First Chapter: Meeting Her

He made a huge bow, an even bigger smile on his face as the crowd cheered on after his latest stage.

Heart still on overdrive, blood still high on adrenaline, his eyes surveyed the crowd, taking in the cheering, the smiles, and everything else the fans was willing to give him.

Then his eyes stopped on her.

Her.

It’s been nearly 3 months now, and he always sees her in the crowd.

After almost each and every single performance he made, she was always there, and even though the other members were sure she was probably already there always way before he noticed her, it took several reasons for him to notice her.

One, because she was always at the front, closest to the stage, and thus closest to him. He could already imagine the amount of money she must’ve spent on the tickets alone to always get the near coveted front row tickets most fans would probably be willing to lose a limb for to get. He earned more than a fair amount of money, but even he had to cringe at the amount of money no doubt spent simply for tickets. She was always so near, and in the middle, and so close that it was nearly impossible not to notice her.

Two, was because she doesn’t react like other fans. Instead of jumping up and down, screaming, yelling, cheering, wildly waving the golden crown in their hands, she would be sitting down with a serene smile on her face, calmly waving her light stick at hand no matter what the song was. He was convinced that if you only watched her reaction to the performances he made, and you turned the volume down so that you’d have to guess what song was playing according to how she reacted, all guesses would be wrong. Ranging from JiYong’s ‘That XX’ to his own ‘Ringa Linga’ to the entire groups’ ‘Fantastic Baby’, her reaction is the same. Exactly the same, in fact, that he was almost scared that she’s turned deaf from all the screaming around her. If it wasn’t for her sometimes singing along to one of their songs, he would’ve been convinced that she was deaf.

And the third reason, and he really does think this is the most important one, was because of the two…beings? Giants?...statues, maybe? The last one may be wrong considering he knows he’s seen the two…men...move once in a while, but no other explanation seems to cover it.

Both were huge, and both clearly worked out. They both looked to be in their mid-thirties, and judging from the tanned skin, the small scars on their faces, the bodies that screamed a minimum of two hours at the gym each day, and the near frozen look of stern on their faces, he could accurately guess the two men were probably in the active army once in their life. They were both tall, and they never sat down. They always stood behind her, dressed in dark cargo pants and a tight shirt underneath a bulky black jacket, looking as if they were all too willing to jump in front of a speeding bullet for her.

This was probably the most noteworthy reasons as to how he first noticed her because of the contrasting image the two men and her created.

The two made an image of a drill camp, where you can expect a yell of ‘ATTENTION’ at any moment, and suddenly all fiber in your being tells you to stop moving and listen. She, with her relaxed expressions and happy smiles, made an image of someone completely satisfied by what they currently had, looking as if they were in paradise.

And as he walked towards the backstage, leaving the dispersing crowd as the concert finally ended, his thoughts kept going back to her.

He got fans showing up for 10 performances or concerts in a row. He’s seen a lot do that, and it wasn’t really such a rare sight that he wondered if that was why he didn’t notice her at first, or maybe even just overlooked her.

10 performances. His fans would always show up to almost 10 consecutive performances before finally stopping, making way for other fans to do the same.

She, however, has been doing so for 3 months – maybe even longer if she really has been to at least 10 more before he finally noticed her.

Normally, that would worry them. Something like this could suggest a fan that might just be ‘more’, and can actually be called a ‘sasaeng’ instead. That could be worrying enough, but if it was on the other end of the spectrum, it was worse. She could’ve been an ANTI-fan. That title is just filled with dangers many idols would like to avoid, and thankfully, he can do the same with her.

So far, she’s done nothing but simply show up for the concerts, performances, stages, an audience for the rare variety YG artists would do every now and then, and she’d even drop in every now and then on a couple of their fan events. Any clue, move, idea, or anything else that screams ‘crazy’ just didn’t appear on her. She was just a fan. A dedicated, richer than normal fan that could probably afford to offer shadier companies the money needed to break into their houses and steal something. And considering that there’s been absolutely no attempt at any of those – not that any would succeed with the security around their houses and dorm – he, along with s, were relieved that she was just a fan.

