“Seven p.m. sharp, buddy.” Jiyong held his phone in between his ear and his shoulder. His hands are currently unable to hold his mobile phone while he talked. BIGBANG just arrived from China and he was on his way to his house carrying his own stuff.

 

“I get to pick the movie this time?”

 

“Mmmm.” Jiyong half-smiled.

 

“Please? She cutely begged, “Please Ji?”

 

“Ji?”

“-Yong?”
 

“Ji-yong?”

 

She was trying to be cute to him.
And as always, he laughs and she knew she’d won.

 

That’s always their conversation – about who gets to select the movie they’re going to watch. Funny that they have this cute conversation, but it’s just her who always gets to choose.

 

“You bought anything for me?” She asked. “Any presents from China, buddy? That’s three cities in a row, you’re suppose to get this nugget a little something.”

 

Jiyong did not respond.

 

No keychain?
No refrigerator magnet?
No shot-glass?
No postcard?
Not even “Someone who loves me went to Hangzhou/Changsha/Chongqing and bought me this shirt?”

 

Ooopps, Jiyong’s not going to buy that one.

 

How about her favorite Chinese street food?
None?
None, Ji… Yong… Ji-Yong?

 

“Fine.” Taeyeon gave up, “Movie and popcorn’s on you buddy.”

 

“Sure.” He chuckled, feeling relieved she didn’t press that he didn’t get her anything from China, “And the dinner too, after the movie. Wherever you want, whatever you want to have, and how much you would like to have.”

 

“I’ll see you Jiyong.”

 

“See you buddy. Don’t be late.” Then he hung up.

 

 

Jiyong lay on his bed with gift boxes of Pandora charms on his hand. Whenever he goes out of the country for work, that is when BIGBANG has a concert, it’s very rare that he has time to shop for something to bring back home to anyone. But when those rare times happen, he usually buys for the women in his life:

 

His mother.
His sister.
Kiko.
Chaerin.
Dara.

 

Now, he’s holding another special gift box for someone else. Jiyong is in denial. He still couldn’t believe he bought her something.

 

They were in Hangzhou and they had time to shop in the airport. He initially bought five Pandora bracelet charms for the women he always buys for. He had bought them the bracelets before and now he buys them the charms from all parts of the world.

 

The Pandora.
He never thought it would make his head spin.

 

 

Hermes Boutique
Hangzhou International Airport
Hangzhou, China
10.30 a.m.

 

Jiyong then moved in to the other store with Daesung but he wasn’t feeling at ease. He wanted to buy his ‘buddy’ the same charm.

 

Yes or No?

 

Jiyong stared at Hermes bags but not realizing they were bags because his mind is still debating whether he’ll buy her or not.

 

He finally excused himself.

 

“Dae.” Jiyong finally said, “I’m going back to Pandora.”

 

Daesung eyed the small paper bags and counted. “You having an affair? That’s already five.”

 

Jiyong smiled shyly.
You know that shy but damn cute Kwon Jiyong smile?
He gave Daesung that.

 

“Ahhh. For the queen of course.” Daesung knew who it is for. “Get her a nice one.”

 

“Queen?” Jiyong ask dumbfounded. They’ve got name for her?

 

“Aren’t we kings? So you’re a king… Mmmm….” Daesung pointed out, “So you have to have a queen.”

 

“Mizuhara-san.” Jiyong patted Daesung’s back and reminded him, “She exists.”

 

The King has spoken: Jiko is real.
Not was but is.
Going strong, peasants.
Deal with it.

 

“Nah. Kiko-san is not your queen.” It was Daesung’s turn to pat Jiyong’s back, “Didn’t they say, the king only bows down to his queen?”

 

“Kang Daesung.”

 

“I’m afraid Your Highness, you only do that to Queen Taeyeon.” Daesung ended up laughing. “Queen Taeyeon, the lady from the other kingdom.”

 

There was a long pause and a questioning stare from Jiyong before he spoke.

 

“I do?” Jiyong looked and sounded worried, “Really?”

