"Okay, guys, let’s take a few minutes break and continue afterwards," Yong-guk spoke into the microphone.
As soon as I took off the headphones, I could hear everyone around mutter a little in frustration. They are tired, and I couldn’t blame them, since I was too.
So far so good with recording the song. But we had to make a number of pauses here and there when Yong-guk or the producer felt the need to change tune. All we need to work on now was the last verse and backup vocals.
"Is it almost night time already?" Daniel asked as he was one of the first to walk out of the recording booth.
"Someone wants to sleep, I take it?" Lisa asked.
"Who doesn’t?" Mino asked. "Doing this gets a little tiring even when you enjoy it."
A lot of us understood what he meant. The fatigue is slowly starting to get to me too.
"Lee is out to see the managers," said Yong-guk as soon as everyone was out of the booth.
"I need to use the ladies’ room," said Zoey. "Sam, will you escort me?"
"Ya, sure," I agreed.
"I’ll come with you too," said Christine.
"Anyone else want to come?" Zoey asked the BlackPink members, already settled on the couch.
"Oh, I’m good," said Rose. "I’m not sure about the others."
The other three members said they were okay.
"Looks like it’s the just the three of us," said Zoey. "Let’s go."
"Be careful out there," Yong-guk said to us as we went for the door.
"We will," I said as I drew the door open.
We found one of the guards standing by the door. The other guard who was with us last night must have escorted Lee.
"Going somewhere, ladies?" the guard asked.
"We need to use the ladies’," Zoey answered.
"Alright, don’t take too long."
The rooms were just at the other end of the hall, so I could feel the guard’s eyes on us as we walked. As soon as the three of us went in, Zoey quickly started to look around, checking the toilet stalls if there's anyone.
"Okay, there’s no one here and I couldn’t be any happier that it’s the two of you who are here with me," said Zoey after she finished looking around.
"Um…, I seriously just want to go," said Christine as she entered one of the stalls. I went into the other one.
"Ya, I know," said Zoey. "I’m just glad that it’s you guys who came here with me."
"What is running through your mind, Zoey?" I asked as I drew my pants down to take a leak.
"Oh, nothing. I was planning to just stay in here for a while and take some time to myself."
I raise an eyebrow. I’m not buying it. As soon as I was done, I drew up my pants, flushed the toilet and walked out of the stall.
"You’re lying, Zoey," I said as I passed her to wash my hands by the sinks.
"How am I lying?" she asked.
"You want to sneak out of here and find Johnny. In fact, since we came here with you, you plan to convince us to do so."
"Okay, you caught me," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "I really want to get him and squeeze his neck."
"That’s called murder, Zoey," said Christine from her stall. The sound of the flushing toilet came afterwards.
"Fine, I want to teach him a lesson so that he won’t have to come after us again," she said.
"Did you just forget that we made a promise this morning not to go after him?" Christine asked as she walked out. "And even if we wanted to, we’ve a song to finish recording. Or have you forgotten about that too?"
"No, I didn't."
"Look, Zoey," I said as Christine came over to wash her hands, "as much as we all want to go out there and find Johnny to teach him a lesson, it's too risky. And if you ask me, producing the album couldn't have come at a better time to keep us busy instead of obsessing over him."
"I'm not obsessing over him!"
"You want to squeeze his neck," said Christine as she turned to look at her. "That sounds like obsession."
Zoey stomped her foot on the white tiled floor. "Come on, you two," she said. "Are you telling me you don’t want to go out there and find him?"
"As much as I want to, I know that recording the album is way more important. We’re all worried about what he can do and he might very well just get in the way of things. But we’ve to leave this to the guards. Let them do their job while we focus on ours."
Zoey folded her arms. "I don’t think the guards can do a better job at dealing with Johnny than we can."
"You’re right," I said. "But the tricks we used on Johnny before, might not work now. If you ask me, we’ve to plan something extraordinary which will need time. And which we don’t have."
"I agree with Sam," said Christine. "Johnny is haunting us at a time when we need to work on an album. And I won’t lie, even if we did make our promise to Lee and Collins, I was going to go out with you. But we’re all tied up. And we can’t jeopardise everyone and the album because of a grown man who keeps acting like a child."
