“It’s awkward, it’s so awkward!”

“What?” Dara asked Jiyong.

“It’s just TOO AWKWARD! I can’t do this! I can’t have you here! I can’t concentrate on anything!”

“What why?!”

“I mean . . . I can’t have you here, staring at me! I can’t work if you are just sitting around and looking at me.”

“Well, what do you propose? You want me to do something else?”

“YES YES I DO, just do something, find a hobby, go elsewhere, travel the world ANYTHING PLEASE JUST GO!”

“Ha, ha! You’re funny! I told you I don’t like being alone and since you are right here, I’ll hang out here with you too. I won’t go anywhere. I can find a preoccupation though, since it seems to bother you so much.”

Dara looked around the room in hopes of finding some inspiration for what she could do. Her eyes feel upon GD’s desk and all the technology surrounding it. The fun look of the numerous, colorful, different-shaped keys and buttons from the control pads of the recording system attracted Dara as if she were a little kid.

She teleported next to the sound mixer in a blink of an eye.

“Oh my god this is fascinating. So many buttons! Do you really know what each of them does?!” she asked, leaning over the display to analyze them better.

“Do not touch anything.”

“This is like a giant remote control! Can you imagine the size of the TV it would go with?”

“Please step back, do not touch the mixer.”

“All of these keys seem to be sitting at random positions. Don’t you ever get OCD? Why don’t you just bring them all down, in the same place, they would be organized in a straight line like this –“Dara’s hand started reaching out to the control board. GD in the meantime had been fully concentrated on his computer, but continuously side-eyeing Dara. When he realized what her intentions were, he instantly bursted into screaming and slapped her hand away, desperately trying to prevent an imminent disaster.

“DO NOT TOUCH ANTHING! DO NOT MOVE ANYTHING! ARE YOU CRAZY. THESE ARE SET LIKE THIS FOR A REASON!”

“All right, all right, hold your horses! Sorry for wanting to bring some neatness in your life, jeez.”

“I didn’t ask for you in my life in any way, for what matters.” Jiyong took a short, yet sad break, and then continued. “Just do something else, don’t mess around with the equipment in the room! Can’t you do a static activity or something?”

“You said it bothers you if I just sit and now it bothers you if I move, make up your freaking mind!”

“Yea, it looks like you are not the only one with indecisive behavior around here.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing” GD sighed. “Just stay put somewhere out of my vision field, where I don’t see you, so I can concentrate, ok?”

“OkAy. FiNe”

 

___________________________________________________

 

T.O.P asked his chauffer to stop around the corner, before Guldari Street. That is the street where Myeongseong Club was located. None other than Ji Seok’s famously pretentious club. Seunghyun knew his chauffer wouldn’t actually care about his business or where he was going, but he’d figured it was better to be safe than sorry. The fewer people who knew about this story, the better.

Seunghyun didn’t exactly know what he was doing there. He didn’t have a plan. All he knew was that since he can’t seem to convince Bom not to see Ji Seok anymore, he would talk Ji Seok out of it instead.

The night had fallen already, but the club didn’t open yet. T.O.P figured that just before the opening time was a good moment to find Ji Seok there and have a private discussion. And he was right.

With a great dose of aversion, just like he always felt when he thought about this man, T.O.P pushed open the door of the club and entered the building.

“Sorry, we are closed momentarily. The club won’t be open tonight.”

“I am not here for the club. I need to speak to Ji Seok. Do you know if he is here?”

T.O.P’s reply didn’t seem to impress the employee too much. He continued with the same dull tone:

“We are closed. Come back another day –“

“It’s ok. I know this man. Thank you Hyuk, you can go now.” Ji Seok suddenly appeared, interrupting his employee.

Seunghyun eyed him, immediately feeling as if an instant breeze of coldness filled the room.

Hyuk bowed to his boss’ and left.

“What are you doing here?” Ji Seok bluntly asked.

“I need to talk to you.” Seunghyun spoke with a firm voice, glaring straight into Seok’s eyes. “I will tell you this straight. I came here to tell you to stop dating Bom.”

