“Yoboseyo,” Martina answered her phone. She hoped it was Simon calling to apologize. She missed her husband and she hated that they were on bad terms.

“Mrs. Stawski?” came the voice of TOP from the other end of the line.

“Hey,” she replied awkwardly. She didn’t know what her position with TOP was supposed to be now. Was she supposed to be angry because of him confessing and lying to Simon? Apologetic because she caused him a scandal? Thankful because he saved her? All in all though, she didn’t feel angry. She didn’t have any negative feelings towards the idol at all.

“I just wanted to check up on you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she sat up from her hospital bed. She found herself smiling at the thought of TOP was checking up on her.

“Are you in pain?” he asked, his voice filled with concern.

“Just a little.”

“Tell the nurse to give you painkillers.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she said. She suddenly found herself thinking about Simon. It was usually Simon who would ask her how she’s doing, who would ask her to take care of herself and who she would be smiling on the phone when she talked to him.

“I’m very sorry,” TOP apologized, “I was the one who made you fall. I shouldn’t have been so violent. I take full responsibility. I paid your hospital bill, and I’ll pay for all the other damage this cost…”

“Some of the damage, you can’t really fix,” Martina shrugged.

“Like what?”

“Me and Simon are fighting,” she said, not knowing exactly why she told TOP that.

“I’m very sorry to hear about that,” TOP said, sounding sincere. His sincerity surprised Martina. She had expected that he would be happy to hear the news, but on the contrary, he seemed awfully troubled and guilty. “Is there anything I can do, Mrs. Stawski. I feel awfully guilty that you two are fighting because me. Should I talk to your husband?”

“No,” she responded, flattered by TOP’s will to help her relationship with her husband even though he loved her. “I just feel lonely without Simon here.”

“I’ll talk to him…”

“No. He’ll only just get angrier. But, if you have time, can you come visit?”

“I… uh… I’m sorry Mrs. Stawski. I really can’t. I have saesang fans that know exactly where I am at every moment, and the reporters are on my back nowadays. I really can’t, no matter how much I want to, and you know I want to.”

“I understand,” Martina said, trying not to sound too disappointed.

“Well, I have to go now. I have to prepare for the press conference tomorrow.”

“I see. Okay then, it was nice talking to you.”

“You too.”

He hung up and Martina felt lonely all of the sudden. She came to Korea with no one but her husband, and now she felt so distant from him. She felt so alone in this foreign country. She just wanted someone with her now. It didn’t matter if it was Simon, or TOP, or her even the old man that was her doctor. She just wanted to talk to somebody.

-

“Oh that’s terrible!” Kevin Woo said from the other line. He had always known that TOP was trouble, from the moment he set eyes on him in the Seoul Tokyo Music Festival in 2010, he just knew that TOP was a flirt.

“Yes, and now me and Martina are fighting,” Simon explained through the phone, “And I know that he’ll ruin our reputation and eatyourkimchi when he lies in the press conference tomorrow. Big Bang has a massive fan base. They’ll believe anything he says, and I just know he’ll tell a lie and he’ll just destroy everything eatyourkimchi has worked to become.”

“Simon, just know that U-Kiss will always have your back. Always. YG wants to pull a publicity stunt against you; we’ll pull one back. Although the Kiss-Mes are a measly amount compared to the VIPs, we’ll still make your stance stronger.”

“There’s still not enough power on out side. We need someone else. Someone with power in his or her hands. We’re fighting against YG here. We need someone from another big company like SM or JYP or Cube…”

The realization hit them both at the same time. Eatyourkimchi has another powerful Nasty actor on their side…

“Amber!” both of them said in unison.

“Thank you so much Kevin, I owe you one! I’ll give Amber a call right away!”

“Nasty army, fighting!”

“Fighting!”

-

Martina was awoken at 4 AM in the morning by the sound of a window opening in her hospital room.

She was startled to see TOP there.

“TOP?” she tried to sit up but TOP rushed to her aid. He put the pillow behind her back and fixed her blanket so that she sat comfortably.

“I’m sorry to have woken you,” he said guiltily as he hesitantly sat on her bedside.

“No problem. What are you doing here at this hour?”

“This is the hour when no one follows me,” TOP explained, “and I really wanted to fulfill your request to see me.”

Martina smiled. “You’d make a really good boyfriend you know. You’re so sweet and obedient and lovely and polite and handsome. Your future girlfriend is a lucky girl.”

TOP chuckled, but it faded away slightly to reveal and agitated-looking TOP.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you have the option of being this lucky girl,” he shrugged.

Martina didn’t say anything, but she felt her heart beat for TOP. She really liked him. She loved Simon, but she really, really, really liked TOP. She hating rejecting him like that, but she had to reject him. She was married. She sat there silently, not wanting to lead TOP on, and not wanting to quash his hopes either.

Thankfully, TOP changed the subject, “I hope you’ll support Big Bang forever,” he said out of nowhere.

“Of course,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows at TOP’s strange request.

“Even if I’m not part of Big Bang anymore…”

“What? What makes you say that?”

“I’m going to defy Papa YG tomorrow, Martina. And he threatened to kick me out if I do.”

“Then don’t defy him, are you crazy?”

“Am I crazy for wanting to save eatyourkimchi?”

“Huh?”

“He wants me to bring down eatyourkimchi and lie about what happened so that it would seem like it’s your fault.”

“Wh… what?” she stuttered in disbelief, amazed that the CEO of YG was so nasty.

“Don’t you worry your beautiful little head for a moment,” he said to her, smiling sympathetically even though his career was on the line. “Nothing’s going to happen to eatyourkimchi. On the contrary, I’m going to promote eatyourkimchi. I’m going to make you more famous. The company will then bring you more money and more fame and hopefully that will make you happier. That’s all that matters to me, really. Your happiness.”

“TOP, I… I don’t know what to say,” she shrugged. Her heart raced when she looked up and saw his dashing smile reassuring her.

Why am I feeling like this? she thought as she bit her lower lip, as if that would stop her heart from beating.

“Thank you,” she managed to stammer, looking in his eyes just to be polite. That proved to be a mistake because TOP wouldn’t break the eye contact, and she could not. It felt like a physical strain to avert her eyes at that moment. He was so handsome, so thoughtful, and so sympathetic. She lost her sanity for a moment then, her heart acting over her brain as she leaned in to kiss him.

It was meant to be a small peck, an intimate acknowledgment of his sacrifice, a way to thank him for everything he’s done and will do for her. It was not meant to end up this way. TOP’s tongue was not meant to slip into . Her arms were not supposed to snake around his neck. She was not meant to fall back, their lips still locked. He was not meant to hover over her, and his hands were not meant to go anywhere near her waist. It was not meant to last two minutes…

Most importantly, no one was supposed to see it.

Martina and TOP broke apart after hearing the sound of glass breaking. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw a broken vase of flowers on the floor. On top the of the flowers was a card that read:

I’m so sorry Ducky. I love you. -Simon