Seoul, 14 April 2009

From: Ji-Yong

[Baby girl, I'll be there in 5 mins. Wait in the lobby, ok? See u soon~]

I grab my bag from the coffee table and ride the elevator down to the lobby. I chat for a bit with the security guard downstairs and soon, Ji-Yong's car pulls over in the driveway. I bid goodbye to the middle-aged man, who's kind enough to walk me out to Ji-Yong's car.

"Hey, ahjussi!" Ji-Yong waves his hand when I open the passenger's side door. I feel bemused; since when did these two get acquainted? Hey, ahjussi? What the… "Yo, dude," the security guard greets back. Yo, dude? Seriously? How did these two-- "Relax, miss, my lips are sealed," the security guard smiles at me, maybe noticing the troubled expression on my face. Ji-Yong and I bid goodbye to him and I get inside the car.

"That ahjussi is my swipe key to your apartment building," Ji-Yong chuckles, as if reading my thoughts. "How did you know him?" "Hmm… let's just say I showed him Captain Kwon's charms and since he's the head of security, he told other security guards to let me in when I come over," he explains haughtily. Now I get it. That's how he's been able to sneak up to my floor. Smart move, boyfriend! 

"So, where are we going?" I ask curiously. Ji-Yong has been asking me for a whole week to empty my schedule today. Luckily, I don't have anything to do until clothes fitting later this evening. I kept asking him what he was planning, but he's been annoying enough not to let me know. "Just wait and see," he takes my hand to his thigh, while his other hand is on the steering wheel. I sigh; well, let's just hope that he's not thinking of taking me somewhere strange. "What, not badgering me like an ahjumma now?" he mocks. I smack his thigh harshly, irritated by his act. He then lays his hand on mine, preventing it from making any movement.

I become even more worried when we drive into a basement carpark of what looks like an apartment building. Can it be… "You're going to see my fort, baby girl," he says with a wide smile across his face. His fort? Oh gosh, I'm in Big Bang's apartment building?! I can't say anything when he holds my hand and leads me to the elevator. My mind is clouded with questions, and I keep praying silently that none of his group members are in the dorm. 

"Behold, the house of Big Bang," he utters excitedly as he swings the door open. As soon as we step in, I hear loud footsteps coming closer. "Wear these, I bought them especially for you, baby girl," Ji-Yong points at the pair of pink house slippers on the floor. I take a look around the front hallway of their dorm; it's clean, and all the shoes are neatly placed in the rack. I turn my head to the side when I hear loud murmurs; there they are, 4 heads and 4 pairs of eyes, popping out behind the walls. My body begins to feel cold, filled with anticipation and worries. Damn it, Kwon Ji-Yong, why didn't you warn me?! I'm still silently scolding my boyfriend when he holds my waist and leads me to the living room; the rest of s follow suit.

"Annyeong," the 4 guys say in unison while waving at me cheerfully. "Annyeong," I say shyly. TOP leans towards me, "no need to be shy, baby girl." Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri giggle and let out a loud 'wooo', while my mouth is ajar at TOP's remark. Omo omo omo~ how much has Ji-Yong told them? I glance at Ji-Yong, who's standing beside me, only to see him smiling sheepishly. 

"Have a seat, noona," Daesung leads me to the couch. "What do you want to drink, noona?" Seungri asks. "You seemed to love wine so much, do you want wine?" TOP smirks. "Hyung, why would she drink wine before noon?" Seungri retorts, "how about soda, noona? Do you want soda? We also have coffee, milk, juice, and--" "Yah! Stop pestering her," Taeyang cuts in. Ji-Yong shoves the 4 guys who are surrounding me, and then sits close to me on the couch, "don't torture my baby girl." The 4 guys roll their eyes and smirk at Ji-Yong's remark. "What do you want for drinks, hmm?" Ji-Yong asks gently, as if cooing at a crying little girl. The rest of Big Bang make gagging expressions. "A-Anything is fine," my voice faints, my palms are sweating horribly. Seungri runs off and then comes back to the living room with a tray of different drinks in his hands.

I sip on the can of coffee, unable to move because Ji-Yong has his arm tightly wrapped around my shoulders. The atmosphere is pretty awkward; Ji-Yong is sitting next to me, TOP and Taeyang are on the other couch, while Daesung and Seungri are sitting on the floor looking up at us. It's been silent for quite a while. Ok, Son Ga-In, this will be a good time to say something; a voice in my head tells me. "U-Uh… Hello," I look at them. Great, just… great. 'Hello'? Is that all you have to say, huh, Son Ga-In? I chide myself in silence. 

