This "ending" is definitely no option

Chapter 26 - getting ready for The Park Festival


Over the last 4 years, they had been at a few of the UK festivals. Initially, they would get the less desirable slots, late morning, and early afternoon. Last year, they got much better times, early evening: the later evening slots were for the REALLY well known bands, bands who had been around maybe 10 or 20 years. CJDL have a few years to go before they got there! So today was a bit like taking a big step back in time: their slot was at 1:30pm! But they couldn't REALLY complain, it was better than not performing at all.

Callum had gone there quite early in the morning, with a couple of the tech guys from JY, to make sure that all of CJDL's kit was there and ready... so the borrowed piano and drums, and the girls guitars and pedals. The venue was providing the guitar amps and, of course, the PA.

Callum also had (but kept) the moulds for the girl's in-ear monitors, although he had confirmed that they connected up ok with the in-ear monitor receivers. He'd also confirmed that there would be 4 head mics, one each for the 4 girls, plus 4 hand-held mics for when Jelly Fish joined them. One of the JY guys had the ear moulds for the Jelly Fish girls, and had checked them out.

With a 1:30 slot, they needed to be on site at least an hour (or two) beforehand, and ready at the stage when the previous band came off, which was at 1:00.

Mid morning, Brian received a text and an email: the text was from Callum, confirming everything was ready for them; the email was from Hon Su to say first of all that their over-dubbed version of 'roller-skates' had been released, and second, could they do a live TV interview that evening?

"What time?" asked Dianne.

"7pm, so we'd need to be there well before that" replied Brian.

"We'll miss out seeing Jelly Fish perform, I really wanted to see them!" complained Jenny, "Must we?"

"I absolutely hear what you're saying Jenny," replied her dad, "but I think that, if you'd really like to get yourselves known here, doing the show tonight is essential. Performing with Jelly Fish the other night seems to have been picked up by the press here, and with your combined song now released, plus the fact that you're performing today, you're a hot topic, so let's use it! Besides, I have a feeling you'll be able to see Jelly Fish perform again before we go back home."

The girls were a bit disappointed at not being able to see Jelly Fish, but understood the importance of going on TV to promote themselves.

"Is it just talking, or will we need to perform too?" asked Carol.

"No performance this time, just chatting."

----

They got to the festival site before noon, giving themselves plenty of time to get ready. There were several large 'trailers', with plenty of space for all of them - they were in #5.

Whilst they wouldn't be 'dressing up' as such today - so just wearing some t-shirts they'd had printed, with jeans and trainers, they still needed to do their makeup and hair: JY had organised a makeup lady to be there for them. In addition, they had organised some lunch for them, which arrived soon after they did.

"Hey, guys, good to see you," said Callum, as he walked in to the trailer. "So, today, I'll be with the lady who's doing the mixing desk: she speaks good English, so I don't see any real issues, but I'll be the voice in your ears today."

Whilst Carol was happy to hear that Callum would be keeping an eye (or an ear?) on their sound, it did mean that he wouldn't be at the side of the stage, as their 'go-to guy', like he normally was.

"They're being pretty strict on the timings, so the previous band will be off-stage moments after 1 o'clock. So, about then, I'll be here with one of the stage crew, to fit you all up with your mics and in-ears. Everything on the stage is on wheels, so they'll take a matter of maybe 5 minutes to get the old kit out the way for us... then I'll go over to the desk, you guys can go onto the stage, and we can doing a sound check. Dianne, your drums are all set up, on a small 'stage on wheels', so that will take moments to get into place. Jenny, your piano is all ready and on the stage at the back, so that won't be a problem, and the guitar stacks are being used by loads of bands, and are already side stage, just need to be wheeled into place... so you'll just need to plug your guitars in... and then we can do the sound check. I've watched them do the change-over a couple of times, and they seem to know what they're doing, so I don't think we'll have any problems."

"Thanks, Callum, I'm so glad you're here with us! Today feels different from when we've done festivals in England. Not sure what it is... maybe the lack of English voices, and a lack of people we know and trust? It's odd, I'm just not feeling quite as relaxed as I normally am." said Carol.

