FINALLY!!! 

Well, football season is over (THANK GOD!) and my schedule is more open! Hopefully... ._.

I will still have dance practice and competitions and what not, but less than before :] So I'll be

updating randomly here and there. On that note, please enjoy ;] I've made this chapter long just for you!

Mango blinked at the bright light surrounding her. Her vision was starting to come back. Her breathing was still a bit ragged, but it felt stronger than before. She jerked her hand, a simple twitch out of habit. There she found the IV stuck to her. She was trapped.

   Just a few feet away she saw the colorful view of a nurse's scrubs in front of her. Her back was turned to Mango. "Ungh..." A low moan escaped , trying to get the nurse's attention with the best of her abilities. was hoarse and dry.

   The nurse whipped around. "You're awake. I'll fetch your doctor." The nurse left, leaving Mango helpless again. She would let out an exasperated sigh, but it seemed like all she could do was look around her and make subtle noises. All she wanted was some water. Her tongue felt sticky and tack against the roof of .

   The door swept open and in walked the familiar man with short black hair, thin glasses, and a white doctor's coat. "Mango," He said in a soft father like voice. It soothed her every time he spoke. "You haven't been taking your medication, have you?"

   Mango looked away from the doctor at the white wall. He sighed, clearly disappointed. "You need to take your medication."

   "It-" She paused at the sound of her own voice. It was rough and man like. "It doesn't help." She croaked.

   Doctor Sung handed her a paper cup of room temperature water. Mango pressed the edge of the cup to her lips and gulped it down. It helped a little. "Obviously it does since you haven't been fainting as much since taking it." He looked down at his clipboard. "How are you feeling?"

   Mango took some more water. "My chest feels...heavy still. And I feel light headed."

   Doctor Sung wrote that down and adjusted his glasses. "When was the last time you took your medication?" He asked.

   "Um..." Mango tried to think back. "Like maybe...two weeks ago? I've just been so busy, I-"

   "I'm not going to sugar coat this, Mango." Doctor Sung interrupted in a strong tone. "Those pills are helping you live comfortably. Do you understand me? They take the pain away-"

   "But I'm going to die anyway." Mango tried to raise her voice, but she croaked again instead. 

   "...Mango, stop it." His voice went soft again.

   Mango took another drink. "But it's true, isn't it?" She looked down into the empty cup, wishing she had more. 

   The doctor didn't say anything for a moment. "Like I said, it takes the pain away. I don't want to see you hurting."

   Mango looked up at her doctor's pained face. He was young, yet he's seen so much in his short career. He sighed, knowing he couldn't make her do anything. "Please, just take care of yourself. I'm begging you."

   Mango nodded slowly. Sung tucked her blankets under her, but she kicked her legs out. "I'm hot." She muttered.

   "Sorry..." He took a blanket off of her. "Just call if you need me."

   Mango closed her eyes. Doctor Sung took that as an OK and left out hesitantly. It was harder than anyone would think for him to see her like this, but she made it so hard for him to take care of her. And the damn ethics... He made an oath, and he must not break it for one patient.

   "But where's Mango?" Seungri asked as Jiyong was about to close the door. But right as the door almost slid shut, a hand opposed the force and slid it back.

   Mango hunched down and put her foot in the van. "Trying to leave without me?" Her lively smile lit up the van. 

   TOP sat up straight in his seat. She was looking well. There was some color back in her cheeks, the way she moved seemed to have more energy, and even her voice seemed to be higher like when they first met. 

   "Mango!" The boys said together cheerfully. 

   "You're looking better." GD added and sat back in his seat.

   Mango sat in the first seat and adjusted her big, round, dark tinted sunglasses. "I feel better, thanks for noticing." She grinned back at the boys. "I just want to say thanks for taking care of me when I needed it. I could've di-...It could've been pretty bad." She sank into the seat and buckled in as the van drove off to its location.

   "So everything is ok? You're not going to keel over today, are you?" Daesung asked rather worried.

   Mango shook her head with confidence. "No. The doctor said I was just dehydrated. But look," She took out a bottle of water from her tote and unscrewed the top. "I'll be drinking water all day." She looked back at all of their expressions. They didn't look very convinced. Mango sighed. "Look guys, I'll be fine today. I promise." She turned back to the front and crossed her legs.

