"Hello?"

A familiar feminine voice spoke through the phone. "Gun Woo-ya, this is me."

"What? Again?" Impatience tinged the answering voice. "I already told you I'm not coming back. Not yet until I finish this. No matter what you say or how many times you call—"

The woman interrupted and her statement, said in a voice so broken and resignated, made his blood run cold.

"Your brother... the doctors said he might not wake up anymore."

The moment Gun Woo ended his call and stepped out from the room, Ricky knew that there must be something horribly wrong.

Gun Woo's eyes that always looked cold and jaded, sometimes warm and irritated, now looked as if his whole world had come crashing down. And at that moment, Ricky never knew how right he was. All he can register is that Gun Woo's eyes looked so lost, so clouded, so hollowed and so pained that he found himself helpless and at a loss of what to make of of the person in front of him.

That look on Gun Woo's face terrified him and so he could only ask. "H-Hyung, is there something wrong...?"

Ricky hated how his voice came out so small and how scared and helpless it sounded. Nevertheless, his squeaking did its purpose as it caught the attention of the other occupant of the room. Gun Woo turned to look at him and he stared at Ricky as if he was an intruder, as if he couldn't understand why he was there at all.

It took a long while for Gun Woo to answer and when he did, it unnerved Ricky.

"Nothing." The older guy had answered in a tone where he might've as well been screaming "EVERYTHING!". So cold, so clipped and so seemingly nonchalant.

It snapped the boy-turned-girl into attention when Gun Woo suddenly took his coat and wallet and made a move for the door.

"Hyung!" Ricky exclaimed, alarmed, as he stood up and followed Gun Woo. "Where are you going?"

By this time, Gun Woo was already opening the door. He avoided Ricky's eyes as he answered.

"I'll be back later." Without barely a glance, Gun Woo fled from the apartment. Ricky could only stare helplessly with worry consuming his entire being.

"Hey!" Ricky's worried thoughts were interrupted by a loud yell. "Watch it!"

Ricky yelped as he was shoved by a fellow maid whose hands were full of omelet orders. Ricky, too, was carying an order of a 'Banana Sweet Surprise' and he got horrified that the desert would end up on someone's head rather than stomach as his hands swayed left and right, unable to control his balance. Thankfully, like a blessing, long arms shot out from behind him to steady his hands and his body. He felt a warm body against him and Ricky immediately looked up to thank his savior. He was met by a blast of silver locks and a pair of concerned eyes.

"Noona, are you okay?"

"Zelo!" Ricky's face brightened up, happy to see a familiar face. "What are you doing here?"

Ricky pulled away from him and he couldn't help but notice that Zelo looked oddly disappointed. The Teen Top maknae briefly wondered why.

"A-ah? Ah, yes! It's cuz I like..." Zelo faltered and stared at Ricky. The 'girl' raised an eyebrow. 

Geez, this kid is weird.

"I li-liked the Banana Sweet Surprise that uou suggested last time! Yes, that's it! It was really delicious!" Zelo looked at him sheepishly. "And, uhh, in fact, I think that's my order."

"Oh, so that's it!" Ricky exclaimed, nodding and fully understanding why Zelo would love the iced treat. "I knew you would like it!"

"Ahaha... yes...," Zelo straightened and checked the maid all over to see if he harmed. "Noona, are you really alright?"

"Oh, yes!" Ricky quickly answered. "I just got too caught up with my thoughts."

Zelo nodded. "Be careful, okay? All of the other maids seemed jealous."

"Jealous?" Ricky furrowed his brows. "Why would they be jealous?"

Zelo looked at her, incredulous. 

"Haven't you seen the other customers looking at you?" Zelo said in a voice filled with resentment. Ricky could only again wonder why. "They looked as if they wanted to gobble you up."

At this, Ricky was startled. He swirled around to look at the customers and indeed they were looking at 'her'. Some were openly staring, some were sending furtive glances while other are even taking pictures. It's only his second day but Ricky was getting a lot of comments like 'You're really pretty!'  or 'You've got a really cute face!', some love confessions and even an occasional marriage proposal but he just thought those people were teasing!

"Really?" Ricky asked, uncertain. "I thought it was because I looked weird or something..."

"NO!" Zelo exclaimed in a loud voice that suprised him. "No! I told you! You don't look weird at all! You look pretty!"

Ricky twitched. He's being called pretty. Again.

