With the number of people going into the booth, they reserved one of the rger rooms. Everyone bombarded Nayeon with their orders for drinks, snacks, and whatever else they could think of. Nayeon wondered how she got designated as secretary to take the orders, but then she remembered that she had asked Seulgi what she wanted to order. It was her own fault. She shrugged mentally and wrote everything down. She had to ask people to repeat themselves a few times before yelling at everyone to shut up so she could hear the quieter people.
Nayeon made sure to get JooHyun’s order, too. She was not expecting to be added to everyone else’s order, but it was a pleasant surprise. What was more surprising was that everyone pulled out a wallet and threw (literally for a couple of people) cash at Nayeon to pay for things. JooHyun started doing the same until Seulgi touched her hand and shook her head.
“It’s our treat tonight. Feel free to order whatever you like. Don’t be shy. We have several people who are designated drivers, so drink whatever you’d like, too,” said Seulgi.
Since everyone was getting loud again, Seulgi took what JooHyun wanted down and put their order in Nayeon. Then she took a credit card out and handed it to Nayeon and had her open a tab for what the cash would not cover.
Even Wendy and her crew were surprised by this, but they appreciated it all the same. Everyone was starting to feel like one big family. Everyone was already bickering and picking on each other as if they were already siblings. While waiting for the drinks and food to arrive, the songbook started getting passed around. There was a building list of who was going to sing what and when. While everyone was surprised when JooHyun added her choice, but everyone – even the newcomers from Wendy’s group – failed to ‘notice’ when she did. She was still a bit apprehensive about being surrounded by all of these strangers, but their tactic of attentively ' ignoring’ her presence had actually calmed her down.
She was included in the conversations, she was asked her opinions, and when she said something, the people she was talking with listened with the same intensity as they listened to anyone else. JooHyun was not used to being equally included and ignored. She was too used to being put on a pedestal and metaphorically worshipped that not being the center of attention was both strange and comforting. This was a feeling that she was sure that she would enjoy if she could meet with this group again. It was too early to be feeling wistful. She would first focus on enjoying the evening.
JooHyun paid attention to how people joked with each other. Some were just joking by telling jokes. Some teased each other. Some got teased pretty hard, too. Almost to the point of being offensive, but no one got mad at the teasing. Revenge, however, was not unusual. Once she got the feel for how people acted and reacted, she opened up and started talking more frequently than she normally did.
Everyone was surprised – even JooHyun herself – when she started asking Nayeon a question by starting with “Hey, Banigeol, what about…?’
She stopped mid-questions as everyone stopped what they were doing and every head turned to look at her in shock. She sat there in mortification thinking that she did something horrendously wrong. What she was unaware of was that everyone was in shock over how good, not to mention how accurate, the joke was – no one expected her to join in the joking this soon. The room was silent for a moment until the whole room burst into ughter, led by the Bunny Girl herself. Her crimson blush on her snowy cheeks and micro Mona Lisa smile made the ughter double.
Nayeon who had lost all composure was doubled up and pointing a finger at her. Normally this would be very rude, but the simplicity of the action and the whole-hearted belly ugh robbed any hint of impropriety from the action. Once JooHyun started ughing, too, the ughter kept coming.
Seulgi and Wendy, who invited JooHyun to join them on a rk, looked at each other and both smiled and knew they did the right thing inviting the dy. Soon, she would be a secret weapon, attacking the unsuspecting with some wicked humor. No one would expect this mouse to have very rge teeth.
While the room was still in the throes of howling with ughter, the food and drinks showed up. The attendants looked at each other, nervous about opening the door, worrying about what was going on and what was going to be seen. It turns out that it was just a group of obnoxiously pretty people having the times of their lives, ughing at something that someone said.
As drinks and snacks were being passed around, then the first person who chose a song grabbed the microphone as the first song started. Jackson had chosen an old bald, an ancient love song that he got down on one knee and sang to his wife. All of the servers deliberately slowed down their normally rapid pace so they could listen longer. They were surprised that this rowdy bunch had someone who could sing this well. The servers and a few of the guests were surprised when the next song that came up was a pop song that just about everyone knew. What really surprised everyone – except the people in Seulgi’s crew; everyone knew everyone else’s talents – was when Jackson got up and started dancing along with the song.
Then Wendy and Seulgi got up and did a duet. This caused even more ripples. Now, people in the hallway outside their room started to pause and listen. The first song they did was a song about a tragic accident on the sea, it was beautifully mencholic. It was so poignant that more than a few people got teary eyed. What was totally unexpected by anyone was how well they could harmonize. Others got the urge to join them, but everyone in the room - including the servers - was so transfixed by the harmony that they all stopped. It got to the point where the manager had to call the room and ask them to stop singing long enough to get the employees back to work. Needless to say, the employees were annoyed by this busybody who insisted that they had to actually work when there were people who could actually sing.
Once the employees scattered like hens under the scolding of the karaoke manager, Wendy, and Seulgi started again with a pop song. Everyone knew the song and joined in and sang in a boisterous fashion. The sound dampening insution was NOT up to keeping the sound in at this time. The manager of the facility had stationed themselves near the door in order to prevent the minions from stopping and listening again. What the employees didn’t know was that this notorious curmudgeon was actually listening to the music as fascinated as the employees had been. Rank Has Its Privileges, after all. The employees had many rude things to say about their boss that evening. They frequently had rude things to say about the manager, but tonight was especially vehement. Understandably so.
Each time a new person got up to sing, there was a moment of silence until the song started. If it was popur, everyone sang along. If it was not too popur, those people sang solo until people caught on to the song to join in. The only person who sang completely solo was JooHyun. She had chosen a popur tune, but once she started singing, everyone was so gobsmacked that they were all frozen. She had such a tiny speaking voice and reticent personality, that when she roared out the song, no one was ready. More than one person dropped to their chair in shock. To say that they were pleasantly surprised would be a vast understatement.