Slightly more determined than the other to watch them live, but still a just a fan.

A fan.

She’s just a fan.

She’s JUST a FAN Dong YoungBae!

But why is it that he can’t stop thinking about her?

TaeYang ruffled his hair in frustration as she came, once again, into his thoughts, overriding everything else and completely taking over.

Rushing into their dressing room, he made small greetings towards the others and headed straight for the shower to try and clear his head.

Keyword: try.

Judging from the slight frown on YoungBae’s face once he got out of the shower, all traces of TaeYang gone, his hair limp, wearing a simple shirt and shorts with a towel around his neck, the image of the curious girl with the cute smile was still very much present in his head.

JiYong – being his best friend – noticed first and nearly chuckled at his friend’s predicament.

Ever since YoungBae noticed the curious girl, they’d always have one conversation about her whenever they met, wondering who she was, trying to figure out just why she did what she keeps doing.

The other members looked over when JiYong had to cover his mouth to stop the chuckle from being heard, and all chuckled quietly themselves when they saw the now familiar look of curiosity, confusion, and aggravation at none of his questions being answered, evident on his face.

They all agreed that he’s probably got a bit of a crush on the girl – they didn’t even know how old she was, but just guessed she was in her late teens considering the way her face screamed innocence whenever she smiled.

He clearly was just a bit infatuated with her, but they all knew he was just going to deny it once claims started being thrown out. He might have the ability to perform songs along with a fluid dance most fans would agree on being able to fuel their desire more than anything else short of how T.O.P. would look at them, but that doesn’t mean he’s got the experience behind to justify the promises his sultry moves and husky voice could give. He’s had relationships before, of course. He IS a man. And in his 20s too. The fact that he’s well known, and clearly wanted by a lot could only mean he has had his fair share of relationships before.

Doesn’t mean he’s any less innocent than a school grader when it comes to his crush on a pretty girl.

At that thought, the members had to double their effort at stopping themselves from laughing outright.

“Bae-ah” JiYong greeted him after he got his laughter controlled – the other members still muffling their own in the background. “Something wrong?”

“Huh?” YoungBae looked up, shaken from his thoughts. “No, I’m fine. It’s just…her again.” He hesitated, already knowing laughter would follow once he admitted as to just what was occupying his current thoughts.

He wasn’t disappointed.

“She was here again?” DaeSung asked, his eyes wider than usually possible – he was the only one still amazed at just how dedicated she seems.

“You didn’t see her?” YoungBae mused – was he the only one whose eyes immediately started searching for her now? His eyes these days seem to just gravitate towards the middle front of the audience where she usually sat. He was surprised the others weren’t the same.

“We don’t exactly have the time to just ogle and stare at someone like a fangirl, hyung.” SeungRi remarked, amusement evident in his eyes as he looked at his clearly infatuated hyung.  He’s no stranger to the occasional idol stating more seriously than others that them getting together with a fan had a real possibility, he just didn’t expect one of his hyungs to be one of them.

“Shut up, maknae” YoungBae barked back with no bite – he already got used to their teasing a month ago.

“Why do you keep thinking about her anyways?” SeungHyun wondered. “It’s not that rare for certain fans to keep showing up over and over again all over our scheduled dates.”

“Yeah, but for 3 months?” YoungBae countered. “Possibly more if what JiYong said is true and I just didn’t notice her at first?” Something he just can’t wrap his mind around considering there was just no way one couldn’t notice her considering where she is and the people around her.

“OK…” JiYong intervened. “She’s slightly more into us than others.” He conceded, knowing his friend would just push her being something more. “That still doesn’t mean anything, YoungBae-ah. It just means one more fan that loves us.”

YoungBae, already seeing where the familiar conversation was going to go, just dropped it with a shrug.

“You didn’t answer my question though.” SeungHyun pushed. “Why do you keep thinking about her?” He repeated once he had YoungBae’s attention once more.