 

“You never realized?” Daesung asked, “Dara-Noona said she misses you now. Why? She had never missed you before, Hyung. We all know that. You call her, she calls you. And that damn secret room… damn it’s not a secret anymore…”

 

“But you were too busy being soulmate with another person, you forgot about Dara-Noona.” Daesung continued. He was against the secret room but it’s weird now that he actually notices that Kwon Jiyong and Dara rarely hangs out in that room to chill and chat.

 

Jiyong was listening with his whole heart.  Now he realizes why Sandara keeps posting ‘I miss you’ in her SNS. He didn’t realize it was for him. Yes, the ‘secret room’ was left unused for the longest time now. They don’t see each other and chat in that supposedly ‘unknown’ part of YG Entertainment building. Jiyong thought they were staying away from each other was because of Kiko.

 

“And Chae-rin…” Daesung went on, “During the ancient times, when CL says left, G-dragon goes left. When CL says right, G-dragon goes right. Best friends forever… But it doesn’t matter now if CL says left or right, because you stay in the middle, Hyung. You stay in the middle because Queen Taeyeon is there. That is, if she is even in the middle. Most of the time, she is lost. Unfortunately, you look for her, you go find where she is and you stay wherever she is. You get lost with her.”

 

“That’s too deep.” Jiyong laughed and complained, “Your point?”

 

“You follow wherever she is and you stay there.” Daesung laughed too.

 

“Still too deep.” Jiyong’s still laughing.

 

“You know what I mean Kwon Jiyong.” Daesung was eyeing him meaningfully.

 

Jiyong just nodded.
Ofcourse, he got what Daesung meant.

 

“And how can you go with her to Bali…” Daesung stopped laughing and suddenly turned serious. He had to bite his lower lip too.

 

“We travel all the time.” Jiyong was quick to defend himself this time. “You know that.”

 

“…on Valentine’s day?” Daesung can’t believe he was saying these words for the nth time and Kwon Jiyong being so nonchalant about it, again for the nth time.

 

“Our flight was cancelled and we we’re asked to rebook. We had prior schedules-“

 

“How about Cancun on Baekhyun-ssi’s birthday?” Daesung is still on the roll, scratching his head this time.

 

“She caught Kim Bacon sending messages to his ex.” Jiyong explained once more. This wasn’t their first conversation about this topic, “And Cancun is scheduled way, way ahead.”

 

“His last name is Byun.” Daesung told him, “You sound like a bitter ex-boyfriend, Hyung.”

 

“Whatever.” Jiyong turned back to leave.

 

“Kiko.” Daesung had his final straw. “Don’t ruin her trust.”

 

“I’m not doing anything wrong, Dae.” Jiyong turned back to explain once more, “Kiko knows everything about me and Kim Taeyeon…”

 

“Oh yes, she does.” Daesung told him boldly, “She even knows how happy you are when you are with Taeyeon. She likes it that you’re happy, but as a woman she’s getting scared.”

 

“I do not have feelings for Taeyeon.” Jiyong honestly told him, “I care for her as a friend would; I take care of her the way a guy friend should take care and protect his girl friend. But that’s it.”

 

“You’ve gotten too close, Hyung. Too close.” Daesung sounded really worried.

 

Jiyong sighed and after a long pause, he looked at his worried friend with questioning eyes, “I shouldn’t get her the Pandora bracelet, should I?”

 

Daesung laughed.

 

“I never bought her anything Dae.” Jiyong admitted, “I’ll tell her it’s from you.”

 

“Get her the nicest one, you .” Daesung laughed some more, “How can you be an and get away with everything? Get lost, Jiyong. Get lost.”

 

“I am already lost.”

 

“See.” Daesung closed his eyes, “This is what I am trying to tell you… what we’re trying to tell you. Fine, you may not have feeling because you have all these women in your life… Kiko, Chae-rin and Dara… How about Taeyeon? Are you sure she doesn’t have feelings for you?”

 

“I’m pretty much sure we feel the same way towards each other.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“Positive.” Jiyong seemed convinced. “I… I… I… will just have to make sure… and…”

 

“Make sure?” Daesung cannot read his friend.

 

“I’ll ask her.”

 

 

“How can you shriek like a lady inside the movie house?” Taeyeon scooped a spoonful of vanilla ice cream which eventually went to Jiyong’s mouth and not hers.

 

“That was my disguise, so nobody will notice it was me.” He laughed, while he offered his cookies and cream gelato to her, “You like?”

