Time flew by. I mean it really, really did. I cannot think of another time when two hours seemed to go by so quickly. We talked about our families, what we did for work, our dreams, really everything and anything. I think by the end of the conversation he knew more about me than any of the guys I had just spent the past five days with. Plus, I just couldn't help but continue to smile around him. And blush. Oh so much blushing. Every time his hand brushed mine or someone bumped into him and he accidentally bumped into me, I felt like smiling. And since those things happened very, very frequently thanks to it being a busy bar, I was smiling and blushing almost the entire conversation. Okay, maybe that had a little bit to do with the fact that I had another, ahem, few drinks with him after the initial mojito, but it wasn't like I was drunk. Just a little tiny bit tipsy. Teeny tiny.

"Kiki, I think someone is looking for you," Chris told me with a smile as he pointed over my shoulder.

I glanced over and saw none other than Seungri, GD, and Taeyang standing on the DJ platform, scanning the crowd. I caught GD's eyes before I turned back to Chris. "Oh, well, I should probably be going then." I stood up and blushed as he stood up with me. "It was really nice to meet you," I smiled up at him.

"You too," he reached out and took my hand. "I don't suppose asking for your number for the billionth time would change anything?" He gave my hand a hopeful squeeze, a huge grin on his face.

I blushed even more but shook my head, looking down at the floor. I was leaving New York in a few days and even though he was a really, really sweet guy, giving my number out to someone at a bar was just something I couldn't bring myself to do.

He let out a sigh and I looked up to see him smile at me sadly. "Well, it was worth a try." I smiled and tried to think of what to say when suddenly he gave my hand a pull and I was engulfed in a hug. "I hope I get to see you again," he whispered in my ear before pulling back and smiling at me. I hate to admit it, but my reactions were a little slow. I shouldn't have let him hug me like that, but being tipsy, well, makes it a little difficult to react quickly. But as he leaned towards me, I knew what he was going to do. I was quick enough that I turned my head at the last moment and his lips landed on my cheek instead of where he had been aiming. It wasn't that I didn't want to kiss him, but I had just met him. That wasn't exactly something you should be doing when you first meet someone, especially in a bar, right? Still, my tipsy brain made me blush and smile at the contact, and when I looked up at him he smiled as well, as though he had meant to kiss my cheek the entire time. Maybe he had and I had just over reacted, but I didn't have time to ask him. "Good night," he said with a smile as he let me go before turning and melting back into the crowd.

I just stared at his back until I heard a voice behind me. "Who was that?" I turned a little too quickly and almost lost my balance, only to have a hand reach out and steady me. I looked up and saw that Taeyang and Seungri had somehow made it through the crowd and reached me at the bar. They glanced between me and the area Chris had just walked through, though I doubt they could actually see him anymore. There was absolutely no way that they had not seen him with me, but in my not very intelligent state I decided to play it off.

"Who was who?" I tried to look innocent, yet the expressions they gave me told me I failed, of course. "Oh, him? That was just a friend..." I trailed off as Seungri raised an eyebrow and Taeyang's face grew concerned. "Really guys, he-" I tried to take a step towards them and I must have stepped on something slick since my ankle twisted underneath me. Again, I almost fell but both boys reached out and grabbed an elbow, keeping me steady. I grinned sheepishly at them as Seungri smiled.

"Noona, did you drink?"

"Nooo-" Taeyang raised an eyebrow this time and I stopped. "Maybe just one or two."

Seungri just continued to grin at me while Taeyang shook his head. I would have felt ashamed except that I could see a small smile on his face, so I just smiled back instead. Seungri took that moment to hold his arm out to me. I looked at him confused until he let out a small laugh and took my hand, placing it on his arm. Oh! I laughed as well as I held onto his arm, letting him lead me out of the club with Taeyang walking on my other side. His hand was on my shoulder, thankfully, since without that I don't think I would have been able to keep from falling over whenever anyone bumped into me.

When we got outside, GD, Daesung, and Top were waiting with the others. Somehow, not only did I manage to not walk and look quite as tipsy as I felt, but two of the dancers were definitely more intoxicated than me. Daesung let us know that the vans were being pulled around and, luckily, we would only be out there for another minute or two.

I turned to ask about Dae's night when I noticed Top scowling at me. Well, maybe pouting was the better word. Due to my state, I was a little more outgoing than normal, so instead of asking kindly or trying to sound caring, I just smirked at him. "What?"

"You disappeared," he said, continuing to pout and looking away from me.

"Aw," I said with a grin. "Did you miss me?"

"No." He gave me a side glare. "I did not."

Daesung smiled and nudged Top as he spoke up. "You danced and hyung was alone," to which the older man scoffed and turned away from both of us. Daesung started laughing and I just couldn't help but join in.

