"Guys, hurry up, we're going to be late! Get out of bed, right now!"
I could hear Lee in my sleep and for a moment, I thought I was really dreaming about her. It actually took me another second to realise that she was in the hall, telling all of us to wake up. I turned around in my bed and opened my eyes a little. I noticed it was almost dawn when I looked at the window that wasn't completely covered by the curtain. Why was she waking us up so early?
I sat up in my bed and checked my phone that was lying on the small drawer next to my bed. It was 5:30 AM. Goodness, it was way too early. We usually woke up at 6:30.
I looked over at Zoey, who was still fast asleep. Looked like she hadn't heard Lee. I wouldn't want to wake her up at the moment, so, I decided to meet Lee in the hall.
"Morning, Sam," she greeted me when I stepped out into the hall. "I knew you would get my wake up call."
I yawned. "I sure did," I said, still feeling very sleepy. "It's so early. Why are you waking us up at this time?"
"Collins said you should all be early. We have to leave the hotel around 6:30. There's a lot to be done."
"Don't remind me. Today's the big day after all."
As I said those words, it slowly came to mind how important this day is. I was now starting to feel more wide awake.
"Leeeee!" came Daniel's sleepy voice from the room the boys were in. He opened the door and in his blue pyjamas and matching blue slippers, he came into the hall.
"Morning, Daniel," said Lee. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you've come to complain about waking up early."
With sleepy eyes, Daniel looked at Lee before rubbing them and looking at her again. "What do you think?" he asked.
"Yes, I know, you're all so sleepy right now, but aren't you excited about your big day?"
"My big day starts at 6:30, not five."
"Tell that to your manager then. Right now I want you two to wake up your roomies. I'm having a hard time waking Christine up myself."
"Zoey isn't going to like this," I said. "She loves her beauty sleep."
"Mike told me he doesn't want to get out of bed, so, he's a lost cause," said Daniel. "At least I'll get to use the shower before he does."
The three of us all went back to our respective rooms. Now, I had to worry about waking up Zoey.
"Zoey, Zoey!" I shook her when I got to her bed.
"Mmmm, Sam?" she called out to me, though she didn't open her eyes. "What's up? I didn't hear the alarm ring."
"Since when were you ever concerned about the alarm? I'm the one who usually wakes you up."
Zoey turned to the other side, her back facing me. "Not all the time," she replied.
"Come on, get up, we have a big day today. We have to be out of here by 6:30."
"You go ahead and take a bath first. I'll wake up when you're done."
"Okay, if you say so. You better be awake."
"I will. It's a big day after all."
I rolled my eyes at her and went straight to the bathroom. Within fifteen minutes of getting ready, the five of us Toxins met in the lounge to have breakfast at the dining table. We found Collins and Lee already at the table.
"Glad you could be here on time," said Collins as we settled.
"Tell me about it," said Zoey. "I still feel so sleepy."
"We all do," said Lee. "If it were up to me, I seriously wouldn't have woken you up early."
"Let's just eat," I said as I took some toast and poured myself a glass of orange juice. "We have to be on schedule."
"Spoken like me," said Lee with a smile.
"You are all supposed to be excited about today," said Collins as he sipped on his coffee. "It seems like you're not."
"Well, as you can see," said Mike, "we woke up too early."
"And my day starts at 6:30," said Daniel as he took a quick glance at his wrist watch. "It's not even that time yet."
"Okay, we get it," said Collins. "You'll all get enough sleep when this is done."
There was something in his voice that made me think he didn't mean what he said on that last part. I looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He noticed me looking at him. He turned his eyes on me.
"What is it, Sam?" he asked.
"You don't mean what you said, do you?" I asked. "I mean, we can't rest because we have a lot of work to do before we go back home."
"You're right."
"How many more weeks till we leave?" Christine asked.
"Three, if not four," said Collins. "Lee can tell you the right number."
"Apparently, we have three weeks and five days," said Lee. "And if we want this thing with BTW to be successful, we have to get to work immediately."
"Enough about that. Eat up, we have a long day ahead."
And we did just that. It was surprising how much time we had left till we finally go back home. But it wasn't the time to start thinking about it. Today was a special day and we had to make the most of it.
We had arrived at YG before seven and the first thing we had to do was meet the organisers for the event. That also meant meeting our managers as well.
We had to meet in the conference board room, the same room the managers had declared that BTW becomes official. We were the first group to arrive as usual, and so, we had to wait for the others.
"Goodness," said Daniel who sat beside me. "Aren't we supposed to be getting ready by now?"
"Our music video doesn't air on YouTube till twelve," I said. "So, we have plenty of time to go through some last minute details."
"I wonder what outfits we're going to wear on set," said Mike.
"I saw them yesterday. They're perfect. Don't worry."
"Now my palms are getting sweaty," said Christine. "It's now kicking in that this day is really important and I'm anxious right now."
"Well, we will be performing with k-pop groups for the first time, so, there's much reason to be anxious."
The door to the conference room flew open behind me and the BigBang members came in.
"Morning, everyone," greeted Seungri as he reached me from behind by grabbing my shoulders. Before I could respond, he planted a quick kiss on my right cheek. I blushed. "Morning, my sweet panda."
