The seventeenth of July usually meant one thing – it was the day before Lee Taemin’s birthday.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on who was being asked, it also meant that they were leaving for Jeju the next day.

With less than twenty four hours to go, all the ladies found themselves gathered in Sooyoung’s house to plan the very first big event of their trip to Jeju, Taemin’s birthday party. That subsequently led to Kai being kicked out of his own house; the girls not wanting to risk their surprise to be ruined both intentionally and unintentionally, especially since he happened to be the celebrant’s best friend. As it was, Sooyoung was standing before the fireplace; a rather large notebook in hand and a pen in another. Naeun was perched on a chair she dragged all the way to that spot beside the tall brunette; her eyes rather wide as she silently observed the other ladies in the living room.

Tiffany, Jessica, and Taeyeon shared the long white sofa, chatting animatedly amongst themselves, while another woman Sooyoung introduced as Yuri took up residence on the carpet before the three. Amber Liu and Choi Sulli shared a two-seater couch while Im Yoona, who Naeun also just met earlier in the day, claimed the other couch all for herself. All in all, Naeun could already see that they all rather formed a rather interesting – and noisy, if she may say – group, and the men weren’t even there. And Naeun was willing to bet everything she had that things would get more interesting when the boys were around.

Sooyoung cleared and everyone in the living room fell silent. “So how are we going to do this?”

Though she really didn’t need to, Yoona raised her hand for the heck of it. “I think it’d make sense if we celebrate during dinner. More time to prepare and whatever.”

“Makes sense,” she nodded, smiling fully when everyone else voiced their agreement. “Well… Here’s the tricky bit. What kind of party are we going to have?”

“Barbecue,” Naeun blurted before she could really think about it; a hand automatically flying to cover .

Sooyoung arched an eyebrow in amusement before she addressed everyone gathered, “Naeun suggested Barbecue.”

“That’s a good idea!” Sulli grinned at Naeun, receiving a small, shy smile in return. “Isn’t meat his favorite?”

Amber rolled her eyes good naturedly. “Meat is every man’s favorite.”

Sooyoung shot Tiffany a questioning look. “Do you have an outdoor barbecue grill?”

“It’ll be a sin not to have one.”

“Point,” she conceded. “Any other ideas or complaints?”

When no one spoke against the idea, Sooyoung wrote on her notebook. “We should probably come up with a menu now.” Yuri suggested. “So it’ll be a lot easier tomorrow, especially when we have to go to the grocery.”

“Wait here.” Without really bothering to wait for a reply, Sooyoung excused herself and strode out of the room.

Taeyeon shot Tiffany a questioning look. “By the way, just how are we going to get anywhere in Jeju? Bus?”

“Give me some credit here,” she rolled her eyes. “Heechul and I made reservations for a couple of rentals in case you guys would rather drive. If not, the bus is always there.”

Yoona nodded slowly. “And what do we do about the groceries?”

“I think we should decide on that, along with what to do for the morning, tomorrow so that everyone’s around.” Rolling her eyes, Yuri added, “I’m sure many of the boys have a lot to say.”

“I found them!” Sooyoung announced triumphantly as she made her reappearance, dumping a stack of recipe books on the coffee table. “I’m pretty sure we can find something useful in one of them. We just have to write down the ingredients and then leave it to the hands of whoever’s crashing the grocery tomorrow.”

“And since there’s twenty of us and a good half of us can eat food good for three people each and a good chunk of us can’t cook…” Jessica trailed off, reaching forward to grab a random recipe book.

                It was all the encouragement that the rest of the girls needed; Sooyoung soon joining Yuri on the carpet as everyone browsed for dishes to cook for Taemin’s birthday party. Suggestions were voiced out at random, comments and disagreements were made and a good hour or so later, they already had a list that resembled what they wanted to serve for dinner the day before. Leading the list, as expected, were kalbi and bulgogi; the latter being served in two kids, chicken and beef. Joining those two at the grill were coconut-curry grilled chicken, grilled chicken s with lemon and thyme, Caribbean jerk pork chops, grilled glazed salmon, grilled miso shrimp, assorted grilled vegetables, spicy buffalo burger, chilli hot dogs (per the insistence of Amber, Tiffany and Jessica; the three swearing that no outdoor barbecue could be complete without them dogs and burgers) and of course, the honey-glazed baby back ribs with whiskey marinade and grilled skirt steak with salsa verde.

“It’s like we’re feeding an army.” Sulli gawked at the list as she looked ov