Chapter 24

Seungri sat on the chair and leaned one side of his face on the table, looking at nothing in particular. He couldn't concentrate in helping out in the coffee house. His mind was on something else, or rather someone else. It had been a few weeks now since he had learnt that he was from a band called big bang and his name was Seungri.

Seungri idly used his index finger with his right hand and scribbled “big bang” on the table as he thought of Tae Yang. He still couldn't believe it. Tae Yang seems to be a nice person.The question on whether Tae Yang purposely pretended that he could not recognize him when he was in Japan kept running in his mind. On top of that, G Dragon’s announcement made Seungri feels as if his heart was ripped to pieces.

Seungri felt very frustrated. He really wanted to go straight to YG entertainment and demand for answers. However, Seungri vaguely remembered Eunhyuk saying that he should keep calm and not do anything for the moment because the media have been extra sensitive towards YG entertainment or rather, big bang due to the announcement G Dragon made during the award ceremony. Seungri sighed silently at his current situation. On the contrary, Seungri is also scared of the answers they would give if he really went to YG entertainment and demand for answers.

What if he really had been out casted by big bang? Seungri shudder at his thoughts as he closed his eyes, telling himself that it is not true.

“V.I”

Seungri opened his eyes and looked up to see Eunhyuk looking at him. Seungri looked at him blankly.

"Yes" he asked.

Eunhyuk gave an audible sigh.

"You weren't listening were you?" he asked.

"No" Seungri replied.

Eunhyuk ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“You are going to scare my customer away with that expression of yours. The coffee machine is running out of coffee beans. Go to the storage and carry some bags of coffee beans.” Eunhyuk instructed.

Sighing to himself, Seungri got up and walked towards the storage, hoping that doing some manual labour could take his mind away from big bang for a moment.

***

“Is this the place?” Sandara asked curiously while driving her car.

G Dragon who was sitting next to her, checked the address displayed on the coffee house and the address written on the name card.

“Yup.” G Dragon replied as he nodded his head in response at the same time.

“Okay, you get down the car first while I find a parking lot to park my car.” Sandara replied.

G Dragon nodded his head before he get out of the car and walked towards the coffee house.

When G Dragon entered the coffee house, G Dragon looked at the interior decorations in awe. He had never seen a building so beautifully decorated before.

G Dragon smiled to himself as he imagined how Sandara’s eyes would twinkle bright and squeal in delight when she saw this wonderful decorated coffee house.

G Dragon removed the sunglasses and hat he was wearing to reveal himself in front of Eunhyuk after he spotted Eunhyuk serving one of the customers.

 “Hello, I am here to take the photo that you took during the Mnet Asian awards.” G Dragon replied as he gave a polite bow to Eunhyuk .

“Oh my, I thought that you would call before you come over.”  Eunhyuk answered, surprised that G Dragon would come over and collect the photo himself instead of asking someone else to collect the photo instead.

“Why? Is the photo not ready yet?” G Dragon replied worriedly as he bit his lip.

“Oh no, the photo is ready. Take a look around the coffee house while I go upstairs to get the photo.” Eunhyuk answered politely before G Dragon gave him a nod as he walked up the stairs.

While G Dragon was observing the beautiful decorations in the coffee house, he was attracted by the photos displayed on the wall.

G Dragon walked slowly towards the wall as he looked at the pictures. G Dragon was fascinated at how wonderfully the Mnet Asian awards photos were taken.

“This coffee cup looks like the one in a drama, coffee prince!”

A mere simple comment by a customer made G Dragon recalled the times he had with Seungri when they were shooting coffee prince parody for one of their big bang concerts.

“Oh, my yong yong! You look like a million bucks!”

“So charming and attractive.”

“My yong yong.”

“My yong, Ah…”

G Dragon felt his heart constrict as Seungri’s dialogue in coffee prince’s parody kept playing in his mind. Trying to maintain a straight face, G Dragon decided to wait for Eunhyuk outside the coffee house. He will settle dara’s coffee treat later. What is more important now is to stop recalling the moments Seungri and he had together that would make him break down.

G Dragon quickly walked towards the exit, his eyes focusing on the ground. Suddenly, G Dragon felt himself smack right into someone, making a bag of coffee beans scattered on the ground.

G Dragon mentally scolded himself for causing a scene in a place like that as he could feel every single person in the coffee house staring at his direction. However, G Dragon was glad that he wore a pair of sunglasses and a hat, covering himself in a way that not everyone could recognize him.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry.” G Dragon quickly apologized as he gave a polite bow without looking at the person in front of him.

When G Dragon was about to bend down to help pick up the coffee beans, Jong hyun suddenly stood in front of G Dragon and gave him a polite bow.

