Chapter Text
It was a cold winter day. Not cold enough for snowfall, but cold enough for Yeri to wonder why she lived in a place that made her feel taking a plunge into the fiery depths of hell for warmth.
Life was difficult enough as it was. Why did it have to be so damn cold?
Yeri questioned why she didn’t live somewhere with a more warmer climate. She heard Hawaii was nice this time of year, but no. Instead of enjoying a nice, cool refreshing drink with a cute little plastic umbrella in the glass, feeling warm sand in between her toes and eyeing the local hotties, she was stuck in the dorm in the middle of freaking winter.
The young brunette made a promise to herself that when she retired from the music industry, she would live somewhere where it was warm year round.
Winter could kiss her ass.
She absolutely hated it. Did the season come with any benefits other than providing Christmas presents and ammo for snow fights? No. The only other good thing it did was give more reasons to cuddle up with someone special (not that she actually had anyone to do that with BUT STILL!) Other than that, it freaking sucked.
The Squirtle went outside the dorm earlier in the day to retrieve a package she was eagerly expecting. It was something that she had been wanting for a long time and spent ages trying to find. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and jumping through multiple hoops to get her hands on it, but it was just one of those things in life that had to be done.
There was no way she was going to let it get ruined by the rain. Not after all the hard work she put into finding it.
As soon as Yeri took a step outside, she immediately regretted leaving the comfort and safety of her room.
The poor girl got slammed by the weather and inhaled about a liter of rain water as soon as she opened the door and made the trek to retrieve her package. But then again, she wasn’t exactly dressed appropriately for the season. Who goes outside wearing a thin t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops when it’s raining cats and dogs? (Not literally. That would have been a fate worse than death!) Somebody that didn’t apparently think the rain was that bad.
It wasn’t her fault. The weather app on her phone lied to her. The rain wasn’t supposed to arrive until way later in the day, but it decided to come early for some reason.
When Yeri went back inside the dorm, soaking wet from hair to toe, the girl looked like she jumped in a pool with her clothes on. Only crazy people did that.
Needless to say she was not in the mood to venture into the outside world after that encounter with mother nature. She was perfectly content staying indoors, playing on her phone and isolating herself from the rest of the world like a lot of people her age did. At least she’d be safe from the perils of nature that way. She was fine looking at the beauty of nature from behind a glass screen.
After the impromptu outside shower she took earlier, she changed into more comfortable clothes. The robe she had on was long (it reached her ankles), purple, fluffy, and had actual functional pockets. Was that a phone or machete in her pocket? You’d never know because the pockets were that deep.
In a world where women's clothing was full of small, and even fake, pockets, it was amazing.
Irene, being the resident lover of all things purple (except the eggplant emoji), had tried in the past to persuade her into giving up the robe with bribes of money and chocolate, but the younger girl wouldn’t budge. If it was any other item Yeri owned, she would have taken the money and chocolate without hesitation.
Actually that was a lie. She would have definitely tried to milk more out of the leader if she was honest. After all, why settle for less when you could get more with the right amount of persuasion?
But no. Even though Yeri loved money and chocolate, there was no way she was ever going to part with that robe. It would have to be pried from her cold, dead fingers first.
It was her favorite robe in the whole entire world. Why? No it wasn't because it was a family heirloom passed through the generations nor was it a gift from some secret lover (because who had time for that?)
The answer was simple really: it was because the robe officially endorsed by her all time favorite artist in the whole wide world, Ariana Grande.
If Irene wanted the robe that badly, she could order it herself. Hell Yeri would even provide the link, but there was no way she was going to part with her precious robe. It was so worth the outrageous shipping she had to pay in order to import it from the states and even came with a sample of Ari’s Moonlight perfume.
Did she really need it when she already had the biggest bottle of it available? Probably not. But she still wanted it regardless.
The girl was an Arianator through and through.
