Mijoo and Seungmin walked back to the apartment building in silence. Well more like Mijoo walked back in silence while Seungmin talked on his phone the entire way. The rest of their day had passed by uneventfully, Nayeon had left shortly after lunch, her classes in the afternoon different from Mijoo's. In fact, Mijoo thought about the fact that she could have skipped the rest of the day. She hadn't really paid attention in the remainder of her classes; the worries of that morning had finally gone, but were now replaced with new, never before seen worries. What was she going to wear to the party? What kind of gang was she going to meet? Would she be in any danger? Worries that a typical college student wouldn't normally have on a typical Monday afternoon. As they walked, Mijoo mused on what she would normally be thinking about on a day like this. Well, first off, I'd probably be thinking about Jaehyun and whatever we had talked about that day. Then I would think about what homework I needed to do ...and then what homework I could put off until the last minute. I would think way too long about what to have for dinner even though I always get carry-out from one of the same three places....and then? Mijoo sighed audibly, causing Seungmin to look over at her. He had been on the phone with Felix since they had left her last class. She waved off his raised eyebrow as she held the door to their apartment building open for him.

"-yeah we're just getting back now......yeah.......I know.........I will.......ok see you tonight...." Seungmin said before ending the call and shoving his phone in his back pocket. "Felix says hello." He shared, pushing the call button on the elevator.

Mijoo nodded absentmindedly. The doors to the elevator opened and a couple with their dog stepped off, leaving the elevator empty for Seungmin and Mijoo to enter. "So...other than Stray Kids who else will be at this party?" Mijoo asked as the doors to the elevator shut.

"Just some members of other gangs we work with in the area." Seungmin replied, leaning back against the elevator wall.

Mijoo rolled her eyes, "I'm trying to know how many people will be at this party so I can know how much I should be freaking out right now. Some of us aren't party people."

"Well there's one more SKZ member you haven't met yet who you'll meet tonight. I know Changbin has some friends who will be there, but other than that" Seungmin shrugged. "It's not like I'm the one planning these things, besides I've been babysitting you all day; I'm not exactly in the loop with everything going on right now."

Mijoo grumbled, "I don't need a babysitter..."

"Says the girl who's got the worst gang in the city after her because she doesn’t know how to mind her own business, plus the violent small time gangs that might try to take her hostage or kill her because she doesn’t know how to keep shut. Yeah, pretty sure you need a babysitter." Seungmin replied, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Why can't you just call it a ‘bodyguard’ or something?" Mijoo muttered as the elevator finally arrived at their floor.

Pushing himself off the wall and stepping out of the elevator Seungmin let out a small laugh, "Because...it's fun to see you get so bothered."

Mijoo frowned and had the sudden urge to throw something at him. Unfortunately for her she had nothing on her to throw, or at least nothing she was willing to risk losing. Following him out of the elevator and down the hall, they parted at their neighboring doors. Seungmin quickly slipped into the apartment across the hall before Mijoo could even attempt a 'see you later.' Sighing, she unlocked her door and entered her own apartment. Checking her phone as she threw her backpack on the ground and took off her shoes, she saw she had two hours to kill before Minho would arrive. She decided that would be enough time for her to take a shower and watch some TV.

Minho arrived promptly at 6 carrying a large dress bag, a rolling make-up case, and a large decaf nonfat soy latte dangling from his fingertips. “Oh good you’ve already showered, one less thing for me to wait on. Let’s get started, I have a limited window to work a miracle,” he said as he marched past her into her apartment. Mijoo was beginning to suspect that the Stray Kids members would never wait for her to invite them in before just barging past her.

Rolling her eyes to herself, she shut the door before turning to face him. He had laid the dress bag across the back of her couch and was already opening up the make up case, which was filled to the brim with products that Mijoo was sure she had probably never heard of. “Well, uh, what’s first?” Mijoo asked hesitatingly, hugging her arms close to her body.

Minho gave her a smile, one that was much less threatening than when she had first met him...but not by much. “First, we decide on the outfit so we can know what colors will look best to match it. Once you've changed, I’ll do your hair, and then finally your make-up. I also have shoes to go with the dresses once you decide.” He responded, his voice sharp and to the point.

“Ok...sounds good to me....” Mijoo replied as Minho went about ping the dress bag and pulling out four dresses, laying them out so she could look at each.

