cake?"
"Did someone say cake?" Christine poked her head round the corner of a shelf, with an excited look on her face upon hearing the word "cake."
My two brothers appeared from the last aisles with red party streamers as they sang Flo Rida's song "Cake", "I only came for the cake. Ca-ca-ca-cake Ca-ca-ca-cake!"
"Okay, looks like I shouldn't have said that," I said as I looked at my two brothers sing and dance to the song waving the streamers around.
Zoey laughed. "There's just no party without cake," she said.
"I wonder what's so special about it," I said as I stared off into the distance.
"No one knows," said Christine as she came with red party ribbons and put them in the trolley. "Most people only come for the cake."
"I didn't came here to party," sang Mike as he slowly approached.
"I didn't come here to stay," Daniel continued, following Mike.
"I came to the leave with somebody," sang Mike.
"I only came for the cake," the five of us all responded at the same time.
I smiled. "Okay, are we done?" I asked.
"Looks like we are," said Mike. "That's if you want me to get some party costumes at the end of the aisle."
"No!" the four of us answered. Mike raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright, I was only kidding," he said.
"Let's pay for this stuff," I said. "And who wants to go shopping for red outfits?"
All the four Toxins raised their hands. Come to think of it, I also had to find something red.
"Okay, let's pay and put all this in the car. We will only have forty minutes to get clothes and whatever that is red."
"Aye, aye, captain," said Daniel.
We quickly went straight to the counter and after loading stuff in the trolley again, we quickly rushed out of the store, again with the intention of not being seen so easily by passersby.
As soon as we were done packing the party supplies in the car with the help of the chauffeur, we went back to the mall and this time to get clothes. The four of us split up, Zoey, Christine and I went one way, my two brothers went another.
Surprisingly, as many boutiques that we visited, the girls and I couldn't find anything dazzling in red. There were red dresses, red t-shirts and shirts with fancy red skirts and pants alright, some with a touch of white or black. But we just couldn't find the right outfit. The only thing we managed to come out with were red shoes.
"This is getting ridiculous," said Zoey as the three of us were walking around each with a bag that had a pair of red shoes. "We're running out of time and we can't seem to find the right outfit."
"Shouldn't we have just changed the theme colour?" Christine asked looking at me. "Because I saw a sparkling blue flared summer dress in one of the boutiques."
"You would have looked like a fairy," I said. I knew the dress she was talking about. She couldn't get her eyes off it.
"I feel we're looking for the wrong thing here," said Zoey.
"I feel so too," I said.
"You know the offer is still on the table for getting those costumes we found at the party supply store," said Mike as he and Daniel came from behind.
"Really?" Zoey turned to look at him. "We said no."
Mike smirked. "I don't know about you ladies," he said, "but Daniel and I already have what we need."
"Lucky you," said Christine. "We only managed to get shoes but the outfits we have seen just aren't right."
"Well, there are still plenty of places to look," said Daniel. "It ain't the end of the world."
"But the question is where?" I asked as I bit my lip deep in thought. I quickly pulled out my phone.
"Are you calling a fashion designer?" Zoey asked.
"No, I'm calling Lee. She must be somewhere around this mall." I put the phone to my ear. Her phone began to ring at the under end.
"Are you sure?" Christine asked.
"Hi, Lee," I said as soon as Lee picked up the call. "Where are you?"
"Looking for something red, where else?" she answered.
"Okay, where are you, exactly?"
Lee paused. "Wait, you think we are at the same mall?"
"You are at the Myeong-dong shopping mall, aren't you?"
"I'm not going to ask how you guessed."
"Well, we all like coming here." I shrugged my shoulders. "Didn't have to guess."
"Okay Miss Smarty Pants, why do you want to know where I am?"
"The girls and I are stuck and we need to find a red outfit quick. We don't have much time."
Lee gave us directions to which boutique she was in and we found it within a minute. Surprisingly, she wasn't that far.
"Hey, guys!" Lee called out to us when she noticed us enter the boutique.
Zoey rushed over to Lee as she was looking at a gorgeous sparkling red high low dress.
"Are you going to get this, Lee?" Zoey asked, her eyes were filled with wonder as she looked at the dress.
"Oh, no, you can try it," said Lee. "I already picked a dress."
"Thank you." Zoey quickly unhanged the dress from it's hanger and she quickly went to the dressing room.
"Well, lucky her," said Christine as the rest of us got to where Lee stood with Zoey. "Looks like she found what she was looking for."
"And you haven't," Lee mocked Christine with a smile.