Since Yeri had nothing else to do for the day besides breathe, she figured she’d might as well satisfy her sweet tooth since she was not going back outside. The poor girl had had enough of the so called “great outdoors” for the rest of the season.
The personal sized tub of chocolate ice cream with brownie bits she bought from the grocery store the day before came in handy and sent her taste buds to a different existential plane with each spoonful she put in her mouth. It was a very delicious investment.
Good job, me.
Fleeting thoughts of owning an ice cream parlor passed through her mind. She could have all the ice cream she wanted if she owned her own business. Plus being a member of Red Velvet would always guarantee a crowd willing to buy said ice cream.
It seemed foolproof.
But the more Yeri thought about it, the more she realized that that endeavor would have required a lot of time, effort, and money. And honestly she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that kind of commitment in her life yet. It was easier and cheaper just to buy the ice cream and enjoy it in the dorm.
“One taught me love, one taught me patience,” the girl sung happily as she shoved another spoonful of cold, chocolatey, chewy bits of heaven in her mouth and smiled at the video playing on her phone, previous thoughts of owning her own business melting away with each chew. She was watching Thank You, Next for the millionth time and jamming out on the living room couch. Just because it was the middle of winter didn’t mean she couldn’t help herself to the deliciously cold treat. Some people would think she was crazy for doing that, and maybe she was, but Yeri didn’t care. She does what she wants.
Would her manager have approved of it? Probably not. But who cared about what he thought. The man still carried around a fanny pack. Who in their right mind in the twenty-first century still wore those ancient relics from a past full of examples of horrible fashion sense that were better off forgotten? Dinosaurs. That’s who.
There was something relaxing about eating food while enjoying a video made by someone you loved.
At least it was relaxing until the music suddenly stopped and she felt her earbuds being rudely yanked from her ears by some unknown force.
What the hell!
Yeri didn’t know who was responsible for the interruption, but she was prepared to give them a piece of her mind. How dare they interrupt her relaxation time. Wasn’t it universally known that when someone had their earbuds in their ears that they didn’t want to interact with anyone at all? It was like those “do not disturb” signs people put outside their rooms in hotels, except the earbuds she had were more expensive than a cheap plastic placard.
She put on the meanest mug she could muster in under a second and turned around, prepared to give whoever interrupted her hell, when her eyes met the playful ones of the second youngest in the group. The former maknae seemed unfazed, or rather, amused by Yeri's angry looking face that would make anyone else who saw it quake with fear.
“Hey” Joy said with a wink that probably would have made anyone on the receiving end’s heart to skip a beat. But not Yeri.
Okay maybe her heart rate sped up slightly when she laid her eyes on the other girl. Maybe. Just a little bit. But could anyone really blame her? Joy was absolutely gorgeous with her long legs, toned body, and her arms....don’t even get Yeri started on those perfectly sculpted works of art that she just wanted to touch and admire all day.
There was no way she was going to admit that out loud though.
Gayness aside, Yeri couldn’t help but feel confused as to why Joy was wearing such light clothing when it was freezing outside, but Joy was.....well Joy. She figured she didn’t have room to judge considering she walked outside hours ago dressed like she was going to the beach and got soaked to the bone as a result of her poor judgement. If Joy wanted to walk around in nothing more than a tank top and shorts when it was cold as hell, that was her prerogative.
But just because the girl in front of Yeri was drop dead gorgeous didn’t automatically excuse her from the grave crime she committed. Why the hell did Joy have to talk to her right when she was the obviously in the middle of doing something important? If the dorm spontaneously caught on fire or the zombie apocalypse suddenly started, then it’d be a different story, but it didn’t seem like neither was happening.
“Do you mind? I’m in the middle of doing something here.” Yeri wasn’t shy when it came to voicing her mind. If someone was bothering her, she’d let them know straight off the bat. Was that considered an ideal trait for an idol? Probably not. But she wasn’t on stage or TV so there was no use for her to put on her “nice idol” mask in her home.
