"Hey, have you heard from Bom recently?" TOP asked. Jiyong shot him a look. "Is she talking to you?" TOP asked again. Jiyong sighed. "What's that supposed to mean? You're the one dating her."

"Nope, not dating. Seeing - they're seeing each other." Seungri interrupted while giving an annoying wink to TOP. "There's a difference." 

Jiyong rolled his eyes. "It's basically the same thing. These idiots just won't label it." he pointed in an accusatory manner.

"Ehhh not won't - more like can't," Youngbae chimed in without looking up from his phone, "...that is if you want to get technical about it." 

Jiyong let out an exasperated yell as he grabbed the pillow next to him and went around the room beating everyone up, including the bystander Daesung who just entered. "Hyung...! Why!!" 

As amused as TOP wanted to be, he excused himself from the room and lit a cigarette on the balcony. He took a heavy drag as he observed the horizon, feeling the nicotine kick in and dull his senses. The door opened and closed behind him as Jiyong joined him. TOP offered but he waved a hand and declined. 

"No one's heard from her, man. I've asked Chae but even she can hardly get a word out of noona. I'll ask her stylist but she probably knows less than the girls." TOP clenched his jaw. "I'm sorry." Jiyong finished. 

TOP made a soft grunt in response as he stamped out the cigarette and pulled out another. Jiyong crouched over as he rested his arms on the railing and looked down. "Bommie-noona's still not used to this stuff. They're out for blood and if her or Sajangnim thinks she needs to lay low and hide, then it's probably for the best."

"Even from me?" TOP asked. His stare bore through Jiyong. If it was one thing that tired him out with this hyung, it was taking on the intensity of the stares he doled out. Many looked away but Jiyong learned to hold his own against it. 

"No one knows. And no one will ever know because we're not noona." he emphasized. "So you need to stop beating yourself up about this." TOP turned away disgusted - not with Jiyong or himself, but with this entire hand that was dealt to him. 

"It's ty, I get it. But do you trust her?"

"I want to help her." TOP looked back. Jiyong knew what this look meant. It was one he wore on his own face from his past experiences. A look that would see himself thrown off this very balcony if it helped bring her happiness back. It meant, 'I miss her'. 

Jiyong looked away. "She needs space. And if that involves going off the grid, then so be it, right? We both know how fragile she actually is." TOP winced as he heard this. He knew this part of her, inside and out. All her insecurities and doubts were things he was familiar with and it gnawed at him to know she was going through this alone. 

"But noona has her moments. She can be strong when she needs to be and for that, we - you - need to give her room for that. She'll her wounds and bounce back." 

Silence washed over them as TOP put out his cigarette. He hung his head. "You're right. You're always goddamn right." Jiyong chuckled, relieved to hear TOP reacting. "It's annoying." They both shared a grin. 

"There we go. Plus, we're starting up, so you're going to be too focused and busy that you won't even think about this." 

TOP let out a crooked smile. Work, music - this was his savior. The one thing he could throw himself into and truly enjoy and relish in the stress and excitement that came with it. "Yeah. No distractions, huh?"  Jiyong squeezed his shoulder and nodded. 

"OK. My fingers are officially frozen. I'm getting my skinny back inside. You coming?" Jiyong asked.

TOP chuckled at the shivering leader, the one guy who would willingly talk him through this, during a particularly odd cold snap this week, in a tank and flip flops. "Give me a minute." 

Jiyong dashed to the door but before he was enveloped in warmth, TOP called out to him. "Thanks." Jiyong nodded and went back in, leaving TOP outside with his third cigarette. 

Always right. But why does it have to hurt so much? he thought to himself. He took out his phone and opened up his chat box with Bom. Fifty-two messages. All from him. All unanswered, except for an "I'm sorry" he received a month ago. He started to type something out but then he stopped himself. He hit the home button. Stared at the background wallpaper of them. He traced her features on the screen as he looked on with a furrowed brow. He shoved his phone back in his trench coat and stamped out his unfinished cigarette. Good luck, Bom. he thought as he headed back inside. 

---

"Wait, so let me get this straight. SHE gets to go to America and SHE gets to hang out with those fly honeys in LA?" Seungri asked in an alarmingly loud manner.

"SHE is standing right here. And no one has used that term since 2002." Chaerin quipped as she jabbed his side. Seungri crumpled over and cried out "You weren't even born then!" Chaerin menacingly approached him. "I'm only a year younger than you!" 

Sandara looked on with concern but not enough to help the BIGBANG maknae as she commented that "the dog and cat were at it again". 

