Big Bang turned to the door to see the President watching all of them with a frown on his face. They gulped. It was one of his many unannounced visits and he hates it when he sees people standing around when they should be doing something. The President was expecting an answer from them.

“Lia wants Maknae to go back home to her but he’s still here,” Dae Sung blurted out.

Seung Ri looked over at his manager. “I don’t want to disappoint you, President.”

But the President shook his head. “Well, I am disappointed that you’re still here,” he said finally.

The maknae was astonished. “Eh? But I just came back! I was with her a few minutes ago!” he protested. “If she wanted me to stay, why didn’t she say so before I left her? What about the concert? We still have many things to do! I can’t just leave.”

But the President would hear none of it. “Go home to Lia. She needs you. Besides, an afternoon off won’t kill you. Go now.”

He was stunned. He bowed his head. “Kamsahamida.” He grabbed his stuff and he hurried back home.

The President turned to look at the others. “Faster finish your practice so you can go home to Lia too,” he told them before walking out of the room.

But the others remained where they stood.

Finally Dae Sung turned to his hyungs once he was sure the President was out of earshot. “Is it just me or does it seems like Maknae and Lia are fighting?”

Tae Yang nodded. “I noticed,” he spoke up and turned to TOP for answers.

TOP just shrugged, his eyes going wide. “I don’t know. Mei isn’t telling me anything,” he replied. “It’s weird because I thought it was good, her boyfriend being the father and all.” He frowned.

“It’s not only that,” Ji Yong said. “I know that during the time of pregnancies, girls will get cranky and a lot of mood swings. But Lia seems to be more . . . emotional . . . than cranky and irritated.”

“I wonder why, though,” Dae Sung said. “I mean, she’s eating and she’s sleeping but she just seemed so sad all the time. Did anyone ever noticed?”

They all nodded. Yes, they have noticed it but they didn’t have an answer to that.

When Seung Ri got home, Lia was on her bed reading a book. King was sleeping beside her. She looked up when he came inside. “You’re back?” she asked him, surprised. “But I thought —”

“The President asked me to come back,” was all he said.

Lia could tell he was not happy about that and she had a bad feeling it was her fault. “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to —”

“Forget it,” he cut her off. He turned the music on. “I hope you don’t mind but I really need to practice for the concert.”

She nodded. “Sure, I don’t mind.” She went back to her reading as he stood in the empty space of her room to dance. Once in awhile she would look up from her book to watch him as he danced. She smiled to herself. When Seung Ri danced, she can see how much dancing means to him, how much passion and effort he puts into it. He moved so gracefully; she could barely see him as he moved about like a ghost. She stopped reading entirely and just watched him dance.

Suddenly King sat up and started to bark, distracting Seung Ri from his dance. He shot the dog an irritated look. “Shut up, you stupid dog,” he snapped.

That only made King bark louder.

Seung Ri made his way to him. “I said shut up!” He raised his hand to hit the dog, who just growled at him.

“Andwae!” Lia cried. She jumped out of bed and threw herself in front of King, closing her eyes. She expected a blow from him but it never came. When she opened his eyes, she saw that his hand was just a few inches away from her head. She looked up to see the shock and stunned expression on his face. Her heart was thumping wildly.

He tried to hit King.

He saw the frightened look on Lia’s face and he was really glad he managed to stop himself on time. He let his hands dropped to his sides. “Lia, you . . .”

Lia began to cry. She pressed her face to King’s neck and cried. Seung Ri tried to reach out to her but King snapped at him and he reeled back. He knew why Lia had stopped him from hitting King. If it was Gaho, Boss or Charlie, she would have done the same. But instead of crying she would have scolded him. But it was different for King. Because King was her dog, whom she had cared for and loved since he was a puppy, a gift from the YG Family, all because Ji Yong had told them to buy King for her Christmas present.

“Mianhae,” he muttered under his breath, turning the music off. Lia was still on the floor, crying. King stood protectively over her. He took one look at her and then left the room, drowning out her sobs.

Later in the night Lia ate her dinner quietly. She ate everything TOP put on her plate without complain. But she was so quiet. Seung Ri was equally quiet. The others didn’t know what happened in the afternoon but they had a feeling nothing good came out from it because when they came home, Seung Ri was sprawled all over the sofa, blankly gazing up to the ceiling and Lia was asleep with King standing outside of her door, growling at them if they came too near to the door.