Ji Seok seemed frozen and unaffected for a few seconds, as if he took a moment to comprehend the request. The corner of his lips then started to slowly go up, forming into a mocking smirk.

“And how can you convince me to do that?” Seok asked with a defying, amused tone.

“I don’t have to convince you. This is simply what you will do. You don’t want to find out what I am capable of doing otherwise.”

“HA HA HA!” Ji Seok started openly laughing. “It’s funny that you think you have any power over me.” He stopped laughing and his voice became relentless. “May I remind you that you are not whatsoever in any position to be making the threats here? I can have you twisted around my little finger. Do you really want me to destroy your sister’s life?”

“Don’t you dare even mention her name!” Seunghyun furiously protested.

“I’ve heard she’s about to have a baby, right? The peak of her life can quickly turn into a catastrophe if I want to –“

“STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER AND HER FAMILY!” T.O.P saw red before his eyes.

“Not such a great idea, coming here and talking to me, huh? At least you were reminded of your real place. Don’t you dare threaten me again. Do not come here again.”

Seunghyun was clenching his fists from anger.

“Do not worry, the thing I desire the most in this world is not to ever have to see your face again.”

T.O.P turned around and started taking big steps towards the door. However, before leaving, he stopped and looked at Ji Seok once again. A minor thought crossed his mind and he was in quest of finding a clarification:

“Your employee said you are not open tonight. Bom told me you had some problems with the club. So what’s going on? Problems in paradise? Do you have financial issues?”

“Pfoah!” Ji Seok puffed with contempt. “Nothing that concerns you. And for what matters, I am an excellent business man, from a financial point of view I couldn’t be having it any better: money is flowing in like a river. Thank you for worrying though. Very considerate of you.” His words were full of irony.

Seunghyun smiled scornfully and immediately left.

____________________________________________

 

Dara looked intently at GD’s profile, studying in detail his every feature. The sharp jawline, pointy chin, small mouth, his thin nose and his dark slender eyebrows, frowning in an arch above his tired yet luminous eyes. He was focused on his work, sitting in front of the computer, earphones on, his gaze fixed on the screen and his fingers playing with the cursor, adapting various beats, tunes and adjustments of a song in progress. He had been frozen like that for a long time, committed to his task, achieving a mixture of fatigue and composure. His work sure got him exhausted, but it was also by working when he felt at most ease, serene and calm. He was doing exactly the thing that he was born to be doing and this was perfectly reflected in his present tranquil, enchanting state. It was this fascinating, frozen sight that caught Dara’s attention, making her to intensely stare at him and examine his motionless, stagnant silhouette.

Let’s get this right tough. She was only conducting this thorough study of Jiyong’s body because she had to go to drastic length to avoid dying of boredom. GD asked her to stop bothering him so she had to find something silent that she could do. And there was only so much one could do in a tiny space like a recording studio. That’s why Dara had to recourse to the desperate activity of drawing. Yes, she just started drawing GD, out of pure boredom.

Meticulously holding her pen in one hand, she kept on looking at her model then back to her paper and again at Jiyong, elegantly gliding the pen on the sheet after every examination.

Man, his face is so symmetrical! His proportions are so even! No wonder women everywhere are going crazy over this.

However, as if the spell had been abruptly broken, Dara flinched when GD suddenly moved, reaching out to grab his crutches and hence disrupting his up until now perfectly inert and static position.

“What the hell are you doing!!!???” she yelled at him, quite furiously.

“What?!”

“Why are you moving?! You can’t go anywhere! Move back exactly in the same position! You are ruining everything!”

“What?!” GD asked again, even more confused.

“Don’t move! I can’t draw you if you start moving! I am nearly done so sit still for a bit more!”

“You are – uhm, drawing me??”

“Yes! Now move your hand to the right a little, that’s not how you were staying before.”

“But –“

“JUST LIKE THAT! Yea keep it like that! Perfect.” Dara started to concentrate on her drawing again, scribbling on the paper in her lap with vigor.

