"Hey, Sam," said G-Dragon as he came towards me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
At the moment, I was having a chat with Jennie and Jinwoo. Others were dancing and having a good time. At some point, there was a dance competition between Christine and TOP, which was hilarious since TOP wasn't much of a dancer. With Lee as our host, she made it even more exciting when we had to do a ballroom dance and I had to dance with Taeyang. And I never thought Mike had that kind of music for such an occasion.
A few minutes later, the party died down a little bit, but the music still kept us going since people soon switched to chatting mode. I wondered when Lee would bring out the piñata. I was really in the mood for candy.
"Hey, Sam, are you there?" G-Dragon asked as he looked at me, waving a hand across my face.
"Oh, goodness," I said as I shook my head, shaking off the craving for candy. "Sorry, GD, I was so preoccupied with something that I didn't hear you for a second."
"I would like to have a word. Hopefully, Jennie and Jinwoo wouldn't mind."
"No, we wouldn't, hyung," said Jinwoo as he smiled with Jennie.
G-Dragon quickly took my hand and led me out of the lounge. I had to admit, he was very fast when doing so that Lee didn't notice us leave as she was talking to Seunghoon and Rosé.
G-Dragon and I were soon in the hallway. We stopped as he turned to look at me.
"What is it?" I asked. "Don't you like the party?"
"It's why I dragged you out here," he said. "I didn't get the chance to tell you that the place looks really amazing and the party is much more fun than I expected."
"Now you agree with me that it was really a good idea to invite the others, right?"
G-Dragon smiled at me and said, "it definitely was. Thanks, Sam."
"You're welcome. Now, can we get back to the party? Lee is going to notice that we aren't there."
"Does she really notice that fast?"
"If she's not busy chatting with someone, then yes, she will."
"Okay, let me be quick then. I noticed that a few minutes after we arrived, you went out of the lounge to talk to Lee. Is something up or are you guys planning something?"
I felt caught in a net. I thought no one was going to notice that except maybe the other Toxins because they knew I had something to tell Lee. I was a little surprised with the answer I gave G-Dragon, saying:
"Yes, there is something. You guys will have to wait, because it's a surprise."
Well, I was clearly talking about the piñata and I wasn't lying about it. Though I could be lying about another surprise waiting for us at any moment.
"Oh, really? Why can't you tell me about it."
I shook my head. "No, it wouldn't be fair to anyone else at the party. So, you just have to wait like everyone else."
G-Dragon groaned. "Really?"
"Really, really."
"Is there anything I could do just for you to tell me?"
"Are you talking about a bribe?"
"Does it sound like it?" G-Dragon raised an eyebrow, playfully questioning me.
"Ya, it is. Can we go back to the party now?"
G-Dragon smiled at me. "Fine, if you say so."
I stepped out of the way and I gestured with my hand that he had to go back to the lounge. He stood there for a moment and looked at me then he made his way back to the party. I was following right behind him when Zoey appeared from inside and she held my shoulders, dragging me backwards into the hall.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked.
"What was G-Dragon talking to you about?" she asked as she folded her arms.
"He wanted to know what we had planned for the party. I told him it was a surprise."
"You were referring to the piñata, right?"
"Ya, I was, but I didn't tell him about it and that he had to wait."
Zoey blew out a sigh of relief. "Did you tell Lee about the thing?"
I knew what she meant when she said "thing." "Yes," I answered, "I did."
"How did she take it?"
"She was a little surprised, but she said she will see how everything turns out."
"Well, I just hope the others won't be upset."
"You know, I feel BigBang also have some sort of surprise for us."
"Really? Did you find out from G-Dragon?"
"No, I didn't ask him. As a matter of fact, I should have just traded information. He wanted to know what our surprise is and I should have asked him what they have for us too."
"But why didn't you?"
"I would be wasting the surprise. And besides, we could easily just get the information from one of the BigBang members without any struggle or any trade at all."
"I think I know who you're targeting here."
I smiled and she smiled back. She definitely knew who my target is.
"Let's go back to the party," I said.
"Okay, I have faith that what you're going to do will work," said Zoey.
"Don't get your hopes up. We're running out of time and I really need to think of something quick."