The devil’s eyes lit up in amusement and her lips curled into a smirk that Yeri felt like smacking off her face. She was going to say something stupid. Call it a sixth sense if you will, but Yeri had spent enough years around the girl to know when she was going to say something gross.
“Can I be that ‘something?’” Joy even wiggled her eyebrows suggestively which made it even more gross.
Yeri narrowed her eyes and gave Joy the meanest and most judgemental look she could make before roughly grabbing her earbuds back. She should have invested into those stupid AirPods that everyone else and their grandmother had even if they did look tacky. If she had those, it would have been more difficult for Joy to pull off the same stunt. “Can you leave and bother someone else?”
“Mmmm,” Joy groaned as she licked her lips unnecessarily. “I love it when you look at me like you’re going to chokeslam me into the ground.”
Sometimes Joy said things that made Yeri do a double take and question if her hearing was going out of whack or if the older girl really said what she said.
Yeri wondered if she really meant her words or if she was just screwing with her.
The girl was a mystery, but if there was one thing Yeri knew for sure, it was that Joy was flirty.
It was a blessing and a curse simultaneously.
“I’m going to start ignoring you now,” Yeri stated with an annoyed tone as she put one earbud back in an ear and plugged it into the headphone jack of her phone. Just a few more steps and she could drown out the world and all its distractions yet again, including her fellow Satan. “Now if you’ll excuse m—”
“How much do you love Ari?” Joy asked suddenly, cutting Yeri off and taking the younger girl by surprise.
Now Yeri was used to Joy’s random nature. The girl asked the randomest questions out of the blue at the randomest times. Last week she asked Yeri if she would rather have ears on her elbows or have ears where her eyes were right before bed. A few days after, she asked Yeri what size underwear she wore when they were eating breakfast. (Wendy spat out the orange juice she was drinking as soon as Joy asked that question. It got all over the table which, although funny, was gross.)
The girl was unpredictable.
She couldn’t figure out why Joy was like this, but then again, that was like asking why the sky was blue or why grass was green. Joy was just Joy. It was simple as that.
But this question in particular was different from the others. It didn't make Yeri shake her head in disappointment, cringe in disgust, or wonder if the older girl finally lost what was left of her sanity. It was a question that was actually relevant to her interests. As soon as Joy said those words, it was like a switch was flipped inside of Yeri. Her usually sleepy self suddenly jolted awake and she felt energized at the mere mention of the pop star's name.
The dormant fangirl in her awakened.
Everyone knew that once you awoke the fangirl in someone, there was no way of stopping it. Nothing. Except maybe bumping into their idol in real life, but that chances of getting struck by lightning was greater than that.
“Only with every fiber of my being!” yelled Yeri excitedly as she jumped off the couch, spilling her tub of ice cream on the floor in the process and not bothering to pick it up. Irene would probably have a cow later and yell about the mess and go on an hour long rant about how she's the only one that does anything around the dorm, but that was not her priority. Yeri felt compelled to show Joy just how much she loved her queen.
“Look at my shirt!” She dramatically took off her robe and threw it behind her like how anime characters did, showing off her grey short sleeved t-shirt with an anime version of Ariana standing, hands on her hips, looking fierce while firing missiles from her boobs.
Joy stared blankly at the cartoony image on Yeri’s chest for a moment before looking back up at her, confusion evident in her face. “Why is she shooting missiles from her boobs?”
“I think the real question you should be asking is why aren’t we capable of shooting missiles from our boobs?” Yeri retorted as she made air circles around her chest with her hands. She even added her best impression of an explosion to emphasize her point.
It was a valid question.
“Just imagine how much would get accomplished if women had their own boob missiles,” Yeri as she continued her speech, thinking of all the potential benefits of possessing weapons of mass destruction within one's chest. “Someone in the way? Shoot a boob missile. Late for work? Shoot a boob missile. Need to send a message quickly? Shoot a boob missile. Bored? Shoot a boob missile.”
