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Seungri’s Workplace
Friday, May 4th, 2012
9:38am
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Seungri was in a tired daze, hating the fact that Friday’s always promised to be busier than all of the other weekdays. He took a deep breath and tried to shake it off, vowing to buy some more of those semi-tasteful grape 5 Hour Energy shots later. Those things were positively magical.

Getting into his usual routine, Seungri began humming and singing with the radio as time slowly moved by.

“You can be addicted to a certain kind of sadness~ Like resignation to the end, always the end,” Seungri sang along to the radio as one of the better songs of the day came on. He always enjoyed singing along to this one, it managed to fit with a lot of his more sullen moods when he was at work.

“But you didn’t have to cut me off~ make it like it never happened and that we were nothing. I don't even need your love, but you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough,” he managed to stay in tune with this song, having memorized the lyrics a long time ago with it constantly playing on the radio. Seungri wiped down the sinks while he swayed along with the music.

“Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over, part of me believing it was always something that I'd done~ But I don't wanna live that way, reading into every word you say, you said that you could let it go and I woul-” Seungri was suddenly cut off by a loud pitched siren going through the building.

Ah, . Fire drill. Totally forgot about that being today.

Quickly shutting his dishwasher off, Seungri went around the corner to seek out Daesung. It was easy enough as his friend was also coming to get him. Buddy system, always works.

“Woo-hoo! Break time!” Daesung began heading towards the door with another one of those goofy grins on his face. Seungri gave a quick look out to the restaurant to see the patrons completely unfazed by the annoying siren going off. Seeing as it was a drill, the employees only needed to inform customers that they would be fine as they were and would return to serve them in a short period of time. Of course they left at least one person inside to keep an eye on things lest a customer decide they wanted to walk away with a free meal.

“Smoke break!” Dave, the cook, quickly took his Marlboro’s out of his front pocket and had a cigarette lit within moments. Seungri tried not to stare as he had been attempting to quit the bad habit for the past three weeks. He found that lots of sweet mint gum/original bubblegum and a busy schedule helped quite a bit with the process.

It’s going to be a really long day.

Seungri took a deep breath and let it out, enjoying the smell of tobacco in the air. The smell of cigarettes always got to him as it reminded him of weekend carnivals from his childhood and never failed to create a nostalgic atmosphere. It was comforting in an odd sort of way that Seungri always enjoyed.

Due to his wandering mind, Seungri hadn’t even noticed that a few long minutes had passed and everyone was already walking back into the restaurant. Trying to pump himself up for the rest of the day, he cracked a few jokes with Dae and was determined to stay busy until the end of his shift.

If he stayed in a bad mood, Seungri knew the whole Seunghyun visit wouldn’t go well and he wasn’t planning on adding any more fuel to that fire.

Quickly turning his dishwasher back on, and getting a piece of sweet mint gum from his pocket, Seungri kept his attitude determined and more upbeat than it was before.

Everything will turn out just fine. No need to worry.

Nope, no need to worry at all.

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Outside Seungri’s workplace
End of shift
3:07pm
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The day finally picked up around noon and before he knew it, his shift was over and he was free to go. After clocking out and giving a small wave to a busy Daesung, he headed towards the exit and out into the summer heat.

Seungri went through the usual motions of getting his mp3 player all set and positioning himself comfortably on his bike. He headed in the opposite direction of his apartment, instead making his way to Choi Seunghyun’s.

The only reason Seungri knew the way to Seunghyun’s apartement was because he’d once needed to grab his cell phone from Jiyong who was staying at his place. Due to Seungri’s lack of social life, he doesn’t use his phone much, so when Jiyong’s phone was out of commission for a period of time it was no hardship to loan it out to him.

With his mind wandering back to Jiyong and Seunghyun, Seungri felt his mood get worse thinking about what his friend was going through. Nobody deserved to be let go that way, especially not Ji. But at the same time, although they were never on particularly good terms, Seungri just couldn’t see Seunghyun breaking up with Jiyong so coldheartedly. He was always sweet and kind to Jiyong and never failed to earn Seungri’s respect for him in that regard.

