Three hours had passed and she was still crying. They had exhausted all of their ideas, offering her whatever she wanted, trying to bribe her with anything and everything they could think of. The only thing she wanted was her mother, and that was the only thing they couldn't give her. The constant gut twisting sound of her sobs and worse yet, her deafening wails, was driving them both insane. It was affecting their cooperation, so instead of working together, they had begun trying to pawn her off on one another, wanting just a moment of peace, a fraction of a second without the incessant crying. 

“Can't you lend her one of your teddy bears?” Jiyong begged. He knew Seunghyun treasured his toy collection, he knew he was putting him on the spot but he didn't care anymore. If it would stop the crying, he was willing to do anything. His head was pounding, every sob cutting through his skull like a sharp knife on a mission. A bloody mission that wouldn't end well unless he could turn the volume down.

Seunghyun just stood there, chewing his lower lip, clearly trying to find some way of getting out of lending her one of his precious toys. “Seriously?” Jiyong pushed, his voice had an edge to it, the kind he used when he was putting his foot down not as his friend Jiyong, but his leader G-Dragon. He knew it was wrong to abuse his power like this, but he had a headache that was only getting worse and Seunghyun might have the cure, only he was withholding it from him. He wanted it, and what he wanted he was used to getting. 

Seunghyun sent him a rotten look before reluctantly heading to his bedroom with his tail between his legs. Seunghyun was off to the wonderful paradise of silence, or of slightly less loud crying. He still envied him. He was rocking Soonie back and forth, back and forth, but it didn't seem to be doing much. Nothing worked. Every time they tried something she would freak out and scream for her mom at the top of her lungs. 

They had offered her food, it ended up on the floor. They had offered her candy, it too got the pleasure of meeting the floor. They had sung for her, going as far as putting on a grand show for her, filled with toddler level jokes and exotic tales of farts and fairies. She hadn't graced them with so much as a hint of a smile, crying harder if anything. They had tried to play with her, tickle her, startle her, only to receive a murderous stare for their efforts. An angry, annoyed toddler was no laughing matter. 

Tapping Soonie's back lightly with a soothing rhythm, he tried to convince his brain to turn off its hearing center, just for a moment. But his sadist brain refused to listen to him, preferring to torture him with Soonie's symphony of sorrow. If he only knew where her mother was hiding. He wanted to storm right out and find her, drag her back and force her to be there for her daughter. What kind of mother left her own daughter on a stranger's doorstep, disappearing into thin air? He imagined what he would say to her if he found her, he wasn't sure he would have the self control not to take a swing at her. He was opposed to the use of violence, especially against women, but he might just have to make an exception. He couldn't come up with a single excuse that was a good enough reason to abandon your own child. Not one.

Seunghyun returned, not with a toy but a mini bottle of whiskey. “If we give her a drop of this, do you think she would calm down?” he asked pensive, earnestly considering the idea. 

“Have you gone nuts?” Jiyong retorted incredulously. How ridiculously attached did you have to be to your toys to suggest getting a toddler wasted just so you wouldn't have to share them? 

“My mom always rubbed some strong alcohol on my gums when I was teething, to soothe the pain a bit. I mean just a tiny bit, you know. So it should be safe, right?” he added, peering into the bottle, still mulling it over.

“Well that explains it.” Jiyong said pointedly, holding back an evil grin.

“Explains what?” Seunghyun's eyes moved from the bottle over to him, meeting his eyes. He had no idea what he was talking about.

“I always figured your mom had just dropped you on your head when you were little, but...” he snorted loudly, the sound not strong enough to hold its own, drowning in Soonie's high pitched wails. 

Seunghyun childishly stuck his tongue out in protest, before a light bulb went off in his head. “So you're saying that if we do the same and give her a drop of this alcohol, she will turn out like me? Every kid should be so lucky!” he exclaimed in a triumphant, proud voice, folding his arms as he raised his eyebrow as if to say 'Hah! Beat that.'. 

