YoungBae walked into the aquarium and had his breath taken away from him. 

 

All the lights were turned off. And in having all the lights turned off, the blue of each tank stood out all the more. With each tank, the colours of each fish swimming added to the aesthetic and YoungBae suddenly wondered why aquariums never displayed fish this way. He walked to the nearest tank and watched two fish swimming. The tank was small but filled with a lot of décor - shells, a mock-up of a sunken ship, and YoungBae felt like there was too much for the tank. Yet the fish swam around each other… almost happily. He took the colours in, the bright yellow of the bigger one. It appeared to be more energetic than the other, a mixture of a deep purple and bright green which was smaller and slimmer. YoungBae watched the two of them for a moment. He analysed the way they swam, looking at each fish. 

 

At first, it looked random. They would just swim here and there, nibble for a bit, dash through the tall grass or maybe actually swim into the glass. The first time he saw the purple one do that, YoungBaw swore the yellow fish turned around and swam towards it. It was then that he realised how the yellow one seemed to go about its movement depending on the other fish. If the greenish/purple one went to the right, the yellow fish went to the right. If it became too tight, the yellow fish would back away and let the other one move around free. Yet it still kept close by it. 

 

Being here was making him want to buy a fish. Would they sell fish here? Surely they did… whoever was here. For an instant, YoungBae was annoyed at Nina and her secrecy. Then it disappeared when he realised it was sort of his own fault: he didn’t ask why she was bringing him to a closed aquarium at night which belonged to some random person. He tried to focus on the good Nina meant from this, that he could get away from the hubble that was going on at home. 

 

It was this that made him tear his eyes away from this fish that awed him. He set off trying to find the owner. Walking through the aquarium, he noted how it wasn’t as big as they normally were and there was no gigantic glass panelled walls full of fish. The most there was a decent sized tank in a wall, but that was it. 

 

His eyes scanned the informational tags of a few of the tanks he walked past. He saw the English below, what he assumed to be, French. Surprisingly, underneath that, he found Japanese kanji. Whilst France was a diverse country, the most he’d seen was Mandarin. Japanese? He kept walking until he found her. It was a girl, staring at very large tank. It appeared that the tank was centre in the room and the main show from how more fancy it looked compared to the ones YoungBae had seen thus far. He was about to call out, realising she was too into the fish before her to realise there was someone else here when he stepped forward and realised just who it was. 

 

Oh my ING GOD. 

 

YoungBae immediately stepped back and lowered his head, taking a moment to gather the fact that Mariana was right there. Suddenly, it made sense. The Japanese. The fact that Nina brought him here. The fact that she was confident the owner would give him a lift. YoungBae frowned, not recalling reading that Mariana owned an aquarium when he all but hit himself on the head. Ah yes, and he loved ripping his shirt off as much as Taeyang apparently does. 

 

YoungBae took a deep breath and stepped forward. He didn’t announce himself but rather walked around a few tanks so he could slowly walk up to the tank. He kept his eyes on her, blurred from the water of the tank which separated them. She was smiling but it wasn’t a happy one. Whilst he didn’t have a clear cut image of her face, the way she rubbed her shoulders and shook her head told him that much. Then she realised there was someone in front of her. 

 

“Oh mon Dieu,” he heard the sharp intake of breath as well as the French. He knew it was French for oh my God because Nina had used it several times whenever JiYong had done or said something to annoy her. YoungBae put an easy smile on his face and went around the tank to meet her properly. Mariana did the same and YoungBae tried to remain calm. 

 

“Nina brought me here.” YoungBae said in Japanese. He was near fluent in that language than English. English just gave him a chance to be the awkward fan and he didn’t want to repeat what happened on the phone call. 

 

“Oh is she here?” Mariana said sliding into the language also as she looked around behind him for any sign of the polyglot. 

 

“Uh, no.” YoungBae said. “I’m sorry, I hope you don’t mind. She just said I needed a break and… brought me here.” 