"What's going on here?" TOP asked as he appeared next to her. She jolted at his sudden presence but regained composure. "Ah, Seungri's just jealous she's going to the States. Something about honey and flies..." she responded over the commotion of the two bickering in front of them.

"Holiday?" TOP asked. "You didn't hear? Sajangnim's sending her there so she can debut in the US. I thought everyone knew this by now..." she trailed off.

TOP cleared his throat and blinked. "Right. I'm up to my eyes in work for this comeback, so I must have missed it." Sandara nodded, half-convinced. 

They both looked on as Seungri pulled Youngbae into the scuffle, only to have it backfire on him as he teamed up with Chaerin. 

"Well, Minji's joining her next week and I'm going back to Manila, too. Let me know if you want anything from there!" Sandara bounced a bit as she told him. TOP smiled at the excited noona before he felt a wrinkle form in his brow. "You're all leaving? he asked.

"Uh yeah, not much is happening for us here, so Sajangnim insisted we do this. A little R&R, right? Well, for me and Minji at least." TOP could detect a hint of disappointment in her voice. By now everyone was well aware of 2NE1's hiatus but no one knew for how long, and apparently not even the girls themselves. 

Chaerin backed away from the roughhousing and ended up near Sandara and TOP. They both shared a glance. 

"She's doing alright." Sandara offered up. TOP stayed quiet. "Sometimes I can reach her but only for a little bit. But she seems happy." 

"Yeah, you know how unnie can be. She's blissfully in her own world." Chaerin added. TOP's eyes pierced through Sandara's and then Chaerin's as both of them glanced at each other. 

TOP looked away and stared at Youngbae twisting Seungri's arm back behind him while yelling "fly honeys".  

"I've gone over this about a dozen times in my head. I've come to terms with how she's handling this but I still can't understand the silence." The women looked at him to continue. "It's just a scandal. We've all had our own problems. And it's been more or less cleared up by now. I don't think anyone still cares about her medication." TOP finished.

Sandara couldn't help but let her jaw slacken as she studied his face. Chaerin cleared "Uh, what do y-" but before she could finish Seungri had run off with his tail between his legs as Jiyong entered. "Guys, let's go. The van's here." 

TOP turned to Chaerin. "Well, good luck in the US. I want to hear about it when you're back." He smiled weakly at her. Chaerin returned the weak smile and nodded. "Good luck to you, too." TOP left the room as the two women stood their confused. 

"Oh my god. Does he...?" Sandara half-asked. The disbelief in her voice and on her face was the splitting image of Chaerin's. 

"Are we the only ones that know?!" she continued. 

Chaerin gritted her teeth. "He's going to be a dad and he doesn't even know it." Sandara had to look away and as she felt something stinging in her eyes. 

"What did you do, Sajangnim." 

---

"She's pregnant."

Jiyong covered his mouth with his hand. "Is it-" he started to ask.

"Yes, it is. Which is why I need you to do what you can for him. As a friend and as the leader." Jiyong could feel the heat rising through his collar. Of course Sajangnim would keep him in the dark about this. he bitterly thought to himself.

And then it clicked. He looked dead straight into Sajangnim's eyes. "Is this why Bom's scandal resurfaced?" The older man didn't respond. He didn't need to. 

Jiyong bit the inside of his lip, ignoring the metallic taste. "He has a right to know." 

Sajangnim let out a laugh. "You want to jeopardise the comeback?" "He's a grown man." Jiyong quipped.

Sajangnim rolled his eyes. "A young man, a grown man - doesn't matter what he is if he's in love. Need I remind you how poor his focus is when he's distracted?" Jiyong rubbed his eyes. Of all the BIGBANG members, TOP was the most prone to a waning attention span if he was into someone at the time. Great fodder for lyrics but ty for productivity. A moment passed as they looked at each other.

Jiyong flipped the new information in his head over and over again. He knew Sajangnim wasn't only talking about the immediate comeback but their entire careers, including 2NE1's. Disappointed, he realised Sajangnim picked the cleanest and most practical solution to this. There was no fighting it. No more arguments. Anything Jiyong brought up was something Sajangnim already considered.

"Look, you think I want to be the bad guy?" Sajangnim asked. "Even Bom herself agreed to this decision." And there it was. This was as close as Jiyong was going to get on hearing Bom's thoughts on this. If she was doing the right thing for herself and for TOP, then he would support it. 

"I'll do it." He said through tightened jaw as he dreaded the lies he would have to feed his hyung. 

--- --- --- 

Thanks to gbomtop for suggesting a TOP POV!