Said man just shrugged. “I don’t know. Just curious about her.”

“Well, you better reign that curiosity in for a while.” SeungRi announced, standing up still in his full stage outfit. “We had that backstage special going on for this concert, so there are some fans that’re gonna come back here to greet us.” He reminded everyone.

Normally, backstage passes are hard to come by. Expensive too, if you somehow manage to click fast enough online to order one. For this concert however, Big Bang offered a number of backstage passes to be used after the concert to give a few lucky fans a chance to see how everything worked – the good sides of it anyways – before the actual stage. Maybe even get to meet Big Bang if they don’t leave immediately after the whole thing.

At that thought, YoungBae’s thoughts – unsurprisingly – once again went to her.

She was always there. Always able to get the ticket meant for an up close and personal view of the stars with no one else in front of her. Those tickets costs a lot and are hard to come by – after all, front seats can only go so far – but she always managed to get them.

Thinking about her always being able to do this, he wondered if she was able to get one of the 20 backstage passes offered.

“Hyung,” JiYong interrupted his thoughts with a bland look. “Stop thinking about her. I know what you’re thinking – she might have a backstage pass. But you can’t exactly find out if you just stay here and think about it, aren’t you?” He asked, putting and arm around the thinking man to pull him out the room. “Come on,” he urged. “We’re curious about her too – let’s go see if she’s one of our lucky fans.”

YoungBae let himself get pulled out, thoughts still pre-occupied.

“Do you think we can pull her aside?” SeungRi mused aloud a couple moments after walking around, trying to find a group of fans to see if she was there.

“Why would you want to pull her aside?” DaeSung asked – which YoungBae was glad for considering if he asked…teasing was bound to come with it.

“I can’t be the only one curious to know more about her, right?” SeungRi smirked, sneaking a glance at YoungBae – who still sported a rather confused look on his face. “She’s been following us for nearly 3-4 months. Even more if we really didn’t notice her. I just want to know more about her now. I’m curious.”

“How are we supposed to pull a fan aside though?” DaeSung contemplated. “Isn’t she gonna be with the other fans? How are we supposed to just pull one aside without the other noticing? Especially since she’s probably got those two guards with her too.”

“Maybe we can pull her aside after the tour around is over?” JiYong mused, a finger on his lips as he thought about it. “We need to make a couple appearances anyways and say at least ‘hi’ to our fans. We can send this man right here last just before the tour ends so he can pull her aside.” He smiled, shaking YoungBae slightly at his suggestion.

The others quickly agreed – even SeungHyun agreed to look around, even though he usually preferred to just rest after a performance. Apparently, he too, was curious enough about the girl to actually spend time to look for her.

A few minutes of carefully looking around and they finally heard the voices of a couple ‘tour guides’ – really just stage direction people paid extra to show fans around – and the excited blabber of girls just a bit in front of them.

Quickly turning the corner to look, the five members immediately found what they were looking for.

YoungBae thought right – she did get the backstage pass, and even her guards got them too, judging from the rather out of place backstage pass on their otherwise intimidating body.

“How the hell did she get enough for THREE?” SeungRi exclaimed, amazement in his eyes. “One is enough, but to have THREE? And JUST for those guards? Just how much does she have?”

The others thought about that for only a second before going on with their plan.

They quickly decided to let DaeSung greet the fans first – he gave off the least intimidating vibe, not to mention most innocent if you compare him to their maknae.

He quickly rounded the corner, taking off the jacket and shaking his hair to make it seem like they’ve been backstage a while getting ready to leave and not stalk fans – odd turn of events that one – before seemingly ‘showing up out of nowhere’ in front of the fans – who all quickly got excited and started fussing.

Almost all of them anyways. SHE was still the same. Though her doe-brown eyes seemed to have widened just a bit out of excited shock, her composure was otherwise untouched, and she didn’t try to rush towards the idol in question. Instead, she whispered something to her guards – they all agreed they were guards by now – and they suddenly helped the security around the fans to keep them from mauling their second youngest.