 

Taeyeon shook her head.

 

“You’re funny, Jiyong.”

 

“So, where do you want to have dinner?” He asked.

 

“Are you okay to have dinner with me?” Taeyeon was making sure. “Did you ask…?”

 

The enumeration shall now begin.
Jiyong was waiting for it.

 

“What’s with the face?” Taeyeon pushed him slightly.

 

“You’re going to start if I asked permission with Kiko, then Chae-rin then Dara. It’s always like that. I don’t need anyone’s permission if I can have dinner with my friend or not. It’s not like this is the first time we’re having dinner Taeyeon. And it’s not like we have feelings for each other.”

 

Right.
No feelings.

 

Taeyeon stopped eating her ice cream. She can’t eat anymore. Jiyong seemed tensed when he answered; and he’s becoming too stubborn lately.

 

“I want to eat steak. The finest and the most expensive there is.” Taeyeon changed the topic. She doesn’t want to ruin the night because she made Jiyong upset.

 

“We travel a whole lot, Miss Kim just in case you might have forgotten. We share a room and even a bed sometimes. You freaking washed my underwear in Angkor Wat and you made me buy sanitary pads in a convenience store in Chengdu. And at this point in time, in maybe in our one hundred thousandth dinner together, you still feel the need to ask if I had asked permission from them?”

 

Jiyong is mad.

 

“Jiyong…”

 

“How many times did we wake up holding each other, Taeyeon?” Jiyong stopped walking and faced her. “Answer me, how many times? You didn’t speak to me for weeks because I woke up in Hanoi using your chest as my pillow and I hugged you like crazy.”

 

“We were drunk.”

 

“You wear my shirts and even my boxer shorts if you ran out of… remember in Rio?” Jiyong was running out of patience, “Why do we need to go through this again? And I thought you hated the enumeration?”

 

“Fine. I’m sorry.” Taeyeon gave up. Jiyong is either experiencing an early andro-pause or he watched too much melodrama again.  He loved those.

 

“Are you starting to have feelings for me?”

 

Taeyeon laughed.

 

“Kim Taeyeon.” Jiyong was serious on the otherhand.

 

“You know the answer, Jiyong. Why ask?” She told him straight.

 

“Good.” Jiyong was relieved. “From now on, we’re not going to talk about Kiko, CL or Dara. When we’re together it’s just us, so we don’t fight.”

 

“That’s sweet.” Taeyeon felt relieved.

 

“No feelings remember?” Jiyong reminded her, “We hang out because we get lost together and we have fun doing so. We’re buddies.”

 

“I know.” Taeyeon nodded, “I never said I was developing any feelings for you.”

 

“You already are.” Jiyong was challenging her. “Assuming the bacon was stuck in the refrigerator, I doubt if you can keep your hands to yourself Kim Taeyeon. Your eyes sparkle when you talk about me. And you talk about me often.”

 

Ah, hello GD?
Copying someone else’s words?

That’s what Seungri told Jiyong the other night. That if probably Baekhyun didn’t exist, Jiyong must’ve already jumped on Taeyeon. He talks about her all the time and his eyes sparkle when he does.

“I talk about you?” Taeyeon was close to laughing, “How sure are you?”

 

“Don’t fall for me, Taengoo.”

 

“I know. You have such a long list in women, I don’t want to be included.” She said truthfully, “I just want pure fun, no malice, no feelings kind of relationship. We agreed on that.”

 

“But you’re starting to like me.” He insisted.

 

Aren’t you suppose to just ask, Jiyong?
You seem to be insisting, you dragon.

 

“I don’t.” Taeyeon denied. “I cannot like two persons at the same time… Baek-“

 

“Me or Bacon?” He asked her quick.

 

“It’s Mr. Byun.” She replied just as quick.

 

“Me or Bacon?”  He repeated.

 

“EXO.”

 

“Me or Bacon?”  The dragon asked once more.

 

“Baekhyun by all means, Sir.”

 

“You are so falling for me.” Kwon Jiyong laughed and pinched her nose. “Kim Taeyeon!!! You can’t be like that.”

 

“When did I ever choose you?” She rubbed her now red nose.

