“Bom, wake up”

A voice rang inside my ears, causing me to stir around a little bit on my bed. But I wasn’t bothered – my brain told me to continue my sleep, so I did.

But just right when I was about to fall asleep again, I felt my shoulder being shaken – pulling me back to consciousness again.

“Ugh… go away” I mumbled while covering my face with the duvet. But even so, I could still hear the voice – whom I recognized as Dara’s – trying to wake me up. It seemed like she wasn’t going to give up until I was fully awake.

“Park Bom, I swear if you don’t get up and out from your bed right now, you’ll going to regret it” geez, I wasn’t even close to half conscious and she has already threatened me and even pulled the ‘full name’ card on me. I was too tired to even respond, so I just kept my eyes closed and pretend that I didn't hear her – hoping that she would give up soon and let me sleep peacefully.

But who am I kidding, I knew damn well that she won’t ever give up until I did what she wanted me to do. Which was why a few seconds later, I felt a heavy weight being dropped on top of me.

I groaned loudly and tried so hard to push her off from me but she won’t budge. “Oh my God, Dara! It’s Sunday, stop bothering me and let me sleep! Get off me, you weight like a whale” I wonder how her petite body could be so heavy. Maybe her bones were made of steel. Yeah, that was probably it.

“Nope, not gonna happen. So, you better get up right now or stay there while I crush your body”

I groaned again and admit my defeat so she would get off from me. I sat up on my bed and shot her a deadly glare – silently wishing that my eyes could shoot laser like Superman – while she looked at me with a triumphant smile.

“Mr. alarm is the only thing in charge of waking me up. Why do you need to take over his job??” I ruffled my hair in annoyance. I mean, it was a holiday and I was being woken up from my beauty sleep – who wouldn’t be annoyed?

“I’m not taking over his job, we’re switching shifts. Since it’s his day off, I will be the one in charge” she smiled proudly.

I looked at her with a ‘what the ’ look for a few seconds before laying back down on the bed while pulling the duvet to cover me again. I felt a wave of comfort shot through my body when the duvet wrapped around my body perfectly – making me feel like a burrito. But that didn’t last long, because two seconds later, it was yanked off from my body.

“What the hell do you want, Dara?? I think you need to be lectured on how you shouldn’t wake people up early on a weekend” I looked at her annoyingly. Clearly, I was beginning to regret giving her my apartment’s passcode – I might as well change it later.

“Me? Lectured?” she scoffed, “I think you’re the one in need of a lecture on how you shouldn’t let a guy, who ruined your life for two freaking years, back into your life so easily”

“I didn’t let him back easily” I rolled my eyes. Ever since I told her what happened between me and Jiyong in Japan, she has been nagging me about how I shouldn’t become friends with him ever again. I felt like she was my daily reminder to stay away from Jiyong.

“Then explain that” she pointed towards the paper flower that Jiyong gave me. I placed it on my nightstand as a decoration because it looked so cute.

“It’s just his way of making our friendship works” I shrugged, not really wanting to have this conversation right now. Especially when I already knew what she would say and my mind hasn’t function properly yet since I just woke up.

“Really, Bom? You’re gonna believe that?” she looked at me as if I just told her that the Earth was flat. “To me, it sounds more like his way of trying to get Bom back. A friend doesn’t simply give you flowers during lunch, do you see me giving you flowers? Or do you see Taeyang giving you flowers? And that lunch sounds more like a lunch date to me”

Of course not. I wanted to say, but I chose not to. “Geez, Dara. Stop worrying so much, how many times do I have to tell you that we’re just friends?” I rolled my eyes at her again.

“And how many times do I have to tell you that both of you couldn’t just simply go back to being friends after all that” she made a circle motion with her hand before placing it on her hips.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. This was obviously way too much for a morning conversation. I knew that when Dara was certain about something, it would take a lot more effort to convince her otherwise. A bunch of words would not simply change her mind.

So, I chose to ignore her and got out from my bed. I did some stretching while letting out a yawn, definitely still in need of some sleep. I only got one full day off once a week and she had to ruin it.

I saw her eyeing my every move from the corner of my eye. But I couldn’t care less about that, she knew damn well that I would be very cranky if someone interrupted my sleep – especially, on a weekend.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I heard her behind me, but I still ignore her and proceed to walk out from my bedroom and walk to the kitchen. I need a glass of cold water to cool myself down. 

I heard her footsteps behind me, following me to the kitchen. I poured myself a glass of cold water from the fridge and took my time to drink it, savoring its taste as if it was an expensive wine or something. I didn’t really have to do that; I could just finish the whole glass of water within a few gulps but it was fun to annoy the impatient Dara.