Zoey and I went back into the lounge where everyone was now dancing to a BlackPink hit song. Everyone seemed to be having fun, and when I found my target, I looked over at Zoey and we both nodded our heads then went our separate ways.
I started to dance to the rhythm of the beat as I slowly made my way to the crowd of people dancing in the middle of the lounge. I was dancing next to Jennie who happened to be rapping on her part in the song. She was oblivious that I was even there. I went further into the crowd, bypassing Mino and Christine who were dancing together. Soon, I found my target and just as I was about to approach, someone took me by the hand and pulled me aside away from the crowd.
"What the..." I looked at the person who had pulled me. It was Daniel.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"The cake is here and Lee wants you to take care of it," said Daniel.
"The cake is here now?" I was a little surprised. We weren't expecting the cake so soon.
"I know, I'm also surprised. We haven't even hit the piñata yet." He had a frown on his face upon mentioning the piñata.
"Your love for candy is just adorable. But right now, we have to deal with the cake and I was planning to do something just now."
"Like what?"
"I'll tell you later. But why can't Lee handle the cake? Even the hotel staff are better off doing it."
"She said she has something to do at the moment and we don't have much of the hotel staff to help us out. There's another function going on downstairs."
"And we only have those two at the tables attending to our guests," I said as I put the math together. I bit my lip in thought. "Okay, looks like I'll have to handle the cake."
"I can help you if you want."
"If that means you licking the cream off the cake, then fine. Let's go."
Daniel and I were just heading out of the lounge when Zoey quickly approached us.
"Sam, where are you going?" she asked.
"I'm going downstairs with Daniel," I answered.
"But what about the plan?"
"It can wait for a little while longer. I've been told to do something."
"And what do you need to do that requires you to head out of the party?"
"Gosh, now is the time you want to be an investigator?" asked Daniel as he slapped his forehead with annoyance.
Zoey almost said something to him but I interrupted by saying, "look, the cake has arrived and Lee is busy, so she told me to handle the cake."
"And I'm also helping," Daniel added on for himself.
"May I help? I also want to see the cake."
"I just want to lick the cream before anyone else does," said Daniel.
"Okay, quick, we need to go before anyone notices that we are gone," I said.
The three of us rushed out of the lounge and entered the elevator. Luckily, no one had come for us as soon as we got in.
"So, what were you two planning to do a few minutes ago?" Daniel asked.
"Should we tell him?" Zoey asked as she stood right beside me.
"Well, there's no harm in telling him," I said as I stared up at the elevator monitor.
Zoey turned to look at Daniel. "Okay, Sam here thinks BigBang might have a surprise for us."
"Really?" Daniel looked surprised.
"Ya, I noticed the time they arrived that something was up," I said. "And Seungri was just about to tell us something but G-Dragon and Taeyang covered his mouth."
"That's something. And I bet you didn't find out what it was because I pulled you aside."
"Yes. But let's handle the cake first, then we can find a way to reveal what surprise these guys have for us."
"Okay. This party is just getting exciting," said Daniel as he rubbed his hands together.
We soon reached the ground floor and just as we stepped out of the elevator, we heard noises at the entrance door of the lobby. The three of us turned to the source of the noise and we saw a group of fans lifting their colourful flyers with sweet messages on them. They cheered upon seeing us that for a moment, I almost had a heart attack. I almost forgot that we had visitors downstairs. Luckily, they were just behind the door with the security keeping them at bay. But they didn't seem to want to barge into the lobby with force. They just stood there, well behaved. It's what I liked about Korean fans. If we were back home, the three of us would be rushing back in the elevator by now. There were few paparazzi taking pictures with their cameras.
Zoey gave out flying kisses to the fans and that drove them a little wild. All Daniel and I did was wave at them. But we had to focus on what we came to do. And that was to get the cake.
We went to the reception desk where we asked the kind lady about the delivery.
"Oh, yes, there is a delivery truck just outside the back," she said with a smile. "Will you three be able to handle it? We can bring some of the staff to help you out."
"Thanks, but we heard of the function going on and they might be busy," I said.
"Okay, but just in case, inform us when you need any help."
"We will, thanks."