Eventually King allowed Ji Yong to put him out at the back with the other dogs before it got too late but even then King was reluctant to leave Lia alone.

After dinner Lia retreated back to her room to listen to songs. It was a chilly night so she put on Ji Yong’s grey Smurf hoodie he had given her a long time ago. Seung Ri came in to sleep and eyed the hoodie. He scowled. “Why are you wearing his hoodie?”

“I’m cold,” she replied with a frown.

“I don’t like it. Take it off.”

“But the hoodie keeps me warm at nights!” she protested. “You never said anything about it before. Why does it bother you so much? It’s only a hoodie!” Is it because the hoodie belongs to Ji Oppa?, she wanted to ask but decided against it. She didn’t want to argue with him. She was tired of everything.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Fine,” he said curtly. “Wear it to sleep then. See if I care.” He got in bed after turning the lights off.

Lia stared at him in disbelief. She shook her head. Then she got up and walked out of the room. When she came back a few minutes later, she was no longer wearing the hoodie but was in her baggy shirt and shorts.

“Where’s the hoodie?” he asked her.

“I gave it back to Ji Yong Oppa since it was bothering you too much,” she replied, getting in bed next to him.

He sighed. “Don’t be stupid. It’s cold.”

“You’re the one with issues,” she muttered under her breath but he heard her either way.

He felt as though he’d been punched in the guts. What she said hurt him, like a hundred of knives piercing through him. He gave her his hoodie. “Here, wear it.”

She took it and put it over her. Then Lia went to sleep, covering the blanket over her head. He hesitated before doing the same. But he felt her leaning forward and felt her soft lips on his cheeks.

Seung Ri opened his eyes and turned to her but she was already lying down, back turned to him. The kiss felt so different from the other kisses. They used to be loving and warm but now it felt . . . cold. He saw that she was curled up in a ball, probably with her knees to her chest. Moments later he heard her sniffling and knew she was crying. He immediately felt bad for rejecting her. He didn’t like the nagging feeling so he brushed it off and fell asleep.

But then something woke him up in the middle of the night. He rolled over to find an empty space next to him where Lia should have been. He checked the clock. It was two o’clock in the morning. Where was Lia?

He got out of bed and walked out to the living room, where he saw a figure on the sofa. As he reached nearer, he groaned inwardly. Lia was sleeping on the sofa.

“Babo,” he cursed himself. “You kicked her out of her own room. What sort of boyfriend does that?” He wandered over to her and saw she had dry tear-stained streaks on her face. He whacked himself on the head before carrying her back to her bed.

Lia woke up and she was surprised to find herself back in her room. How did she end up here? She was sure she had been sleeping out on the sofa. And where was Seung Ri? She walked out of the room and found him on the sofa, sleeping peacefully. It was there and then did she know that it was him who had found her and brought her back to her bed. What time, she wasn’t sure.

Right now it was six in the morning.

She crept outside of the apartment into the cool breeze. She smiled sadly before hearing the door closed behind her and felt a pair of hands s around her waist. She turned her head to see Ji Yong hugging her tightly.

“What’s wrong, Lia?” he asked her, rocking her sideways. He pressed his cheek against hers, flinching at the coldness on her face but he didn’t pull back.

She turned around to face him and sobbed into his chest, missing his familiar touches but wishing and wanting it to belong to Seung Ri instead, wishing it was him who was holding her the way Ji Yong was holding her. “I don’t know what I’ve done for him to ignore me. I’m scared that I’m losing him. I don’t want to lose him. It hurts when he refuses to talk to me, to look at me or to kiss me. It hurts even more when he snaps at me. I try to wait patiently for him but I don’t know how much longer I can take. I miss him. I want the old Maknae Oppa back. I love him but it hurts.”

Ji Yong could not say anything to make her happy again. The pain and the damage were too great and only Seung Ri could fix it but he was being too blind and stupid to see the pain he was causing her. He wanted to go in and smack the idiot for hurting Lia like this. Even Ji Yong had never hurt her until she was so sad like this. Seung Ri should be helping her, not make things worse.

“Maybe you should try talking to him,” he suggested.

She shook her head. “It’s no use. He doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“You’ll never know.” It hurt a lot, seeing her hurt like this. He held her tight in his arms, wishing he could take away all her hurt and pain. He had to fight the urge to kiss her on the lips by kissing her on the forehead instead. “Lia, I’m here for you. Lia . . .”

She sobbed. Ji Yong carried her back to her room and stayed with her until he was sure she was fast asleep again.