"Awww," I said, playfully. "Poor you," I went over and gave his shoulder a caring pat as Daesung joined in.

"Poor hyung," he said with an identical pat on the other shoulder.

"It's okay if you missed me," I continued to grin. From where I stood I could just barely see the look on Top's face, and it was then that I realized he was starting to move from pouting to angry. Shoot. I needed to do something quick to keep him from getting pissed at our teasing. But what? Quick thinking was not my forte when I have been drinking, so I did the only thing that I could think of to make him smile at that moment. "Poor oppa," I said in my most playful voice. As soon as it was out, I regretted it. Ugh. It sounded like I was trying to use, what was that word, aegyo. Something I, as an older, tall, non-Korean girl, did not have. Plus it made me sound ridiculous.

But, it had the desired effect. Daesung started laughing harder as Top turned towards me, a smirk on his face. "What?"

I tried to make my face neutral as I looked back at him. "What?"

"You called me oppa."

"What? No I didn't," I shook my head a tiny bit as I scoffed.

"Yes, you did. You called me oppa." His smirk grew and I saw Daesung nodding in agreement. I sent him a warning glare, to which he just grinned more.

"Whatever," I said, crossing my arms and taking my turn at pouting. This resulted in more laughing from Dae and some chuckling from Top.

"Oh, noona," I heard Daesung say after a moment. "Where did you go?"

"Hm?" I said, turning around to face him.

Suddenly, a wild Seungri appeared next to Dae. I swear, he made sure to use the loudest stage whisper ever as he said "Noona was with a booooy!"

I blushed as Daesung, Top, and even GD, who was talking with Taeyang, turned to look at me. "Noona was with a boy?" Daesung almost sounded sad as he asked me, and I honestly didn't know what to say.

"Oh, really?" GD spoke up, saving me the trouble. He smirked and came to stand next to me. "Who is he?" He gave me a little nudge and a wink as he asked.

"No one," I quickly replied. "Just a friend."

"A new friend?" Daesung asked.

"Well, sort of," I said with a small smile, looking down at the ground. But when I looked back up, the expressions around me had changed slightly, as did the tone of the boys' voices.

"What is his name?" GD asked.

"How old is he?" Seungri followed quickly.

"You just meet him tonight?" The expression on Dae's face was a mixture of disapproval and confusion.

"He seemed too friendly." That, of course, came from the stern Top.

"You should not trust guys in bars," Taeyang put a hand on my arm at that point, seeming to be more concerned than angry.

I just looked between all of the boys as they fired their questions at me, and it took me a second to realize what this reminded me of. Once when I still lived at home, my youngest sister had come home beaming about a new boy she met at school. My other sister and myself started pestering her with questions, being slightly "too over protective" as we were told later in a not so gentle way. The looks, tones, questions, and comments I was getting from the boys? I had a feeling this is what it would be like if I was being interrogated by older brothers. Which is funny since I am older than all five of them.

"You didn't give him your number did you?"

"Guys in bars are usually up to no good."

"Did he try to kiss you?"

"He looked like a kotchu sekki."

"Hyung!" Daesung looked at the older man with a shocked face before turning back to me. "Noona, please answer," he said before doing the one thing I could not resist: puppy dog eyes. He moved next to me and put a hand on the opposite arm from the one Taeyang had touched. Then? He just looked at me. It only took seconds for the Daesung-puppy-dog-eyes to affect me.

"His name was Chris," I rolled my eyes but gave Daesung a smile. "I just met him tonight and no, I did not give him my number," I rolled my eyes at the leader who had asked the question. Then I turned and gave Daesung's hand a small pat. "He was just a nice guy that I talked to while you all were dancing, that's all."

"Oh, good," he replied with a grin. I smiled back at his adorable eye smile as Seungri came over and slung an arm over my shoulder.

"You should not meet guys in bar," he said with a serious look on his face. "You are our noona. We do not want to share." He nodded as he said this before breaking out into a smile. "You will be only our noona, yes?"

"Of- of course!" I smiled at him and nodded, but inside I felt my heart almost break. Their noona. Did they actually think of me so fondly? I know I didn't want to leave, but was it possible they wanted me to stay as much as I wanted to? Luckily, the managers showed up with the two vans at that point and interrupted my thought. I managed to get into the van that didn't contain the boys because at that moment? I don't think I could have continued looking quite as happy as I had been.

---

And this was one of the reasons I did not drink. The tipsy part? That can be fun. So long as I don't say or do anything stupid. As I become sober, I tend to become more, well, sober. Sometimes I'll even get really sad, almost downright depressed, and my thoughts? Well they have a mind of their own at that point.