 

“I was joking and you seriously answered.” Jiyong pointed out, “You should’ve chosen me. Answer a joke with a joke.”

 

“Whatever!” Taeyeon’s still red. Now her entire face is all red. “I am not in love with you, Jiyong. Kiko is on the love line list, CL on the best friend category and Dara, the sole-soul-mate. And I… I…”

 

“And you?” Jiyong inched his face closer to hers. His lips touching her cheek. Just touching, not kissing.

 

When his lips touched her cheek, isn’t that already a kiss?
Fine, just touch, not kiss.
Fine.

 

“I stay in the ‘lost and found’ corner.” She smiled, “I like it there.”

 

“You like me more than Bacon. I knew it.” Jiyong pulled her for a hug, “Don’t make me leave Kiko, Taeyeon. Don’t do this.”

 

He was joking, of course.
Taeyeon can feel him shaking while he control his laughter.

 

“I’ll prove it, you dragon.” Taeyeon bravely told him, “I do not have feelings for you.”

 

“Okay. I will wait and see.”

 

“I’m supposed to say that.” Taeyeon winked, “Thanks for the bracelet by the way. I love it.”

 

Then Jiyong lost it.
With her thanks and her smile.

 

And his world began to spin again.

 

 

Jiyong keeps insisting she had fallen for him. Taeyeon refutes and denies. Because, truly it’s nothing more than that magical friendship. She knows where she stands and what her role in his life is. And she didn’t want to move any place from where she is now.

 

Platonic.
Just fun.
Travelling.
Getting lost.

 

And now it extends to more than that:

 

Movies.
Concerts.
Breakfasts.
Lunches.
Dinners.
Coffee.
Jog by the river.

 

But, still platonic. Still ‘buddy’ relationship. No feelings.

 

And definitely, no benefits.

 

 

“You like that shirt, babe?” Taeyeon looked on while Baekhyun tried a new shirt.

 

“Yup.” He nodded.

 

Noona’s shopping for him.
Kissing-Ahjumma shopping for her baby.

 

“We’re getting that one.” Taeyeon told the salesperson, “And another one, please. Same shirt but one size smaller. Color black.”

 

Byun Baekhyun pretended he didn’t hear.
It’s his fifth shirt.
And the dragon’s too.

 

The Dragon is getting whatever the Bacon is getting.

 

 

“Is this Sooyoung-Noona’s new car?” Baekhyun started the engine. “Is it okay for me to drive this around?”

 

“Wait up.” Taeyeon had to excuse herself from someone she was speaking on the phone with, “Ain’t this swag?”

 

“Totally.” Baekhyun agreed and drove around the city with the new car and his beautiful girlfriend.

 

Taeyeon and Baekhyun had a blast that afternoon. They drove around, ate in so many places, shopped. More importantly, they held hands, hugged and kissed a lot too.

 

They were kissing inside the car too when Taeyeon’s phone rang. She didn’t even say hello but listened to the other line. Then she handed the phone to Baekhyun.

 

“I hope you didn’t scratch my baby.”

 

It’s Jiyong.
Who else?

 

“You own this Lamborghini?” Baekhyun was in disbelief. He tried to search for answer in Taeyeon’s eyes but she looked elsewhere.

 

“I meant Taeyeon, not my car.”

 

Bang, Bang, Bang.
Jiyong being an again.

 

Baekhyun cried.
Literally.

 

 

The House of Taeyeon
Gangnam, Seoul
8.30 p.m.

 

“Where are you?!?” Kwon Jiyong was shouting on the other line, Taeyeon felt nervous. “Where are you, Kim Taeyeon?!”

 

He was raging mad.

 

“I’m on my way home. Like five minutes away.” Taeyeon shouted back, “Why are you shouting? And where are you?”

 

He’s at her home, waiting for her with a pregnancy kit on his hand.
A used pregnancy kit.

 

The dragon is panicking.
It says positive.

 

Taeyeon lives alone.

 

Somebody call 911.
Oh wait, a dragon is already calling.

 

Suddenly, he wanted to throw glasses and plates all over the house.  This can’t be happening. How can she be so careless? And to that man? Er, baby? No way.

 

Jiyong is cursing under his breath.