“But I – I wanted to go to the bathroom.”

“No, no. You stay right here.”

“You don’t understand. I NEED to go to the bathroom.” Jiyong uncomfortably wailed.

“What are you, 12?! You mister, aren’t going anywhere. Man up! Hold it in! It’s good exercise anyway, with training you can have the bladder of a champ!”

“Are you crazy!? It’s not even healthy! I can get sick! You already broke my leg and now you are trying to harm me even more –“

“Stop talking I need to draw the mouth.”

“But I finished my work! I don’t even have anything more to do on the computer! You can’t hold me hostage here; I have other things to do!”

“OH SHUT UP! YOU ARE RUINING EVERYTHING! I JUST WANTED TO DO SOMETHING NICE! You said I must stop bothering you, so here I am, staying put and harmlessly drawing in my corner. You are not pleased with anything! Do you want me to start bustling around here again?! I CAN BE VERY ANNOYING, YOU KNOW?!”

“FINE, FINE! Don’t get so fired up woman. If it matters so much I’ll just find something else to do on the computer until you finish. Just don’t make it too long, ok?”

“PERFECT!”

 

____________________________________________

 

 – 1 hour and 45 minutes later –

 

“ARE YOU ING KIDDING ME?!”

“Just a little bit more!”

“WOMAN. I AM IN PAIN HERE”

“One more second please!”

“I WILL SUE YOU FOR TORTURING! THIS IS FALSE IMPRISOMENT! I WILL HAVE TO GO TO THE BLADDER HOSPITAL ASTER THIS”

“Just the finishing touches . . .”

“GOD PLEASE END MY MISERY! WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS”

“Aaaannd we are done!”

GD was at the end of his rope. Beads of sweat were slipping down his forehead, his leg was jiggling up and down in distress and his bladder was alternating between periods of complete numbness and sharp pain.

However, Dara was finally done. She happily clicked her pen and retracted it, then put it down. She gave her drawing one last satisfied look and then lifted the paper up to proudly show it to the world.

“So? What do you think? I must say this might be my greatest work!” she broadly smiled and pretentiously held the drawing to her side, like a proud mother showing off her offspring.

Jiyong looked at the piece of paper in total dismay, for a long time. He barely even found the energy to speak:

“This – this is what you made me sit still for nearly 2 hours?”

“I know, right?! I can’t believe it took me so little for such a great result!”

GD raised his brows and shook his head with disbelief. A sudden wave of outrage then quickly kicked in.

“THIS?! THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL DRAWING!? EVEN A DOG COULD’VE DONE IT BETTER AND THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE OPPOSABLE THUMBS!”

“EXCUSE ME?” It was Dara’s turn to be offended now. “WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?! THE QUALITY OF MY DRAWING IS IMPECABBLE! IT LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU!”

“YEA, IF I’D JUST BEEN SEVERLY MUTILATED IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT! THEN YES! IT DOESN’T EVEN LOOK LIKE A HUMAN BEING! WHY IS IT TRIUNGULAR!? WHAT IS THAT?! A ROCKET?!”

“WELL YOU HAVE A BEANIE ON AND I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DRAW BEANIES! THAT’S THE BEST I COULD DO!”

“AND WHY ARE MY EYES CLOSED?!”

“WELL I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DRAW EYES!”

“NO WORRIES, YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DRAW ANYTHING APPERANTLY”

“HUH!” The girl got even more steamed up. “WELL IT’S NOT MY FAULT THAT YOU LOOK SO UGLY! DON’T CRTICIZE MY HARD WORK WHEN YOUR FACE IS THE PROBLEM HERE! YOU CLEARLY AREN’T MONA LISSA!”

“AND YOU ARE CLEARLY NO DA VINCI! IT’S THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! WHY DO I HAVE A MOUSTACHE?!”

