Previous chapter:

“I’m honestly getting tired of faking my smiles. I promise myself every time that it will be my last, but who am I really kidding?”

 

This time, both sides of the call were silent as they shared a moment of understanding. Understanding the situation his junior was in was one of the painful moments of being a sunbae. Rain wanted to do something for Seven, but for the first time in a while, he didn’t know what to do to make things better. There was nothing for him to do. All he could really do is sit back and watch. Wait and see what unfolds. Hope it doesn’t hurt Seven more than it already has.

 

He’s once heard of a man who passed away of heartbreak. Rain hoped it wasn’t true.

 

{...Until he’s experienced the pain.}

 

Chapter 17:

{Love is when your mind is full of questions...

 

‘Ding dong!’ There was no answer. ‘Ding dong!’ He pressed it again. No answer. ‘Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!’

 

Seven stood outside a relatively new apartment complex, the surname “Kwon” imprinted by the side of the door. Evidently, he was being ignored by his best friend and he wouldn’t have it his way. He pressed the doorbell five more times before he could hear the owner of the house decide to get up from his nap on the couch.

 

“Jesus christ, who the hell is bothering me so early in the morning?” The owner of the house groaned loudly as he opened the front door.

 

He took a few steps back in surprise as he came face to face with a forlorn panda-eyed man, carrying a plastic bag in one hand and a huge duffel bag in the other.

 

“Dongwook, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” The house owner deadpanned. “Just looking at you right now, I can tell that it would not be wise to let you in.”

 

Dongwook smiled weakly at the man who answered the door, knowing how pathetic he probably looked like at the moment. What he thought he really needed now was a drinking partner who would listen, not a friend who would nag at his shortcomings.

 

“Come on, Jiyong. I even brought beer.” He lifted up the plastic bag in his right hand and the beer cans clinked inside. “Please?”

 

Jiyong sighed. Once Dongwook brings beer, there is no way you can refuse to invite his poor soul inside. Dongwook only brings beer when he is upset, desperate, and looking for a way out -- especially when he has no escape route.

 

“Fine, come in.” Jiyong grumbled, stepping aside to make way.

 

“Thanks, Jiyong-ah.”

 

Dongwook stepped into the apartment and carefully took off his shoes, placing them by the shoe rack. He then shuffled into the living room, dropped his duffel bag on the floor, and sat down on the couch in front of the coffee table.

 

“I wasn’t planning on letting you in,” Jiyong said with a yawn as he closed and locked the front door, “but I didn’t have any excuses since today and tomorrow happen to be my only free days this month.”

 

He walked over to the couch where Dongwook had settled himself and grabbed a beer can from the plastic bag. He threw one at Dongwook before cracking one open for himself. Dongwook chuckled as he cracked his can open and took a sip.

 

“You didn’t have to word that so harshly, you know. Don’t worry about me, I just needed someone to be next to me while I drank.” Dongwook said while rolling his eyes. “I’m perfectly fine.”

 

Jiyong laughed as he reached over to clank cans with Dongwook’s. He then put the can down, not willing to get drunk on a weekday morning.

 

“If you say so. I mean, drinking beer at 8 in the morning does not sound like you’re okay.”

 

“What do you think it sounds like?” Dongwook asked curiously.

 

Jiyoung stared at Dongwook for a few seconds before he picked up the television remote and turned the TV on.

 

“Probably another love slump?” He said as he landed on the channel airing the Pinocchio drama marathon. “Why else would you be acting like this?”

 

They both watched a few minutes of the episode in silence, the only sounds audible were of Dongwook drinking and putting the cans onto the table. Jiyong broke the silence first.

 

“Let’s face it, hyung. These past few years, it seems like she’s the only reason for your feelings...right?”

 

There was no reply. Dongwook merely sighed before reaching for another can of beer and cracking it open. Without realizing it, he had already finished two cans of beer and was about to move onto the third. Jiyong was still on his first can, obviously, and watched, half in shock and half in pity, as his hyung continued to drink.

 

“Hyung, if you want to talk about it, you can always talk about anything with me.” Jiyong tried.

 

Dongwook maintained his silence as he continued to drink and sigh. Jiyong was starting to think that he could create a song with a background soundtrack of this moment: drink, sigh, put can down, grab new can, crack it open, drink, sigh. He was starting to get impatient and knew that Dongwook probably didn’t intend to open up to him any time soon. At that exact moment, the home phone started to ring. Jiyong cast a side glance at Dongwook before and scrambling up to his bedroom to find a phone. Picking up the phone was a pretty hard task in the Kwon household because all of the wireless phones are misplaced in the weirdest spots. And if by any chance a phone was perfectly visible, it was usually battery dead.

