CHAPTER 7

mowing the lawn, our style (with razors)

 

 

 

"WHAT?!" Was the only word that escaped Norae's mouth.

She ran towards Iseul's room and pushed the door open brutally.

A loud bang echoed in the small apartment. Iseul who was busy blowing her hot porridge was slightly startled when her best friend opened her door loudly without a warning. She looked a bit annoyed but wasn't surprised since she was used to that kind of treatment.

"ARGHHHHH! Iseul-yah! G-Dragon is here!!" Shrieked Norae and slammed the door closed behind her. She continued shrieking because she just can't contain her strong feelings anymore.

When she heard that, Iseul literally flew from her bed to Norae, squealing loudly until their vocal chords could explode. They started jumping up and down excitedly.

"WHAT? HOW?!" she asked again, making sure she wasn't hearing wrong.

Norae had detached herself from Iseul, open the door brutally again and start jumping up and down in front of her cousin. She turned to Iseul and grabbed both of her hands, shaking them as she jumps making the girl in front of her jumping up and down as well.

"GD! GD is here! Jaehyun-oppa met him just now! Seungyoon too! He was with him too!" She stumbled with her words, trying her best to explain to her friend. She too was too overwhelmed with feelings. Of course we all know that it is always exciting to know your idols are walking down the street of your apartment.

"Seriously?!" Said Iseul, trying to get more evidence of the information she just heard. Sure, the possibility of those people to use this way is high since the apartment is not that far from YGE anyway but still this place is like the rural side of Mapo-gu where middle class people lives, so It's a rare thing to see idols walking in this area. Plus, they must have come here for the sake to search for the maknaes which they supposed to be anxious about. The risk of them finding the maknaes was higher now but somehow, the kidnappers are more excited about the fact that the leaders are now probably roaming along the alleys near their house. Silly.

"Yes yes! But what if all of them are here? What if...TOP is here too?!!" Norae's asked then gasped loudly.

Iseul's eyes grew bigger. The pale Iseul that was lying tiredly in her bed last night was no longer in sight. This Iseul is different. Her energy level suddenly went skyrocket above the roof and to the universe. Her checks became red again. Her blood rushed in accelerating pace. In other word, she gained her energy in a blink of an eye and become healthy as she heard a certain rapper name being mentioned.

"KYAAAAAAA!" Both of them squealed in unison.

The three guys can only looked at them in disbelieve. Seungri was woken up by the loud banging of Iseul's door being slammed open next to him few moments ago.  Jaehyun was angry because his cousin was completely blinded by the fact her idol is roaming around her house area and he was mentally face-palming himself because of the second-hand embarrassment he got by her action. Why does he have to be in this kind of situation?

Iseul turned her face towards three guys whose eyes were fixed on them. She quickly cleared and fanned herself with her left hand. Norae was awoken by the situation and gather herself back.

"What? Never seen girls fan-girling before?" She asked. She crossed both of her arms on her chest and leaned on Iseul side. Iseul was looking towards the men with stoic face.

"You said you guys are not fans? You lied!" Said Taehyun, out of the blue. There was a hint of fear in his eyes but he managed to cover it up. He tried to be as bold as he can when he thought he might be facing sasaengs since he saw how those two reacted by the current news.

"Well…who wouldn't like the famous and charming T.O.P. That dude is handsome and cool," Norae cooed while shrugging.

"Okay, Taehyun-ssi. Let me rephrase our words. We are not fans as in sasaengs you know... though, we still like those idols. That doesn't mean we are sasaengs. We told you kidnapping you were an accident." Iseul explained.

"Especially you, Nam Taehyun"  said Norae.