“Looks like Dae’s not her favourite.” Maknae cackled. “She didn’t react like the rest of them.”

“And since when has she ever reacted ‘like the rest of them’?” YoungBae voiced out for the first time in a while. “Has she ever really acted like how our fans used to?”

“Good point…” Maknae shrugged before gaining a curious look on his face. “So who do you think she does like best?” He asked as he eyed the girl in question – she looked detached almost from the group. While the rest were trying to gather around DaeSung with their phones out even though security kept telling them to take it away, she just stood there, hands together on her front, fumbling with the hem of her over shirt.

“Who cares?” SeungHyun trilled. “We’ll know later once this guy pulls her aside.” He said, jabbing a finger towards YoungBae, before turning completely towards him after a thought. “If you do manage to pull her aside, can you ask on the way just what those two are?” He pointed towards the guards. “I know we agreed they’re guards, but why does she have them? And why are they so damned intimidating?”

“Oh?” SeungRi jumped at the chance. “Hyung, you’re scared of them?” He teased, a smirk already tugging at his lips.

“Who wouldn’t be?” SeungHyun rolled his eyes. “They’re two big men made seemingly out of pure muscles – look, even the fan girls are giving DaeSung a wide birth because of just one of them.” He pointed towards the scene.

It was true. One guard seemed to have gone back behind the girl while the other was practically glaring at the other girls, eyes practically screaming ‘go ahead, I dare you’.  Needless to say, the tour was able to go on after that, the one guard staying behind for a second to make sure no girls stayed behind before making a small bow towards DaeSung and catching up with his…mistress? Is that what she is? She certainly seemed as if she was the boss.

DaeSung walked back towards them with an almost glazed expression until an over-excited SeungRi finally snapped and started his questions.

“Did she say anything?” He demanded.

“Weren’t you looking, maknae?” DaeSung retorted back. “Did it LOOK like she said anything? Or even if she did, did it look like I could HEAR her? They were almost crazy – thank goodness one of her guards stepped up.”

“So those ARE guards?” JiYong questioned. “Why does she have them? Did she say?”

“No!” DaeSung nearly yelled, before sighing an apology, quickly running a hand through his hair. “Look, she didn’t say anything much at all. She just greeted me like the rest with a bow when I showed up – as I’m sure you saw – then I saw her whisper something towards her guards, which I assumed was to tell them to help the security with the fans.”

“Alright, whatever.” SeungHyun waved him off. “Who’s next to greet them?” He asked once they started walking again – DaeSung leading the way to where he heard the tour guides were taking them next.

“Maknae” JiYong stated, turning the corner to hear the constant chattering once more. “And try not to be…yourself too much, OK?” He smiled with no humor at the maknae – who just looked at him with mock hurt and betrayal.

“Whatever” he pouted before walking off, using his skills at acting to make it seem like he was just looking for something as he passed by them.

Again, the others watched. SeungRi wasn’t the type to treat others like strangers. As far as he was concerned, everyone was a friend. Some of them, he just hasn’t made yet.

Like with DaeSung, the security walked in front of SeungRi, making sure no fan got away, as an impromptu fan-meet happened right before them. SeungRi would smile and shake their hands – even make passes at some girls to make them giggle.

And like last time, SHE just stayed behind as well. Though this time, a small amused smile graced her small yet plump pink lips as she looked at what was happening before her.

“And you are?” they heard SeungRi ask Her.

“Ah,” She looked shock at first, looking as if she didn’t know why SeungRi noticed her, before taking a small bow and then smiling at him. “Anyeonghasaeyo. Cesari Azalea-ibnida.” She greeted, but made no effort to go up to him. “It’s nice to meet you, SeungRi-ssi.” She ended with another bow – her guard behind her mimicking her actions only his bow was slightly deeper. The one that came up to help with the security nodded his head in greeting as well.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” SeungRi smiled, slight confusion in his eyes at her actions, before turning towards the fans. “I’m sorry you guys, the others are probably already looking for me. Plus, you still have to finish the tour.” He bowed a bit before turning to leave. “It was nice meeting you!”