It was simply too weird to think of one without the other. They were nearly joined at the hip for months on end and Seungri had actually gotten used to it quickly. He still wondered what happened to change Seunghyun's attitude towards Ji. Something just seemed off about the whole situation.

None of your business, Seungri. Stay out of it.

After making another right turn going towards the better half of the city, Seungri was a mere three blocks away from Seunghyun’s apartment. Choi Seunghyun lived in one of those high-class areas where police patrolled for safety and the birds that flew above the beautiful buildings pooped rainbows and sunshine.

Due to his wandering mind again, he was in front of Seunghyun’s apartment complex in no time at all, just barely catching himself before he rode right past it. Moving his bike up onto the sidewalk he began to set it leaning on a small tree. Casually looking around as he put his mp3 into his backpack, he noticed a fancy silver camaro parked in front of the tree he leaned his bike against. Giving an impressed whistle, Seungri shook his head at the thought of how much money such a car would cost.

Giving himself a little pep talk, Seungri made his way into the large apartment complex and skipped the elevator in favor of taking the stairs to the 6th floor. He’d rather take stairs then get stuck in an elevator with a well-dressed person while he was still wearing his shabby work uniform. Seungri was definitely not a fan of uncomfortable semi-social situations.

The walk up the stairs was quick and he found himself entering the sixth floor hallway within minutes. Keeping his head down as he made the walk down to the end of the hall, Seungri all but slammed into a large figure coming from the opposite direction, just managing to catch his balance enough to take a few steady steps back. Making sure to not look directly at the well dressed man by averting his eyes to the ground, Seungri gave a small bow and quickly moved past him, still uncomfortable with his attire in such a wealthy area.

Out of curiosity he looked back to watch the retreating figure of the man he’d almost ran into. Seungri noticed that he had a very attractive look about him, from the back anyways which looked quite muscular, and his hair surprisingly resembled a radish with it shaved on the sides and the black hair on the top stuck straight up. Letting out a small sigh and giving one last appreciative glance to the strangers backside, Seungri got back on track and made his way to Seunghyun’s apartment.

Already feeling his heart start to beat rapidly, Seungri took a few deep breaths and raised his hand to knock. After hesitating and stepping back, he gave himself another quick pep talk and tried to shake off the unnecessary nerves. Finally he gave the door three quick raps with his knuckles and waited for Seunghyun to open the door.

And waited.

…

It never occurred to Seungri that he Seunghyun might not be home.

Seungri shook his head and took a step back to give the door a long hard stare. Giving up after a few moments of intense door glaring, he turned to head out. As he was taking his first step down the hall, he saw the door open out of the corner of his eye and quickly turned back to face the door.

Seunghyun opened the door slowly, quite melodramatically even but Seungri wasn’t about to say anything, and peeked his head out.

Seungri made eye contact with Choi Seunghyun and raised his hand in a three- wave as he slightly ducked his head down.

“Hi,” Seungri said in a timid voice.

Seunghyun just stared in shock before his face settled in a small glare.

“What do you want?”

“I just need to pick up a few of Ji’s things, you know, like his notebook and iPod and computer.” Seungri stopped himself before he began rambling out of nervousness. Not only was he here without Jiyong knowing but he wasn’t even on friendly terms with Seunghyun.

After a tense and awkward pause, Seunghyun opened the door further and walked back into the apartment. Seungri assumed it was safe to follow him and closed the door after walking in.

“Did he send you?” His voice was rough and abrupt as he spoke.

“No, he doesn’t know that I even came. But I figured he’d need at least this much and I don’t know if he’d be able to come and get them any time soon due to his schedule.” Thinking about his friend’s feelings, Seungri intended to not let anything slip that might reveal how much Jiyong was hurting, coming up with a semi-lame excuse for his reason of coming in place of his friend.

Seunghyun was silent before letting out a small but bitter chuckle as he walked over to the clean and modern coffee table situated in front of his giant flat screen television. Seungri briefly wondered if it was one of those tv’s where you could watch 3D movies on it.

