Chapter 53

As cheesy as it sounded, both Annie and Yongguk had resorted to eating their lunch outside in the park. They had resorted to picking up instant ramen as well as other snacks from the convenience store along the way. Even though she wouldn't have minded eating lunch with Miranda, she still felt wary given since there was still some awkward tension in the air. Annie hated awkwardness to no end which was why she had to leave. She was sure Miranda was not at all awkward but knowing they were from different worlds, they wouldn't have been able to relate with one another. Besides, Annie couldn't exactly stand her so there was no point in staying. Considering the discussion they'd had, Annie hoped her words have gotten through to her. There was a lot at stake and she knew it but a problem like this could be solved with time, she thought before shifting her attention back to Yongguk.

“So what made you decide to want to eat outside?” Annie asked as soon as they found a spot under a nice oak tree. He proceeded to straighten a blanket onto the grass.

Recalling the events from earlier, Annie eyed him carefully.

“You have a blanket in your car?” she had asked.

“I sometimes bring it with me to the studio if I have to stay there all night and end up crashing on the couch,” he told her.

“I'm guessing you have a pillow too?” she asked nonchalantly.

“I do, actually,” he replied matter-of-factly. When she gave him a look, he came to his own defense. “Don't judge me.”

She shook her head. “I wasn't going to,” she said, still grinning.

“Yeah, but the look on your face tells me you have a snide remark up your sleeve,” he barked back.

“Okay well maybe you're right,” she snickered. “But I'm not always so sharp, you know.”

“I really want to believe you,” he said.

“What, so you're jumping to the conclusion that I'm always so sarcastic and mean?” she asked, slightly taking offense to it.

“Yeah, pretty much,” he nodded matter-of-factly.

Annie sneered. “You know I'm not always like that,” she huffed.

“I know,” he remarked. “But it's like you have some sort of vendetta against me or something.”

“I do NOT!” she argued back.

“Whoa!” he raised his hands in defeat. “Calm down! Geez...” He said sneeringly scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

“Watch it, Bang,” she warned him before walking off carrying their snacks.

“My point exactly,” he muttered as he watched her walk ahead of him.

“What was that?” she turned back around to face him.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head innocently. When she turned back around to walk ahead of him, he made a face at her before following behind.

“It's nice out, so why not?” he grinned, taking in the beautiful scenery before them. “Why? Do you not want to eat outside?”

“No, I didn't say that,” she shook her head. “I don't mind it. I mean I would have to agree with you on that one. It is very nice out, isn't it.” she said, looking around before taking off her sandals then sitting down on the blanket.

“Exactly,” he said, proceeding to settled beside her. “Let's eat before our noodles get soggy.”

“Right,” she nodded, then proceeded to dig in to her ramen. As they ate in silence, she would often find herself stealing glances at Yongguk from time to time. Sensing that she was looking his way, he soon turned to face her. Her eyes widened as if she was a deer caught in headlights. Immediately, she turned away from him blushing slightly.

“I feel like there's something on my face for you to be staring at me that way,” he said with a sneer. “Is there something on my face?” he asked cautiously touching his face.

“No!” she immediately shook her head. “Not at all.”

“Then why do you keep staring at me?” he asked curiously. “If I didn't know any better, you were admiring me.” He smirked.

Her eyes widened. . Way to go, Captain Obvious. There was no denying it now. “Well, maybe I was,” she admitted. “What's it to you?”

He chuckled. “Nothing wrong with that,” he said with a slight shrug. “You're a big girl, you can do whatever you want.” He said wriggling his eyebrows suavely.

“Someone's getting a little cocky,” she muttered sneeringly then went back to eating her noodles then turning to shift her attention over to the breathtaking view of the pond before them.