"Yeah, know where you're coming from," replied Linda, "I'm feeling the same. But I'm sure we'll be ok!"

All the time they were doing this, Paige was getting more video. With Callum busy elsewhere, Mike, Dianne's boyfriend, was helping Paige where needed. Callum had already made sure that the batteries and memory cards for the camera were all ready, but Mike would still need to carefully log and store the cards as they got used, and make sure the batteries were kept topped up.

They had a bit of spare time, so they decided to practice 'that acapella song': they had actually spent some time the previous day working on the different parts, then trying to sing it all together, and whilst it was slowly coming together, they'd not actually managed to sing it through completely without any mistakes yet. Today was marginally better, and they sang it through three times, but they still didn't quite get it quite right.

"Don't worry," said Jenny's mum, "It's getting better, and you'll get there in the end. And when you do, I can see that it's gonna be quite an amazing song!"

Having had a bit of lunch, it was time to get dressed, and their makeup done: another great time for Paige to video them, and ask them all a few questions.

I really appreciate your works, Sparky. You provide a kind of story that no one else does. As an aside, do you have experience in the music industry?

No, but I'm involved in tech and broadcast radio, so I know the sort of tech used for recording and on stage....

Chapter 27 - on stage at The Park Festival


They could hear the cheering as the previous band left the stage, and a few minutes later, they were getting their mics and earpieces 'installed'.

"Guitars?... ok. Jenny, got your USB's in case you need to re-program the keyboard? Dianne, drum-sticks? Headsets comfortable? Don't forget to put your ears in once you're on stage. I'll leave you with Dae-jung, he'll take you to the stage. Ok, let's do this: ladies... have fun!" said Callum, as he left to go over to where the mixing system was: it would take him a few minutes to get there.

The girls were suitably impressed when they got on to the stage: as promised, all they kit was in place already, and a couple of stage crew were ready to give Linda and Carol their guitar leads. As they walked to their respective places, to check all the tech out, they put their ear-moulds into their ears.

"Can you all hear me ok?" asked Callum over the talkback to them.

"Jenny here, yes..."

"Go for Linda!"

"Dianne here too..."

A pause. "Carol, you there?" No reply.

"Hey, Carol, can't you hear Callum?" Jenny called over.

"Nope...."

"Callum, Carol can't hear you" said Jenny.

Callum spoke to Dae-jung, who came over to Carol. "In-ear's not working?" he asked.

"No, it's dead." replied Carol.

"Ok, let's take a look..... ah easy one, it got turned off somehow! Try it now..."

"Callum... talk to me."

"Hello Carol, you there now?" asked Callum.

"Loud and clear, thanks to Dae-jung!"

"Ok, Linda, let's get your levels set up first...". This was the sort of thing they would do hours before a normal gig, but they didn't have that luxury today: they had a mere 30 minutes to change from one band to the next, and had to do this in front of the changing crowd (of course, the main PA itself wasn't on, so it wasn't too obvious what they were doing). While Linda and Carol sorted out their local guitar amp levels, and Callum then set up the mixer levels for the guitars, Jenny and Dianne were checking out their instruments: the good news for both of them was that the setups they had done yesterday were still there, so they had little to do.

"Ok, let's check your mic levels... Jenny, want to start?"...

Apart from Carol's receiver not being on, the sound check went well, and once more, Paige was there, on the stage, videoing them doing their setups. For Paige, today was another busy one, but she didn't mind, as she knew that once today was over, things would get a bit quieter for her as the girls did their dance training. She and Callum had already looked at some of the footage she'd got, and it was looking pretty good: there should be no problems getting a good program - or even several programs - out of it.

As they went off the stage, they saw Ahnjong, Min Jee, Taeyang and Yun Hee: they had been in a different trailer to get ready, and were now doing their sound check with Callum, which was a lot simpler, with just 4 mics!

So, their first song would be sung to a backing track, which would allow them to just walk onto the stage and sing. Then after the first song, they would be playing 'properly'. 'Roller-skates' would be their encore, and that's when Jelly Fish would join them. 