Just right when I put the glass into the sink, I felt a hand grabbed my wrist and started pulling me back to my bedroom. In front of me, was a very annoyed Dara. I couldn’t help but to chuckle at her reaction – this sure brought up my mood a little bit.

When we were right back inside my bedroom, she went behind me and started shoving me into the bathroom. “Get inside and take a shower” she said.

I halted my steps and turn around to give her a ‘are you kidding me?’ look – as if she just asked me to jump off my apartment window. “Why? It’s Sunday and it’s still early. I don’t want to shower yet”

It would be very uncharacteristic of me if I showered early on a weekend. I mean, it was the only lazy day that I got in a week – of course, I wouldn’t want to waste it.

“It’s 10 a.m. Bom, it’s not early. Now shower,” she pointed towards the bathroom, like a mom telling her daughter to go to her room. “Prince charming told me that he wanted to take you out on a date. Now go get ready and you better come out looking like a princess”

She started shoving me towards the bathroom again and closed the door shut once I stepped inside it – not giving me the time to react to what she said.

A date? Prince charming?

I sighed and ruffled my hair as I look at my reflection in the mirror. I knew exactly that prince charming was Taeyang as she has been calling him that ever since the first time she knew about him. But a date? Really? She must be kidding.

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Half an hour later, I came out from the bathroom with some light makeup on and I’ve curled my hair like how I did almost every single day. I walked towards my closet with a towel wrapped around my body and I spotted Dara laying down comfortably on my bed while playing with her phone.

“Could you remind me why am I showering this early?” I said while searching for the right outfit to wear.

Should I wear my usual formal clothes or casual?

“You have a date with prince charming”

“Okay listen, first of all,” I turned around to face her and held one finger up, “he’s not prince charming and second,” I held another finger up, “we’re not going out on a date. Tell me exactly what he told you” I crossed my arms.

“Ugh, you’re no fun,” she pouted, “he told me that you should come over to his apartment later since he has a lot of food for you. I think it was something about his mom sending him tons of foods or something”

My eyes lit up upon hearing the word ‘food’. My stomach began to growl, making me realize that I haven’t had any breakfast yet. “Food sounds good…” my words trailed off as I went back to search for an outfit. “But why didn’t he just text me?” I suddenly realized.

“He did, but you were too busy sleeping” I could already feel her eyes rolling even though I wasn’t facing her.

After flipping and digging through my closet for a good ten minutes, I finally found the outfit that I wanted to wear. I found a simple, black V-neck t-shirt – that I never remember buying – around the back of my closet. I also took out a pair of grey jogger pants to go with the t-shirt. I didn’t really feel like dressing up today.

I let go of the towel that wrapped my body and tossed it towards the bed before putting on the outfit that I picked out. Dara shot me a weird look when I finished dressing myself, “you’re a fashion icon and a fashion brand owner. This is the look that you’re going for on a date?”

“This is not a date, I’m not a fashion icon yet and I don’t feel like dressing up” I shrugged.

When I was done and was about to leave, I looked at Dara and she was still laying on my bed leisurely – it didn’t seem like she was going to budge anytime soon. I knew right away that she wasn’t going to leave my apartment with me.

She would always come to my apartment and left later than me – not without telling me first of course. I was pretty used to it and wasn’t bothered by the idea. I mean, she considered my apartment as her second home and I trusted her enough to gave her my passcode.

“I’m leaving now, you okay here by yourself?” I glanced at her while putting on my sneakers and saw her nodding. “Don’t forget to text me when you leave”

“Okay mom” she mumbled lowly but I could still hear her. I shook my head and glanced at her one last time before walking out from my bedroom and out of my apartment.

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“How come you’re so good at this???” Taeyang said to me in shock.

“Practice. A lot of practice” I smirked at him as I lean against the pool table with the cue stick on my hand while I eyed the very last ball that I need to sink in order to win the game.

And yes, we were playing billiards. I have no idea how big his penthouse was and if he still has a couple of rooms I didn’t know of yet, but he had shown me his sort of ‘man cave’ where there were lots of games placed inside it. On one side of the room there was this large pool table and also a Ping-Pong table. While on the other side, there were numerous colorful beanbags placed on the floor along with a TV – which was probably 64 inch big – and a PlayStation as well as an Xbox. And in the middle of the room, there was a mini bar filled with different kind of drinks – mostly alcohols though.

I positioned my cue stick in front of the cue ball and shifted it a couple of times to find the right angle before I drove the stick forward, hitting the cue ball. It rolled forward in a very fast motion and hit the ‘8’ ball in front of it. The ‘8’ ball then rolled forward too, hitting the corner of the pool table before bouncing back and rolled right into one of the pockets.