The sunlight allowed the autumn leaves of the trees above to reflect into the clear pond. Annie never noticed it before until now and she was awed nevertheless. Soon, she was reminded of her childhood with Lucy. When their mothers were not working, they would often find the time to take the girls over to the park during this time of year. She and Lucy would often skip rocks if they were around or fed the ducks. Looking towards the pond, she noticed there no ducks around, just the crisp and clear body of water water. They must have settled elsewhere, she thought, frowning slightly. Sighing, she shifted her attention to the other bystanders. Some were settled into their own benches, reading a book or taking a picture of the breathtaking scenery. She realized it had been way too long since she'd been to a place like this and she admitted to feeling nostalgic just thinking about it.

Yongguk soon spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. “I can't remember the last time I ate outside on a day like this,” he sighed easily taking in the scenery once again, then turned to glance back at her.

Annie laughed softly. “Same here,” she nodded in agreement, before shifting her attention towards the pond.

After disposing his lunch along with Annie's, he proceeded to return to their spot and cleared his throat, managing to grab her attention. “Mind if I lay down?” he asked as he took off his navy blue cardigan before setting it down on the blanket beside her.

She finally shook her head as if trying to wake herself from a slight daze as she admired his muscular figure through his white v-neck t-shirt. The focal point of his body by far from what she noticed was his collarbone. He sure had a y collarbone, she thought, swallowing hard. “Not at all,” she supposed, eying him a little more carefully.

Picking up the pillow, he proceeded to make his way over before setting the pillow down onto her lap then laying right down, catching her completely off guard. “There,” he sighed in satisfaction. “That's more like it.”

Annie gasped, tensing up immediately looking down at him. Before long, her heart began pounding rapidly out of her chest. “What the—Bang, what do you think you're doing...?” she stammered, trying her best to keep her breathing steady.

He opened his eyes. “I'm laying down,” he inferred looking back up at her. “What does it look like I'm doing?”

“But you're—” she found herself at a loss for words.

He flashed his signature gummy smile and chuckled, watching her becoming flustered never ceased to amuse him. It was broad daylight and the natural lighting allowed him to see the color on her face turn a deep shade of pink. “I'm not moving,” he declared. “I'm already comfortable as it is.”

She sighed, then tried her best to relax a bit. “Okay,” she finally said. “Just so you know, I don't do this for anyone else. The last person I allowed to come this close to me is Lucy.”

“Don't I feel special,” he remarked with a light chuckle before shutting his eyes.

You are special, she wanted to say but decided she had to bite her tongue for now. She figured they were going to be here for a while so luckily for her, she came prepared. Grabbing her bag nearby, she took out her book to read. It was hard staying focused because she found herself stealing glances at him from time to time. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, she thought as she grinned down at him. The grin soon went away as a part of her contemplated whether she should tell him how she felt but another part was afraid of the outcome.

After much consideration, she sighed. “Bang?” she bellowed.

“Hmm,” he moaned.

“I have a confession to make,” she declared.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking back up at her. “What is it?” he muttered sleepily.

She slowly shut her eyes, refusing to meet his own looking up at her. “I,” she began. “I—I--” Just say it, you idiot! It'll help you in the long run! Her subconscious had told her. It's easy... Just tell him you like him. Bang, I like you. See? That wasn't too hard now, wasn't it?

“Uh-huh,” he waited expectantly, finding himself grinning in amusement.

Not sure how she would go about this, she finally opened her eyes. “I like... I like... HANGING OUT WITH YOU!” she cheerfully proclaimed, faking a grin as she finally met his eyes staring up at her.

He eyed her carefully and laid in silence for a long moment. “O-okay,” he uttered finally. “Thanks,” he grinned back at her. “You're not too shabby yourself.” he replied curtly. “I like hanging out with you too.”

She chuckled nervously. “I just thought I'd throw that out there!” she beamed.

“That's great to hear,” he nodded in agreement. “Okay, I'm taking a short nap.” He announced before shutting both his eyes. Before long, he managed to open one eye looking back up at her. “If you're bored, I have music on my phone in case you wanted to give a few songs a listen.” He offered, pulling his iPhone out of his jacket pocket then presenting it to her.