Dae-jung was effectively doing for them what Callum would normally do: he was with them as they waited to go on stage, and if they had any problems, then he would be their 'go-to man', and he would be the one to get things sorted out. Luckily he seemed to be a pretty pleasant guy, and his English was very acceptable.

Yu-Eye came over to them. "Hey, what you doing here?" asked Linda.

"You think I'm going to miss seeing you guys play live? Besides, they've asked me to introduce you!" she replied. In a sea of so many unknown faces, it was good to have a few they recognised.

Jenny was with Ben: they all knew the calming effect Ben had on Jenny... he only needed to be there, and Jenny felt so much better. And he'd been there for her every time since the 'Birmingham meltdown', which meant Jenny was in a good place.

By comparison, Carol was still feeing a bit stressed by the unfamiliarity of the place and the people... Things were different, albeit not in big ways, but she wasn't as relaxed as normal.

"Ok" said Dae-jung, "You guys ready to go on?"

"Oh, shit, I still have my retainers in!" said Carol. She quickly reached in to her mouth, and took them out, and then wondered what to do with them.

"Want me to look after them?" asked Callum, who had both heard Carol, and watched with joy as she had removed her retainers in a relatively public place. Not that Carol knew - but of course we all know - that Ben has quite a thing for braces. Whilst a pair of saliva-covered retainers might seem a bit disgusting for many, Ben got some rather nice feelings as Carol put the still-wet retainers into his out-stretched hand.

"Thanks!"

The girls all put in their ear-moulds, and checked their headset mics were ok.

"Good afternoon everyone" said Yu-Eye to the crowd from the middle of the stage. She spoke in both English and Korean. "I'm Yu-Eye, and it's my pleasure to introduce a band that I only met for the first time this week, but already love their music. You saw them perform with Jelly Fish on TV on Thursday, today they are here to play their own music. Please welcome to the stage the four ladies who are CJDL!".

As the crowd cheered loudly, the four girls walked onto the stage, Paige followed a bit behind, and ended up to the side of them, but right at the front of the stage, so she could get some good shots of them.

"Hi, I'm Carol..."

"Yay! I'm Jenny!"

"Hey there, I'm Dianne..."

"And I'm Linda, and together...."

"We are CJDL!!!". The four of them were in a line, and they each had a t-shirt with their initial on it, so the four of them together spelt out the band's name. The crowd cheered again, and a moment later their backing track started, and the girls started singing. Once they had started their set, their stress levels started to reduce a bit.

"Thank you.... thank you!" said Jenny to the crowd as they applauded at the end of the song. "So that was our first number one hit in England, over 2 years ago. Since then, our music has changed a bit, so I hope you like it.... oh, and from here on, we're playing live!".

They walked over to their instruments: Linda and Carol quickly strummed their guitars once to confirm they were still ok. Jenny pressed a couple of the keys on her keyboard. Finally, Dianne hit the bass drum three times, and they all started to play, exactly in time.

They were at the end of their third song when Carol spotted Paige had gone off the stage: she guessed she needed to change the camera batteries and cards again. They were just a couple of bars into their 4th song when Carol spotted Paige, apparently arguing with a security guard over to the side: it looked like he wasn't letting her come back on the stage. Paige was waving her 'stage access' security pass at him, but he seemed to be ignoring it. Noone else seemed to be wanting to help her, and the rest of 'the CJDL team' were actually on the other side of the stage. Carol's already high stress levels suddenly stepped up quite a bit.

Carol stopped playing, took her guitar off, and walked over to Paige and the security guy, the rest of the band stopping a few moments later.

"What's the problem?" asked Carol rather loudly.

"He's not letting me back on stage!" replied Paige.

Carol turned to the security guy - he was quite young, so probably a bit inexperienced - and shouted at him "She's f***ing allowed on stage!", and pointed at Paige's pass. Clearly he didn't understand English, so did nothing. "Someone here speak English?" screamed Carol. "Anyone? Dae-jung?"