Taehyun's shocked expression changed to a very unreadable one. Again, Taehyun felt a bit offended with the statement. From the start these two girls — especially Norae — always claimed him as the tagged along extra luggage in the story, some sort of mistake that shouldn’t be done at the very first place. Well he didn’t ask for him to be kidnapped anyway. They can always leave him sprawled on the studio's floor but somehow they decided to tag him along. It was not his fault. They were the one who brought him here. He can't help but to feel hurt since this was not his decision in the first place, and yet he was put on blame. He decided to not ask further even though he has bunch of question to ask. He jolted a bit when Iseul came up to him and patted his head. When he rose up his face to see the latter, she just nodded and gave him pity look.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

"Jiyong-hyung is here?! He's gonna find us!" Said Seungri. The dude was still in the control of the sleeping dart but he managed to think straight...somehow. He looked like he's ready to cry in tears of happiness when the name of his beloved hyung was mentioned. They were searching for them.  He can't help but to feel touched. All his life, that hyung never showed that kind of love to him. To know that he was here meant he tried his best to find his maknae. This made Seungri felt thanked that he was born and destined to be part of BIGBANG. (Stop being so dramatic, Seungri.)

"Uh-oh. I don't think so, Seungri-ssi. If you wish your hyung will come here and save you, that's not gonna happen. He won't have the slightest idea that both of you are here anyway. This is a very odd place fi-"

Norae's words were cut by Iseul when she covered Norae's mouth with her right hand. She gave her the look as if to alert her not to talk so much as that may lead to their whereabouts.

Norae swatted Iseul's hand softly and gave her the I-know-what-I'm-doing-look. "They just not gonna know where you guys now, okay. Don't worry, we'll release you guys when It's time," she said.

"When?" Seungri asked.

"Yeah when is it, Norae?" Jaehyun suddenly asked. His face was straight. There was no happy emotion presence. "This is taking longer than it supposed to be. Plus, Iseul is not in a good condition. You too! Have you looked yourself in the mirror? You look like you dint sleep for years.  Those leaders are here can mean that the police gonna be involved if you don't release them now. You know this is wrong, right? I don't want my-" Jaehyun words were cut by his cousin.

"Oppa, I know this is wrong, but we know what we're doing," that sentence sounded wrong to her own ears because she, herself wasn't so sure with the statement. She still can't figure out what to do with the guys yet. "We can handle ourselves, oppa. I know you're trying to help. We appreciate it very much, but we need time. This thing is dangerous to your carrier, and I suggest you to not get involved in this thing," she said. Her eyes were pleading Jaehyun to understand. She knows very well that her cousin was against the plan from the very start but looks like she can do nothing to convince him.

"I just- just... " Jaehyun sighed.  He shook his head and walked out of the house.

Norae could only trail his action with her eyes. When her cousin was really off from her sight behind the door, she sighed.

 

    ###

 

Winner's leader, Kang Seungyoon, just arrived at their dorm right after the sky turned dark outside. He took off his coat and watched the depressing and silent dorm. It used to be lively, even if the members were sprawled everywhere because they were too tired to do anything.

He knew why it was quiet that day.

Their maknae, Taehyun, was missing.

They don’t know how or why and it’s starting to break their hearts. Seungyoon's mind wandered to what happened a few hours ago.

 

    #flashback

Seungyoon was feeling a bit awkward now.

They were in front of the small flat building. After looking around the building and asking the landlord lady — which was one of the hardest part — about the maknaes, they found zero clue about them. Now they're back at square one.

Seungyoon understand that his sunbae, Jiyong-hyung, was having one of his emotional moments. He understands that Jiyong loved his maknae so much that it’s eating him from the inside. He understands why Jiyong suddenly broke down and cried into his palm.

But that doesn't make this situation any less awkward.

Seungyoon patted Jiyong's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"This is so weird, Seungyoon-ah," Jiyong sobbed then tried to wipe his wet cheeks with his jacket's sleeve. "Seunghyun would never do this. He would at least tell Youngbae or me...and he would never leave his phone in the first place!"

Seungyoon thought it was weird too. He knew Taehyun well. Even if he can be emotional and need some time alone, he would never disappear so suddenly without a clue. Plus, they still have schedule. Seungyoon knew that Taehyun was a responsible man. He would never leave his responsibilities like this. Something was seriously wrong.

"Ah, this is so embarrassing," Jiyong chucklwd darkly. "Sorry Seungyoon...I just can't understand why..."

Seungyoon smiled and squeezed Jiyong's shoulder. "Its fine, hyung. I understand."