“Oh,” she emitted looking at the phone carefully. “Thanks,” she said before taking it from him.

When she knew he was sound asleep, she reached over into her bag for her ear buds before plugging them into his phone. Scrolling down through his playlists, she came across a playlist titled “No Mercy”. Curiously, she clicked onto the playlist scrolling down the list of songs. Glancing down at his sleeping head on her lap, she soon clicked on a song titled “Voicemail” only because it seemed like a catchy title.

As the song played, she found herself entranced by the beat and melody. From what she observed, it was a hip-hop ballad that integrated the use of phone sounds in the instrumental. This is new, she thought. She recognized Yongguk's voice in the beginning rapping his verse. There was so much emotion in his tone, she wanted to hate the girl he was talking about in the song. The girl who broke his heart must be a , she thought, unknowingly placing her hand above his chest.

Taking in the song, she shut her eyes momentarily grinning to herself. Even though it was anything but a happy song, she was really enjoying it. Plus she got to hear Daehyun and Youngjae's vocals make up a majority of the song. Despite her best friends' annoying antics, she had to admit they were talented and grew to appreciate them doing what they loved. She was like a proud mother in a way, she thought, beaming proudly. The other bright side was having to hear Zelo's voice rapping really rapidly. It was almost freakish in a way but he still sounded amazing in the end. Of course, she only heard Jongup and Himchan's voices briefly before becoming surpassed by the others once again. Not that she was making a huge deal about it since the song did happen to focus more on her best friends and their vocals.

Once the song ended, the next song began to play as she continued to scroll down the list in the hopes of finding more songs. Some songs were familiar as she found herself humming along, sounding slightly off-key but Yongguk didn't seem to stir so she didn't stop herself. Eventually, he'd grow annoyed but not at that moment.

Looking down at his sleeping figure, she took in his sleeping figure looking so peaceful and relaxed. Little did she know, Yongguk slowly opened his own eyes looking up at her with his own bemused grin. Realizing she had placed her hand on his chest, he shut his eyes once again before reaching up to take her own hand in his, caressing it.

Her eyes soon shot open, taken completely by surprised as she found him gripping the hand on his chest firmly, refusing to let her go as if his life depended on it. In turn, Annie too found herself caressing his hand. As she went about listening to his music along with resuming her reading, she could have sworn she saw a hint of a smile coming from his sleeping figure.

“Something on your mind?” he couldn't help but ask, taking in her long silence as something odd. As a matter of fact, she'd been acting odd the whole time they were together and he began to worry for her. After waking up from his short little nap at the park, Annie stood up to stretch her legs before asking if he had a nice rest. He nodded and told her it was nice, he replied with a genuine grin.

She perked up, glancing back at him. “Huh?” she uttered.

He chuckled. “I asked if something's on your mind,” he replied.

“Not at all,” she shook her head.

He begged to differ, noting the distant look on her face as she was gazing out of the window in the car. Clearing his throat, he managed to grab her attention. “Talk to me,” he urged. “Something's bothering you and it's not gonna get solved if you keep it bottled up for long.”

She sighed, eventually caving in. “Alright, you caught me,” she raised her hands in defeat.

“I knew it,” he chortled.

Annie shot him a look.

“Alright, I'll stop teasing you,” he replied, shifting his attention back to the road ahead.

“Anyways, it's about Danny,” she began.

“What about him?” he inquired.

“Well for starters, the drama at his birthday party didn't end there,” she informed him.

“What do you mean?”

“I may have discovered a secret Miranda's been keeping from everyone and it could hurt everyone involved especially Danny,” she finally said, rubbing her temples with her hands.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

“I told you about her husband being a cheating pig, right?”

He nodded. “Of course he is,” he agreed.

“Well turns out, Miranda is having an affair of her own,” she announced.