 

“What is this?” Jiyong asked the moment Taeyeon went inside. His face flushed; he was controlling his anger. Jiyong looks like he wants to shout but cannot shout because Taeyeon will shout back at him.

 

“Intruder… that isn’t mine. That’s Tiffany’s.” Taeyeon answered, “Your bingu friend didn’t tell you yet?”

 

Jiyong sat back on the sofa and closed his eyes.  He has gotten so scared, he overreacted.

 

He repeated her words: It wasn’t hers. Tiffany’s + Bingu; that’s Hwang Miyoung and Choi Seunghyun’s gene combination and Taeyeon’s got nothing to do with that. Okay, he’s cool now. The dragon’s has cooled down. But it was minutes before he can speak. “What’s for lunch?”

 

Taeyeon laughed.
Jiyong’s face is still drained.

 

“What do you want to eat, I’ll cook it for you Aboji.” She .

 

“No scares like that Taeng. I mean it.” Jiyong warned; his voice shook and still nervous, “You don’t want this house burned with my fire, do you?”

 

“Yes master.” She continued to mock him. “You got scared, didn’t you, dragon?”

 

“No. Just a little.”

 

Yeah, right.
Just a little more, and he’s about to pass out.

 

 

The Venetian
Macau
1 a.m.

 

“Dara is seeing someone.” Jiyong drank his fifth bottle of Soju.

 

“You’re getting drunk because of that?” Taeyeon, drunk herself, laughed. “Let me guess, you haven’t gotten over that little crush of yours, have you? Oh wait, wait… why are you telling me? Number one, I couldn’t tell Kiko because she is my girlfriend… number two, Chaerin, the best friend will scold me and she shares some Kwon Jiyong-ownership-issues with Dara-Noona… AND let’s not forget nothing, Kim Taeyeon…”

 

“You talk too much…” Jiyong, swaying, came closer to her. “I’m going to kiss you.”

 

“Kissing is not allowed here in Macau.” Taeyeon waved her pointer finger at him, then she adored her Soju bottle next. “Soju’s are sold everywhere, even here. Wow!”

 

“Don’t dare me.” He came a lot closer and took the bottle of Soju from her.

 

“You always say that. You never do it.” It was her turn to come closer.

 

Drunk Taengoo was daring him.
Ho ho ho.

 

Their red faces are inches apart and they can hear and feel each other’s labored breathing.

 

This isn’t good.
This isn’t Jiyong and Taeyeon fun.

 

Then the bottle crashed down to the floor.
It remained there for quite some time.

 

Jiyong and Taeyeon then stared at each other for a long time.

 

“What?” Jiyong asked.

 

“The bacon tastes better than the dragon.” She smiled.

 

“What?!”

 

“I never knew a dragon would taste like Soju.”

 

“You are a crazy woman!” Jiyong laughed, “After crashing in our after party, you crash inside my room. And you kiss me.”

 

“You invited me, Ji. Your concert, the after-party and here in your room to drink. You kissed me first.” She told him.

 

All is fine except Jiyong called Baekhyun up and told him he couldn’t get Taeyeon’s hands off him. And Taeyeon was chanting on the background that Jiyong kissed her first. The EXO member thought it was a joke but that didn’t make him sleep. He tried calling his girlfriend but she didn’t answer anymore.

 

Taeyeon was so drunk, she passed out on Jiyong’s bed. Jiyong slept on the couch holding a soju bottle.

 

No one is sober.
No one remembered the next morning.

 

 

Their stylist was shocked to see a woman in Jiyong’s room the next morning. And even more that it was Girls’ Generation’s very own Kim Taeyeon.

 

But before she could react, Taeyeon went ahead explaining everything. She focused on how she’s nothing on Jiyong’s life and that’s she just a friend, and that last person on his list.

 

Just nothing.

 

Somehow, it tugged Jiyong’s heart. Realizing Taeyeon still thinks she’s nothing to him when in fact they’ve gone a lot closer.

 

“You’re nothing, Taeyeon.” Jiyong finally said before Taeyeon can leave his room, “Yes, you’re still nothing… Nothing like Kiko, Chaerin and Dara… “

 

 But he couldn’t get right to what he really meant.
Taeyeon sensed he wanted to say something else.

