“Oppa!”

Jiyong turned around and saw a girl running to him. He smiled and opened his arms wide. “Oh~” he grunted as the girl hugged him tight almost making him lose balance.

“I missed you, oppa.” She said still hugging him.

“Aigoo this kid, I missed you too. I know you’re just waiting for your present.” Jiyong joked.

“Yah oppa!” the girl said and slapped him across the chest.

Jiyong held his chest and overreacted. “And now you’re being violent too. Tsk tsk. Who have you been hanging out with when I wasn’t here?” he asked jokingly.

“That would be us.” Kush said, Teddy walking beside him. “We missed you bro!” Teddy said and handshaked him. Kush followed. “How was LA?”

“It was great, hyung. The shooting went well. We finished everything early so we had a day to ourselves.”

“Yeah. I heard you went clubbing! I bet there were tons of hot chicks in the club!” Kush said.

“Shhhh! Hyung!” Jiyong scolded and immediately turned to see if she was still there. Thankfully, she was talking with Youngbae on the other side of the room.

“Scared Chaerin might hear about it?” Teddy teased.

“No.” Jiyong denied immediately. “Just don’t want her to tease me again.” Jiyong shrugged.

“Oh Jiyong boy, it’s not teasing.” Teddy said and he and Kush shared meaningful looks which Jiyong just dismissed.

“But I bet Chaerin already knows about it.” Kush said and pointed at the girl with a frown on her face.

“Youngbae and his big mouth, really.” Jiyong said and ruffled his hair.

“Why do you care so much about what Chaerin thinks anyway? You’re not in a relationship with her… or are you?” Kush asked teasingly.

“What? No. it’s just that I should be a role model to her and I don’t want her to think negatively of me because I’m—“

“Her oppa and you don’t want her innocence to be stained by the you do. I heard that a hundred times already. It’s like a lyrics to a song that you’ve memorized.” Teddy said, chuckling.

“Well, it’s true.” Jiyong said looking down.

“Oh Jiyong. I don’t know where that genius brain of yours is but you’ll figure it out soon.” Kush said and put an arm around Jiyong’s shoulder and led him towards the others in the room to continue the celebration of BIGBANG’s pending comeback, also the debut of a new girl group.

Jiyong instantly went to Chaerin’s side and started playing with her hair but she was just giving him the cold shoulder because she heard about their little clubbing incident.

It was way back in 2009. The year where it all started.