OK…New chapter. Plot starts to thicken here JUST a bit. So it’s a bit longer chapter. Enjoy!

Previously:

He had three songs. About 10 or more minutes to look for her. And he can’t find her!

***

“Do you think she was sick?” He suddenly voiced,

“Sick?”

“Why would you think that?”

***

Why was he so curious about her anyways? Sure she was interesting. Sure, he probably had a bit – a big – of a crush on her. But as far as things go, she’s still just a fan.

 Besides, like SeungRi said, she’ll be here for the next concert…right?

Next concerts (January 11-12 Osaka)

She still wasn’t there.

***

Chapter 4: Reassurances and Rivals

To say that he was worried sick would probably be an understatement. Sure, his worries didn’t come across to the fans – he was way too professional to do that – but it doesn’t mean s didn’t get the brunt of it.

On the first Osaka concert she missed, he was worried. Just like the previous concert, he made use of the huge stage, walking back and forth – gathering the audience to sing with him – while at the same time, looking for her amongst the sea of crowns. When she didn’t show up, he ran like a headless chicken for a half hour backstage in worry that something might’ve happened to her.

JiYong had to shake his head when he remembered just how big the sigh of relief he had shared with everyone when YoungBae finally dropped the subject of ‘The Missing Fan’.

Unfortunately…they weren’t so lucky the second time around. The others, however, found amusement in the fact that the image of the cool and collected YoungBae shattered that they couldn’t help but about it.

‘Maybe she just didn’t have time to go abroad.’

‘Hyung, are you sure it’s just a crush? You’re sounding obsessed right now.’

‘She probably couldn’t afford it anymore.’

‘You know she doesn’t HAVE to be there all the time right?’

‘If I was her, I probably would’ve gotten sick of you by now.’

The last one had earned their maknae a smack from JiYong – he could see just how much her not showing up was worrying his best friend and knew that was probably more than what was needed at the time.

Nevertheless, no matter how bad it got at those two concerts, it couldn’t compare to just how bad it got when she failed to show up at their domestic concerts.

3 days, 3 concerts, 3 chances for her to show up. None of those chances were taken.

On the first day, he was easy to appease – it was too easy to have him distracted considering they were back home. Hell, all of them were so overjoyed at being back home that they were all easily distracted that day.

The second day, while his image on stage remained cool and collected – though he certainly didn’t stop himself from going around and around the stage looking for her – YoungBae never failed to take over backstage to worry over her some more.

On the third day…well, on the third day, everyone finally got sick of his actions.

She was just a fan. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, she may be a bit more to YoungBae because of his little – huge – crush, but a fan she still was. Nothing can change that.

And since he just wouldn’t shut up about her, they decided to take the best course of revenge – teasing him non-stop.

“Hyung you sound like a jealous boyfriend right now.”

“YoungBae-yah, did your girlfriend make it here?”

“Do you think she cheated on you?” - SeungRi

“They’re not together though?” - DaeSung

“Metaphorically? She probably found another group to listen to.” – SeungRi. He knew that TaeYang probably wasn’t her favorite member, therefore it wasn’t really him that she replaced with another group if she did start listening to them, but that didn’t matter – it was all for the sake of teasing him anyways.

It wasn’t until she missed a DVD release fan meeting that he finally dropped the subject of her.

Decided that s were right. She was just another fan. She couldn’t be there for every schedule they had – never mind the fact that she was there every other time before. As far as he could remember anyways.

After that schedule, he pushed any thought of her that surfaced to the back of his mind. He focused more on his work and tried hard not to think of her. Each time a thought of her managed to occupy the majority of his mind, he would further drown himself in his work until all thought left was of their next schedule.

It was another fan meeting – in Japan for that to matter – that everything he worked for to get her out of his mind went down.

(February 11, 2014: Fukuoka fan-meeting)

OK…so far so good…was the collective thought of all other members as they took a glance at their main dancer smile and greet each fan with no hesitation.

