Dara, bless her motherly soul, had insist Seungri to stay for dinner, despite protest that he need to go back to work. She had cook something special for him other than the weird vegetarian healthy meals Daesung eat. After say goodbye and get a promise that Dara noona and Daesung must show up at the next dinner at the Kwon house, Seungri left the apartment.

He can’t believe he had spent almost the entire day here. Daesung is right; his home was sanctuary for him. It was near midnight and the old neighbourhood was a bit quiet, but Seungri knew the surroundings.

The neighbourhood was safer now than compare back when they were kids. There were no more gangs when the two of them left, but their reputation still known here. Though Daesung's work here had reduced the numbers in the gangs, it was still very much troubled neighbourhood. Normally, no one would be insane enough to take a night stroll in the middle of the night, but Seungri was not normal. He and his friends had face the darker side of life on the streets and not only had they survived, they had success as well.

Seungri wondered why he hasn't received a call from Chaerin tonight. He pull his cellphone and grimace.

The battery was dead. Seungri pull out the spare battery and place it in before switching it on again. A few seconds later the phone beep and to Seungri's laughing horror, there were about fifteen voice mails and ten text messages. As he ran through his messages, the smile faded as pain assailed him. Not physical pain, something much worse, pure heartache. Chaerin had a short message telling him that he had drop his belongings at the Kwon house. The rest had been frantic messages left by a worried Jiyong.

Seungri try to swallow the lump that formed in his throat and couldn't stop a single tear from trailing down his porcelain cheeks.

Damn, he brushed the tear away, boys don't cry.

"Aw, what do we have here?" A voice drawled from behind him, bringing his attention to the immediate danger. "Little baby, cryin'?"

Seungri let out an angry curse, he had let his guard down. He had broken the number one rule in the neighbourhood. He didn't even hear the guy coming up from behind him. The guy and his two friends. He turned and faced them, changing his expression into nonchalance. Stay calm, he told himself. He could handle them. He was no longer ten years old and alone, and he had all of Daesung's training.

"What do you want, boys?" Seungri stressed the last word. Personally, he was in no mood to play and these idiots were staring Death in the face didn't know that. And it was true, they were hardly more than boys, the eldest was probably fifthteen and seemed desperate to make a mark for himself.

The 'leader' seems flinched at the insult. His eyes narrowed and his voice turned menacing. He step forward, pulling out a long rambo knife. "No one insults me and gets away with it," he caresses the knife, before bring it up to his lips to kiss it lovingly.

Seungri nearly choked. That had been ‘Shi’ signature move, his signature move. His first emotion was annoyance. Just who was this boys think they were?

"What does that mean, hyung?" A ten year old Seungri looked up at the taller man with adoration in his eyes. It was the fierce reputation the boy had managed to garner for himself with his deadly knife.

Tablo reached down to ruffle the chestnut locks affectionately. " ‘Shi’ means Death. That’s what I have decided you should be named, from now on." Tablo's dark eyes glinted proudly.

"What are you smiling about?" The ‘leader’ demand angrier now and by the bolster fact that he had friends to back him up while the sissy looking man was all alone. "I'll wipe that smile off your face if it is the last thing I do," he promised as lunging the knife at the unarmed man.

Seungri suddenly grab the boy's arm, twisting it easily and within seconds the knife was point at the boy’s throat. "Do not play when you don't know who your opponents are, boy," he gritted his teeth while whispering the old warning he always gave. His hand itched. This was familiar, the darkness, the knife, the quivering body beneath his hand. This was comfort.

"Seunghyun!" Daesung barked an order. "Let him go!"

‘Shi’ turned to face the ‘Tiger’, his eyes darkened with bloodlust.

"Seunghyun," Daesung persuade softly recognising exactly who he had faced. "Let the boy go."

Seungri blinked, coming back to himself abruptly. Realising what he almost did, he released both boy and knife in instant, backing away in horror. What had he almost done? His knees feel weak and his whole body was trembling as he fell against Daesung, who had rushed to his friend's side.

"Don't look back and don't come back boys," Daesung warned before they all disappeared.

"You be careful of that one," Daesung advised his friend, who seemed to have withdrawn deep into himself. "Seungyun?" He shook his friend slightly.

