Over the following week, Bom tried to keep a low profile. She was ashamed of herself and had remained in the dorm except for scheduled appearances. How could she be so stupid?

One night she turned to the bottle of gin under the bed that she saved for those nights where she felt extra lonely. Unscrewing the cap she walked to the kitchen to pour herself a glass, the girls were out (Dara was visiting her brother, Cheon-Dung, CL was at a fashion event and Minzy was at the gym) so she was surprised to hear a knock at the door. Maybe if I ignore them they’ll go away. She remained silent until she heard a sigh on the other side of the door and another knock.  Nope, they’re persistent. The bottle of gin and glass were hidden in the cupboard quickly before Bom opened the door. She was pleasantly surprised at who was stood behind it.

“Daesung?”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly like he didn’t really want to be there. “Ahh, surprised right?”

“Well, you don’t visit me very often.”

“You’re always with Jiyong hyung”

“Come in~” She chose to ignore his comment and stepped back to let him through.

“You don’t mind?”

“Your manners never fail to amaze me Daesung-ah.” Without a doubt, Daesung was the politest and shyest member of Big Bang.

Normally, Bom would be inclined to ask what brought him here but she was happy for the company and she rushed to fetch the gin she had so hastily hidden.

“It’s just you here?”

“The others are all busy with their own things, you know. Minji perfecting her abs, Dara on sibling duty and Chaerin on the fashion wagon.”

Another sigh came from him. “I’ll cut straight to the chase and tell you why I’m here. The others sent me.” He looked down, feeling rather guilty.

“Oh.” Disappointment filled Bom’s heavy heart, feeling lonelier than ever.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to come, I’m just confused.” He patted the space beside him as he hesitantly took a seat on her couch.

“By what?” She carried the alcohol over, forgetting that Daesung rarely consumed it.

A disapproving glance from him didn’t stop her from taking a sip as she waited for him to continue.

“ The reason they wanted me to come over is because they said you’re avoiding all of them and that’s why you never come to our dorm anymore. And you haven’t hung out with Jiyong recently like you usually do.  I’m the only one that you won’t be embarrassed with, they told me. Because they know something that I don’t. Because I don’t know this “secret” that’s making you stay away, they wanted me to come and see if you were okay.” He tried to lighten the mood. “Personally, I think they should pay me if they want me to spy for them.”

Taking her time to reply, Bom downed the small glass of gin and placed it back on the table. “Because you were straight with me, I’ll be straight with you Dae.”

Intrigued, Daesung saw the sincerity in her eyes and had a feeling the secret in question was something bad.

She continued, “But first, I want to know who was asking about me? Was it all of them?”

Regretfully she braced herself for the response she knew was coming.

“Well…” Kang Daesung was not one to lie. Nor was he one to hurt anybody’s feelings intentionally. He knew he couldn’t do both on this occasion. “Almost all. Seungri, Youngbae and of course Jiyong.”

She nodded silently.

“Seunghyun hates me.”

“Noona …”

“I slept with Bae when I was drunk.”

Daesung’s tiny eyes had never been so wide. “B-but, I thought you and Jiyong there was maybe something between you two”

Aigoo this kid is so clueless.  

“It’s Seunghyun that I have feelings for, not Jiyong.”

“Noona, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

A moment of silence passed between them but it wasn’t awkward. Daesung spoke up.

“Noona can I give you some advice?”

Bom nodded.

“Go speak to Youngbae before you talk to anyone else. He must feel terrible too, with you avoiding him like this. What if he likes you?”

That thought had never once crossed her mind since the incident. But he did have a point.

“He asked about me right?”

“Yeah, he’s almost been as quiet as TOP hyung.”

“Where can I find him?”

“He’s at the gym with Jiyong. Maybe you could catch up with him while you’re there, he’s been asking about you even more.”

Her first smile of the day appeared. “No matter how many times I tell him he’ll always be a skinny creature he goes to the gym. He doesn’t have abs like yours”

Happy to see a smile on her face, Daesung grinned widely, flashing his famous eye smile. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“You should teach him your ways if he wants to bulk up so badly.”

“No, I’ll leave that to Bae. Their brotherly bonding is no joke.” Dae chuckled.