Jiyong sighed. "I'm so worried..."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Seungyoon said while stuffing his hands into his coat's pocket. "They're grown up now...nothing serious could go wrong, right?"

"Yeah..." Jiyong doesn't sound convinced. "And I don't know why they would pull such an act — disappearing in the middle of the night like that. They better have a good explanation on this."

"They better be," Seungyoon chuckled. "I'm also confused at their...relationship. I didn't know that they were close."

Jiyong was checking his face on one of the car's window. He kept wiping the remaining tears on his face. "Me too. I thought Seunghyun is closest to Jinwoo in Winner."

The younger nodded. He knew Seungri had a father/hyung-like affection towards Jinwoo. Seungyoon took out a handkerchief that his hoonnie-hyung (Seunghoon) kept pestering him to always bring. Who knows its actually useful. "Here hyung."

Jiyong glanced at the handkerchief before taking it. "Thanks," he wiped his somber face with it. "What should we do now?"

"We can try searching for this area," Seungyoon suggested. "If we're lucky, we might spot them somewhere."

"Heol," Jiyong sighed and put back his glasses and black mask. He fixed his beanie that covered his head. "Better try than nothing. Let's go, kid."

"Kid...but he's the one that cried," Seungyoon muttered to himself.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing hyung," Seungyoon flashed a smile. He then covered half of his face with surgical mask. "Let's just go."

      #end of flashback

Seungyoon sighed. After a few hours of roaming the area with a whiny Kwon Jiyong, they found no maknaes. There was no fruitful effort for the past few hours except sore legs and the ringing of his ear because Jiyong wouldn't just shut up.

Who knew the real BIGBANG's leader was a very childish brat sometimes?

Seungyoon unconsciously walked to the door with big NO ENTRY sign on it. He chuckled darkly. He remembered how his diva maknae would complain about how messy his room would end up when one of them entered it, or when Taehyun get mad when they accidently come in without knocking. Such a girl...Seungyoon thought.

He didn't knock the door. He just turned the door knob and open it. Maybe he wanted the maknae to screech loudly and scold him to knock the door first before entering.

Seungyoon missed teasing Taehyun.

There was a figure with red eyes looking back at him from across the room.

Seungyoon's mouth gapped open.

"S-Seungyoon-ah..." Mino stuttered while wiping his tear stained face. "I'm..." He looked at his own condition.

Mino looked like a mess. His hair was sticking everywhere messily. His face was wet with tears, plus, the puffy red crying eyes made him look worse. Seungyoon thought he saw the same outfit like yesterday. He was sitting on the bed, hugging Taehyun's pillow.

"Hyung," Seungyoon felt his inner leader side appearing. He wanted to comfort his hyung but how should he do it when he himself was trying hard to stick together to not break down at the sight?

Mino stood up and walked passed Seungyoon while still hugging the pillow. He quickly entered his own room without looking back.

Seungyoon sighed for the nth time that day. He staggered to the bed and let himself fell on it. Seungyoon wrapped himself with Taehyun's warm comforter and just laid there.

"Where the are you Nam Taehyun..."

He realized that his voice was breaking. He also just realized that some tears already rolled down his face and wetted the blanket. Sighing, he closed his eyes and let the remaining scent of mixed smell of candles which Taehyun liked to burn when he’s alone in his room. Slowly, his eyes fluttered close into dreamland.

 

        ###

 

Norae who went out for air, came back with a black plastic bag in her hand. A mischief grin was plastered on her face. She walked up to Iseul who was sitting at the dining table, head down; perhaps she was in deep thought of something. Norae placed the plastic bag on the table and sat across Iseul. She pouted her lips and placed her left hand under her chin to support it.

"Hmph..." she sighed. Iseul raised her head to see her friend. She gave Norae her typical straight face.

"Wae?" She asked.

"I didn't meet any GD or Seungyoon. They left, I guess. I was too late," she sighed.

