As YoungBae walks out of YG’s office, the boys rush over to him. They start telling him about their ideas for today. I smile to myself. Then YoungBae’s eyes meet mine. His eyes look… sad. My smile instantly disappears. I walk over to him and give him a small smile. The sadness in his eyes instantly erase and he grins.

“Let’s go! I can’t wait any longer!” Seungri exclaims as he runs toward the elevator. Jiyong and Seunghyun follow. Daesung stays behind with us.

Daesung asks something in Korean and YoungBae replies back slowly and quietly. I see Daesung nod and walk ahead of us. I keep my eyes on YoungBae the whole time. Once we get out of the building, the boys were crowded with fan girls. Somehow, I end up being in the middle of the boys. Jiyong and Seungri goof off and pretend to be my bodyguards. I laugh at their goofiness. At the corner of my eye, I see YoungBae laughing along.

We pile into a white van and speed off. Seunghyun and Jiyong are in the two front seats while Seungri decides to be in the passenger seat. YoungBae and I sit in the farthest backseat.

“Where are we going?” I ask the boys.

“Just the mall.” Seunghyun says.

“Won’t you guys be ambushed there? Since it’s a public place?”

“No, not really. Fans won’t ambush you much as they do in America.” Daesung replies.

Huh. I guess the fans here are not as crazy as the ones in America. Then again, who am I to think about that since, well, since I’m not famous? We just talk amongst ourselves the rest of the ride home. I pretty much enjoy the flame tingling through me as I sit next to YoungBae. I take a peek at him. He seems so into his thoughts. I sit up and lean into his ear.

“What are you thinking about?” I whisper. I can’t help myself. I’m too curious.

He seemed surprised by my question and closeness, but he replies in a whisper, “Nothing.”

As I look into his eyes, I can tell he’s not telling me the truth. Before I could think it through, “You’re thinking about your talk with YG.” I whisper as I search his eyes. The moment I said it, I knew it was true. And the look on his face proved it.

I see his lips curl into a small smile. He slowly nods. I smile to myself. As he continues to look at me, his smile disappears and his eyes become distracted again. I lightly touch his wrist and his eyes snap back to me.

“What was your talk about?” I whisper.

He opens his mouth to answer. But he closes it again. I search in his eyes for any answer and only see him go back to his thoughts. After a few moments, he sighs and takes his hand away. My hand lamely falls on my leg. I stare at him blankly as my heart stops beating. This is it. Maybe he doesn’t like me at all. But why does it feel so weird when I think about it like that? No, he’s likes me, right? I mean it did look like he wanted to kiss me just as much as I did during that flour fight. Maybe YG said something and YoungBae’s backing off. Or maybe he just doesn’t like me. Yes, that seems to make more sense.

A dejected sigh escapes my lips. I turn my head and look outside the window.

“Noona!” I look at Seungri. He gives me a boyish smile and says, “We’re here!”

I look back out the window and see that we’re already at the mall. What? How come I didn’t see this? I was staring outside the window the whole time, for God’s sake! I must be out of it today. Seunghyun opens the door for me. I smile at him and climb out. YoungBae silently climbs out behind me. Daesung slings his arm around my shoulders and says, “What happened?”

I glance at YoungBae. He’s laughing along with Jiyong. To me, the smile was forced and the laugh seemed fake. What is going on in YoungBae’s head? What did YG say to him?

Daesung followed my gaze and quickly understood. “Babo.” Daesung mutters. What does that mean? Hmm, I’ve heard it before… “Fool”, my mind processes. I stare at Daesung with a raised eyebrow. He grins and shrugs. I giggle as we head into the mall. I quickly glance at YoungBae and only to see him staring at me. Once our eyes met, he looks away. I made up my mind. I’m not going to let this get to me. Obviously, YoungBae doesn’t like me. As much as that hurts my heart, I know we can never be. He’s famous; I’m unknown. He’s perfect; I’m plain. He’s something; I’m nothing. So many differences and so many flaws.

