Soo-young was a Joy to watch, everyone could agree on this.

  She approached JooHyun with a real smile as opposed to her normal professional smile. Her real grin was powerful enough to power a small metropolitan city. Many people wanted to get jealous of this special treatment, but when they saw who she was smiling at, they could not. After all, JooHyun was a well known fixture and was smiling back at Soo-young with equal intensity.

  Seulgi, Wendy, and Katie all felt slightly diminished and started wondering if they were the background characters in JooHyun and Soo-Young’s story. All three of them were used to being the center of attention and not being ignored. They were not sure if they should be comfortably anonymous or have offended vanity. Maybe a little Column A and a little Column B.

  “Of course I am,” said JooHyun. She continued, “But our new friends that I met tonight might still need some time with the menus.” And her smile dialed up a known as she emphasized the word ‘Our’. Soo-young knew how difficult it was for her Unni to make friends. And she would never bring friends that she just met to the restaurant to meet with her. She was already interested in the three girls who mysteriously appeared with her, so Soo-young did not miss the hint that she’ll enjoy them.

  JooHyun leaned forward conspiratorially, and Soo-young leaned forward in curiosity but intrigued. JooHyun whipped out an evil grin that not even Nayeon could have bettered, and said two simple words: “They sing.”

  Soo-young stood up straight, eyes widened, and her jaw dropped to the point you could fit a duck egg in it. To say that she was shocked would be an understatement. She looked so comically shocked that the instigator could not help but peal out a crystal clear ughter that nearly deafened those around her. This made everyone even more curious about what she just said.

  JooHyun had such a wicked grin that she made the other three slightly uncomfortable. Then JooHyun looked at them with a hunger that they were absolutely uncomfortable. The four of them were unsure what deviousness she was up to, but it would be either fantastic for them or terribly tragic. At this point, it was anyone’s guess.

  There was an unspoken conversation going on amongst the five of them. Something interesting was about to happen. Whatever it was, it was bound to be fun for all of them.

  It took one of her co-workers coming by and ungently nudging her to get Soo-young to get her mind and body working again. Much to the consternation of Soo-young and the amusement of everyone else. It’s been a long time since she had been this flustered, so everyone was enjoying the near Schadenfreude.

  Her face was burning hot enough from the humiliation that you could almost light a cigarette off of her. Soo-young escaped back into the kitchen where she could take a moment to recollect herself. She could feel a full body blush going, she was so hot that she went into the walk-in refrigerator.

  Watching her friend flee, JooHyun ungraciously giggled herself silly. She really lost control for a moment. She lost herself in an extraordinarily uncouth way. Even though they have all known each other for only a couple of hours, the rest knew it’d be a bit before the Impenetrable Ice Queen would calm herself.

  The other three hid themselves behind the menus to avoid further notice from the rest of the restaurant. Which was a good idea anyways, so they could answer what they wanted to order when Soo-young came back. More as if she came back.

  Soo-young does not fme out like this often. And even less likely in front of others. So, it did take her a few moments to get back under professional control. Inhaling the icy cooler air, she calmed her body, mind, and soul. She straightened her uniform, wiped her hands off, and headed back up. She would not let herself be bamboozled. Again. As a matter of fact, she started plotting her revenge.

  Unaware of their impending fme war, the other four were discussing what was good on the menu and what they should all get. They had wrapped up their discussion and were waiting for Soo-young’s return when she showed up like a banshee. Instead of bringing death, she brought a deadly smile. Even the most socially awkward would see that smile and would know that it did not bode well for someone.

  One of the less timid waitresses had brought over a pitcher of water for refills. But no one would stay around long enough to take their order. Everyone, including the other patrons, knew that they had to wait for Soo-young to come back to take care of them. Even the manager was avoiding eye contact with them. This alternately amused and annoyed the girls. After all, after the heavy workout they just had, they were all hungry.

  The pale door to the kitchen continuously swung open with tempting smells wafting out to further entice the waiting throngs. There were port hole windows on the in/outdoors that were set high so the wait staff could make sure they were not about to smack someone but set high enough that the seated patrons could not see into the food prep area. Not that they had something to hide or anything, the owners just didn’t want to have a distraction from the dining experience. That and they had some trade secrets – such as house recipes – that they did not want rivals to try and crib.

  Each time the kitchen doors opened, our heroines would look with the expectation that their waitress would appear and they could order.

  Finally, Seulgi couldn’t stand it anymore. She hissed in a whisper at JooHyun “What did you say to her?!”

  JooHyun started to giggle again but managed to fight them back. She said: ”Not much really. I just said that you lot sing, was all.” She managed to pull off a credible, under any other situation, look of innocence. No one bought it.

  Even Wendy asked: “What did you do?!”

  “Me? Nothing.” Giggles.

  Even Katie failed to believe her. “That’s crap.”

  Soo-young appeared like a djin. “Are you ready to order?”