The dresses all varied in style and none of them looked like something she would normally wear. The first dress was red, bright red with an asymmetrical hemline, shorter in the front and reaching just below in the knee in the back. Mijoo had some concerns about how low the neckline dipped. The second dress reached to the floor and was a dark navy, made of chiffon. Mijoo noticed however there was a very high slit in the skirt that would show a lot of leg, and there was a diamond cutout in the top right below where her s would be. She had a bad feeling that all of the dresses were going to be like this.

The third dress was black velvet, and even on the hanger Mijoo could see that it was very...very short and would hug her body very tightly. She was pretty sure she would die before anyone would be able to get her to wear something like that. The fourth dress was gold satin, and as she looked closer she thought her eyes were going to bulge out of her head when she saw how far the neckline dropped. That’s practically down to my belly button!! And...where is the back? …..Oh my god there’s no back...

Mijoo looked incredulously over at Minho who was busy setting out make-up. “Is this...are these my only options?” She asked.

Minho paused to look over at her, frowning. “What’s wrong with what I picked out?” He asked.

“Uh....none of these look like something I would wear or could wear. I can’t wear these...I’ll never be able to pull them off. I’ll look ridiculous and make a fool out of myself and make Chan look stupid and then someone will shoot me and throw me into the river never to be seen again until my body resurfaces days or weeks later leading to an investigation by the police which will then -”

“Ok first of all….shut up.” Minho interrupted, putting up one of his hands to stop Mijoo’s nervous spiralling. “You can wear one of these, in fact you have to. Whether or not you think you can pull it off doesn’t matter, because tonight you’re not you, you’re Chan’s girlfriend and that means you have to pull it off. Now pick one and stop whining.”

Mijoo turned back to the dresses, biting her lip. She didn’t feel like she could wear any of them, but she had a bad feeling that if she didn’t choose Minho would pick for her and there was no way that she was going to let that happen. “This one,” she said, pointing at the navy chiffon dress.

Minho looked over at her choice and nodded, “I have gold heels to go with that one. Now go get changed.”

Mijoo picked up the dress and retreated to her room. She was shocked to see how well it fit on her and she couldn’t help but be extremely self conscious. This was something Nayeon would wear, not her. She padded out of her room, holding her arms close to her body. Minho gave her a quick once over, rolling his eyes at her body language, before making her sit down at her dining room table so he could do her hair and make-up. It took him a while, a lot longer than it took for Mijoo to do her hair and make-up; although, considering she barely spent time on it normally, that didn’t take much. By the time he was done his decaf nonfat soy latte was long gone and Mijoo felt like there had to be an entire can of hairspray on her head. The fake eyelashes he had given her were awkward since she had never worn anything like them before and she was almost positive she had gotten the bright red lipstick he had applied all over her teeth. She hadn’t seen herself in the mirror yet, but she was positive when she did that she wouldn’t recognize herself.

“I am seriously underpaid for my work,” Minho said as he took a step back to admire his handiwork. “I should ask for a raise. Anyway, Chan should be here any minute now and my work here is done. I have my own preparations to get to.” Minho quickly went about packing away all the make-up and hair products that were scattered across Mijoo’s dining room table.

Mijoo wobbled across her apartment in the heels Minho had given her trying to get to a mirror. She hoped Chan wouldn’t be walking around a lot at the party; she wasn’t feeling too confident in her ability to get places without falling down. Looking at herself in her bedroom mirror, Mijoo was shocked. She was positive Nayeon wouldn’t believe it was her even if she told her.

“Chan’s here!” Minho called from the front of her apartment, drawing her attention away from the mirror.

Mijoo closed her eyes, clenching and unclenching her fists by her sides as she took a deep breath. Mijoo, you can do this.

Stepping out of the room, she spotted Chan who was standing with his hands in his pockets and a bored look on his face. His eyes flickered over to her as she stepped further into the room, giving her a once over. “You look passable,” he said. Mijoo wasn’t one to boast or think much of her looks, but even she knew that ‘passable’ was a bit of an understatement.

Minho scoffed, throwing the dress bag over his shoulder. “Passable my ,” he said bluntly, before adding, “I’ll see you at the club,” as he passed by Chan on his way out, leaving them alone in her apartment.

A blanket of silence fell over the room. While Minho had been there he had been chatty; criticizing her skin care routine, cooing over her cat, and muttering to himself about the difficult time her hair was giving him. Now that he was gone the silence was a bit overwhelming.

“Well, are you just going to stand there forever or can we get going?” Chan asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Uh…”

Chan heaved a sigh, “Let’s just get this over with already. The sooner we get there the sooner you can leave.”

