"Okay, guys, let’s take a few minutes break and continue afterwards," Yong-guk spoke into the microphone. 

 

As soon as I took off the headphones, I could hear everyone around mutter a little in frustration. They are tired, and I couldn’t blame them, since I was too. 

 

So far so good with recording the song. But we had to make a number of pauses here and there when Yong-guk or the producer felt the need to change tune. All we need to work on now was the last verse and backup vocals. 

 

"Is it almost night time already?" Daniel asked as he was one of the first to walk out of the recording booth. 

 

"Someone wants to sleep, I take it?" Lisa asked. 

 

"Who doesn’t?" Mino asked. "Doing this gets a little tiring even when you enjoy it." 

 

A lot of us understood what he meant. The fatigue is slowly starting to get to me too. 

 

"Lee is out to see the managers," said Yong-guk as soon as everyone was out of the booth. 

 

"I need to use the ladies’ room," said Zoey. "Sam, will you me?" 

 

"Ya, sure," I agreed. 

 

"I’ll come with you too," said Christine. 

 

"Anyone else want to come?" Zoey asked the BlackPink members, already settled on the couch. 

 

"Oh, I’m good," said Rose. "I’m not sure about the others." 

 

The other three members said they were okay. 

 

"Looks like it’s the just the three of us," said Zoey. "Let’s go." 

 

"Be careful out there," Yong-guk said to us as we went for the door. 

 

"We will," I said as I drew the door open. 

 

We found one of the guards standing by the door. The other guard who was with us last night must have escorted Lee. 

 

"Going somewhere, ladies?" the guard asked. 

 

"We need to use the ladies’," Zoey answered. 

 

"Alright, don’t take too long." 

 

The rooms were just at the other end of the hall, so I could feel the guard’s eyes on us as we walked. As soon as the three of us went in, Zoey quickly started to look around, checking the toilet stalls if there's anyone. 

 

"Okay, there’s no one here and I couldn’t be any happier that it’s the two of you who are here with me," said Zoey after she finished looking around. 

 

"Um…, I seriously just want to go," said Christine as she entered one of the stalls. I went into the other one. 

 

"Ya, I know," said Zoey. "I’m just glad that it’s you guys who came here with me." 

 

"What is running through your mind, Zoey?" I asked as I drew my pants down to take a leak. 

 

"Oh, nothing. I was planning to just stay in here for a while and take some time to myself." 

 

I raise an eyebrow. I’m not buying it. As soon as I was done, I drew up my pants, flushed the toilet and walked out of the stall. 

 

"You’re lying, Zoey," I said as I passed her to wash my hands by the sinks. 

 

"How am I lying?" she asked. 

 

"You want to sneak out of here and find Johnny. In fact, since we came here with you, you plan to convince us to do so." 

 

"Okay, you caught me," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "I really want to get him and squeeze his neck." 

 

"That’s called murder, Zoey," said Christine from her stall. The sound of the flushing toilet came afterwards. 

 

"Fine, I want to teach him a lesson so that he won’t have to come after us again," she said. 

 

"Did you just forget that we made a promise this morning not to go after him?" Christine asked as she walked out. "And even if we wanted to, we’ve a song to finish recording. Or have you forgotten about that too?" 

 

"No, I didn't." 

 

"Look, Zoey," I said as Christine came over to wash her hands, "as much as we all want to go out there and find Johnny to teach him a lesson, it's too risky. And if you ask me, producing the album couldn't have come at a better time to keep us busy instead of obsessing over him." 

 

"I'm not obsessing over him!" 

 

"You want to squeeze his neck," said Christine as she turned to look at her. "That sounds like obsession." 

 

Zoey stomped her foot on the white tiled floor. "Come on, you two," she said. "Are you telling me you don’t want to go out there and find him?" 

 

"As much as I want to, I know that recording the album is way more important. We’re all worried about what he can do and he might very well just get in the way of things. But we’ve to leave this to the guards. Let them do their job while we focus on ours." 

 

Zoey folded her arms. "I don’t think the guards can do a better job at dealing with Johnny than we can." 

 

"You’re right," I said. "But the tricks we used on Johnny before, might not work now. If you ask me, we’ve to plan something extraordinary which will need time. And which we don’t have." 

 

"I agree with Sam," said Christine. "Johnny is haunting us at a time when we need to work on an album. And I won’t lie, even if we did make our promise to Lee and Collins, I was going to go out with you. But we’re all tied up. And we can’t jeopardise everyone and the album because of a grown man who keeps acting like a child." 