"Ya, ya, ya, let me get right to it," said Christine, trying to rub off Lee as she went in the aisle looking for something red on the clothes rack.
"We don't need to worry about checking for anything," said Mike. "We men have it all handled."
"Stuff for men or boys aren't that hard to get," I said as I looked at my brother.
"As long as it's smart and sensible," said Lee.
"Okay, we get you're trying to say that finding girl stuff is hard," said Mike.
"It is," Lee and I said at the same time.
"Okay, Sam, why don't you look for something?" Daniel reminded me. "We're running out of time."
"Oh, right," I said as I looked around wondering which way to go until I finally picked a direction. Lee followed behind me.
"How come you girls couldn't find an outfit?" Lee asked.
"Maybe it's because we didn't find a nice fancy boutique like this one," I answered as I noticed a red and white dress.
"All boutiques are nice and fancy."
"Well, this one is extra fancy by a long shot."
Lee nodded her head slightly as she looked at a gorgeous blue summer dress. "You might have a point."
I kept on looking in the clothes rack for anything red until Zoey appeared at the other end of the aisle all dressed up in the dress she picked.
"How do I look?" she asked as she twirled around.
"It's gorgeous, Zoey," I replied honestly. Her high low dress looked stunning.
"I like it," said Christine as she appeared standing next to Zoey admiring the dress. "And they are really going to match with your heels."
"Thanks," said Zoey with a smile.
"Too bad you don't look like Cinderella," said Mike.
"I didn't ask for your opinion," said Zoey looking at the other side, where Mike was probably standing. "And besides, Cinderella wore a blue dress."
"But I bet she looked more prettier."
Zoey didn't say a word as she quickly turned around with her dress and headed back to the dressing room.
I went back to looking for a dress when I said, "you really shouldn't be too hard on her, Mike."
"I tell him that everyday," said Daniel at the other end.
Christine soon appeared with a red halter neck backless skater dress.
"Hey, do you think this will look good on me?" she asked Lee and I.
"If you ask me, that looks super cute," I said.
"You should try it. I bet it will look fantastic," said Lee.
Christine ran off to the dressing room and at the same time, Zoey came back with her dress in her hand and back in her usual clothes.
"Found anything yet?" Zoey asked as she looked at me.
"Sadly, no," I answered as I turned round the corner and entered another aisle.
"Well, there must be something for you. Let me pay for this and then I'll come help out with Lee."
"And you better hurry," Mike announced. "We only have 10 minutes."
"Well, time seems to move slow on my part," said Lee as she joined me and Zoey went to the counter.
"I feel the last four minutes I've been here, I ve been searching forever," I said as I drew out a red top that didn't feel right still.
"Don't worry, the place has plenty of stuff."
"Ya, but we have to go and decorate."
"The others can leave and you and I can stay here. The others can decorate without you."
"No, we need Sam around for the decorations," said Daniel.
"True," said Zoey from the counter.
"You can do it well without me, guys," I said to them intently looking at the clothes in front of me. There was nothing red so I moved on to another clothes rack.
"And you don't have to worry about the food and snacks. The people whom I hired are already on it and the hotel knows that they will be expecting them."
"What about the cake?" Mike asked.
"Don't worry too much about the cake. It's bad luck, you know?"
"I've never heard anyone say that in my entire life," said Zoey as she appeared in the aisle Lee and I were in.
"Me neither," said Daniel.
"Well, now you know," said Lee.
"Gosh, there is nothing red here," I said. I was ready to give up. We were almost coming to the last aisle of the boutique. I didn't feel so lucky this time around.
"Don't say that, Sam," said Zoey who was on the opposite side of the aisle with Lee.
"Let me go in the last aisle."
Just as I was about to turn round the corner, I abruptly bumped into something face first and I almost fell to the ground but kept my balance as I took a few steps backwards.
"미안, 너 괜찮 니?" ("Mian, neo kwaenchanh ni?") ("Sorry, are you okay?") asked the voice in front of me as I held my face.
"네, 괜찮나요," ("Ne, kwaenchanhnayo,") ("Yes, I'm fine,") I replied though the bump really hurt.
"Sam, what is it?" Lee asked as she came over to me. She probably hadn't seen me bump into the person in front of me.
"It's nothing, I just bumped into someone," I said as I looked at Lee, still holding my head.
"Oh, hello," said the lady I bumped into. "I didn't notice it was you."
I looked at the person in front of me and I felt my face turn pale for a second. Lee also paused as she realised who I had bumped into.
"Hey," said Zoey as she came towards Lee and I. "Are we still looking for the dress or... oh, my gosh, you're from RedVelvet," Zoey couldn't believe her eyes when she saw who Lee and I were looking at.
