Seoul, South Korea

"Hyung, let's try to redo that verse again one more time. I want to try a faster beat and lower the background melody maybe." 

Jiyong says before quickly put his headphone back on and waits patiently for the music to play. He his lips and clears his throat, getting his voice ready to sing but a small frown creep upon his face as the room fall silent. His glance shifts toward Teddy who is sitting outside the recording room on the desk with his eyebrows furrow and arms cross. 

"Jiyong-ah, I think we should call it a day..." 

Teddy's words seem to knock some senses back right into Jiyong as he slowly gives in and steps out of the recording room. 

"I know you want to get everything done fast but Ji, you have been pushing yourself too much." 

"I just don't want to disappoint them, Hyung." Jiyong lets out a heavy sigh and lightly messages the nape of his neck with his hand, "They have been looking forward to this...and I feel like I have been doing them wrong.."

"Are you sure this is about the fans and not about the fact that you are trying to forget Kiko?"

Jiyong purses his lips together and bites the inside of his cheek. 

Teddy stares back at the young man, carefully studies his face with his sharp eyes. Lack of sleeps, joys, and happiness is written all over his forehead. Teddy can't help it but wonders how comes a man who literally can have anything in this world at his feet look this pitiful. Despite his success, his fames, and his fortunes, he looks like he hates this world so much and with those eyes of his, there aren't any sparks left within. Just dull and dark, they weren't shining bright just like how they used to when Teddy first met him ten years ago.

"You really need to take a break. Look around and start living your life like the others." Teddy stands up from his chair and walks toward him, "You have your whole life to do this stuff but you are missing out on a lot of what a normal human should experience. Look at all of your friends, they are either travelling the world with their love ones, or doing some other things apart from lying around this studio the whole darn day, Ji."

As much as Jiyong doesn't want to admit the fact that what Teddy just said is right, he kinda has to. All the other members are taking their times to enjoy their lives the way they haven't been doing since they debuted. Top is travelling around Europe, to collect some art pieces and building a mini museum at his place. Seungri is working on his business in Japan and travelling the world to meet new people almost every day. Taeyang is taking his relationship with Hyorin noona to the next level, they just moved in together last month and he is already talking about marriage the last time they spoke. Daesung, he is out somewhere in the countryside of Japan with his family and the last time they spoke, he was already seeing someone.

And then there is Jiyong, literally no plans. No relationships, no taking anything to the next step apart from writing songs after songs in his studio, all alone by himself. 

"I talked to Sajangnim yesterday and all the members..." Teddy's words snap Jiyong out of his thought, "He said the whole team really thinks it would be the best for Bigbang if we postpone the comeback for another month for you to take some times off and get away."

"But hyung-"

"No but, Ji. You need to start living, you are going to be twenty nine soon and you haven't even had anything in your own life worked out."

"It's not like I don't want to and you knew that, Hyung. It's not as easy as you think it is going to be for me to live my life, start a relationship with someone and be normal again..."

"Then try again. Try again for me. Try again for yourself." Teddy says, "Take this month and go somewhere far away from all Seoul. Find yourself and when you come back, you will have the story to tell, to write about in your songs. If you want your music to base on your real true feelings rather than something artificial then you have to go out and experience it, Jiyong. You can't sit in this studio and expect yourself to come up with something." 

Jiyong looks like he is deep in his thoughts for a second but then he says, "What if I still can't come up with anything, what are we going to do?"

"It doesn't matter. We can never tell I guess we will see it when you come back." 

"This is seriously the dumbest idea ever..."

"It won't hurt you to take a break and get out of this studio for a while, Ji but it will if you look back in the next four or five years and regrets so many chances you could have taken." 

*****************

New York City, New York

"I can't believe we are really just going to visit this place because Sora's obsession over a k-pop idol." May grunts as she plops herself down at the foot of the bed.

"C'mon, May don't be so rude. The place doesn't look so bad after all."  Jessie kindly tells her grumpy looking friend, "And Sora barely asks us for any favours, she must really want to go this time otherwise she wouldn't have came up with it."

Turning around, May stares at her best friend in disbelief. She can't understand Jessie. How can someone can truly understand where everybody is coming from as if they live inside of their heads all the time. Jessie always think more about the others and less of herself, she understands everyone and literally almost never disagree with anything.  

"I love the place, Jess and for god sake, I love Bigbang with all my heart but c'mon, it's not like we are going to get to see GD in person if we go to his pension or something. The point is this place is like one of those places in the countryside, and you know how much I hate countryside."

Jessie chuckles, "Well, then you can choose to stay in New York if you want, we will just spend this break without you. How about that?"

"Why are you so kind to everyone but me seriously...I don't get it." May snickers, as she crawls up the bed.

"I am not, May. C'mon. Let sleep now, we have to catch a flight tomorrow in the morning." Jessie says and reaches to the side to switch off her night-stand lamp, "This is our last Christmas break together before we are all off to college next spring, May. Let's spend our times together and make the best memories out of it." She points out