One of the other stage crew rushed over. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

"Yes, she's part of the band, so she comes onto the stage with me... and he... just get him OFF MY STAGE!!!" screamed Carol, and pointing at Paige's stage pass. Callum had quickly turned Carol's mic down, so luckily the crowd heard almost nothing of what was happening. The stage crew guy looked quickly at Paige's pass: "Yes, you're fine, go on stage!", and quickly took the security guy away from the situation.

"You ok there, Carol?" asked Callum in her ear.

"Yeah, just give me a second!". Carol's stress levels had just gone WAY up! She took a couple of deep breaths, then walked back on stage. Linda had put her guitar down, and went over to her, and put her arms around her. She'd heard everything through her in-ear monitors, and realised that she needed to help Carol quickly calm down. "Come on, let's get playing again, that will help you calm down...". Carol picked up her guitar again, and they started to play again: yes, playing quickly calmed her down again.

Finally, 25 minutes into their 30 minute set, they stopped playing, and walked off stage. Stage crew passed them towels and bottles of water. The crowd was cheering, and were calling for them to do another song.

"Wow, it's so hot out there!" said Dianne, wiping herself off with the towel. She went over to Carol... "feeling ok now?" she asked.

"Yeah, it just p*ssed me off, it shouldn't have happened! Wouldn't have happened back in England!".

Paige was still out on the stage, taking the opportunity to film the crowd, and zoom in on the tech teams in the middle of the crowd that were running the PA, and was even able to see Callum. She knew that the four girls would be back on stage again to do their encore any moment, so went further out onto the stage, pointing her camera over to where the girls were, ready for when they came out again.

"Ok, we all ready?" asked Jenny. She could see that the four girls from Jelly Fish were also there, ready to join them shortly. They walked out onto the stage once more, all four of them walking to the front. It goes without saying that the crowd were cheering.

"Thank you everyone!" said Linda, "In fact, we'd like to thank a few people.... first of all, a BIG thank you to all of the stage crew, and that includes the guys out there who run the PA, do the lights, and run the awesome videos you've been seeing... without them, we couldn't be here... so come on, let's give them a big cheer!" The crowd did as asked.

"I think we also need to thank JY Entertainment, for bringing us over here, and letting us perform today!" added Carol. Another, smaller, cheer.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I'd like to thank God, he's given us a great day, and we're all in such a LOVELY place, here in the park!" said Jenny.

"And finally, we'd like to thank all of YOU, our fans, for being here today and supporting us!" added Dianne, and the four of them all bowed to the crowd in thanks. Yes, they had learned that showing a bit of respect in Korea always went down well. They then went back to their instruments.

"So, we're going to play you one more song," said Jenny, "One I'm sure you'll recognise, although this is the original version, and it's slightly different from the one you're used to... 'Sexy Yellow Roller-Skates'!", and they went straight into the song, as the crowd cheered.

They got to the end of the first verse of the song, and as they went into the chorus, four girls, each wearing what is probably best described as 'cheer leader outfits', along with yellow roller-skates, skated out and onto the front of the stage, and started to sing. It took the crowd just a moment to realise who they were: Jelly Fish! As they started to sing, the crowd went wild! As the four girls from Jelly Fish sang, they skated around on the stage, just as they had rehearsed the day before: the crowd loved it!

As the song ended, the four CJDL girls joined Jelly Fish at the front of the stage.

"Jelly Fish everybody...." said Jenny, confirming who they are.

"And put your hands together for CJDL!" said Min Jee in both English and Korean.

All eight of them held hands, bowed to the crowd, then turned and walked off the stage: they were all smiling!

Chapter 29 - Pictures


It's Sunday morning.

Last night, they all got back to the apartments within about 30 minutes of each other. They were all quite tired (the girls I mean, it had been a busy Saturday for them!), and after chatting for a bit, they all went to bed, leaving Callum and Paige who sat together chatting for a while.

Carol slept amazingly well, and got up a bit earlier than the others. After getting dressed, she went through to the Jelly Fish apartment, where she found Taeyang sketching again: Taeyang seemed to be a bit of an early starter, compared to the other 3 girls. After getting a coffee, Carol went over to see what Taeyang was drawing: it was a landscape.

"Hey, done any other sketches recently?" asked Carol.

