The time: 10:15. The Kwon boys had just left a few minutes ago with the rest of the dancers since they had apparently been dancing and rehearsing, as well as just hanging out, since around 6 while we were all gone. When I had finally arrived, they had shown me the dance once more and as much as I might hate them for making me sore and feel horrible, they were rather sweet. They had apparently spent some time trying to make the dance easier to remember, while still putting in the moves that they wanted me to learn. They even showed me how it could easily be changed into a two person dance. Of course, when it was a two person dance, it was a rather up close and personal dance, but it looked amazing. And it actually felt much easier to do the dance with a partner than do it on my own. There were only a few changes and, after practicing a few times with Deuk and then Don, I remembered it as well as the original, now slightly modified, one.

They had also shown me a few exercise moves that they wanted me to work on in my spare time, mainly to strengthen my knees and ankles. Apparently those were the two areas most likely to be injured by girls when dancing. I think it's due to the fact that we are expected to dance in heels, but I was glad they were trying to help.

But they had left. And what was I doing? Practicing. I had considered just ending when they did and going to watch the boys practice, but something the twins had said really made me reconsider. It had been about half way through the practice, and we had just finished working a specific bit of choreography that I was still finding challenging, even now. When they had started telling me what I was doing wrong again, I groaned and sat down on the floor. I looked up when the toe of a shoe poked my leg.

"Nikky-noona, you practice," Don said, squatting down so his eyes were on my level. "Boys practiced a lot before. Dancers too."

Deuk stood behind his brother and continued. "We want a good show, so we work hard. You can hurt and be stressed. But boys want good show for fans. We do this for them." I looked down at the ground, a bit ashamed. But I quickly smiled and held a hand out to Deuk, who grabbed it and helped me up.

"Okay," I said, "let's keep going!" They were right. I wasn't doing this for me. I wasn't doing this to prove to YG that I could make it. I was doing this for the boys. I was doing this for the fans who had saved and waited just for the chance to see BigBang in concert. I was doing this so they would have the best experience ever. And that meant working. A lot.

So that was how 10:30 found me. In fact, as soon as my alarm went off on my phone, I went over, turned it, and the boombox, off, and just let myself fall to the floor. Laying down. It felt soooo nice. It is a feeling I cannot describe. I just lay there, spread eagle, my eyes closed, head towards the door, trying to wait until my limbs do longer felt like jelly. The boys had other ideas.

I heard the door open, followed by a very concerned maknae voice. "Nikky-noona! Are you alright?" I opened an eye, tilted my head as far back as possible, and saw all five guys, upside down of course, standing by the open door, concerned expressions on their faces.

I did my best to point towards Taeyang. "You..." I managed to get out before I gave up. Instead I half groaned, half growled as I closed my eyes and let my arm drop.

"Tired?" A chuckling GD asked me a question, but I was too tired to answer, so instead I just gave him a thumbs up. He actually laughed at this, as did the other guys. "Well, its time to go to the hotel," he informed me as I heard footsteps approaching. I opened my eyes again and looked straight up to see him staring down at me, a huge grin on his face.

I sighed, rolled over, and somehow managed to get off the floor in a maneuver that involved getting onto all fours and finally accepting a helping hand from GD. "Thanks," I said, giving him a small smile. I walked over towards the bench and grabbed my duffle bag by the long strap, intent on putting it on my shoulder, but all I could do was let out a groan. Why in the world did it feel so heavy? Oh, that was right. The Kwon brothers had borrowed some ankle weights from some of the dancers. I was supposed to wear them during practice in order to strengthen my ankles. Great.

So instead of lifting it to my shoulder, I just started dragging it across the floor. This resulted in the boys laughing, GD found it particularly funny, so I made sure to shoot him my best death glare. To my surprise, Top gave an exasperated sigh and walked over to me. I looked up at him, expecting, well, I don't know what, but he just shook his head at me. "You over worked," he said, smiling a little.

