Let me tell you something. If you're ever in a very, very bad mood, look at what time you last ate. Seriously! Because I can tell you that putting food into my belly? It gave me a whole new outlook on the day. Not only that, but it seemed to help ease things with Seungri and Daesung a bit as well. By the end of breakfast, Seungri was no longer putting on his "forced" happy face, and while Daesung was still more reserved than normal, he was smiling, and taking part in the conversation the boys were currently having in Korean while I contacted our driver. The only one who I was still having some, well, awkwardness with was none other than Mr. T to the O to the P.

I also realized that I wasn't the only one who had been holding back on taking pictures. I managed to get a selca from each of the boys on my phone, which was pretty awesome, and a few of the boys doing silly things, such as Seungri trying to fit a whole waffle into his mouth and Top trying to feed Daesung some fruit. That bit was probably what helped bring Dae out of his slump in the first place. And it was sort of adorable to see Top mothering Daesung and the boys joking around and playing with their food. 

Yes, having a full belly can give you an entirely new outlook on life.

----

I kept having to glance between the map and the street signs as we passed, and it was getting to be frustrating. The driver was pretty nice and, while he knew where we were going, was humoring me with my directions. You see, I wanted it to be a surprise. I planned out the route perfectly so that they would not only have no idea where we were thanks to all of the turns, but they also wouldn't see where we were going until we were out of the van. I had been there before, and it wasn't nearly as eye catching as I had thought, so there was a chance they wouldn't even see it until we were almost at the doors. I couldn't wait to see their faces!

Okay, you know what? I was lying to myself. I was excited about seeing one face in general. The area we were going to had a ton of shops, so I was certain the boys would all find a store they wanted to go into, but there were two specific ones I had in mind. I convinced myself it was because I wanted to say thank you, and that was probably true, but... Just thinking about how his face would look made me smile like an idiot.

"Which way now?"

"Umm...." I glanced out the window and saw it. The street we needed. "The next right please!" I smiled and glanced back from the passenger seat. The boys had given up looking around and were instead talking, thank goodness. So when we made the turn and stopped, needless to say they were surprised. "We're here!" I almost shouted as I opened my door. The light ahead of us was red, meaning there was a pack of cars between us and the other side of the street and our destination. Perfect! I felt like the world was trying to make up for me having to leave the boys, otherwise how could this trip be working out so perfectly?

"Give me a call when you are ready to head back, miss." I turned back to the driver and gave him a smile.

"I will. Thank you so much!" I waved as he rolled the passenger window up.

"Noona, why here?" Seungri came up next to me and looked around, obviously confused, but I just shook my head.

"Not telling," I smiled as I grabbed his arm and Dae's hand, tugging them towards the stop light. I continued to shake my head and keep my mouth shut, even as the boys questioned me, afraid that if I said another word I might reveal everything. Finally, the light turned again and we were able to cross the street.

"Are we going there?" GD asked, pointing to the glass faced Apple building in the middle of the bloc.

"Nope," I said as I hurried in front of them. I turned and waited for them all to stop. "May I present to you," I turned and swept my arms out from me before pulling a very Vanna White pose, "F.A.O. Schwartz." I smiled at the tiny building with man dressed as a toy soldier out front of it. When I heard silence from behind me, I turned around, worried that perhaps my great plan and reveal was, well, silly and not very great at all.

Of course, I was being silly. Four of the five boys were grinning like idiots. I was greeted with a round of "Awesome" "Sweet" and "Toys!" in a variety of combinations as the four grinning boys walked past me. But that still left one rather silent and stoic boy behind.

I took a second and looked at the ground as I walked back to stand next to Top. I turned and stared at the building as we both stood there in silence for a minute. "Um," I finally managed to get out. "So, whatcha think?" Poetry, huh? I swear, I should write poems or stories or something.

"Nikky-ya..." He trailed off before turning to me. I honestly cannot describe the grin that had taken over his face. "Kasahamnida," he said as he grabbed my hand. I looked down and blushed as he gave it a squeeze.

"I know it isn't much, but the unnies said you hadn't been here before, and, well," I shrugged my shoulders as I continued babbling, "I thought you'd want to visit before leaving the city again. Plus," I smiled up at him at that point, "they have brick bears."

He laughed and reached over to ruffle my hair, not letting go of my hand. "They are bearbricks, not brick bears," he replied.

"Oh," I blushed as I looked down at the ground again. There went that little bit of confidence I had. Stupid.