Bommie groaned. “Bae. The guy I have to go face, right. Of course.”  Her voice trailed off as she began to dread the immediate task at hand.

“Noona, you two were friends before you slept together right? So it will only be awkward at first, you’ll get back to normal I bet.” Bommie’s brain took a moment to process his words.

“If we don’t, it’s all my fault. I should watch how much I drink.”

“Yes, you should..” He narrowed his eyes and carried the gin bottle to the bin and dumped it in there, as well as tossing the glass into the sink.  “Now go.~ Awkwardness awaits you. I mean Bae awaits you.”  That comment is my revenge for her drinking.

It took a lot of willpower but Bom did indeed rise from the couch and unwillingly drag her feet towards the dorm entrance.

“You owe me one of your Doraemon plushies”, she muttered.

Fist pumping the air, Daesung smiled. “Go noona!”

“Thankyou Daesung. For the advice I mean.” It was the closest encounter she had ever had with him and it meant a lot. They made eye contact and Daesung continued to give his angel-like smile.

“No problem, just go, I’ll watch the fort. Go get your man.”

As he switched the television on to watch Doraemon, Bom argued. “But I don’t even like Bae .. in that way!”

“If Seunghyun won’t talk to you noona, you should keep your options open.”

Nervously, her feet began to shuffle on the ground as they always did when she heard an uncomfortable truth. “Bye..” Shutting things out seemed to be her way of dealing with things she didn’t like and so she exited the dorm, leaving a concerned Daesung behind.

At the gym

This cannot be happening..

Remaining in the shadows as she reached the gym she had come across something unexpected. Okay so she hadn’t expected Youngbae to be alone at the gym, Daesung had already told her Jiyong was there, and Minzy was there too, she was aware of this. What she was not aware of until this moment was Seunghyun’s presence.  Jiyong and Seunghyun were on the treadmill, Bae was lifting weights, Minzy was doing sit ups. I’m not ready to face Seunghyun yet…

As Bom turned around to return in the direction she came, Hwang Ssabu, the YG personal trainer and fitness coach appeared before her, having just sped round the corner.

“Ah, Bom-ah! Coming for a workout? Nice timing! The gym seems to be a popular place today” He mindlessly ushered her back along the corridor, oblivious to her horrified expression. “Staying off the corn I hope~”

The last line caught the attention of ero maknae Minzy who was located in the corner closed to the door. “Bom unnie!”

Jiyong and Seunghyun’s heads turned in sync as the mention of her name  and Bom felt as if the floor swallowing her up was beginning to look like a good possibility.

“Bom!” Jiyong hurriedly stopped the treadmill and ran over to her embracing her. “I’ve been so worried about you. You haven’t been to see me Bommie”

Hugging him back felt like such a relief and she let herself enjoy the moment until it struck her that Minzy didn’t know that anything was wrong, and Jiyongs expression of worry could arouse suspicion. Pulling back she saw Minzy looking at the two of them strangely.

“Jiyong oppa, why would you be worried about Bom unnie? She’s fine. Did something happen?”

Jiyong silently cursed himself for being so careless with his words. 

Youngbae hadn’t noticed the new arrivals yet, his headphones in staring at the wall as he did reps. Seunghyun had gone back to exercising as if she wasn’t there.

“I’m fine Minji-yah, you know how Jiyong gets, he worries about his favourite noona.” Chuckling she managed to play it off with help from Jiyong and his additional laugh.

Hwang Ssabu had an intuitive feeling that something fishy was going on, Bom never voluntarily came to the gym and now her and Jiyong were behaving strangely.

She is here to see Seunghyun,  I hope he’s not ready to forgive her yet. Without Bom’s presence at the guy’s dorm at least every other day, Jiyong had grown even more attached to TOP, to the extent that he had managed to convince him to work out with him. The gym had been a place of avoidance for Seunghyun upon his first arrival at the company.  He’s just like Bom in a way. They have a lot of common.

Hwang Ssabu decided to break up the social gathering. “Come on Jiyong, let me teach you some new exercises.” Jiyong was dragged away by the arm to the other side of the spacious gym, with a less than happy expression.

Bom was awkwardly left with a confused Minzy, an ignorant Seunghyun and an oblivious Taeyang.