"Yeah, I did a couple while we watched you play yesterday..." replied Taeyang. She closed the sketch pad, then re-opened it at an earlier page.

"Hey, that's Jenny, at the piano, it's really good!" said Carol taking a look. Taeyang went to the next page. "Ah, Paige on the drums. I like the sweat! Very realistic!"

"Yeah, that was about halfway through your set. Hey, can I do one of you?"

"Sure, what do you want me to do?"

"Just sit down there, and drink your coffee!"

"Oh, that's easy, I'm well practised at coffee drinking!" said Carol, sitting down. "So, what you going to do with all these drawings?"

"Just keep them, I guess..."

"You could do something good with them..."

"What do you mean?"

"Sign them, add a letter of authenticity, and sell them for a charity. It would give Jelly Fish some VERY good PR!"

"You think so?"

"Look, Taeyang, you guys have just made number 1, you're big now, like us. Fans and collectors will pay stupid amounts for anything of yours. Now make them one-offs, created by a band member... see where I'm going? We're talking substantial amounts."

"What about FY, won't they mind?"

"Ah yes, I forgot: you signed a contract that lets them own your souls as well as your first-born, didn't you!" replied Carol, starting to giggle, revealing the wire of her retainers. "Ok, question: did they teach you how to draw?"

"No, I just found I could do it... so I guess I'm self-taught."

"So they're going find it hard to own something you did in your own time, aren't they? Besides, you're not selling it for you, it's all for a worth cause. And in any case, any PR they get will be huge - the kind of good PR that's almost impossible to buy. Let me give you an example: Jenny used to have long hair, and had it cut. She donated her hair to a charity that does wigs for kids with hair-loss. She's now an ambassador for them. Both we and the charity got so much positive feedback out of that. We actually got a couple of the kids who had wigs to join us on-stage at one of our gigs, and promoted the charity, and had the stage crew collecting money in buckets as the fans all left. It was a win-win all round!"

"Hey, look at me for a moment, and smile..." asked Taeyang, "just want to work out exactly how that wire goes across your teeth...". Carol turned, and smiled widely, letting her see the wires of her retainer that hugged her teeth.

"Oh, it looks a bit more complicated than a normal retainer - is it some sort of special appliance?"

"No, it's pretty much just a retainer, but with a couple of extra springs to help pull this tooth in a bit." said Carol, pointing. "It started to move a bit, and it seems to be working to pull it back into line again."

"Tell you what, Yun Hee is really looking forward to get her braces, she's very grateful for what you and Jenny did."

"Another example of using our 'powers' for good. Hey, Taeyang, I don't think you're the sort to do it, but don't let the fame take you over."

"What do you mean?"

"There's some bands out there, when they get really big, well, they seem to forget WHY they started playing music. They let record companies and managers turn them into a 'money machine'. They go on long tours that they don't really enjoy. That sort of stuff. Take Jenny for example, she struggles on her own when we're out on tour. She'd be struggling here too, but luckily Ben is really good for her, allowing her to cope!"

"What is it that she struggles with?"

"The same as the rest of us, just seems to have more problems with it: having to live out of a suitcase. Different beds in different hotels almost every night. Problems sleeping. That's why, when FY offered us the apartment, it was a no-brainer choice for us all! But we're lucky, with Jenny's parents being our managers, they'll not push us that hard. I guess what I'm saying is don't be scared to say 'no' if you really don't want to do something. Whilst the money is nice, remember WHY you wanted to become an idol in the first place!"

Taeyang smiled: like her band-mates, she appreciated the free 'coaching' that the CJDL girls were willing to give them. "Want to take a look?" Taeyang passed her sketch pad over to Carol.

"Yeah nice, you're good at this!" replied Carol. "Sign it, and let a charity make some money! You should do a set of all four of us, then do the same for yourselves, sell them as a set of eight...."

Chapter 31 - Let's take the bus to the park...


It wasn't long before the bus arrived that would take them to the park by the river. As they walked towards the back of the bus, a voice said "No way! Carol bloomin' Danvers, is that really you?"