The two vans managed to get separated on the way back to the hotel, with the van I was in getting back first. Thus? Avoiding the boys wasn't a problem. Which was a very good thing. I quickly changed and managed to be in by time the unnies got back. Pretending to have passed out was relatively easy since Cho Hee and Hae Jung were both slightly buzzed themselves. One quick "Nikky?" with no response was enough for them. Soon, the light were out and the only things keeping me company were random soft snores from the other bed and my thoughts.

And right now my thoughts were bouncing between three subjects: Chris, the boys, and how much I was going to miss them. None of those were giving me happy thoughts. For starters: Chris. That was the first time I had met a good looking and nice guy who seemed to actually be a nice guy who just happened to be interested in me. Or at least I'm pretty sure he was interested in me. No, I know he was. And the fact that he asked for my number meant he had actually wanted to get to know me. The fact that he hadn't tried anything, except for maybe that kiss at the end, meant he hadn't been talking to me just because he wanted to get me in bed. Most guys either weren't interested in me  or they were only interested in getting me in bed. I hated that so very, very much. I wish other guys would look at me the way he had...

But that thought just brought me around to the boys. I don't know why it did, but it did, and that did not help the sadness I was feeling. It actually made it so much worse. I felt my eyes tear up before I could stop them. I hadn't even left them yet, and I was already starting to miss them, how weird was that? They had their little quirks, but overall they were all so amazing. Definitely not what I had expected. I mean, I know some idols put on a nice face for the cameras and fans but then when they were behind closed doors? They were completely different. But not these guys. Well, not exactly. Sure, GD had his moments when he would get frustrated. And Taeyang took on another personality when it came to getting the choreography down for the show. Daesung and Seungri were really such sweethearts. And Seungri was not nearly as much of a womanizer as people had said. Sure, he liked to dance with the pretty girls, and talk to them, but I had imagined so much worse. As of now though? He had been a complete, well, not a gentleman, but he was sweet. Daesung was already like a brother to me. We hadn't even known each other a full week, and already he was letting me lean on him and talk to him like the brother I never had. The fact that he felt comfortable enough to act the same way towards me? It just brought even more tears to my eyes. Like the other night, when he was worried about speaking English on Ellen and Top and I-

Top. Now that was an entirely different and complicated can of worms. Out of all of the boys, he was the one I understood the least. He was sweet to me one minute, and a sarcastic jerk the next. Well, not a jerk exactly, just sarcastic. I think he cares about me. Like the others care about me. I mean, not like anything special, just as a friend. But then at the club, he had teased me, and it was almost like he was flaunting those girls that were hanging on him. Psh, like I cared. Except. Ugh. Just thinking about him made my thoughts race to, well, everything. Us comforting Daesung together. Him comforting me at rehearsal. Talking in the hallway the other night. The first club we went to. The kiss... I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. While I knew how I felt about the others, Top? He still just confused me. And I didn't have much time left to unravel the complex knot that was T.O.P.

I felt my heart start to race and my eyes start to water up as I kept thinking that I didn't have much time left with any of the boys. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to get up and do something, anything. I needed some way to clear my head so I could sleep! I shot up in bed and glanced over to the bed next to me. Both unnies were asleep, so slipping out of the room ended up being easier than I thought. However, since I was only in sweatpants and a t-shirt, I was a little limited with where I could go on my walk. After making my way down to the lobby, I realized there was one place that no one would be this late at night: the indoor pool.

And of course I was wrong. I was less tipsy than before, but I was still feeling it, which is probably why I didn't notice him when I first walked into the enclosure. Well, being buzzed and the fact that my thoughts were still racing. Actually, as I was walking into the pool enclose, I was remembering how embarrassing it was to have almost started crying in front of Top earlier. I looked up, and lo and behold, the devil himself was lounging in a pool chair, messing around on his phone. And he looked, well, happy. No, I take that back. His face kept changing from a thoughtful expression to a small smile and back again. I stood there for a minute or two, just watching. I had been with him for almost a week and I've seen him look pissed, sad, happy, even mischievous, but this expression? It just made my heart and thoughts both stop.

I think I only stared for a minute or two, but it might have been longer. Time flows a little funny when you're buzzed, you know? Eventually he let out a little bit of a sigh, and that brought me out of my trance. I quickly turned to leave, but, being the clumsy and slightly buzzed person I was, I managed to drop the room key I had forgotten I was carrying. I bent to pick it up and I managed to put it in my pocket before I realized my silent escape was extremely unsuccessful.

"Nikky-ya?"

Aaaand . I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before putting a smile on my face and turning around. "Hey."

He was standing up, hands in the front pocket of his hoodie, a slightly guilty look on his face. "Did you need me?"

"What? Oh, um, no," I shook my head and smiled, but without even seeing my face I knew it looked forced. We both stood there for a moment and I swear, you could have cut the tension with a knife. The worst part was that I didn't even know why there was tension! Sure, he had teased me earlier, but so had the others. And it didn't feel like that sort of tension. It was just, well, awkward.