Mijoo narrowed her eyes slightly at him, but didn’t say anything even though she desperately wanted to. It wasn’t like she had asked to come. He was the one forcing her to go in the first place. Grabbing the purse Minho had left for her, which she stuffed her phone in at the last minute, she followed Chan out of her apartment and locked the door behind them. “Let’s go, babe,” she said outside the apartment, taking a small amount of satisfaction from the annoyed look Chan gave her in response.

When they reached the sidewalk Mijoo saw that Chan drove an even more expensive looking Maserati than Changbin. “Are you all sponsored by Maserati or something?” Mijoo muttered as Chan held the passenger side door open for her, an action she was shocked he would even bother with.

“No,” was all he said in reply before shutting the door on her. Chan slipped into the driver's seat and started the car, pulling away from the curb with a start. As he drove Mijoo played with her skirt, trying to keep the slit that ran up to her thigh from falling open.

It didn’t take them long to arrive at Club Miroh. Mijoo immediately recognized the flashy front of the club except this time there was no long line of customers waiting to get in. Chan drove the car up to the curb and got out before opening her door and helping her out to the sidewalk. One of the men standing outside of the club took the keys Chan extended to him, got in the car they had just vacated, and drove off. Chan extended his elbow toward Mijoo which, after an awkward second of her trying to figure out what he was doing, she finally took. With a deep breath, she straightened her back and let him lead her through the VIP doors she had passed through just days before.

Like the last time she had visited, the hallway was empty but this time if there was music playing in the club, she couldn’t hear it through the walls. When they reached the two doors Chan stopped and looked over at her. “Do you remember what I said?” He asked, raising one of his eyebrows at her. How does he do that? I’ve never been able to raise a single eyebrow before. Ugh and why does he have to look so attractive doing it? Wait...uh....

“Uh...you’ve said...well you haven’t exactly said a lot since we met, but you’re not being very specific with your question here.” Mijoo said, fidgeting slightly with Chan’s sleeve.

Chan rolled his eyes, “At meetings and parties I expect you to be silent; only talk to members of Stray Kids.”

“Oh, right, your ‘I’ve-never-had-a-girlfriend’ list” Mijoo sighed, tilting her head to the side. “Listen, what if one of your friends asks me a question? Am I supposed to stare at them awkwardly and just ignore them or what?”

Chan was very still for a few moments, his eyes searching her face. Mijoo kept his stare, trying hard not to get flustered and turn away. “Fine,” Chan sniped back. “Then be smart. Don’t say anything dumb, if that’s possible for you. Don’t give out information. And for the love of God don’t start rambling.” Mijoo had the childish urge to stick her tongue out at him.

“What if they ask how we met or how you asked me out or something about our relationship?” Mijoo asked, her heart beating faster and stomach doing somersaults at the thought.

For the first time, Mijoo saw something other than frustration and annoyance flash over his features, but she wasn’t sure she could name what it was. “Just make something up and we’ll roll with it. Anything you share you need to tell me so we can have our story straight.”

“Okay,” Mijoo breathed out, wondering if Chan could feel her hands shaking from where her hand was still gripping his arm.

Chan opened the door to the main room of the club and led her through. It wasn’t as dark as she was expecting, although she had a suspicion that on nights the club was open they usually kept the lights much lower and the music much louder. As they walked in Mijoo felt the eyes of everyone land on them and instinctively her grip on Chan’s arm tightened. She felt Chan turn his head and look down at her. She wished he would give her a word of encouragement or something, but instead all he did was pull her further into the club.

“Chan! Mijoo!” Mijoo heard the voice of Felix call out. Turning, she spotted him approaching from where he had been standing talking with Changbin and some other people she didn’t recognize. He was wearing a suit similar to the one Chan was wearing, although Mijoo thought all suits looked similar. “Wow, Mijoo, you look gorgeous!” Felix smiled at her.

“Thank you,” Mijoo replied looking down, feeling a blush rise up on her cheeks.

“Oh my god, Chan, did you not tell her how beautiful she looks?!” Felix accused, turning to face Chan.

“No, he did not.” Minho said, sauntering up in a purple silk shirt he had definitely not been wearing earlier.

“Chan…” Felix groaned. “Seriously?”

“You haven’t complimented this lovely lady yet, Chan?” A voice drawled from behind them. Mijoo turned to see a man with dark black hair and sharp features approaching them, a small smirk flitting across his lips.

Mijoo saw Chan clench his jaw before turning with a forced smile and saying, “Seonghwa, glad you could make it.”