I'm back, dear readers! And I am happy to report that I survived my exams! Yay!

Sorry for the false alarm the other day. I know many of you were disappointed that I didn't keep my promise that I'll update this story weekly. If it's any consolation, I think I failed three exams. And here's the real Chapter 21 as my peace offering. ^_^

Ellie stepped off the elevator, her arm linked with Seungri’s, and she breathed in relief. That was the longest and most suffocating elevator ride she had in her life.
 
She was on her way to the lobby to meet up with Seungri when the door to the elevators opened to reveal Big Bang’s maknae and Jiyong with Kiko attached to his arm. Thankfully Suengri broke the tension. However, she felt Jiyong’s glare boring through her when the younger man had helped her with her coat and linked arms with her.

Oh, come on. You have a pretty arm candy with you, why can’t I have a bit of fun? She thought in annoyance.

“Are you heading out to dinner now?” Kiko’s voice sliced through the tension in the small room as the elevator moved down the lobby.

“Yeah, we’re headed to the Ceasar’s Palace. Are you guys headed out, too?” Ellie asked politely, turning her attention to the younger girl.

“Oh, just dinner. Then we have to come back to get ready for the New Year’s party later. God knows Boo and I both need a bath after all our activities today,” the girl said sweetly as she Jiyong’s arms seductively. She heard Seungri scoff/cough/clear his throat and turn his attention back to the led screen that indicated their progress towards the lobby.

Ellie merely looked at the girl with a mix of amusement and disdain. OK, I have barely spoken with her and I already dislike her, she thought. She didn’t bother to look at Jiyong.

The lift came to a smooth stop at the lobby floor and as soon as the doors opened, Ellie and Seungri were out.

“Well, you guys do that. Anyway, have fun at your party! And happy New Year!” Ellie said mustering every ounce of politeness she could as she practically dragged Seungri off the lift.

“Ah, hyung, don’t wait up for me. Noona’s taking me to her brother’s private new years party later. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow I guess, eh? I’ll be in my best behavior, I promise!” Seungri said before he and Ellie made their way to the valet.

The two of them did not bother looking back at the couple.

“Are they always that vocal about their ‘activities’?” Ellie asked Seungri as soon as the couple was out of ear shot. Seungri just laughed.

“How long have those two been together?”

“Three years, more or less. But they’re on and off. Mostly off. Maybe a little less than two years if you only count the number of months when she’s not being a total pain,” Seungri said.

“You don’t like Kiko much, do you?”

“Am I that obvious?” he asked sarcastically causing Ellie to laugh a bit.

“Why, you like her?” he asked incredulously.

“Well, I’m not the type to easily judge, but so far, with the interaction in the elevator, she hasn’t given me any reason to like her,” Ellie said, trying to be as politically proper as she could.

“Well, if it will make you feel any less guilty, no one at YG likes her, not after the incident back in 2011,” Seungri said in disgust.

“What incident?” she asked as they waited for the valet to get her 458 from the parking. Seungri sighed heavily and immediately Ellie felt bad about asking. Obviously, the youngest Big Bang member is not overly fond of the memory.

“A few years ago, Ji hyung went to a party in Japan hosted by Kiko and some of her friends and basically they smoked weed, got drunk and went chandelier-swinging crazy. Unfortunately, Ji hyung was called in for a random drug testing when he got back from Tokyo and he tested positive. That was the biggest scandal of his career and Big Bang as well. Hyun Suk hyung spent a lot of money, time and effort cleaning the mess up,” Seungri said with a sigh.

“We all thought after that they’d break up, you know. Teddy hyung, Bae hyung, and Seunghyun hyung all talked to him and told him to stay away from her but he didn’t. He even defended her. He never fought with the hyungs over anything and he’s not the type to get physical and violent but then he was the one who landed the first punch at Bae hyung,” he added.

“The scandal was also after DaeSung hyung’s accident and we all thought that was the end of Big Bang and our individual careers; years of hard work down the drain. But I didn’t even care about that. Ji hyung was in a really bad state then. I lived with Ji hyung in the dorm and I had to watch him wallow in depression and self-loathing for months. It’s been years but I can’t forgive that girl for almost ruining Ji hyung,” Seungri ended his speech with another sigh.

Ellie noted the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes and she gave him a friendly hug.

“You really care about your hyung, don’t you?” she said kindly while patting his back. She felt him nod in response. “Jiyong is really lucky to have a dongsaeng like you,” she said breaking away from the hug just in time for the valet to stop by the driveway.

“Forget the past, arasso? I know something that will cheer you up!” she said as they walked towards the waiting car. The valet handed her the car keys.

“Hey fanboy!” she said as she tossed the car keys to Seungri who caught it in surprise.

“You drive,” she added with a wide grin.

~~●~~

Seungri was having the night of his life in Vegas. He didn’t even care that he was still a bit jet-lagged from his flight that morning, or that he had not rested the entire day. He was living it up in Vegas and that’s all that mattered to the young man.

Dinner with Ellie had been spectacular. Not that he remembered what he ate or not that he cared. The moment he saw Ellie’s ‘friends’ who were waiting for them at the restaurant, all his sanity flew out the window.

What the ?! This is unreal. If this is a dream, please, never wake me up, he thought as he and Ellie made their way to the table where Justin Timberlake and his beautiful wife, actress Jessica Beil, were waiting.

“Baby G!” the tall scruffy man in a sharp suit said loudly as soon as they were near enough. He watched as Ellie greeted the couple like close friends, and wished that he could actually hug the famous popstar as well.

“J, Jess, this is my friend, Lee Seung Hyun also known as Seungri. He’s one of the artists I’m working with in Seoul right now. And yes, as you can obviously see, he is just fanboy-ing like crazy,” Ellie said as she watched Seungri stare shamelessly.

“You didn’t tell him you’d be having dinner with us?” Jessica asked with evident amusement.

“And miss this Kodak moment? Hell no!” Ellie said as she promptly took photos with her phone of Seungri, mouth agape and a funny expression on his face. Formal introductions were made and the couple tried their best to pronounce Seungri’s name but failed miserably.

“You know, just call him VI, for the sake of all our sanity. Alright?” Ellie finally said, giving up on teaching her friends the basics of Korean phonetics.

Seungri tried to remain calm, keeping his promise that he will behave and not embarrass Ellie. But how could I ing do that when the man I looked up to, emulated, and admired was sitting a meter away from me?!

Ellie was suppressing her laughter while Seungri tried his best to converse with his idol in his signature Engrish, much to the amusement of the internationally famous couple. However, Ellie would come to his rescue when his limited English vocabulary was proving rather useless.

Seungri listened as Justin talked about his 20/20 world tour and the shows he had lined up for 2014. Justin asked a lot about Ellie’s job at YG Entertainment and how she was adjusting in a new country.

“It’s really different. It took a while to get used to the whole corporate set-up with me going in to the studio like a regular job but it’s really fun. They let me do my own thing and I’m surprised the bosses like it. And they have a lot of talented artists in that side of the globe, it’s amazing!” Ellie said and she began detailing her experiences. She even suggested a collaboration with Seungri and the three of them began talking again about music.

“I’m happy that you’re doing great and all, Ellie, but you didn’t tell us you were leaving! We had to find out through Mari that you were in Seoul when we last visited New York,” Jess said.

“Yeah, it was a bit of a rush and processing work and travel documents is a . Sorry, J