He gave my hand another squeeze and I looked up. My heart literally stopped when our eyes met and he smiled. "Thank you." It took me a second to smile back, before he started almost running forward, my hand in his. "Let's go! I want to see what bears they have!" I was unable to stop laughing before we got to the front door, but the giggling when he saw all of the toys inside of the store? That was harder to stop.

-----

Let me just say that I? I am not into shopping. Even for toys. Well, I take that back. Sometimes I'm into shopping, but today was not one of those days. Today was for the boys. Or at least I wanted it to be, which was why I was going to let them choose where to go after this so they could all buy stuff for themselves if they wanted. Because, I repeat, today was for the boys to enjoy themselves. Instead, a tiny stuffed panda, tiger, and puppy later, I realized that the boys thought the same thing. Er, opposite thing. While I wanted today to be only about them, they kept thinking about me. You see, Daesung stuck next to Top and myself while we were in the store, while Seungri, GD, and Taeyang went off by themselves. We agreed to meet outside, and when we did, I was presented with the stuffed animals. Apparently the boys I had not been with had decided they needed to get me something to take home with me, which is why I received a panda from Seungri, a tiger from Jiyong, and an adorable puppy from Taeyang.

Not that they hadn't gotten anything for themselves. Seungri had a stuffed monkey to join his collection at home while Top had a few new bearbricks. Still, I felt bad receiving something from them.

"Aw, noona," Daesung said with a sigh as we walked along the street to the next store. "I am sorry."

I reached down and grabbed his hand, giving him a smile. "Dae, it's okay, you don't have to buy me anything. They," I said as I sent a glare to the three guys walking behind us, "didn't have to get me anything either."

"No, but we wanted to," Jiyong replied with a bit of a laugh.

"Ri was hoping you would choose one to like over the others," Taeyang cut in, resulting in a whine from Seungri.

"Hyung, do not say that."

"Why? It's true," Jiyong shrugged and Top let out a chuckle.

"That sounds like him."

I just shook my head before almost running into Jiyong who was currently staring, very contemplating, at the building we were in front of. “Can we go here?” He asked, pointing up to the sign on the building.

“Well, I suppose, but isn’t this a little, I don’t know, tame for you?” I said with a laugh, which he reciprocated.

“A little, but I have always wanted to go inside.”

I spent a good minute just looking between him and the sign. The others were waiting silently until Seungri moved next to me and prodded me gently with his elbow. I glanced over and was immediately hit with puppy eyes, which just had me laugh again. “Alright, alright, fine. But no buying anything, alright Ji?” I wagged my finger at Jiyong and gave him a playful glare. “Otherwise Cho Hee-unnie will have my skin.”

“Fine, fine,” he held up his hands in defeat before turning to walk in. I glanced up one last time at the sign as we walked inside, completely shocked. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I would be going into Tiffany & Co. with none other than Mr. Chrome Hearts himself.

---

Now, as you probably already know, I’m not a girly girl. I don’t normally wear make-up, dressing up feels weird, and I don’t usually wear jewelry. However! That does not mean I do not enjoy these things. Like jewelry. Do you want to know the main reason I do not wear jewelry every day? Because I don’t want people to think I’m weird. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to wear it. I like pretty and shiny things, I just don’t think they look good on me. So looking around at all of the pretty and shiny things in Tiffany’s? Was both fun and sad. Fun because, well, pretty and shiny! Sad because I knew that I would look weird if I tried to wear any of it. Like the earrings and necklaces Seungri, Taeyang, and Jiyong were looking at at the far end of the counter. Or the bracelets Daesung had his eyes on. Even the simple rings Top was glancing over would look weird on me. Er, the girl versions would look weird on me as well as the boy versions. Therefore, I wasn’t really looking around expecting to find something for myself. No, I figured I might see something for my sisters or mom, maybe my niece. So when I saw the necklace, I stopped in my tracks.

I am a nerd. Plain and simple. And I am proud to be a nerd. That is why I am not ashamed to describe the necklace that caught my eye. It had to be one of the most gorgeous necklaces I had ever seen. It had a long silver chain with gems that seemed to placed randomly along the length. And the charm on the necklace? An infinity heart that, upon closer inspection, had the properties of a Mobius strip as well in the fact that it twisted around. No matter where you started, if you traced the design with your finger you would travel along the entire length, every single side, before reaching the point that you started at.