“Yes! I win!” I lifted one of my hand up high in the air, feeling proud of myself that I still got the skill after a long time.

It was true when I said I did a lot of practice. I used to at this game but thanks to Jiyong’s ultimate hobby towards playing billiards, I got to learn and master this game. Jiyong used to win every rounds to the point where it irritated me – so, I made it my goal to beat him in this game one day. And after countless practice and losing, I finally did.

I was beyond happy when I finally won one round. Even though I was just lucky to won that round, I still felt the need to celebrate it and I won’t stop rubbing it to his face for the whole week. I chuckled inside my head as I remember that day. My memory even let me recall more of that day, “good job baby. I know you can beat me one day” was what he said when I won the game.

“Come on, that’s not fair” Taeyang whined, bringing me back to reality. “You didn’t tell me that you were this good”

I stuck my tongue out at him. It has been the fourth round and he hasn’t won any of them.

“One more round. We’re not stopping until I beat you in this game” he said and proceed to retrieve all the balls from the pockets.

“Prepare to lose again” I grinned and I saw him rolling his eyes. I watched him racked up the ball by using the triangle while I nibbled on the chocolate chip cookie that his mom brought.

Speaking of it, his mom really brought a substantial amount of food for him. It was probably enough to feed an entire family of six people. We have been spending the last couple of hours trying our best to finish all the foods but it just seemed never ending – I felt like the food kept on increasing instead of decreasing.

It was lucky that both of us have a spacious stomach that we could fill, but it was still not enough to fit all of the food she brought. There were some leftovers of the main course that we decided to store inside Taeyang’s fridge for his dinner tonight or tomorrow’s lunch.

“This is really delicious. Did your mom make it by herself?” Taeyang hit the cue ball very hard with his cue stick, breaking the group of balls in the center of the pool table. A loud sound of balls clashing with one another and even the sound of a couple of balls sinking into the pockets can be heard before he answered me, “Yup. Your turn, you got the solid ball”

“I know” I picked up my cue stick and began eyeing the balls. Once I have set my eyes on a particular ball that I wanted to sink, I positioned my cue stick once again.

This time, it took me a few seconds longer because the position of the ball was quite hard to sink. I have to really grab the right angle or else, the ball would not roll into the right direction. I hit the cue ball once I was ready but luck wasn’t on my side this time. I didn’t hit the correct angle and the ball didn’t roll into the direction that I wanted.

I groaned and saw Taeyang smirking at me. “You’re just lucky, this won’t happen again” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Are you sure it’s not your skill running out?” he chuckled. I glared at him and went back to munching my cookies.

“So,” he said as he leans against the pool table. “Any interesting story that I missed out?” he glanced at me for a second before focusing back to the balls.

“Hmm…” I thought for a few seconds – recalling my memories inside my head – before saying, “yeah, my sister is getting married soon”

I frowned at the thought of my sister’s wedding, it reminded me about the ‘plus one’ that I should bring with me to the party. I completely forgot about that for a few days – but now, the thoughts about it came back to my head again and I knew, I would be very bothered about it and wouldn’t stop thinking about it again.

“Go Eun noona?” he said with the same familiarity tone like Jiyong. I furrowed my eyebrow as I look at him. He knew my sister?

Taeyang seemed to notice my confused expression that he stopped playing the billiards. “You know her?” I asked. 

“Ah… um,” he opened his mouth to say something but then realization hit me. I cut him off before he could utter another word, “Jiyong told you didn’t he?” I shook my head after realizing how dumb my question was. I kept on forgetting that they are best friends.

“Well… yeah, kind of” he smiled nervously while rubbing the back of his neck. I looked at him skeptically – somehow, my mind told me that there was something more about it. But I chose to ignore it.

We went back to play the billiards again without talking about anything else. But somehow, my mind couldn’t stop thinking about the wedding. The thoughts consumed me that I wasn’t even focusing on the game anymore, resulting in Taeyang winning this round. And it didn’t even bother me that I lost.

Taeyang cheered and jumped around like a kid high on sugar. He made it seemed like he won the biggest achievement in his life when it was just a round of game. He ran around, circling the pool table, and even hugged me out of excitement. Maybe this was how I looked like when I won that round against Jiyong.

But I felt bad because I didn’t feel the exact excitement that he felt. I only gave him a small smile and congratulated him. Suddenly, losing or winning this game didn’t matter to me anymore. Thank God he didn’t notice it, or at least he wasn’t pestering me with questions about it. Being interrogated was the very last thing that I wanted.