On the maknae’s side, Taehyun was holding the urge to not cry because hearing the fact that the leaders have left and the fact that Norae was right about them broken his heart. His hopes got shattered into pieces. Seungri patted him with his tied hands, trying to cool down the younger even though his own hope faded to darkness. The younger somehow was more sensitive than usual. He seemed like he can break into tears any second but he was enduring it.

"Heol" said Iseul, not interested. Actually she does, but the fact that the leaders might found out about their whereabouts worried her and she was more than glad that those leaders are off to somewhere else before they even try to check for the maknaes up here. "What's that?" She asked, referring to the plastic bag on the table. She took the bag and inspected the things in it. She pulled the stuff out the bag and gave Norae a confused look.

"Razors? What do we need this for?" She asked again.

Her best friend's smirk grew wider. She laughed histerically and turned her head towards the hostages. "We got lawn to mow today," she said. Her sarcastic sentence doesn't register in Iseul's brain. She then stood up then walked to the toilet.

Iseul do a clueless face and looked at the hostages. Seungri shrugged but Taehyun just gave her a dead pan expression.

"Mow lawns? Norae-yah, we live in an apartment. We don't have lawn and plus, who in the world mow lawns with razors?" She walked to the toilet and found Norae's was preparing a basin with lots of foam in it. "What are you doing?" Iseul asked looking at her friend with a frown on her face.

Her friend was just smiling and when she's done with the foam, she pulled out the basin out of the sink and walked to the living room where the maknaes are. Iseul just trailed her with her hand still holding the plastic bag, totally out of clue of what her friend was doing.

She halted in front of Nam Taehyun with basin in her hand. Iseul stopped behind her and looked at her with raised eyebrows. Norae took the plastic bag that Iseul was holding and dumped it on the floor next to the basin. The maknaes just trailed her action with their eyes.

"Ladies..." she hesitated and look at Iseul "and gentlemen," she faced back on the hostages. "Welcome to Norae’s saloon. Today, we gonna shave these two hobos in front of us and make them look as decent as we can," she said in a host tone as if there were other audiences in front of her instead of those three people.

"Err... what? You want to shave them?" Iseul asked still not getting enough clues to digest. It's not that she didn’t hear her friend but she just wanted to make sure that she heard her correctly. This Norae can be ridiculous sometimes. Wait, no. Most of the time actually…

"Duh! Don't you hear me? Yes, we gonna shave these kids. Look at those…hair on their faces. Just ew. Even though we are kidnappers, that doesn't mean our hostages gonna look like hobos," Norae explained. "So now, stay calm. If you don't want your face got rip off with this razor."  She was about to apply the foam she just scooped on Taehyun's face but the latter halts her midair.

"Woah, woah, lady, what do you think you're doing. I can shave myself. Just give me the razors. I don't want you to ruin my beautiful face with all clumsy shaving you'll do and who are you referring as kids?" said Taehyun.

Norae rolled her eyes and hold the foam down. "Yah, I'm a pro at handling sharp things, okay,"  Iseul snorted at the back, "and who knows you might run away and use the razors against us. Please, I'm not that stupid" she said. "Now stay calm or I'll make sure you'll get home with only just half of your face," she said solemnly.

"See, you sounded so brutal. What makes you think I have faith on you?!" Taehyun glared.

Norae doesn’t seem to care about that. She scooped more foam from the basin and apply it all over Taehyun's face. Some of the foam entered Taehyun nose. The latter groaned in frustration.

Iseul stood there dumbfounded. She looked at Seungri and shrugged. The latter trailed her action with his eyes. She scooped the foam and applied it on his face awkwardly. Somehow, Seungri was not reluctant on the mere skinship though you can still see that both of them were trying hard to not look so awkward with each other.

"Argh!" Taehyun yelped as the razor almost touches his bare skin.

"Can you shut the up? I'm trying to focus here." Said Norae. Her eyes fixed on Taehyun's chin. gapped a bit as she was so dedicated on trying to not hurt Taehyun with the razor at any cause. When she closed the gap between her and him, Taehyun jolted back.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I'm not gonna kill you. Chill," she said. She moved closer to Taehyun face. Taehyun looked everywhere else trying not to have eye contact with Norae. He really wish that the foam on his face would cover up his redden face because seriously his blood just rush up in fast speed.