"You can use the kitchen to get through the back."
"Great, that would be better, thank you. Let's go, guys."
The fans were still cheering outside even when we made our leave. We took a detour round the lobby and found ourselves in the hall leading to a large ballroom where the function was being held. We passed most of the hotel waiters and waitresses with trays of delicious food as they came from the kitchen.
"Gosh, the food looks so delicious," said Daniel, as his eyes followed a tray of food a waitress was carrying.
"You'll have to worry about your own food upstairs, you know?" Zoey reminded him.
"Can we please not talk about food?" I asked.
"But we are going to the place where food is prepared to perfection," said Daniel with a smile.
"You're right. So stay focused."
"He will try," said Zoey. "That, I can guarantee."
We soon entered the kitchen and we found the place busy as usual, with cooks cutting away at food, pots boiling, lovely pastries baking, foods on pans frying and cooks serving their delicious meals onto plates that were soon taken away by the waiters and waitresses standing by so as to serve the audience in the ballroom. The place was really packed and busy that the three of us for a moment, felt a little out of place.
"Well, this place is busy," said Daniel.
"Tell me about it," said Zoey.
"It would have been a whole lot easier if any cook could direct us through all the way to the back door," I said.
And just as if my wish had been granted from up above, a tall Korean man, probably in his late thirties and dressed as the main chef had been going round the kitchen looking at every dish each cook was preparing. He was coming from the second row where some cooks were working to the first when he looked up and noticed us by the door.
"Ah, The Toxins," said the Chef as he stopped what he was doing and approached us.
Zoey, Daniel and I bowed our heads when he stood in front of us.
"Oh, I see you've been taught good manners," said the Chef with a smile.
"Yes, we have," I answered.
"You must be here for your cake. Sorry, we could have sent it to you right away but at the moment, everyone seems busy."
"We've been told, nothing to worry about."
"Good, right this way, please. I'll lead you to the cake."
We bypassed the cooking staff who were running up and down, some collecting ingredients from the pantry to prepare their dishes. The place was really packed and the aroma of different kinds of cuisines was intoxicating that I noticed Daniel behind me looking at the wonderful foods being prepared and served in the most creative and delicious way possible. I imagined his mouth water. Well, he wasn't the only one.
The Chef took us to the back of the kitchen where they were silver moving trays and moveable shelves packed on each side of the wall. He led us to the backdoor where we found a truck by the loading bay. It must be the same truck that had our cake in it, I hope.
The driver of the truck wore a blue baseball cap that covered his eyes. He was waiting at the loading bay next to the truck. The container at the back of it was open.
"I'll have to leave you here," said the Chef. "I have to attend to what is in the kitchen."
"Thank you, we will take it from here," I said as I gave him a bow and the other two Toxins with me, did the same.
The Chef quickly went back the way we came and the three of us approached the delivery truck where the driver stood waiting.
"The cake is right in the back," said the man as we approached the truck. We couldn't see his eyes as he looked down at the ground and they were covered by the baseball cap.
Daniel peered into the container of the truck first and saw the cake. "Oh, my, you guys have to see this. This cake is huge."
Zoey and I looked inside and we saw a tall white and red cake on a silver serving trolley. It looked like one of those layered cakes you find on weddings. The cake had four layers with white and red colours.
Daniel got inside the truck first to get a good look at it. The back of the truck was packed close to the concrete slab where we were standing on to make it easier to get in. I thought it wasn't such a good idea for Daniel to be in there.
"Daniel, get back here," I said.
But he already got to the cake and he couldn't help but look at it.
"Yum, it looks so delicious," he said as he licked his lips.
"Wow, it's so beautiful," said Zoey as she also got into the truck. Goodness, I didn't want her to go in too.
"I know. I just want to eat it. I wish Mike was here right now."
"Guys, get back here," I said as I turned to look at the truck driver who had his eyes looking else where that I still couldn't see his face. "Can you help us with taking the cake out of the truck?"
"Sure," he said still not looking at me.
Just as he was about to climb the concrete platform, the sound of a phone came ringing. I wondered where the noise was coming from because I didn't have my phone with me and that definitely didn't sound like any of the Toxins' ringtones.