"No, I'm just-" I tried to defend myself, but wasn't given the chance. Suddenly he reached over, grabbed the strap in my hand and took my bag. His little bag was in his one hand, while my bigger gym bag went over his other shoulder. He just continued to shake his head and smile a tiny bit as he turned and walked towards the door, catching up with Taeyang who was already starting to leave. I stared after his back, confused, until GD came up next to me and bumped his shoulder against mine. "What?" I said looking over, not realizing how intently I might have been staring.

"Time to go," he said as he too headed towards the door. I just sighed, then took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and followed them. I might be sore, but they had done training this difficult for many, many months. If they could take it, so could I. I smiled as I caught up with Seungri and GD. Not to mention that as sore as I was, it was actually a little bit fun.

-----

We met the managers in the downstairs lobby of the dance studio and headed back to the hotel, all of us bundled up in layers. I fell back and walked with the managers, not because we really had anything to talk about, though they were all pretty nice guys, but because I felt like that was where I should walk, with the staff members while the boys talked and joked and such. However, it soon became very apparent that one of the members wasn't taking part in the talking and joking. In fact, he quickly fell behind the others until the groups became GD, Taeyang, Seungri and Top, Daesung by himself, and then the managers and myself in the rear. Well, that just wouldn't do, now would it?

I hurried my steps until I caught up with Daesung, who was so intent on staring at the ground that I don't think he noticed me until I spoke. "Hi Dae," I softly said, trying to break him out of his thoughts. "Whats wrong?"

"Hm?" He asked, looking towards me. He gave me a sad smile as he replied, "Wrong? Nothing. I am okay." I was having none of that though. I continued to just look at him and he held up both hands towards me. "Nikky-noona, I am okay. Nothing is wrong," he smiled again, before putting his hands into his pockets and turning back towards the ground. While that smile migt fool some, I knew it was fake. As much as he was trying to act like everything was alright, something was obviously wrong. Of course, if I was in his position, I would say the same thing he was, simply because I wouldn't want to worry anyone else. From what I could tell, that seemed to be the type of person he was as well.

The more time I spent around the boys, the more I cared for them, in an actual worrying-about-how-they-are-doing sense. It was odd, but looking at him and knowing that something was obviously wrong, made me sad. I didn't like seeing him upset, and was willing to do just about anything to make him feel better. "Daesung," I said, waiting until he glances at me before giving him a look that told him I knew he was lying. "Something is wrong. You can tell me," my face softened as I thought about how hard it must be not having anyone to talk to. Been there, done that, don't want to do it again. I reached over, whether to pat his arm or try and hug him, I don't know, but eventually ended up with just wrapping my hand around his upper arm and moving closer, almost hugging his arm. In that touch I tried to put all of my caring and all of the strength that I could.

It was then that I noticed someone walk up, or fall back that is, to Daesung's other side. I was so intent on looking at Daesung that it wasn't until the other person was in line with us that I looked over and saw Top looking between me and his dongsaeng, a blank look on his face. "Something is wrong?" He repeated, looking at me. I tilted my head towards Daesung, and Top's face immediately became concerned as he turned to look just at the younger boy.

"Daesung," he said, before switching to korean, "what is wrong?"

I saw Daesung almost flinch when he heard Top speak. I almost became worried until I heard him sigh, almost as though in resignation. He looked over towards Top. "Hyung, nothing is wrong..." I saw Top's expression change from concerned to 'don't give me that ', just as mine had. Daesung once again signed. "I... I just do not want Noona to think badly of me if she hears what is wrong." Okay, I had no idea what was being said, but I know I heard my name. So when Daesung glanced over at me, I tried to give him a small smile, but he quickly looked away again.

"Dongseng..." Top took a moment, switching the bags he was carrying so now one was over his shoulder and the other in his hand, leaving the arm next to Daesung free. He then put his arm around the younger man's shoulders as he talked. "You told me that you first introduced me to Noona because she reminded you of your sister back home, right?" Daesung nodded. "Would she ever judge you for something like that?" A shake of his head told me that Daesung disagreed with whatever Top was saying. "Then do you really think Nikky-noona will?” I heard my name as Daesung glanced over again. I gave him another small smile, and this time he returned it, with a tiny bit of actual smile in it.

