I woke up to the sound of my alarm ringing. My eyes sleepily opened and saw something shining and glittering in the sunlight. Focusing on it, I saw the pendant that Kevin had given me yesterday. I got up and unhooked the chain from the rack, watching as the colors in the circle swirled around and changed colors. Just as I had sat down on my bed with the pendant, my door opened. I looked up to see Kevin.

“Morning Jieun.”

“Morning oppa. Has everyone left?”

“Xiumin and Ren are volunteering today with you, the rest are busy.”

He walked into my room, grabbed my brush off the table, and sat down behind me on my bed. I felt him gently pulling the brush through my hair as I stared at the changing pendant colors.

“Oppa, why does the pendant change colors?”

“It reflects your mood. Like a mood necklace. See, right now you’re…” he glanced at my pendant. “Happy.”

“Oh… do you have one too?”

“Yeah,” he held up his wrist, where I saw the same pendant dangling off a bracelet. “The men wear bracelets, ladies wear the necklaces.”

“I see…” I felt him give my hair a final brush. He ran his fingers through it to make sure it was smooth.

“Now go get ready,” he pats my head as he gets off the bed. “I’ll make you something to eat.”

“Thanks oppa.”

He smiles and closes the door behind him. I get up and rummage around in my closet, trying to find a dress. I found a lavender dress that I paired up with my white sneakers and I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I go back into my room and see the pendant on my bed. I decide to put it on. I went into the kitchen to find Minseok and Ren sitting at the table, sipping on some iced coffee. Kevin was standing at the stove, grilling me a breakfast sandwich.

“Morning Jieun,” the two boys greeted me.

“Morning oppas,” I greeted them as I sat down at the table. Kevin brought me my sandwich and sat down next to me as I dug in. A few minutes later, I was finished with the sandwich and the boys were done with their coffee. Kevin saw us out the door. I waved at him until we were out of sight. Xiumin bought train tickets for all of us and we waited for the train to pull up. When it arrived, Ren found seats for all 3 of us and we got to the library within a few minutes. We signed in, pinned on our badges, and checked the job board.

“Watering the garden again?” Ren complained.

“It’s fine, there’s gonna be some people up there because it’s not Friday,” I told him. We all walked up to the garden, where we saw a few families here and there, looking at the flowers and plants. We each grabbed a hose and carefully navigated our way through the people, making sure they didn’t trip over the hose or accidently get sprayed by the water. As I watered the roses, a little boy came up to me.

“Noona, I think you’re really pretty!” he grinned up at me and offered me a dandelion I knew he had picked from the garden.

“Aww, thank you! Noona appreciates flowers very much!” I smiled down at him. He gave me a hug around my legs and ran off to his mother, and they both went downstairs. I quickly finished watering the roses and turned off the hose. I looked over at Ren and Xiumin and found them finishing up as well. I put the hose away and saw Xiumin and Ren coming over with their own hose. We packed up and went downstairs, signing out and walking out of the library.

“Hey Jieun, you don’t have a swimsuit yet do you?” Xiumin suddenly asked.

“I do have one but I don’t think it fits that well anymore…” I tried to remember.

“Let’s go shopping then!” Ren excitedly suggested.

“Yeah, I’ll call up the guys, they’re probably done with work by now,” Minseok began calling them up. A few minutes later, he reported, “Okay, we’re all meeting up at the private mall, let’s go catch the train there.”

“Private mall?” I asked as Ren and Xiumin grabbed each of my hands and began dragging me towards the station. “There’s such thing?”

“Yeah it’s heavily guarded by tons of security” Xiumin explained.

“And Mark is good friends with the owner so we can shop all we want. Very few people get to enter it. You basically have to be royalty to enter,” Ren continues to explain as Xiumin buys tickets. “Plus it’s not that far from here actually.”

“I can’t wait!” I was starting to feel excited. We all boarded the train, which was so full that we just stood there, the three of us still holding each other’s’ hands. When the train stopped for the 3^rd time, Xiumin led us all off. We began to walk towards a huge black building.

