Now’s the time. And I can’t turn back. I can feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. Aish, I hate blushing. I have this fear that I’ll look idiotic whenever it happens, and that it’s going to betray whatever I’m thinking. Tasha unnie grabs my hand.

“Yubin-ah, let’s go!”

It’s easy enough to get in, since everyone knows me. I walk in with Tasha, and I can hear a few cheers. We walk over to the edge of the dance floor, near the DJ booth, and sure enough, TOP-sunbae spots us.

            “Yubin! How are you doing? You and your friend wanna come up here with us?” He motions to GD, who apparently has no other duties around Neon and is just lounging up there to his left. I gulp a little bit.

            “Ah, yes, sunbae. We’ll be up in a minute.”

TOP-sunbae laughs a little. When we get up there he pulls me aside.

            “You can call me oppa, you know. We’re friends, right?”

            “Of course, sun- I mean, oppa.”

            “You’re so polite. Relax a little. And who’s this you brought with you?”

            “This is Reid Tasha, she’s my unnie.”

            “Reid Tasha?” GD pipes in. “That sounds like an American name.”

            “It is,” unnie answers. “My father is African-American.”

            “Ah, is that why your hair is curly? It’s very unique.” GD replies. I roll my eyes a little. TOP-oppa catches my eye roll and gives me a knowing look. It’s very clear that G-Dragon is a flirt but Tasha unnie is smart and also older than him, so I’m sure she’s picked up on it already. TOP-oppa begins to talk to me.

“Yubin, I don’t see much of you outside of your performances. What do you do in your spare time?”

            “Ummm…Eat and sleep? Oh! I work out and practice also.”

            “Wow, you’re really dedicated. I like that.”

YAYYYY HE LIKES THAT!

“Yeah, well, it’s always been my dream to be sort of, well-known in the underground rap circuit.”

“Well, Yubin, you’ve pretty much achieved your dream then.”

“You really think so?”

“For sure. I see your name in the papers pretty often and everyone in your audiences seems to have heard of you. Oh, hey. I know this is crazy but…Do you wanna rap together?”

“Sure, I’d love to. When?”

“How about right now?”

I don’t think I can breathe properly anymore.