The security had to put forth extra effort to keep the fans from following him – though they could see that the guard she had sent to help did most of the actual work.

Once again, the tour continued one of her guards staying behind a while to make sure no one was left behind before following after.

“Well at least we found out her name.” SeungRi chirped when he got back. “And that she has a nice voice.” He mused, remembering the soft tone coming from her lips – it was soft, but he determined that if she put enough strength into it, a voice filled with charisma that could charm many would be produced.

“Azalea?” JiYong checked. “Pretty.”

“Should we keep going then?” SeungRi prodded after a moment of silence. “I feel like they’ve already gotten to where they should be.”

“Should we just send out Bae now?” JiYong asked. “I have a feeling it’ll get too suspicious if SeungHyun and I show up as well.”

“And besides,” added the mentioned member. “Isn’t the tour going to end soon?” He asked, looking down at his watch. “Like…10 minutes soon? This was only an hour long tour.”

“We’ve been wandering around for nearly an hour?” YoungBae asked, incredulously. “I don’t feel it.”

“Well, you’ve got stuff on your mind.” DaeSung chortled. “Like that cute girl. Hyung, you do realize you barely talked the past hour, right? SeungHyun-hyung talked more than you did, and he’s usually in his cave, hibernating by now.”

YoungBae just looked at their second youngest with a blank face.

“So are we gonna go?” JiYong asked after an awkward silence. “We have 5 minutes – SeungRi, where are they going next?”

“By now, they should be heading back to the exit.”

“OK,” JiYong nodded. “Bae, go run out – just pretend you left something on stage or something.” He suggested, turning around, only to see that YoungBae was already gone.

JiYong just sighed.

“Sometimes, I worry about that hyung. He’s older than me, but why do I sometimes feel like it’s the other way around?” JiYong mused.

“Cause he’s too innocent.” DaeSung piped. “And that’s coming from me.” He joked, making the others chuckle lightly.

“Do you think he’ll get her to come?” SeungRi asked their leader.

“Probably. The guards are more than likely to come with her though. They seem to take on their jobs more seriously than JiYong does when he’s in the studio.” DaeSung joked, making the other two listening groan.

“Don’t remind him about the studio!” SeungRi whined. “He’s gonna end up dragging us there again tomorrow!”

“Shut up, maknae.” JiYong quipped. “Come on, let’s go wait for them in the room. I doubt he’d drag her back here.” He added, already walking.

The three just followed silently.

15 minutes later

The guys were back in their dressing room – SeungHyun came back from his own as well, all signs of T.O.P. gone – all wearing much more comfortable clothing than their stage.

“When’s hyung gonna get here?” SeungRi asked. Well…more like whined. With the maknae, you kinda can’t tell most of the time.

Just as he finished though – before SeungHyun can tell him to shut up again – the door opened, revealing YoungBae, with Azalea right behind – a shy smile on her face. Her guards were right behind her too.

“Come on in.” YoungBae smiled, opening the door completely, showing exactly who was in the room with them.

“Are you sure?” She asked, almost hesitant, her voice softer than it was before.

“Of course~” SeungRi stood up with a smile. “Come on in!”

“I don’t really want to intrude…” She continued, looking almost uncomfortable.

“Come on in.” SeungHyun added, looking straight at her with a small smile.

She jumped just a bit at his voice, and smiled shyly before nodding and finally walking in. “Thank you. Please take care of us.”

Her guards lowered their heads just a bit in greeting before straightening out behind her.

“Would you like to sit down?” JiYong offered. “Go ahead – take a seat wherever.” He gestured around the room. The four of them were taking over one whole couch, while she and YoungBae still stood.

In an effort to make her more comfortable – and to forget about formal customs for now – YoungBae immediately sat down on one of the two one-sitter couch.