“Well you didn’t exactly SHAVED this morning, did you?! I CAN SEE THE LITTLE HAIRS”

“HUH. SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU BECAUSE OF HOW UGLY THIS IS”

“YOU ARE JUST MEAN AND JELOUS YOU CAN’T DRAW LIKE ME – huh, where are you going!?”

Struck by a thunder of bladder-pain, Jiyong was instantly reminded that he had an urgent matter that needed to be taken care of. He jumped from his chair, grabbed his crutches and hopped away in a rush to the bathroom.

“YEA THAT’S RIGHT! RUN AWAY IN DEFEAT! That’s what you always do when you know you are losing an argument!”

Left to scream alone at the walls, Dara looked at her drawing once again.

Aishhh, it’s not a masterpiece, I know. But it’s a great work! Beauty is in the eye of the viewer, anyway!

 

____________________________________________

 

T.O.P might have come here without a plan, but he sure had one now.

Something was going on with Ji Seok. Seunghyun knew this much: Ji Seok was that type of egoistic, arrogant bastard that just couldn’t help himself from boasting about his success and money whenever he could. He was telling the truth when he said that he earns lots of money from the club. Like seriously, T.O.P did some research and all the rich people of Korea spent their money there, every night. So the conclusion was that it would be totally irrational for Ji Seok to close his club, even only for one night, when he clearly lost colossal amounts of money by doing so. Only a serious problem could make him do such an unprofitable act.

So what was the issue? T.O.P hoped he could dig around, find out what was happening and then hopefully use it to his advantage.

He was now dumbly standing in the middle of the street in front of the club, alone, in the cold night, waiting for an idea. He looked around at the surroundings. Right next to the colossal modern building of the club, he quickly recognized the old, decayed door of the tiny family restaurant he had once been inside before. It was the restaurant where he bursted in to conduct his important mission of interrupting Bom’s date.

His feet instantly led him to the little wooden entrance, as if they had a mind of their own. Stealthily and much carefully, he pushed the door opened and started going down the familiar staircase leading to the basement-restaurant.

Seunghyun clearly was no architect, nothing even close to that, but upon descending in the structure of the building he started to realize that the tiny restaurant might actually be located right under Ji Seok’s club.

When he reached downstairs he started to tiptoe around the room, trying to figure out the configuration of the building. We should mention he really started to feel like he was conducting a secret mission in some kind of an abandoned fabric, trying to find a hidden bomb and save the universe or something. He moved slowly and cautiously. He carefully analyzed around the celling, the corners, the walls, moving on the edge of the room, in the dark.

All of a sudden, from somewhere behind, a trembling voice broke the silence:

“I HAVE A FRYING PAN AND I AM NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!”

“WHAT!!?? WAIT!” T.O.P startled and screamed back, trying to distinguish who the owner of the voice could be. He saw a dark, slouched figure, menacingly holding up a round pan. His hand was shaking just like his voice.

“GO AWAY NOW AND NOBODY GETS HURT!”

Screwing up his eyes and trying to see better, Seunghyun seemed to have recognized his threatening interlocutor.

“Uncle Kim?!”

“GO AWAY NOW OR ELSE I AM CALLING THE POLICE!”

“Uncle Kim, it’s me! T.O.P!”

“ROBERRY IS AGAINST THE LAW! I AM GIVING YOU A SECOND CHANCE HERE FOR YOU TO LEAVE NOW, UNPUNISHED!”

“UNCLE KIM, I AM NOT A THIEF! I AM CHOI SEUNGHYUN ,YOU KNOW ME! I’VE BEEN IN YOUR RESTAURANT BEFORE! I’VE EVEN WAITED A TABLE IN YOUR PLACE! DON’T YOU REMEMBER ME?!”

The ahjussi fell into a long silence after these last words, most certainly trying to figure out whether the intruder was telling the truth or not. Although he said nothing for quite some time, his trembling hands started to slowly lower the position of the pan, giving away the fact that he indeed started to recognize Seunghyun.

“Oh, dear! You are indeed the young men who pretended to be my waiter for that night! I am sorry I did not mean to scare you! I really didn’t recognize you!”