"Sorry," said the driver as he stopped his attempt to climb. "That's my phone. Let me just go answer it. Would you mind helping with dragging the cake out for me with your friends?"
I thought we were wasting a lot of time here, so I agreed to help out as the man quickly rushed back to the front of the truck to get his phone.
I entered the truck where Zoey and Daniel were admiring the cake.
"Come on, you two, we need to move the cake out of here," I said.
Daniel had swiped away some of the cream at the bottom layer of the cake that was red and put it in his mouth.
"Yum, this cake is so delicious," said Daniel as he smiled at me. "It must be a vanilla and strawberry cake. The bottom part tastes like strawberry."
"Well, now that you tasted it, can we please take the cake and leave?"
Zoey also took some cream and tasted the white layer of the cake just above the bottom red layer. "Yep, this is definitely vanilla and strawberry," said Zoey.
I shook my head. "Come on, people, lets focus, we have to move," I said.
"Okay, I'll do it," said Daniel as he went behind the cake to push the trolley it was sitting on. But unfortunately the trolley wouldn't budge.
"Guys, I think we have a problem," said Daniel as he stared at the bottom of the trolley.
"I can see that," I said as knelt on the cold hard metal floor of the truck to see why the trolley wasn't moving.
I stood up. "I can't see what's wrong with it," I said.
"Maybe the cake weighs a hundred tonnes or something," said Zoey.
"If you think so, then help me push this thing," said Daniel.
Zoey went over to join Daniel and the two held the metal handle of the trolley and they pushed it together. The trolley moved a little but that was it. It went back to its position.
"This is so annoying," said Zoey as she stared up at the cake. "What is this thing made of?"
I looked at the trolley, then at the cake. I swiped some cream from the bottom part of the cake like Daniel had done earlier. I tasted it. It was cake, alright. I looked at the trolley. It was the usual serving trolley that food restaurants use and there were similar ones in the kitchen. But how could two objects that couldn't even weigh close to a ton, be so heavy to move?
"Scoot over, Zoey," I said as I joined the two at the back of the trolley. We all held the handle and started to push.
But to our own bad luck, it still didn't move as much.
"I think we need help," said Daniel.
"Good call, let's just tell the driver," I said as I started my way out of the truck.
But just before I could get out, Mike and Christine appeared by the loading bay.
"Hey guys," said Mike. "Don't tell me you're planning to eat the cake without us."
"Wow, the cake is so huge," said Christine as she stared at the cake with stars in her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"We came to help out with the cake," said Mike.
"But how did you know that we were having trouble with the cake when we just got here a few minutes ago?"
"Does that matter?" Chritine asked. "Lee was wondering what was taking you so long, so we came down here to check up on you and help out if need be."
I raised an eyebrow. Something was going on here. It wasn't like the three of us in the truck had been gone for half an hour for Lee to send anyone to check up on us. Something was up but I couldn't tell what.
"Is the driver outside?" I asked.
Christine looked round the corner of the truck. "Yes, he is," she answered. "But he's on the phone."
"Goodness," I muttered to myself. "We need to move this cake out of here and for some reason we can't."
"Why?" Mike asked.
"It's stuck," said Daniel. "The trolley, I mean."
"Huh? How can it be stuck? You guys just don't have the energy."
Zoey came from behind the cake and stood in the open where Mike could see her. "Well, if you think we're lying, why don't you come here and try it yourself."
"Sure," said Mike as he came into the truck. "This will be a piece of cake."
I didn't like the fact that Mike and Christine were here. Lee would have sent anyone else from the party, not these two.
When Mike got behind the cake and tried to push the trolley, he realised that we weren't kidding at all.
"Okay, are you guys playing a prank on me?" he asked as he straightened up after trying to push the trolley.
"And why would we play a prank on the master of all pranks?" Zoey asked. "We know that if we do, you'll prank us so bad that we wouldn't even see it coming."
Mike looked at Zoey and knew that she was telling the truth. I nodded my head when he turned to look at me.
"Are you serious?" asked Christine who still stood outside the truck. "The trolley can't move at all?"
"No, trust me, the three of us tried pushing it together, but it wouldn't even move far," said Daniel.