His mouth was soon agape at the realization. Soon, he nodded slowly putting the pieces together. “That makes a lot of sense,” he mused. “I saw her leaving an expensive hotel trying to remain inconspicuous but I caught her in time. However, I didn't see who the guy was...”

Annie turned to face him. “You mean you didn't see the guy?” she repeated.

“No,” he shook his head. “I didn't.” He turned his head to her. “Why? Did you see him?”

“No!” she exclaimed a little loudly looking away from him. “Of course not!”

He eyed her suspiciously. “Really,” he scoffed. “Then, how did you find out about her affair?”

“I found out last night when I was tucking Danny into bed,” she answered, fiddling with the zipper on her bag. “Good thing Danny was sound asleep, otherwise he'd be in for a rude awakening.” She chuckled nervously. “He asked if I could stay the night and I did. I couldn't sleep so I decided to sneak into the kitchen for a glass of water and happened to run into the other man.”

“So you did see him?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Maybe,” she sheepishly replied. “I mean it was really dark and the lights weren't on so you know...”

“Have you seen him around before?”

She contemplated on telling him the whole truth but decided against it since this was supposed to be Himchan's job and it was not her place to just reveal his secret like that. Yongguk was his best friend for crying out loud! And clearly, Yongguk would be an understanding best friend. At least that's what she hoped. “No,” she lied. “Of course not! Who am I to pry into her business? What goes on between her and whoever she's sleeping with is clearly between the two of them! I mean I believe it's my job to look after Danny's best wishes...”She rambled on before stopping herself.

Yongguk shook his head whilst clicking his tongue. “Unbelievable...” he sighed.

“I know. Tell me about it,” Annie muttered. “Imagine the position I'm in at the moment.”

He scoffed. “You know, it's not too late to walk away,” he told her, his tone sounded completely serious which was starting to scare her in a way.

She froze, turning to face him. “Bang,” she uttered, before shaking her head slowly. “I can't.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“I can't leave him,” she said softly referring to Daniel as she looked away from him trying her best to fight back tears. “Do you wanna know what he said to me last night before he fell asleep?” Yongguk sat in silence for her to continue. “He told me he loved me,” she sniffled, wiping away the tears falling down her cheeks with her hand. “And you wanna know what else he said to me?”

When he made it to the school, there was still time to spare as he parked the car. Before long, he turned to face her, taking her hand in his then caressing it. Instinctively, he reached over to wipe away the remaining tears only to have Annie move away from him. “What is it?” he asked tenderly.

She turned back to face him. “He told me his birthday wish,” she began, allowing another tear to fall. This time, she allowed Yongguk to wipe it away for her. “He said he wished I was his mommy.” She managed to say finally.

Yongguk's jaw hardened as he slowly nodded in understanding. “I see,” he managed to say before pulling her into his arms, embracing her tightly.

Meanwhile, Himchan found himself pacing around the building waiting for Annie to return with Daniel for his lesson. He tried to call her a few more times but there was no answer. He was angry at himself for allowing his secret to come this far and now, he was suffering the consequences. The girl of his dreams was refusing to see or speak to him. The affair was not worth losing out on a valuable friendship with Annie, he realized. Maybe seeing her momentarily would allow him to reason with her once again. She might give him the cold shoulder but it was still worth a try, he decided.

Soon enough, a beautiful figure emerged as she made her way into the building. Removing her expensive sunglasses, her eyes met his. “Follow me,” she ordered before marching off into the elevator in her Manolo Blahniks.

Sighing, he did as he was told. “What do you want?” he demanded as soon as the doors to the elevator shut.

“I heard that Annie has decided to end her friendship with you,” she finally said.

He gaped at her in response. “Is that what she told you?” he inquired.

“I met up with her for lunch,” Miranda informed him.

“I see,” he nodded slowly in understanding. “Well, I guess what she says goes so I guess we're not friends anymore.” He muttered bitterly before staring back at her with a dark expression. “I hope you're happy. You got what you wanted, right?”

