The ticking of the clock in YG’s office was the only apparent noise that could be heard. It was silent yet so loud, Seungri could have sworn his ears started hurting because of it and his heartbeat decided to thump along with the rhythm.

For him the day already began horribly with his restless body yearning for some movements or something different to do in general, and the terrible pain in his leg only made it worse. But then, luckily, it seemed to turn to the better for him when his doctor introduced him to his new orthosis, which finally gave him hope to be able to move freely again and stop being a nuisance. 

Oh, how he wished the day could have stayed like this, with a smiling Jiyong by his side, who would tell him, that everything was alright…

After the collar was placed around his neck and a short monologue held by Hyun-suk about how Seungri would have to behave from now on, the other members arrived as well, obviously oblivious to everything as they eyed the metallic object with shock and so many other unpleasant emotions. There was way too much pity and sadness to handle for the youngest, he just wanted everyone to make him believe that it will be okay and that he had nothing to worry about. Their reactions only confirmed the severity of his current situation thought.

YG originally called them in to talk about the upcoming mission that Seungri, due to his new orthosis, was allowed to take part in now. He would be happy about it but he wasn’t allowed to use his energy after all and felt like a burden even more. The Boss was positive that it would work out though, and nobody was in the position to start a discussion with him.

After a while of silence a heavy sigh brought Seungri back to the present.

„I know that all of this is weighting on your shoulders and that this situation is everything but easy. I understand, really, but I need to be able to trust you and your concentration on the mission. I will summarize the whole thing for you again: Next week you will sneak into the mansion I mentioned earlier to search for information about the organization that kept meddling with our business. It’s our only clue to find out more about them right now, if you don’t find anything or mess up this mission, it could cause a lot of trouble and who knows what, so give it your all. Seungri, you will undergo training the next days, if Tablo tells me that you are ready, you can help the rest of your group to work out a plan, until then you won’t interfere with any of it, understood?“

„Yes, sir.“ 

„Good, concentrate on your matters only. Training starts at 8 tomorrow. Alright then, that’s all. You may leave for now, I’m very busy.“ The oldest ended the meeting abruptly with a waving with his hand, while already taking out some documents for him to work on.

The boys quickly hurried out of the room. The office may seem big and spacious but once you are in there it gives you the feeling of being in prison, the word freedom isn’t at all fitting for it.

None of the five men said a word as they silently walked towards the exit of the giant building. The atmosphere was thick with what seemed like anger, fear, sadness and worry and even though it wasn’t expressed with words by any of them, it still made its presence known by settling into their minds.

„Wanna go out for dinner?“ Seungri asked with a small voice, having decided that he couldn’t bear this depressing mood anymore. He loved to have fun, especially with his fellow members, he loved laughing and screaming around with them, just enjoying the time. As long as he wore that stupid choker nothing could happen right? So what if it looked stupid, as long as he didn’t hurt someone he could live with it and everything would turn back to normal at some point. Happiness came with a price after all.

„Sure.“ Youngbae smiled, glancing towards the other three, earning a happy nod from Daesung and a „Of course!“ from big Seunghyun. Turning towards Jiyong, they all noticed his hesitation.

„Ji?“ Youngbae asked concerned, knowing that it would unsettle the maknae, as the leader didn’t answer immediately.

„Oh! No, I mean, yeah, just go ahead, I have something to take care of quickly but I will join you later. Just send me a text where you ended up going.“ He answered absentmindedly, chewing on his lower lip as he looked in another direction with a concentrated expression.

„Okay? Hurry up though, or we will eat without you!“ His best friend grumbled, frowning at the orange haired man.

„Got it!“ And off he went.

Upon seeing Seungri’s disappointed face, eyes following the leader into the distance, mama Bae placed his arm around the younger’s shoulders and winked at him.

„Don’t worry maknae, this dude will hurry, after all he would miss out on spending Seungri-time. And believe me, he would never voluntarily miss out on spending Seungri-time. I bet when he comes back he will pamper you again as if you haven’t seen each other for years.“

Seungri had to laugh at that. He wasn’t self-centered or anything but imagining what Youngbae just said actually was exactly what the leader would do. Whenever Jiyong didn’t spend enough time with Seungri, he would come home with something sweet, mostly strawberry related, and then they would cuddle while eating and watching some corny romance movie, nobody payed attention to. Needless to say, the embraces were rather tight and Jiyong would just unwillingly let go the next morning, when he had to leave again.

„I guess you are right.“ The blonde boy snickered, thinking about how adorable and desperate the older would look every time.

~

It’s been twenty minutes but the four boys just couldn’t decide on a restaurant to go to, mostly because whenever they thought of one, Seungri would look really uncomfortable the moment they asked him if he wanted to eat there. Seungri himself was never really against any of their ideas and said he was alright with anything but he just didn’t feel comfortable with going out to eat while having this stupid collar on him. He was humiliated a lot in his life, but this… Right now his coat hid the object rather well but eventually he would have to take it off and the choker would be revealed to everyone around him.

„Jiyong asked where we are, he is already done.“ Youngbae interrupted the younger’s train of thoughts.

„Tell him we are near the chinese restaurant we went to last time, maybe he has a good idea where we can find something nice to eat. I don’t want take outs today.“ Seunghyun reasoned as he picked on his nails.

„Where has he been anyway if he is already done?“ Daesung asked.

„Dunno, he only wrote that he finished his tas