“My dear customer, it’s okay, we will settle this.” Jong hyun replied politely.

“I’m so sorry.” G Dragon bowed and apologized in front of Jong hyun before he turned and walked towards the exit.

“V.I  san, are you alright?” Jong hyun asked Seungri as he helped Seungri picked up the scattered coffee beans.

G Dragon stopped in his tracks when he heard someone mentioned the name,“V.I”.

G Dragon slowly turned around and he felt the air around him vanish as he saw Seungri in front of him.

G Dragon stood rooted to the ground, not daring to believe what he saw before him.

“I must be hallucinating.” G Dragon thought to himself as he quickly gets out of the coffee house and ran as fast as he could.

Sandara who was walking towards the coffee house after parking her car, saw G Dragon running away from the coffee house.

“G Dragon!” Sandara called out. Seeing that G Dragon did not stop running, Sandara ran and followed G Dragon as fast as she could.

“There’s no way that Seungri would leave me.” G Dragon kept reasoning to himself that the person he just saw was not Seungri as he ran as far as he could, feeling the tears flowing down his face.

***

After running for quite a distance, G Dragon sat on a bench with a pond in front of him,breathing like he had run for miles, his chest heaving, and tears continued to track down his cheeks.

Suddenly, G Dragon felt someone sat next to him. Looking at the shadows on the ground, G Dragon knew instantly that the person beside him is Sandara.

G Dragon didn't turn around to look at Sandara. He was staring ahead, looking at the ripples of water formed by the pond.

“What happened?” Sandara asked gently.

G Dragon didn't respond. He knew that he wouldn't be able to explain what he felt. No one would understand because everyone seems to be moving on with their life except for him. He didn’t want Sandara to think of him as an overly emotional kid either.

After getting no response, Sandara dejectedly made to get up and wanted to go back to get her car so that she could drive G Dragon back to his dormitory.

Just as Sandara made to move, G Dragon's hand shot out and grabbed her by the wrist. Sandara turned to face him, but G Dragon was still facing the pond, not meeting her eye as he let go of her wrist after he got her attention.

“My mind is in a total mess right now. I know that everyone wanted me to move on. I even thought maybe... forgetting Seungri would make the pain go away too. When it was too unbearable, I often wished I would forget him. But sometimes I don't want to. I wanted to believe that Seungri is still alive. I just... argh, it's too complicated."

Sandara stood and looked at G Dragon, feeling the searing numbness spreading rapidly across her heart. She opened , but didn't know what to say to comfort G Dragon.

Sandara sat back down and moved closer to G Dragon, wrapping an arm around him and his head in a motherly way, hoping that this could bring him some comfort.

After a moment of silence, G Dragon whispered.

“Sandara noona, I saw someone looked exactly like Seungri in the coffee house.”

“Do you want to go back to the coffee house now?” Sandara whispered softly. As she continued to his head in a motherly way.

G Dragon shook his head in response.

“Not today. I am too emotional right now. I will go back there tomorrow to confirm it myself.” G Dragon said quietly as he closed his eyes, imagining that the person his head right now is his mother.

***

When Eunhyuk walked down the stairs, he saw Jong hyun and Seungri picking up the scattered coffee beans.

“What happened?” Eunhyuk asked.

“A customer bumped into V.I san, making him scatter the coffee beans by accident.” Jong hyun replied as he continued to help Seungri pick up the coffee beans.

Eunhyuk nodded in response as he looked around the coffee house, looking for G Dragon.

“Have either of you saw G Dragon?” Eunhyuk asked quickly.

Jong hyun and Seungri stopped picking up the coffee beans and stood up, looking at Eunhyuk in confusion.

“There’s no way that you could not notice him. He was the one wearing a hat and sunglasses.” Eunhyuk said as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Jong hyun and Seungri face turned pale instantly when they realized that the customer who bumped into Seungri was G Dragon.

“V.I san!” Jong hyun exclaimed as he sees Seungri instantly dashed out of the coffee house.

“Why didn’t I recognize G Dragon?!” Seungri mentally scolded himself as he ran in the opposite direction from where G Dragon ran.

“Did G Dragon hyung purposely pretend that he could not recognize him just like what Tae Yang hyung did?” Seungri thought to himself as he continued to run.

“G Dragon hyung!” Seungri yelled as he ran as fast as he could, hoping to find G Dragon.

While running, Seungri stumbled and fell on the ground.

“Why? Is he hated in big bang? Is he really been out casted?” Seungri could feel tears flowing down his face at the mere thought of him being hated by the group.

Seungri once again pushed all the strength he had to get up and run once more.

“HYUNG!!!!”