The creators of a certain parody series of spy movies were on the right track when they created evil robots that shot bullets from their boobs at the main character. They just needed to take it a step further and add something with more firepower.
"Hmmmmm," the elder girl hummed in thought, taking a few moments to ponder the question and rub her chin in thought before finally nodding and agreeing. “You know what...you’re right.”
Yeri did a hair flip. She loved it whenever someone acknowledged her genius which didn’t happen as often as it should have. “When am I not?”
But she didn’t stop there. No. She needed to show more proof.
With swift yet precise movements, the Arianator whipped out her phone from the front pocket of her sweatpants and shoved it into a very surprised Joy’s face, showing off her lockscreen of the pop star. “Look at my phone!” She exclaimed as she unlocked the phone, tapped on the photos icon, and showed Joy her multiple folders which had thousands of pictures of Ariana organized by the different eras from her days as a hit TV show star to the current era.
Unlike in Korean pop fan culture, there were no fan sites in America that traveled the world following Ariana as she did Ariana things, taking pictures while doing so. If someone even attempted that, they’d probably get arrested and have a restraining order placed on them. Due to this, Yeri had to scour the treacherous seas of the internet for all the pictures she could find. Not that she minded. It was like a scavenger hunt.
And Yeri always played to win.
Before Joy had a chance to react, the maknae put her phone away and ran to her room faster than a speeding bullet and brought out a cardboard box that was larger than herself. The sight was pretty funny; seeing a small girl like Yeri run out with a box bigger than her, awkwardly trying to keep her balance and not trip in the process, but she didn’t care. She ripped the box open like a kid opening up their presents on Christmas morning, throwing the stray pieces of ripped cardboard to the side and pulled out Ariana Grande herself.
Well it wasn’t really the singer herself. Ordering people online was illegal, but it was the next best thing.
"Look at my cardboard cut out!”
"Whoa." Joy stood in awe, mouth agape as she stepped forward and reached her hand out to touch the cut out, but was roughly swatted away by Yeri’s hand. “No touchie,” she chastised while wagging a finger disapprovingly to emphasize her point. She paid good money for that cutout. There was no way she was going to let Joy taint it with her grubby little fingers (even if they were pretty.)
Yeri couldn’t blame her though. The cardboard cutout was not only beautiful, but also very well made. It wasn’t one of those cheap ones that were thinner than paper that bent and ripped easily. It was actually very sturdy and well made.
She still wasn’t sure where she was going to put it in her room since it was already full, but that was a problem for another day. For now, it was going to stand right next to her bed so it could be the first thing she saw every morning and be the last thing she saw before going to bed at night.
If only she could meet the real deal....that would make her life complete.
Even though the weather outside was less than desirable, she was thankful her package didn’t get destroyed. Cardboard and water didn’t mix well.
She picked up the cardboard cutout, ran back to her room again, and returned with an armful of DVDs and laid them all out on the couch. She had every single episode of the show that Ariana Grande starred on in her younger years, Victorious, along with the special crossover episodes it had with its sister show, iCarly. The DVDs were directly imported from the United States.
The show itself was cancelled long ago and, as a result, the DVDs were no longer in print. Due to this, Yeri had to cough up some serious money to get her hands on the merchandise, but it was so worth it in her opinion. “Look at my DVDs!”
Joy whistled as she walked closer to the couch to look at the numerous DVD cases. “That’s a lot of DVD’s.”
"It's only the entire television series that made me fall in love with Ariana Grande in the first place." Yeri couldn’t help but smile as the warm feelings of nostalgia hit her. She remembered when she first saw her idol. It happened by chance; she was channel surfing and happened to catch a snippet of an episode where Ariana’s character, Cat, was singing with another person on the show.
Yeri thought she had the voice of a goddess. She had been a fan ever since then and kept herself up to date on Ariana Grande’s career by following all her social media accounts and the accounts of other Arianators on the internet for the latest news.
She shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. Yeri didn't have the luxury of basking in nostalgia. Not when she still had a point to make. "But wait...that's not all!"
