The Welcome Party

She laid out all of her clothes on the bed, and it's apparent that she doesn't have many choices with her clothing at hand. Leaving in the middle of your party, and going partly hidden on an island somewhere near the Pacific Ocean where you're mostly in a bikini, won't provide you with things to wear when you're back in the city.

She badly needed to go shopping, which is unheard of from her previous lifestyle, for the latest fashion trend on her style used to appear magically in her wardrobe, sent from different clothing brands.

I think I've become poor, Ellise giggled thinking by herself.

The situation of no clothes to wear for your own welcome dinner party is a valid reason for any girl to panic, plus she only has thirty minutes to get dressed. She thought she was too hype and won't get any sleep, but her body had a different plan. When she hit the bed, she immediately drifted to dreamland that she didn't even remember when she fell asleep and woke up with not enough time to spare for choosing outfits that would make all the boys' heads turn, or probably just one boy.

She's still in the middle of contemplating what to wear when she hears a soft knock from the door, "Enter", she said.

A familiar face enters the door, giving Ellise a wide smile, she can't help but return it.

"Nina."

"Long time, no see," she said, making a face with the mess on her bed. "What is the situation here?"

"I have no clothes to wear," she answered in all seriousness that elicits a hearty laugh from the other girl.

"That's plenty of clothes to choose from, besides those boys have no idea of what welcome dinner is anyway, they will be welcoming you and eating dinner together, and that's basically it," Nina said chuckling. "So wear whatever."

"Easy for you to say," she said with a sour face.

"How about this dress?" she said holding an above-the-knee summer dress, in gingham in blue and white.

"But it's night! Besides I don't feel like wearing a dress, I feel like it would emphasize the fact that I'm the only girl in the team!"

"It's a bit cold on the game floor since all those computers need air conditioning to cool down, so wearing shorts is out, but you can wear leggings like this." she opened her arms and twirls around to show her oversize polo over shorts that are worn over leggings, or do they call it jeggings?

She does look cute in her outfit, but Ellise, keep her mouth shut and didn't say that wearing leggings, jeggings, or whatever that is; is the most cringey fashion style, which Asian girls seem to like a lot!

She picked up a Franz Ferdinand black band shirt and a clean pair of jeans from the heap of clothes on her bed before Nina could convince her to wear one of her summer dresses and wear leggings under it. She hastily puts on her chosen clothes, has her hair in half braid. Look at herself in the mirror, put on a tinted lip balm in Roseberry Red, spray perfume in front of herself and step in the mist, and take a mental note of getting a whole body mirror for her room.

"Let's go," she said, picking up her battered red converse to put on.

"You look good in everything," she said with admiration.

She blushed with the compliment.

---

DT heard a clamor near the end container room on the first floor when he got out of the shower. And when he looked down, he saw a bunch of members pushing each other on who would knock in front of Ellise's door.

"Hey, what are you all doing in front of a girl's room?" Before the group being asked can answer his question, the owner of the said door opened it, the same time that Grand pushed the youngest Seven to do the knocking.

When Ellise opened her bedroom door, Seven was pushed inside, while the others behind him dispersed and acted like they were not part of the situation.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nina asked.

"Exactly my question."

Ellise looked up when she heard the voice, and was rewarded with the view of DT - fresh from the shower, with a bath towel draped over his broad shoulder, and leisurely scrubbing his hair to dry. She swallowed the saliva and the words that got stuck in her throat, thinking, this will not be the last time she will see him in a white shirt and baggy shorts, newly showered!

Nina saw where her eyes wandered and gave her a nudge accompanied by a knowing smile. "Like what you are seeing?" teasingly, she said. "You'll have more of that from now on."

"Something to look forward to, I guess," she said, grinning. But at the back of her mind, she's thinking if coming back here is a good idea, after all, she doesn't know how long can she play being dispassionate of everything when something she wants is right in front of her eyes.

Nina's exuberant laughter pulled her out of her thoughts. She gave the bubbly young woman a quiet smile, but she was surprised when she suddenly leaned in and whispered; "I was really worried that your presence would interfere with DT again, but I guess Wan was right, I'm worrying over nothing."

"Huh?"

"Let's go! I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. I was so busy with my thesis research, I forgot to eat my lunch, but don't tell Wan." she said in a conspiratory manner. "By the way, during your off, can you spare me some of your time, I want to talk to you about the program you've helped me with two years ago? I'm thinking of applying it to my studies."

"Really, you found a way to make it work?" she said in surprise.

"You don't have your phone yet, right? I'll give you my number later, you can find me at the University."

"Ellise just smiled at everything and wondered how much does Wan told his wife about his situation because it sounds like Nina knows a lot.