I chuckled. "Did you really have to put it like that, Christine?"
"It’s the honest truth. Johnny needs to grow up for once and let the past go. I mean, even Daniel seems more like an adult than he is."
"I get your point," said Zoey. "But I’m scared that he might do something to ruin what we’re working on. That’s why I want him out of the way quickly."
I looked at Zoey and I had a feeling she might be right. Johnny - like he usually is - might as well get in the way of what we're doing. That’s if he really does end up doing so. We just have to be cautious from now on.
"We’ll figure something out when things get out of hand," I said to her. "You might be right on this, Zoey. But if he - and that’s a big if - jeopardises this album, we must put up a countermeasure."
Zoey cheered out a "Yes" while Christine groaned.
"But if we’re going to do this, then the others have to know too," I quickly added.
The mood on Zoey’s face suddenly vanished. "What do you mean we have to involve the others?"
"The rest of BTW and Lee."
"What? You heard Lee. She sides with Collins."
"Well…, not entirely," I said with a smirk on my face. "If - and that’s a big if - Johnny does try to jeopardise the album, she’ll also want to get her hands on him. In fact, everyone involved would."
"I hate to admit, but you do know Lee well, don’t you, Sam?" Christine asked.
"Not really. But I can guess what she’s likely to do when she’s upset."
"So Sam is on board," said Zoey, "if - and that's a big if - Johnny messes with the album. How about you, Christine?"
"I’m already in," said Christine. "Like Sam said, we would all want to get our hands on him if he does such."
"Okay, now can we please go back and finish up with recording?" I asked.
"Wait, I need to take a leak too," said Zoey as she went to one of the empty stalls.
"Typical," Christine said, rolling her eyes at Zoey. She turned to look at me. "Do you really think he can do it?"
"Remember when I said this isn’t the old days when we had to deal with his lousy pranks a lot better? This time is different. I believe he can do something serious. Last night at the park was no typical prank."
"Ya, last night he took it too far for my taste."
"And that’s just the first. Cutting off the power means he means business."
Zoey soon flushed and seconds later she came out to wash her hands in the sink.
"Of course, he’s serious," said Zoey. "I just fear that he may hold a gun to our heads."
"No way," said Christine, shaking her head. "I don’t want another incident like that ever again."
"But it’s could be a possibility," I said. "Johnny does like to take things a little too far from time to time."
"Enough about Johnny and guns," said Christine. "We need to get back to the studio."
Zoey and I didn’t argue there. I’m just glad we get to go back with Zoey. If Christine and I hadn’t come with her, she would’ve gone to find Jehan herself.
"You girls sure did take a while," said Jinwoo as the three of us entered the studio.
"Girls’ business that you don’t have to know about," said Zoey, closing the door behind her.
"Is Lee back yet?" I asked as I stood in the middle of the room.
"No, not yet," said Jinwoo as he stood from where he sat and walked up to us. "Strange that she isn't here."
He's right. I would like to know that she's alright, so I pull out my phone to give her a call.
She immediately picked up. "Sam, are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm great, thanks," I said. "It’s you that I'm worried about."
"Oh, right. I'm heading back to you. I went to meet the managers and see if there's any update on Johnny. But sadly, to no avail."
"Darn it. He's as sly as a fox. If you're heading back, that's fine. You just take care."
"They still haven't got him?" Jisoo asked immediately I cut the call. "How is he that difficult to catch?"
"Oh, he's good," said Mike. "I remember how he could easily get away from us wherever we knew he was the one pulling pranks. Like Sam says, he's just like a fox. You can never tell where he's hiding."
"Well that sucks," said Yong-guk. "With him around, I feel really uneasy. I’m afraid he may be up to no good."
"You sound like you know him like we do," said Zoey.
"I don’t trust the guy. The way you described him tells me all I need to know."
"So should we get back to work?" I asked Yong-guk.
"In a few minutes," he answered with a smile.
"Maybe later, you two can go on a date or something," said Jennie. I found myself blushing, surprised that she said that. Yong-guk looked at Jennie with his mouth agape.
"Uh, why do you say that?" Yong-guk quickly asked.
"Oh, don’t pretend," said Jennie, waving her hand at him. "You simply can’t take your eyes off her. I noticed how close you two were when you came here in the studio."
