DOUBLE UPDATE! This is my second update for today and it’s Christmas themed, so yeah. Check out Chapter 17 (which is kinda just a filler) before reading this.

Anyway, as promised, Chapter 18. (I know Gummy moved to CJES sometime late 2013/early 2014 but let’s all assume she didn’t leave YG. OK?) ^_^

The annual YG Family Christmas Party is an event that all employees look forward to. Ellie, being a new employee, was not exactly sure what to expect from the upcoming shindig but her Bom unnie and Dara unnie had given her the 411 on the event.

Apparently, everyone in the company, from the executives to the artists, the managers and coordinators, all the way to the administrative and marketing staff are invited. The party is at the YG cafeteria where there will be food and a short program (which Ellie thought was surprisingly traditional compared to what she had expected from a major hip-hop label) before they move to Club NB, one of the clubs that Yang Hyun Suk owned in Hongdae. Employees also have this showdown where they will outperform each other through singing, dancing, or a skit. Last year, it had been the Big Bang managers who won with their stellar rendition of Psy’s Gangnam Style.

For this year, Dara had been adamant at winning the title. Why she was so desperate, Ellie did not understand because from what she knew, the prizes for winning were usually simple gift checks and items from artist’s sponsors. Bragging rights, maybe?

Dara had barged into Ellie’s studio one afternoon, dragging a very reluctant Bom with her while demanding that they, including Gummy unnie, team up for this year’s performance. She already had a routine planned in her mind and she was practically bouncing around the studio detailing it to them. Frankly, Ellie knew that she could not say no to Dara's crazy antics because that would be like telling an excited toddler that Christmas has been canceled. She may not be a fan of the holiday season but Ellie is not that big of a Grinch.

So, for this reason, she found herself waiting for their turn to perform during the Christmas party. The tables and chairs in the cafeteria had been moved aside and a small performance area was set up in a corner. Food had been consumed and YG Entertainment employees were standing around as they watched the Big Bang managers parody the group’s MAMA performance from several days back. Byeong Yong (TOP’s manager) had even borrowed the giant mic prop that TOP had used during concerts and wore a Dali-ish mustache as well. Ellie watched the audience and found their faces to be even funnier than the performance.

Seunghyun was happily coaching his manager the choreography to his song; Daesung and Teddy were laughing so hard they were tearing up; Jiyong, Youngbae and Seungri were recording the whole performance for posterity (or probably as future blackmail material against their managers, you’ll never know with Seungri); Tablo and Psy were in hysterics while Yang Sajangnim, Jinu and Sean were laughing and shaking their heads in embarrassment. The rest of the family were enjoying the show as well judging from the rambunctious reactions that the five older men were receiving.

Ellie was huddled along with Gummy, Bom and Dara, all wearing coats to hide their costumes underneath. OK, what did I just get into? Ellie thought as she continued watching the five oppas make fools out of themselves.

When the Big Bang managers finished their performance to a thunderous applause, the girls began taking off their coats to reveal y red dresses with flared skirts and white fur ts, very similar to the ones worn by Lindsay Lohan and her clique in the Mean Girls movie. Gummy had the longest skirt, Dara and Ellie’s were just the right length ending about three inches above their knees, while Bom’s, as usual, was almost scandalously short. They also put on matching Santa hats to complete the look. Ellie could only imagine the shock that the YG staff had when they saw her in the short dress since they usually saw her in hoodies, jeans, and winter boots. Oh, this is embarrassing!

There was a lot of teasing and wolf whistling from the audience as they made their way to the center of the small make-shift stage to take their positions.

“Oh, Ellie in a short dress! I got to take a picture!” she heard Teddy shout from the corner of the room. Ellie could only glare at her sunbae as he took a photo since the familiar sweet tune of Jingle Bell Rock soon played. The whistling and teasing from the crowd continued as the girls started to lip sync and dance imitating the actresses in the movie. Ellie was even surprised that Gummy was having fun considering that she wanted to back out and threatened to strangle Dara during their last rehearsal just the day before. The three older ladies were putting on their best performance and even Gummy was giving it her all despite her lacking in dancing skills.

Ellie also found herself enjoying their performance, embarrassment forgotten as the crowd cheered them on. She saw several phones taking videos of their performance including Seungri’s and Youngbae’s. Ellie gave a naughty and flirtatious smile to the cameras as she did her solo part. She saw Psy’s gobsmacked face and blew him a kiss to the delight of the crowd. Ellie saw CL and Minji laughing and looking rightfully embarrassed on behalf of their shameless unnies.

When their routine ended, the four girls did their final pose and shouted in unison: “We are the mean ajjumas!” causing the whole room to erupt in laughter. It was widely known that the three older ladies remain single and it has been a running joke in the company that they are going to end up as spinsters.

“Yah, why did you include Giselle?! She’s too young to be an ajjuma!” Yang sajangnim teased causing the room to be filled once again with laughter.

“Ani sajjangnim, we needed a cute maknae for the group,” Bom said while Ellie playfully threw out her best aegyo at the crowd earning them an even louder laughter from the audience.

They took a final bow before exiting the stage but then Teddy spoke up to everyone’s surprise.

“Hold up, wait, hold on. I will not let Ellie get off the stage without hearing her sing,” Teddy said as he made his way through the crowd and commandeered the mic in the corner.

“Everyone, you should hear this girl sing. I swear, your lives will not be complete if you never hear her sing. Right Blo?” Teddy said.

Tablo nodded, gave two thumbs up and said “Chinja daebak!” very loudly. “Hyun Suk hyung, when you hear her, you will want to sign her as an artist. Really,” Tablo told his boss sincerely.

Ellie remembered the surprised faces of Teddy and Tablo from the previous day when they found her and Ha Yi at the third floor lounge singing Florence and the Machine’s Shake ‘em Out during their break.

Now everyone in the crowd was looking at Ellie expectantly while she was all squirrel-lights-blind-shocked in her spot.

“Uh, but I didn’t prepare anything,” she mumbled.

“There’s a guitar there,” a voice suddenly spoke up. Ellie looked up to see who spoke out and found Jiyong pointing at a guitar which a guy from the marketing team used earlier to sing a very bad rendition of Merry Christmas, Baby.

“Just play anything, I want to hear you,” Jiyong said with a smile. Ellie felt her heart skip a beat before it started running around her ribcage when she saw that smile. OK, since you asked very nicely, she thought as she took the guitar from the stand and started tuning it to her key. Teddy, who was smiling from ear to ear, had moved the mic and stand to the center of the performance area before taking his seat among the audience.

“Oh, geez, I haven’t sung in front of a live crowd for so long I’m afraid I might mess this up. I can’t even think of a song right now,” she said shyly over the mic.

“Unnie, sing that new song you made!" she heard Ha Yi’s voice and promptly looked for her favorite little sister. Ellie saw Ha Yi at the back, along with Akdong Musicians and several members of Winner.

“OK, then,” she said smiling at the crowd.

Ellie promptly closed her eyes, remembering those nights when she would perform at the local pub outside the Berklee campus. She smiled at the memory before she took a deep breath, and began plucking the strings of the guitar playing the melancholic intro for the song.

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