The first time Seungri decided to introduce a girl to Jiyong and Seunghyun after his “adventures”, they never thought she’d be that nice. Jiyong and Seunghyun were practically fallen head over heels for her and beyond happy for the maknae.

She was nice and calm which was the opposite of Seungri. She looked innocent in a simple white dress and her hair was black like a night sky. She laughed richly and understood Seungri from the way she treated her. Jiyong and Seunghyun knew she was the one for Seungri.

“I wish Youngbae hyung and Daesung hyung were here to meet you,” Seungri said in the middle of conversation while having dinner together with his hyungs and the girl.

She smiled sweetly. “I’d love to meet them too. Let me know when they’re in town, okay?” she said as she held Seungri’s hand.

Seungri threw his gaze to Jiyong then Seunghyun. “Yes, I will.”

Daesung stirred his coffee as he watched people passed by from the side window of the café he usually came to. He wore a hat and dyed his hair to dark brown after cutting it really short. He spent most of his time hiding in his villa, but when he felt like going out, he’d go shopping and spending time in the café.

It was funny how people didn’t recognize him for who he was. Probably because of the hair and he got skinnier, but the reason mostly because the places he chose were small towns. He went from place to place, looking for a peaceful environment. The doctor said it was good for him, for his stress-relieved. This time he chose to stay in a village in Northern Ireland. His English wasn’t that good but he was able to communicate when needed. That was enough for him.

The bell on the top of the door was tinkling.

“Is this seat taken?” someone asked him in an almost perfect English although there was a bit of accent. Not European accent, more like Asians.

Daesung looked up and froze.

Youngbae was smiling mysteriously at him. He didn’t know how Youngbae could find him. The places he chose was somewhere out of the reach of s. It was almost impossible that they would think of those places as the places he’d go to. And, Youngbae had a plan to travel around the world. What the hell was he doing there?

“Ya. I’m asking you, is this seat taken?” he asked again, this time in Korean. When Daesung didn’t give a response, he laughed and sat on the chair across of him.

Daesung was still too stunned to react anything. He could not believe that Youngbae was there. Did his mother tell any of s where he was? Because, the people who had a clue about where he was were only his closest family members. Wait. Did that mean that s would also come to pick him up or something? No. He wasn’t ready for them. It was already more than a year and they were too much to take all at once.

“No, the others don’t know where we are. And, yes, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Youngbae said, like he could read his mind. Even after eighteen months since the last night they talked to each other, Youngbae still knew what was going on inside his mind.

Daesung gulped down his saliva. Suddenly, he was thirsty and nervous. He needed to speak up. He had to say something. “Did you pay someone to find where I am?”

Youngbae laughed again, this time quietly. “Let’s just say that I have people I can trust.”

Daesung looked away. “Let’s just say you paid someone to find out my whereabouts.”

“If that’s what you want to call.” And, the words made Daesung look to him again.

“Why can’t you just let me go, hyung?”

“I let you go. But, not without news.”

“What news?”

“That you’re healthy and happy,” Youngbae said as he leaned forward, “are you?”

Daesung looked away again because he knew that if he wanted to get away, he had to lie. Youngbae probably already knew the truth.

“I found the result, Daesung-ah. Even before our final concert. I knew you weren’t healthy.”

“I’m fine now. It was nothing, hyung,” Daesung said weakly.

“It was something. You should’ve told us and you didn’t have to deal with it alone.”

“And, what?” he snapped. Daesung never snapped before to someone older than him, not even to the younger one. “What if I told you? What if we could deal with it together? Are we now still a slave of what used to be our dream?”

“I don’t know you were unhappy,” Youngbae said as he leaned back to the backrest. His hands were folded in front of him, staring sadly at his dongsaeng.

Daesung chuckled. “That’s the thing you should know. Not the result of my health, but the fact that we weren’t happy anymore.”

“Still, you shouldn’t run away like that,” Youngbae insisted.

“Well, look where you are now. I know I wasn’t the only one who flew away from Seoul that morning.”

Youngbae opened his mouth to retort something back, but he closed it again when Daesung stood up. “I’m sorry, hyung. I know you mean good and I’m just rude, but I don’t want to go back. I can’t go back yet. I’m not ready. Thank you for worrying. I’m fine now. Good bye for now, hyung.”

Daesung bowed and left.

The first time Seunghyun met the girl he was brave enough to get serious with, it only took three weeks of approaching her and Jiyong exploded. Not because he hated his hyung to be in a relationship, but because that would leave him all alone. Seungri was already busy with his fiancé and Seunghyun was the only one he could drag in the middle of the night to get out drinking. And, if Seunghyun decided to get into a serious relationship, who the hell would put up with his dramatic s? It wasn’t that he had no other single friends, but the four of them knew him for his whole life. No one understood him better than them.

“You only know her for three ing weeks, hyung!” he threw one of his red leather jackets from Tonight’s era that he decided to keep to the floor with rage that came out of nowhere.

“Calm down, hyung,” Seungri said as he picked the jacket up.

“Don’t you dare picking that up! And, don’t tell me to calm the down!” he said and this time he threw away a light blue ripped jeans.

Seunghyun sighed, watching the scene from the edge of the leader’s bed calmly. Jiyong was sensitive and too easy to explode. He was more like a bomb. “We have to grow up eventually, Ji. You’ll find her soon.”

“That’s not the case! It’s not about me. Do you think I’m jealous?!”

“Yes,” the duo Seunghyun answered almost in unison and that made Jiyong wanted to murder someone even more.

“I am not jealous! Ha-ha! you guys,” he tried to laugh it off but Seungri and Seunghyun knew better.

