Muttering curses in her head, Hana waited for the sting on her cheek. She waited for a second, 2 seconds, 3... but it never came.

 

Slowly, she opened her eyes and realized that the hand was still up in the air, making her frown in confusion. Her eyes slowly went down the open palm to the girl's wrist and eventually to another hand gripping on it. Her eyes grew, mirroring Miss Fangirl's shocked expression.

 

in a sharp breath, Hana was even more surprised to find the college girl she had served earlier exerting all her effort to hold onto Miss Fangirl's arm. Hana could faintly hear gasps from the other 3 girls when College girl flicked the hand back but Hana was more interested in her savior's heated expression. Eyebrows close together, mouth in a straight line, College girl glared at the rest of the fangirl clique.

 

“Why you—” Red-nailed girl started, stepping forward to help her friend.

 

“How dare you come in here and start a fight?” College girl hissed, taking a step forward to block Hana from the girls. As much as she was grateful though, Hana was seriously confused. Who is this girl? And why is she defending me?

 

“Stay out of this. This isn't your fight!” The quiet fangirl sneered, throwing daggers with her eyes. “You don't even know what this is about.”

 

College girl scoffed, shaking her head. “Oh, I know. I know better than all 4 of you,” she smirked, crossing her arms across her chest.

 

“Wha—” Hana started, attempting to hold the young girl's arm but she felt a hand on her shoulder instead. When she turned around, Hyekyung stood behind her, shaking her head slightly. Her best friend slowly pulled her back, making her take two steps back. She was even more shocked when she saw Youngbae beside Hyekyung. He was covered up with a hoodie but his bare yet handsome features clearly stood out. Mouth set in a thin line as well, he held onto Hana's other arm and sighed.

 

Hana turned back to the tense group in front of them and realized that the 4 girls were too enraged at College girl to notice Youngbae right in front of them. Hana bit her lower lip as her gaze moved from the girls to her savior.

 

“You should get out of here.” College girl ordered, her voice lowered to a decent volume. “You're causing a pathetic scene.”

 

“You get out of here, !” Miss Fangirl practically screamed in her face, veins bulging out of her neck and temple. “This is between VIPs and this poor excuse of a !”

 

Hana's eyebrows rose as she felt the anger bubble up . She opened for a nice crispy verbal retaliation but was stopped when she heard College girl suddenly laugh out loud. Eyebrows crunched up again, Hana and Hyekyung turned to the girl in shock. Youngbae however, simply his lips and smirked.

 

“I better not leave then cause I'm also a VIP.” College Girl said as her laughter died down. “Psssh. You are so far out of your league right now.”

 

Her statement was met with so much shock from all of the people in the circle, except maybe Youngbae. Hana finally couldn't take it anymore and placed a hand on the girl's arm.

 

“You're a VIP? How—” She started, totally unsure of what to ask or say to the girl in front of her. But College girl only smiled at her, giving her a little wink as she turned back to the four mean fangirls.

 

“Look, why don't all four of you just leave?” She said in a placating voice. “GD's going to have a press conference later today and I bet you anything he's going to say something that will embarrass you even more than what's happening now.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about, ?!” Makeup Girl took a step forward and raised an eyebrow, trying to intimidate College girl with a glare. The recipient only sighed and shook her head.

 

“You guys are honestly degrading the whole fandom. Get out now, before I have you banned from any activities and events.”

 

It was the fangirls' turn to laugh now. The Red-nailed girl stepped forward, fully intending to get in College girl's face, but abruptly stopped in her tracks. Her eyes slowly drifted from College girl's face to the guy standing right behind her.

 

Total mental breakdown. Menbong. Dead brain cells.

 

Youngbae had finally decided to reveal himself to the girls.

 

“I think you should listen to her.” Youngbae said in a soft but stern voice. It took a prolonged second for the girls to register Youngbae's face and another five for the meaning of what he said to sink in.

 

Hana heard Hyekyung snicker behind her at the girls' red faces. Makeup girl kept on opening and closing but somehow couldn't bring out any sound. Red-nailed girl practically tore her hair off as she muttered 'OH MY GOD!' while the others could only blink in disbelief.