"There's more?!"
"Of course! I'm a die hard fan!" Yeri boasted as placed her hands behind her back and swiftly pulled out a bra from under her shirt and held it in front of Joy’s face, taking the taller girl by surprise (again.) “Look at my bra!”
“What—“
The bra was one that the singer endorsed and helped design herself. It was pink and had a little design of the singer’s brown puppy on the cups. But not only that, it was limited edition. Only 5,000 existed in the entire world. And Yeri just so happened to be wearing one of the ten that she owned.
Yeri may have had to fight someone at the mall for some of them, but she wore the perfect disguise that day so nobody could try to sue her or anything.
“Are those little puppy heads on the design? Oh my god!” squealed Joy. “I love it! Can I touch it?!”
Yeri once again smacked Joy's hand away for attempting to touch a precious work of art. "No touchie."
"Oh come on! It’s just a bra!"
“A limited edition bra,” corrected Yeri as she expertly put it back on without any problems.
A knowing grin made its way onto Yeri’s face as she thought about what she was going to show Joy next. It was going to blow her away for sure.
All she needed to do was show it off.
She suddenly pulled her bottom lip down with both hands, exposing the soft pink flesh underneath where there, written in dark bold letters was the word “Ari” along with a cute little pink heart next to it. “Look at my lip!” she beamed with pride.
Joy gasped for the thousandth time that day and didn’t say a word. She didn’t need to. The way her eyes widened to the size of saucers spoke volumes.
Yeri couldn’t help but giggle at Joy’s facial expression. How she wished she could take a snapshot of it on her phone and post it on their shared Instagram page. Joy had looked surprised earlier when Yeri brought everything else out, but the face she made when she saw the tattoo took the cake. It was a mixture of disbelief, awe, and confusion.
“When did you get that tattoo??”
Yeri let go of her lip, allowing it to return to its normal position before giving a shrug. “I honestly don’t remember but I have no regrets.”
She was telling the truth. The young girl discovered the tattoo one morning after a night out. When she woke up with pain in her mouth, she was very surprised to see a tattoo on her lip. While Yeri didn’t plan on getting anything permanently etched onto her skin so soon (especially there of all places), she had to give props to her drunk self for not getting the tattoo anywhere else like on her forehead or chest. At least the location of that tattoo was more discreet compared to where it could have been placed. If the internet had taught her anything, it was that it could’ve been much, much worse.
“Wow. That’s.....actually pretty badass.”
“Yes, yes. I know I’m amazing,” Yeri beamed. She felt proud. Not everyone could say that they had their favorite idol’s name tattooed on themselves. “I hope that answered your question. Ariana Grande is the love of my life and nothing will ever change that.”
“Do you have a tattoo that says ‘Japanese BBQ’ too?”
Yeri stood silent. It would be a lie if she said the thought didn’t cross her mind. She even wrote it on her hand a few days before with a black marker for practice. It looked ugly, but she wasn’t exactly known for her amazing penmanship skills so it was more her fault than anything else.
Why did kanji have to be so hard?
Getting such a large tattoo like that on her hand wasn’t exactly her style. That and if she did, she’d never hear the end of it from her manager. She didn’t need to listen to an hour long lecture about how to be a “proper” idol. Again.
Yeri’s silence must have been taken as confirmation because Joy’s eyes widened and she suddenly gasped dramatically, putting a hand over her mouth while doing so. “Oh my god! You did!”
“No!”
“Where is it?” Joy questioned as she suddenly grabbed Yeri’s hands and inspected them closely. When she saw that there was nothing there, she looked Yeri up and down which, honestly, made the younger girl feel slightly self conscious.
Joy looked Yeri straight in the eye. “Don’t tell me you got it....”
The younger devil’s face heated up as she yanked her hands back, all the possibilities of where Joy could been referring to flew through her mind. “No!”
“You sure you didn’t get it tattooed on your butt?” she continued to probe. “Don’t lie to me.”