Seunghyun pouted in disturbance.

“You didn’t recognize me? But, ahjussi, even so, I am a celebrity! My face is famous! Everybody knows me! How can you mistake me for a thief?!”

“Well, you were hiding and sneaking around just like one! You broke into my restaurant at night and you sure didn’t behave like a customer. What did you want me to believe?! An old man like me has to be careful. . . And a celebrity you say?” The old man pondered. “Ah, right! You said this last time as well! And you were just as upset about it too! But I do know this now, I have told my daughter what happened that crazy day and she couldn’t believe I met you. She is a big admirer ever since she was little! I just never bothered to remember the names of who young people nowadays look up to –“

“Great story, ahjussi. Send greetings to your daughter.” T.O.P interrupted. “Can you tell me, is this basement under Ji Seok’s club or under another building?”

“Hm?! Well, this is actually exactly under Mister Lee’s club.” The ahjussi melancholically looked around the room. He knew every bit and part of his building, just like he knew the history of it too. Without thinking too much, the old man instinctually started to tell the story of his precious restaurant: “My restaurant has been on this lot for a very long time in fact; it was passed down from generation to generation. However, times changed and the area started to develop and modernize, it got harder and harder for a little, humble restaurant like mine to keep up. My family and I were almost on the verge of bankruptcy. I’ve held on to this place for however long I could, but I eventually had to sell to an investor. Mister Lee came as a salvation for us, just at the perfect moment. I had received many offers before him, but I just couldn’t let myself agree to have the restaurant completely demolished and replaced by a modern building, like every investor planned on doing. Mister Lee was the only one who negotiated and listened to me. He heard my story and was so impressed that he let us keep the basement of the building, and constructed the club above. He even helped us and made sure we kept the restaurant running. There was no way I would still be here without his help.”

Seunghyun stared silently at the old man, hearing him passionately gush out his life story. He realized that what seemed at first glance a humanitarian act, was in fact simply a great deal for Ji Seok: buying cheaply from a bankrupt family one of the last lots of land in this luxury, popular neighborhood. And the old ahjussi was left thinking that he saved his life.

“I am sure you would have coped with it regardless, ahjussi. You are a strong man.”

Uncle Kim smiled.

“But young man, tell me, what are you doing here? It’s the second time you break into my restaurant without any apparent reason.”

“Uncle, I am in search of some information, nothing much. I’ve heard Ji Seok has closed the club for tonight. Do you know what is going on? Is he having any problems?”

“Hmm . . . I do not know much, son. From what I have heard, there were a couple of men who stopped by these days and looked around the club. It’s probably some sort of routine check-up, I assume from some health inspectors of some kind.”

“And did they find any issues?”

“I really do not know. . .”

T.O.P sighed.

“Ahjussi, I’ll give you my number. Can you please call me if you find anything more? Or if anything else suspicious happens?”

“Yes, I’ll gladly help you if I can, son. As long as I don’t bother Mister Lee. But why don’t you ask Mister Lee himself, directly? Last time, from what I remembered, you seemed pretty familiar with him. How do you know each other?”

Again, as always, at the mention of his name, Seunghyun’s face darkened and his eyebrows frowned.

“I cannot ask him because he won’t tell me. We are not exactly friends. I know him just because my sister once went out with him and had some problems afterwards. I helped her deal with the situation and hence I had to bargain with Ji Seok. I may not know him well, ahjussi, but I know he is not the good person he makes himself to be. So I am telling you you’d better be careful around him.”

“Oh, son, I live in his building, my whole life is in his hands. I can never even dare to think low of Mister Lee.”

“I so hope he will keep on doing only good thing for you, ahjussi. Thank you for your help. And sorry for trespassing on your property, twice already!”

“And I am sorry for threatening you with a pan, my son. One more thing! Can you leave an autograph for my daughter? It would make her really happy!”

“Of course, ahjussi! My pleasure!” Seunghyun then lightly chuckled. “So, do you want me to sign the pan?”