"Done." Said Iseul, breaking the silence. She threw the razor in the basin and took a few awkward feet away from Seungri. She grinned at her ‘masterpiece’. “I think I’m getting the hang of this.”

"Voila. Nice and clean." Said Norae. "But still, I hate your hair." She said while pointing at Taehyun 5-5 hair.

The latter frowned when he heard she was arguing about his beautiful hair. Who is she to comment on his hair? It's his hair so he can style it however he wants.

"Yeah…that hair is annoying," said Iseul. "Why can't you have a proper hair cut like Seungri-ssi?" She asked.

Seungri was a bit startled when his name was being mentioned. Is she complimenting him?

"At least It's decent," Iseul added.

No, Seungri, no. It was a false alarm. She was not complimenting you.

"What now? You want to shave my hair bald now?" Asked Taehyun.

"Can I do that?" Norae's asked too gingerly for Taehyun's liking.

Taehyun's eyes grew wider. He shook his head frankly and trying to get as far as he can from Norae. He shouldn't give that idea in the first place.

"You have that haircut since ages ago…" said Iseul. "You should get a new one."

"That hair reminds me of Doni…That ridiculous dude." Said Norae.

"Doni? Doni who?" Asked Seungri.

"You know Kwon Doni, that dancer," Iseul said.

"You know Doni-hyung? Wait, we are talking about the same Doni right?"Taehyun asked for confirmation. 

"Yeah, that Doni, YG dancer. What? You think we don't know YG staffs?" Iseul Asked.

"How do you know him? Actually how much do you know about us?" Taehyun asked. That insecurity can be seen in his eyes once again.

"Chill. For the nth time I say we are not sasaengs. We work somewhere near YG building. We got all access of information about the staffs there. Plus, It's not that hard to get information about you guys when those Kwon bros are our regular customers at the cafe." Norae explained. "But the Kwons are the last people I would ask for help about you guys. That guy just annoying."

"Yeah, I remember that one time his brother flirted with me." Iseul said. "But he gave me chocolate so I'm fine."

"Really? He did that to you too?" Norae asked.

Taehyun snorted at that question.

"What?" Norae's Asked.

"Nothing. Its just that, are you sure he was flirting with you? Because…just look at you? Sure that he's flirting?" Taehyun burst out into hysterical laughs.

Norae blew out her bangs and bend down to face Taehyun. A smile suddenly crept on her face. "Oh darling, could you give me some sugar? Or perhaps you want to join me? Babe, what time do you finish working?" Norae said out of blue. She took Taehyun hand in her and rubbed it slowly. "Be careful while handling the hot water babe, it might hurt your pretty hands."  She said. She threw Taehyun's hand away lightly and the smile on her face disappeared.

"And you call that not flirting?" She asked emphasizing her question to Taehyun.

The latter was too shocked with the sudden action. He can only blink.

"So, you really know much about us?" Seungri asked. "Did the Kwon bros help you out on sneaking into YG building?"

"No. They got nothing to do with it. We worked that on our own," Iseul said.

Norae formed a smirk on her face. She walked up to Taehyun and turned her back to Iseul.

"Hey, Iseul, I think I got an idea how to fix this ugly hair." She said.

Iseul came closer to her and nudge her head giving permission for her friend to mutter out her idea.

Norae giggled loudly and made a familiar sound in she then spit on her hand and brush it on Taehyun's hair. "There," she said while the dangling hair of Taehyun behind his ears. The latter made a disgusted face.

"Did you just spit on my hair??!" He asked in high decibels. The two kidnappers burst out in laughter.

Nam Taehyun just groaned in frustration and made himself a mental note to make sure he wash his hair intensely when he had a chance time take a bath.

Seungri just chuckled at the commotion and shook his head.

 

      ###

 

"Wow," Taehyun break the ice after a long silence.

"You hesitated," Norae pointed out.

"I need time to process," Taehyun glared at her. "Now I don't have the mood to help."

"Well I do!" Seungri said, standing up excitedly. "Oh my God, guys, that song was daebak!"