 

College girl had finally turned slowly around, heart beating from the familiar voice she heard behind her. With her heart's pounding echoing in her ear, she took a deep breath before meeting Youngbae's eyes. Saying that she was surprised was the biggest understatement of the day as she saw her bias looking straight into her eyes. She had seen him before, being one of the admins of Youngbae's individual fansite but seeing him up close like this was new. She managed to stop herself from screaming out loud though. She simply bowed to Youngbae although her nervousness could be seen in her clenched jaw and shaking hands. The boy in question noticed it though and had to grin at her to try and ease away the tension. This only worsened the situation as the other girls started to panic and mutter incoherently.

 

“This is gold.” Hyekyung sniggered, nudging a blanching Hana. “I should make a fan account of this.” She caught Youngbae's eye and stuck out her tongue, earning her a glare from the idol.

 

“Seriously, ladies, just leave, please.” Youngbae muttered, not at all pleased at the sudden attention. Many of the customers were already murmuring and some even took out their phones to take pictures. “You're embarrassing yourselves and Bigbang.”

 

“But, oppa—!” The quiet girl spoke up, suddenly shy again. “We—we didn't—”

 

“Jiyong would not be happy with what you just did to a person he cares for,” and love, he added silently. Despite the severity of the situation, it wasn't his place to confirm Jiyong and Hana's relationship... yet. “Now, please leave.”

 

All four of them nodded automatically, their faces as red as a Russian Rouge lipstick. They scooped up their things in a whirlwind, lowering their heads as they scurried to leave the cafe. Youngbae sighed as he turned to College girl, offering her an apologetic smile. To her surprise, he also added a 90 degree bow. College girl frantically shook her hands in front of her, all the while telling Youngbae that he should get up.

 

“You—you don't have to bow to me! I don't think—”

 

“You helped our friend out. I'm extremely thankful for what you did.” Youngbae interrupted her, flashing his famous eye smile.

 

“Chincha! I'm really grateful that you defended me.” Hana piped up, resting her hand on College Girl's arm. “And I feel so rude not knowing your name!”

 

“Oh, ahh, I-I'm Kang Eunji.” The girl finally offered. Clasping her hands in front of her, she bowed slightly to all of them. “I've been coming to the cafe for a while now and I kind of recognized GD once and ever since then, I've been coming regularly. But—but I wasn't the one who told the news about you two though. I actually think the two of you look cute together.” She bit her lip and smiled sheepishly at Hana, as if embarrassed of what the latter was thinking about her. Hana offered her a huge smile.

 

“Thank you.” Hana bowed slightly, suddenly feeling energized at the girl's shy admission. Heck, the mere fact that she defended her from the group of mean fangirls was enough to gain Hana's lifelong gratitude and admiration.

 

“I hope you won't think all of GD's fans are like those four girls, unnie. There are actually a lot of us who support you. Especially since we've found him happier and more energetic ever since... well... you.” Eunji shrugged, laughing lightly as Hana blushed at what she said.

 

“I'm glad to hear that.” Hana simply said but when she turned to Hyekyung, she couldn't help but let a small tear well up at the side of her eye. Hyekyung raised her eyebrows and smiled at her best friend.

 

“Well, I'm seriously glad you were there, Savior!” Youngbae chuckled, ruffling Eunji's hair playfully. The girl froze for a few seconds, feeling utterly helpless at her idol's friendly and easy display of skinship. Hyekyung saw it and laughed, smacking Youngbae on the arm.

 

“YA! You just freaked our Savior out!” She growled at him playfully.

 

“Oh, no! No! I was just... surprised.” Eunji managed a crooked grin but was still unable to look at Youngbae. The latter chuckled again and stuck out his tongue. He kept his salmon tongue in between his teeth as he grinned at her. Eunji had to stop herself from sighing out loud at Youngbae's cuteness.

 

“Okay, now that you've effectively charmed Eunji-ssi, Youngbae, I think we better get going to the press conference.” Hana smirked, catching Eunji's violent blush.

 

“Oh right! With all the drama I forgot I was supposed to pick you up!” Youngbae nodded at her. “Go get your stuff, my manager's waiting in the car.”

 

As Hana and Hyekyung left to go to the kitchen for Hana's stuff, Eunji slowly eased away from Youngbae towards her seat.

 

“Hey, Eunji-ssi!” Youngbae's all too sweet voice caused Eunji to stop in her tracks and turn slowly back to Youngbae. “Can I sit with you while I wait? I bet those two are going to take forever.”

 

She managed a weak “ne” before leading the way to her seat by the corner. Youngbae seemed too jolly as he plopped down in front her, not minding the stares from the people around him.