 

Mariana’s lips turned into a smile of understanding. “When I feel like it’s… becoming too much and I get overwhelmed, I come here.” She said. “Pretty much everyone knows that.” She looked around at the fish surrounding them. “To be fair, I’d like to think it makes sense as to why one feels calm here.” It was the longest he’d heard her speak in real life and YoungBae was in awe. He honestly was. Her voice was known for its huskiness and it was one thing to listen to it on the song or hear it in a video. 

 

“I really like the two fish at the front.” YoungBae said, realising he’d been quiet for a tad too long, taking in her voice and the fact that it was directly addressed to him. “Especially the purple/green one.”

 

Mariana turned her nose up. “Really?”

 

“What?” YoungBae asked. “It’s… different and it’s beautiful and all those colours mixed together…” He trailed off, realising he sounded stupid. Mariana stared at him, lips pressed together in that way they did pre-smile. “What?” He asked again. 

 

“I prefer the yellow one. It’s simple. I find that beautiful.” Her words were thrown together so effortlessly. There was no stuttering and no tumbling over and not a single ‘and’ in her sentence. She spoke like she meant every word. 

 

“Oh.” YoungBae said, just for the sake of saying something. 

 

“They have names you know,” Mariana said, turning her body as she slowly began to walk. YoungBae followed suit.

 

“Yeah?” 

 

“Yeah.” She confirmed. “Nina named them.” They came to another tank which held an entire school of fish. “The purple/green one is named Mariana, after me.” Mariana said with a sigh. But she had mirth in her eyes. She stared forward at the fish. YoungBae tried to as well. Funny how he couldn’t get over all the fish when he first arrived and now that Mariana was here, he hadn’t looked back at them once. 

 

“Is the yellow one after her?” YoungBae asked. It would make sense - Nina was happy and yellow is happy colour. Maybe that’s why Mariana spoke the way she did, like she was talking about something amusing yet silly that a child had done. 

 

“No.” Mariana said. She looked at him and grinned. “The yellow one’s called YoungBae.”

 

She walked off just before YoungBae’s mouth dropped open. It took him a moment to process that and reboot. When he did, he sped up the steps to Mariana who had wandered off to sit on a square cushion. He stood, realising that if he sat down, his entire would be pressed against hers due to how tiny it was. Mariana looked at him and rolled her eyes. She patted the cushion and YoungBae took the invitation. 

 

“I think it’s pretty obvious that Nina ships us.” Mariana said. 

 

“She was the person who introduced me to your music.” YoungBae spoke. Mariana shook her head and laughed. He heard the English word ‘trust’ be muttered under her breath. YoungBae continued on. “Yeah, I found one and asked her about it and she came into work the next day with a stack of CDs.”

 

“I gave her those CDs.”

 

YoungBae blinked, “Did you?” She nodded and YoungBae realised that the pile CDs that sat on his desk had originally come from the girl beside him. 

 

“Yeah. She’s always been there for me. We’re sort of the two wildcards in the family.” Mariana spoke, making YoungBae’s eyes go even wider. “Let me guess, she didn’t tell you we’re related.” YoungBae shook his head. “Not surprised. We’re not even that close anyway, it was from a marriage that has since been… divorced.” Mariana frowned, but laughed off the wrong word. “But I know she’s being humble. A lot of my other cousins throw out they’re related to me every chance they get.”

 

“Yeah.” YoungBae said, knowing exactly what she meant. The faces of various people who had used him for his fame and money ran through his face. 

 

“Hey, Bae - do you mind if I call you Bae?” She asked. He shook his head, trying to keep the excitement off his face as he realised she was using that nickname. That very affectionate nickname. “Your buddy JiYong isn’t going to hurt her, is he?” 

 

“I think he’d hurt himself first.” YoungBae said. Mariana processed his words and nodded. 

 

“She’s… she trusts and loves way too easily. Her family usually help her but they’re not here but, like, I am.” Mariana sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to trust your judgement. I mean, you practically saw them fall in love.” 

 

YoungBae laughed and nodded. “Yeah. I also, uh, sort of heard their confession of love. Well Nina’s. She told me.” He saw the raised eyebrow she gave him. “In the car before. I, uh, I asked her if she loved him and she, well, you know Nina.”