That’s it. He can never like me the way I can. There would be millions of girls out there that would just kill to be next to him. I’m taking advantage of my opportunity. I shouldn’t push it any farther. Today, I’ll be reckless and throw my past away. Either way, if I can’t be with YoungBae, being friends and knowing him is enough for me.

“Charlotte!” Jiyong exclaims. My eyes meet Jiyong’s. He smiles at me and takes my hand, “Let’s go!” He then starts dragging me into a store. I notice fan girls following and glaring at me. I stifle a shudder. Fan girls can be really scary.

“Daesung-ah!” Jiyong shouts across the store. I hear girls giggling.

Daesung pops up and throws something at me: a pair of gray skinny jeans.

“How do you know my size?” I ask.

Daesung blushes and says, “While I was picking out clothes for you this morning, I went to look at your other clothes.” I pinch his cheek and laugh.

Jiyong tugs on my hand. “Pick out anything you like.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Wait!” Seungri says behind me. “Pick a complete outfit for this store. We still have other stores waiting!”

I smile at the boys as I meet their eyes. Sadness coursed through me quickly as YoungBae, again, avoided my gaze.

“Seunghyun hyung! YoungBae! Go with Charlotte while the rest of us finds… something.” I see Jiyong give a sly wink at them when he thought I wasn’t looking. What are these boys up to?

“What are you guys going to find?” I ask as I look at them skeptically.

“Just some clothes.” Daesung waves his hand. He gives me a little push. I hesitated. Seunghyun grasps my hand and leads me away from the others. I could hear little screams in the background.

“Are fan girls always like this?” I ask Seunghyun.

He gives me a gentle smile. I was surprised by the smile. I’ve never seen him smile like that. For some reason, my heart pounded against me chest. I’ve never had this feeling before. What the heck could this mean? Seunghyun holds the jeans Daesung picked out as I search for a perfect top to go with it. All the while, Seunghyun never lets go off my hand.

“You should let go of her hand, hyung.” I hear someone say behind me. I jump and turn my head. Oh God, I completely forgot YoungBae went with us. I blush out of embarrassment, while my heart constricts. “She’s looking for clothes. She’s going to need two hands.” YoungBae glares at his hyung. Is he jealous? No…no, of course not.

Just then Seunghyun squeezes my hand and my heart starts to pound. What the hell is this supposed to mean? Aishh! This is killing me. Seunghyun says something in Korean. I don’t know what he said, but it made the look in YoungBae’s eyes furious.

“I’m thirsty. When are we going to pass by the food court?” I interrupt their glaring contest.

YoungBae’s stare turns to me and it turns… soft? He was about to answer when Seunghyun cut him off.

“Soon. Don’t worry.” He smiles at me. “Did you pick out something yet?”

I shake my head. He leads me to another rack on the other side of the store. I notice that the others aren’t in the store at all.

“You know the others aren’t here, right?” I tell Seunghyun.

He nods and pulls out a random shirt. “What do you think about this one?”

I glance at it. Aigoo! That’s hideous! I shake my head furiously. “No way!” I squeal. Seunghyun laughs as he places it back. My eyes seem to glance back to YoungBae and see a genuine smile on his face. But once he meets my eyes, he looks away. I give a mental sigh of frustration. This boy must want to kill me. I can’t get rid of the feelings for him so easily.

I reluctantly go back to searching. That’s when I find it. The perfect shirt! I squeal in delight. I drag Seunghyun with me and pick out the top. It’s a bright yellow blouse with a low V-neck. It also has some ruffles on the front. It’s a perfect match for the gray jeans.

“I can really see you wearing that.” Seunghyun smiles. Without thinking about it I squeeze his hand as a thank you.

“I bet it’ll look nice on you.” YoungBae stands beside me. I blush and don’t meet his eyes.

“Let’s go pay for it now. I bet the members are waiting outside.” Seunghyun says.

“Wait.” I stop. “I can’t pay for this stuff.”

“No need. I’ll pay for it.” Seunghyun smiles.