 

“Go~mawo!” He said with his eye smile, causing Eunji to have caffeine-free palpitations in the middle of the day. She nodded shyly, lowering her gaze to the coffee in front of her. Seeing Youngbae being cute was such a rare occurrence that Eunji had no idea what to do or say. She fidgeted in her seat, biting her lip to keep herself from saying anything awkward.

 

Youngbae leaned back on the seat as his gaze travelled to the girl's head in front of him. The corners of his lips tucked at the sudden shyness she displayed despite her fierce stance against those mean fans earlier. Letting out a soft chuckle, he leaned forward on the table, crossing his arms on top of it and letting his chin drop down on them. He cleared his throat, causing Eunji to glance up at him. Brown orbs met his and he suddenly felt his heart skip several beats. Realizing who she was staring at though, Eunji dropped her head quickly, letting her bangs cover her face. Youngbae felt the sudden urge to brush her hair away.

 

“So you became a regular here because of Jiyong?” Youngbae asked, tilting his head slightly to get a better view of her face behind her bangs. “You know I do remember a girl surrounded by tons of books whenever I came over. I never saw your face though.”

 

Eunji lowered her head even more. She wanted to tell him that it was Youngbae that lured her here, always seeing him in pictures carrying a cup of tea with the cafe's name on it. Later on, she learned that Youngbae himself buys his drinks, seeing as the owners were his close friends. She had gathered her courage one day and just barged in, armed with the books she was supposed to read for class. After liking the coffee, the atmosphere, and the people, she had changed her favorite study niche from the university library to Golden Coffee.

 

It was just a week later when she spotted G Dragon's very slim profile enter the cafe followed by a slightly drowsy but smiling Taeyang. She decided to come by every day from then on. She didn't even realize when she started referring to G Dragon as Jiyong and Taeyang as Youngbae in her head.

 

Feeling Youngbae's presence in front of her, Eunji couldn't say what she thought of him out loud. She wanted to tell him that she really liked him and that she's merely interested in Jiyong and Hana's relationship but she didn't want to come off as a total fangirl, when in fact, she was.

 

Youngbae waited for her answer for a while. When he realized that she was too shy to confirm it, he shifted his gaze to a book in front of him.

 

“Haruki Murakami.” He murmured, a smile tugging on his lips. He picked up the book next to it and read ee s on the cover. The others were all novels or poem anthologies in English. “Are you majoring in English?”

 

Eunji's head shot up and almost forgot to breathe seeing Youngbae open IQ84. Her hands itched to take the book away from him but she didn't want to offend him.

 

“Creative writing. Poetry and fiction, actually.” She finally answered, biting her lip. “I want to win a Pulitzer.” At the last sentence, Youngbae stopped mid-page. Looking slowly up at Eunji, he could feel himself grinning. He could almost see the fire in her eyes. Her Pulitzer dream was not a joke.

 

“Chincha?” he grinned. Somehow, he understood her completely. He was a passionate guy, everybody could attest to that, especially when it comes to his dream to become not just a singer, but an artist. Looking at Eunji in front of him, he was sure she felt the same passion as him when he was still training. She had the same concoction of passion, determination, and desperation dancing in her eyes.

 

Youngbae was about to ask her about her works when his phone suddenly rang. The smooth rhythm of an R&B track pierced the air between Youngbae and Eunji. Eunji glanced down at the iPhone on the table before shifting her gaze back to Youngbae, her head tilted to the side as if she was trying to recall something. Youngbae answered Jiyong's call after sighing inwardly at the timing.

 

“They're just grabbing their things. We'll be there in a bit.” He muttered even before Jiyong could start talking.

 

“Arraso. I'm just checking.” Jiyong said on the other line, sounding like he was trying to control his breathing. Youngbae sighed realizing that his best friend was near hyperventilation.

 

“Relax, bro. You're gonna do great.” He opted not to tell Jiyong what happened earlier, knowing how hard he's trying to keep calm right now. Besides, with Eunji's help, the situation didn't escalate into anything worse.

 

“Yeah, bro. Thanks.”

 

They both hung up just as Youngbae saw Hana and Hyekyung push open the kitchen door.

 

“Ah, Eunji-ssi, we have to go.” He said, turning back Eunji. “Again thanks for defending Hana earlier.”

