“And you just grab the forearm here and use all your weight from your upper and lower body,” Jiun instructed as he held onto Bobby, “and then from there just push and pull.”  The students just nodded their heads as Bobby squeezed his eyes to prepare for the pain, but it never came.

“My shoulder is acting up a little,” Jiun said, “so I’ll let Nari do it.”  Bobby opened one eye and saw her smirking as she rolled up her sleeves to do the move once again.

Damn it, Bobby thought, it always hurts more when she does it.  Bobby prayed for his body as Nari got into a fighting stance.  For this move, Bobby had to willingly go to Nari if Jiun wasn’t going to do it.  This was the 10th class he had served as a punching bag throughout the few weeks he had been working with his brother.  The other times he was just organizing the dojo, cleaning the mats, or doing his brother’s uniform laundry.  It was Thursday and it meant that he would finally get a day off tomorrow.  Something he was passionately looking forward to.

Nari looked at Bobby and gestures him to come towards her and Bobby just sighed in reluctance.  The kids were looking at them excitedly.  They thoroughly enjoyed seeing someone other than themselves groaning in pain, especially if it was a grown man.

Bobby jogged towards to Nari and closed his eyes as he felt her dainty hands grab his arm and flip him up and back down to Earth.  He coughed and moaned on the floor as he curled up into a ball, the pain being unbearable at this point.  Honestly, he was still trying to fully recover from the first day of work he had.

Nari just looked down at him and laughed before offering her hand to him to which he took, slowly.  Luckily for Bobby, she was many things and being patient was one of them.  Of course, he had to work to see the nicer parts of Nari.  She wasn’t going to give him an easy time and he learned the hard way.

The two of them were gradually getting closer with one another.  They spent more time together through work and home.  Sometimes she would supervise him as he worked if Jiun was just lecturing.  If not, then she was working at the market.

“So, what’s up?” Bobby asked her one day as he was organizing Jiun’s papers on the floor of his office.

“What do you mean?” She said as she scrolled through her phone whilst sitting on the floor with him and leaned against Jiun’s desk.

“Well, why do you work so much?  Doesn’t your mom work too?”

“Oh,” she said with a smile, “that.  Well, my mom doesn’t work the most money earning job in the world.  It may just be the two of us, but we have a lot to do.  We try to send money back home to my grandmother while also paying our bills, buying food, and having savings.”

“Are you close with your grandmother?”

“Not really,” she said, “neither is my mom.  But we still send her money since there’s no way my dad would.”  Bobby looked up to her curiously.  That was the first mention of her father from herself.  He had always asked his family, but they all said that it wasn’t his business or theirs and they had no place to tell Nari’s family story to him just because he was wondering.

“Um,” he started, “where is your dad?  Like, what happened to him?”  Nari just laughed softly to herself without looking at Bobby.  After a few moments, she turned her head with her tongue in her cheek.

“We can talk about that another day,” she said, “not while you’re organizing...”  Her voice trailed off as she put her phone on her lap and glanced over what Bobby was doing.  Nari looked down at the floor and picked up one of the papers that was the sprawled all over the floor.

“Not while you’re organizing takeout menus.”

---

Nari pulled Bobby up as he dusted himself off and tried to stretch out his back.

“Am I done for today’s demonstrations?” He asked Jiun.  Jiun just smiled, enjoying his brother’s pained look and nodded.

“You’re actually done for the day.”

“But, it’s only 1,” Bobby said as he looked at the clock.  “Don’t you have another class after this?”

“Yeah, but I’m only lecturing today since my shoulder is acting up.”  Bobby just nodded as he left to go to the locker room to change.

“Nari,” Jiun said, “you can leave, too.  I can finish up alone today.”

“Are you sure?” Nari said as she stretched out her arms, “I can do anything else you need.”  Jiun was about to decline her offer when he saw Bobby come out ready to leave.

“Actually, you can do something for me,” he said.  “Jiwon.”  Bobby walked up to him with his stuff in his hand.

