Seunghyun:

"Mmmm," Dara was that damned fork as if she owned the world, and I hated myself for having no sense of self-responsibilty for I was dragged away again by these trainees to eat out at some pastry shop.

When I just had lunch. 

When I recently swore that I won't eat anything sweet because we're having a comeback.

When I was saving money because I'm planning to buy something special for myself.

"Oppa, wouldn't you eat your slice?" I had to look at Han Mina's "concerned and troubled" look. That young woman. I swear she was born to lead all men to eternal damnation. 

I knew I was overreacting but dammit. I just made a promise to myself and to the boys that I won't do anything related to these girls. Jiyong would kill me, Seungri would too, Taeyang would have this "I am disappointed at you hyung" little speech, Daesung would have that sympathetic smile he would usually give me when all of them think that I did something pathetic. Things have been a little bit explosive and heated on me and the boys' side the moment Jiang spilled the beans. Oh, that was some night. 

But I would tell you about it after dealing with these girls having their own sweet time eating something I paid for (again!). Sigh.

I pushed my plate away from me. "I just had lunch." Maybe I could have it wrapped for later. I was about to say this to her, but Mina shrugged and took a forkful of apple pie from my plate.

I smiled rather sarcastically at her and she smiled back. Isn't she cuuuuuuuuuuuute?

"You girls are about to debut, right?" Dammit, you should be dieting, like ME!

Dara continued eating, and so did Bom and Han Mina. As if they never heard me.

"As a sunbae," I started as I tried to sit up straighter and sound more authoritative, trying to get their attention. "I would like to give an advice. While the company never really enforces strict and absurd dietary regimens to us, you should still consider the fact that you have to think of your images because it does say something about you guys, that in turn, would reflect the company."

Dara stopped eating and looked at me. Bom was still eating, but she was chewing more slowly while watching me talk, as if she's slowly digesting the things I were telling them.

Han Mina had her one eyebrow perfectly arched as she watched me as well.

"I love sweets. I do. But I have responsibility. I have the company image to think of. While I'm clearly an artist, I still uphold and take great care of what the company has imparted me and the others. Thus, I simply say 'no' to any kind that would be detrimental to me and the group's success."

Silence.

I looked at them, their faces unreadable. I cleared my throat uncomfortably; did I come across as someone who's being preachy? I mentally did a quick run of all the things a said a few seconds ago. I was right...right?

Until they burst out laughing. I found myself blushing as they laughed even louder. Goddammit.

"I have responsibilty," Dara quoted some of the things I said with her best imitation of my voice. Han Mina and Bom were laughing so hard that they were almost on the floor already. "Thus, I simply say 'no' to any kind that would be detrimental to me and the group's success..."

I was tempted to storm out and leave them alone. This is embarrassing!!!

"O-o-o-pp-pa," Han Mina managed to call me in between laughs. "We-w-w-e-rr-e j-just e-eat-ting c-cak-ke!"

"Trufax," Bom chimed in, her voice dismissive. "We know our limits. Actually," She quietly placed her fork beside her half-eaten cherry pie. "We should be eating everything we want! They will be deliberating on the final line-up, and can you imagine how stressful that could be?"

I did nothing but stare at them blankly. I get that they feel more nervous each passing week, but I doubt that they'd ask me out just for this. 

"Well all right girls eat everything you want, but eat it fast. That or just tell me what's this all about so I could leave and let you girls pig out in peace."

Silence. Their faces became somber the moment I asked them about their real reasons. Mina took a few more forkfuls of mydessert quietly, while Bom and Dara just looked at each other; Bom's eyes staring right at Dara's suddenly glassy ones, as if she's already tearing up at the idea.

"Jiyong?" I inquired to no one in particular.

"Well," Mina took yet another forkful of my pie, trying to look nonchalant and casual. "It's not like we're spying on him and all but, considering how Dara and him are well, on shaky grounds and we're all spectators on it anyway, we'd just like to know how things are going there on your side."

Seriously? I looked at the three of them but only two met my gaze; Dara looked away and refused to have some eye contact. She shifted uneasily on her seat, nervous and almost at the point of breaking down right then and there. She didn't even make an attempt to smile, like she would often do to when feeling uncomfortable.

"He's doing fine."

The girls heaved a sigh of relief.

"But Aera's practically hanging out with him -- er, us almost every freakin day, too."