"No, I guess not." Daesung took a deep breath before he started speaking in English again. "I am... afraid. Tonight I did not do good at the show. I forgot words. My English was bad." He shook his head as he talked. "I do not like sounding bad. I think I will do badly tomorrow as well."

"But Dae," I said, confused. "I thought you sounded good! You aren't afraid when you talk to me, are you?" He smiled at me and shook his head. "So... just pretend like you're talking with me!" I said, smiling back. Man, I was brilliant sometimes! Okay, not really, but I was hoping that thinking like that might help him get over the fear. If he went into the interview afraid, I knew, from personal experience, it would end poorly.

"Well," I glanced past Daesung as Top spoke. "Would it help if Nikky-noona was there?" Daesung turned to his hyung and I couldn't see his expression, but I could see him nodding. Meanwhile, all I could think was... What? "Tonight Hae Jung-noona was backstage. Maybe she will let Nikky-noona tomorrow. We can ask, okay?"

"De!" Daesung answered. He turned to me and the grin on his face was completely contagious. I wanted to say no, that I would prefer to stay in the green room, away from where anyone could see me, but... How could I say no to that face?

"Alright, I will ask her. Just for you, Daesungie," I said, grinning back at him as I gave his arm a hug. It was so adorable, because for some reason he started to blush and looked down at the ground in front of us. But I could still see his smile. I glanced over to Top and our eyes met. We were both smiling, grinning from ear to ear, happy to have helped our friend.

I heard a cough from behind us and glanced over my shoulder to see one of the managers pointing in our direction. I raised an eyebrow, confused, until Top quickly dropped his arm. I looked at him and saw that he was looking forward. I turned and saw that we were almost at the intersection near the hotel and there were people around. I quickly let go of Daesung's arm, a blush rising to my cheeks. Oops. I was so intent on comforting him that I forgot that we were actually walking around New York. Luckily, The boys had donned their disguises, and we were all so bundled up I don't think anyone would recognize us. But I knew I'd have to be more careful in the future.

-----

I said goodnight to the boys when we got to our floor of the hotel. I didn't know about them, but I was exhausted and ready to sleep. They all entered their rooms and I was just about to unlock my door when I heard a deep voice behind me. "Nikky-ssi...." I turned and saw Top standing outside of his room, holding my bag out in front of him. I felt the color rise to my cheeks and I hurried back down the hallway.

"Oh... oops," I said with a small chuckle that sounded a little too much like a giggle. "Sorry, Top." I kept looking at the ground between us as I reached out and grabbed the strap. However, even after I grabbed it, the hand in front of me did not let go. I glanced up and, truthfully, I could not read the expression on Top's face. He just looked at me for a few moments before opening his mouth, as though he were going to speak. But he quickly closed it, and smiled, shaking his head as he let go of the strap.

"Silly..." was all he said before he reached up and ruffled my hair. I quickly stepped backwards and brought my free hand up, knocking his away playfully as he chuckled. I gave him a pout, stuck out my tongue, and turned. His laughter quickly died, and I was certain he had gone back into his room. I reached my room and was about to enter it when I heard from behind me "Good night." I turned to see Top, arms crossed, leaning against the wall outside of his room, just looking down the hallway towards me. Our eyes met again and I blushed, confused, before I quickly entered my room. I leaned against the door as I closed it, for some unknown reason my heart hammering in my chest.

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A/N: I'm gonna make up for not posting in a few days by giving you another chapter REALLY soon! (hopefully tomorrow!) And I am SOOO excited Because... I HAVE OVER 50 FOLLOWERS!!! 0.o When did this happen? WHY did this happen? I'm guessing that this means you all enjoy the story but... Please let me know what you think ^_^ A writer loves to hear both critisism and praise!