“Were you just going to walk home?” His brother asked.

“Yeah, I have some songs I need to listen to so I was going to chill on the way home,” Bobby said, “why?”

“Well, I actually need one more thing from you.  You and Nari can go grocery shopping for mom for me,” Jiun said, “I was supposed to go with Jeeyoung later but I forgot that I have to do something.  Is it ok?”  Bobby and Nari just looked at each other and shrugged, not really feeling like they had the place to refuse.

“Sure, hyung,” Bobby replied.  Nari yawned before leaving to go to the locker room to change and get her own stuff.  “What do you need us to get?”

“Um, here,” Jiun said as he rummaged through all of his pockets.  He didn’t stop until he found a piece of paper with a long list on it.  “Just go to like BJ’s with Nari and use her card.  Here.”  Jiun also gave Bobby a card and before letting go of it, he looked at Bobby straight in the eye.

“Guard this with your life,” he said in a serious tone, “or else I will make life here even more hellish than it is now.”  Bobby just rolled his head before rolling his eyes.

“Ok, hyung,” he sighed, “but can I ask you something?  Why do you act like some scary security guard to me nowadays?  Everytime we talk, it's as if I'm going to kill someone and you think scaring me is going to make me stop.  What have I possibly done?  Aren’t I doing better and not being so much of an ?”  Bobby was genuinely confused.  

Ever since he got home, his parents accepted that he screwed up and have been watching him try to improve.  He honestly felt like he was changing.  He no longer felt the urge to do stupid and he was less snappy than how he usually was.  Bobby was getting the chance to spend time with his family and not worry about the pressures of debut.  By just learning some dances every now and then, it really helped him connect with the movements and remember why he started.  His parents loved the fact that their son was returning into the goofball they love and helped him with his adjustments home.  Even Nari was being nicer to him and helping him be less of an .

The only person who still treated Bobby like some criminal was Jiun.  The other day, Jiun saw Bobby hanging out with their mom and scoffed before leaving the room.  During this whole trip, Bobby was feeling less stressed.  Every single day in YG felt like a chore and he genuinely forgot how it felt to just sit and relax with his mom.  That day, he was helping his mom open walnuts for some pie she was making and they were having a nice time.

Before he was even on Mix & Match, Bobby remembered to at least text his mom daily.  Whether it be a good morning, good night, or just an update of where he was, he made sure to press send everyday.  When he had the luxury of time, he would videochat with his mom.  Once the reality show started, time got tighter and tighter.  It crushed him, but he couldn’t do anything about it.  Debut was within their fingertips and he needed to prove that coming Korea wasn’t a waste of time.  His dreams weren’t a waste of time.

“So what did you usually do in Korea when you weren’t practicing?” His mom asked as they were cracking the nuts.  “You had to get sunlight sometimes.”

“Well,” Bobby started, “we would go to like Hongdae or maybe visit Jinhwan’s family in Jeju to relax and recharge.  But this was usually only when we were really stuck on projects.  Whenever we went there, we would relax and everything flowed together.  It always felt right.”

“I’m glad you’re working so hard,” his mother said as she smiled at her son proudly.  “I’m still disappointed that you acted so rashly.  I don’t understand.  I thought we raised you to not make such decisions.”  Bobby looked down in embarrassment at his mother’s words.  He knew he disappointed them and it haunted him.  This was when Jiun was passing through the room and just shook his head as his brother, as if he could never forgive his brother for his choices.

“I’m sorry, mom,” he said as Jiun left the room.  “I’m trying now if that makes you feel better.”  She just smiled at him and nodded before they continued to crack open the walnuts.

---

Bobby just looked at Jiun questioningly.

“Well?” Bobby asked.  He was genuinely curious and wanted to know so that he could try to fix his relationship with his brother as well.  Jiun just sighed in response before glaring at Bobby.

“You really want to know?” He started.  “If you really have to know.  Then it’s because I can’t believe---”. Jiun’s words were cut off by Nari walking in and accidently dropping her bag on the mat, surprising the brothers.