“Mark just texted. They’re waiting for us at the fountain,” Ren glanced at his phone. We walked for a few more minutes until I saw a huge fountain and the boys standing there. Kevin ran up to me and engulfed me in a hug.

“I missed you Jieun!”

I laughed. “You saw us like, 2 hours ago oppa.”

“Yeah but still…” Kevin pouted. We walked towards the guys, where I greeted each of them with a quick hug. After that, we walked towards the building, which was surrounded by tall gates and security guards every few meters. We found the booth that would let us enter. The guard inside let Mark and the rest go in, but stopped me.

“Who’s this?” he asked in a gruff voice.

“Um…” I squeaked, not sure how to introduce myself. Mark quickly came over and whispered something into his ear. The guard looked at my neck and then down at the pendant. His eyes became wide. He bowed and quickly apologized. Mark led me in despite my confused face.

“Good thing you wore the pendant today Jieun,” Mark grinned at me and held up his wrist, where I saw the same pendant hanging on a chain, although the chain wasn’t as nice as Kevin’s.

“You too?” I asked, my eyes going wide. Mark just smiled and led me into the building, where the others had gone in. A few steps in, I stopped and gaped at the scene in front of me. Men walked around in expensive suits as they talked in foreign languages into their phones. Women wore luxurious outfits that looked more expensive than the TV in Mark’s place. I immediately felt underdressed but saw that the boys were wearing nothing more than t-shirts and shorts because of the hot weather, which made me feel a bit better. We began walking towards a swimsuit shop, where a woman in a shop uniform politely greeted us. I smiled at her as I walked in. She began asking us if we needed help. Mark replied, “We need something for her…” and pointed at me. The lady began rushing around, grabbing swimsuits here and there.

“Oppa! I don’t need a swimsuit!” I tried to protest.

“Minseok said you needed one though so here we go,” Mark said as the lady reappeared. He took the suits from the lady and handed them to me. “Go to the dressing room and try them on, we’ll be the judges.”

The lady showed me to the dressing rooms, gesturing to a button on the wall. “Please press this button if you need any assistance.”

“Um thank you…” I awkwardly smiled and she closed the door behind her. I looked at the first swimsuit and began putting it on. Uhm… I thought. I quickly pushed the button and took off the suit. A few seconds later, I heard a tapping on the door and the lady’s voice.

“Did you need some help miss?”

“Uh... I was wondering if you could find me something less revealing… please…” I collected any suits that looked too showy and cracked open the door. I shoved the suits into the lady’s hand. “I’ll continue trying on the others, thank you.”

I put on a light purple 2 piece first. The skirt part was cute. I stepped out of the room, finding the boys all relaxing on couches and chairs in front of me. They all stopped chatting when I came out. Mark held up an O sign and so did the rest, except for Kevin, who put up an X.

“Next!” he waved me back in, where I tried on several more suits, including the ones the lady brought back. Mark made me try on more until Kevin finally showed an O sign to a pink 2 piece. Mark paid for it as I quickly dressed back into my normal clothes. The lady bowed us out as we headed towards a dress shop.

“Since Jieun likes dresses so much, I’ll buy this next one,” Jungkook proudly claimed.

“No I will!” Daehyun began arguing with Jungkook as we entered the shop.

Another lady found dresses that suited my taste and I entered the dressing room. After trying on at least 30 dresses, 5 which were strapless ones (Kevin: I thought you didn’t like strapless?), I walked away with 4 dresses, paid by Jungkook, Daehyun, Ren, and Minseok.

“Thanks for buying the dresses you guys!” I was happy to add more dresses to my collection.

“That winter one looked stunning on you Jieun,” Daehyun had paid for that one.

“Myungsoo, what are you gonna buy her?” Mark asked as he clapped Myungsoo on his shoulder.

“I’ll buy her anything she wants.”

“That’s okay oppa, I don’t need anything else…” I tried stopping him. He suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me to an accessory store.

“Take your pick Jieun, I’m paying.”

“But—“

“So am I.”

Myungsoo and I turned to see Kevin walking in. I looked around for the others.

“We’re meeting up at the food court after this store, they went to go order some food,” Kevin saw my confusion. He picked up a diamond bracelet. “Jieun, do you like this?”