“Aishhhhh”

 

____________________________________________

   – NEXT MORNING –

 

“We have all gathered here –“

“Taeyang what the heck man, you are scaring us”

“That was waaaaay too formal”

“Shhhhh, just let the man speak!”

Bigbang was gathered up in a room at the HQ, at the request of Taeyang, who only mentioned that he had a very important announcement to make. Everybody came immediately. However, the guys were all behaving quite uncivil at the moment, always in the mood to poke fun at any member when the occasion . And quite fitting, the best time for sarcastic stupid jokes is when one of your band mates formally requests a serious meeting, right?

“So as I was saying, we are gathered here today –“

“Dude, seriously, relax, it’s not like you are opening the Nobel prizes over here . . .” Taeyang got interrupted again by Seunghyun’s kind remark.

“Please just let the man speak” Seungri continued “it’s clear that he has gone out of his way to gather us together because he wants to announce something important.” The maknae made a dramatic pause here. “It’s clear that he wants us to know he is becoming a wedding pastor!”

“PHAHAHAHAHAH” the laughter instantly filled the room.

“A career change is surely an important step. Congrats man! PAHAHAHA” Jiyong satirically congratulated his friend.

“Yea, yea, very funny guys. Stop laughing, I’ll start over again.” Tae rolled his eyes. “Ok, so, you are my closest friends, although annoying as you may be . . .” he stressed his words and meanly glared over at the maknae who was still laughing at his own joke. “BUT the thing is, there is a big, important change going on in my life and I wanted you to be the first ones who find out –“

“Taeyang are you joining a cult?!” Seunghyun suddenly cut in yet again, with a dead serious voice and an outraged face, two witty details that made the performance even funnier.

“PAHAHAHAHAHAH”

Copious laughter instantly came in again.

“It’s a free country man, but look, under no circumstances will we ever release a gospel album, so if that’s what you are here for, don’t even try! PAHAHAHAH” Jiyong added fuel to the fire.

“Guys, come on, please stop, let me talk –“

“YOOO, guys, he said it’s a BIG change” Seungri shamelessly intervened again, stressing hard on the word ‘big’. “BIG CHANGE. Taeyang I think I know what you are doing. Our boy here is thinking about getting a enlargement”

“WHAT?! . . . NO NO NO!!!!!!” For Taeyang, this was just the last straw.

“PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA” The rest of the guys on the other hand were barely holding their tears in from so much laughter.

“STOP THIS NONSENSE! IT’S NOTHING LIKE THAT. THIS IS ABOUT A GIRL!” Taeyang yelled at his stupid friends, trying to make himself heard over the noisy squeals.

“A GIRL? OH PARDON US! ARE YOU GETTING A JOB THEN?!” Even gloomy Daesung joined in on the mockery.

“PAHAHAHAH . . .”

“OK ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. GUYS. I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!”

Sudden silence.

The group froze in perfect silence for a good moment.

However, Jiyong then skillfully scored in for the grand finale:

“NOW THIS IS THE BEST JOKE YET!”

“PAHAHAHAHA” and yes, you’ve guessed it, the group started hysterically laughing once again.

“You?! A girlfriend?! You’ve had your first kiss while filming for a music video!” Daesung remarked.

“Do you even know what a girl looks like?! PHAHAHAA” Seunghyun rhetorically asked.

It’s safe to say Taeyang was completely fed up with the jokes at this point. Boiling up with frustration, he bursted out with a comeback that knocked out each and every one of his idiotic band-mates:

“OH, BUT I KNOW GIRLS VERY WELL! I HANG OUT WITH YOU GUYS ALL THE FREAKING TIME! Girls wear skirts just like Jiyong, use as much lotion and perfume as Daesung does, they whine and cry at the earliest inconvenience, just like you, Seunghyun and they are completely obsessed with their appearance, exactly like Seungri is! The sad part for you guys is that I am talking about little girls, like 5 year olds or such, who you all are PERFECTLY resembling right now! I myself on the other hand, am dating a mature, intelligent, beautiful WOMAN! SO GROW THE UP DAMMIT!”