If Jiyong wasn't so tired and frustrated, he would actually have laughed. It was a good comeback, he had to give him that. Imagine if the world had more Tabi's, what an inefficient and clumsy but gloriously handsome and funny world that would be. His lips threatened to smile, but he wasn't in the mood. In full honesty, he was getting closer to the point of throwing caution to the wind, saying 'What the hell!' and going for it, getting the kid trashed just to get some peace. His common sense told him it would probably not do her any good and the last thing he wanted was to be responsible for breaking her in some way. Being responsible for a human being was terrifying. It wasn't like he could just throw her out if she turned out broken beyond repair. 

It was weird how some thoughts that visited you didn't really seem like your thoughts at all, only there to try and sabotage the person you wanted to be. Jiyong was positive he didn't really mean what he was thinking and he wasn't afraid that he was going to act on any of those thoughts, not at all. It was just the frustration and desperation talking, it wasn't him. Those thoughts were unwanted guests that had invited themselves in without his permission, and still he got a guilty conscience for entertaining them for even a split second, one fleeting moment.

After Jiyong had struck down his reckless but tempting idea, Seunghyun reluctantly relinquished one of his Be@rbricks into Soonie's custody. He watched her closely as she halted the waterworks to judge this new acquisition, biting his lips nervously, waiting for her verdict. Jiyong had expected him to bring out something a little softer, but looking at the Be@rbrick, he recognized it. It was one of Seunghyun's favorite ones, it had a name and everything, although a lot of them had names. He knew he was supposed to know what it was, but it totally escaped him. 

“Why did you give her this one, why not something a little less dear to you?” he asked in wonder, genuinely curious what had gone through his head to come to this decision, if anything. 

“This one? He has a name you know! Or have you forgotten already?!” Seunghyun pretended to be outraged, though a tiny part of him probably was for real. 

“Doom Daddy will not forgive you, just so you know!” he added firmly. Right. Jiyong was amazed that he could have forgotten such a ludicrous name, Doom Daddy. Seunghyun never failed to be interesting in his name giving. 

In all the time they had known each other, Jiyong never managed to reach a full understanding of what went on in that perfectly shaped head of his. It only made him more curious. He was never bored if Seunghyun was around. Usually it took him all of two seconds to size people up, but Seunghyun came in a unique size that couldn't be measured by a single glance. He found him fascinating, as well as frustrating since he was an unknown variable that he couldn't control. He liked his equations clean and predictable, but Seunghyun had a knack for derailing his calculations. Most often the outcome turned out better than the one Jiyong had been aiming for, but it always made him nervous to not be in control of every last detail.

“So..?” Jiyong sent him a question mark with his eyes, wanting a real answer to his question.

“Ah.. I just asked myself which one she would like the most, and out of the bunch, Doom Daddy spoke to me.” he shrugged, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Aw, what a softie. Thinking of Soonie's happiness ahead of his own without even realizing it. Jiyong could feel a part of his annoyance melting away at the thought. Under all those eccentricities, Seunghyun had the sweetest soul Jiyong had ever had the privilege of knowing. Sometimes he forgot just how sweet it was, but Seunghyun never failed to remind him. 

After a precious two minutes of near silence, Soonie remained unconvinced and poor Doom Daddy followed in the footsteps of the various food products that had been offered as a sacrifice to the floor Gods earlier that night. And this time with force. So much force that its arm broke off. Jiyong gasped at the sight, not daring to look at how Seunghyun was handling it, feeling panic's cold hand getting a firm hold on his heart. And that was the end of their much needed break from Soonie's ongoing performance, starting to exercise her lungs once more, trying to reach that highest of high notes, possibly breaking some world records. He was starting to believe she would go on forever, this never ending torture becoming his own personal hell.

Seunghyun collapsed onto the sofa. For the longest time he sat there with a frozen stare directed at his beloved Doom Daddy. Rest in peace little one, Jiyong thought. He had never seen Seunghyun like this, he wasn't even sure what 'this' meant. The urge to hug him hacked his brain, almost making him act on it, but he stopped himself. 