“Sorry, I’m clumsy,” she said.  Nari picked up her stuff and looked at the two boys, noticing the tension.  “Um, I’ll go wait in the car.”  She started to walk quickly out, but didn’t avoid Jiun as he stopped her right before she got to the door.

“It’s ok,” he called out, “we’re done here.”  Jiun looked directly at Bobby and gave him a tired look.  “We can finish this another time.”  Jiun waved at Nari before walking away to his office and leaving the two of them alone in the dojo.

“Well, I guess we better get going before it closes,” Nari said, trying to break the awkward silence.  Bobby looked at his watch, surprised.

“It’s only 1:30,” he said, “what time does it close?”

“8,” she said leaving the dojo with Bobby trailing behind her, “but it takes a while to get there and I don’t know what the traffic is like.  Plus, if I know your mom, everything on that list is very specific and probably not all in BJ’s so we might have to stop by at H-Mart or whatever Asian store is around.”  Bobby just nodded, not questioning anything because he also knew that his mom was a handful.

The two of them got into the car and Nari handed Bobby the aux cord as they drove off.  He took it reluctantly and plugged it into his phone.

“Uh, what do you want to listen to?”

“Well, didn’t you say you had to listen to some songs?  I assumed it was for school,” Nari said.

“Oh,” he said, “well I don’t know if you’ll like it.”  He scrolled through the list of songs that Hanbin sent him that morning to practice the dances to.  Before actually going into the movements, Bobby liked to listen to the song continuously until the song came to him like air and he didn’t have to think much about what beats came next.

When the Kanye West song came on, he looked at Nari who looked at the radio with a puzzled look.

“You don’t like it?” He asked.

“Uh, no it’s not that,” she said.  “It’s just not what I expected.  When I think Music Theory, I think of like classical or old music.”

“Music Theory?” Bobby asked, this time it was his turn to look at her with a puzzled look.  “What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t that what you’re taking in school?”  Bobby mentally slapped himself.  How could he forget his cover story?

“Oh right,” he chuckled forcefully, “yeah.  My class is doing modern music next semester to uh, see the effects of classical music on today’s music.  Yeah.”  He paused to look at Nari’s face to see if she believed every word he said.

“That’s cool,” she said.  Bobby just sighed in relief as he listened to the song and tried to focus on it.  He closed his eyes and attempted to hear every beat and catch the melody of the song so that he could immerse himself later when he tried the dance.  He could already feel his foot tapping to the beat and getting more familiar with the structure of the song.  When the song finished, a slower one played, most likely for the vocalists.

“I dig it,” Nari said.

“What?”  Bobby said when he opened his eyes.

“I liked that song.”

“Oh,” he said in surprise, “what type of music do you like?”

“Oo,” she chuckled, “I don’t know if it’s safe for me to answer that to a Music student.”

“Nah, come on,” he smiled, “I don’t judge unless it’s country music.”

“Ok fine,” she said, “let’s see.”  She paused for a while to gather her thoughts until they reached a stop light.

“I’m into Coldplay, Jesse McCartney, Ne-yo, and I love The Wanted,” she said, “but I’m pretty open to music in general.  If it sounds good, I’ll listen and jam to it.  Even if it’s country music.”  She grinned at Bobby at her final statement and he just rolled his eyes while smiling.

“Ok, I see,” he began, “I’ll name some people and you tell me if you like them and what song you like in particular.”

“Challenge accepted.”  Nari hit the gas when the light turned green again and Bobby proceeded to go on with his music test.

“Justin Timberlake”

“Cry Me a River.”

“Michael Jackson.”

“P.  Y. T.”

“Disney.”

“I’ll Make a Man Out of You.”

“Drake.”

“That one he did with Rihanna.”

“Rihanna.”

“Umbrella.”

“Ok, I don’t know if you’ll know these guys,” Bobby said, thoroughly impressed.  “What about We The Kings?”

“Secret Valentine is my go to song.”

“Wow,” Bobby said in astonishment, “I thought you were too mainstream for bands.”