“Go ahead.” He smiled, offering the other beside him.

Her eyes wide, she gave a hesitant smile before taking the offered chair – once again, her guards stood beside her, one on each side of the couch.

Uncomfortable silence ensued around the room before she finally gathered courage to ask what was on her mind.

“Um…” She started quietly. “Why am I here? Did I do something wrong? TaeYang-ssi asked me if I wanted to come here and meet the rest of you, but…” She trailed off.

“Oh that!” SeungRi smiled. “That was a lie. Well…not really, we did want to meet you as well, but YoungBae-hyung was really the one who wanted to meet you the most. He probably just used us as an excuse.” He snickered, not even wincing when said hyung smacked him on the head.

“Um…w-why?” She asked, eyes wide in shock.

“We noticed you’ve been to nearly every one of our concerts and events.” DaeSung smiled gently. “You were always there, and we got curious.”

“What was your name again?” SeungHyun asked, trying to find a point so everyone can introduce themselves.

“Ah!” She started, sitting up straighter before doing a deep bow. “Yes, I’m sorry. My name is Cesari Azalea. Azalea’s my first name, Cesari last. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Well, you probably already know who we are considering you’ve been to a lot of our concerts, but let’s introduce ourselves anyways.” JiYong suggested before doing a small bow with a smile. “I’m G-Dragon, leader of Big Bang, but just Kwon JiYong right now.”

“I’m T.O.P. Just Choi SeungHyun right now.”

“I’m Kang DaeSung. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“And I’m SeungRi, but just Lee SeungHyun right now. Just call me SeungRi so you won’t get too confused with two SeungHyun” SeungRi smiled.

“And that guy besides you that suddenly got too quiet is TaeYang.” JiYong teased towards said rather flustered member. “But I’d bet he’d rather just you call him Dong YoungBae right now, so it’s really up to you.”

“Ah…” again, her eyes were really wide. “Neh~ Thank you. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Are these guys your body guards?” SeungRi followed, trying to make sure there was no awkward silence in between.

“Neh~” She nodded.

“Why do you have body guards?” he followed.

“Ah…” at this she flushed pink, as if embarrassed at what she was about to say.

Cute…

“My papa is quite overprotective of me.” She explained. “These two are actually family members.” She gestured towards the tanned man at her right side. “This is Cesari Richard. He’s my uncle on my dad’s side. He used to be an active soldier in America while he was in college, but he’s finished with that now, so he’s back home.” She explained before going back to the other man.

Unlike Richard who sported a heavy tan, and had longer hair, this one was black, and all his hair completely shaven. He was taller than Richard, and had more muscles too.

“This is my god-father actually.” Azalea continued. “He used to be head of security at my papa’s company, but papa asked him to look after me instead. His name is Grayson Olivier.”

Both Richard and Olivier bowed deeply.

“It was nice to meet you.” Richard said, his voice a mild tenor. It had a feel of power behind it, however, that made it seem much more threatening to the boys than it should be.

“Please take care of us.” Olivier added, his voice a contrasting deep baritone to Richard’s own milder one.

“Neh. Jalbutakdeurimnida.” The boys stood and bowed in unison. Hearing the strength behind their tone set off alarms in their heads – these are men you should not mess with.

“Um…so why am I here again?” Azalea asked again, eyes down, arms fiddling with the hem of her skirt. Outfit

“I’m sorry.” YoungBae spoke beside her, making her jump at his voice. “We’ve just noticed you’ve been at a lot of our concerts, and we’ve gotten really curious. I just really wanted to get to know you more. You seemed to like us a lot, so we thought we’d take the chance to get to know you when we saw you were one of the fans to get a tour backstage.”

“Ah, really?” She smiled, a pink dust on her cheeks. “Thank you.” She bowed. “What did you want to know?”

“Well…” JiYong mused, a finger on his lips. “Quite a lot actually. We don’t have any more schedule for today. Can you stay a while?”

“Y-yes.” She smiled, more pink on her cheeks at his words.