It was hours later that same day that Top found himself on the fourth floor of their apartment building at the door of Teacher Park's room - a place previously avoided, if at all possible.  He only came here if he was in danger of falling tragically behind in his lessons, which also happened to be the case today.  Although, if he was being totally honest with himself, he was rather curious to see that girl in her new environment; usually he would have put off this visit for a few more days.

He knocked on the door and had only waited for a few moments when it opened to reveal none other than the new tutor.  She tilted her head, appearing confused.  Then her eyes widened and she looked down at herself.  She was wearing a pair of small cotton workout shorts and a fitted, hoodless sweatshirt.  Finally she sighed, apparently resigned.

"Caden ssi, hey," he said addressing her politely, but greeting her informally (since they weren't in class).

"That was a lot of expressions you just showed all at once," he teased as she moved aside to let him in.  She laughed at this,

"Yeah, I'm a bit... Well, at first I was confused about why you were here and then I realized that you caught me wearing my 'house clothes'.  I didn't expect to see anyone.  I'm looking a little shabby..."

She paused for a moment before grinning gleefully,

"'looking a little shabby' - Teacher Park just taught me how to say that!  Who knew I'd get to use it so soon!"

Top grinned, noticing with amusement that she had unconciously grabbed his arm in excitement.  He found it funny that someone could be so amused learning a commonly used phrase that he never gave a second thought about.  He wished he could get that excited about learning phrases in English.

"-and then I figured there was nothing I could do about it now, so I might as well get over it.  And now here we are," she finally finished, grinning.  Top grinned back.

"Wow, that was quite a metamorphosis," he joked.  Caden looked confused.  Top realized that he must have used a word she didn't know,

"Oh, metamorphosis - you know what nabi do when they-"

"Nabi?" Caden repeated the word, clearly unsure of the meaning.  Top sighed, having unintentionally backed himself into a corner.

"Sorry," he said shaking his head, grinning slightly. "You're so good with 'classroom talk' that I forget you're still learning."

"How could you forget?  I'm still so awful..." she joked, still laughing. "Actually, I've pretty much gotten the sentence structure down, I just don't know a lot of the words for things."  She smiled,

"So what brings you here today?"

'Well besides investigating you...' Top thought, smiling at his internal joke.

"I came to pick up the book that Teacher Park suggested," he answered outloud.  Caden nodded,

"Hold on, I'll get her for you.  I think she's in her room making lesson plans."

She walked through the kitchen and stuck her head down the hall.

"Teacher Park," she called politely, "there's someone here to see you."

"Just a minute," they heard a muffled voice call out.  Caden turned around, smiling at him before making her way over to the couch and plopping down in front of a pile of books and papers.

"Feel free to have a seat while you're waiting," she said politely, gesturing toward the rest of the couch.  Top obliged, plunking down beside her, about half a seat away.

"Sorry about the mess," she said as she began straightening up the pile on the coffee table in front of her. "Before you came I was-" she paused, thinking deeply for a moment.  When she remembered that he was still waiting for her to finish her sentence she grinned slightly,

"I was just... I'm not sure how to say it..."

Just then Teacher Park came hurrying into the room looking rather frazzled.  Caden looked around at her .

"Teacher Park," she called.  She asked her something in English.  Top watched quizzically as Teacher Park laughed, appearing thoughtful,

"I guess you could say 'doing schoolwork like a nerd'..."

Top laughed at this in surprise.  Caden turned back to him and said,

"Right.  I was just doing schoolwork like a nerd."  She grinned broadly, proud of her newly learned phrase.  He shook his head in amusement.  Then he stood, greeting Teacher Park politely.  She feigned shock upon seeing him.

"Top-ah!  This is certainly a surprise.  I didn't expect to see you for a few more days after I suggested that book," she teased.  Top laughed easily,

"Well, it seems I've fallen further behind that I thought in your absence, so I need all the help I can get."

