~*~

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I couldn't remember the last time I wished so hard for someone to pick up my call. At this time, I was holding on to all the ounce of hope for someone to answer. Because I felt so alone, and I needed someone to talk to.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Even if Jiyong selflessly offered to go back to the hotel with me, I knew that it would be selfish to take him away from his world -- the world that made him happy -- the world where he could be who he truly was. Pharrell personally invited him and all his pluses to his concert and after-party. I felt baby girl weighing me down, so I declined to attend. He also knew it wouldn't be healthy for me stay out so late, not after eight hours of standing up and walking around the exhibit.

So even if a part of me feared my husband's proximity with his ex-girlfriend, somehow the way Kiko glued herself to another European model made me confident to let Jiyong go. That night, he sent me to our hotel room, where I rested alone.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I was doing well alone, about to go to sleep. Until the memories of the whole day replayed in my kind. I saw how Jiyong glanced from time to time in Kiko's direction as she held hands, cuddled, kissed, and hugged in public with another man. I could tell Jiyong faked all his smile, all his laughters, because I knew him well enough to know he was silently crying inside. When I felt that I couldn't breathe, that I was about to cry, at the mere recollection of a hurting Kwon Jiyong, I decided to talk to someone. I needed to take my mind off this feeling because it scared me a lot.

"Yoboseyo?"

I almost forgot that I was waiting and secretly praying for someone to answer, until I heard a voice. A good friend's voice.

"O-oppa?"

"Hi Taeyeon. What's going on?"

His friendly and familiar voice soothed me. It had been so long since I talked to him like this that I had completely forgotten how much he comforted me.

"Are you b-busy? Do you think you'd have the time to... talk?"

"Of course. We just finished recording. Where are you? We can meet up."

"But I'm still in Paris. We can just talk. I just need to talk."

Of all the four ex-boyfriends I ever had, only one became my closest friend. Junsu and I had a bad breakup, so we were civil at best. Kangin and I had a joke of a relationship, so we were good friend at best. Leeteuk and I also had a somehow ugly breakup, and I was positive it'd take us years before we could even talk as friends.

"You haven't called me or any of us since your wedding. We were beginning to think you already forgot about your old friends."

But this oppa I was talking to, we had a good relationship, a healthy breakup, and so he became the only one of the lot who I could call my best friend. Choi Siwon, my kind and handsome oppa.

"I saw all your photos there, and it seems you're now a full-pledged YG family. Are you having so much fun with Jiyong's friends?"

"Yeah. They're very warm, funny, fun-loving. I'm really having fun in this trip," I lied to him, getting up from the bed and resting my back on the headboard.

"So why are you calling me if you're having fun? You should be out and about, partying with your YG family under the Parisian lights," he muttered very condescendingly. Of course he knew me very well. Anyone of them could tell that I was far from having fun in such an event. "Don't lie to me, Kim Taeyeon. I know you very well. You don't party, drink, go to clubs, socialize or network. You're a self-proclaimed anti-social. So forgive me if I don't believe you're really having fun."

I sighed, and chuckled a little. Then, I finally admitted the truth for the first time. Fany would kill me if she found out I confided in another friend first. "I can't... hang out with them. I don't find enjoyment in their parties. It's not the same when I'm with you all, even if we're just having coffee and talking."

"If you're so lonely, then why did you call me and not your girl friends?"

"Let's just say I don't want to ruin their romantic moods with my silly stories."

"And I don't have a romantic mood to be ruined?"

"You're single and very much romance-less, so no."

"Yah Taeng, oppa has a life too, even if I'm currently single!"

"He's not single. I'm currently fixing him up a blind date!"

Someone shouted in the background, and that voice alone made me excited.

"Heechul oppa? Hi crazy!" I shouted with so much excitement.

"Hang up and let's video call. I miss you silly," Heechul said, and his clear voice told me he already took the phone away from Siwon.

"I miss you too!" another man shouted, further exciting me.

"Was that Donghae oppa?"

Pretty soon, Siwon's company introduced themselves one by one, and by the end of their roll call, I have temporarily forgot about Jiyong's heartbreak.

"And Hyukjae oppa's here too!"

"Kim Junsu, present!"

"Kangin too of course."

With that, we hung up the call and talked via a video chat. The guys were hanging out in an enclosed pub, drinking, eating, and talking. They were in a private room, which allowed for us to talk and understand each other clearly. The hours just passed with me catching up to my good friends, my good oppas. Now these were a group of men who never bullied me. In fact, this group of men loved me and cared for me. Even if they weren't as cool, as hip, or as swag as Jiyong's chic group, at least they respected me.

But our catch-up was cut when Jiyong called me. My laughter stopped, and the smile faded off my face at the sight of his photo on my screen. He reminded me of that nagging constriction of my air passage at the memory of him hurting. It all just seemed that when Kwon Jiyong was hurting, I felt the same thing he was feeling.

I decided to say my goodbyes to my oppas, promised to hang out with them soon, and answered Jiyong's call.

"Hello?"

"Taeyeon? This is Soojoo unnie. Can you fetch your husband? He's really making a mess for himself. It's quite embarrassing and pathetic, really. He needs to go home. We're at Pharrell's penthouse, it's the topmost floor of the same hotel you're in."