Yeri giggled and said, "yes, and you're Zoey. From The Toxins. I'm such a fan."
"We are also fans of you too," said Zoey almost stammering.
"Ya, we are," I said, with a surprised look on my face.
"The girls are not going to believe this when I tell them that I just met you guys," said Yeri.
"Where are you, Yeri?" came a voice from the last aisle.
"I'm here, come and see who I just met," Yeri called back.
"Hey, Sam, did you find something?" came Mike's voice. I could hear his footsteps and even Daniel's coming from the other side.
"Who are you talking about now?" came the person who called Yeri and appeared round the corner. But the person wasn't alone.
Immediately my two brothers appeared behind Lee, Zoey and I, four other members of RedVelvet appeared behind Yeri. For a moment there was silence.
Then all of the sudden, a little scream came out of nowhere. Everyone turned to where the noise was coming from. It was Christine.
She quickly covered her mouth and gathered herself together. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself after seeing RedVelvet," she said after she uncovered her mouth.
"I'm also as surprised as you are, but I didn't scream, did I?" Mike asked.
"Spare her," said Seulgi, with a smile. "We are all girls and it's quite hard to keep ourselves contained when we see famous people."
"This is so weird," said Daniel. "I'm Daniel and I'm a fan of you guys."
Joy and Irene giggled. "Same here," they said at the same time.
"Isn't this funny?" I asked. "Us meeting RedVelvet, when we are actually having a red themed party today?"
"Ooooh, ya!" the four Toxins slapped their foreheads.
"You're so right, Sam," said Christine. "I didn't even notice."
"You're having a red themed party?" Wendy asked her eyes glowing with excitement. "Cool!"
"Ya, we are, so we were all looking for something red," said Lee.
"That looks good on you, Christine," said Yeri as she walked over to Christine to look at her dress.
Christine blushed. "You even know my name?" Yeri smiled and then Christine said, "oh..., ya, thanks."
"But we have a problem though," said Mike. I looked at him as I knew what the was able to say.
"What is it?" Seulgi asked. "Haven't you found something red, yourself?"
"I already did, thanks. I'm talking about my sister. She hasn't found anything yet and we have to go back and prepare for the party."
"Oh." Seulgi, Irene and Wendy looked at each other, then at me.
Joy soon snapped her fingers, drawing all our attention to her.
"I think I know what will suit her," said Joy.
"You do?" Daniel and Zoey asked at the same time.
"I saw this dress in the aisle we were in. Come, Sam, and I'll show you."
Joy turned around and I quickly followed her. She got to a clothes rack where there were red dresses through and through. She looked among them and checked before she drew out the one she was looking for.
"Here you are," she said with a smile on her face. "You will look really pretty in this."
She gave me a red short sleeveless prom dress. It was really pretty because of the design. And I had to admit, I fell in love with it completely.
"Wow, it's so pretty," said Zoey as she came over to look at the dress.
"It will suit her," said Seulgi. "Nice work, Joy. You picked the right dress."
"Yes, thank you," I said. "I almost gave up looking."
"You're welcome," said Joy as she gave me a hug.
"Well, I bet even if we weren't here, you would still find it," said Yeri.
"Maybe," said Mike. "But you just made finding the dress more easier because we have to go."
"Oh, ya, the party," I slapped my head. "We have to put up the decorations."
"Would you like to come?" Lee asked, addressing the question to RedVelvet.
"Us? To the party?" Wendy asked.
"Ya, it will be nice if you come," said Zoey.
"As much as we would love to hang out with you guys at your party, I'm afraid we have to go back to the studio," said Irene.
"Oh," said Christine looking a little crestfallen. "It would really have been nice if you came."
"Maybe some other time," said Yeri. "I for one would really like to hang out with you guys."
"Ya, we do too," said Daniel.
"Okay, let me try and see if the dress fits," I said.
"Of course it will fit," said Zoey. "The dress is just your size."
"Really?" I looked at the size of the dress by the tag at the back of it. "Even if it is, what if it's too big on me?"
"Whenever I get you a dress, I never check the size because I know you perfectly. We have to go. We don't have much time."
"Fine." I rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe I was agreeing to this but right now, we were late.
"Christine, you better change out of that dress," I reminded her.
"Wait, before we all go, can we take a quick selfie? All of us?" Joy asked as she excitedly pulled out her phone.
"Sure," said Daniel. "But let's not take more than one. We all are running really late."
We quickly huddled ourselves together and with smiling faces, looked up at Joy's camera.