“Sneaking out?” I laugh. DB does keep us on a tight leash, and curfews are not unheard of, even for idols. But it’s only four p.m. and we’re not children. We can leave the hotel if we want to, without whatever cloak-and-dagger scheme Leah seems to be concocting. “By the way, you know that people can actually still identify you, even with sunglasses on, right? I can see like seventy-eight percent of your face.”

“Please, Unni,” Leah says, lowering her sunglasses so I can see her puppy dog eyes. “When are we ever going to get an opportunity like this? Me, you, in Singapore with free time on our hands—even the bodyguards have the night off! Besides, everyone knows that paparazzi are basically illegal in Singapore, so we’ll be fine!”

It’s true, Singapore has very strict laws about photographing celebrities, so we’re usually able to fly under the radar pretty easily when here. Still… I think longingly of my plans to snuggle up in a big fluffy bathrobe for the rest of the evening…

“We’ll only go out for a couple hours and then we’ll come straight back to the hotel. I have to get back by then for a little practice time with the SayGO girls tonight anyway,” Leah says, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “We have a show as soon as we get back to Seoul tomorrow, and Yebin is feeling totally underprepared.”

I think about how long it’s been since Leah and I spent any real time together. Seeing her today has been great, but running all over Sentosa competing in wacky challenges doesn’t really make for quality sister bonding. And with Leah now on her own path to success, moments like this where we have overlapping free time will be harder and harder to come by. We could just cuddle up and do face masks here in the room, but then again, Singapore does have an incredible shopping scene. It would be a shame to let that go to waste…

“All right, all right,” I say. I grab my own cat-eye sunglasses and slip them onto my face. “Just for a couple hours.”

“A couple hours,” Leah agrees. She slips her arm through mine and points toward the door. “Let’s go!”

FOUR

Orchard Road is the definition of shopping luxury. The long boulevard is lined with brand-name shops and futuristic neon-lit department stores. I feel like I’ve dropped right in the middle of my very own paradise.

We browse souvenirs at Tangs, Singapore’s oldest department store. We get lost in ION—a massive, dazzling shopping complex with eight levels of stores—trying on sunglasses at Celine, shoes at Chanel, and scarves at Hermès.

Leah laughs, her face tinted with purple neon light pulsing from the LED walls of the shopping mall as we leave Dior and head toward Prada. “Aren’t you glad I made you come out?”