Quickly shaking off the thought, Seungri gently held onto the few important items Seunghyun handed to him and shifted his weight between both feet as he tried to think of anything else to say.

Seunghyun was staring intently at the items of Jiyong’s and Seungri could feel the atmosphere get a little more tense. Before things could get any more awkward, he turned towards the door and took a few steps, stopping only to turn around to face Seunghyun once more.

“Thank you,” Seungri quietly said, taking one last look at Seunghyun before exiting the apartment and walking back towards the stairwell.

As he was walking, he couldn’t get the image of Seunghyun’s pained expression out of his head. Trying not to think too much of it he merely shook his head and made the long trek down the stairs and back out the doors of the apartment complex.

Seungri vaguely noticed that the expensive car from earlier was gone before he packed Jiyong’s things into his backpack and slid onto his bike.

Next stop, grocery store.

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Outside the local grocery store
3:43pm
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Seungri was at the grocery store within ten minutes, pure luck that it was so close to his side of town.

He quickly went to the bike racks situated close to the door and put his front wheel on the second to last space. Taking a quick inventory of himself he was assured that he had his wallet and small slip of paper where he wrote his list of items to buy.

Stepping through the front doors Seungri was immediately blasted with cool air and the smell of fresh produce. After grabbing a basket and taking out his list, he made his way to the ramen aisle where he stocked up on some good old fashioned beef and chicken ramen. He then began his usual routine of wandering up and down aisles until he found what he needed.

Making sure to pick up a package of crispy donuts for Jiyong, Seungri started towards the dairy and aisle to pick up some milk and cheese before going the opposite way to get some eggs and lunch meat. He’d already grabbed a bag of rice, a loaf of bread, and some popsicles. His list was short and with his small basket he was able to prevent himself from any impulse buys. Even if the cookies looked tempting. Really tempting.

Mmm, cookies...

Getting himself back on track, Seungri walked back to the front of the store as he went through a mental checklist to see if there was anything he forgot to put on his list. Not recalling anything, he went through the self-checkout and was out in no time.

Situating his bags comfortably in one hand Seungri made his way over to his bike. Just as he was about to get on he paused and took a small step back feeling as if something was off about his bikes position. He frowned in thought trying to remember how he had his bike when he’d first arrived. He was almost completely positive he had put his bike in the second to last space but there it sat instead at the very last spot.

Trying to not overthink it and weird himself out over nothing Seungri chose to ignore it after giving his bike a quick look over. Deciding that nothing else seemed off or out of place he got on and, after balancing the bags on his bike handles, began the fifteen minute ride home.

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Back at his apartment
4:07pm
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Seungri struggled to get the door open as he held onto all of his bags. After a few impressive maneuvers, he was able to kick open the door and wheel his bike into his front hallway. He shut and locked his door before walking towards the kitchen to begin putting the food away.

“Jiyong?” He called out, hoping his friend was still there so he could give him his stuff.

As he was putting the food into the fridge he heard quiet footsteps behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Jiyong wearing one of his shirts and boxers. Jiyong yawned as he leaned against the doorway and sleepily gazed at Seungri.

“Hey Ri. How was work?” Even his voice was slow and filled with exhaustion.

“The usual. We did have a fire drill today though. Still waiting to hear about any new hires for the supervisor position. It’d be nice to have someone that could cover for our cooks when they get tired and grumpy,” Seungri said in a light but wary tone, knowing he'd have to come clean about his after-work activites.

Deciding to just get it over with he took a deep breath and tried to start off by speaking about what he did casually.

“Oh, before I forget Ji, I went and grabbed these for you. I know I didn't ask you but I didn't have a lot of time to think about it and I just figured I'd do it after work while I had the energy.” Seungri went to his backpack and pulled out Jiyong’s iPod, laptop, and notebook before walking over and putting it gently on the table.

Jiyong just stared at the items for a few moments before furrowing his brows and turning his annoyed gaze to Seungri.

“You went over to his apartment? Why would you do that without telling me?” Jiyong was starting to get upset and before he could get worked up, Seungri rushed to explain.