"Okay, now that we're all here, let's push this thing together," Mike suggested.
"I don't think it's a good idea," I said as soon as Mike had finished his sentence.
All the other four Toxins looked at me.
"Why? We really need to get this cake upstairs," said Christine.
"But can't you see that something weird is going on? For starters, how come we all can't push the trolley? It's not like the cake weighs a metric tonnes. I feel someone is trying to trick us or trap us or something."
Everyone grew silent as they looked at me, then amongst themselves.
"I'm with Sam on this one," said Daniel. "Come to think of it, we only tried moving this thing three times and we never called anyone for help."
"And you two show up out of the blue," said Zoey, realising that what I was saying might be true.
"And to add it all up, it's not a good sign that all five of us are here," I said. "If I were Lee, I would send someone else to check up on us and not Mike because he is the DJ of the party."
"Do you think Lee has something planned for us?" Christine asked.
"Well, I can't tell for sure," I said. "But why make the trolley stuck here? It looks like they want us trapped in the truck."
We all looked at each other and the others knew I was right. Why make the trolley get stuck in the first place when they all wanted the five of us to be in the same place?
"Could Lee have planned this?" Zoey asked.
"There's only one way to find out," I said.
"And what's that?" Mike asked.
"Go with the flow."
"Huh?" the four Toxins looked at me like I had gone nuts.
"It's the only way, I mean, it's obvious that we're supposed to get trapped here and the driver isn't going to help, so let's just get on with it. Besides, today is full of surprises already, considering the call I got from Jungkook and BigBang's supposed surprise, we need to see where this will take us."
"Wait, BigBang have a surprise for us?" Mike asked.
"I should think so."
"What if it could be either one of them pulling this off?" Daniel asked.
"That's what we're going to find out. So, let's get on with it. Christine get in."
"What? I'm not going in there," said Christine.
"It's not like you're claustrophobic. Just come in and let's try to pull the trolley again."
"This is going to be fun," said Zoey as she giggled.
"I wonder where we're going," said Mike.
"Why can't we push this thing one more time?" I asked as I winked at the four Toxins.
They knew it was time to go with the flow, so they also played along.
"Okay, let's do it," said Daniel.
Mike, Zoey and Daniel positioned themselves behind the cake, Christine and I were on either side of it and we started to push the trolley with all we could, but still it couldn't move.
As we were pushing, we heard metal clanking against metal. I looked up and saw that the door of the container was closed. We were locked in. Everyone stopped pushing as they stared at the closed door.
"Hey, hey! Let us out of the here!" I screamed as I also started to hit the walls of the container.
The others started to shout out for help as well. The next thing we knew, the truck's engine rolled to life and the truck started to move. We had to hold on with our backs against the wall as we felt the truck turn round a corner. For a moment, the five of us were quiet.
"Oh, my goodness," said Christine who stood next to me. "I've never rode behind a delivery truck before."
"Same here," said Mike who was on the other side.
"I can't wait to see where we're going," said Daniel with an excited look on his face as he stood to my right.
"Me too, this is pretty exciting," said Zoey who stood beside Mike.
"Well, this is fun considering Sam figured out that all this will lead to some kind of a surprise," said Mike.
"Awww, Sam, you're so smart," said Zoey as she smiled at me.
"Well, let's not get our hope's up," I said. "We might just be taken for slaughter."
"Don't say that, Sam," said Christine. "You'll make me feel all this was bad a idea."
"Shouldn't we be acting scared at least?" Daniel asked. "We wouldn't like the driver thinking we know what's going on."
"We can, but not too much," I said as I looked at him. "Though he might not hear us at some point because of the noise of the engine."
Daniel hit the wall of the truck's container. "Let's us out please!" he shouted.
"This better be one hell of a surprise," said Zoey.
"Well, now that we know, it doesn't feel much of a surprise anymore," I said. "We will be surprising them that we knew about the surprise."
"True," said Daniel.
"Whoever it is, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces," said Mike. He went on hitting the wall and shouting for help.
I also couldn't wait to see who planned all this. They did well to trap us all here but then we all knew what was coming. I just hoped that the surprise at the other end will be what we never expected.