Date: May 11th 2011
Location: YG Entertainment Lobby
Time: 11:00 PM

I felt refreshed, despite spending three extra hours in the practice room to choreograph a new dance. I always felt like this after a long hard day of dancing followed by a rewarding shower. Since it was so late, it was never crowded and I enjoyed being able to take my time and have the entire changing room to myself. I was listening to music and combing my half blown-dry hair with my hands when I saw Jiyong standing on the opposite side of the lobby. He was standing there a man that I didn’t recognize. He looked surprised to see me.

“Oh, hi Jiyong-sshi,” I took off my earphones and waved at them.

He waved back. “Why are you still here?”

“I was working on a dance.”

“Oh, really.” he nodded. He gestured his friend and introduced him, “This is Shawn, one of the producers I regularly work with. Shawn, this is Zoe, a dancer on our team.”

“Hi,” I smiled shyly at Shawn and shook his hand.

“You must be working hard if you’re staying until this late. What are you working on?” Shawn asked, chatting immediately. He seems genuinely interested, which was refreshing. A lot of people I meet around here only talk for the sake of small talk.

“I’m just trying to work on some choreography,” I replied, trying to sound casual. I didn’t like telling other people that I choreograph, because they tend to make a big deal out of it. I was proud of my skills, but not confident enough to show other people the dances I had created yet.

“Really? Wow. So you’re Dan’s assistant?”

“No, no, no,” I immediately denied, feeling slightly embarrassed. “I’m… still working hard on it. I’m nowhere near good enough to being Dan’s assistant.”

“Ahh, I see,” Shawn nodded. He elbowed me jokingly and said, “Maybe you should show me and I’ll be the judge.”

“Ah, hyung,” Jiyong chuckled and shook his head at Shawn. He looked at me apologetically, evidently embarrassed by his humorous friend. I chuckled slightly in return.

“Are you going home?” he changed the topic and asked me.

“Yeah,” I replied. I was about to finish up our conversation and get going when I heard someone call my name.

“Zoe?” Youngbae was running over, slightly out of breath. He evidently just took a shower as well, with slightly wet hair and a large gym bag slung over one shoulder.

“Yah, what took you so long?” Shawn complained.

“Sorry.”

“Sunbae,” I bowed.

“Don’t be so formal with me. Just call me oppa.”

“Oppa,” I repeated, smiling shyly.

“What are you doing here? You heading home?”

“Yeah…”

“Where do you live?” he asked casually.

We were all slowly heading out the lobby door. I felt a rush of warm summer night air envelope me as we exited the building. I told them where I lived.

“Oh what? We’re planning on eating around there. Do you want to come?”

“Oh no, no I’m fine. I have leftovers from last night’s dinner,” I turned down Shawn’s request without hesitating. It would be too awkward for me to intrude on their dinner. He was just being polite; there was no way he would expect me to say yes. Plus, I do miss my home-cooked ginseng chicken soup. My stomach grumbled slightly at the thought.

“It’s late, do you want a lift?” This question was proposed by Jiyong.

I hesitated now - a bit surprised.

 “Don’t worry - we’re going to eat around there anyway,” Youngbae chimed in.

“Will it be a lot of trouble?” I asked Jiyong, looking at him for confirmation.

Jiyong shook his head.

“Of course not!” Shawn said and put his arm around Youngbae. “God, let’s just go. I’m starving.” He began to lead us towards the carpark.

“Okay…” I convinced myself that it was nothing big and followed them.

Fortunately, the car ride wasn’t as awkward as I expected. I listened to their conversation and stayed silent the entire time, except to laugh at their incessant jokes. It was almost fun, and riding in Jiyong’s well-known Lamborghini sure beats trudging through public transit. I looked out the window and took in the cityscape as it zoomed by, feeling a slight rush. Suddenly, I felt a pair of eyes on me and I turned to see Jiyong eyeing me through the rearview mirror. When our eyes met, I saw him smile through the reflection of his window. I smiled back, my heart fluttering slightly against my will.