“Psh,” Nari said with a wave of her hand, “it sounds good hence I listen.”

Bobby just nodded, smiling that Nari really was cool.  Despite them getting closer, he just assumed she was overall boring with her always working and not doing much.

“Actually, that’s why I envy you so much,” she said all of a sudden.  She exited the highway and Bobby just looked at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Like you get to study music.  That’s what I want to do,” she said, “I’ve been in love with music for as long as I could remember and I wanted a chance to be in the creation process.  I don’t have any talents, but I love making songs.”

Bobby just looked at her in amazement.  That’s a surprise, he thought.

“Then why don’t you do it?” he asked.  “Why don’t you go after your dream?”

“Well it’s not that simple,” she said as she pulled up into BJs, “I know my uncle is some entertainment manager or something in another country, but I have no idea who he is or where, so that’s not possible.”  She parked the car and got out to meet Bobby in front of the car.

“Not all of us have the luxury of following our dreams.”

---

“Why does my mom need all this stuff?” Bobby questioned as he dropped the pork into the cart.  The two of them had finally reached the asian supermarket after a few hours at BJs.  It was undoubtedly, the longest time he had been in any type of department store.  He didn’t even spend that much time shopping for clothes seeing as how he never had the time to with training.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure,” Nari said as she crossed the item off on their list.  “This is a lot more than usual.  If I’m correct, she might be planning a party.”  She looked over at Bobby who was leaning on the cart with his head on top of his arms against the bar, meaning his was sticking out behind him.

“You look like a child,” she said.

“Well, I’m bored,” Bobby exasperated.  “Maybe this is for my brother’s anniversary tomorrow.”  A lightbulb went off in Nari’s head and she gasped.

“Of course, how could I forget?”  Nari looked at Bobby who was starting to doze off while still leaning on the cart.  She just shook her head as she went off to get some vegetables until she heard a thud a few seconds behind her.

Nari turned around and saw Bobby on the floor, wide awake and wondering how he got on the floor in the first place.  She just scoffed and smiled at Bobby who made eye contact with her after his eyes wandered around to process where he was.  He just gave her a goofy smile as he stood back up and pushed the cart to follow behind her.

“Are you ok?” She asked.  “You look more tired than usual and not just from me beating you up everyday.  Like more tired than me and I have 2 jobs.”  Bobby just yawned before deciding to answer her question.

“Well, if you must know, I’ve been staying up late.”

“Why?”

“When everyone goes to sleep, I go to the basement and dance for a few hours since nobody can bother me or try to watch me.  What?”  Bobby’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Nari chuckling to herself.  “Why are you laughing?”

“You dance?”

“Yeah, why?” Bobby said, starting to get defensive.  “You saw me dancing that one time.”

“I know, but I didn’t peg you as a guy who danced for real.  I was honestly going to tease you that day because it just looked like you were copying moves you saw on TV to be cool.”  She looked at Bobby up and down.  “Very interesting.”

“Yeah, now you know.”

“But why do you dance so late and for so long?”

“In my school, I’m also a part of like the dance program.  So I study music, make music, dance, and all that.”

“That’s cool,” Nari said as she put more stuff in the cart.  “I dance a little bit too.  More when I was younger.”  Before Bobby could ask more about it, Nari started pulling the cart to the check out area.

I'm learning more about this girl everyday, he thought as he continued to follow her.

When they finished paying, they went to the car.  It was dark outside, but there was just enough light that gave them and the things around them like a gray and blue tint.  Once Nari closed the trunk, she put her hand on her hip with the other one leaning on the car to hold herself up and looked at Bobby who gave her a confused look.

“I want to see you dance.”  Bobby looked around the barren parking lot that had a few people walking around to do their shopping.

“Here?”

She can’t be serious, he thought, I’ll look stupid.