I shake my head. “You can’t do that. I can’t do that. It’s too much money.”

Seunghyun tugs on my hand. “It’s okay. It’s my gift to you.” He pushes a strand of hair from my face. My heart pounds as I blush. YoungBae clears his throat. Seunghyun glares at him and YoungBae glares right back.

“Are you going to pay or what?” YoungBae says sternly.

Seunghyun gives him one last glare and squeezes my hand. “Let’s go.” He then starts to pull me toward the register. A hand captures my wrist and a hot flame goes through my whole arm. I turn my head and see YoungBae grasping my wrist tightly.

“What?” Seunghyun scowls.

“I think I’ll just bring her back to the others. I saw them waiting right outside.” YoungBae tightens his grip on my wrist and another shot of heat courses through.

Seunghyun and YoungBae have another glaring contest. I must say if I were against both of them, I’d lose in a second. Their glares were so steely and intimidating. Seunghyun lets go of my hand slowly and turns away to pay for the clothes. Before I can stop Seunghyun, YoungBae fiercely pulls me away. I snatch my wrist away from YoungBae’s grip.

“It hurts.” I explain as he looks at me. I rub my wrist as we slowly walk out.

“Why didn’t you take your hand back from Seunghyun hyung’s?” YoungBae stares at me. What game is this boy playing? First, it looks like he likes me. Then he takes his hand away and avoids my gaze. And now, he’s asking why I didn’t take my hand away? Aishh!

“Because it felt nice.” I blurt. YoungBae’s eyes grow intense. Oh crap. What did I just say? Oh my god, why did I say that? Wait. I’m telling the truth. It did feel nice.

YoungBae stares into my eyes fiercely for what seem like hours. As fast as lightning, YoungBae grabs my hand and weaves his fingers through mine. I quickly go into shock and YoungBae pulls me through the sea of screaming fans. I stare at him as he focuses on pulling me through. What is he doing? Why is he acting like this? Something’s wrong with him. Now, he’s very complicated in my eyes. I can’t tell anymore. Once the exit the store, Daesung pounces on us.

“Hyung!” Daesung runs over to us. He gives me a small smile as he sees YoungBae’s hand wrapped around mine. He must have seen the look in my eyes because his smile instantly drops and he takes me away from YoungBae.

YoungBae snaps his head toward Daesung and I see him give Daesung a glare. Uh oh. YoungBae says something in Korean with a strained voice. Daesung’s eyes widen, but he replies with an edge to his voice. YoungBae snaps back at him, but Daesung just slowly shook his head and links his arm with mine. Daesung leads me away with YoungBae standing there. I could feel my back burning from the intensity of his glare.

I turn my head and look back at YoungBae. He meets my eyes. His eyes look sad again. Why? I don’t know. He’s so confusing. He acts like he likes me, but then he turns cold. Now…well, it just looks like plain jealousy came over him.

“Noona.” Daesung interrupts my thoughts. Daesung was standing in front of me with a worried expression. His two hands were on both of my shoulders. “What happened?”

I tug of my sleeves. It was then that I realize that I was still wearing YoungBae’s hoodie. I look down at myself. A big black S was printed on it. I let out a long sigh. Daesung shakes my shoulders again and I snap my head up. Daesung slings his arm around my shoulders and leads me to a table. I look around and notice that we’re in the food court. Oh man, it’s huge! Daesung gently pushes me down on a chair and he takes a seat in front of me.

He looks at me up and down. Heat rushes up to my cheeks as he continues. He sighs and shakes his head. “Babo.” He mutters.

I raise my eyebrow at him. “Talking to yourself again?”

He grins. He looks at me up and down again and says, “Take that off.”

“Excuse me?”

He blushes and points to the hoodie. “Take that off.”

I give him a weird look, but obey what he says. He holds his hand out for it and I place it in his hand. I fix my hair while Daesung takes off his black jacket. He hands his jacket to me. “Put it on.”

“Yes, sir.” I smile at him. I put his jacket on. It’s kind of small. Daesung notices this and laughs.