"And probably that's what they're thinking too." Zelo finished while sending a glare to the other cutomers.

Ricky didn't know what to do with all these attention. Sure, he loved attention especially since he's an idol and he is still being called cute. Only this time, instead of girls, boys are the ones doing it. And, truthfully, this would probably take a long time in getting used to. Only consolation to this is that no matter what gender, Ricky takes all the girls and boys. (Flips hair mentally.)

Just then, a group of guys went inside the cafe, the wind chimes sounded as they opened the door. Ricky was about to go and cheerfully greet them as it was part of his job but a glance to their faces sent him on a mad dash behind Zelo's back.

"Wh-what is it, noona?"

Ricky didn't answer Zelo. He hid behind his dongsaeng's back, petrified, as his mind raced.

Oh my God! It's them! The burly-looking guys who almost beat Gun Woo up that night!

Amid his swirling thoughts and Zelo's concerned look, Ricky saw the cafe's manager looking his way and mouthing that he should go greet them. Ricky  panicked. It's either he lose this job or be beat up by this scary dudes for telling on them to the cops. He didn't have time to deliberate as he suddenly find himself looking face-to face with one of the scary guys. He was towering over even as he leaned down with a scrutinizing look on his face.

He was about to pass out of fright when the guy exclaimed.

"Omo! How cuuuuuute~!!"

Ricky blinked.

Oh, right! They probably didn't see me! Probably, they were too busy running away when the police came!

In a blink of an eye, all of the other scary guys crowded arround her.

"You're right, she's cute!!"

"Down right pretty, I must say!"

"How 'bout goin' out wit me, miss?"

"Would you like to mother my babies?"

"You. Me. Under the sheets. Whatcha say?"

Ricky was overwhelmed as they bombarded him with questions and love confessions. Thankfully, Zelo was there to help him.

Zelo yanked him away from the crowding guys and firmly stood in front of him. "Excuse me, she still has work to do."

The guys sent Zelo unpleasant looks. While the scary dudes easily towered over Ricky, Zelo easily towered them all. Nevertheless, six against one spells very bad for Zelo and Ricky couldn't really count on his own current physique to do much damage. So Ricky was left with one thing he could do best to resolve the quickly heating situation.

"Masters~," Ricky called out brightly while wriggling his body cutely. "Do you wanna try our 'Super Duper Sparkly Hearty Love Love OMO-let'?"

Everyone paused. "Lo-Love Love...?"

"Mm-hmm," Ricky nodded while cupping her face, mustering all the aegyo that she could wring out from her body. "It's suuuuuper delicious!!"

Everyone in the vicinity exploded into blushes.

"S-Sure..."

"Uhh," one guy coughed. "I, uhh, I suddenly feel like trying it."

"If you want, I'd buy ten orders just for you!"

"I-I probably should order one also," Zelo muttered, red in the face. "I haven't tried it yet."

Ricky beamed. Success!

He quickly led them to a table and took their orders which consisted of one of everything from the menu for each of the guys. The manager would surely do a dance number when he hears about this!

Ricky was about to bring them their orders when Zelo neared him. "Do you know those guys, noona?"

"Not really," Ricky replied without thinking. "I just got them into trouble with the cops a few days ago."

"What?!" Zelo exclaimed. "Won't you get in trouble with them?"

Ricky cringed. He spoke again without thinking. He really shouldn't worry Zelo. "Don't worry, I don't think they recognized me."

"Really?" Zelo asked uncertainly. "Well, if they give you trouble, just tell me."

"Omo, what a reliable dongsaeng that I have!" Ricky teased, smiling amusedly at the younger guy. "I might just fall in love~!"

Zelo's face went red as a tomato and Ricky realized to his small horror that the silver-haired guy probably took it the wrong way. He was just teasing!

Aisshh! I probably should not forget that I'm a girl now!

But it's really easy to forget everything that had happened to him for the past few days with Zelo around. It was easy to fall back to their usual routine of chatting, hanging around and teasing. Zelo was a reminder of normalcy from before he turned into a girl. 

"I-uhh, should probably go back to work," Ricky hurried as he tried to get away from Zelo, hoping that the other guy didn't get the wrong idea. 

12:18 a.m.

Ricky stared at the clock for the umpteenth time. He then glanced at the front door.

Still no sign of Gun Woo.