Youngbae arrived with the earliest flight from Toronto. Jiyong’s hug welcomed him at the airport. Seunghyun and Seungri let him dominated Youngbae.

“Twenty months, dude. Twenty freaking months,” Jiyong said to Youngbae’s ear when he didn’t let go. There was a waver in Jiyong’s voice, probably because they were almost complete.

“Just one more to go,” Seunghyun said as he patted Seungri’s shoulder.

“I saw him two months ago somewhere in Northern Ireland,” Youngbae said when they were eating at their favorite crab restaurant two nights after his arrival from Toronto. Jiyong never let Youngbae off of his sight because he couldn’t trust Youngbae enough to not go.

Seungri stopped chewing. Seunghyun smiled pitifully. Jiyong tried to act cool.

“How was he?” Jiyong asked without looking at Youngbae’s direction. A crabmeat was on its way to his mouth.

“He was fine, I guess. We only saw each other for not more than five minutes. He snapped,” Youngbae answered casually.

Jiyong gave him a small acknowledged smile and went back chewing.

“Did you ask him to come back?” Seungri asked, putting his spoon down. He lost his appetite. His hyung was more important than food.

Youngbae nodded. “He said he’s not ready yet.”

“Well, that’s okay. He can take as much time that he needs,” Jiyong commented.

Seunghyun’s little smile didn’t falter. “I’m treating you guys tonight.”

Jiyong finally looked up from the food and Seunghyun caught a glimpse of sadness and desperation. “Good.”

The time Daesung decided he was ready to face Seoul was twenty-three months and thirty days after their disbandment. It was just a day before two years. Two years without any contact with s. He was almost at the edge of his sanity when he slid down in front of their dorm’s door. He wondered if they still live there. He wondered if they would welcome him again. He wondered if everything was going to be okay.

He sat there for almost three hours when Seungri opened the door to throw the trash out and Daesung looked up.

“What-“ was the only thing that came out from Seungri’s mouth. He couldn’t even finish his words before throwing the trash bag aside and pulled Daesung to his arms. It didn’t matter how people said that they weren’t close to each other, he loved Daesung just the same.

Daesung was buried on Seungri’s shoulder. He stayed still for a while as he felt his shoulder being wet and Seungri’s back was shaking. He smiled. He truly smiled after twenty-three months and thirty days. He was home.

Youngbae and Seungri busied themselves on the kitchen. Jiyong pushed Daesung down until he was seated on the dining table. He gave Daesung a teary smile while setting the eating utilities on the table. Seunghyun came back with a bottle of wine. Daesung watched them all quietly and carefully. How much he missed these guys and how much they missed him too.

That night, they ate dinner as five again and Jiyong cried hard in front of s, feeling responsible and all. Seunghyun smiled. Just like the old times.

The five of them against the world.

Seungri got married six months after they were reunited. The girl was just beyond perfect that Youngbae and Daesung had the same reaction like Seunghyun and Jiyong before. She was nice and had perfectly control over Seungri, which made the hyungs bursted out laughing every time she told him what to do and he could never say no. He was gifted with twin daughters who drove him insane, but he was always good with girls. He enjoyed being a protective father. He never lost his image as the youngest of BIGBANG, not in front of his fans nor s and friends. And, he loved that. He was still running his academy and with the help of YG, it got bigger and bigger.

Seunghyun was stil the bingu TOP as he continued being an actor. He met a girl after the first girl that he dared to get serious with. The second girl was an actress. She was kind and just naturally beautiful. She listened to him completely and the other way around. Seunghyun was very grateful for her that he asked her to marry him after going out for only two months. This time, Jiyong didn’t explode. He still had Youngbae and Daesung with him. Seunghyun got married eight months after Seungri. He had a son and he taught him soccer, which he wasn’t so good at. He was so proud of the boy.

Jiyong kept producing songs, probably for the rest of his life. He worked harder and harder that he really thought he would be the last one to be in a serious relationship. She was one of their back up dancers who taught ballet right after BIGBANG was disbanded. He knew he always had a crush at her, he didn’t know it would get serious. They had an open relationship and decided to get married after two years. She couldn’t have a baby and Jiyong knew he always fitted best as an uncle. They adopted a fourteen-year-old boy a few years later and Jiyong taught him to be a man.

Youngbae decided to stay out of the entertainment world. He opened a restaurant. She was kind and he met her at the hospital when he drove Daesung to do his routine check-up. She was a nurse and she smiled at him when she took Daesung’s blood. Daesung rolled his eyes as Youngbae smiled gummily at him after she left. Youngbae kept driving Daesung to his routine check-up for five months until he was brave enough to ask for her number. Youngbae went out with her for a few times before knowing that she was the one. The other four helped him proposing. And, they were married after going out for a year. He had two boys and a girl. He was so soft to them, especially to the girl.

Daesung helped Jiyong producing. He had two relationships with a young teacher and an artist. A day after he broke up with the artist, he collapsed at the studio that Jiyong swore he had a heart attack. They thought it was because he overworked himself. They found out that the throat cancer, which got cured while he was on his escapement, was back, this time for good. Jiyong and Seungri broke down the worst. They were always the most sensitive. Daesung only smiled. He spent three years fighting and living his life to the fullest with the help of s. He was never that happy and couldn’t be any more grateful. Jiyong was on his second honeymoon, Seunghyun was watching his son’s soccer match, Seungri were taking his daughters to a ballet class, and Youngbae was enjoying his wife’s cooking, when they got the news. They didn’t cry at the funeral. They knew he was and would still be happy.

Although they weren’t and would never be five anymore, they still felt complete.  Because Daesung wasn’t there physically, but they knew he was there. He was in their hearts.