"Why do I have to be punished just because Mr. Incompetent here screwed up?" Sam protested as he and Seh followed her.

The elevator doors opened and they all got in. For a few moments, Soojung seethed in silence. Then Sam started snickering again and Sehun, damn him, joined in.

"This is not funny," she said, crossing her arms. "And it's also the last time I go anywhere with either of you," she muttered.

"Oh, come on," Sehun crooned, throwing an arm over her shoulder. "It'll be just like old times. We used to have lots of fun at those camp-outs when we were kids."

"No," she returned, "you and Nate had fun. I was the one who ended up with a sleeping bag full of crickets."

"Oh, yeah," Sehun grinned, tilting his head back at the memory. Then he smiled down at her. "I still say those crickets got there under their own power, though." 

Looking up at him, Soojung was irritated that even when she was ticked off at him, he still managed to be so damn gorgeous. She glowered at him. "I don't like you right now," she muttered.

"You love me," Seh countered, planting a quick kiss on her cheek. "I am sorry about this, though," he said, looking genuinely contrite. "With writing my column, filming at KIRA, working at Sugar and practicing for the competition, the hotel thing just kinda slipped my mind." He grinned. "But, look on the bright side: now you get a first-hand glimpse at what I look like when I'm sleeping." 

Oh, God, Soojung thought, that was the very last thing she needed.

She rolled her eyes. "Been there, done that—it's not pretty." The elevator doors opened and she walked out. "And," she added, "you snore."

"Lies!" Seh protested, following her out.

Sam turned in the direction of his room and smiled at Soojung. "Well, I don't snore, so—" he started.

"Good for you," Sehun cut him off with a small scowl, then grabbed Soojung's bag from her as he headed for the room. They might be friends now, Seh thought, but if Sam seriously thought Soojung was going to share a room with him, he was out of his damn mind.

"Wait, what're we doing?" Soojung asked, standing between them. "Showers, first? Or dinner? I think—"

"Dinner," both Sam and Seh interrupted, making Soojung wonder why she'd even bothered asking. 

Between the two of them, they ate more than was probably humanly possible. And it figured that fate or DNA or whatever kept them both as slim and fit as if they lived in gyms.

Bastards.

"Meet downstairs in twenty minutes?" she asked Sam as Sehun stuck his keycard in the door a little ways down the hall.

"Yeah, sure," Sam said, then nodded toward Seh. "Good luck with that."

Soojung sighed and headed toward the room. Which she would be sharing with Sehun for the next few nights. God, she thought, Sam had no idea how much luck she'd need in order to come out of this in one piece.

************************

Half an hour later, Soojung was seated downstairs in the hotel restaurant with Sam and Sehun. She was really trying to keep her mind off the fact that, sooner or later, she'd have to go upstairs. And get into bed with Sehun. For a brief moment, she wondered if hotel security would let her sleep in the hallway…

Feeling childish, she pushed the thought away and glanced up at Sehun and Sam who were studying their menus. They were all still waiting for their waitress who seemed to have been swallowed up in the extremely busy dining room.

"Do you think it's so busy because of the competition?" Ann asked, hoping some conversation would help ease her nerves. 

"Yep," Sam said, not looking up from his menu. "Stuff like this is a pretty big deal in the culinary world. Plus, with all the cash prizes and the national TV coverage, it's—" he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the uncomfortable expression on Seh's face. "Sorry," he laughed. "No pressure, right?"

"None at all," Sehun grimaced, picking up the wine list. "Hey, Soojung," he said after a minute, "they have your favorite—that merlot, you like."

"Really?" she leaned over to look at the list and saw that they did have her favorite wine, one produced on a Sweet Water vineyard. It was kind of cool to see something from their small town on a menu in big-city Chicago. She decided to order a glass.

"At least something's going my way today," she mumbled.

Both Sehun and Sam decided to order a glass of pinot blanc, which had Soojung shaking her head at how similar they were.

"You can't fault us for having good taste," Sam said.

"The man has a point, Soojung," Sehun added. But looked at Sam with a quirked eyebrow, "Except, speaking of taste, Sam, I have to say—I really hate that new cocktail you added to the menu at Sugar."

Oh great, Soojung thought. Whenever they got started talking about something to do with the shop, it'd take a miracle to get them to stop.

"What? The er Punch?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Seh nodded. "It —and I don't mean that as a pun."

Despite the peeved expression on his face, Sam laughed a little. "Whatever. You'rethe one who told me to do anything I wanted with the cocktail menu."

"Uh, yeah," Sehun said, shaking his head, "but I didn't tell you to create a friggin' craptail."

Laughing in spite of herself, Soojung asked, "What's a craptail?"

"A cocktail…that's crappy," Sehun informed her with a smirk. Then he looked at Sam, held up his fingers and started ticking off ingredients. "Jaeger? Good. Coconut rum? Fine. Pineapple juice? Okay. But sour apple liqueur and a lemon wedge?" He raised both eyebrows. "Crap. Tail." 

Now, Soojung was really trying not to laugh because she could see that Sam was about ready to defend his drink to the death.

"Have you even tried it?" Sam countered.

"No. No, I haven't," Seh replied. "And you wanna know why? Apple freakin' liqueur. What the hell is that?"

Sam's eyes narrowed. "I bet if you—"

"Okay," Soojung said, standing up. "I've had about enough of this delightful little conversation. I'm going to the bar to get the wine. Hopefully, you'll be done talking about this by the time I get back."

They weren't really paying attention to her, though, as Sam tried to explain why his newest cocktail addition was worthy of Sugar's menu.

Soojung wound her way through the crowded dining room and made it to the bar. It took a few minutes to get a bartender's attention, but when she did, he was back with the three glasses of wine in a matter of moments.

Eyeing the glasses, Soojung was trying to figure out how she was going to carry all three and still navigate the crowded dining room when a man sitting a few seats down at the bar walked over.

"You n