 

“She gave you a prologue, beginning, middle and end delivered with such story telling skills you wonder why she’s not an author.” Mariana spoke with understanding. “Yeah.” A pause. “I’m guessing you know about Raf.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I actually knew the guy. He… he wasn’t an . Like, I knew he didn’t intentionally lead her on or anything.” YoungBae grimaced, knowing that Nina wouldn’t fall for a , anyway. “He also had very pretty eyes.” Mariana added. it, YoungBae changed his mind, he’s an . 

 

“You right there?” YoungBae looked at Mariana and saw she was staring at the fist he’d unknowingly clenched. He gave an embarrassed look and unclenched it. Mariana rolled her eyes and bumped his shoulder. “Relax, your eyes are pretty too.” This time, YoungBae rolled his eyes (although his heart was doing somersaults) “See! Look, there they go, rolling.” 

 

It fell quiet. 

 

Say something. 

 

What could he say? 

 

He risked a glance at Mariana who looked at the ground, watching the lights reflected from the glass tanks dance around. YoungBae looked at his hands and quickly ran through a list of conversation starters. The Weather? He didn’t even know what the weather was like and they were inside with no windows. Also, YoungBae liked to think he wasn’t so pathetic. 

 

Well you’re being pathetic by not saying anything. 

 

“You look pretty!” 

 

Mariana jumped at the suddenness of his words that came out slightly higher that he normally spoke. She looked down at the Jordans, mom jeans and Thrasher hoodie that - “We’re wearing the same hoodie.” She pointed out just as he realised. “OH! This is the one you wore in the video for, uh,” she snapped her fingers, “LET’S NOT FALL IN LOVE!” 

 

“Uh, yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck and Mariana stared at him for a short moment. 

 

“Please stop it.” She said. 

 

“What?”

 

“Being cute.”

 

He didn’t respond. 

 

“Being cute in that adorable schoolboy which makes me feel like an old cougar trying to seduce you.” 

 

“I’m older than you.” YoungBae was quick to say, recalling the loud “YES!” he yelled when he found that out. 

 

“Yes, I know. You’re oppa and all - what? Did I use that wrong? I mean, you are older so doesn’t that make it… oppa?” Mariana asked. YoungBae all but groaned when she said it again. She really need to stop. I mean, he was lucky it was dark and he was wearing dark clothes otherwise she could see what it was doing to him. 

 

“Yeah but - “

 

“Oh! Oppa is the one that’s like daddy, isn’t it?” YoungBae’s face was aflame, especially since she used both terms so casually. He nodded, not able to say anything. “Yeah, never really got the , to be honest.” She went on. “Wait, do you get when girls call you daddy?”

 

“Girls don’t call me… that.”

 

“Do they call you oppa?”

 

YoungBae hung his head. “Girls don’t call me anything.”

 

Mariana was quiet for a moment then she let out a loud pfffft. “You rip of in concerts and still don’t get the punani.”

 

“Pu - what?”

 

“Punani. It’s Jamaican for .” 

 

YoungBae spluttered. 

 

“Oh come on, no one as hot as you is as innocent as that! Come one! You made out with a girl on a horse! Shirtless!” Mariana said. YoungBae laughed at this, recalling her comments about him being shirtless. “Like, I’m sorry. The first time I ever saw you, you were shirtless with a black bomber jacket, all oiled up and… hip ing.” Mariana said. “Oh, by the way, I like you with pink hair.”

 

He was dying his hair pink again. 

 

“That’s… Taeyang.” YoungBae said. “I’m the,” he paused to recall the English word, “heartthrob. But I’m quiet. Seungri’s the loud one. SeungHyun is suave and DaeSung gets all the girls with his hair.” Mariana laughed and nodded. 

 

“That guy is cool. Never met him and I wanna be his friend.” Mariana said. “That part in Let’s Not Fall In Love when he - “ she stopped when she saw the look YoungBae had on his face. “Come on! I’m sorry but you were dancing in the rain.”

 

“I had to. They made me.” 

 

It got serious. Mariana’s face fell and all the amusement washed away with those two statements. She placed a hand on his knee and squeezed it. “I’m sorry.” She said. “I shouldn’t have said that.” YoungBae didn’t look at her, focusing on the space on the ground between his feet. “You know I rewatched that video. I was a .”