She chuckled,

"Of course.  Please sit back down and relax while I go find it.  You and Caden ssi keep yourselves entertained."

With that, she turned and disappeared down the hallway.  Caden, who had been sneaking glances at her notes during this conversation, looked first over her shoulder at the spot where Teacher Park had just disappeared from, then over at Top.

"I'm supposed to keep you entertained, huh?" she said, looking down at her papers. "Then I guess figuring out the best way to teach yourself a foreign language wouldn't be considered very entertaining, would it?" she asked, grinning sheepishly.

"Actually, I believe we were told to entertain each other," Top corrected teasingly. "And they say that a good teacher can make any subject interesting."  Caden laughed out loud at this,

"Ah, I see - so you like to entertain yourself by charming people, huh?"

Top chuckled, then feigned sincerity,

"If I'm trying to charm a girl like you, I'll be entertained for hours."

Caden was momentarily thrown off guard by this, blinking in surprise.  She quickly caught herself,

"Ooh, you're good," she said, laughing a little too hard. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're the type that doesn't know when they're unemployed, huh?"

She meant 'you don't know when to quit', but Top got the gist anyway.

"I guess you could say that," he grinned.  She smiled before quickly changing the subject,

"Oh!  I haven't gotten a chance to tell anyone this, since Teacher Park was the only person I've seen so far since I moved in -"  Top chuckled at this.  Caden ignored him, continuing, "-I met Teacher Park's fiance!  He came when she treated me to dinner last night.  Actually, I think that's who she thought had come when I told her you were here."

"Really?" Top responded, legitimately curious - Teacher Park had been their tutor for several years now.  He was interested to find out what kind of man she would marry. "What type of person is he?"

"Well," Caden answered in a somewhat hushed tone, "he's pretty handsome - although not my taste - and very polite, but he seems kind of serious and reserved.  I'm surprised someone as bubbly as Teacher Park would like that..."

"That's not the kind of guy you go for?" Top prompted jokingly.

"No way," Caden replied, scrunching up her nose in distaste. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with people like that, I just wouldn't be able to date them.  All of my past boyfriends teased me mercilessly."  She grinned at the memory.

"Have you dated many people?" Top asked casually.

"Not really..." Caden answered thoughtfully.  "Well... I've had probably three or four legitimate boyfriends and only one serious relationship."

"And they were all very unserious guys?" Top teased.  Caden laughed.

"Well it's not that they have to go around being silly and jumping around.  In fact, I prefer subtle, sarcastic humor.  They have to tease me just as much as I tease them," she said with a small smile.  She looked over to find his face alarmingly close to hers.  She didn't remember it being that close before.

"You don't believe that a couple should be made up of two people whose personalities balance out?  One may be more serious and reserved while the other is bubbly and outgoing?" he said, sounding serious now - appearing curious and intent on hearing her answer.

"Of course that's right," Caden said quickly, laughing just a bit too hard. "That's probably why he and Teacher Park get along."  She stood rather quickly,

"I just remembered, I was planning on going to the grocery store before you came over."  She picked up her wallet from the table as proof.  She smiled at him. "I don't mean to be so abrupt, but I realize that I better go before it gets too late.  I can't keep eating Teacher Park's food.  It seems I've failed in my part of keeping us entertained, but I'm sure Teacher Park will be back with your book soon.  So I'll be going first.  See you in class tomorrow."

She sounded fairly casual, but there was something slightly strained about it that reminded him of her strange reactions in class that morning.  He smiled understandingly,

"Alright then.  Don't worry, I'll find a way to manage myself alone.  See you tomorrow."

Caden seemed to laugh easily at this, waving goodbye at the door.  Once outside, however, her smile slipped away and she tucked her hair behind her ear anxiously before making her way downstairs.

Top stared at the closed door curiously for a few moments after it shut.  That girl could be strangely abrupt at times.  Overall she seemed quite interesting, though.  He wondered briefly how old she was.  He didn't have time to think for long, because Teacher Park reappeared moments later, looking slightly agitated.