“I knew that they were important to you and I figured it would be too hard for you to go yourself. I’m really sorry, Ji, that I didn’t tell you but I thought today would be the best day to go get them and you were knocked out and I didn’t want to wake you. But nothing even happened, I just got them and left, we didn’t even really speak.” Seungri was breathing fast now after his rambling and waited for Jiyong to speak.

Jiyong took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose while looking down. After a few moments of tense silence he finally spoke.

“Okay. I know you didn't have any bad intentions with it. I'm just still upset about everything, it did only happen yesterday y'know? But I get that you didn’t mean anything by it. Thanks actually, I didn't even think about my stuff let alone how I'd be able to get them.” Jiyong gave Seungri a small smile as he relaxed once again, all the annoyance gone at Seungri’s long and cute rambling.

Seungri then went over to his last bag and pulled out the small container of crispy donuts and presented them to Ji, hoping his friend would feel a little better after munching on his favorite treat.

“I thought you might want some after the night you’ve had,” he handed them to Jiyong and watched his friend’s face light up before he tore open the package and began chewing on one of the donuts.

“I wove you Wi!” Jiyong managed to say with his mouth full of donut.

Letting out a laugh at Jiyong’s muffled words, he went over to grab a glass of milk for him, hoping that for at least a few moments Jiyong could forget and be happy.

Seungri knew that barely even a day passed since Jiyongs breakup and didn't expect him to get over it that quickly. Even so, Ji wasn't the type to be depressed for overly long periods and he expected at least a few more emotional breakdowns from Jiyong spread out within the next week before things finally managed to move forward, hopefully on a positive note.


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2 Hours Later
Seungri’s Apartment
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Jiyong sat cuddled next to Seungri as the movie Fright Night played on the small television. They’d decided to just relax and watch movies for the rest of the evening.

“Oh! OH! He’s gonna be on the car. He’s totally gonna get on that car and scare the outta all of them!” Jiyong said enthusiastically as his prediction came true and the vampire appeared on top of the car.

Just then Seungri felt his phone vibrate and immediately knew it to be Daesung. Jiyong and Daesung were one of three people who had his phone, his boss being the third who never actually called him or texted him seeing as there was rarely a need to.

Flipping open his phone the first thing Seungri noticed was the blinking pixel envelope with the name, Dae, above it. Pushing the button to open the text message, Seungri blinked in surprise as he read.

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From: Dae
Hey! Guess what? Boss interviewed someone for the new supervisor position & he’s thinking about hiring him. Might even start him next week!
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From: Ri
Really? What about the paperwork? I thought it was at least a two week process?
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From: Dae
Apparently Bossman liked him so much that he’s willing to let him work while they sort out the paperwork.
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From: Ri
Do you know who the guy is?
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From: Dae
No but Dave said that the boss seemed impressed by him. Real smart with lots of experience as a supe.
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From: Ri
Just as long as he’s nice and can actually do the work, I have no problems. Thanks for the heads up.
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From: Dae
No problem!~ Hopefully we’ll still get free food! :)
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Chuckling at Dae, he then told a curious Jiyong about the possible new supervisor. Hopefully this would make things at work a lot easier what with the short staff back in the kitchen.

Mentally preparing himself for the gossip that will surely be going around at work tomorrow, Seungri just made himself comfortable on the couch again with Jiyong and went back to watching the movie. Having fun and relaxing with Ji like this made it feel like everything was truly going to be okay.

Aside from the usual fear that the new supervisor would either be a or just be lazy, there was not much else to worry in his life. Seungri was content and hoped that soon, Jiyong could feel the same peace of mind.

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My goodness did I procrastinate on this. I apologize for the general boringness of this chapter. Still trying to muck my way through the initial settings and layout. Don't worry though, there's a method to my dullness.

I promise the next chapter will have a few more interesting things going on!

Anyone else notice the first Bae sighting?

Andandand, the little stalker action?

Anywho, thanks so much for reading this chapter. I know how boring it must have been for you. I just adore you all who subscribed and even took the time to review. Thanks again!

Next chapter should be out by next Sunday, at the latest. ♥

Word count: 3240

-T.A.D.A