So far, there hasn’t been any sign of her either – the usual twin towers that would hover around her weren’t around either.

YoungBae himself was in a bit of a celebration. While, yes, he thought of her every now and then, his mind wasn’t flooded with worried thoughts each time she manages to catch his train of thought either.

They all thought that all was well until a small commotion caught their attention – some girls at the line were making a fuss.

They looked at whatever caught their attention and the four members had to hold back their groan while YoungBae’s eyes widened at the sight of her Uncle Richard.

A quick look around told him that her god father wasn’t anywhere here, and a more thorough look told him that it wasn’t her Richard was ‘guarding’ right now but the young…man…with him.

Huh?!

Apparently, there’s a saying for fan-girls everywhere – that fan-boys are of a rare species. And because of that, if the said fan-boy was ‘cute’, ‘handsome’, or god-forbid ‘hot as hell’ – as some are now describing him as – one should grab hold onto them and never let go.

Ever.

And it looks like some of the girls would actually try to do so now if not for Richard.

YoungBae and TaeYang were having a bit of an internal fight at the sight of the boy. On one hand, YoungBae kinda wanted to rip his head off – he had a damning, knowing smirk on his face, as if he knew that all YoungBae’s thoughts right now were just what kind of relationship he and Lea – as he had gotten to call her in his head - had, and it’s more than just pissing him off. On the other hand, however, TaeYang kept rationalizing that maybe – just maybe – he was looking into this just a bit too much. He could be a brother, or a cousin – bull! They look nothing alike! hollered YoungBae back – and he would know considering her image is quite literally burned in his mind right now.

You need to calm down! He’s another fan for crying out loud! JUST another fan! – TY

And she was supposed to be ‘JUST another fan’ as well, but look at where that got us! – YB Kim Jae

And where exactly are we? – TY

All my thoughts are about her! For goodness sakes, I’m ARGUING WITH MYSELF OVER HER! – YB

Well…can’t do anything about that. – TY

What do I do now? – YB He found it…rather unsettling when, even to him, this thought sounded just a bit too desperate.

Be professional. Remember, you’re TaeYang right now. You’re me right now. Not YoungBae. YoungBae can come out later and tear down another punching back in the gym if he needs to, but we’re WORKING right now. So CALM DOWN and shake the fans’ hand. Remember; shake, not throttle. – TY

TaeYang looked up to the – STILL smirking, that damned boy! – young man now in front of him.

He handed TaeYang the photobook to be signed with little care – not at all like the other fan girls who looked like they were willing to risk a limb for theirs.

“Who do I make it out to?” TaeYang smiled rigidly.

“Azalea…or Baby Girl, or Annie, or Sweetie. Hmm…maybe Lily? She likes that too” His nonchalance at all the nicknames given to her nearly made YoungBae rush forward, but TaeYang was able to hold him down. It was the knowing smirk plastered on the boy’s face that let him know he knew what he was doing to him, and TaeYang – and YoungBae…somewhat – didn’t want him to win.

He signed the offered page with stiff hands.

“Girlfriend?” TaeYang tried to play ignorance to his knowing smirk.

…

“What we have is a bit hard to define.” Was the amused answer a few seconds later. “Not really friends, not really lovers…I do love her very much though.” The last part was said softly, as if it was a confession that should be kept secret.

TaeYang had to put YoungBae in a headlock after hearing the last bit.

“Why isn’t she here then?” YoungBae might be in a headlock, but that doesn’t mean he can’t demand his questions answered.

The smirk was back at that one question and the boy quickly leaned down to whisper in his ear – making some fans at the back squeal slightly at the short distance between them.

“Don’t worry too much about her.” He whispered quickly before straightening back up, that smirk still firmly in its place – but only a hint this time, making him look as if he was smiling instead of smirking.

“Kamsahabnida.” He said much louder, bowing a full 90^o before going over to the next.