I checked the price tag and shook my head. “It’s beautiful but it’s way too much.”

“I’ll take one of this!” Kevin completely ignored me and called over to the lady, who hurried over and took the bracelet from him.

“Oppa!” I protested.

“What? You said you liked it,” Kevin began walking over to the counter to pay as I grabbed his arm and tried dragging him back, but to no avail. He ended up dragging me to the counter with him. When he took out his wallet, I grabbed it, but it disappeared from my hands and into Myungsoo’s.

“He’s like Mark, Jieun. Let him pay.”

I watched helplessly as Kevin took out a few bills and handed them to the lady. She packaged up the bracelet into a nice box and put it into a small bag, which Kevin handed to me happily.

“Here you go Jieun!”

“Uh… thanks oppa…” I took the bag from him as we exited the shop. We followed the signs to the food court, where the rest had saved seats for us. We had a delicious late lunch of pizza and pasta.

“We should get home soon, it’s getting dark,” Mark glanced at his phone and began making a call. We all got up and began walking to the entrance, where I stopped suddenly, seeing something glimmer in the corner of my eye. I turned and saw a jewelry shop, the gems glittering at me. I began walking towards it. The lady bowed and asked if I was looking at anything in particular.

“Do you have any rare gems here?” I asked, knowing it would be crazy expensive but I just wanted to look, not buy.

“Yes we have plenty here,” she said as she began showing me beautifully cut gemstones.

“This one is called Tanzanite,” she said, holding up a blue-ish purple stone. “It is only found in the Mount Kilimanjaro foothills.”

“This one is called Taaffeite,” she said, holding up a pink-ish purple stone. “They cost around $1,500-2,500 per carat.”

“This one is called Black Opal,” she said, holding up a black stone. When I looked more closely, it was dotted with flecks of beautiful colors.

“This one is called Benitoite,” she said, holding up another blue-ish purple stone.

“This one is called Red Beryl,” she said, holding up a red gem.

“They almost look like emeralds!” I was entranced by its beauty.

“Its nickname is Scarlet Emerald,” a voice said behind me. I turned to see Myungsoo and the rest gathered around me, looking interested in the rare gems.

“This one is called Alexandrite,” she said, holding up a stone that seemed to change colors as she moved. “It was named after Tsar Alexander II.”

“This one is called Jadeite,” she said, holding up a deep green stone. “Don’t confuse it with Jades though.”

“This one is called Musgravite,” she said, holding up a purple stone.

“This one is called Painite,” she said, holding up a red stone.

“And finally, this one is called the Pink Star Diamond,” she said, holding up a pink diamond. “They cost around $1,395,761 per carat.”

I heard the boys gasp behind me.

“Sorry Jieun, even Mark doesn’t have the money for something like that,” Daehyun sounded shocked at the price.

“It’s okay, I’m just looking, I’m not buying anything,” I assured them.

Myungsoo asked me, “Which one did you like the most?”

“I liked the Taaffeite stone…” I said slowly. “But that doesn’t mean—”

“We’ll take the Taaffeite in ring form please,” Myungsoo firmly told the lady. He grabbed my hand and put it on the counter, where the lady quickly measured my fingers and walked to the back of the store.

“Myungsoo!” I tried resisting. “That stone was expensive!”

“It’s the second least expensive, it’s not that bad,” Myungsoo shrugged.

The lady quickly came back with a silver ring in a box. We all looked into the box to see the pink gem, now cut into a cute heart shape, settled on top of a silver band.

“Wooow…” we all breathed. It was breathtaking. Myungsoo paid for it and we left the mall, where a white limo was waiting for us. We put today’s purchases in the trunk and got into the limo. As Jungkook passed around drinks, I felt myself getting sleepy. When we got home, I changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth. The boys came into my room with the shopping bags. I gave them each a goodnight hug and thanked them for the shopping trip. After they left, I took off the pendant I was wearing and took the bracelet out of the box. I hung them each on my jewelry rack. I left the ring in its box. As I turned off the lamp, the moonlight shone into my room, making the pendant and bracelet sparkle in its light. I slowly drifted off to sleep…