"Thank you so much for this!" Hyorin sighed in relief, raising her glass up. "To CL's new Nike endorsement!"

CL winked at them. "To Amber's new branch of Cafe Sonder!"

"To Yoona's magazine cover!"

"To Hyorin's break from all the wedding planning!"

The four women cheers happily at Nocturne. It was an early evening, not even 7PM or so. Yoona and CL were hanging out earlier and saw Hyorin who looked like on a verge of break down from planning her wedding to Taeyang. 

"It was bad, guys. It's like I don't even know what I want versus what everyone else wants this wedding to be. Just relaxing here makes everything better already." Hyorin confessed. The moment CL and Yoona suggested having a quick drink, she grabbed her bag and didn't even bother saying goodbye to her fiance who was busy talking music with Teddy.

"Nocturne is always open for stressed out engaged people." Amber said comfortingly. "And for just stressed out people in general."

Amber said it specifically for Yoona who was again looking down on her cellphone. "Huh? Sorry, I was distracted. Pre-order notice was dropped earlier for Jiyong's album and Seungri said we already reached 500k pre-orders. In five hours. This is insane."

"Too bad you're not going to be touring with his team. The downtime in between concerts in the different countries are so much fun." CL frowned.

"She's jumping ship even before the album is released."

"What?! You only have two weeks left in YG?" 

Yoona held up a hand. "Okay, calm down. Everything will be okay. Life will still go on." 

"How are the fans going to take that?" Hyorin asked. 

"What fans?"

"Oh come on." CL rolled her eyes. "You have a created a decent amount of shippers. GYoon. G-Dragon & Yoona. They love seeing you two together."

"Yeah, right." Yoona snapped, her voice a little more emotional than she expected. "Well, whatever. Not going to happen."

"Woah." Her bestfriend raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen?"

Yoona shook her head a little quicker than she should have. The memory of what had gotten her irritated still fresh in her mind.

They were almost at the YG building when G-Dragon's phone rang. He was already feeling a lot lazy at that moment so he answered the call on speakerphone.

"Hey, hot stuff." The female voice greeted in a sultry voice. 

Jiyong looked tentatively at Yoona whose mouth was already agape and her eyebrows raised. "Uhh.. Hey, Kiko. 'Sup?"

"Heard from Soo Hyuk that you're having your comeback soon? You said you'll hang out with me before you're busy again! Remember those nights we used to have? We'd go on until the morning." She giggled. "So what do you say? You ready for a night with me?"

Yoona accidentally dropped her iPad. She quickly picked it up and mouthed an apology to Jiyong.

"Yeah, sure. We haven't hung out in a while. How about the day after tomorrow?" 

"It's a date! I'll see you soon. Love ya!" 

The call ended. Jiyong cleared his throat. Silence filled the van. The drivernim noticed it of course. He shifted in his seat, unable to take the seeping awkwardness in the air. 

"You're free." Yoona said flatly.

"W-what?" The way Yoona spoke somehow made Jiyong nervous. "What do you mean?"

"The day after tomorrow. You're free of schedule that day. Should I move around your schedule late afternoon the next day?"

"Uhm.. Yeah, that would be great."

"Awesome. Nice." It was the exact moment, they reached the YG building. Yoona roughly slid the van door open, getting out and then while Jiyong was still trying to get out after her, slammed the door at his face. 

"Ahh.. I see." CL, Amber & Hyorin all said at the same time.

"You were jealous."  Hyorin said in a-matter-of-fact tone. 

"Mwuh?" Yoona took three seconds drinking her shot bottoms up. "I am not!"

"Wait-- do you smell that?" Amber started sniffing the air.

Chaerin did the same. "Oh yeah. I know that smell. Smells like denial."

The two high-fived, proud of their little skit. 

"Very funny. Haha." Yoona said sarcastically. "I wasn't jealous."

"It's okay if you are, you know?"

Yoona started laughing. "It's not. It's not okay that I'm even looking at him. I wasn't jealous. I'm not. I'm not. I can't be jealous. I'm with Johnny! I can't be jealous.... right?"

"Oh honey." Hyorin put a hand over Yoona's.

Yoona squeezed it and then looked away. "You know what? It doesn't matter. I'll get over this. It's going to be okay." 

The three looked at each other. The denial is so strong. They could argue and waste time over this and Yoona wouldn't still listen.

"Yeah," Chae hesitantly agreed, her tone higher than her normal voice. "Probably just that you two are always together. Should fade."

Amber nodded. "Yeah. Two weeks left. Then it'll be gone. Because.. that's how feelings totally work."

Yoona's phone vibrated. "Well, I gotta go. Jaehyuk's having Yedam over for dinner. Johnny too."

"That sounds fun. Are you cooking dinner?" Hyorin innocently asked.

Amber bursted out laughing. Yoona glared at her.

"No. Unless I want the 4th generation's best vocals and an NCT member to die over food poisoning. I'll have enough time to order, heat it up, plate it and pretend like I was slaving over the kitchen instead of early drinking with you girls." Yoona stood up, kissing each of them on the cheek.

"There's a lot of content moving foward, it's exciting but also going to get tiring. I love getting to work with everyone though." Johnny paused to drink water. "And of course, this is just between the four of us, okay? I'll get in trouble if it leaks."

"And then I'll have to fix it." Yoona winked.

"23 members." Yedam shook his head in amazement. "That's so cool! I've always wanted brothers."

"Ya, you have me. I'm your brother." Jaehyuk nudged him. 

"Of all people, why is it you?" He teased. "Noona, the food is so good! Delicious!"

Johnny agreed, taking another serving. "You know that Thai place near MBC Building? Tastes a lot like it."

Jaehyuk snickered, eyeing his older sister with an evil smirk. "Yeah, noona! It almost tastes like it's from the same place!"

Yoona glared at her brother, silently threatening him. Years together and even with just looks, they can converse properly. 

Before it could blow out to be a staring war between the siblings, Yedam thankfully changed the subject. "Noona, why haven't you invited me over your office?"

"You know you're welcome anytime, Yedammie." Yoona cooed. Johnny noticed how when talking to younger idols, she tends to baby talk them. She does the same to the maknaes of NCT. That small detail made him unconsciously reach out to ruffle her hair gently. "Though I have to warn you, my office itself is a little bland. Just a desk and a chair. Key's been nagging me about decorating especially the walls but I'm not really the artsy type."

"I thought Jaehyuk's friend is helping you with the interior of your office?" Johnny casually asked.

"Asahi? He's been MIA recently. When I message him, he says he's busy. What's up with him recently, aegiya?"

Jaehyuk looked disinterested. "Don't know."

Yoona raised an eyebrow. "Okaaaaay. I didn't have time to get  make dessert. Is ice cream okay?" 

"Holy crap? You said that to her? No wonder it got all ed up, man. That's horrible." Kiko commented after Jiyong told her about the award ceremony debacle. "If I was her, I would have punched you right there!"

Jiyong blew out smoke, the windows of his Lamborghini open. He let Kiko drive tonight. While he already overcame the fear of driving at night, he still wouldn't push it to limits. "I know how you're like mad. I forgot your birthday and you spread out rumors about my being small. You crazy ."

Kiko