"I thought we said our hellos already," TOP replies in a teasing tone. Taeyang nudges him and smiles at me. I look away and turn my eyes at Daesung and Seungri, who are still looking at me with eyes full of excitement and mouths slightly agape. What am I, an alien? Why are they just looking at me and not saying anything? I hate this, I'm never good with strangers. Big Bang aren't strangers, but I never imagined I would be introduced as Ji-Yong's girlfriend this soon!

"Yah, stop staring at my girlfriend!" Ji-Yong waves his foot in front of Daesung and Seungri, then looks at me, "sorry, baby girl. This is the first time anybody brings a girl home." "Oh, bull! There was one time when Ji-Yong brought a girl for a sleepover, her name was--" TOP says, but gets cut off by Ji-Yong, "hyung! Don't tell a lie!" The other 4 laughs heartily. "TOP was just kidding, Ga-In noona," Taeyang explains. That's not the point! I don't really care if Ji-Yong ever brought a girl home, I'm sure he had other girlfriends before me. The point is… I feel so awkward and I want to go home now! 

"Since you seem to have lost an ability to speak, I guess I should start by saying congratulations, huh?" TOP grins and raises his eyebrows at me. "Yeah! Congratulations, noona and hyung!" Daesung claps his hands happily. Taeyang puts his thumb up and Seungri chuckles, "I knew something was fishy when Ji-Yong hyung took you home on his birthday. I was dying to ask but Young-Bae hyung told me not to. All of a sudden, last month Ji-Yong hyung told us that you guys are together now," he sighs, "I was heartbroken, noona…"

"Y-Yeh? H-Heartbroken?" "Yup. I was in love with you, you know," Seungri winks. M-Mwo?! What the hell is he saying? "E-Eh? What do you mean?" I ask. "Don't listen to him, he's just being a weirdo," Ji-Yong kisses my temple. "Yah! Stop making me want to puke!" TOP tosses a throw pillow at Ji-Yong. Ji-Yong catches it and sticks out his tongue, "jealous much?"

"Ji-Yong ah, why exactly am I here?" I whisper to my boyfriend. I remind myself to hit his arm so hard later for taking me here without warning. "Ji-Yong kept bragging about what a good cook you are. So we want to be the judges of that as well," Taeyang answers for him; clearly my whisper was a little too loud. "Cooking? I-I'm not very good, actually," I say. "Ayyy, noona, we know that's not true. Ji-Yong hyung showed us a photo of the feast you cooked for him on White Day. He even sent it to my phone," Daesung giggles. Ok, I guess I'm going to hit my boyfriend's arm twice as hard later. I didn't even know he took any photos, and he sent them to s, too? What the hell, Kwon Ji-Yong?!

"Since today is Black Day, and since the rest of us don't have any girlfriends, can you cook us some jjajangmyun, please?" Seungri flutters his eyelashes, trying to look cute. "Yeah, we have to celebrate our single lives. Young-Bae here has been eating jjajangmyun on Black Day every year because he's never dated anyone. Hopefully, next year he doesn't need to do that," TOP jokes, earning another nudge from Taeyang. "Err… ok. I'll cook jjajangmyun," I answer. Jjajangmyun is easy to make, so at least I'm not going to embarrass myself in that department.

We're all busy cooking in the kitchen. I already told the guys that I'd cook by myself, but they persisted to help, which has made me feel even more nervous. If I cook alone, at least I won't have to make small talks. But nooo, these guys have to gather around here in the small kitchen. "Ga-In noona, do you have any girl friends to introduce to us?" Seungri asks while wiping the plates. "Hmm… I don't have many girl friends, and most of them are older than you, Seungri ya," I tell him. "Don't have many girl friends? You mean you have many guy friends, instead?" TOP teases. I curse TOP in my head. He's been tormenting me ever since I stepped my foot in this apartment! Aish!

I look at Ji-Yong, he has a sulky look on his face after hearing TOP's little comment. "No I don't have many guy friends. I just don't have many friends in general. People don't like being friends with me," I retort, hoping that Ji-Yong will feel at ease. "You have us, noona. We're your friends, right?" Daesung pats on my shoulder and smiles. I laugh lightly; this guy is an angel, he probably thinks I really don't have any friends and wants to cheer me up.