It’s fair to say the boys’ cheery mood was instantly reversed once they felt the taste of their own medicine.

“Oh. Well, congratulations man. No, seriously, this is great, I am very happy for you. . .” GD dared to speak first, with a drastically different and serious tone, yet sincere.

“Yees, yes, Congratulations!”

“Congrats! I wish you lots of happiness guys!” the others quickly followed.

“Thanks.”

Getting their mockery thirst out of their system, the guys now started to be serious and asked some real, normal questions:

“So how did you guys meet? When did you start dating?” Seunghyun asked.

“Yeaa, how long have you been keeping this from us?” Seungri impishly teased Taeyang, knowing how guilty Tae felt when he came to him first.

“Is she nice?? Do we know her?” Daesung curiously asked.

“Oh, well, uhm, I am only telling you this now because, uhm . . . she is quite shy . . . I mean she asked me not to tell anybody anything specifically . . .”

“Oh wow, ok? This sure sounds suspicious. Are you sure she is not in a cult or something –“ T.O.P however automatically stopped himself from finishing the joke as soon as he saw Taeyang’s exasperated face.

“Maybe she’s just a bit timid.” Dae remarked. “What’s her name at least?”

“I can’t tell you that either.”

“HUH? SERIOUSLY?” the guys were now extremely weirded out.

“…”

“She must be a secret agent cause otherwise this is really creepy.”

“Please, guys, just don’t think too much about this, I know it’s not typical. Do not think she’s a weirdo, she has really good reasons to behave like this. However, all I wanted to do is share this life update with you, my friends. But I can tell you this much: I really like her a lot. I feel amazing when I am with her.”

“Ooooooooweee, our boy Taeyang has a lady!” Jiyong fondly congratulated.

“Taeyang and uhm, ?the lady? sitting in the tree K-i-s-s-i-n-g!” Seungri teased.

 

____________________________________________

 

“So Taeyang really has a girlfriend??” Chaerin enthusiastically asked.

“Yeaa, I told you that he came to me a while ago and now he decided to tell the others too.”

Of course Seungri came to his girlfriend in a heartbeat in order to pass her the latest news. What’s a relationship without gossip, right? And Seungri loved to gossip. At least he had a trustworthy person to do it with now. Chaerin never kissed and told.

“But he was so weird about it. Apparently she doesn’t let him talk or tell anybody about her. It’s weird.”

CL looked funnily at her boyfriend:

“Really? It’s weird that she wants to keep the relationship secret without any apparent reason? Aren’t you doing EXACTLY the same thing?”

“Me?! ME?!” Seungri flipped out. “We BOTH agreed to do this! We both said we should wait a while before telling anybody since we’ve been friends for so long and it might seem shocking!”

“Yea, yea, I know and you are right. But look at Taeyang! He’s basically not allowed to say anything about it and yet he couldn’t help himself from sharing it with you guys. You said he looked so happy! This is so sweet, that’s what people do when they are in a relationship: they can’t wait to tell everybody about it.”

Chae took Seungri’s hand in hers and started tenderly playing with his fingers.

“So you can’t condemn me for being a bit impatient . . . it would also be nice if you could act a bit more excited about us from time to time. But you don’t even want to be seen with me.”

“Oh come on! It’s not like that!” he protested.

“Babe, you shoved me in a wardrobe when the PIZZA DELIVERY GUY came to drop the food. HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW US.”

“I AM A CELEBRITY OK WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! EVERYBODY KNOWS US!”

“Pff . . .” CL sighed, defeated.

“Well, okay, what would you even want me to do then? Do you want me to have you on my phone as my wallpaper or something?” Seungri joked.

Chaerin on the other hand looked like she thought about it seriously for a moment.

“Well that would actually be quite nice, yes.”

“Wait. Seriously?!?”

“Yea. Why not? – It’s cute.”

“Oh, okay then. I’ll make you my lockscreen if it makes you happy.”