 

“Yoboseyo?” He said, holding the receiver further from his face as he tried to catch his breath.

 

He had managed to find a wireless phone hidden underneath the covers of his bed and was elated that he made it in time. His closest friends all knew his home and abroad schedule, so usually, a phone call to his apartment meant that it was from someone close and he couldn’t afford to miss the calls -- they were usually important.

 

“Yo, Jiyong!” A very familiar voice greeted happily. “It’s Taeyang!”

 

Jiyong let out a deep sigh. All that work just to pick up this phone call. This guy should’ve called his cell phone instead!

 

“Wae?” He replied curtly. “What do you need?”

 

“Hey, you’re not disappointed to pick up my phone call, are you?” Taeyang pouted from the other line. “I’m your baeeeeeeeee!”

 

Jiyong gritted his teeth in childish annoyance. Never in so many years of knowing him did he want to smack Taeyang’s head for once. This kid really calls at the perfect times.

 

“I’m hanging up.”

 

“Wait, wait, wait!! Yeobooo!!!” Taeyang said quickly. “I called you for something important, you know! Otherwise, I would’ve just spammed you on Kakaotalk. Jeez, that temper of yours.”

 

“Then hurry it up!”

 

Taeyang laughed.

 

“The director of our upcoming Big Bang Concert DVD wants to talk with you...something about discussing issues about the filming and everything. He wants to meet you now before he gets on a flight to Japan.”

 

“You could’ve said that earlier. So when is his flight?”

 

There was a slight pause over the phone as Taeyang shuffled through his notebook.

 

“It’s at 10:40am today.” Taeyang said as he returned to his cellphone.

 

Jiyong glanced at the clock hanging on his kitchen wall. It read 9:00am.

 

“Oh. My. God. You IDIOT!” Jiyong nearly shouted. “How am I supposed to make it in time?!”

 

He could literally imagine Taeyang shrugging his shoulders arrogantly wherever he was.

 

“Mianhe, hyung! I did wrong!” Taeyang said in a jumble. Before Jiyong could reply, the line had cut off, leaving him hanging.

 

Jiyong took a few big breaths. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Now wasn’t the time to get mad at Taeyang, nor was it the time to throw a temper tantrum and get moody. Now was the time to grab his keys and get out of the apartment complex as fast as he could. He reached out for his car keys across the marble countertop and ran up to the coat closet to grab one of his recent fashion favorites, his black knee long coat.

 

“Is everything okay?” Dongwook called out from the living room.

 

Jiyong rushed over to the front door and proceeded to pull his laced boots on.

 

“Something suddenly came up and I have to meet our director at a hotel to discuss some issues.” Jiyong said quickly as he moved to work on his left foot. “I’m really really really sorry, hyung! I’ll be back really soon, okay?”

 

He stood up after putting his shoes on and gave Dongwook a reassuring smile.

 

“I swear I’ll be back in like an hour and a half. Please don’t get yourself really drunk when I’m gone,” Jiyong warned Dongwook, “because there’s no one here to take care of you and I don’t want you doing unnecessary things in my apartment!”

 

“Arasseo, arasseo,” Dongwook chuckled as he put down his third can of beer, “I have a h-high alcohol tolerance, so d-don’t worry about me.”

 

He lazily waved his hand toward Jiyong as if telling him to leave and go away, but his reassurance was just making Jiyong more worried. He really had to leave now, but he could tell that his hyung was starting to get drunk already.

 

“Aish, I don’t know anymore. I’ll deal with this later.” Jiyong muttered.

 

He swung the front door open and left the apartment, twirling his car keys around his finger.

 

~*~

*Beep*!

 

The card scanner beeped as you placed your bus fare card on top of it. After giving a smile and a nod to the bus driver, you returned your card safely into your back pocket and retreated to find a seat near the back of the bus. There were not many passengers in the bus with you, but there were a few couples here and there, as well as the occasional mother with her child. For some reason, one of the couples sitting in the middle of the bus just couldn’t keep their hands off of each other and you found their lovey dovey atmosphere to be almost suffocating. Luckily, you found a window seat two rows from the back and sat down with a sigh.

 

It was only 10:15 in the morning but you already felt like it’d been an entire day. You had dance practice right after you woke up and singing practice following that, leaving you no time to rest until now on the bus ride home. All you wanted to do at the moment was return home, collapse in bed, and get the sleep you needed. Was resting time too much to ask for?