Baby girl gave me an uncomfortable movement, and just like me, I was sure she also worried about her dad. The tightening of my air passage worsened, and my stomach also began to feel that unexplainable pain.

"Okay, thanks for the call unnie. I'm coming soon."

I couldn't believe how quickly I acted, dressing up and leaving our own suite in a rush. It took me a while to reach the topmost floor, and when I did, I heard the loud music and collective cheers of the people banging through the walls. As I was on the guest list as G-dragon's plus, I was allowed entry.  While I braved the crowd of partying Europeans, I covered my nose so tightly to protect baby girl from the smoke of illegal substances being snorted by almost every person I passed. Finally, I reached the room where Jiyong and his crew stayed.

The moment I entered what turned out to be a smaller chamber with a huge table in the middle, I saw my husband, drunk and wasted, drinking Vodka straight from the glass bottle, while he sang and danced so drunkenly to Pharrell's current hit.

"Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth..."

"Thanks for coming. He really needed an intervention, and these idiots are being awfully bad influences," Soojoo unnie came up to my side, and together, we watched how my ratchet and haggard husband made a fool of himself on that table. Meanwhile, Harry, Seungho and Daniel dance wildly around him too, smoking something illegal for sure.

"Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof..."

"You know who she's with right now? Jean Marc Rodriquez, half-French, half-Mexican Ford model!" model Lee Hyuksoo shouted from the ground, looking up to Jiyong and drinking from his own bottle of brandy. All of Nuthang has reached their most drunken states.

"So? What does this Jean Marc have that I don't?" Jiyong shouted back, pouring his Vodka on top of Hyuksoo's head, and all of them laughed their drunken asses off.

"A Caucasian ?" Harry answered, creating a howl of laughter from everyone. This made Jiyong fall helplessly on the table.

" you dude! you! the ing hell with you!" Jiyong shouted with a laugh, spilling Vodka to each of his friends like he was blessing them.

"Can you just imagine that large wood ing petite Kiko?" asked Daniel, snorting something out of a bong. This messy group contrasted to the innocent night out of my SM Town oppas. How different was Jiyong's crew from my friends.

"Aaaaah stop it. Stop talking about it. I really want to die!" cried Jiyong, lying helplessly on the table, flat on his back.

"Rodriguez is loaded, not just physically. He's the new face of Armani in Europe. He's a big fish bro, sorry to say," Seungho explained.

"First, a Japanese superstar. Next, a European supermodel. Man, our baby Kiko just knows how to make this trash jealous, doesn't she?" Hyuksoo further teased.

"Drink! Drink! Drink!"

"Go Jiyong! Go Jiyong! Go, go, go Jiyong!"

"Woooohoooooooooo!"

And with his friends egging, Jiyong finished that half-empty Vodka bottle while he lay down so that the fluids just spilled all on his face. Daniel very kindly threw a towel on my husband's face, and he wiped it carelessly.

It was such a pathetic sight.

"I'm so sorry you have to see this. All I can say is, at least it's better than him actually cheating on you, right?" Park Soojoo said on my side, her arms crossing as she watched the mess that was Jiyong and his five friends.

I didn't mind her, and instead continued to watch the pitiful Kwon Jiyong. My face would soon resort to crying, and it became more difficult to breathe by the minute. It felt as if I could falter and stop existing that very moment just because I saw him like this. I have known him well enough to ascertain there was a sadness and heartache hiding behind those drunken laughs.

"Taeyeon, I'm not going to bully you, god no. Don't be afraid to talk to me," Soojoo egged when I ignored her, and her words made me finally notice her. "I'm a woman, and I can't imagine just what you're going through. These boys... they're very loyal... protective... defensive. They've regarded themselves as the protector of their best friends, to the point that they look at anything coming in the way of Jiyong and Kiko's happy ending as a foe, a villain. Jiyong's fans, YG, you, your marriage, your child..."

She looked at me and smiled so kindly, even holding on to my arms. She continued, "But I want you to know that not all of Jiyong's friends hate you. Not Mina, not Lydia, not Chaerin, and certainly not me."

I felt her sincerity, and only smiled back. There was a certain relief and comfort knowing that I had a few of Jiyong's social group who did not think of me as the who stole Jiyong away. That aided the limited air causing me pain. My moment with Soojoo was disturbed when Kwon Jiyong began to shout so loudly. We looked to their side, only to see Harry lighting up the bong of illegal substance that Jiyong held. Then, for Jiyong's every snort, he also shouted profanities.

" JEAN'S HUMONGOUS WHITE !"

" JEAN'S HIS GRAY EYES!"

" JEAN'S OUTDATED ROLLS ROYCE!"

" JEAN RODRIGUEZ! JUN MATSUMOTO! EM ALL!"

"ENOUGH! KWON JIYONG, YOUR WIFE'S HERE! IT'S TIME TO GO HOME!" Park Soojoo shouted so loudly, her booming voice taking command of her friends' attention. With one look on us, Kwon Jiyong laid eyes on me.

When our eyes met, he let go of the bong so that it shattered on the floor. Then he smiled and came to me, opening his arms wide while he walked towards me.

"Oh hi! Hi honey! How's my beautiful wife? How's my baby girl?" he enthusiastically greeted. When he reached me, the first thing he did was kneel in front of me and kiss my abdomen. He then wrapped his arms aroun