“Not exactly,” she said curtly.

He scoffed. “What is it now?”

“I can't seem to get through to her,” she looked away wearily. “I tried paying her off but---”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Himchan cut her off. “You tried to bribe her with money?!” His eyes widened. “Are you—are you crazy? What kind of person do you think she is, Miranda? Annie is not like that at all.”

Miranda sighed. “People can change,” she said nonchalantly.

“Well, she's not like that,” he said firmly.

“You sound so sure,” she mused.

“That's because I am sure,” he affirmed.

“Well, I might need your help in getting through to her, Channie,” she proclaimed, managing to use the pet name she had given him.

He stared back at her once again with a hardened expression. “Please, stop calling me that,” he said through gritted teeth. “And my help isn't necessary. You're just in over your head.” He pointed out before the elevator doors opened summoning them to exit together.

“But--”

“No,” he interrupted her holding his hand up to stop her. “I'm done. We've gotten this far. Let's just end things now. And a piece of advice? I suggest you let things be. If I can trust Annie then I know you can too.” He finally said.

Before long, the elevator doors opened revealing Annie, Yongguk and Daniel. The grin on Annie's face soon went away upon facing Miranda and Himchan. “Hi mommy!” Daniel exclaimed excitedly making his way to his mother.

“Hi handsome!” she grinned, kneeling before him pulling him into her arms. “How was school today?”

“Boring,” he answered before looking over at Himchan. “Hi hyung!”

“Hey little man!” he greeted, ruffling Daniel's hair playfully. “Ready for your lesson today?”

“Hello Yongguk,” Miranda greeted him in her usual sophisticated manner.

“Hey Miranda,” he said with a slight wave. “Hey, Himchan,” he greeted his best friend.

“Nice to see you today, Bang,” Himchan nodded.

“Likewise,” Yongguk nodded in agreement before turning back to Annie. Miranda led Himchan and Daniel back to the apartment where Annie knew they would be expecting her.

As she watched them walk away, she clenched her jaw angrily. Noting her agitation, Yongguk placed a hand over hers in order to calm her down a bit. She glanced back up at him and sighed. “I should get going,” she finally said.

He nodded. “Alright, see you around,” he said with a genuine grin.

When she knew no one was around, Annie quickly turned to give him a quick peck on the cheek, taking him by surprise. “Thanks for today,” she said immediately before exiting the elevator quickly making her way down the hall towards the penthouse.

“Bye—bye Annie,” he uttered watching her go.

Once the doors closed, he leaned back against the rail touching the spot where her lips had been. He soon grinned to himself. “Anytime, Annie,” he mused aloud.

A/N: Hello again! Here's another update! Sorry for the wait... I had to rewrite this chapter numerous times. Sorry if it's a little sloppy. However this chapter focuses on Bang and Annie interactions so it's a bit of a treat lol. ;) I'll try to update soon if I can because I've been really busy with work and school. And I'm also trying to juggle watching New Girl and Revenge. So yeah, my hands are a little full lol. In my spare time, I'm reading The Five People You Meet In Heaven and Love, Rosie. Yeah I at multitasking so you know... XD Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter because it's gonna take a while for me to update again. My mind is elsewhere atm...

On a random note, I just ordered BAP's 1st Adventure 10,000 Miles in America DVD last night!!! I can't wait till I get it lol. Now I'll have another k-pop DVD to add to my collection alongside my other two Beast DVDs lol. You see, I shouldn't whine about my job when I'm earning money just to purchase these things! :D All I know is when I watch it I'm going to be one extremely jealous Baby... Darn you people who actually went to the LOE concerts. >:-(

And for those of you who went to the BSB concerts... I hate you too! XD I missed out on their concert on Sunday and it was their last stop too. Now I have to wait again for another reunion concert T^T I doubt that'll happen since they're all old now. Hmph!

Anyways, happy reading! ^^