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“I’m so full” Taeyang said while stretching his arms and yawned. I could even see his – usually flat and full of abs – belly was now popping out a little bit. Of course they would pop out, we had a feast – we ate tons of foods. Even my pants felt tight now, it was very uncomfortable when I stand up but it was even more uncomfortable when I sat down because it felt like I have a shortage of breathing.

Taeyang offered me some more snacks but I refused it. Seriously? Did he want me to become a giant or what?

I shifted uncomfortably on the couch because of my belly. I mentally reminded myself not to eat these much ever again. I tried so hard to focus on the movie that we were watching for the past half an hour, but I couldn’t. The more I slouched down on the couch, the more I felt the need to throw up.

“Ugh, screw this” I groaned and got up from the couch. At least, standing up didn’t really make my tummy felt like it was going to burst.

“Where are you going? The movie isn’t finished yet” I saw Taeyang pouted. I was really tempted to sit back down and suffer throughout the whole movie but then, I would really end up throwing up. I felt bad again because it was his favorite movie and he had been eager to share it with me.

“I’m sorry Tae, but my belly is making me feel uncomfortable sitting down” I gave him an apologetic look, “let’s do other thing? I promise I’ll have a movie marathon with you some other day to make it up to you”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” his expression turned into a concerned one. “Is that why you keep on shifting your positions on the couch?”

So he noticed…

“Yeah…” I scratched my head nervously. “Can we tour around your penthouse instead?” I felt like there were more rooms in this enormous penthouse that I have not yet discovered.

“Sure, anything for you. Next time, just tell me if you’re feeling uncomfortable with something” he gave me a heartwarming smile which melted me instantly. I turned around and walked away before he could see my cheeks that were slowly turning red. I hate it when I blush easily.

We took a stroll around his penthouse and pretended like it was a park or something. And as expected, there were more rooms that I haven’t known of, such as the library, the balcony that overlooked the beautiful city of Seoul – and for some reasons, Taeyang got the whole rooftop of his apartment building to himself. But he said that there was nothing much to see up there. If I were him, I would definitely make a good use of that rooftop space.

I kept quiet most of the time and only look around to admire the beauty of his penthouse’s interior designs. On the other hand, Taeyang was the opposite of me. He kept on blabbering about many things that I didn’t even remember most of it. I just nodded at everything that he said or replied in a monotone. I guess I was really not up for having any conversation.

“Bom, stop” I felt a hand grabbed my wrist, halting my pace. I turned around and looked at him questioningly. “What’s up with you?”

“Huh?” I rose my eyebrows in confusion.

“I can tell that you’re bothered by something, is there anything I can help you with?” concern was once again written all over his face. I sighed, he seemed to notice every single thing about me – even up to the smallest thing. I wonder if it was because I at hiding it or he was just simply an observant.

“I was just…” my words trailed off, I didn’t really know how to explain what’s on my mind to him. It felt ridiculous because I was bothered by just a mere thought.

Suddenly, I felt his hand grabbed my other hand – holding the both of it in his hands. “Talk to me” he looked at me with gentleness in his eyes, as if he was trying to assure me that everything will be fine.

“I was just thinking about my sister’s wedding” I sighed, looking away from his eyes.

“What about it?”

“My sister told me I need to bring a ‘plus one’ to the wedding party,” I air quoted, “and I’m just so clueless of whom I should invite”

Taeyang looked at me weirdly for a few seconds before bursting out a laugh. It was my turn to look at him weirdly, as if he was laughing at a funeral. “Are you kidding me, Bom? You’re seriously stressing out over that?”

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. So what if he thought it wasn’t worth the stress? To me it was stressful enough to pick either Jiyong or him without hurting any of them.

And that was when I realized that my list was finalized, both of them were my candidates. I just need more time to evaluate and eventually, choose one of them.

“Hey,” he grabbed my chin and tilted it upwards, locking his eyes with mine. “Don’t worry too much, you will definitely know who to choose when the time comes. Tell me, do you have the list of people you thought of inviting?”

“Yeah” and only you and Jiyong were on the list, I wanted to add. “I’ve also narrowed it down already” I smiled.

“Well that’s good then. See, you’re already making a progress. And also,” a smile – well, more like a smirk – started to form on his lips, “I hope my name is on that list”.

Suddenly, my mood was okay again. My thoughts were cleared and everything around me seemed okay again. I couldn’t help but to smile back at him – a smile from ear to ear. It didn’t occur to me before how much effect he had on me but now, I realized it. And it kind of scared and excited me at the same time.

We continued our ‘stroll’ and Taeyang was back on blabbering mode. But I was more cheerful and talkative now, I responded and replied to whatever he was saying wholeheartedly.