"'D--Daesung," Seungri cried, anguish was all on every line on his handsome face. "I almost killed him. I want to. What's wrong with me?" The tears he so courageously tried to hold back came streaming down his cheeks and Seungri buried his face into Daesung's chest.

On that dark street in the middle of one of the most notorious neighbourhood in town, Daesung held onto his old friend and let him weep his heart out. His eyes shimmered in pain knowing the kind of childhood his friend went through. Although they had left the neighbourhood, there were still traces of it left in them and tonight was a good example. They could leave the streets live, but they could never take it out of the boy. The body in Daesung's arms had stilled a long time ago, but Seungri remain there, letting Daesung shelter him like he always did when they were small.

"Better?" Daesung asked softly.

Seungri nodded.

"Do you want to stay with me tonight?" Daesung offered. He always had a room in his apartment for the photographer that was the brother of his soul.

Seungri took a deep breath. "No," he shook his head and then forced a smile. "Jiyong has already left hundred messages. If I don't get back to them, he'll get upset and Bom noona will disembowel me with a wooden spoon."

Daesung drive him to the Kwon's. They sat in silence. He guess his friend was too emotionally drained out now. Seungri was staring out blankly out of the window, his mind a blissful blank. Even ‘SeungHyun’ seemed ‘gone’. They reached Kwon’s residence in surprising short of time, or at least it seemed like it was to Seungri, whose mind was still in a state of shock at the moment.

"Thanks, Daesung," Seungri muttered, getting out of the car just as a frantic Jiyong flew out of the house with his butler.

"Seunghyun," Daesung said, quietly. "I don't think you should come visit us after dark."

Seungri flinched but realised there was some truth in what his friend was saying. He was still too tune to the darkness within him to be able to handle the night life at the neighbourhood. He nodded in agreement.

"Daesung?" Jiyong called out. "Damn, I forgot to try call you." He gave Seungri a long look and exchanged another one with Daesung who shook his head silently, warning the blond not to ask any unwanted questions. "Thanks for dropping him off." He curled his arm around the photographer and gently led him into the house.

Seungri remembered waving goodbye to Daesung as he was pulled out from the driveway before being hustle into the living to deal with Jiyong in full mother hen mode.  By that time, Seungri was almost back to his normal self, burying the pain behind his usual superficial smile.

"Hey, Ji, loose up. It's not like I die or something," Seungri inwardly winced. Technically speaking, he did almost die tonight, ‘Shi’ almost making a full resurrection on that dark street. "Where's Bom noona?"

Jiyong was forced to sit when Seungri snag him with strong arm to the seat next to the photographer. "Out firing Lee Chaerin ."

The name brought a fresh surge of pain. "Why?" Seungri managed to let out a steady tone.

"She dropped off your bags and told us to tell you to call her when you stop being childish," Jiyong was turning red. "I knew what she did. How could she?"

Seungri shrugged. "Well, you can't blame her for having her priorities straight, Ji."

"You let her get you too easily," Jiyong continued his motherly lecture. "You should have made her beg."

Well, I wonder how much harder you have to play? ‘SeungHyun’ wondered idly, whistling.

Where were you when I needed you? Where was his subconscious when Seungri needed him? Needed him to remind Seungri he was no longer ‘Shi’.

Running for my freaking life. ‘Shi’  is truly one scary bastard.

"What are you going to do, Seungri?" Jiyong wanted to know.

"About Chaerin?" Seungri clarified.

"No, about your acne problem. Of course about her," Jiyong said, exasperated. His friend could be extremely stubborn when he put his mind to it, and with Seungri, he put his mind to it a lot. "She can't have it both ways, Seungri. You have been patient enough with her these past weeks."

Seungri nodded, really not wanting to speak of this. "I know."

"She's not being fair to you."

"I know."

"She is being such an about all of this. And to come and meet you today as her fiancee's messenger," Jiyong continued his rambling.

"I know."

"Are you even listening?"

Seungri sighed. It was too late and he was just so tired. "Ji, I know what I need to do. Can I sleep here tonight?"

Apparently the answer was yes and in record time, Seungri was lying in a comfort bed in one of the many rooms in the Kwon’s residence. No wanting to think of how y the day had been, he just gave into his body a command to sleep.

no.... Dara and Daesung are not dating..they were living in the same building, Daesung on the top floor and Dara lived below him.