“I didn't know it was going to be so hard.” Seunghyun whispered mortified, not taking his eyes off of Doom Daddy's detached arm. 

“I told you it was going to be hard!” Jiyong said in a harsher tone than he had meant to use, he had only been trying to speak up so he would hear him over Soonie's cries, that were growing wilder and louder. 

“Yeah, but I figured.. since everyone does it, how hard could it really be?” his voice faltered.

“Hard.” Jiyong answered, trying not to focus on the fact that all this was Seunghyun's fault. If not for Seunghyun he would have been sleeping soundly in the amazingly quiet comfort of his own bed. He never thought he would miss silence so much. 

“Here, can you take her for a bit. I'm seriously going crazy.” Jiyong pleaded, planning to escape to the toilet for a second of peace. Seunghyun just stared at the floor, looking like he had already lost his mind. 

“I can't do this anymore.. I need some air..” he said with icy resolution, standing up and heading straight for the door. 

“Dude!!” Jiyong called after him, but Seunghyun didn't even appear to have heard him. Without looking back, not a hint of hesitation, he grabbed his coat and was out the door in mere seconds. The door slammed shut. Now the only sound left was the sound that haunted him. Soonie's soul crushing sobs. 

Jiyong was completely numb, it felt like everything inside him had wilted away, leaving nothing behind. It had been an hour and still Seunghyun wasn't back. He had tried calling him, but his phone was off. At one point he had started worrying if something had happened to him, but he was too disappointed to let himself worry. He couldn't believe it. Seunghyun had abandoned him. In his time of need he had abandoned him. Not looking back even once as he left him. He was glad his insides were already dead, for if not, it would hurt too much. 

Soonie was still crying. He had lost count of how many hours she had gone on for, but they were too many, that much was for sure. He started worrying that she would get dehydrated, amazed at the amount of tears that could come out of such a tiny person. He followed one of the multitude of tears that were gliding down her cheek, jumping for freedom only to meet its demise on her soaking wet shirt. He envied it, at least now it was out of its misery. Thinking about it tickled his tear ducts, but he was determined not to let even a single tear out. He was not going to play the victim, he was not going to show the world that, much like the broken bear on the floor, his heart lay broken on his gut's floor. 

He couldn't believe it. Seunghyun had always been a bit flaky when it came to responsibilities, generally not liking having any, but he always came through in the end. Or that was what he had thought. Maybe it was just something of which he had convinced himself, not willing to face the reality. The reality that had slapped him in the face like a rag filled with bricks, and it hurt. After everything he had done for him, after everything they had been through together, he just left him? Seunghyun had declared that they were in this together, but now he was one short of a together.

He shouldn't have listened to him in the first place. Aish, why did his gut always betray his better judgment and side with Seunghyun, regardless of what ridiculous antics he was up to? He could of course just go to the police right now, but he couldn't bear the thought of leaving her with even stranger strangers than him, when she was clearly having abandonment issues already. Ahh, he hated her mom for doing this to her. And he hated Seunghyun for leaving him. But he hated himself the most, for being so useless. 

“Soonie-ya, you just cry as much as you need, okay?” he said softly, his voice trembling. He was so tired, it hurt. Everything hurt. 

If you can't beat them, join them. “You won't mind if oppa joins you, no?“ he asked, but couldn't wait for an answer. He let go. The dam that he had been building inside of him burst and a river of tears rushed down his cheeks. He rocked them back and forth as they cried their heart's pain away. 

“Hmm?” Jiyong tried to open his heavy eyelids but they were glued shut by sticky tear residue. He must have passed out at some point. 

“Shh.. go back to sleep” a husky voice whispered.

He could feel a blanket being pulled over him, it was warm. It was hard to resist the call of his dreams, luring him back into the quiet world of the sleeping. He stopped struggling and let go, gliding back into oblivion.