“Give it back. I’ll just find you some other jacket.” I hand his jacket back.

“Why can’t I wear the hoodie?” I ask.

“Because it belongs at that babo.” He says it so quietly I don’t even know if I heard him right. I shrug and let it slide.

“Daesung-ah!” Someone exclaims.

Daesung and I turn our heads to see Jiyong waving with Seunghyun and Seungri next to him. As they make their way toward us, I see Seunghyun carrying a bag. He smiles at me as he hands me the bag when they reach us. Seunghyun sits on my right and Jiyong on my left. Seungri sits across from Jiyong.

“Where did you guys go?” I ask Daesung, Jiyong, and Seungri.

They don’t reply. Instead, they give me smiles that make me suspicious.

“Where’s YoungBae?” Jiyong asks.

I see Daesung and Seunghyun stiffen.

“He probably went to some other store or something.” I lie.

“No. I’m right here.” Someone says right behind me. This time it was my turn to stiffen. I turn around and see YoungBae standing so close to me… so close. YoungBae places his hands on my shoulders and rubs little circles with his thumbs. I start to melt from the touch. I clench my fists under the table to keep myself from jumping up and hugging the man behind me. Then someone else’s hand unclenches my right fist and weaves their fingers with mine.

It was then that I notice it was Seunghyun. Beep! Beep! Beep! Charlotte! My mind screams at me. Oh dear god, what are these two doing? I meet Daesung’s eyes. He looks at YoungBae’s hands on my shoulders and looks at Seunghyun. He then raises his eyebrow at me. I silently plead to him with my eyes. YoungBae’s hands tighten their hold on my shoulders. I slightly turn my head and glance at YoungBae. He was glaring at Seunghyun. Seunghyun grips my hand and glares right back at YoungBae.

“Hyung!” Daesung shouts. Seunghyun and YoungBae snap their heads towards Daesung. “What did noona pick?” He gestures toward the bag and me. He gives me a reassuring smile. God bless Daesung.

“Oh!” I say. I turn to Seunghyun. “Thank you for buying it for me. I don’t know how I’ll repay you.” I smile.

“No need. Just you are enough.” He gives me another gentle smile.

“Hyung! Why do you have to be so smooth?” Seungri whines.

YoungBae’s hands tighten even more. His thumbs are digging in my back now. But I don’t seem to mind though. The flame going up and down my spine is comforting.

Jiyong and I laugh at Seungri. Daesung grabs the shopping bag and looks through it.

“Hyung!” Daesung says as he looks up from the bag. “Noona doesn’t have any shoes to go with yet.”

“Wah~!” Jiyong says. He stands up and pulls me along with him. YoungBae and Seunghyun let go of me. “Leave this to me. I’m an expert.”

“Ani!” Daesung grabs my wrist. “I’ll go. So on the way, I’ll buy her something.”

Jiyong looks hesitant. Then Daesung says something in Korean and Jiyong’s face brightens up. Seunghyun abruptly stands up from his chair. As Daesung comes over to my side, Jiyong takes off his jacket and hands it to me. I look between the jacket, Daesung, and Jiyong stupidly.

Daesung rolls his eyes. “Put it on. I told you I’d find you another jacket.”

Oh, now I get it. I gave a sheepish grin at Jiyong and a quiet thank you. As I put on the jacket, I avoided YoungBae and Seunghyun’s eyes. Mostly YoungBae.

Once I fix my hair, Daesung links his arm with mine and pulls me away from the others. Before we could get any farther, Seungri shouts something in Korean. Daesung gives a thumb up without stopping.

“What was that about?” I ask him when we finally slow down.

Daesung just smiles and I give him a questioning look. Before I could say anything, he pulls me into a shoe store.

“Quickly find some shoes.” Daesung orders. I slowly nod my head and start looking around. “Oh, noona?” I look at Daesung. He smiles. “Pick out heels instead of sneakers.” I raise my eyebrow. “Just do it.” Daesung sighs as he sits down and smiles at some fans that followed us.