“Why would I do that!”
“Well you did get a tattoo on your lip....”
“That doesn’t mean I’m automatically going to get tattoos everywhere you know!”
“If you really don’t have it then....prove it” challenged Joy with a smirk. “It shouldn’t be a big deal if you don’t have anything to hide right?”
As much as it hurt Yeri to admit, even if it wasn’t done verbally, Joy was right. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.
What Joy was asking her to do was crossing the line.
“I am not showing you my ass, you perv,” Yeri declared as she walked backwards from the devil, keeping an eye on the other girl for any sudden movements while holding onto her pajama bottoms defensively. Knowing Joy she probably would have attempted to pants her just to be a jerk.
Joy cackled. “You have an ass?”
A fuzzy slipper zoomed past Joy’s face, barely missing its target, before falling unceremoniously onto the floor.
Yeri bit the inside of her cheek, annoyed that she missed hitting the cause of most of her headaches in life. There was a reason why she didn’t play sports and just stuck to her current profession.
Joy burst into laughter and fell back on the couch, holding her sides. ”God you’re freaking hilarious! You had a perfect shot too!”
“Shut up,” grumbled Yeri as she went to retrieve her slipper and put it back on. “Or I’ll shave your eyebrows off while you’re asleep.”
“Go ahead. I can always draw them back on if need be.”
“Why do I even put up with you?”
“Because you love me〜!” Joy responded in a sickeningly sweet tone that made Yeri feel things she didn’t want to particularly feel at that moment. ”Not gonna lie though. After all that, I thought you were going to pull out a jar full of her toenail clippings, spit, or something weird like that.”
Yeri cringed. And felt like slapping Joy upside the head for even spouting such nonsense. “Why would you even think that?”
The taller girl raised her hands up in defense. “I’m just saying.”
“Let’s get it straight,” Yeri said as she pointed a accusatory finger in Joy’s face. “The people who buy things like that aren’t fans. They’re stalkers. Plain and simple. The lowest of the low. The scum of the earth.” She paused, trying to think of other insults to hurl in order to get her point across. “They’re trash. And if I ever see one, you bet your sweet ass that I’m going to fight them.”
“You only went to that self defense class for a month,” Joy scoffed as she rolled her eyes. Yeri couldn’t help but feel a little offended. Just because she was small didn’t mean that she couldn’t kick ass if she needed to. Big things came in small packages.
Yeri wasn’t expecting Joy to remember something like that since the actress was busy filming her drama at that time, but she was not going to let her insult her training even if it was only for a month.
The amateur street fighter gave a few exaggerated punches in the air, sound effects and all, before stopping to pose dramatically. “I learned a lot of life changing techniques in that short amount of time, thank you very much.”
Joy was not impressed. “You got kicked out for playing around with the weapons and gave yourself a black eye.”
Joy must have been stalking her or something because there was no way she could have known about that....unless Irene told her. Yeri specifically told the leader not to say anything to Joy and yet somehow, she knew about it.
Yeri made a mental note to complain to Irene about it later.
“Look the point is those people aren’t fans and don’t deserve to be labeled as such because they’re disgusting and need to be wiped off the face of the earth.”
She began to pick up her DVDs, gathering them and putting them in a neat pile to take back to her room. They needed to be put away safely where they belonged. They were collector’s items after all. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to important business.”
“Actually there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Yeri raised her hand, signaling Joy to stop talking. “No.” She already knew where this was going. It was something that happened hundreds of times before.
“Meanie,” Joy pouted. “I didn’t even say anything yet.”
“I’m stopping you before you have a chance to because I know it’s going to be a waste of time,” Yeri explained as she lowered her hand to count the DVD cases, making sure she collected all the ones she brought out to show. It wouldn’t do to leave them out in the open, especially when there were some members that walked around without paying attention to where they were going. The last thing Yeri needed in her life was to have someone sit on her DVDs and crack them in half. “If you wanna bother someone that badly, go bother Wendy or Seulgi.”