 

After staring out the window for a few minutes, you pulled your Samsung phone out of your bag and untangled the earphones that were plugged into it. Placing the earbuds into your ears, you pressed the play button and instantaneously, Seven’s voice started singing to you his single that you heard live the day before. Your mind slowly drifted off to the lullaby of Seven’s voice and you could feel yourself begin to drift off into sleep, until...

 

“Ring ding dong, Ring ding dong, Ring DINGA DING DING DING DING DING!”

 

You jumped out of your seat as your phone suddenly blasted ‘Ring Ding Dong’ by SHINee, interrupting you from getting your fill of sleep for the day.

 

Who would be calling me at this time? I don’t normally get calls in the morning...

 

You regained composure as you sat back into your chair and glanced at your ringing phone. The caller ID was an unknown number.

 

Should I pick it up...? Nah, maybe I shouldn’t....But it might be important...

 

Before you could change your mind again, you clicked the green button and picked up the call.

 

“Yoboseyo?”

 

There was a man on the other line clearing his throat.

 

“Uhm, annyeonghaseyo. Is this Jay?”

 

You nodded unconsciously but a few seconds later, realized he couldn’t see you.

 

“Yes, that is me. May I ask who you are?”

 

You heard the man take a deep breath over the other line and wondered what he was calling for.

 

“This is G-Dragon, Kwon Jiyong. I’m close friends with Dongwook hyung and I’m just really worried right now.”

 

“What?” You replied almost right away. “Is there something wrong? Did he get into some kind of trouble?”

 

You somehow disregarded the fact that you were talking to G-Dragon and immediately began worrying for Dongwook. What if something was wrong with oppa? What if he was hurt? You couldn’t bear to see something like that happen to him, not after he’s been so nice to you for all this time.

 

“He’s at my place right now and I’m worried that he might have hurt himself or intoxicated himself too much. He’s alone and no one is there to watch him...” Jiyong sounded terribly worried and distressed and you became equally as distressed as him as you listened to his story. “Can you please check up on him as soon as you can? You can enter my house by entering Dongwook’s birthday into the number lock. I’ll send you the address via text.”

 

At times like this, I actually feel really grateful that Dongwook has a friend like Jiyong by his side...

 

There were many things that you were grateful for in life, but this was the first time you were sincerely grateful for someone else taking care of oppa for you. It was a weird emotion, feeling safe because you knew someone else has been watching out for Dongwook. However, you knew Dongwook was still in danger and no one was there to help him. Just thinking about it made your heart pound a little faster.

 

“Arasseo, I’ll go right now.” You said, panic laced in your voice as you hastily reached for the ‘STOP’ button on the bus railings. You pressed it a few times frantically before the bus driver halted the bus by the side of the road. “Thanks for telling me about this, Jiyong-ssi. I’ll make sure he’s okay!”

 

He will definitely be okay.

 

You hung up immediately without waiting for a reply, and rushed down the bus aisle. The couple that was bugging you earlier gave you weird looks as you rushed down the aisle, but you could care less. It was probably karma, seeing that you probably looked at them the same way when you first entered the bus. In normal circumstances, you would’ve given them the same look right back at them, but now was not the time to be sassy.

 

After jumping down from the bus steps, you saw a notification for a new text and opened it; it was Jiyong’s address and you clicked on the GPS to navigate where his house was. It wasn’t too far and you started to walk in the right direction. As you kept walking, you couldn’t bring yourself to think straight. Your mind was full of chaos that would not be organized no matter how much you tried to remain calm. Why was Dongwook drinking so heavily? Was he okay? Exactly how much did he drink? So many questions ran through your head as you broke into a sprint down the road toward Jiyong’s apartment.

 

For the second time, you felt the same exact feeling that you felt yesterday. You didn’t know why, but for the past two days, this same feeling had been creeping it’s way into your heart. Why, only now, does it feel like Seven is escaping your grasp so quickly? Why, only now, does it feel like he will be gone from your sight in a heartbeat? You had so many questions, but it was only now, that you couldn’t find answers to anything. The question is, why?

...that you just can't answer.}

~*~

A/N:

I am back...after what seems like a long hiatus(?)...and I’m truly sorry, as always, for being that one author who procrastinates in updating her fanfics and instead goes on to procrastinate with other things, just to avoid doing schoolwork XD. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I can just anticipate something big happening next chapter :3 I smell it in the air, hahahah~ Welcome to all the new readers and thanks to my subscribers for sticking with me til the end! Much love <3 Btw, again, no edits done, but I'll probably come back and edit; right now, it's 12:57am and tomorrow's a school day so I'm basically screwed for tomorrow LOL.