A/N: This is a little long so sorry. :p

So I know this is kind of sudden, though probably expected, but I have decided to end this story here due to personal reasons that I hope you understand.

Its been such an amazing two-three years in this fandom, but I've had to neglect this lovely community due to school and social matters. In that process, I've also lost my passion for writing and the kpop culture in general.

So I'm marking this story, which has been going on for a wonderful two years, to an incomplete end. I hope you all as readers can fill in the puzzle with your own preferred ending.  :) Many of my own favorite stories are incomplete, so I understand.

There are so many people I want to thank, so here goes:

To you, the readers, for being so supporive. Reading your comments always brought a smile to my face.

To the gri fandom and VIPs in general, for all the love.

To the fic writers I look up to: TOPcorn, maayacola, vvipforseungri, GDonTOP, jiyongfeels, cranperryjuice, xxkakaoxx, jejuchan, Ayaachan, SodiumCyanide...the list could go on. XD

To #teamtodae, love you gals. <3

To this site for bringing us all together.

To all the fan sites and social media I used for research lol.

And a few special mentions:

Bommie unnie, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You inspired me so much to be a better writer and taught me some valuable life lessons along the way. I'll never forget. <3

Grace dongsaeng and jithesandpaper, I always loved your comments. XD

Sonya unnie, for inspiring me as a fellow mathematician and Nyongtorian. Love you. :3

Yenana, I would give you all the kitkats in the world. <3

Damar, hwaiting! <3

Aaaaand I'm done. :P

I just feel better giving closure to this story. I really am sorry that I was unable to give it a proper ending. :(

Much love,

victoriousdragon

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And yet, no. I wouldn't say Jiyong was my savior.

     Not in the beginning, at least. Not when he was just YG's golden child. The cold stares, the stiffness, the petting, the taming. I didn't think it meant anything more than that in those early years. But without realizing it, it was exactly those first impressions that made him become what I thought he wasn't.

All along, he was. He actually was my hero. I just didn't realize it as my young self.

     All I saw were the flaws, the negatives. His crooked teeth, his chapped lips, his bony fingers, his cold toes against my shins under the covers of our first dorm bed. His unamused expression beneath his long brown fringe after coming home from a concert that I left early, his furious gaze burning everywhere into me in an alleyway outside a club. His heavy sighs as I pretended to ignore him on a car ride. His countless looks of embarrassment in my direction. His 30-line text after my solo debut. The list could go on.

     What Jiyong had given me from the very start were signs that he cared enough. Almost like a strict parent, I think he simply wanted what was best for me so that I could succeed. Not just as a band member, but as a person. He just wanted to be an older-brother figure, someone who could set me straight and do things he otherwise wouldn't be able to get away with if it weren't for him being a family member. His criticism was what I needed, his closeness was what I needed.

So I learned to love him. The brother who knew nothing about me at first yet could read me like a book.

His smiles, in particular those rare ones that were just for me. His pursing lips, his lost-in-thought sparkling eyes. His twitching fingers to a mindless beat against his writing desk. His rising and falling shoulders after his scandal. All those negatives, too, became essentials, became positives.

And that was all it took. Years of triumphs and mistakes, of teasing, of pushing and pulling, of jabs and tackles, of anger, of worry. That was all it took to love him. He was the hero of my heart.