"I don't mean to keep you so long, but somehow I let that book escape me.  I know it's there, I'm just having trouble finding it..." she apologized.

"Don't worry, take your time," Top responded graciously.  Suddenly the doorbell rang.  They both looked over at the door curiously.

"Who could that be?" Teacher Park wondered aloud.  She hurried over to open it.

"Daesung-ah!" she cried.  Top stood as his bandmate entered. "What a surprise!  Not as surprising as him, but..." she joked, indicating Top.

"Teacher, I'm starting to sense some underlying frustration here," Top joked.  She just laughed.  Then suddenly her face lit up.

"Ah!  I've just remembered where I left your book," she told him excitedly.  To Daesung she said, "Come in, come in.  I'll be back in just a second."  With that she turned and dashed off once again down the hall.

"Ah hyung," Daesung greeted, somewhat awkardly. "You're here.  What a surprise..."

"Yeah, Teacher Park recommended some extra reading material.  I thought you were pretty fluent in English.  What's your excuse" Top asked mockingly.  Daesung laughed self conciously,

"Ah hyung, you caught me.  You're too observant."

Top laughed.  Suddenly there was a sharp knock on the door before it opened almost immediately to reveal Seungri.  He looked overly surprised to see them.

"What was that?" Top chided. "You can't barge in here when it's not for a lesson.  What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, you're right, what was I thinking?" Seungri replied, seeming appropriately chastised for all of two seconds before he broke into a sly grin.  "Hey hyung, where's the new tutor?  I came to check her out."  He began looking around wildly for some sign of her.

"Jeez, such crude language, really," Daesung murmured.

"Calm down loverboy, she's not here," Top told him, rolling his eyes.

"What?  Really?  Why not?" Seungri demanded.  Top caught Daesung looking slightly disappointed as well.  Before he had a chance to respond, there came a voice from behind them.

"I finally found it!" Teacher Park exclaimed, holding up Top's book.  Then she noticed the other two.

"Seungri now too?" she said in apparent disbelief. "I've never known the three of you to be so dedicated to your studies, then all of a sudden..."

"Ah, Teacher Park, you don't give us enough credit," Seungri broke in dramatically. "Are we really such horrible students?"  Teacher Park looked unimpressed.

"Alright then," she replied smoothly, "in that case, why are you here?"

"Oh, well... That is..." Seungri sputtered, apparently not having come up with an excuse to stop by.

"Well I came to ask Caden ssi about her Japanese tutoring.  I had some questions," Daesung jumped in, saving the maknae from total failure.

"Oh, yes!" Seungri agreed overenthusiastically. "That's also why I'm here.  Since we haven't learned Japanese in so long and all..."

Top did his best to hold in his laughter from behind Teacher Park's back.  She looked at Seungri suspiciously for a moment, then rolled her eyes good-naturedly,

"Okay, okay.  I'll let her know you want to talk to her..."  She looked around and, when she didn't see Caden, turned to Top,

"Where is Caden ssi?  Did she leave you all alone out here to wait?"

"Ah, no.  She kept me entertained, as ordered."

Teacher Park grinned, but Top saw Seungri's eye pop out from behind her back.  Top ignored this and continued,

"She said that she had wanted to get to the grocery store before it got too late.  She said that she didn't want to keep eating your food."

"Oh, she's so silly!  I didn't mind," Teacher Park muttered, mostly to herself.  She thanked Top.

"Well if Caden ssi isn't here, then I guess we'll just have to come back another time," Seungri announced quickly.

"Of course.  I'll tell her you all came by," Teacher Park responded brightly, seeing them out.

"Thanks for the book," Top said, holding it up. "I'll use it well."

"Work hard," she called cheerfully, shutting the door behind them.