A gasp, followed by the sound of a fork falling, shoulders slumping in disappointment, the works. I knew they'd react like this. I actually expected the worst thing to happen, like them throwing some water at me and staging a walk-out right before everyone's eyes. I'm glad they didn't, but I looked at Dara's crestfallen face...I couldn't help but feel sad. For her. Everything seemed to go bad for her these days.

"Hey, you don't have to worry. She might be hanging with us lately but it's not like Jiyong cares sh1t about it."

"Yeah." Dara closed her eyes and sighed more deeply.

"I bet she says some stuff anyway," Mina interjected hotly. "I bet she says we girls gang up on her and stuff."

"How'd you know?" 

"Oh I knew it," It was Bom's turn to get pissed. "I knew she'd do that. She's really..." Her lips twitched like she was stopping herself to say something obscene so she just flipped her hair and rolled her eyes. "I mean, yeah you get the idea."

"Uh-huh," I replied back. "Do you have any plans, whatsoever?"

"Well I do have something in mind..." Mina said carefully as she glanced at Dara. "But I'm not sure if she's up for it."

The three of us looked at Dara expectantly. I had a feeling that Mina's plan might work but we wanted to know if Dara's up for it. It looked like she's ready to raise the white flag and admit defeat right now. She looked so dejected.

"Well?" 

"Guys," Dara started slowly, her eyes still avoiding our gazes. "I haven't even fixed this sh1t up on me and my best friend's side yet."

"What?" I exclaimed. The people on the other table looked at as with curiosity. I kept my mouth shut for a full minute and waited for them to go on with what they're doing before talking to her again. "Dara, are you serious? I thought we talked about this two weeks ago?"

"She's not picking up my messages. I can't contact her at her work. Her sister would always say that she's not home whenever I go to her place. What would you like me to do? Obviously she's avoiding me. I can't follow her closely, I have this stupid training thing to focus on because lately I'm being left behind. I think we should just give up," Dara wailed miserably.

"Oh hell no!" Mina grabbed her shoulders and looked at her intensely. "Look, if she's not talking to you, well ok. But give up? Are you fcukin' serious?! You can't go all psycho in the beginning with that anti movement you had before and just cry home when everything blew up in your face. Fix this. Now. We got your back."

"She's right Dara," Bom agreed solemnly. "You just can't run away. Maybe it's the gods' will, you know? Maybe the gods felt that the problem you made was too big so they're making you fix it one by one first. Why don't we start fixing this 'YG' mess first? We'll help you, okay?"

Dara:

All of them looked more than willing to give me all the help and support that I'll be needing. They believe in me. It's not even their battle to begin with, but they're willing to give a hand.

"So are you in?"

I looked at Seunghyun's face and right then and there I knew he wasn't going to take a 'no' for an answer. 

Alright.

"Okay."

"Jeezus I thought this is the end of the road!" Han Mina exclaimed loudly. The people on our left made a harsh hushing sound aimed at Mina but she just ignored it. "So anyway, on to what I think we should do..."

Han Mina then told us about her birthday party coming up at the end of this month. She was planning on having a huge bash for the YGers -- that's right, and then she said she'd do something so she could lure Jiyong into talking to me. Ordinary stuff I initially thought wouldn't really work.

"It's gonna be like, really casual." Mina was glowing with confidence as she shared her idea to us.

Bom looked at her doubtfully. "Uh, yeah. If Jiyong has a brain level of an ordinary dog. Srsly, girlfriend? I don't even know if he'll come. Especially now that Aera made us look like...I don't know, b1tches?"

"Oh but we are," Mina answered flippantly. "It's not like it would really matter. Like you said, he doesn't seem to have a brain that same level as an ordinary dog, so he'll be smart enough to set aside his impressions of us sassy girls and just go. And anyway, we have Seunghyun to make sure he'll go."


We turned to look at Seunghyun.

Who was busily talking to his cellphone. Quietly and secretively.

"What the hell?" Mina mouthed at us angrily, just as Seunghyun said goodbye to the person on the other line and returned his attention to us again.

"What the hell?" Mina asked for real, feigning deep offense. "I was talking here about something so genius and you were talking on the phone?"

"What?" Seunghyun blinked innocently, unaware of what he did to piss Mina off. "What did I do again just now?"

"You were talking on your mobile phone," Bom stated simply. "Beep, beep. It's kinda rude but we're friends so..."

Seunghyun cut her off with a laugh. "My goodness. Will y'all just chill? Y'all acting like my jealous girlfriends, geez. It's a rather rare call from a friend I haven't talked to in ages. I'd do the same thing with you guys if we happen to not see each other fifteen years later."