We all eat happily and chatter around. Big Bang members have warmed up more to me, and I feel much less awkward after laughing along with them everytime someone makes a joke. "Ji-Yong hyung was right, this is really delicious, noona," Seungri compliments with a full mouth. "See? I told you, right?" Ji-Yong says proudly. "It's just jjajangmyun, I'm sure you've had better," I reply, feeling grateful for the compliment. "Yeah, but this one tastes different. Maybe because it was made with looove~" TOP singsongs. Everyone in the room, except me, laughs loudly. Daesung almost chokes on his food, and when everyone isn't looking at us, Ji-Yong steals another kiss on my temple. 

"Uh… Your dorm is very clean," I say in attempt to change the topic. "Of course it is. Our leader said he wouldn't bring you here if we didn't clean up, so we did," TOP smirks. We engage in another conversation, mostly filled with Seungri's jokes and Daesung's stories about his experience doing Family Outing. After lunch, we all sit around in the living room and watch TV. A baseball match is on, so the guys' attentions are fixed on that. 

"Baby girl, let's move you to my bed," I feel a gentle nudge on my shoulder. I open my eyes and see Ji-Yong's face merely a few inches from mine. I pull up my head from his lap, "omo, how long was I out?" "Only half an hour," he chuckles. The guys are cheering at what's shown on the screen; the match is still on. "Come on, you can rest in my bedroom," Ji-Yong gets up and pulls my hand. "No funny business, kids! It's not even dark out," I hear TOP yell out from the living room when Ji-Yong is about to open his bedroom door. "Don't mind him," Ji-Yong shakes his head. 

I lie down on his bed and he lies down next to me. There's a framed photo of us on the side table, but that's not what what catches my attention. There's another framed photo next to it; a photo of me smiling widely, if I remember correctly, it's from a magazine editorial I did a year ago. "I took that picture from a magazine. You looked so cute so I wanted to keep it," Ji-Yong says, he probably noticed that I keep looking at the side table. "So I don't look cute anymore?" I ask. He bites his lower lip and pinches my cheek gently, "you look even cuter now, baby girl. But now I don't have to buy a magazine to admire your beauty." I giggle in delight. His cheesiness doesn't make me want to vomit, it makes me happy instead, so happy. 

"I'm sorry the guys tired you out," he my hair. I smile, "no, I'm not tired by all the cooking. I just didn't get much sleep last night." "Hmm? Why? Work finished late?" he brings my head closer to his chest. "Yeah. I had a dance practice and I couldn't get the moves right, so we finished late," I reply. He sighs and pecks the top of my head, "I know you're keeping the concept of your new album a secret, but I'm excited to see it. I know you'll do well." I sigh inwardly. I'm happy that he believes in me, but I'm not sure he's going to support me this much when he sees the concept. Even I was shocked when I found out. God, hopefully he won't object…

"Leaving so soon? Did you guys do something exhausting in the bedroom?" TOP wiggles his eyebrows when Ji-Yong tells them he's taking me home. I slap his arm, "yah! Why are you so annoying?!" His eyes widen slightly, surprised by my action. Hell, even I surprise myself. I just had an urge to slap him because he's been so irritating today. "Glad to see you've warmed up to me, baby girl," TOP chuckles. I roll my eyes and the other guys laugh. "I'll see you soon, thanks for the hospitality," I bow and smile widely at them. "Aniya, noona. Thanks for coming here, and thank you for the food," Taeyang says in return. We bid each other goodbyes and I walk with Ji-Yong to his car.

"Sorry I didn't give you any heads-up. The guys have been asking to meet you and I was afraid you would say no if I asked," Ji-Yong says when we pull over in the driveway of my apartment building. "It's ok, Ji-Yong ah. I had a blast," I grin sincerely. He snickers, "I'm glad you did. It's important that my girlfriend and my members get along. And today, we've established that." "A-Are you sure they like me?" "Of course they do. Do you think TOP jokes like that with everyone? And Seungri, well, he's always liked you. Taeyang and Daesung don't easily warm up to anyone, but judging by how they interacted with you, I'm sure they like you, baby girl," he explains. I feel so relieved because s like the real me. 

"Don't forget to eat dinner, ok? I'll call you tonight before sleep," Ji-Yong tells me as I gather my things from the backseat. "Mmm. You, too. Thank you for today, Ji-Yong ah. Drive back safely," I mutter. When I'm about to open the door, he grabs my arm and turns me to face him. He leans forward and his face reaches my ears, making my heart beat rapidly. "Son Ga-In, fighting," he whispers sweetly and gives a long kiss on my cheek. I feel like I'm bouncing on clouds…

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Author's Note:

Not really happy about this chap, but... whatevs. Kekeke~

Promise to deliver better chaps in the future! ^^