(Italics are spoken in Korean.)

You had been working at YG as an English teacher for just over a year now and you absolutely loved your job, which had nothing to do with the fact that you saw famous idols on a daily basis but more to do with how much fun it was. Since you were still rather young and new you mostly taught the trainees and you had a blast together. They weren’t very much younger than you so you got on tremendously well and at this point you even considered them your friends.

Recently however, about four ago, Seungri from Big Bang had approached you. He loved learning little bits and pieces of languages just so he could tell his fans how much he loved them. He wanted to learn more English and since the whole Twitter situation hadn’t worked out he asked you for help. You agreed to teach him without hesitation. You would meet him about once or twice a week, late at night in one of the recording studios and help him with his grammar for an hour. You weren’t getting paid by YG for this but you were doing it because watching him improve was payment enough. About a month passed and soon Daesung began joining Seungri as well. He was not very confident in his English abilities, unlike Seungri, so it took a while for him to properly participate in lessons. When he did though you noticed his grammar was almost perfect, it was just that his vocabulary was lacking. His pronunciation was also pretty good so within a couple of months of him attending your mini English lessons he had already over taken Seungri, much to Seungri’s annoyance.

About a month after Daesung had improved so significantly YG had asked you to also start teaching the rest Big Bang as well, since they were preparing for their second world tour. Now that they were getting much more international attention YG demanded that they brush up their language skills. You were happy to oblige and had started formally teaching them about three weeks ago.

You spent a considerable amount of time with them, about four to five hours a week which meant you had a lesson with them pretty much every day. Seungri and Daesung still came to the extra lessons too and were now fast catching up with G Dragon and Taeyang. The only one that wasn’t really putting the effort in was TOP. In the beginning you had been very disappointed in him, you thought the fame had gotten to his head and that he didn’t care about his fans enough to learn English but as time went on you started thinking that his lack of participation might have something to do with you.

He didn’t really turn up for class unless he had to and when he did he always avoided you and never looked you in the eyes. He avoided speaking to you as well but when he was forced he was always on the short side with you. The other boys started noticing it too. It hurt you because you had been nothing but nice to him and to be perfectly honest you kind of liked him as well though now you supposed it had nothing to do with his personality and everything to do with his looks.

So you decided to forget about his behaviour and you focused a great deal more on the other guys. Taeyang and G Dragon didn’t particularly need help with their pronunciation or grammar but rather with their vocabulary. You spent a great deal of time trying to teach them ‘proper English’ as you called It, since they couldn’t exactly go on TV shows speaking the ghetto slang they had picked up from bad movies and horrible rap songs. Daesung’s main focus was his vocabulary but he also tried his hardest to make his pronunciation perfect and his work was definitely paying off.

Seungri, on the other hand, was a completely different story. The boy needed help in every sense of the word. Sometimes you felt more like a babysitter than an English teacher but you still kind of enjoyed it. He would get distracted very easily and spend a great deal of time teasing you. He even made you call him oppa even though he was only a few months older than you.

Right now he was trying to get you to forget about the work he was supposed to be doing by pulling cute faces and speaking to you in a baby voice.

“Popo juseyooooooooo ____ -ah!” he said with his lips pouted and his hands making a V around his chin. You had to admit he looked adorable but it really was time to buckle down and learn now. The tour was just around the corner.

“Seungri oppa first of all you are only allowed to speak English during lesson and second of all no.” you told him in English with your teacher face on.

“Ahh ___-ah why you like this? Why you do not love me?” he said in a loud theatrical voice, obviously over reacting as usual. You chuckled and shook your head. He really was such a drama queen.

“Ahh jjinja jjajeungna…” you heard a deep voice mumble somewhere in the background. Your heart dropped and so did your expression though you tried your hardest not to show it.

“Ignore hyung, he is how you say … not mature? He baby. He play with bears and eat ice cream all day. Forget about him!” Seungri said immediately trying to cheer you up. It worked as you cracked a smile but you still couldn’t forget what he had said. You admitted that his words weren’t particularly hurtful or vicious but they still weren’t nice. He did this pretty much every time you came and over the last three weeks it had really started to bother you.

You ignored him for the most part of the hour but when it was time for the boys to go you asked TOP to stay behind. You wanted to clear the air and ask why what his problem with you was. Even if he really disliked you that much you still had a job to do and all you wanted for him was to treat you like another human being. You stayed seated and waited for him to come over to the table before you would start speaking. He did not look pleased.

“Okay TOP-ssi, I’m here to teach you English. I understand you might not like me as a person but I’m not here to be friendly with you. “ you told him in a civil voice, trying to hide how much his treatment hurt your feeling.

“Is that why you’re so friendly with Seungri?” he spat scathingly at you.

“What does that have anything to do with anything?” you answered confused. He disliked you because you were friends with his band member?

“Aish! You really don’t understand, do you?” he said frustrated but he seemed to be talking more to himself than you. Still you felt obliged to answer.

“Understand what?” you asked him.

“I don’t want you to be friendly with Seungri.” he stated simply. You were getting more and more confused as this conversation went on.

“I guess I can just talk to him after lessons then if it makes you happy.” you told him, trying to appease him and hopefully end this completely convoluted discussion.

“Ever.” he deadpanned with a serious face.

“What?” you asked bewildered.

“I don’t want you to be friendly with Seungri. Ever. I want you to stay far away from him.” he explained to you in a slow voice as if he was talking to a child.

“But why?” you asked again, really not understanding how your personal relationships with other people affected him. You started to think that maybe the guy was a bit crazy.

“I want you to be friendly with only me.” he told you in a suddenly shy voice as he ducked his head. He couldn’t keep eye contact with you and his cheeks lightly coloured.

“What?” was your brilliant response. He had really caught you off guard. You had not been expecting him to say that at all.

“How much clearer can I make it? ___-ssi I like you. I have for a while. I’m sorry if it seems like I don’t like you. The problem is that I like you very much. I don’t know how to act around you. And then you always joke around with Seungri and not me… You even call him oppa…” he said in a sudden spurt of words. It seemed like he really wanted you to understand how he was feeling but he couldn’t find the right words which you found beyond endearing. It was almost like a kid confessing for the first time.

“Top-ssi I-I like you too…” you interrupted him to put him out of his misery. At this point you were struggling to keep the grin off your face but you tried your hardest to control yourself. You didn’t want to look like a crazy person.

“Really?” he asked you dumbfounded, almost as if it was impossible for you to reciprocate his feelings.

“Yes, really.” you told him as you nodded. You couldn’t contain your happiness anymore and started giggling like a little schoolgirl.

“Well then first of all you can start calling me Seunghyun-oppa.” he said with a grin on his face.

Maybe teaching Seunghyun wouldn’t be so bad from now on.