Carol turned to face the person who had just spoken, a very Korean face, but with excellent English. "You're kidding me? Nabi? What on EARTH are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm living back in Seoul for a bit," replied Nabi, "heck, what's the chance, eh? I mean, I KNEW you were in Seoul, I saw you at the Park Festival yesterday, but meeting you on the bus?"

"You two know each other?" asked Paige.

"Yeah, she was in the same year as me at Croydon College!"

"Yeah, everyone knew you three, you were going to be the ones to make it big out in the world of music... and you did!"

"I guess we did, but it did take a bit longer than we hoped. So you saw us yesterday?"

"Yeah, I went with a friend, I'm on my way back from her place to my place, I stayed over. It was a great day, and I loved your set, I'm a big supporter - for obvious reasons! Tell you what though, you didn't half tease us with Jelly Fish at the end of your set! We assumed that Jelly Fish would come out as soon as you started playing your encore, but no, you made us wait.... and then when they DO come out, they're all on rollerskates! Absolutely amazing!"

"And how were Jelly Fish? We had to go on TV, so didn't really see them..."

"Oh, they were great too!"

"Well, this here is Taeyang, she's one of the girls in Jelly Fish... And by the smile on her face, I'm thinking she's happy with your comment there!"

"Oh cool, nice to meet you, Taeyang.." and they spoke briefly in Korean.

"Hey, you in a rush to get home?"

"Not especially, why?"

"Well, we're off to a park by the river, just to chill out a bit, and Taeyang wants to draw a sketch of Paige here. Paige just finished at Croydon College last year, and she works with us now."

"You know, it would be nice to catch up with you. So which swanky hotel are you guys staying  at then?"

"We're not, we're in the apartment next door to the one that the Jelly Fish girls live in. You'd be very welcome to come back and say 'hi' to everyone, I'd guarantee they'd love to see you too!"

"Hmm, let me think a moment. Go back home all alone, or join two top girl bands back at their place. Hard decision!" said Nabi.

"Hey, we're almost there..." said Taeyang.

At the park, while Taeyang sketched Paige, Nabi and Carol had a chat. Nabi had come over to the UK with her parents when she was about eight, and had done most of her schooling in England. After college, she got an internship at a merchant bank in London and had done well, and about six months ago, was offered a two year posting in Seoul, her home town. "It was a no-brainer, coming back here for a couple of years. I've been able to meet up with a load of extended family, and being that I'm from here, I seem to fit it really well. Although I do miss London a bit... but wow, bumping into YOU, that was the last thing I expected! So, you're CJDL now... who's the fourth girl, the 'L'?"

"That's Linda, she was actually in the year below us, also did music. I wonder if you'll recognise each other?"

Nabi and Carol had most of ten years of catching up to do. Carol told her what the band had been upto since college, and Nabi explained what she'd been up to.

Paige got up, and went over to Taeyang, who by now had finished her sketch. When she saw the sketch, she smiled. "Hey, guys, take a look, it's nice...".

"Wow, that's pretty good!" said Nabi, "If you ever get fed up with being an idol, then you could always just do that! Something you learnt at school?"

"No, just something I found I could do, and something that I find relaxing. I sometimes sketch when I'm waiting for us to perform, it take my mind of getting stressed!"

They all went for a bit of a walk through the park and along the river. While they did so, Paige called up Callum. "Hey, Callum, you guys back at the apartment yet?"

"Yeah..." he replied.

"In that case, can you get the two cameras ready for when we get back. Point one at the door, the other at Jenny, Dianne and Linda. I'll let you know when we get back..."

"Oh, what's going on?"

"We were on a bus, and Carol bumped into someone they all knew at Croydon College, so it's gonna be interesting to see them react when she comes back with us. And definitely worth filming!"

"Yeah, like it, no probs... see you later on then..."

"Don't say anything to them, just make up some bullshit, like you normally do! See you later!"

Paige explained to Carol what she'd asked Callum to do. "Yes, it's gonna be priceless seeing how they react. Shame you didn't catch me earlier on when I first saw her!"

"That would have been amazing, but its too late now. I was thinking that maybe you and I could also have our phones videoing when we get back...."

"Sure, good idea..."