“Yeah.  I want to see how legit you are.  Since you go to such a good school and everything”

“Well, if you want,” Bobby started, thinking about his late night dance sessions.  He looked at Nari who was patiently waiting with a small smirk on her face.  There was a slight wind blowing in her direction making her hair flow slightly.  It caused her entire face to be shown without any little hairs covering.  For the first time since they met, Bobby was able to clearly see her face.  She always had her face covered with hair, sweat, or it was up in a ponytail.  He was always too busy worried for his wellbeing in the dojo that he never had a chance to really look at her.

Nari’s hair was loose and throughout the day, he was usually talking to her with her back to him, her side view from driving, or too far or close for him to focus on her facial features.  Now with her a good enough distance away and her stance against the car, Bobby could actually see her.

She had a soft and warm looking face since she didn’t have that murderous glint in her eyes, for the most part.  The small smirk wasn’t as intimidating as it usually was and actually kind of cute.  Her leaning on the car made her look alluring rather than her usual fear inducing fighting stance.

Well damn, he thought, suddenly forgetting what he was going to say.  This may be a problem.

“If I want to what?” Nari asked, breaking Bobby out of his thoughts.

“Oh um…”

Well, if I invite her over to watch, it could create some problems, he thought.

But it only becomes a problem if you make it a problem, Bobby thought, it’s not like I’m doing anything.  Just showing her a dance like she wanted.

But then what if it does become a problem.  I mean she looks really pretty right now and this could make things hard for me and her.  Wait, I think she’s pretty?  Bobby looked over Nari again as she patiently waited.  Yeah, I guess I do.  But like Jeeyoung is pretty and that doesn’t mean anything.  That tiny kid that beat me up yesterday in the dojo was pretty.  Yeah, so this doesn’t mean anything.

“Yup,” Bobby said as he nodded to himself.  He looked at Nari again who eyed him weirdly and just stood up straight, about to speak.

“If you want, you can come over one day to watch for yourself,” he said before she could say anything.  “I’m kind of sore from today and I made the basement like a little studio so it’s nice to dance in.”

“Sure, why not?” she said.  Bobby fist pumped in his mind.  “Come on, we have to get going to your mom before she starts panicking about where you went.”

The two entered the car and Bobby plugged in his phone to continue being in control of the aux cord.  He put more music that he thought would inspire him to make some of his own songs.  He looked over at Nari who was bobbing her head to the beat of the music that was playing and smiled to himself.

See, no problem, he thought to himself.  Why would you even think about her like that?  It's not like you can date her.  YG would actually kill you if you did anything stupid like that.  He looked over at Nari again who drove with only one hand on the wheel.  Her other hand was in a fist that allowed her head to rest on as her elbow was propped on the window. 

Wow, she looks pretty...cool! Bobby thought, correcting himself.  She is one cool gal.  Who said dating?  Not me.  Besides, she probably thinks I'm still an so would never go for me.  Bobby finished his inner conversation with a smug smirk and crossed his arms in front of him.  They silently drove to Bobby's house for the rest of the way and were welcomed by Bobby’s mom at the door.

“Ah!  Jiwon!  Nari!  Thank you for doing all of this.  I’m sure it wasn’t that easy,” she said.

“Anything you give people to do is never easy mom,” Bobby said as he gave his mom a hug and kiss before going in the house with some of the groceries.

“Anytime,” Nari said as she hugged Bobby’s mom as well before following Bobby inside.

The four of them, including Bobby’s dad, brought in the groceries from the car and packed them away in the house.  Once they finished, they heard the sounds of car doors being closed shut and soon Jiun and Jeeyoung arrived through the front door.

“Hey everyone,” Jiun said as he entered the kitchen with Jeeyoung.

“Great, everyone is here,” Bobby’s mom said.  Everyone was gathered around the kitchen doing their own thing when Bobby’s mom put dinner on the table.  “Come on, let’s eat.  You too Nari.”