“Minji-yah I’m just going to have a word with Bae”, she whispered and headed off in his direction.

Even when she was merely a few feet from him he failed to notice her, which made her realize how focused he really was when in the gym, explaining his defined body.  She stood there for about a minute, too scared to say anything, or to disturb him. As his eyes followed the dumbbell he caught her reflection in the marble wall and gulped.  He wasn’t ready to face her, although he had desperately wanted to. His guilt for taking advantage of her was eating him up and the looks Seunghyun shot him on a daily basis over the past week prevented him from forgetting.

The weights found the floor as he put them on the ground. The only way to treat her is to be cold. She’s gonna hate me anyway for taking advantage, and I can’t go back to just friends after what we did. Seunghyun will be even madder if I pursue her. Bros first.

“What do you want?”

His icy tone shocked her and she took a step back. “N-Nothing, it doesn’t matter.”

What a ing jerk, he takes advantage of her and then says that? Seunghyun was in earshot of their conversation and his attention was no longer on the treadmill though he daren’t turn his head. Until he heard footsteps. She was leaving. His fist clenched and it took all his willpower not to follow her as she left with Minzy (who was surprised at how quickly the conversation had ended but was more than happy to accompany her unnie home) He waited 15 minutes and then took his own leave when nobody was looking. The truth was he knew he had to start talking to Bom again soon, within a few weeks they would have to perform Oh Yeah together along with Jiyong. Maybe after him and Bom were ok, he would consider speaking to Youngbae again. He also couldn’t deny that he was still hung up on her. However he was disappointed she had not approached him first, and had gone to Youngbae instead. Did this mean she had feelings for him, despite the being a mistake? Maybe it was only a mistake because it wasn’t the way she wanted it to be…

Se7en strolled into the gym interrupting his thoughts. He had known Se7en before even joining the company, they went back a long time and he knew his Choi brother would always have his back.

“Ayo, Seunghyunnie.” He pinched his cheek as a playful greeting. Seunghyun despised being called Seunghyunnie, which encouraged the older man to say the name even more. “Daesung is looking for you.”

“I was just leaving anyway.”

“Trying to get away from me Seunghyun-ah?”

He shook his head in disbelief at his hyung. “Choi Dong Wook you do make me laugh, somebody wants to see me I can’t keep them waiting. Is he at the dorm?”

“Last time I saw him he was leaving the 2NE1 dorm with a  huge grin plastered across his face..pretty sure he is at the dorm now though. He just told me to tell you to go find him.”

“Interesting.. I have to go.”

“He says he has big news!” Se7en called after him causing TOP to hurry even more.

Bursting through the door, Seunghyun composed himself when he saw Daesung cooking in the kitchen looking completely calm.

“Oh hey hyung.” Bowing politely as a greeting he went back to boiling ingredients for kimchi jigae.

“The .. news? Big news that you wanted to tell me…” Seunghyun panted trying to get his breath back. Running while navigating the YG corridors was no easy task especially for someone like himself who hated any form of physical activity. This included dancing. Maybe that’s why they didn’t let me debut all those years ago he thought.

“So you got my message. Seriously.. you ran all the way here just to find out?” Daesung laughed loud. “I didn’t think you’d be that eager hyung, you’re like Bommie when corn is mentioned.”

Blinking a neutral response at the mention of Bom, Seunghyun repeated himself. “News.”

“I think you’ll like it.” Temporarily leaving the stew he approached him, giving his full attention.

Before he had a chance to speak another addition panted his way into the dorm, none other than Jiyong back from fresh exercises with Hwang Ssabu.

“I am never going to the gym again.” He flopped onto the couch and suddenly got the feeling that he interrupted something by the slight annoyed expression on Seunghyun’s face.

“Did I interrupt something?” Jiyong asked, blinking innocently.

“No,” Daesung replied happily, “I was just telling, well about to tell hyung that I spoke to Bom noona.”

“Then you can tell me too seeing as I’m the one one who asked you to visit her in the first place.” An impatient roll of his eyes persuaded Daesung to continue.

“She has feelings for Seunghyun. TOP. Our hyung.” He turned to TOP. “You. She likes you.”