After a few hours the girls had finished unpacking their things and had started wandering around the house. The kitchen was a large open space with long benches forming a U with an island in the middle. It was tiled with marble bench tops and several stainless steel appliances.  On the second level there was a large communal bathroom with a hot tub in the centre and an open shower in the corner. By the time night had fallen and the girls were moving out of their rooms after getting changed into pajamas. They went downstairs and discovered James in the kitchen cooking what appeared to be quite the feast.

“Mmmmm, what’s that smell” said Sooyoung while her lips.

“I thought that for our first dinner together I’d cook a traditional Australian meal. The menu for tonight is a steak dinner with potato bake, and a side of salad. For desert I will be serving budino di chocolate, which is a very fine chocolate mousse with strawberries, It’s almost ready so could you please take a seat around the table.”

The girls all stopped salivating over the fine aromas that the food was emitting and took seat round the dinner table. It was a long ornate wooden table, capable of seating at least twenty people. Each setting was made up of fine silverware with napkins tied around a holder and a wine glass on the side.

When each member was seated, James started bringing around the plates. Upon doing so, each member couldn’t help but lean over and inhale the grand concoction of smells that were being emitted from the food. When the last plate was placed down with a soft thump, james took his seat at the head of the table.

“Before we start, I’d like to propose a toast to what I hope will be a great and successful vacation.”

He raised his glass half filled with Sauvignon Blanc from the Barossa Valley and all the members followed suit.

“Cheers.” said each member, followed by a clinking of glasses around the table.

They all went about eating the scrumptious meal put before them, and there was silence around the table. Each person took time in savouring each bite of the medium rare cooked meet. Before long it was Jessica who broke the silence.

“Wow James, this is truly amazing. Is what you would call a normal Australian dish?”

“Why yes, we do love our meat. But Australia is also a very multicultural country, so there are many dishes that are considered national. “

“How did you cook all this by yourself and get it right, surely you had help?” said Sooyoung.

“Well to be honest I did have some coaching. I wasn’t just going to host you guys for all this time and not know how to cook a decent meal, was I?”

Sooyoung nodded in agreement then went back to being completely focused on her food. How that girl managed to eat all that food and keep a body as good looking as that was anyone’s guess. James took another sip of his wine and sat back to look at these nine beautiful women, in his house, eating his food, and loving it all.

“So James, it’s obvious that you know a lot about us so I think it’s fair that you tell us a little about yourself.” said Seohyun, as she made another pass at the salad bowel.

“Well that seems fair. What is it you would like to know, I’m an open book.”

“Well for starters, how did you and Tiffany first meet?”

Tiffany looked up at James with a look of nostalgia.

James grew a smile on his face as he proceeded to answer. “Well, my parents, may they rest in peace, decided to move to America when I was about seven. My father was a business consultant for hire so we moved around a lot when I was little. I remember being enrolled in school and on the first day I was incredibly shy. I had been forced to leave all my friends behind in Sydney and here I was, at a new school, with my nearest friend being halfway round the world. So I did what most kids did, I sat in class, didn’t talk to anyone and just got threw one day at a time. Then one day I was at the cafeteria, sitting by myself as usual, when this little girl in a pink dress walks up to me and asks for a dollar. I was speechless, this was the first time that someone had spoken to me at school before.”

Tiffany looked at the other members around the table. “I wanted to ask if he had a dollar he could spare for a drink. I was about to walk away but something prevented me. I looked back at him and said ‘Hey, your new here right, why are you sitting over here?’ He looked at me sheepishly and mumbled something. I don’t know what made me do it but I just sat down next to him and started talking.”

“I didn’t say anything at first, this was the first girl who had every come up and talked to me and I was shy, to say the least. But after a while we got talking and became friends. When she got scouted by SM I was shocked. I was dreading the feeling of being alone again, but luckily it was around that time that my dad had to move to Korea for business. So we moved there together and have been friends ever since.”

He looked at Tiffany as he said those last words and she smiled at him. He always like the way she smiled. The way that her eyes seemed to disappear on account of the wide grin that followed. The girls around the table looked at the two of them as if they were some kind of star crossed lovers.

“I must say James; we were all quite surprised to see the kind of house you live in. I mean we expected upper class living but this is bordering on opulence.  Which begs the question, what is it you do for a living.” Said Yoona

“Well I do most of my work in Korea and Japan…mostly Japan. I work as a contractor of sorts for big recording companies. My expertise is in marketing but I have been known to do some music production. My main client is Avex, whenever they have a group releasing new music or going on tour, I’m the one in charge of marketing and putting together their performances.”

“Wow, so what artist have you worked with?” said Yuri

“Well I’ve worked with a lot. My last one was Exile, you know, the big group with the absurd amount of members. I coordinated their ‘Exile Pride’ tour last year; I also helped out on the one before that. I’ve also done some work with King Records and AKB48 with promoting their singles. I have to admit that it’s incredibly hard remembering sometimes 50 different people’s names when working on a music video. But the one I most enjoyed was TVXQ’s Time tour last year. It was tough securing it but I was the one who persuaded the owners to let them perform at Nissan Stadium.”

“Wait, you worked with SM as well?

“Well only on overseas activities. I met Lee Sooman on few occasions and I guess I made an impression. If you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of me before; it’s because artists don’t really pay attention to the people behind the scenes. No offence. Once I got good at my job, and artists were raking in more money because of it, I did as well.”

The dinner progressed onto desert and by then it was getting late. One by one they all made their way up to their rooms and got ready for bed. James and Tiffany were in their room gathering their things when and getting ready to change into pajamas. Tiffany went into the bathroom first while James was on his phone.

“I thought the dinner went really well. They all seem to be getting a little more comfortable around me.” Said James

“Me too, anyway what have you got planned for us tomorrow” said tiffany, her voice echoing in the bathroom.

James looked from his phone and turned towards the bathroom door. He realised that tiffany hadn’t quite shut it all the way and it had swung back slightly, leaving a partial view of Tiffany. She was in the process of getting changed. Her brown hair was undone and was swaying over her shoulders with every movement. She proceeded to take off her jeans and shirt, revealing semi see-through black lace underwear and bra. It did barely anything to hide what was underneath, and it was obvious that she filled up her bra with little effort.  She faced the bathroom mirror as she removed her makeup, giving James a perfect side on view of her y S line. his eyes followed her from head to toe. First he looked at her beautiful pale face and hey wide cute eyes. Then down her neckline until he reached her voluptuous and then down her long smooth legs. Once he realised that he was staring, James quickly looked away and Tiffany soon came out wearing a loose grey shirt and short shorts.

“Ummm, it’s a surprise. I’ve come up with the perfect way to introduce you all to the city while also involving one of its biggest landmarks. It’s going to take us a couple of hours but I suggest that that be all we do for the day because I’m sure we will be quite tired by the end of it. that being said, I only have one question to ask you.”

Tiffany looked him with wide doe-like eyes, “What is it?”

James smile, “Are any of the member s of Girl’s Generation afraid of heights?”

***

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