   Once they made it to the set, everyone piled out and scrambled to get prepared. Mango started prepping her station and giving orders to all of her assistants. In the other room, the director was telling the boys the plan for the day. 

   "Guys!" Mango exclaimed when they finally walked into the styling room in a single file line. Mango came up to them while the rest of the crew continued to prep. "GD, we're finally going to take out that hideous piece of weave I've ever seen off the side of your face. TOP, say goodbye to your smurf hair, you're going a bit more natural. The rest of you go to your assigned chair to get your hair and makeup done." 

   They did as they were told, G-Dragon being taken away to get the piece of hair taken out by another stylist. Mango took TOP by his wrist, making him look down at their contact. "You're coming with me." Before he could say anything TOP was escorted to the hair dying station and plopped down into the chair.

   While his hair was being slathered with the chemicals, TOP met face to face with Mango's belly button. Her tight, baby blue camisole must've scrunched up while she was running around all over the place, getting everything ready. A small white diamond poked out on top of the navel while a silver dream catcher dangled down from the opening.

   TOP cocked his head to the side and reached out to poke it. When he did, the little silver dangles    

brushed against her skin and she looked down. 

   "What are you doing?" Mango asked, pulling her camisole down to cover her exposed flesh. 

   TOP shrugged. "I was curious." He said with a smirk.

   "You know what they say," Mango said, waving the hair dye brush in front of his face. "Curiosity killed the cat."

   "Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect." TOP said with a boyish tone and a hint of a smile.

    Mango raised an eyebrow, certainly not expecting a response like that. "Where did you hear that from?"

   TOP shrugged. "I don't remember where I hear a lot of things from."

   Mango laughed. "Well, you got any more?"

   TOP thought for a couple of seconds, then came up with one. "First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity."

   Mango didn't say anything for a moment, brushing the dye onto his hair. "...I like that one. Do you know where you got that one from?"

   TOP shook his head. "I just remember hearing it somewhere. I like it too; it's probably one of my favorite quotes."

   Mango started the timer on her cell phone. "Let's let your hair fry for awhile. I'll be back to check on you in a bit." She walked away, swiping her bag from a nearby table and slipping outside from the back door.

   Mango slid down the brick wall. A gust of warm wind blew across the parking lot and made Mango feel grateful for wearing a sleeveless shirt. She took out her bottle of water and set it down on the pavement next to her. Next, she rifled through her bag until she came up with a clear orange bottle of little white pills. On the side it instructed to take two with water after eating. She gripped the bottle tightly in her hands and looked out at the parking lot. She hadn't eaten anything all day. But what was the worst that could happen?

   Mango sighed and unscrewed the child proof cap. Taking two in her palm, she knocked back both of them in one gulp, chasing it down with the water. She coughed slightly afterwards, wincing at the chalky after taste the pills left behind in . 

   She sat there, taking a breath before going back in for more stress of the day. She finally slid up the wall again and made her way back into the cool building, setting her bag back on her styling station. 

   "You good?" Mango asked, walking up to TOP, who was just sitting there, waiting for the timer for his hair to go off.

   "Am I the only one that smells burning hair?" TOP joked, lifting his hand to his covered hair.

   Mango slapped it away. "Uh-uh, no touchy! And your hair will be fine after I condition the hell out of it. You have..." She checked the timer on her phone. "Fifteen minutes."

   TOP nodded. "So can we...talk?" He asked.

   Mango bit her lip, looking around at everyone rushing about and getting ready. "Ah, I'm not sure. It's pretty busy around here, and seeing as I'm the head honcho around here-" She started to stand, but TOP grabbed her wrist, looking up at her. 

   "They don't seem like they need any help." TOP kept a firm grip.

   Mango looked around. Everyone seemed like they knew what they were doing. Well damn, if they didn't even need her why did they hire her? She sighed and sat back down on the black swivel stool in front of TOP. "Alright then. What do you want to talk about? If it's about your outfit for the video, I'm not changing it. I like all of the outfits I picked out and no one's opinion is going to change my mind."

   TOP shook his head. "Not that. It's just...not to pry or anything, but were you really dehydrated, or are you just covering up?"