I go through every aisle and see a pair of black edgy heels. I like it. I quickly find my size and run over to Daesung. I shove the shoes in his face and jump up and down. Daesung takes the shoes and smiles.

“Wait, I can’t pay for this.” I say as I look at the price tag.

Daesung shakes his head and laughs. “But I can.”

He pays for the shoes and we quickly leave the store.

“Why are you rushing, Daesung?” I ask him.

“I want to talk to you.” He says.

“But we have plenty of time to talk when I get to spend the whole day with you.”

“No, I mean, I need to talk to you. Something’s weird.” He sighs. He brings me into a bookstore and pulls me down to a couch deep in the store. He sits down next to me and plays with my fingers.

“What’s up, Daesung?” I ask. He seems pretty distracted.

“What exactly happened with you and YoungBae?” He asks instead of answering my question.

I shrug. “I don’t know. Ever since he came out of YG’s office after their private talk, he’s been… distant.” I truthfully say. “He won’t meet my eyes and in the car… he pulled away from my touch. He’s very…confusing.” I sigh. “Why?” I stare at Daesung.

“What about Seunghyun hyung?” Daesung ignores my question again.

“I don’t know either. Something’s weird between those two. In the store, Seunghyun never let go of my hand and when YoungBae says something about it, they start glaring at each other. And you saw what happened at the food court.” I admit.

Daesung then let’s go of my hand and runs his hands through his hair. He sighs in frustration. I place my hand on his shoulder.

“What are you thinking about?” I ask him.

“Something’s bothering YoungBae hyung. I know it.” He mutters. “And about Seunghyun hyung…” He pauses and looks at me. “I think he likes you, too.”

“Don’t strain yourself.” I tell him. He looks like he’s about to pop a vein or something. He’s thinking too much. It’s straining him. “You’re thinking too much. Don’t worry about it. I don’t think YoungBae…” I choke, “likes me anyway.”

Who knew that was such a hard thing to say? As much as I don’t want to believe it, it could be true. Daesung looks at me, appalled.

“Are you serious?” He asks.

I simply shrug. I honestly don’t know which is left or right with YoungBae.

“Aishh.” Daesung shakes his head rapidly. He grabs my hand and stands up. “Let’s go. The others will be looking for us soon.”

We walk out of the bookstore with even more fans following us. I noticed that some of them were even taking pictures from their phones or cameras. As Daesung and I walk around the mall, I finally got to loosen him up. I’m glad he’s back to his hyper self.

“Noona! Let’s go in this store.” Daesung pulls me in. “Go pick out anything you like.”

“What?” I ask as I look at the store.

“My treat.” He smiles.

I know I can’t argue. With these boys, their generosity is too much. Though, I’m beginning to wonder why they’re buying stuff for me.

Daesung starts throwing some clothes as me and I nearly catch all of them. I inspect all the clothing in my hands. Two pairs of jeans, a Bean Pole blue jeans and a white ripped skinny jeans; a white tank top; a navy blue V-neck t-shirt, and a black thin sweater. Daesung then pushes me into a dressing room and sits outside. I put on the white jeans and the blue shirt on.

As I look at myself in the mirror, I adore the clothes. It fits snug and it’s soft. I like it.

“Come out! I want to see!” Daesung says just right outside the door. I smile and walk out. I raise my hands up and twirl.

“What do you think?” I ask.

Daesung starts clapping. I laugh and lightly punch his arm.

“Go put on the other one.” Daesung orders.

I salute him and march back inside. I could hear him chuckling as I switch the blue shirt for a white tank top. It’s really pretty. Even if it looks plain, it’s stylish. I’m starting to like Korea’s clothes better than America’s. I take off the white jeans and replace them with the Bean Pole jeans. I’ve heard of this brand before. I’ve heard a lot of people approve of it. And now, I completely agree with those people. It gives my legs a long, lean look.
I walk out of the dressing room and show Daesung, but I immediately wanted to run back in.

Instead of a smiling Daesung, it’s a crescent-eyed YoungBae sitting in his place.