"It's not fair," Seungri whined as soon as the door closed tight. "Why does Top hyung get to spend time with Caden ssi and I don't?"

"Probably because I'm the only one with a legitimate reason for being there," Top pointed out a bit smugly, holding up the book as evidence.

"Yeah, but it's not like your intentions were any purer than ours.  Everybody knows you always put off English work until the very last minute, but suddenly you pick up the book on the first day back.  I'm sorry, that's suspicious," Seungri grumbled as the continued down the hall.  Top gave him a withering look, but didn't respond.  This went unnoticed by the maknae, who continued to grumble all the way to the elevator.

"So did you two plan to come together, or did it just turn out that way?" Top asked, changing the subject.

"No, we didn't," Seungri responded immediately. "I did ask Jiyong hyung if he wanted to come, but he just scoffed and stomped off to his room and slammed the door.  Jeez, he's been all moody lately and I have no idea why..."  Top nodded curiously, turning to Daesung.

"What about Young bae?  Did you ask him?"

Daesung, who roomed with the other member, nodded,

"I told him that I wanted to go and get to know the tutor a little better, but he just got all shy and flustered.  You know how he gets around new staff when they're pretty girls.  It takes him a while to get comfortable around them."

Top nodded again, knowing from experience that was true - probably even more so in this case because they never had a tutor this young before.  He most likely hadn't been expecting it.  Top had always been amused by Young bae's awkwardness around girls and this time was no exception - he filed this knowledge away until such time that he could properly about it.

Seungri had finally stopped grumbling by the time they reached the elevator, instead resorting to silently pouting.  He jabbed the button for his floor roughly.  Top and Daesung followed suit (albeit more civally).  The older two chatted idly until the elevator opened and Daesung stepped out.  A floor higher Seungri got off, muttering a sullen goodbye.

And then he was alone again, as originally intended.  He entered his door code, immediately tossing his newly begotten book carelessly onto his kitchen counter before making a bee-line for his bedroom, all thoughts of studying forgotten, for he suddenly felt inspired.  He jotted down a few lines in a notebook before grabbing his wallet and heading for the stairs.  There was something he wanted to buy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N

So there's just a couple things I want to clarify about this story, just to make it a bit more understandable, although I haven't gotten any complaints so far. :D

-From this point on, I think it's safe to assume that everyone is speaking Korean unless the narration says otherwise.  I know I didn't make any color or font indications to make it easier to tell what language is being spoken, but I think that narration does a pretty good job of telling you. :)

-Also - I tend not to throw random Korean words or phrases into my story, other than titles and suffixes, easy stuff that anyone who watches Korean tv/movies will recognize. This is because I usually don't know what they mean, so I don't assume others will either. :P  So if I do throw in a Korean word that I don't translate, it's usually to represent the main character not understanding the word.  It's usually either explained later, or not particularly important to know. :D

-I also want to make sure that everyone understand that even though they might come across over the top, the members are not all crazy in love with Caden or anything.  Even the spazziest ones. :P For example, in this chapter, three of them come over to check her out, but they're all just curious, trying to get a feel for her.  It's the same for GD and Taeyang, although they seem to react more outlandishly about it.  I wanted GD to come across as someone who thinks too much and has a tendency to make himself crazy because of it, especially compared to the laid back attitude the narration shows for Top.  As the leader, I think this would realistically be a part of GD's personality. :D

-Oh, and one last thing.  I have everyone call Top and Seungri by their stage names all the time, purely to make them easy to tell apart.  I get the feeling that they are called by their stage names more often than the other guys in real life for this same reason, but I can't prove it. :P

Yeah, I'm probably overthinking it, but since I'm the one stuck inside this made up universe, there's a lot of underlying meaning I want people to notice. :P

Anyway, the most important thing is that you enjoy reading my story still! :D

I'll update within a day of two.

Thanks to everyone who comments and subscribes - I appreciate it. :D

I'll stop taking so much space with my Author's Notes from now on. :P