 

“Your point, Mister?” Taeyeon sang. “Mr. Mr.”

 

“Nothing.” He beamed. “You look good in my shirt, by the way.”

 

“I’ve told you, you’re not nothing anymore.” Jiyong shyly admitted, then he joked  after, “You even get to wear my shirt.”

 

“How lucky of me.” Taeyeon smiled. She waited to get that ‘nothing’ off her name.

 

Taeyeon smiled wide.
And so did Jiyong.

 

Not nothing anymore.

 

Hotel Kuramoto
Osaka, Japan
11 p.m.

 

“Noona…” Baekhyun whispered to Taeyeon. “Do we really need to share a bed with G-Dragon-sunbae?”

 

“Shut up and sleep, Bacon. Pretend you’re in a refrigerator.”

 

Taeyeon and Baekhyun went to Osaka, just the two of them. But after that pregnancy scare which is not even Taeyeon’s, Jiyong’s been stalking their dates like crazy. Especially now that Taeyeon is not ‘nothing’ any longer, Jiyong felt he can stick his nose to her business any time he wants. Inviting himself to Osaka with them and even sharing a tatami bed with the couple was no biggie, so the dragon thinks.

 

“Noona… he snores.” Baekhyun complained.

 

 

“He sleep-farts too.” Taeyeon giggled. “Wanna wait for it?”

 

“I heard that.” Jiyong butted in, “One more word Bacon and you and I will exchange what we’re hugging now, araso?”

 

“Hyung.”

 

“Come here, Taeng.” Jiyong was laughing silently, tugging Taeyeon’s shirt..

 

“Kwon Jiyong.” But Taeyeon had to cut his bullying session. He’s picking on Baekhyun too much.

 

Jiyong snored.
Loud.

And he farted.
Loud.

 

It was Taeyeon’s turn to laugh and Jiyong’s turn to cut her bullying.

 

 

Somewhere very far
Outside of Seoul
6.30 p.m.

“Hani.” Taeyeon reached out and touched her high school best friend’s hand. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so, sorry.”

 

They hugged.
Long and tight.

 

“That deserves to be thrown in the sea and be eaten by the sharks.” Taeyeon tried to comfort Hani. But truly no words will ever lift Hani’s sorrow.

 

How could you be comforted after being jilted when you actually planned to elope?
By your boyfriend of eight years?
And he just sends a message he doesn’t love you anymore.
Your world would just come crashing down… in a blink of an eye.

 

“I know his family and my family didn’t approve of our relationship.” Hani cried in Taeyeon’s arms. “Right from the very start…. But we held on Taengoo. We fought for it until the very last time but during the most crucial time, he ran away from me.”

 

“He’s no good.” Taeyeon was crying too.

 

“But why leave just like that?” Hani cried harder, “How can he wake up feeling nothing for me anymore? We’ve been together for eight freaking long years! Why did we even get that far??”

 

“You know you’re relationship is dead-end.” Taeyeon had to ask, “Why did you let it go that far? You too should answer that question. You know you can never be. You will never turn your back on your family and he’s the same case. But you went on. You went on with your relationship.”

 

“I love him.”

 

“See what that brought you?” Taeyeon’s hurting that she needs to remind you, “Just tears, heartbreak and more longing. You already know the problem, you have the solution but you are too stubborn, Hani. When it comes to love, it’s not always your heart, you use your head.”

 

“…And if you’re always stuck in that non-moving relationship. You might as well grow alone.”

 

“Taeyeon…”

 

“There will be no man good enough for you if you keeping looking back. I know it’s hard but you should move on. Have fun. Travel! Pre-occupy yourself with happy people and happy things. Get lost… get lost with someone else. Someone who shares the same interests with you, someone who is just in for friendship and nothing else then you will be happier… Be with someone who will look after you if you get lost…”

 

“… or if you’re already lost and confused… he makes you smile. He gives you direction.” Taeyeon smiled as if thinking of someone.

 

“You broke up with Baekhyun?” Hani suddenly stopped crying.

 

“No.” Taeyeon laughed. “All I’m saying is…”

 

“I thought you were describing another person.”

 

“Me? Of course not. This is all about you Hani. I’m just giving you pieces of advice and…”

 <