"I know, I know," Norae flipped an imaginary long hair then crossed her arms and legs arrogantly.

"Yah," Iseul glared at Norae for a moment. "We need honest critics, guys." She looked at the guys while pulling the string of her hoodie.

"Honestly, for amateurs, that's a pretty good song," Seungri said then he took the papers with lyrics and scanned them. "Your lyrics are very good too. Though...I don't recommend on too much word plays or it'll be confusing. Since you guys are still new at this, it's better if you use simpler sentences but deep meanings." He nodded and grinned. "I sound smart."

Norae snorted.

"Don't make me hit you," Iseul warned. "And Nam Taehyun? Any comments?"

Taehyun hummed as he think. "I think you guys can fix the arrangements a bit more. It sounded too...mixed up at some parts. Your vocals can be improved too. But overall, even to a higher level, the song can go far."

"If we can show them around the studio with all the sounds...the song will be perfect," Taehyun added, talking mainly to Seungri. His eyes lighten up a bit with hope. He had always wanted to work on something with his BIGBANG sunbaes.

"True," Seungri nodded. "But I think its better that we don't add too much and keep the acoustic guitar sounds as the focus. I like how the guitar brought out more of their voices."

"I was thinking the same thing!"

Seungri chuckled. "Can you guys do other genres?"

The girls were too busy thinking about what they discussed that they didn't notice the question at first. When Seungri asked again, Norae finally answered.

"We tried a bit of hip hop and ballad before...but we can't do much since we don't have enough sounds and experiences. We pretty much bad at them. Back at school, we usually focus on our instruments and arrangement of music. We are more confident about the ballad though..." Norae glanced at Iseul and smiled. Iseul have her a look. "We studied classical music. Classic and hip hop are too different so...you know," Norae shrugged her shoulders. "We just like hearing hip hop lately."

"I want to hear the ballad," Taehyun finally looked interested.

Norae looked at Iseul for permission. Iseul nodded while looked away, feeling uncomfortable that other people will hear her fail.

Norae searched the song in another folder then open it. A controlled, small voice in soft falsetto conquered the living room, followed by the sound of a piano. The voice slowly picked up its pace. It went up and down the vocal chords with careful control. Slowly the piano mixed with strums of a guitar, adding more light to the voice. When the song was over, Taehyun forgot how to pick up his jaw.

"You said that is bad?" Seungri asked in disbelieve.

"I prefer your acoustic but that song is not bad. It can be one of the best Korean ballad songs if you let me fix some things--"

"Woah, woah, stop," Iseul gestured the maknaes to calm down. "You have no idea how stressed we were when we made that song. We almost jump off the window and I almost stab my neck with a fork. Ballad is so frustrating."

"That's pretty brutal..." Taehyun blinked.

"But I gotta say that your control over your voice is super good. Do you train anywhere..."

"We were in the choir club at school. It helped a lot. But...Iseul used to train her vocals under some teachers." Norae said and smirked.

"Right," Seungri chuckled. "Who made the song?"

"We made the lyric together and Norae compose most parts of the song." Iseul said and grinned at Norae.

"It was so hard. I almost put some rock in it." She pouted.

Taehyun made a face. "Your face is so ugly."

"You--"

"Can I hear the hip hop song? Since ballad is Iseul, I think hip hop is Norae?" Seungri cut them. Wow, he felt the superiority of a senior when they actually listened.

"Yep," Iseul excitedly took the laptop from Norae and started to search. "We don't have any sick beats or anything to we settle with beat boxing and the guitar." She finally found it and open it.

The song started with Norae cursing. (No surprise there) Then it followed by beat box sounds and Norae powerful rapping. When it was the chorus, the strum of guitar was heard and Norae slowed down her rap into a sing-rapping style. She put her whole feelings of anger and disappointment about the society into the lyrics and flow, touching everyone's conscious. Her rap was fast but clear and the maknaes can imagine her on the stage, with complete control of the audience. The thought made them look at each other with silent agreement.

When the song finished, Norae was hiding her face in her palms in silence.