   Mango took a sharp inhale. For a few seconds she just looked at him. Finally she broke. "It wasn't dehydration. But that's all you can know. You and only you; don't tell anyone, you got that?"

   TOP just looked at her. She looked back at him, raising an eyebrow at his silence. "Got it." He finally responded. They sat like that in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes until TOP spoke up again. "Tell me more about you."

   Mango looked up. "Were you this curious with your last stylist, or do I just seem interesting?"

   TOP grinned. "Have you looked in the mirror? You're like a walking art exhibit." 

   Mango looked down at her arms. It was true, she had a lot of tattoos, but she never really thought anything of them after she got them. "They're just my tattoos."

   "But weren't they more than that when you first got them?" TOP asked, his eyes going to the elaborate tattoo on her chest.

   Mango rested her hand on her chest over the tattoo. She thought about all the other ones engraved in her, forever. Someone could randomly point to one and she could automatically tell you when, where, and why she got it. She didn’t regret any of them. “I don’t really like this one…” She blurted out uncontrollably.

   TOP cocked his head to the side. “Why? I think it’s pretty. What does it mean? It’s French, right?”

   Mango nodded. “It says, ‘Love is Beautiful’. I don’t like it; I just…don’t like the memories behind it…”

   TOP nodded in understanding. “Maybe you should make new memories for it.”

   They both jumped at the shrill sound of Mango’s phone’s timer going off. She quickly pressed on the screen and jumped off the stool to retrieve the hair cap off of TOP’s head. She examined the brown coated locks carefully. “Looks good. Let’s rinse it out.”

   TOP stood and they both went to the sink. As she was rinsing his hair, Mango wasn't aware of the eyes on her.

   G-Dragon leaned to the side to whisper to Taeyang, who was sitting next to him getting his hair done. “Do you see that massive tattoo sticking out the top of her shirt? It kind of looks like wings.”

   Taeyang squinted his eyes in the mirror, trying to look at her reflection. “Huh, it kinda does. Ask her.” 

   GD scoffed. “I don’t want her to think we’re creeping on her.” He looked up as Seungri walked past them, his makeup already on and white contacts in, munching on a granola bar. “Hey, Seungri.” He reached up and grabbed on to the maknae’s wrist.

   Seungri stopped in front of them, mouth full of granola. “’Sup, hyung?”

   GD subtly pointed over to Mango. “Go over and ask what that tattoo is on her back.”

   Seungri turned and looked over at Mango, then back to GD. “Sure, hyung.” He said with a nod and innocently wandered over to her.

   Taeyang grinned. “I love having the maknae do our dirty work.” He and GD high fived each other as they watched.

   Seungri meandered over to the hair washing station, tapping Mango on the shoulder.

   “What?” Mango asked, not even turning to see who it was.

   “Hey, noona,” Seungri said in his boyish tone. “What is that tattoo on your back?” He poked the space between her shoulder blades, making her instinctually roll her shoulders back, making Seungri cringe.

   Mango eyed him suspiciously over her shoulder. “Would you please not touch me while I’m working?” She snapped. Seungri gulped. “And they’re angel wings. Now go finished getting dressed.”

   Seungri stared at the tattoo fondly. “It’s really pretty. Is there any significance to it?”

   “There’s significance to all of my tattoos.”

   "I thought you said they were just tattoos.” TOP corrected her.

   Mango stopped the water and wringed out TOP’s hair roughly, making him wince. “They are. They’re just tattoos to everyone – but me. No one could ever understand the meaning behind each of them, so let’s not waste time asking about them. Let’s just all grasp the fact that I have many tattoos and be done with it.” She wrapped TOP’s hair in a small towel and brought him back to sitting upright.

   Seungri nodded. “Ok, thanks noona.” He turned back around and shouted, “They’re angel wings, hyungs!”

   GD and Taeyang sank in their seats as soon as Mango whirled around to eye them.

   Mango turned her attention back to TOP's hair and shook her head. "Enough about me, guys. Today's all about 'Monster'." She said in a low voice, wheeling TOP over to get started on styling him.

I am absolutely obsessed with the Monster MV. Is it just me, or is Daesung hotter than before? :/