They all sat down at the edge of the river and just sat there looking around for a while: whilst there was a little bit of traffic noise in the background, it was otherwise quite peaceful.

"We all ready to go home yet? If so, I'll get us a taxi..." suggested Taeyang.

"Yeah, I think I've seen enough of this park and this river! It's nice and relaxing, but I want to see how the others react when we get back!"

Taeyang used a local Seoul Taxi app: a taxi arrived within minutes, and took them all back to the apartment. On the way back, Paige texted Callum, so he had the cameras running.

"Ok, Taeyang you go in first followed by Carol," said Paige, as they went up in the lift, "I'll wait behind you all, using my phone to video you.... ".

Finally they were outside the Jelly Fish apartment. Taeyang opened the door, went in, closely followed by Carol. Carol could see that, apart from Jenny's parents, they were the last to return.

"You'll NEVER guess who we bumped into this afternoon!" said Carol, looking at Jenny and Dianne. Carol stood aside, letting Nabi come in. There were a couple of very surprised girls.

"Nabi?" said Dianne, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Nabi?" added Jenny, "No way! OMG, it's actually so good to see you again, it's been YEARS! So, yeah, what ARE you doing here in Seoul?"

Nabi had a big smile on her face too: yes, they hadn't seen each other since they all finished at Croyden College, so about 6 or 7 years ago. "Well, I'm actually living here now..."

"What? I though you'd gone to work at a bank?"

"Yeah, I did, and six months ago they needed someone to work in Korea, and they knew I was from Seoul, so asked if I was interested in working here for a couple of years! Wow, it's so good to see you guys again!"

Jenny and Paige by now had flung their arms around their long lost friend....

"Hey, Callum, you're all grown up now! It's good to see you too.... so who is everyone else then?" asked Nabi.

"Well, this is Linda, our most recent recruit to CJDL, then that's Ben, Jenny's fiance, and that's Mike, who's Dianne's fella. Then we have Min Jee, Ahnjong and Yun Hee... along with Taeyang they are Jelly Fish. I should explain for the rest of you that we three were at college with Nabi."

"Hey, guys, it's great to meet you. Yeah, we had a bit of fun back then, didn't we? Carol's been telling me what happened to 'Just Three Girls'... Oh, and before you ask, yes, I did see both all of you perform at the Park Festival yesterday - the whole day was amazing."

Paige went over to Callum. "Good call there, Paige, the look on their faces when they saw Nabi was priceless!"

"Yeah, shame I didn't have a camera running when Carol saw her on the bus, that was even better!"

Chapter 33 - Acapella


Nabi left soon after they finished the streaming, and everyone just chatted for a while.

"Hey, anyone want spend a bit of time trying our new song again?" suggested Jenny.

"Yeah, why not. Maybe we should go next door, so we don't annoy everyone?" replied Carol.

Having gone back to their own apartment, they found their music sheets, then spent a minute or two warming up their voices.

"Ready?" asked Jenny. Everyone nodded, and Jenny started to sing. About three lines in, Linda made a mistake, but they carried on, and by the end of the song, they had all screwed up at least once. They took a quick break, then tried again: still just as bad: about the same number of mistakes, just in different places. Over the next hour, they must have tried singing the song a dozen times, and still hadn't managed to sing it without making a mistake.

"What's wrong with us tonight? asked Jenny, "we should be able to do this! Yes, it's hard, but so is some of the other stuff we do!" They sat down and took a few minutes break.

"Come and stand in a circle," said Linda, "then join hands." They all held hands. "now close your eyes". The four of them were standing silently, in a circle, holding hands, with their eyes closed. "Dear God, you've given Jenny an amazing song for us to sing, and we'd really like to sing it for you, but we seem to be having a few problems. I'm pretty sure that we are capable of singing it, so maybe we just need to ask for your help. Please help us as we have another go at it: we really want to sing this for you... Amen!"

"Amen" echoed the other three. They stood there quietly for a bit longer.

"Nicely said Linda!" said Dianne, "we ready to try again?".

This time they managed to sing the song through without anything going wrong: it sounded pretty amazing.

NiceOne  But they should definitely come together