"But he and I are only friends," I said, trying my best to intervene.
"Ya," said Seunghoon as he came to stand next to me to put his arm around my shoulders, drawing me into a bear hug. "Besides, I’m the one she’s supposed to be hanging out with. Not him." He threw Yong-guk a look.
"Hey, whatever works best for me," said Yong-guk with a chuckle.
"Nah, I agree with Jennie," said Zoey. "Let's face it, Yong-guk, if Jennie can see you've eyes for Sam, then so can all of us. And I can tell how you enjoyed working with her close to you yesterday." Zoey wiggled her eyebrows.
"Wow, everyone is forgetting that you like her more, Seunghoon," Seungyoon pointed out, mocking his comrade.
"Ya, I can see that," said Seunghoon, sounding upset. He squeezed me even tighter that I felt like I'm being cuddled by an anaconda.
"Enough, you guys," said Yong-guk trying to laugh it out like a joke.
"I think the others are right," said Christine. "You two would make a cute power couple. Imagine this: You’re both songwriters and producers, though for Sam it’s like a part-time thing." I turn to her with a look. I'm not a producer at all. "It’s just perfect."
"I know, right?" Jennie asked. "They seem like a match made in heaven."
"Goodness, everyone here is starting to annoy me," Seunghoon said. Apart from me, I don’t think anyone got what he said. He’s hug got even tighter.
"Enough, you guys," said Mike. "Don't you think you've gone way too far? You always try to pair up her with a guy all the time."
"Really?" Jisoo asked.
"Zoey and Christine are always in the forefront," Daniel answered. "Before we even landed here, they thought of pairing her up with anyone from BigBang."
"Hey, we might have thought of that," said Zoey. "But it’s not my fault that almost all of them like her. Except Taeyang, of course. He treats us like his sisters."
"I had no idea four of the BigBang members like her," said Lisa, finding all this amusing that she put her phone aside.
"You better believe it," said Zoey. "Daesung and GD are head over heels in love with her."
I blushed when all eyes fell on me. I bet the producer by the console had his eyes on me too. I've had enough of this discussion. It has to end right now.
"Enough, people," said Yong-guk as he quickly stood up from his seat. "Let's get to work!"
Everyone now murmured in disappointment. The conversation was just getting good and Yong-guk had to ruin it. I couldn't help but feel relieved. I was feeling uncomfortable and I'm thankful to Yong-guk for bringing that up. Even Seunghoon's grip had loosened. I can finally breathe.
"You really squeezed me too hard," I said, looking up at him.
"I'm so sorry," he said, looking very apologetic as he quickly clapped his hands together.
"This conversation was just getting good, Yong-guk," said Rose. "Why did you have to ruin it all of a sudden?"
"Because we don't have time on our hands," Yong-guk answered.
"I agree," said Mike. "Let's finish the song and move on."
"You've plenty to tell us, Sam," said Jennie as she quickly came to stand next to me.
"I like to have my love life private," I said.
"Okay, enough about my sister's love life, please," said Daniel.
"Ya, we've better things to worry about," said Seungyoon. "You girls can talk about it later."
"OK, fine," said Rose. "But this was getting interesting."
"Totally interesting," said Lisa.
"Everyone, to the recording booth, please," the producer now chirped in. "We need to be done with this before the day ends."
After the producer spoke, a lot of us got serious and started to make our way to the booth. I stood there for a while as I tried to clear away the heat from my cheeks. I can't believe I'm still blushing up till now.
"Hey, are you okay?" Yong-guk asked after Jennie and Seunghoon left my side.
"No," I honestly answered. I rubbed my cheeks with the palm of my hands. I turned to look at him. "Are you okay?"
"Not really."
"These guys really embarrassed us, huh?"
"Very much."
"Well, I better get in there. I'm sorry for what happened."
"Oh, don't worry about it. As much as they were joking around, I can't help but feel that...."
Yong-guk paused as he looked at me, then suddenly looked away. What was he about to say just now? And is he blushing?
"What were you going to say?" I asked.
"Nothing," he said, avoiding my eyes. "You better go in there."
"Ya, right," I quickly darted for the recording booth. I couldn't help but feel Yong-guk wanted to say something really important.