I was just about to say something and leave when Top started walking towards me and put on a smile. I say put on because it looked like he was forcing himself to smile. "Did you to talk your boyfriend yet?" He stopped when he was about five feet away from me, which was good, because at that moment what I really wanted to do was hit him. His smile was almost a sneer and I just scowled back.

"He isn't my boyfriend."

"Oh? You seemed close," he folded his arms in front of him and raised an eyebrow.

"I said it before. He is not my boyfriend." I shoved my hands into my pockets, closed my eyes, and bit my tongue to keep from saying anything more. I turned to leave, intending to give him the cold, silent shoulder when his next sentence stopped me.

"It is silly to have a boyfriend when you are leaving soon." The tone of his voice, the words he was saying, and the look I knew he had were enough to send me over the emotional edge I was already teetering on.

I turned around quickly as I almost yelled "Damn it Top, he isn't my boyfriend!" I quickly reached up with one hand to wipe away the few tears that were threatening to escape from my eyes. A combination of being physically exhausted, mentally exhausted, and emotionally drained made it so that keeping my tears in check was near impossible. I turned around just as quickly when he spoke again.

"I'm sorry," he said in a quiet voice, almost a whisper.

Once again, he was able to break me. All of my anger vanished and all that was left was the sadness. Truthfully, he should be sorry, but he just sounded so upset, that I couldn't stay angry. So instead I let out a sigh and sank down onto the edge of the closest pool lounge chair. "No, it's okay. I'm sorry I yelled." I looked up at him and tried to smile. "I'm just a little on edge and sad tonight."

He cocked his head as he took a step closer. "Sad about what?"

"Just..." I took a deep breath and looked away. He knew I only had a few days left, but did he remember that I wasn't going on the next step of the tour with them? Did I want to mention it? Should I? I just shook my head, my eyes closed tight as I tried to keep the tears in again. "Nothing." I felt horrible at that moment. A horrible, emotional train wreck. Someone that Top didn't need to deal with at that moment. But he apparently had other ideas as I felt him sit next to me.

"Are you okay?" I tried to open my mouth to say something, but had to take a deep breath instead. Trying to control the urge to sob was becoming difficult. "I..." He trailed off for a second before he spoke up again. "Should I go get Daesung-ah? Or Taeyang-ah?" I could hear the concern in his voice and it just made me melt. No. I had already almost cried in front of this man once. It was not going to happen again.

I took a deep breath to steady myself as I opened my eyes and smiled at him. "No, I'm alright." Unfortunately, I was at such a level that I was now looking directly into his concern filled eyes. Too much. It was too much. I quickly stood up and wiped my eyes, forcing the smile to stay on my face. "Really, I'm fine." I glanced back down at him before taking looking away and putting some distance between us. "It's just that, well... Spending the last few days with you and the others has been so much fun. It really has been some of the best times in my life, especially recently." I smiled sadly as I thought of how much I would miss them. "I just wish we had more time together, you know?" I felt my breath catch but I kept going. "I want to be able to learn more about you all, and for you all to learn more about me. Our likes and dislikes, favorite foods, what our families are like," I could feel the tears leaking now and was glad my back was turned towards him. It was talking all of my control to keep my voice somewhat steady. "You know, stuff like that-" I had to stop as my breath caught and bit my lip to control the sob.

Before I could continue, I heard movement behind me. Without warning I was engulfed by a pair of strong, comforting arms. My breath slightly caught as he hugged me from behind, but it stopped completely when he spoke. "I know." His voice held all of the concern and sadness that I was trying to conceal. "I do not want you to leave." And that was when he caused me to break down, for the third time.

I took a deep, shuddering breath, tears already threatening to fall, before he gently grabbed my shoulder and turned me around, pulling me into another hug. He held me tightly to him before I just broke down. All of my concentration was spent on keeping quiet as I cried into his embrace, my face covered with my hands, trying to keep his t-shirt dry. I could feel his one hand slowly rub my back as he softly whispered to me, but I wasn't aware enough to know what was being said. I don't know if being hugged was helping me keep quiet or just making it difficult to calm down, but at that point I didn't care. The thought of crying in front of him had made me feel ashamed before, but now the thought of leaving his embrace while I was crying made my heart want to break. So against my earlier judgment, I continued to silently cry into Top's hug, and it was there that I stayed long past the time the tears stopped flowing.

---

A/N: I was going to put a note at the beginning about how this chapter wasn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows, but I didn't want to give it away. Sorry >.< And if you think the sudden emotional change is weird... you have not been around some of the people I have when they drink (me included). Going from happy-happy to oh-god-the-world-is-ending in 0.5 seconds is the norm for some people. This is actually somewhat mild. At least Nikky had a reason for getting all emotional! And, you know, a Top to comfort her.