--

We met up again the next day for another few hours of practice. We had one more song to learn with only less than a month, and three more practices to go before the first performance. Dan was understandably more tense than usual, but since the team seemed to be in a good condition today, everything went smoothly and before long, we had most of the choreography down pat. I also managed to catch up with everyone else, which was definitely something that made me very proud. It was probably why I couldn’t wipe that silly grin off my face the entire time. Inevitably, Dan noticed and deliberately picked on me for it. It was all in good fun though.

“I see you’re impressed with your own performance today,” he walked over to me with his arms crossed, as I was packing my bag.

“Ah, sunbae…” I whined and pouted. “Don’t tease!”

“Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook just because you’re trying to be cute,” he tried to look stern, but I could see the corners of his mouth tugging upwards.

“Can’t you compliment me for once?” I poked him playfully.

He rolled his eyes and commented, “I would if you’d work on making your moves crisper and more deliberate.”

“Okay, okay,” I sighed, “I was going to stay for another hour to fine tune the dance anyways.”

“Good!” He broke into a wide, exaggerated grin and gave me two thumbs up. “Have fun!”

I laughed and waved him off. I sighed contently, and plopped myself on the floor, leaning against the mirror. I love it when I’m alone in the dance room; it was like I could finally let go of all the pressure and pretense, and be myself. The silence that contrasted the booming music and chatter of people was so comforting and therapeutic that I almost crave it everyday. It gave me space to think and to be creative.

I didn’t realize I had my eyes closed, until I heard footsteps outside the hallway. I opened them, as the door to the dance room swung open. It was Jiyong.

“I-uh,” I scrambled onto my feet and stood uncomfortably. “Hi.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I couldn’t find my phone just now. I think I left it here,” he explained, looking around the room.

“I’ll help you look for it,” I nodded and scanned the room. I noticed something peeking out under a folder on a table, so I walked over. It was his phone.

“Found it!” I called out. He must have seen it too, because he was just inches behind me. I turned around to find my face now dangerously close to his. Even though we’ve been like this many times before due to being dance partners, our distance was still too close and intimate for comfort. My eyes widened as he leaned in to grab the phone from behind me. He was so close that I could smell him - fresh deodorant mixed with a tinge of sweat. It was intoxicating.

He took a step back, seemingly unaware of my discomfort, and smiled at me, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” I smiled back, hoping to God that he didn’t notice the blush that is creeping onto my cheeks.

“Are you going to staying back to practice some more?”

“Yeah, maybe after a small lunch break.”

“You were here late last night too. Do you ever rest?” he joked.

“Do you?”

He looked surprised at my retort and laughed. “Look…” he started after thinking for a moment. “The others and I are going to grab lunch outside. Do you want to join?”

I thought about it for a second. It felt kind of awkward to turn them down again like I did last night. I didn’t want people to think I was cozying up to Big Bang just to make the team, but I couldn’t be unapproachable either. “Sure,” I replied. I went over to grab my things and followed him out.

Turns out that he was eating with Big Bang and a few other guys from the dance team. Everyone looked surprised to see me walking behind Jiyong, but thankfully, no one said anything. They just nodded at me and began chatting to each other again. The group split up as we approached the car park, as some people had their own cars. Jiyong motioned for me to get on his.

“It’s you again,” Taeyang spoke once he settled down beside me.

I nodded and smiled, not knowing what to say.

“Hi,” Seunghyun looked over from the other side of Taeyang and waved.

“Hi,” I laughed slightly, amused at the awkwardness of the situation.

“Guys, stop being so intimidating,” Jiyong commented from the driver’s seat, shaking his head slightly at his hyungs.

“What? Just being nice,” Seunghyun said innocently, and we all laughed.

Seungri looked back from his seat and asked, “Hey, are you coming to my party?”

“What party?” I was a little surprised, as it was the first time Seungri spoke to me.

“Did Jen not tell you?” he asked and I shook my head. He looked annoyed and explained, “I’m planning a pre-comeback party this Saturday. Jen was supposed to tell everyone.”

“Okay…”

“It’s my party,” he continued. “You must come.”

I stared into his expectant gaze and nodded. I guess he didn’t leave me with much choice.