 

Eunji nodded. She opened as if to say something then closed it again. Then she opened them again and, still nothing came out. As Youngbae started to walk towards his friends, the view of Youngbae's retreating back suddenly made Eunji's heart constrict. She had spent so many days watching his back, ever the silent worshiper. Would she go back to being just another fan stalking her idol or would she step out of her shell and actually take a step towards her ultimate wish to be friends with Youngbae? Taking a deep breath, she opened to call him back but she gasped in surprise seeing that he had already turned back to face her.

 

With the afternoon light reflecting in his eyes and sending sweet kisses on his slightly upturned lips, Youngbae tilted his head and settled his gaze on the seated girl he had just left. “Is it okay if I read some of your poems some time... soon... maybe?” he asked, letting out an awkward but adorable laugh.

 

Swallowing hard, Eunji lifted his head up then forced it down. After a couple more stiff tries, her head lost it's stiffness and eventually bobbed up and down smoothly. Youngbae threw her a grin, stuffing his hands in his jacket's pocket, squaring his shoulders as he laughed awkwardly.

 

“So, uhm, I'll go—” He started, taking a step backward but Eunji suddenly stood up, her hands clenched as she uttered a barely audible “wait!”Youngbae looked at her expectantly, still smiling.

 

“Ah...” Eunji bit her lip, trying to figure out what she wanted to ask him. “Yo-you're ring tone. It's a new song, isn't it?” She fidgeted with her hands, leaning on the table as she felt embarrassed and awkward if she suddenly sat back down after abruptly standing to call him back. “I-I mean it's sounds like a sample demo... and I haven't heard it on any of his albums before so...” Her voice trailed after realizing how stalkerish she sounded. She lowered her head again, silently cursing herself for sounding so desperate and stupid. To her surprise however, she heard a good-natured chuckle escape Youngbae's lips.

 

“Wow.” He breathed, his whole body relaxing after laughing. “You're quite observant.” He shook his head and laughed even more when their eyes met. He put his forefinger on his lips and tried to wink, silently asking her to keep the music a secret for now. Eunji finally cracked a smile, the edges of moving upwards as she bit her lower lip. Youngbae couldn't help but imitate her.

 

“Jiyong's visiting the cafe on Saturday.” Youngbae suddenly said, “Will I see you then?”

 

Eunji forgot to breathe as her eyes honed in on Youngbae's tongue moving over his lower lip. Is he flirting? She couldn't believe it. The forever alone, er, innocent boy was flirting—with her.

 

“Or I could just ditch Jiyong and come back tomorrow...”

 

Eunji couldn't help it. She laughed out loud.

 

 

* * *

 

“We will be taking questions from one person at a time.”

 

Jiyong held onto Hana's hand as he heard YG's publicist's calm instructions for the press over the sound system. They were sitting on a couch at the backstage of the conference room, Jiyong biting on his free hand's nails. Earlier, Hana had tried to get him to eat something to keep his strength but she stopped when he suddenly ran to the bathroom after a couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin soup. She made a mental note not to underestimate Jiyong's nerves ever again.

 

A staff ran in the back stage and motioned for Jiyong to come with him. The rapper suddenly stiffened, shivers running up and down his whole body. The nervousness he felt right before every Alive Tour concert tripled with this simple press conference.

 

Taking a deep, Jiyong felt himself relax as Hana's soft finger made circles on his clammy palm. He turned to her and smiled. He squeezed her hand, biting his lip as he gazed into her brown eyes. He could see himself in them and he felt calm right away. He in a lungful of air, hoping that it would help him face whatever questions those scandal hungry reporters would throw at him.

 

“I love you.” Hana murmured, smiling slightly at him. She let go of his hand slowly and patted his back, quietly urging him to go with a smile. “I'll be right here when you get back.”

 

Jiyong shut his eyes for a second, remembering the reason why he was going through with all of this. Hana's smiling face swam in his mind and he felt himself breathe in and out steadily. Nodding slightly, he opened his eyes and let G-Dragon take the first step towards the lion's den. This was it. He was going to face the biggest battle of his career.

---

 

HOMAYGASH! Next chapter is the last one! T______________T

ARE YOU READY??

It's gonna be some sort of epilogue tho, so.... (I'll be uploading the next chapter tomorrow. hehe)

Anyway, what do you think about Kang Eunji? (yes, yes, it's the OC in Summer. hiiiiiiiii *wink wink*) Oh, I'm gonna be focusing on The TOP Man's Downfall and Summer after this so please support that, too, JEBAL! :3