“You know, it would’ve actually been nicer if it made YOU happy, not me. But hey, it’s still good – What are you doing?”

Seungri took his phone out of his pocket and held it up in front of Chaerin, as he started taking pictures.

“I’m taking a pic of you, for my lockscreen.”

“What? Now?!”

“Yep. Come on, smile baby!”

“Wait, can’t you just use an old photo or a professional one from a shooting? I am not in my best shape right now. It’s not my best morning.”

Seungri shook his head and kept on taking pics.

“No, I want a fresh spontaneous one. It’s more special this way. And what are you talking about, you are beautiful all the freaking time.”

CL smiled fondly when she heard the last words.

“Now we’re talking. That’s it, show that lovely smile of yours.”

*click* *click*

“Now, can’t you give me something a little bit ier? You know, if you want to make it obvious that we are a couple, it’s normal for boyfriends to usually have more intimate pictures of their girlfriends in their phone. . .” after innocently saying that, Seungri gently brushed his girlfriend long hair away from her neck, in an attempt to reveal more skin.

“You are such a sneaky bastard.” CL chuckled and playfully pushed one side of her jacket off her shoulders.

“Ohh, yea! Pose for me babe! Just like that!”

 

____________________________________________

 

It was a really bad idea for these two love birds to be conducting this ‘intimate’ meeting in one of the dance studios at the YG headquarters, because ironically enough, the meeting became the opposite of intimate about halfway thru. That was the moment when none other than Minzy showed up just outside the door and started watching the two. She stuck to her plan: she legit started to keep an eye on Seungri and see whether he had any evil plans of destroying Chaerin’s image. After she witnessed his rampage over the body shaming scandal, she was afraid that the threats he had made might be serious.

So that morning she called Daesung and found out that Seungri had just met with BIGBANG and was at the HQ. Minzy then went straight to action and searched around for Seungri until she found him in the worst possible scenario ever: alone, with Chaerin, in a stranded room.

To make matter worse, Minzy showed up exactly when Seungri got out his phone and started to take pics of CL. The door was closed, so she couldn’t hear what they were talking, but she could distinguish their figures through the frosted glass strip of the door. So you can imagine her shock and outrage when she saw Seungri touching her unnie, and then her jacket slightly coming off.

OH NO! HE IS REALLY DOING IT! HE IS GOING TO TAKE SOME DIRTY PICS OF UNNIE AND PUT THEM ONLINE TO DESTROY HER IMAGE AND TAKE REVENGE. I NEED TO STOP THIS!

In an instant, Minzy forcefully pushed the door open and stumbled inside the room.

“STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOIN RIGHT NOW!”

Seungri and CL froze still, taken aback by the sudden unexpected entrance.

With an even more assertive attitude, Minzy screamed again:

“WHY ARE YOU TAKING PICTURES OF CL-UNNIE?!”

Seungri stared dumbly at Minzy and then at Chaerin, not able to formulate a single word. The panic and shock of being caught in the act made his mind completely stop functioning.

“I asked him to take the pictures for me. I wanted to post something on instagram. Don’t I look cute today?” Chaerin was quick to respond and came to the rescue with a perfectly reasonable explanation, much to Seungri’s relief.

Minzy took a second to process the information, surprised to hear that the seemingly perfectly fitting disastrous scenario was in fact just a harmless, naïve activity.

“But why are you asking? Is there something wrong?” CL wondered.

Minzy snapped back to reality:

“Huh? Oh, no, no, nothing! Everything is just fine!”

The girl then threw a mean look over at Seungri, still keeping her full suspicions regarding his evilness. She still couldn’t let her unnie alone with him.

“Come with me then, unnie! I’ll take the pictures for you then! Let’s go outside, the light is better. Also you should fix your hair, it’s a bit fizzy. Are you sure today is a good day for pictures?”

Chaerin started getting dragged by Minzy to the door but managed to throw her boyfriend a regretful look and mouth out the words ‘I’m sorry’ on the way out.