"Awwww," said Zoey who sat opposite me and smiled at Seungri and I. "So cute. If you two were dating, you would look like two cute pandas."
"I agree," said Christine, who sat next to Zoey. She looked like she was just about to laugh.
I could imagine having panda ears at the moment and I shook the thought out of my head as I threw Zoey and Christine a look, telling them to keep quiet. They were giggling when they stopped after my warning look.
"Morning, Seungri," I said, looking up at him.
"Morning," said G-Dragon, trying to ignore Seungri and me as he sat down at the other end of the conference table.
"Aren't you excited about today?" Mike asked the BigBang members.
"I am," said Daesung as he sat next to Mike. "You?"
"Super excited. Though they had to wake us up early in the morning."
"Tell me about it," said Seungri as he sat on my other side. "I'm just happy the music video is being released today."
"And for some of us," said Daniel, "BTW is going to be announced as an official group."
I thought I saw G-Dragon through the corner of my eye, rolling his eyes. Or was I just imagining things?
"I'm happy for both," said Taeyang as he and TOP joined Christine and Zoey on the other side of the table.
"We all are," I said.
"What time is the meeting likely to start?" TOP asked as he looked at his wrist watch.
"I hear 7:30," said Zoey. "And this is 7:15, so there is still time for the others to get here."
"You guys are usually early nowadays. What's the catch?"
"We have an early bird for an assistant manager," Daniel answered.
"And you think that's a bad thing?" Seungri asked.
"No. I just love to sleep."
"Of course, you do," said Christine.
Just like before, the door flew open behind me. And this time the two other groups came in.
"Hey, guys," greeted Mino.
Those of us already settled in the conference room, greeted him and the others back. They soon settled around the table.
"You guys are pretty early," said Rosé.
"Tell that to The Toxins," said Daesung. "They were here before us."
"I guess we should get this meeting started right now," said Seungyoon.
"I agree," said Christine. "Is it possible to call the organisers and our managers here?"
"They will come here when they want to," said Zoey. "I wouldn't like to be the one calling them. It's not even time for the meeting yet."
"Why?" I asked. "Too scared?"
"No. They are really important people and I don't think they would like to be rushed by someone like me."
"Well, Ji Yeon used to rush us," said Lisa.
Zoey rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me."
"Speaking of waiting," I said, "I wonder if BTS will be arriving soon."
"They will be joining us," said Mino. "They arrived almost at the same time as we did."
"But aren't they supposed to be here by now?" Taeyang asked.
Just as Taeyang had asked that question, the door flew open and seven BTS members came in with Lee.
"Guess who's finally in the building?" Lee asked with so much glee.
I turned around on my seat to look at the seven BTS members with a smile on my face. A lot of us did so too.
"You're finally here!" Zoey exclaimed as she stood up from her seat with her arms spread out wide.
"Hello, everyone," said RM as he smiled at Zoey.
"Looks like you're just as excited as we are," said Seunghoon.
"We are," said Jin. "Some of us couldn't sleep last night because of this."
"I wonder who that may be," said Mike, raising an eyebrow as though he knew who it was.
"Please, take a seat," said Seungri. "We were all eagerly waiting for you."
The seven BTS members took their seats around the table. All of us almost filled up the seats around the oval shaped conference table.
"The meeting is about to start in a few minutes," said Lee. "So, don't move."
"And where would we go?" Zoey asked.
"Let me not remind you what happened the last time you guys were supposed to have a meeting with Collins back home."
Lee didn't have to. We were supposed to have a meeting with Collins and the board of the record company, but surprisingly, they took almost half an hour to start that Zoey announced she was going to the bathroom. Instead, she went out shopping and we only realised it when the meeting was about to start and I was told to look for her. The rest of the details concerning that day, is classified.
Zoey rolled her eyes. "Yes, we know," she said.
"Well, some of us don't," said Suga with a smirk on his face. "Do you mind briefing us about it?"
"No," said Zoey.
"Ask me properly on another day, and I will," said Lee.
"Lee!" the five of us Toxins warned her.
"Eish, okay. They will be here in a minute, so, please stay put."
"No, they won't," said Zoey as she looked at the time on her phone. "We still have five minutes."
"You're so going to be surprised," said Lee as she turned around to leave the room.
"I wonder what she meant by that," said Daniel.
It wasn't long enough when the door behind me flew open and I heard footsteps coming into the room. I stood up from my seat and so did everyone else seated around the table. The managers and the organisers were here. It seems Lee wasn't joking after all.
We all bowed as the organisers and the managers found themselves at their seats. We all sat down, but the two managers remained standing.
"Hello, everyone," said Yang Hyun-suk. "I see you all have excited looks on your faces. That's good, considering that this day is important. Now, the organisers and us the managers are here for us to go through some details."
"Anything concerning the staging on set will be done by the camera crew," said Collins "Since you've all understood, let's start, shall we?"
It was then that I felt adrenaline rush through my veins and hit every part of my body. I couldn't believe we were exactly doing this. As exciting as this was, I couldn't help but fell terrified at the same time.