Anyways, that design has always had a special place in my heart. It signals forever, infinity, and the heart transforms that into eternal love. Love that lasts forever. Now, I’m not one to believe in love at first sight or anything like that, and while I have loved and lost, I do still love them to this day. The men who broke my heart before will always have a place there, whether I want them to or not. Neither of them were love at first sight, but I believe that the love that grew is stronger than love at first sight. Because I didn’t just fall in love with their looks, I fell in love with them, you know?

Okay, enough of the sappy. Focus, Nikky, focus. So! This necklace was just perfect. I bent over to get a closer look and almost felt my face fall as I saw the price tag. True, I had enough on the card YG gave me since I hadn’t really spent it on anything besides food at this point, but did I really want to spend that much on a piece of jewelry? No. I let out a sigh just as one of the sales reps appeared in front of me. “Is there anything I can help you with ma’am?”

I almost told her no, but then I stopped. “Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me the price of that necklace,” I said, pointing to the one I had fallen for. My heart broke again when she repeated the same price I had read. I know, I already knew the price, but I was hoping against hope that I had read it incorrectly or something.

“Would you like to try it on?”

“Oh, no no,” I laughed as I held up my hands, “I’m fine, but thank you.”

Of course at that point I was joined by Top and Daesung. They glanced at the glass case in front of me as Daesung spoke. “What are you looking at, noona?”

“Nothing,” I responded with a flap of my hand, “just some necklaces.”

“Noooona,” Seungri, who I decided right then must be a ninja because I did not hear him coming up behind me at all, resulting in me jumping a bit.

I turned. “What’s wrong?”

“Hyung is trying to buy more jewelry,” he pointed to where Jiyong was talking, and flirting, with one of the sales ladies, holding up what looked like a rather expensive watch.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “I’ll be right back,” I said to the two boys still standing by the jewelry case. “Come on, Ri,” I shook my head as he fell in step beside me. “Let’s try and keep Jiyong from doing anything stupid, ‘kay?”

---

As it turns out, I was less than successful in my endeavor to keep Jiyong out of trouble. A ring, two sets of earrings, and a pair of cuff links later, and he was finally ready to go.

“Do not worry Nikky, I will protect you from Cho Hee-noona,” he told me with a smile on his face as we exited the building. Seungri came up next to me and slung an arm around my shoulder.

“I will protect you also,” he added on enthusiastically.

“Aish, you would just run away. We know you are afraid of her.”

“No, I will protect noona!”

The argument quickly transitioned into Korean and the three mature boys and I walked a little ahead of the squabblers behind us. “Well, where to next?” I asked, flourishing my hand towards the rest of 5^th avenue stretched before us. Turns out that this was the wrong question to ask.

---

Five stores later, yes, count them, FIVE! And I finally had to say enough was enough and call the driver. The final disaster toll? 5 stuffed animals, a bag of toys for Top, jewelry, and a bag of clothes for each of us. Yes, even myself. Though I had had the boys help me, I had managed to pick out a rather adorable outfit that I was happy with including a dress, leggings, boots, mittens, a hat, and a scarf.

I glanced at the boys and felt a flutter in my stomach as one particular set of eyes caught mine and smiled. I quickly looked away, scanning the road in front of us for the driver, but I couldn't ignore the flutter, and it wasn't going away. Truthfully, that flutter had been coming and going all day, and I had no idea why. Except... that I was starting to get an idea. It had started when he had grabbed my hand outside of FAO. Then letter at one of the clothing stores when I was looking at some mittens he had managed to sneak up behind me and say, very close to my ear by the way, "Those look cute". I had almost hit him I was so surprised, but he had jumped out of the way and laughed. Seungri had tried the same thing later, but it turns out the maknae isn't quite as fast as Top and ended up getting smacked on the arm for his troubles.

Then there had been the time when he and Taeyang were looking at sunglasses. He had tried on a couple different ones, not really feeling satisfied with any of the I guess, before he finally settled on two. He turned to me and asked "Which of these look better?"

Since, to me, they looked almost identical, except the color of the frames, I said so. "But I guess the black ones, since black goes with everything?" He put those back on, glanced in the mirror, then smiled and nodded.

"I agree." He turned to me and playfully ruffled my hair, laughing a little when I pouted and brushed his hand away. But man, had the butterflies in my stomach gone crazy then, especially when he stepped closer and smoothed my hair down afterwards. He had opened his mouth to say something when Taeyang had interrupted, and I couldn't help but blush a little as we walked over to help him decide on a pair as well. Why was I blushing? Well, like I said, I was starting to get a very good idea, but I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

So as we stood waiting for the driver to show up, I couldn’t stop smiling , the boys talking playfully around me, switching back and forth between Korean and English, with Daesung and Seungri arguing in Japanese every now and then. Top was standing right next to me, every now and then asking me silly questions in English about my family and my friends, trying to keep me involved. At one point while he was talking with Jiyong, I let out a content sigh and realized that while the pizza and movie had been nice, spending time with all of them this way was just as nice. I could almost get used to shopping, but only if I was able to go shopping with these boys.