"If you watched WinnerTV, Mino hyung made a song guitar," Taehyun started. Everyone nodded, remembering that episode. "But it got rejected because it doesn't sound original and plain." Taehyun paused then he looked straight into Norae's eyes. "But I think this song can get the agreement from Sajangnim. It doesn't sound plain and it got all your styles in it. The lyric are too good and touching."

"When I first heard about hip hop, I thought you're going to act arrogant and talk about random stuff. But you didn't. And I'm glad you didn't. Because this is what I wanted to hear right now." Seungri said. "And I have to disagree with Taehyun. This song is too hip hop. Only Epik High can release such songs."

Taehyun rolled his eyes. "I hate that 'too hip hop' comment."

Iseul laughed at the comment.

"What wrong with going hip hop? I mean, it was his solo?" Norae complained, feeling his inner protective fan girl side appearing. "Your sajangnim is so ridiculous; I don't feel like going to YG anymore."

Iseul gaped, "I don't think I can manage going to other company, Norae-ah."

"Imagine if you enter SM..." Taehyun looked at Norae for a moment then threw back his head to laugh loudly. "I doubt you can pass without a surgery."

Norae threw him a deathly glare. "Yah, I'm very pretty okay," Norae flicked her hair. "You can't deny this beautiful face." She said smugly and smiled widely at Taehyun, leaning closer to him.

Taehyun backed away and looked at Norae is horror. "Why are you so close?!"

"So you can see my flawless beauty," Norae put her face in between her palm in a flower pose. She blinked repeatedly at Taehyun.

"Someone, help me! I want to puke!"

"Aish, this kid," Norae hit him on the arm. "You're the same as Iseul, always denying my beauty."

Taehyun rubbed his arm. "You have to face this everyday?" He asked Iseul with a genuinely horrified expression.

Iseul was dying. She was laughing so much that there was no sound coming from her. "Feel my pain," she managed to say then continue laughing.

"Heol...you guys should be lucky that you're in the presence of this goddess. Every girl at my workplace are all jealous of me."

"I bet they're all just ahjummas and just jealous of your age, not your nonexistent beauty," Taehyun muttered. But it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Aish, this kid!" Norae hit him again.

"This is abusing!"

"I'll show you what abusing is!"

"You're lucky you're a girl!"

"Or what? You gonna pull my hair? Bring it on, girly!"

"Oh snap," Seungri said.

"Girly? GIRLY?" Taehyun shrill voice almost made everyone deaf. "We'll listen girl, at least I'm prettier than you will ever be even when puberty hit you 100 times."

"Woah, people," Seungri somehow walked around the table and sat in-between them. "Chill, don't take it too far."

"Its her fault!" Taehyun whined and pointed his finger at Norae.

"How is it my fault?" Norae's voice raised a few notes.

"Because you joked too far," Iseul said loudly to match their voices. "Norae, say sorry."

Norae made a few expressions before pouting and muttered sorry.

"Now Taehyun, say sorry to Norae." Seungri said to Taehyun.

Taehyun looked at Seungri with shock. "What? Why me?"

"You almost fought with her. Just say sorry," Seungri frowned.

Taehyun sighed and said sorry.

"Good kids," Seungri cooed and ruffled Norae’s hair with his tied hands.

Norae swatted away Seungri's hand and moved closer to Iseul. Iseul laughed then patted her on the back lightly. Seungri pouted then ruffled Taehyun’s hair. Taehyun whined then swatted Seungri’s hand too.

"If I'm not mistaken, YG will held a private audition around next week. You can only audition there if you got invitation from an insider." Seungri said while rubbing his hand because Norae and Taehyun just had to swat it roughly.

"Which means..." Iseul brightens up, anticipating the next words.

"I can try to get the invitation for you guys." He looked at his hand and noticed the weird substance on it. Taehyun’s hair….Norae’s spit….right. “Where’s the sink?”

They ignored his question. The girls looked at each other and then squealed excitedly. "We're going in!" They high fived and laughed.

"We'll see," Taehyun muttered and pouted bitterly. His manly pride was still offended because of the 'girly' comment.