“Oh no, I’m fine,” she said, “I have to get back home to start dinner for me and my mom.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, I invited your mother too.  She is on the way here from work.”  She gestured Nari to sit down at the table and Nari just sighed in defeat as she plopped herself down next to Bobby.  Jeeyoung and Jiun sat across from the two of them, while Bobby’s parents sat across from each other at one end of the table with one chair open next to them for Nari’s mother.  Nari’s mom came 10 minutes later and they all dug into the small feast that Bobby’s mother prepared for all of them.  Everyone was mostly talking amongst themselves and enjoying the food.  Bobby and Nari were trying to out-song each other by naming an artist and making the other name a song by them.  The two went back and forth with a bunch of giggles.

Jiun was watching them, not happy with the sight he was seeing.  Knowing how big of a flirt his brother was, he didn't like this at all.

"I told you they would be nice friends," Jeeyoung nudged him, breaking him from his own train of thought.

"Yeah, I guess," he said flatly.

“Miley Cyrus,” Bobby said, continuing their game.

“Duh, Wrecking Ball,” Nari said with a scoff.  “Black Eyed Peas.”

“Where is the Love?”  Bobby said.  “Who doesn’t know that song by them?  Pharrell.”

“The fact that you’re naming such easy artists doesn’t make me ‘Happy,’” she said with a smile while Bobby just rolled his eyes at how cheesy that joke was as he took a drink of water.  “Big Bang.”  Bobby choked his drink and started coughing at the sound of that name.

Did she just say--

“Are you ok?” she said laughing.  “Did I finally get you?  You don’t know who Big Bang is?”

Oh trust me, Bobby thought, I know them.  Bobby looked over to his brother who was looking at Bobby with cautious eyes.  They both knew this wasn’t a good situation.

“No, I definitely know who Big Bang is,” Bobby said as he wiped his mouth.  “I just didn’t think you were into Korean music.”

“Yeah, I’m not that into it,” she said, “I only know Big Bang, Super Junior, and like 2 90s groups.  I don’t have the time to check out the Korean music scene.  Plus, I’m in here and I don’t really speak or understand a lot of Korean.  I stopped listening for new things when I went into high school and had to take Spanish.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Bobby said.

“What?” Nari said in confusion.

“Well, mom,” Jiun spoke up, knowing Bobby needed to change the subject.  “Why did you gather everyone here tonight?”

“Oh, that’s right,” she said.  “Well, tomorrow is your 5 year wedding anniversary and I wanted to do something special.  So, we’ll be spending the weekend together at a beach house.  Nari and her mom are basically our family, so I invited them too.  I already spoke to Nari’s mom and she took the weekend off.”  Bobby’s mom looked at the kids in happiness and excitement.  

“That’s why we had you kids buy so much food,” Bobby’s father said.  “It’s for the weekend.”

“Wait, but isn’t renting a house so expensive?” Jeeyoung said, worry seeping from her voice.  “I can’t let you guys spend so much just for a weekend to celebrate.”

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Bobby’s mom said, “I’ll do anything for my daughter.  Plus this is special.  5 years is a beginning milestone.  I also got the place for free since my friend owns it.  She’s been asking me if I ever wanted to go, so I asked for this weekend.”

Bobby looked at Jiun who just looked happy to be taking off for a weekend.  Nari looked happy to also have a break and was thanking his parents.  Bobby, on the other hand, didn’t really know how to feel.  Excitement wasn’t really in his mind.  Worry and confusion was more like it, but he also wasn’t sure why.

A whole weekend with Nari? he thought.  He looked over at Nari who had a bright smile on her face and he unconsciously smiled as well.  A whole weekend with Nari.  I could show her some moves.  Maybe she can help me make some music.  Maybe she could even practice with me if she really does like music as much as she said.

Jeeyoung just looked over at Bobby after thanking his mom and saw the goofy look on his face.  Everyone else was too busy talking to one another about the details that they didn’t notice how silent he was.  Nari was in the kitchen making a few phone calls for work at the market and Jeeyoung followed Bobby’s line of sight to be towards her.

This is going to be a fun weekend, she thought as she looked at Bobby.

This is going to be an interesting weekend, Bobby thought as picked up his plate to go to the kitchen.