I mumbled in my sleep as I felt something tap my foot. I turned, but I didn’t wake up to see who or what it was. The tapping continued, and I quickly sat up. I still feel sleepy and, soon enough, irritated. I wonder who could have the guts to wake me up.

Before I could fully open my eyes, a bright beam of light came streaming into the room. Someone had drawn aside the curtains. I shielded my eyes with my hand and moaned as they started to water. They took a little time to adjust.

“Wakey, wakey, sleepy head,” came Collins’ voice. “I need all of you downstairs, pronto.”

“Right now?” I asked as I tried to rub away the sleep. I yawned. “It’s so early in the morning, and I’m still tired.”

“Early in the morning? This is close to noon,” said Collins, sounding surprised. “Just get your lazy bones out of bed and meet me downstairs. I’ll go and wake everyone else.”

“Okay,” I muttered.

I kicked away the bed covers and got out of bed after Collins left the room. I wore my purple sleeping gown over my matching purple pyjamas. My feet find their way into my purple bed slippers, and I slowly walk out of the room, heading downstairs. I find Lee in the living room, seated on the couch.

“Morning, sleepy head,” said Lee. “Or is it now afternoon?”

“Hi, Lee,” I said with a groggy voice as I sluggishly threw myself on the couch opposite where she sat. “Tell me you’ve come with good news.”

“Nah-ah, no way, young lady,” said Lee as she waved her finger at me. “You aren’t getting any news out of me before Collins arrives.”

I get the closet couch pillow and cover my face with it, in frustration. I feel so agitated about knowing the board’s decision. Likewise, I had tossed and turned all night, thinking about what might happen if we didn’t go to Korea.

“Are we in Korea yet?” came a tired voice. Zoey. I remove the pillow from my face and see Zoey approach us in her pink sleeping gown, yawning loudly. Christine is right behind her, looking sleepy.

“We aren’t there yet, my friend,” I said with a smile as Zoey came to sit right beside me and Christine joined Lee.

“Please tell me we’re going,” said Christine.

“We’ve got to wait for Collins, because Lee here won’t talk,” I said as I folded my arms and looked at her.

“I’m just following orders,” said Lee.

A few minutes later, Mike and Daniel came downstairs with Collins. After everyone settled, we all turned to our manager, who remained standing, waiting for him to say something.

“As you all know,” said Collins, “I met with the board this morning, and we discussed the matter of you guys going to Korea to collaborate with BIGBANG. We confirmed with YG over their invitation and came to a conclusion.”

The atmosphere in the room changed as the five of us were now fully awake and waiting for the answer. My heart started beating so fast. I looked beside me. Zoey has her eyes closed and her fingers crossed. I look at Daniel, and he looks like he’s going to bite his fingers off instead of his nails. Mike looks calm, but I could tell by the tapping of his foot that he’s anxious. Christine seemed to be shaking as she hugged her body with her arms, rocking back and forth. I hated times like these when we were anxious about whatever decision the board made. Sometimes it felt life-threatening.

“You aren’t going to Korea,” said Collins.

“WHAT!!!” I exclaimed.

“NO!!!” screamed Zoey.

“NO FAIR!!!” Daniel exclaimed as he stood up from his seat.

“This isn’t right,” said Mike, shaking his head.

“Why?” Christine asked.

“I’m sorry, guys,” said Collins. “I tried convincing them, but they wouldn’t budge.”

“Well, you should have tried a little harder!” Zoey exclaimed. She’s on the verge of going nuts.

“But how can they not agree?” I asked, still confused. “That’s such a great offer!”

“We’re not going to Korea!” Zoey wailed, now on the verge of tears.

Mike leaned back on the couch, looking very disappointed. Daniel began pacing back and forth, looking as confused as me. Christine hit her face with the couch pillow over and over again.

“If you guys keep acting like that, I might send in a camera crew to film you,” said Collins.

The five of us look at him. Suddenly, he and Lee burst out laughing. They laughed so hard that they almost cried their eyes out. We all looked confused and stared at one another. Collins even pulled out his smartphone and took a picture of us.

“We got you guys good!” said Collins as he walked over to Lee and gave her a high five.

“Wait, all this was nothing but a joke?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, I had to admit, it was pretty funny,” said Lee.

“We’re so going to get you for this,” threatened Zoey. “You almost made me cry.”

“If all of this is a joke, then we’re going to Korea, right?” I asked as I looked at Collins.

Collins didn’t say anything as he nodded.

There was a silent pause.

“YES!” we exclaimed.

The five of us jumped and danced around the living room like crazy, screaming our lungs out. We were really going to Korea!

“Calm down, you hooligans!” called out Collins.

We stopped midway into our celebration to stare at Collins.

“Sit down, please,” he continued. “You’ve got plenty of time to celebrate, but first, we need to go through some things with you.”

We settled down calmly, but we still couldn’t hide the fact that we were really excited.

“Okay, so you’ll be leaving for South Korea this week on Friday,” said Collins. We almost cheered, but he held his hand up for silence. “But we have a lot to do before we leave, and that means we have to squeeze in some of this month’s schedule in this one week.”

“We can handle it, Collins,” said Zoey excitedly. “Don’t you worry.”

“I don’t think you will,” said Collins. “You already know you have two more concerts, and we have to squeeze in the photo shoot for The Black Kitty Clothesline. There’s also a photo shoot and an interview with Glamour magazine.”

“Wait, so you’re