5-27 Gisan-ri Ildong-myeon, Pocheon

The Dragon’s Lair

“So.”

Ji-Yong looked up, above the rim of the cup of French Roast coffee that he’d been cradling, his eyes meeting hers – when had she grown up so much? The very thought that this was the same little girl who would visit him in his dressing room and tell him stories about mermaids was still something he couldn’t quite get his head around.

Frustration thrumming though his veins, yet again – he took one final sip, before, placing his cup down, on the marble top table in front of him, and repeating pointedly –

“So?”

And goddammit if she didn’t bloody smile.

It was unnerving, how that one soft smile, that haunted the corners of , desperately made him want to smile back, well that or envision much more enjoyable ways to get her to stop smiling.

Chakkamanyo. No. Focus Jiyong. God Bloody Dammit.

This was some sort of karmic punishment, it had to be – nothing else made sense.

Drawing in a deep breath, Ji forced himself to look back up, and repeated, in a voice infinitely more steady than this heartbeat at the moment –

“I don’t really have time for games, so let’s make this simple - what do you want, Haru?”

Bright wide-eyes, the color of burnt honey, looked back at him, and for half a second, Ji-yong was almost sure he’d imagined the way her sense of calm seemed to seep into them, an almost ethereal sense of serene certainty.

It was as if he’d asked her if the sun rose in the east, or if stars shone in the night sky.

And then it was there again – that ghost of smile, that seemed to taunt him – as if this child, was telling him without even resorting to words, how simpleminded his question was.

“You.”
 

YG Studio’s
Underground Employee Only Entrance

“Upar ka kamra khali hain kya? I said unhand me this instant you pack of tuxedo-ed worms!”

Taeyang, blanched visibly at the chalkboard screech that pierced through the silent YG car park.

Stepping, back from his car, Taeyang found himself, walking almost automatically, towards the sound of an obviously displeased young lady and, if her ‘pack of tuxedo-ed worms’ was anything to go by the, YG security staff, having a bit of an altercation.

“Ma’am, we’re really going to have to ask you to leave.”

“I am telling you for the umpteenth time, you buffon, I am not some idiot fan, I work here. Call the damn director – or that guy, the one with the nasally voice... Hyung Sook, I think – “
 

“We’ve already told you we can’t call the CEO because of a crazy saesang!” exclaimed, one of the guards, his  thick accented English duly horrified at the notion – while one of the men cowering behind him, held a hand over his cheek defensively.

Well, this was certainly interesting.

 It reminded him vaguely, of the time Seungri had led a group of Saesangs right to the dorms, unintentionally of course, not that that had helped matters. One of them had showed up dressed as a maid and actually made it past security, only to be caught by their then Housekeeper.

“Jan-Hyuk-sshi?”

 Positioning himself directly behind what seemed to be the source of all the commotion, Taeyang carefully braced himself and, waited patiently. The whole ‘saesang’ issue had died down quite a bit in the past ten years, but there were always a few strays.

If he was right, the girl would most probably rush him, and in doing so give the security staff a legitimate reason to have her removed.

Just another day in the life.

5-27 Gisan-ri Ildong-myeon, Pocheon

The Dragon’s Lair

What did she want?

Really?

He still had to ask?

To be fair, she admitted, she had been asking herself the same question lately.

Twelve years was a long time – and it wasn’t as if she was oblivious to the borderline insanity she was courting by ‘loving’ a man who saw her as little more than a precocious child.

But, what other option did she have?

Pretend her heart didn’t skip a beat every time she looked at him for the rest of her life?
 

Because of arbitrary social norms?

Why?

Maybe someday, she would. Maybe one day she would bend to all the rhyme and reason, while her heart broke.

Or maybe one day she wouldn’t need to – but for now for this moment – she was going to find a way to make this impossibly stubborn man bend for her first.

“You.” She repeated, her eyes dancing with mirth as she watched him blanch visibly at her bluntness.

He tightened his lips, “I’m not interested.”

“I am.”

He arched a brow at the deliberate double entendre, “So I presumed, when you decided to show up here at this ungo