"Hey, isn't Lee supposed to be back by now?" Mike asked me as soon as I entered the booth.
"She said she's on her way," I answered. "But you're right. I wonder what's holding her up."
"Could Johnny and her have met?" Zoey asked.
That's one scenario I don't want to think of. If they do meet or if they already have, who knows what would happen.
"Let us not worry too much," said Daniel. "She did leave with the guard, right? She'll be back before we know it."
"Mmm, I don't know," said Seungyoon as he already had headphones over his head. "Don't you think we should give her a call to make sure she's alright?"
"I think that's a good idea," said Jisoo. She now turned to look at me. "Why don't you give her a ring, Sam?"
"Let's be quick about it, alright?" came the producer. "We don't want to waste any more time."
I gave him a thumbs-up as I quickly pulled out my phone to call Lee. I put the phone to my ear and waited.
Everyone's eyes are on me. I'm starting to worry. Why isn't she picking up? Had she somehow left her phone behind somewhere?
"She isn't picking up," I announced after the line couldn't connect.
"Where could she be?" Jinwoo asked. "Now I'm starting to think of the worst."
"Same here," said Christine.
"Maybe we go out and look for her?" Jennie suggested.
"Sounds like a plan, but I don't think the producer would want that," said Mino as he turned to look at the producer on the other side of the booth.
"I agree," the producer said through the mic. "I know you're worried, but we still have a lot to do with the song."
"I second with him," said Yong-guk. "Let's try to work quickly, and if Lee won't be back at that time, maybe a few of us can go out and look for her."
"Works well for me," said Zoey as she quickly put on her headphones. "Let's get to work, people."
Everyone else in the booth agreed and I could tell how serious they were when we started to work on the third verse and the back-up vocals. As we followed the producer and Yong-guk's instructions, we made fewer mistakes than expected. Even when we worked, a few of us couldn't help but look out through the glass of the booth to see whether Lee would walk into the room or we might find her seated on the seats watching us. But sadly, there is still no sign of her.
We were finally done and it took almost an hour and thirty minutes.
"Okay, now that we're done," said the producer, "you can do whatever you want."
"I thought he would never say that," said Zoey as she literally threw her headphones away and headed for the door. If it wasn't for Mino standing behind her at the time to catch them, they would've landed on the floor.
"Hold your horses, Zoey," came Yong-guk as he magically stood by the door when she opened it. "We all can't go out there and look for her. For all we know, she might be with the managers or maybe she's not in the building."
I bet now is the time to tell them. "Lee couldn't have walked out of the premises," I said. "Now that Johnny is here, they decided to put the place on lockdown. No one goes in or out."
"What! We're on lockdown!" Seunghoon asked.
"And you knew?" Mike asked.
"Well, if I had told you when we started to work on the song, would you've worked at all?" I asked as I shrugged my shoulders. "Lee probably knew that too, but she didn't want to worry us."
"I did too," said the producer. "Someone who works here sent me a text saying that they couldn't get in as he had gone out to get something. Security seem keen to capture this Johnny guy."
"Lockdown or not, we need to find Lee," said Zoey.
"Okay, but like Yong-guk said, we all can't go," I said.
"Okay, then who wants to go out and look for her?" Mike asked.
Everyone in the booth, including myself raised hands. We all looked at each other.
"Well, this is going to be tough," said the producer, who looked on.
"Why can't we all go?" Jennie asked.
"Even if its a good idea, we'll have the managers on our necks for not listening to them," I explained. "The fewer who go, the better."
"Well, no one is stopping me from going," said Zoey as she folded her arms.
"We know," the rest of us said at the same time.
"Fine, each member from each group will go," said Yong-guk.
"But that means only three go," said Jisoo.
"I think we need to add two more," I suggested.
"Okay, I want to go look for her," said Seunghoon.
"I'll go too," said Jisoo.
"Okay, now two people will have to join in," I said. "Who is willing to go?"
"I'll go," said Mino.
"One more left," said Yong-guk. "I think Sam should go."
"Me?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I agree," said Christine. "The Toxins know Johnny better than anyone. And if there's anyone who can figure him out, it's you, Sam."
"You're forgetting that Zoey is just as good as figuring him out as me," I point out.