I was back to my usual self.

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“Wow…”

That was the only word I can utter the moment he showed me a glass cabinet full of trophies and medals that he earned.

I have never seen someone earned this many awards before. It was a gigantic glass cabinet yet all his trophies and medals filled up the whole cabinet. There was almost no more space to even place one more medal. Some of his certificates were even framed and hung up on the wall beside the cabinet.

The total of certificates that I earned wasn’t even half of the total that he earned. I have seen the amount of awards that Jiyong got before and honestly, it wasn’t even these much. Although I was pretty sure that the amount has increased over the past years.

“You can close your mouth now. I’m afraid a fly might enter your mouth soon” he chuckled beside me. I didn’t even realize that my jaw was dropping. But then again, who wouldn’t? These were an insanely large amount of awards.

“These are all yours?” I pointed towards the glass cabinet, still not believing what I saw.

“Yup” he grinned, a hint of proudness was visible on his eyes. He had every right to be proud. If I ever earned these much awards, I would probably make a throne out of it and sit on it for the rest of my life.

I took a step forward and examine each one of the trophies and medals slowly. I noticed that some of the awards came from his past – probably when he wasn’t even famous yet because it was a simple award for winning competitions like basketball games, debates, and many more. I think it was the competitions that he won during his high school days.

“You won a regional math competition? What are you a math genius?” He won the first place in a regional math competition when he was just in the fifth grade. I guess we have one of Albert Einstein’s descendants over here.

“Well, I may or may not have loved math before” he said. And I looked at him as if he just spoke in Latin. Who in their sane mind would love math? Math was the lesson invented by the devil.

“Okay… we have a nerd alert here” I laughed, it was fun to .

I continued to scan through the glass cabinet again, making sure not to miss a single award from the top to the bottom shelves. I must admit that as a friend of his, I was very proud to see how successful he is. Even though I was not there to witness the ups and downs that he went through to become who he is now.

I read each and every award of his, all of his trophies came in different sizes, shapes and colors. But most of them were transparent and has a glassy look. I bet all of it were very heavy. 

As I began scanning the bottom shelves, I noticed that the trophies were mostly an award given for his hotel. By the look of it, I guessed that the top shelves were filled with his old awards and the bottom shelves were his new ones.

But then, a specific award lying on the very bottom corner of his glass cabinet caught my attention.

I furrowed my eyebrows and bent myself down to get a better view. And I froze, eyes slightly opened bigger than usual after I recognized what it was. A strong sense of familiarity suddenly hit me, sending chills down my spine. I blinked a couple of times, making sure that I wasn’t dreaming and silently wishing that after blinking several times, it would disappear.

But it didn’t.

It was a plastic crown, typically made for children who like to imagine that they were the king of their own magical kingdom. I walked to the side of the glass cabinet, I need to make sure that this was the same crown that I had in mind.

And my thought was confirmed. On the left side of the crown was carved with the word “Y.B”. My eyes widened in shock and out of reflect, I lifted my hand up and covered my mouth which was probably hanging open already.

If you were wondering why I was awfully familiar with this crown, it was because I had the other pair of this crown. It was for the “queen” and the word “P.B” was carved on the left side of my tiara.

My eyes shifted from the crown to Taeyang, then back to the crown again before shifting my eyes back to him. The look on his face stated clearly that he knew exactly what’s going on. No evidence of shock or anything on his face – in fact, it clearly said that he knew this would happen.

The familiarity was so strong that I began seeing flashes of memories gushing out in my mind, sending electric jolts throughout my entire body.

I slowly removed my shaky hand from my mouth and opened my mouth slightly to utter the question that has been hanging on the tip of my tongue ever since I laid my eyes on the crown,

“Who are you…?”

“I think it’s about time you know the truth, Bom” he smiled at me, not the usual kind of smile that he showed me nor his signature eye smile. But the kind of smile that have always made me felt like he had his eyes for me only, the kind of smile that was and will always be reserved for me only.

The smile that I haven’t seen in years.

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First of all, i'm truly sorry for the very late update >.< 

it is my third week since university started and i have tons of assignments to do. I barely have time to write a new chapter because i always come home late and went straight to bed. i wanted to apologize in advance that i might update the next chapter a little bit late but i will try my best to make it quick. the new chapter is in progress now and hopefully it will be ready soon. But in meantime, enjoy this long chapter and i hope you all don't hate me for the cliffhanger lol. 

and second, i'm really excited that i will be going to Taeyang's concert soon! yay! ^^ 

Thank you for understanding and patiently waiting for my updates, don't forget to leave a comment and vote if you like this story :)