…

…

…

You should’ve let me throttle him. – YB

Shut up… - TY

Afterwards, YG building – practice room

“Hyung, who was that?” DaeSung asked.

“Who was who?” YoungBae wanted to avoid this. Just thinking of that boy with that damnable smirk made his skin crawl with the need to punch something – and he’s sure some trainees are actually a bit scared of him right now after his latest stint in the gym.

“That boy that made you look like you wanted a gun at hand for a while.” SeungRi quipped.

“Who?”
“That boy that made some of our fans squeal harder than most simply by leaning down to whisper in your ear.” You too, JiYong?

Thinking about it now though…he realized that he never even got the boy’s name.

Probably couldn’t see past that much green in your eyes, you big monster. – TY

Shut up. ­– YB

“I don’t know his name.” YoungBae shrugged. “He just said to sign it in her name.”

“In her many names apparently.” SeungHyun added in an amused tone – he was the one to sit next to TaeYang earlier, so he heard most of their conversation save whatever it was that the boy whispered in his friend’s ear.

“Names?” DaeSung repeated.

“He…had quite a lot of her nicknames to offer.” YoungBae was reluctant to say that.

“What were they?” DaeSung pressed.

“Baby…Annie…Sweetie…wasn’t there a Lilly too?” SeungHyun chuckled at the disgruntled look on YoungBae’s face as he listed them all out.

“Annie?” SeungRi repeated. “Where’s that from?”

“Middle name, maybe?” JiYong shrugged. “Either way, it looks like pretty boy knows more about her than we do.” Even he couldn’t keep the teasing edge out of his voice – he knows it’s probably bad for later on, when there’s a chance his best friend might go back to crazy again, but he couldn’t help it; it was much too fun poking fun at him right now.

“Shut up…” YoungBae grumbled before straightening back up as a thought flew into his head. “Why do you think she sent…whoever he was here though?”

“Huh?”

“I mean…” He struggled to find the words – what with all the green starting to seep into his vision now that thoughts of that boy keeps popping up. “I mean, why send him when she could’ve come by herself?”

“What makes you so sure she sent him over and it wasn’t just him wanting to do something for her?” Questioned the rational (?) DaeSung – he wasn’t sure if it was DaeSung being rational about it all or it was DaeSung wanting to as well. He seemed to be thinking hard about the question considering his voice was actually more distracted than the others – teasing edge aside.

“He had a look and smirk on his face that told me so.”

“What kind of smirk?” JiYong teased with the same smirk – made YoungBae want to slap him.

“The same kind on your face right now.” He grumbled even further.

The others thought about the question for a while before someone finally offered their thoughts.

“Maybe…” SeungRi at this point, wasn’t their mischievous maknae, but the same maknae that appeared whenever they need him to offer support. “Maybe you were right. Maybe there was something wrong with her?”

“I hope not…” DaeSung sounded worried, his eyebrows knotted in worry about their cute fan-girl who coughed and drank water just a bit too much.

“Well,” SeungHyun started, moving himself to stand up. “If she really did just send him, then that means she might still come back.” He sent a bit hesitant look at YoungBae giving that thought out – he didn’t really want to see distracted as hell YoungBae like last time. “I’m not saying you should wait by the door and see if she’s one of the audience members or fans that might show up, I’m saying just keep an eye open for her. If she shows up, she shows up. If she doesn’t, you have to let her go, OK?” His deep voice implored him.

He thought about his request for just a moment before nodding his agreement – even he didn’t want to be that again.

“Thank you, hyung.”

ooOO**OOoo

Poor YoungBae, he’s starting to talk to himself. TaeYang, on the other hand, has his work cut out for him – let’s see if he can handle more of YoungBae being YoungBae on the next one, eh? Next chapter…well, we haven’t started that yet. We’ll see what it is, and we’ll give you guys a word once we found out, OK?

Leave a comment below – we want to see if this story is so far good for you guys, please?

Siblings-Curse