"Where is he?!" Ricky exclaimed, frustrated. He had been extremely worried these past few hours as it seemed that Gun Woo didn't even return once to the apartment after practically running away from the place earlier morning. Ricky even went home an hour early from work to check on the guy. Gun Woo had been plaguing his thoughts all day.

Ricky shivered as he remembered Gun Woo's face earlier. He looked so broken and empty and it was Ricky's first time seeing someone look like that. Actors and actresses he'd seen on dramas could not even compare and probably would never be able to replicate that look unless they have experienced first-hand the pain that could cause such an expression on a person. 

Ricky wondered what possibly had Gun Woo heard from the phone that shook the older guy so greatly. Based on what he saw of Gun Woo, Ricky surmised that he probably wasn't in the right state of mind currently and anything bad could happen to him.

Ricky was unsurprised of how worried he was of the other guy. It had only been a week but he had grown closer with the guy and it's really hard not to worry for the guy that had taken him in so willingly (okay, not really). Gun Woo had every right to refuse and Ricky would've respected his decision because after all he was just a stranger. But the thing is... he didn't and Ricky was all so grateful toward the guy. So grateful that he didn't want to be a burden and that's why he took a job. Even if that job entailed him to wear short girly maid dresses with people ogling at him shamelessly. It was the only job he could get.

Gun Woo-hyung feels just like one of the Teen Top hyungs. A hyung you could depend on.

Thinking of the Teen Top members brought a wave of pain inside his chest. All sorts of questions would pop in his head whenever he would think of them.

Are they okay? Are they worried for me? Are they looking for me? How's everyone at TOPMedia? Is everyone healthy and eating well? Did they already tell my family that I went missing? How did my umma, appa and hyung react? Did the fans already know? Has there been a news report claiming that I had went missing? Should I really have tried to tell the others what actually happened to me? Did I do the right thing? What should I do? What am I even doing here?

This flood of questions would always hurt his head and so he tried, for the first few days, to forget all of it. To pretend that all of this didn't happen. That everything was just a nightmare and that he would soon wake up.

But, of course, it was not. He had realized that one night while listening to one of Gun Woo's slow and sad music pieces. He had nearly bawled when reality dawned on him.

He glanced up at the clock. 12: 24.

Ricky sighed as he turned his attention on the thing in front of him. It was a laptop of Gun Woo's. He borrowed it from him the next day after that night of his big realization.

He tried to search for clues of what might've happened to him, of why, when he woke up, he had turned out this way. But using key words such as 'boy to girl transformations' and 'boy turns into girl' on search engines only earned him results of crossdressing tutorials, transgender surgeries and genderbender or genderswitch anime recommendations. Like now, he had typed 'how to turn back into a girl' but all he got was rubbish and irrelevant infos.

He stared at the screen, willing it to give him direct answers. And when it did not, because of course it would be impossible for the stupid thing to be capable of it, he groaned. He feels like he's going crazy. His brain is not used to all these complexities.

And, like every time he was able to use the laptop and surf the net, he always gets this urge to look for Teen Top articles like he is so used to doing before everything went convulated as his body grew s and suddenly lost that important thing between the legs. But, like every time he gets the urge, he would resist it. He was too scared of what he might find. It might even break his resolve of solving his 'problem' alone.

But it would be all so easy and so tempting. He had just have to type in 'Teen Top' and—

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Hey, you in there? Open up!"

Rickly quickly went to the door as he recognized the voice, abandoning his thoughts instantly. He was met with the tired and disheveled face of Jaedyn with an obviously drunk Gun Woo leaning unto him.

"A little help, please?"

Jaedyn's voice snapped Ricky back to reality and he realized he was staring. He had been too relieved that Gun Woo was now back at home and too startled of his current state. Ricky quickly helped Jaedyn and together they half-carried and half-dragged Gun Woo to his room and deposited him on his bed.

Jaedyn groaned as he stretched his body, sore from carrying Gun Woo back home. Ricky knew what that had felt as he too once carried Gun Woo all the way here in a body, no less, that is comparably smaller to Jaedyn's tall and lean build.

"Thanks," Ricky started. "Do you want anything? I could get you water or something. Or maybe you wanna sleep here for a bit? I'm sure Gun Woo wouldn't mind."

"He's a mess, isn't he?" Jaedyn said, his tone low, while his eyes are trained at the sleeping person before them. "Ra-hyung... he's going through a lot of things. A lot of frustrations and a lot of pains."

