Chapter 3

“Hey, hey, hey! Who do we have here?” TOP said while leading his group to a table where a girl was slumped looking so tired, head resting above her own two arms.

“Noona, why are you all alone? Where are the other girls?” SeungRi said after running to the said girl and slipping through the seat at her right side.

“Aww, baby panda, you startled me!” Dara said while clasping her hands on her chest. She was, as always, trapped in her own world when SeungRi lounged onto the chair next to her.

“hahaha. I did, didn’t I?” SeungRi sarcastically asked.

“Aigoo~ noona, why won’t you be startled if your spacing out most of the times?” Youngbae butted in.

Jiyong was about to take the seat next to her on the left when TOP beat him to it. So he just rounded up the table and settled directly across Dara.

“hul~ Baebear, I wasn’t spacing out! I was thinking when will the girls arrive, ok?” Dara reasoned while pouting.

Jiyong can’t help but stare at her. It has been quite long since he had the chance to sit this close to her. He missed seeing those pouts she always does when she’s arguing or defending herself.

“Yeah right noona! But you still didn’t answered Ri’s question. Why are you all alone here?” Daesung joined in while taking a sit on Jiyong’s left because Youngbae is already seated on Jiyong’s right.

“Ahh, about that. The girls went home for a while because we were given a few hours of break. They said they’ll come back here for lunch, but they’re still not here.” She checked her watch to see the time. “hul~ it’s past 12 now, why aren’t they still here?” Dara once again pouted thinking that the girls ditched her.

“Aisht~ noona, don’t pout like that, can’t you see all the men’s eyes in this cafeteria are now focused here?” SeungRi muttered while trying to hide Dara’s face by putting his left hand in front of her face and his right arm s behind her shoulders to cover the other part of her face using his right hand.

TOP feeling a bit protective too, joined in covering her face by copying what SeungRi did. Contrary to what was believed, he was pretty much close to this rabbit-looking cutie face of 2ne1 sitting beside him. They tangled their arms just to cover her face from ogling eyes of the men in the vicinity.

They are inside their building’s cafeteria. Though all of the people inside are all working in the building, they still can’t help but be protective of this girl they are sitting with. TOP, SeungRi and her other friends know that most of the men here are ogling her anywhere she goes. They just can’t make their move before because they also know that Dara is taken, and a certain dragon will burn their asses up if they make a move on her. But now that she’s single, these ogling men still can’t make a pass on her because her group of male friends is doing a great job of protecting her from anyone who tries to just even look at her for more than 10 seconds.

Jiyong felt jealous and useless. He was supposed to be the one doing those for her. It was supposed to be his job to loop his arms around her shoulder just to stake his claim that the girl is his, but instead, he’s here sitting across her, watching s protect her from ravenous eyes of ogling men wanting to have a piece of her, while sending murderous glares to those men who did so much as glance at her direction.

“Yah! Stop that baby panda! Tabi! I can’t breathe. Besides, let them watch. It’ll be a waste if no one can see my goddess like beauty!” Dara said impishly while trying to pry their hands out from her face.

“Eh? Where did you learn to be boastful noona? Or is it not you? Where did you hide my beloved noona, you impostor?” SeungRi said while playfully shaking Dara.

Dara just laughed like a child happily playing with her best friend. “hahaha Stop now baby panda, I’m getting dizzy.”

The other Big Bang members can’t help but laugh at their childishness. It feels so good seeing Dara laugh again. They were a witness of her months of lifelessness after her break-up with their leader. They didn’t want to see that part of her. Not ever.

Meanwhile, a certain dragon is keeping his silence but has almost never blinked from staring at the girl opposite him. He was getting jealous at their closeness, but he can’t do anything about it for now. It was his fault after all. He just hopes they can bring back what they had and be the man who can make her laugh again.

SeungRi decided to stop shaking her.

“Why don’t you just call them noona?” Daesung asked after the commotion was done.

“Maybe they’ve eaten now. Knowing Bom-noona, she must have devoured any edible thing she can find in your apartment, forgetting that you were waiting for them to come back.” TOP uttered, conforming to Dae’s suggestion.

“See, you’re not gaining any weight because you don’t eat at the right time. Let’s just eat together, neh?” SeungRi said while pinching Dara’s arms to emphasize her skinniness.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna call now, neh? Happy?” Dara fished out her phone from her pocket. She gasped when she saw she has 6 missed calls and 3 messages from the girls. “Oops, I didn’t realize I missed their calls. Kekeke. And they each left me a message too.” Dara sheepishly said.

“What did they say noona?” Youngbae, who was silently observing them, asked.

“kekeke. All of them said they already ate, so I should feed myself alone. Aisht~ I waited for nothing?” Dara whined and pouted.

“See? If we didn’t tell you to call them, you won’t even check your phone? Then you’ll just starve yourself from waiting. Urrgh, this girl really!” TOP playfully complained while Dara was just sheepishly forming a “V” from her fingers to indicate a peace sign.

“Just wait here, ok? We’ll get you something to eat.” SeungRi stopped her before she was able to get up from her seat. Without waiting for her reply, the boys started to get up to order their food from the counter.

While Dara was seated in their table, TOP and SeungRi discussed what foods to choose for her. “Do you think noona will like a soup hyung?” SeungRi asked the older male.

“She practically eats anything prepared in front of her, so no need to worry if she’ll like it or not. Sometimes I wonder, where all those foods she eats go? She is not gaining any weight.” TOP said with a furrowed brow while picking a dessert.

“hahaha I wonder too. Maybe it is burned immediately due to her hyper-ness.” SeungRi turned to the other side when he saw Jiyong’s plate. “Oh, hy