"Ya, but I'll need your help out there," said Zoey. "You don't want me clawing at his face when I see him, do you?"
"That's exactly what you’ll do," Mike told her. Zoey hissed at him while Daniel laughed.
"I agree with Zoey," said Yong-guk. "You’ve to go, Sam. And just like you said, the fewer who go, the better."
"Okay, can I call her again before we go?" I asked as I got my phone. "Who knows, we might find she's right down the hall."
"Go ahead," said Seungyoon.
I called Lee again and after three rings, she still didn’t pick up. I could see Christine cross her fingers. Everyone else is looking anxious, all hoping for Lee to pick up the call.
Just as it was about to cut, she finally answered. Thank goodness.
"Lee, are you there?" I asked. I put the phone on loud so that everyone could hear.
We received silence instead. This isn’t right. Then we heard someone panting and the sound of running feet. Could that be Lee?
"Lee, answer me. Are you there?" I asked again, this time I’m the one who is anxious.
"Sam?" Lee called. The sound in her voice was that of someone scared. "Are you there?"
"Where are you? And are you running?"
"It’s Johnny," she now whispered. "I don’t know how he caught up to me, but he’s here."
"And the guard? Isn’t he with you?"
"He told me to run while he deals with Johnny himself. But to be honest, I hear noises behind me and I don’t know what’s going on. Darn it! I think he’s coming." We hear the sound of running feet again.
"Lee, where are you? If we know where you are, we can come and-"
A strange noise came on her end and the line went dead. We stood there in silence
"We lost her," I said.
"Okay, enough," said Zoey. "We can’t sit here when he might have her as we speak. We better go find her and the guard."
"Let’s not waste a second longer," said Seunghoon. "Let’s go."
I gave a nod of my head. "But we need someone to distract the guard by the door," I said.
"I’ll handle him," said Daniel. "I’ll just tell him to escort me to the men’s room."
"I’ll come with you," said the producer. "It will be good to keep him a little distracted."
"That’s fine with me," I said. I clapped my hands together. "Let’s get this show on the road."
Daniel and the producer headed for the door together. Those of us heading out also prepared ourselves to leave as soon as the guard is distracted.
"Sam," Mike came to me. "I know we promised Collins that whatever happens with Johnny, we won’t do anything stupid. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I don't want to, honestly," I said. "But I told myself that if anything gets out of hand, I just have to intervene."
Mike ends up smiling at me. For a moment there, I thought he might talk me out of it. "That’s fine with me. Be careful out there."
"Thanks. I just hope security arrives to sort out the issue instead of us."
"We’re going to be in so much trouble for this, aren’t we?" Jisoo asked.
"Obviously," said Zoey. "But we can’t rely on security if they took this long to find Johnny."
"I’m going with Sam on this one," said Christine. "Let’s just pray that we don’t have to do anything at all."
"We’re heading out now," said the producer. "Get ready."
Daniel opened the door and together walked out with the producer, closing the door behind them. The producer started talking to the guard asking to escort him and Daniel to the men’s room. Daniel also added that he really needed to go as he felt he had a running stomach. We could hear footsteps walk away from the door. Seunghoon who was closer opened it slowly and quietly. He poked his head out to see what’s happening. It only took a few seconds before he brought his head back in and opened the door wide.
"The guard is in the men’s room," said Seunghoon. "Let’s go."
Zoey and Jisoo walked out of the room with caution. Mino followed behind them. They had to be silent and also fast. The guard might come back any minute.
Before I could head out with Seunghoon, Yong-guk laid his hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him.
"Be careful out there," he said.
I gave a nod while Seunghoon butted in saying, "she has me to protect her, don’t worry."
He took my hand and quickly, we left the room and joined the others down the other end of the hall, turning a corner.
"Okay, we made it," Zoey whispered happily.
"So, what’s the plan?" Mino asked, looking at me.
"I think we head to your manager’s office," I suggested.
"Huh? Why there?" Seunghoon asked.
"Because it’s where Lee went to. I bet on the way, we might find something."
"His office is upstairs," said Jisoo. "We better get going."
We all made our way to the flight of stairs. As we started to ascend, I couldn’t help but look up and realise that we have a long way to go.