Page 73 of When Worlds Collide
Attire: Formal and masked.
Note: Guests may bring one additional person. Please note that masks are worn upon arrival.
We look forward to welcoming you beneath the clock tower, where the ordinary will become extraordinary – if only for one night.
With compliments,
The ENT Creative Production Team.
It sounded like the kind of party you read about in fairytales, or saw in Hallmark movies. Definitely not the kind of party people like me were invited to.
I raised my eyebrows. “Well, that’s subtle.”
“I forgot about it,” Jihoon admitted.
“Do you need to go?” With the other members already en route to their family’s homes, I assumed they weren’t expected to attend.
“I should have told the company I wasn’t going to go.” He cupped the back of his neck, pulling a face. “It’s too late to pull out now. They will expect me.”
Oh. “Well, that’s okay, I can hang out here on my own for a bit.” I shrugged. No big deal; Jihoon had been leaving the apartment for a couple of hours during the day to go to the private studio he had at ENT to work on his mix tape. A little alone time didn’t bother me.
“Oh no,” he crooned, reaching for me, “you’re coming with me.”
“The fuck?” The words burst out of me before I could apply any form of filter.
He laughed, pulling the zip down on my heavy coat, freeing me from the thermal cocoon. “If I go, you go.”
“Joon, you cannot be serious.” I would not allow myself to be distracted by the way he lovingly helped me out of the coat. He turned around to hang it in the little closet, next to his.
“Why not?” he argued turning back to me. “They already know about you.”
My mouth slammed closed, momentarily stunned. I knew that. I had known that. I’d just… forgotten. It was easy to do when we lived in this strange, in-between-times bubble here at ‘idol tower’– what Becka had started calling this apartment building since learning that so many idols lived here. I'd discovered it wasn't just some of GVibes, but at least two other groups.
“Okay, sure,” I stumbled for the right words. “But am I even allowed? I’m… completely ordinary.”
Jihoon rolled his eyes. “First, you’re not ordinary. Second, it says right there-” he jabbed his finger at the card where it said, ‘Note: Guests may bring one additional person’.
“I don’t think they meant people like me.”
“I happen to like people like you.” He drew me closer, until his nose was inches from mine.
“But will they?” My voice was faint as I verbalised a fear better left unsaid.
“Fuck them.”
“Joon…” I whined.
“Fuck. Them,” he said again. “I don’t care if they ‘like’ you. I like you. You are mine, and you are coming.”
Well, hell. I sighed. His words brought out the inner part of me that just wanted to be swept away. I so wanted to be.
“Well, alrighty then.”
Chapter 23
“Ooft, you look like grumpy. Did Milo pee on you again?” I grimaced at Becka. Milo was the very sweet but very geriatric Chihuahua who belonged to Becka’s downstairs neighbour. Unfortunately for Becka, he seemed to have recently claimed her – attempting to pee on her whenever they crossed paths. I found it hysterical, but it just made Becka, well, hysterical.
“Ha, fucking ha.” She raised her hand, waving her middle finger at the screen.