“I think you’ll find what I have to say to be very interesting,” Joy teased, making sure to emphasize a certain word that definitely didn’t go unnoticed by Yeri.
Yeri couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the statement. “Define ‘interesting.’”
Maybe Joy had dirt on someone and wanted to share the gossip with her. Or maybe she wanted to show her some stupid video she came across on YouTube. Then there was the very likely possibility that whatever she had to say was nothing but bull.
It was up to chance really.
I guess it couldn’t hurt to hear what she has to say, thought Yeri to herself. If it was something stupid or boring, she could just walk out of the room and spend the rest of her time doing something more productive like continue to stream Thank You, Next.
“What if I said....I had a way to get you to see her.”
Yeri snorted. Did Joy really think she was that gullible? She wasn’t born yesterday. If her own company had yet to get her in contact with the pop star, there was no way Joy was telling the truth.“You’re lying.”
“No I’m not.”
Yeri set the DVDs down on a nearby table before looking closely into Joy’s eyes as she got closer to her. “So you’re telling the truth? You can help me see her?”
“Yes,” Joy responded cooly. The younger girl studied Joy’s face to see if she was lying. The older girl’s lip would twitch slightly whenever she lied.
What Yeri saw shocked her. Joy’s lip didn’t move.
She was telling the truth.
Wow.
That was unexpected.
If Joy was really telling the truth then.... maybe Yeri would finally be able to fulfill her lifelong dream of meeting her idol face-to-face! They both were in the music business, but even so, it was still difficult to get in contact with someone of her status. She was one of the most sought out celebrities in the world after all who had broken many records in the music industry.
What Yeri would give to meet her. She’d sell her left lung if she had to. Okay maybe not her lung since that would most likely adversely affect her singing abilities which wouldn’t be good since she was a singer. Lungs were pretty crucial to the whole singing thing. Her kidney would be a better candidate. People could live with one kidney.
But nothing in life came free except those free cheap plastic bottles and pens people gave out at events to advertise their business or organization.
“What do you want?” There was no reason to beat around the bush. Everything in life came with a price. Joy was no exception. She was Satan herself after all.
The taller girl gasped dramatically, placing a hand on her chest as if she was offended by Yeri saying such a thing. “What kind of person do you think I am?”
Yeri rolled her eyes at Joy’s lame attempt at pretending to be shocked. She knew exactly what Yeri was referring to. “Shut up and just tell me what you want.”
“Wellllll,” Joy drawled as she got up from the couch and walked towards Yeri, getting way closer than what was necessary. “Since you’re offering...” she trailed off while lifting up Yeri’s chin with a finger.
Yeri huffed as she calmly grabbed Joy’s hand with her own and moved it out of the way. She was starting to get impatient. All she wanted to do was pay whatever price she needed to pay to see her idol and move on with her life, but Joy seemed like she wanted to drag it out. “Look are you going to tell me what you want or what?”
Joy clicked her tongue. “So impatient. Jeez. It’s not much.”
Yeri found that hard to believe.
“What? You want money?” she asked as she pulled out her phone, debating on whether she should throw out an offer or let Joy name her own price. It’d probably be better for her wallet if she did the latter so she settled on doing that. “How much do you want? I can have it transferred to your bank account right now.”
The devil laughed as she shook her head, hair swaying majestically like those models do in those shampoo commercials. “I don’t want money.”
Was the world ending? Did Joy say she didn’t want money? Was this even her? Maybe the real Joy got kidnapped and was replaced with a really convincing android instead. If that was the case, whoever programmed it got how annoying Joy could be down to a tee.
“Okaaaaay. What do you want then?” Yeri figured she’d might as well just flat out ask. There was no reason to waste any more time. The sooner she got the whole thing over with, the sooner she could leave and scream about finally having a chance to meet her idol on her secret stan account. “You better not say a puppy because that is so not happ—”
“A kiss.”