---

The rest of the day flew by. We spent a good deal of time practicing. Or at least they practiced, I helped sort clothes and repaired a few things the boys and their dancers had been less than gentle with. I even got to meet the band this time! Only because I was caught in the crossfire between the band and the boys during an all-out Nerf war, but I was okay with that.

After that was sound check followed by a quick but delicious dinner, where the boys and I were joined by the band members and let me tell you how interesting that was. Apparently they tried to have dinner together once in each city, and I was just unlucky to have missed it last week. They talked about some of the craziest things, but it was fun. I was able to sit between Top and Jiyong and it was hard keeping the conversations straight at first. The all would go from talking about some segment of a song and performance to Michael Jackson to Nerf guns to skateboards, and back again. I finally gave up trying to take part, since most of the time I didn't have anything to say, and just focused on listening and eating.

I think Top eventually noticed because next thing I know, he was trying to draw me into a conversation. "Did you like shopping?"

"What?" I turned from the conversation Jiyong was having with one of the band members about nerf guns, confused. "Oh, you mean today?" He nodded and I shrugged as I played with my food. "It was nice, but not something I would do on my own."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, I just... don't like shopping." I shrugged again before turning to him. "I usually don't have fun or find anything nice to wear."

"But you had fun today?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," I said with a huge grin.

"Good," he smiled back and I felt my heart flip flop. "And you also found something cute to wear, right?"

"Sort of I guess," I blushed a little and tried to get myself under control. He laughed but was pulled into another conversation by Daesung, which I was glad for. You see, I was almost 100% positive that I knew why I was feeling the way I was. I couldn't bring myself to actually think the reason yet, but deep down, I think I knew. It was stupid, and it was silly, and it was something I was going to have to get over. But... that could wait until tomorrow, right?

---

And then it was concert time. By now it was becoming routine, and I loved it. It was only when I had a free minute with Cho hee-unnie in the dressing room that I felt the sadness overtake the happiness I was feeling. I was hanging up one of the boy's jackets and suddenly I sniffled. Keeping busy for most of the day had kept the tears at bay, but it sort of hit me as I held the jacket a second longer than I needed to. So many happy memories in such a short span of time with such amazing guys. It really did just take my breath away.

“Nikky-ssi, you okay?” I turned to Cho Hee-unnie and tried to smile. Luckily I hadn't started crying, but my eyes were definitely a little wet at the moment.

“Oh, yeah, sorry unnie, I just pricked my finger or something,” I said with a small laugh. She, of course, did not buy it, but didn’t say anything either. Instead, she came over and I was engulfed in a hug. I took a deep breath and hugged her back before pulling away, the tears gone. “Sorry.”

She just replied with a tsk as she turned back to fixing one of the girl’s hair pieces. “It is okay. Do not apologize, okay?” She turned to me with a grin and I smiled back.

“Okay.”

---

I managed to keep the near-tears to just that one incident, probably because the rest of the time I was just so damn happy. Well, I was technically happy then as well, but most of the time the happiness overrode the I’m-so-happy-I’m-going-to-cry-because-I’m-going-to-miss-it-so-much feeling. I was having fun, more fun than I had had in a long time. I was surrounded by people who liked me for me, and who I liked back. Plus, I was doing something that was just so much fun. The running around, busyness of being backstage, the energy… it was all just so amazing. And I didn’t want to ruin it by worrying about having to leave. No, I was going to enjoy it, and the company of the guys, while I could. I would deal with the sadness and... other emotions later.

Of course, I should have realized that that happiness could only last for so long before something, or more like someone, had to bring it crashing down.

---

A/N: Well, I'm back! Sorry I've been gone for so long. It has been really, really crazy :( And I know this chapter isn't the best or anything, but like I said before, I already have 37/38 basically drafted and done, so hopefully I won't keep you waiting like last time. I don't want to go into why I've been gone, since it is a little depressing, but if you are interested, you can read it in my blog. Needless to say, I sort of have a new outlook on life, and I can't wait to get around to finishing this story for you guys! Hope you like what comes up!