Ricky was hesitant when he asked. "What happened?"

Jaedyn shook his head, all of his playfulness and flamboyance from the previous meeting was gone, indicating how serious he was at the moment. "I have no right to tell you. You would have to ask him yourself."

Ricky nodded, understanding. 

"If there's anything I want at this moment," he continued. "It'd be you staying by his side."

He turned to Ricky with grave eyes. "He needs somebody he could depend on and somehow, I think you're the best person for it."

Ricky was stunned. Me? What can I do?

He was unable to ponder further as the blonde checked his time and cursed. "I need to go now. I am needed at the company later at early morning."

"Thanks for the offer," Jaedyn then smiled coyly, indicating Ricky's offer of staying over. "But I wouldn't want to intrude between you and Ra-hyung."

He wriggled his eyebrows as he eyed Ricky's clothes which consisted of Gun Woo's overlarge shirt and shorts which he had lent to Ricky. The taller guy was obviously trying to make the atmosphere light. Ricky blushed at the insinuation.

Aisshh!! What is this guy thinking?!

"Idiot," Ricky muttered which made the blonde chuckle. Ricky then replied with a piercing look.

"Well then, I'll show myself to the door," he said as he wiped fake tears, seemingly hurt from the look that Ricky gave him. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to lockup."

As Ricky heard the door closing and the soft click of the lock, he stared at Gun Woo, for a moment he had no idea what to do. He heard Gun Woo softly groan and Ricky realized he must be uncomfortable with his shoes and jacket on. He slowly went near to the sleeping form, tugged the shoes off and then struggled to remove the jacket. He then moved Gun Woo to a comfortable position, one that would not cause him neck pains when he'll wake up. By the time he was finished, Ricky was slightly panting with the effort. 

Satisfied, he was about to leave when he felt a hand enclosing around his wrist, tugging at him softly.

"Don't leave," the guy croaked, his voice tired and low. "Please don't leave."

"Hyung, are you awake?" Ricky crouched by his side immediately. "Do you need anything?"

Gun Woo had struggled to upright himself and the action alarmed Ricky.

"Hyung! You shouldn't be getting up! You should sleep it all off until you're sober. You know, I have been worried about you these past few hours—"

"You're so noisy," Gun Woo muttered, chuckling a bit. "Calling me hyung in a tone that reminds me so much of someone. It's so similar that it physically hurts."

Ricky frozed as he realized that there were tears on Gun Woo's eyes. The older guy hung his head low while his hair so hard that Ricky was afraid that he would pull out a chunk of it from his head.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Alright?!" Gun Woo let out a bark of laughter so suddenly that it scared Ricky.

"How can I be alright? How can everything be alright?!" Gun Woo was shouting now and his eyes were trained on Ricky's, tears streaming down his face. His eyes took upon that look again that he had seen earlier morning. Looking at those orbs suddenly seemed so painful.

"How can I be alright?" Gun Woo asked, his voice going soft with every word. The hand holding Ricky's wrist tightened.

"How can I be?" Gun Woo continued, his voice above a whisper now. "When I had killed my own brother?"

Author's Note:

Yooooo~ Unexpectedly, I was able to finish this chapter sooner! And its a bit longer than the previous chapter too!

*does a happy jig*

So some of you have been asking about what's currently going on with that devious fangirl from the first chapter and with Teen Top now that Ricky had gone AWOL on them... about that, I ask you guys to be patient for awhile. The fangirl and Teen Top will surely show up at the later chapters.

Truthfully, this story is far from over. We are still at the first part and I was thinking that this fic should have like three or four parts. I mean, we haven't even reached a quarter of the story yet! I still have so many ideas that I would like to include in this fic. It's only that I am so slow in writing. *cries* But don't worry, I'll try my best! :D

As for Gun Woo, you will know his identity soon~ Just tune in for the next installments. I have another confession. Gun Woo wasn't supposed to be one of the main characters but then suddenly, before I knew it, I had turned hin into one. Oh well.

I hope you liked the chapter. Can you guys comment on what you think? Somehow, reading your comments excites me and motivates me to write more. I would also like a feedback on about everything so far!! Also, please subscribe!

Baboosh!

P.S. I would like to thank dont_flyaway_myANGEL for the wonderful edit she made below. It's the boy-turned-girl Ricky!! Thanks soooo much!! *virtual hug* XD