 

I chuckled. "Did you really have to put it like that, Christine?" 

 

"It’s the honest truth. Johnny needs to grow up for once and let the past go. I mean, even Daniel seems more like an adult than he is." 

 

"I get your point," said Zoey. "But I’m scared that he might do something to ruin what we’re working on. That’s why I want him out of the way quickly." 

 

I looked at Zoey and I had a feeling she might be right. Johnny - like he usually is - might as well get in the way of what we're doing. That’s if he really does end up doing so. We just have to be cautious from now on. 

 

"We’ll figure something out when things get out of hand," I said to her. "You might be right on this, Zoey. But if he - and that’s a big if - jeopardises this album, we must put up a countermeasure." 

 

Zoey cheered out a "Yes" while Christine groaned. 

 

"But if we’re going to do this, then the others have to know too," I quickly added. 

 

The mood on Zoey’s face suddenly vanished. "What do you mean we have to involve the others?" 

 

"The rest of BTW and Lee." 

 

"What? You heard Lee. She sides with Collins." 

 

"Well…, not entirely," I said with a smirk on my face. "If - and that’s a big if - Johnny does try to jeopardise the album, she’ll also want to get her hands on him. In fact, everyone involved would." 

 

"I hate to admit, but you do know Lee well, don’t you, Sam?" Christine asked. 

 

"Not really. But I can guess what she’s likely to do when she’s upset." 

 

"So Sam is on board," said Zoey, "if - and that's a big if - Johnny messes with the album. How about you, Christine?" 

 

"I’m already in," said Christine. "Like Sam said, we would all want to get our hands on him if he does such." 

 

"Okay, now can we please go back and finish up with recording?" I asked. 

 

"Wait, I need to take a leak too," said Zoey as she went to one of the empty stalls. 

 

"Typical," Christine said, rolling her eyes at Zoey. She turned to look at me. "Do you really think he can do it?" 

 

"Remember when I said this isn’t the old days when we had to deal with his lousy pranks a lot better? This time is different. I believe he can do something serious. Last night at the park was no typical prank." 

 

"Ya, last night he took it too far for my taste." 

 

"And that’s just the first. Cutting off the power means he means business." 

 

Zoey soon flushed and seconds later she came out to wash her hands in the sink. 

 

"Of course, he’s serious," said Zoey. "I just fear that he may hold a gun to our heads." 

 

"No way," said Christine, shaking her head. "I don’t want another incident like that ever again." 

 

"But it’s could be a possibility," I said. "Johnny does like to take things a little too far from time to time." 

 

"Enough about Johnny and guns," said Christine. "We need to get back to the studio." 

 

Zoey and I didn’t argue there. I’m just glad we get to go back with Zoey. If Christine and I hadn’t come with her, she would’ve gone to find Jehan herself. 

 

"You girls sure did take a while," said Jinwoo as the three of us entered the studio. 

 

"Girls’ business that you don’t have to know about," said Zoey, closing the door behind her. 

 

"Is Lee back yet?" I asked as I stood in the middle of the room. 

 

"No, not yet," said Jinwoo as he stood from where he sat and walked up to us. "Strange that she isn't here." 

 

He's right. I would like to know that she's alright, so I pull out my phone to give her a call. 

 

She immediately picked up. "Sam, are you okay?" she asked. 

 

"I'm great, thanks," I said. "It’s you that I'm worried about." 

 

"Oh, right. I'm heading back to you. I went to meet the managers and see if there's any update on Johnny. But sadly, to no avail." 

 

"Darn it. He's as sly as a fox. If you're heading back, that's fine. You just take care." 

 

"They still haven't got him?" Jisoo asked immediately I cut the call. "How is he that difficult to catch?" 

 

"Oh, he's good," said Mike. "I remember how he could easily get away from us wherever we knew he was the one pulling pranks. Like Sam says, he's just like a fox. You can never tell where he's hiding." 

 

"Well that ," said Yong-guk. "With him around, I feel really uneasy. I’m afraid he may be up to no good." 

 

"You sound like you know him like we do," said Zoey. 

 

"I don’t trust the guy. The way you described him tells me all I need to know." 

 

"So should we get back to work?" I asked Yong-guk. 

 

"In a few minutes," he answered with a smile. 

 

"Maybe later, you two can go on a date or something," said Jennie. I found myself blushing, surprised that she said that. Yong-guk looked at Jennie with his mouth agape. 

 

"Uh, why do you say that?" Yong-guk quickly asked. 

 

"Oh, don’t pretend," said Jennie, waving her hand at him. "You simply can’