Mina crossed her arms and pouted. "I am so not acting like some jealous girlfriend. Actually I --"

"Oh, hell you shouldn't. That friend of mine is not even a girl."

"He's a guy?" Bom asked incredulously. "Oh I get it, he's gay? Was that the reason why you were talking to him in hushed tones..." Her eyes got wide and Seunghyun just had to laugh a bit louder. Wait, what happened to my problem and their plansto help me? 

"Actually, yes. But no, he's not gay. Jeezus, if I tell you who called would you girls stop minding that rather short chat? It was even less than a minute!"

"Then talk," Mina answered in gritted teeth. "So we can move on. God."

"KzhdshdnsjdhJaegdhshdsJoong." Seunghyun's words came out so warped I had trouble comprehending it at first. "What?" I asked once again, lost.

But apparently I was the only one who didn't get it. The moment Seunghyun said that hard to comprehend name Mina automatically jumped at his side and threw her arms at him.

Spazzing. Like mad.

"howmaygahdit'ssocoolididn'tknowyouwerefriendslikedbskseriouslyisleptonthestreetsoutsideseoularenainone
oftheirconcertsohmygahdpleasedon'ttellmeyou'rejustbluffing."

Now people in both tables beside ours and then some were starting to look at us. Somebody started pointing at Seunghyun curiously, as if they're slowly recognizing him. Omona. We forgot that he's in the BigBang; he'll be in deep trouble if these people got a whiff of who he really was.

Seunghyun tried to remove Mina's arms away. "Goddammit, will you relax? I'm not bluffing, holy." He looked at us pleadingly for help. "Hotdamn, would you please take her away from meeeee?"

Bom stood up, grinned awkwardly at the spectators and forcefully pulled the spazzing Mina away from Seunghyun. Seunghyun sighed and adjusted his hoodie. Mina on the other hand, somewhat got the drift and sat down beside us. Her face was still flushed.

"Okay, miss I-slept-on-the-streets-outside-*Seoul-Arena-just-for-DBSK's-concert-a-few-years-back, are you on planet earth now?"

"Omo." Was all Mina said. The girl still surprises the heck outta us, seriously. Who knew she had this psycho fan girl side in her? No wonder why she somewhat understood where I was coming from. They have a saying that antis are usually hardcore fans in denial, after all.

"That was insane. Good thing I didn't excuse myself when he was still on the other line. Do you seriously think my friend would still call me?!"

"Yes!" Mina answered enthusiastically, something that was a bit uncharacteristic of her. "He will! He's really..." She must have had some idea of Jaejoong implanted inside her brain that got her squealing like a 12-year-old in front of us right now. "Oppa..."

Seunghyun's eyes got wide. He covered his ears and squirmed. "I'm not hearing this. Let's go back. I'm having a headache."

"Oppa?" Mina's voice was suddenly sickeningly sweet. "I wonder if...it's my birthday 2 weeks from now and..."

"Srsly. Having a deranged Jae fangirl in front of me is enough. You're cute and all but no, he's not in Korea right now. Thank God." Seunghyun took out his wallet, took some bills out of it and placed it on the table gently before standing up. "Let's leave."

"But the party?" Bom and I looked at him. He's our only hope. 

"Oh, we will come. Promise."

"But Aera..."

"Aera's not invited." Seemed like Mina's back to her old self again. "That's what Seunghyun should do. Stop her from doing so."

"You serious? I can't do that. Jiyong will notice and he will veto the idea right then and there!!!"

"Well does she stay in your dorm, too? Just tell the guys."

"Han Mina, I could do that but I'm pretty sure that girl would spider-sense it anyway. I could promise you that we would go there, all five of us complete but...well, let's just say we'll most probably coming with a baggage. And anyway, everyone in YGE is invited, right? Imagine the issue that would come out if people noticed her absence, which I'm sure they will. So what do ya say?"

"Just tell the guys. I'll work things out with Aera."

The three of us looked at her. "You will?" Bom managed to ask, a bit doubtful.

"Yeah. It's my birthday party, and I'll be having it at my house. I have full power and control on that guest list."

There was a tone of finality in her voice. She's bent on helping me but while I'm very thankful for that, I couldn't help but feel guilty. I don't want to look bad in front of Jiyong. once he'd get a drift of this he'll know that Aera not being invited has something to do with me.