Yay! More subscribers! Cool. Hope you all enjoy my story.  ^_^

I wrote this chapter a while back but I waited until I figured out what will happen next before publishing it. I really wanted to cut this chapter into two but it just ruins the momentum of the story so I decided to keep it as is. Anyway, this baby’s long. You have been warned.

Giselle left Teddy’s studio feeling excited at the prospect of collaborating with the man. Their musical styles were worlds apart but she was surprised at how easily ideas were tossed around between them.

She was also surprised at how easy going the man was considering the fact that he is among the best Korean composers of this generation and had multiple hit songs under his belt. Giselle had wandered in to the third floor studios earlier looking for anyone that she could ask regarding her plan to rent a cello since hers was taking forever to get to Seoul.

“Hey, Giselle! Come on in!” Teddy, who was wearing his uniform (hoody-snapback-jeans-cool kicks) greeted her warmly as she opened the door.

“Annyong hasseyo sunbaenim,” greeted politely before she stepped into the studio.

“Well, what can I do for you?” Teddy asked as he swiveled his seat to face her. Giselle was relieved that she can speak English freely with the man. Although she’s somewhat fluent in Korean, she still feels a bit insecure speaking the language.

“Uh, I’m really sorry if I’m disturbing you, but I just wanted to ask if you know of a place where I can rent a good cello? I wanted to finish Ha Yi’s song soon and I won’t be able to do final mastering unless I record the cello parts. I had my instruments and gear shipped out a few weeks ago but there was a problem with the shipping company, I’m not sure when my stuff’s getting here,” Giselle ranted, not being able to contain her frustration any longer.

“Rental, huh? I’m not really sure if that’s available here but I’m guessing your best bet would be at Nakwon Music Arcade. It’s like a mall full of stores selling all kinds of musical instruments and . Maybe they can hook you up,” Teddy then searched online and gave Giselle the address of the building.

“So, how’s YG Family treating you so far?” Teddy asked, a warm smile plastered on his face.

“Oh, it’s really like nothing I’ve experienced before,” Giselle said with a genuine smile.

“Care to elaborate?” Teddy asked, an eyebrow cocked questioningly.

“To be honest, I was a bit nervous about the whole company set-up. No offense, but I read stuff about Korean music companies ‘manufacturing’ musicians with the excessive training and stuff but now that I’ve seen it first hand, it’s really not so bad. I’ve never worked exclusively for an artist before. Usually I just do collaborations with other composers or my musician friends would call me to work on some of their tracks. I would come to their recording studio, we’d do our , I’d give them score sheets for my compositions if necessary, we do the final mastering and we’re done. But here, it’s just constant, fluid creativity, 24/7. It’s really exciting,” Giselle said. Teddy nodded in agreement.

“And the artists are very professional, which I love. They’re always on time, they listen to me when I give instructions about the songs, they don’t throw diva tantrums, and they’re very open to collaborating. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve done commercial stuff for big-named pop-stars but never in my short-lived career have I worked with artists who’s egos weren’t as big as Jupiter. I think the training that you give the kids really helps them both as artists and as persons,” she added.

“Well, that’s good to hear!” Teddy said returning the smile. “But from what I hear, you’ve encountered one particular artist that you weren’t really happy about,” Teddy asked.

“Oh, God, you mean the airport incident? Geez, news really does travel far and wide,” Giselle said burying her face in her hands in embarrassment.

“Yeah, I heard about it the first day you came in. Don’t take it against Jiyong. He had this phase back in 2009 when his first solo album came out and he was acting like a total ing arrogant prick, but me, Jinu, and Sean got together and straightened him out and he’s really cool now,” Teddy said.

“I never really took it against him. I mean, maybe he just wasn’t having a great day and I’m pretty sure neither was I. It was just a misunderstanding. But I have to admit that I still call him ‘Jerkface’ in my head,” Giselle said causing Teddy to roar in laughter. And as if on cue, Mr. Jerkface himself entered the studio. Giselle was beyond mortified but was pleased when Teddy did not rat her out.

The three of them spent the rest of the hour talking, they asked about her life in the States and was thankful that they didn’t press further why a Korean girl had a very American name and grew up in Hollywood Hills. Then Teddy and her began toying with music but she had to cut the session short since she had her own work to do.

She called up the contact details that Teddy had listed for her where she could probably rent a cello but none of the leads proved positive. After a frustrating hour of trying to find a rental, Giselle decided to take a break. She grabbed her coat , her pack of cigarettes, and headed up to the YG roof deck.

~~●~~

Jiyong decided to go up to the roof deck and have a smoke to mull over what Teddy said. He really couldn’t blame his hyung. The man had seen him at his best and had supported him at his worst. Teddy was a brother to him in every sense of the word and so were s in Big Bang.

Everyone at YG knew that Kiko was involved in the incident in 2011 and they haven’t forgiven her despite Jiyong’s pleas. It nearly cost Jiyong and his band’s careers but thankfully he only got a warning for it. YG Entertainment had kept the issue under wraps upon his request and Jiyong had managed to skirt over the issue during interviews following their group’s comeback.

He knew he should stay away from Kiko after that but he just couldn’t.

The last time he was with her was on the last night after their concert in Japan nearly two weeks ago. Kiko had sneaked into his hotel and they spent the night together, had several rounds of , shared cigarettes and a few bottles of wine. They barely talked.

Jiyong realized now that they haven’t talked beyond the usual greeting and basic ‘how have you been’ in a long while. Even their phone calls have been short, somewhat of a routine. And she never called first. It was always Jiyong calling her first and she would end the conversation as soon as she could.

It had begun to grate on Jiyong’s nerves but for some reason, he couldn’t cleanly break it off with her. They have been on and off again for the last three years and it has been like a really bad roller-coaster ride but some part of him still wanted to believe that this could be true love.

He was dragged away from his musings when the elevator door opened and he arrived at the sixth floor. He made his way slowly towards the glass doors leading to the roof deck. When he opened the door he was surprised that he was not the only one desperate for some time alone.

~~●~~

Giselle was on her second stick of Sobranie Black and Gold when she heard the door open behind her.

“Oh, G-Dragon-shii,” Giselle said in surprise. She didn’t think she’d see him again today after leaving him in Teddy’s studio an hour ago.

Jiyong walked towards the railings and his brows shot up when he saw a lit cigarette in between her fingers. Giselle saw him eyeing the stick between her fingers. Oh , she thought remembering how strict Korean culture was about women smoking.

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