 

“No, you weren’t.” He said, his manners coming out. 

 

“No, I was.” She said. “It’s okay. If you weren’t offended, I’d be surprised. But you should probably know that I spent that entire day dancing around to Ringa Linga… in my underwear. I even tried to learn the dance but someone knocked on my door and I had to put on clothes and turn off your voice which had been playing all morning.” When he looked up to meet her eyes, she gave him a comforting smile. She retracted her hand from his knee and played with her fingers, keeping her gaze focused on that. “I know that it’s a lot more… difficult in K-Pop. I mean, you’ve been training since you were twelve.” 

 

“Did Nina tell you?”

 

“No, I Googled you.”

 

YoungBae sat upright and for the first time the entire evening, the roles felt reversed. Suddenly, he felt confident and in control and Mariana was the blushing school boy - well, in her case blushing school girl. But he didn’t need those images in his head. Not right now, at least. 

 

“Did you now?”

 

“Yeah. I kind of, uh, well had one of those stalker seshs. Hey!” She said, trying to defend herself, “I’ve been meaning to since that one fan nearly fainted when I said I didn’t know who you were.” The one eyebrow YoungBae had raised was joined by the other as Mariana realised that her point didn’t really aid her argument. 

 

“You still rip your shirt off.”

 

“You’ve danced to my music in your underwear.” 

 

Mariana tried to keep her composure. She crossed her legs in a professional, classy business-like fashion, trying to assert herself. “And you haven’t danced to my music in your underwear?”

 

“No.” He said and her voice dropped because of the honesty in his voice. Mariana blew a raspberry and YoungBae waited to deliver the punchline. “I do that when I’m fully .”

 

Mariana’s eyes bulged and she burst out of her seat. She pointed at him with a finger outstretched. “AHA! So you can be cocky!” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “And here you were, acting all innocent and blushing when I call you oppa.” He blushed. “No, but, Bae, in all seriousness, please don’t be like that.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like how you were earlier on the phone.” 

 

YoungBae stood up and nodded. “I wanted to apologise about that. I was caught off guard was all.” 

 

“You should also apologise for speaking English. I was offended that you thought you had to with me.” Mariana said. “Even if I like hearing English words come out of your mouth.” YoungBae’s mouth drew up into a smirk. 

 

“Oh really?” He asked in his accented English. “You like it when I speak English?”

 

“No. I like it when your confident and not quivering in fear of me.” She replied too in English. YoungBae took in her words and took in the fact that all the flirting was baiting him, trying to get him to get more confident around her. It was surprising that it had actually worked. To try and reassure her, he closed the distance between her and embraced her in a hug. 

 

He tried not to freak out that he was hugging her. He tried to keep those thoughts aside, knowing that she didn’t like that. And with good reason; he could all too easily put himself in her shoes and see the roles reversed with her being so nervous around him. Having said that, there was one thing he need to clear up. 

 

“I don’t actually dance around to your music.”

 

“No, you get to my music.” She corrected, speaking into his shoulder. She moved her head so that she was looking up at him. YoungBae took note that she was a head shorter than his already short stature. Another thing he’d been excited when he’d read about. 

 

“Can we please be friends? I know it might be difficult considering everything…” Mariana pulled out his embrace when her eyes shone with something. “I actually wanted to talk to you about that. I’m sorry for, you know, making that video. I didn’t realise it would blow up the way it did.” 

 

YoungBae dismissed it. “The fans know how much I like Demmy D. Being a… fanboy is as much of Taeyang as it is ripping his shirt and dancing in the rain.” He said. Mariana’s face brightened. 

 

“You know, I was actually jealous of that girl who got to be with Taeyang in that video?” 

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes. And that is the last thing you will ever hear about the inner K-Pop fan whose bias became Taeyang when she saw that side camera angle shot of him in Good Boy.” YoungBae really ought to send that director a basket of flowers and a thank you card. 

 

“Okay.” YoungBae said. “And yes, I would very much like it if we were friends.”

 

“Good.”

 

…

 

“Hey Bae?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“The inner K-Pop fan is really, really, really happy right now.”