He thought she was returning to her hermit-like routine when he found her apartment again, but changed his mind after hearing laughter through the door.  She sounded like she was having a good time but he paused when he recognized the other person laughing with her.   He didn’t like it; no he didn’t like this at all.  Taking a lesson from his mom, Seung-ri tried to see if he could see them through his viewer.

Despite constantly teasing one another, she was honestly grateful for his presence today.  Twice he was showing himself to be a real great guy.

“Dongsaeng,” she unconciously whispered aloud, trying to correct her own thoughts.

“What?” 

“Thanks for a great evening.  I think you deserve a nice pat on the back.”    She patted his back like his life depended on it while her victim shouted with pain.  He had taken her out to lunch and they went to the arcade after.  She hadn’t let her business suit keep her from having fun, even taking off her shoes to battle him when they found a Dance Dance Revolution machine hidden away in the back.  She used to be a DDR champ and he quickly found that out when she consistently beat him in every single round.  She kept attributing it to random luck but after the first few games he began to suspect she was more than met the eye.  They left panting and her legs, having been out of practice for so long, were slightly shaking.  She had to lean on him for support.

“Geu-man, geu-man…Aish” 

“We’ll have to do this again some other time.”  She opened her arms automatically—Hyo-ri had turned her into a hugger with all her hello and goodbye hugging in the office—but felt just a little awkward.  One hand went over head, as if she meant to scratch her back, and the other she extended in order to shake his hand.  Tae-yang, who noticed her quick maneuver decided not to , like he normally would do.  His sly smiled appeared.

Tae-yang took her hand and leaned forward while Seung-ri strained to see what they were doing.  Their heads were cut off.  When it seemed like any and every angle wouldn’t work, he promptly opened the door.

“I thought I heard you guys.”  Tae-yang was in the middle of pulling something off her bangs and Ji-won was sort of flinching backwards.  He knew Tae-yang was smirking.

“I’m going to go inside.  I’d invite you both in but it’s dirtier than usual,” she smiled and escaped.  He made her a little tingly, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.  She slumped against the door.  It had taken so much effort to stand for so long.   

Tae-yang watched the door close while Seung-ri watched him, ready to unleash his wrath. 

“I see the way you look at her, like you’re on the prowl.  She’s not some piece of meat.  Stop.”

“What?”  Tae-yang replied ever so innocently.  Seung-ri opened his door and pulled Tae-yang inside his apartment. 

“Really.  You need to stop.  I’ve seen the things you do and I don’t even want to think about the things I haven’t seen.  Anyone.  Not her.”

“What?”  Tae-yang still continued to pretend he didn’t know what Seung-ri was talking about, “Why?  What makes her so special?” 

Tae-yang didn’t want to ask Seung-ri directly what he had already suspected, but Seung-ri had never explicitly expressed it.  Seung-ri still continued to go out with other girls every other night.  Tae-yang wanted some sort of verbal confirmation of Seung-ri’s intentions.  The real question was would the confirmation change his intentions? 

“I see the girls you hurt. Ji-won deserves more than that.” 

“You mean I’m not good enough?” 

“No, I mean you like to have fun for a while and when you lose interest…” Seung-ri paused for a second.  It never bothered him so much with other girls as it bothered him about what might happen to Ji-won. 

“When you lose interest, it’s without any sort of notice.  You leave behind this crazy person.”

“I don’t do that.” He denied it but knew it was true.  Seung-ri knew him too well, maybe better than he knew himself.     

Seung-ri started naming girls from the top of his head and the list continued on for a while.  Many of them he couldn’t remember and he wondered how Seung-ri was able to recall so many names?     

“Hyung, pay attention.  I had to move from my last two apartments because of you.  You dated some girl on another floor and she wouldn’t leave me alone when you decided to break things off.”

“Oh yeah, I remember her.  She was a little clingy and a bit psychotic.”  Memories of a broken tail light and red lip stick on his helmet came back to haunt him. 

“She didn’t turn psychotic until after the break up.  I like here.  I like her.  I like that here is across from her.”

“She was always psychotic.”  Tae-yang deliberately ignored Seung-ri’s admission.

“I like the way Ji-won is now, and I don’t want to be left with the aftermath of a broken heart.” He had meant both Ji-won's and his own heart.  To this Tae-yang, walked away silently, a direct admission of the truth in his best friend's words. Never had Seungri been so blunt.    

Was Seung-ri jealous?  Yes, just a lot. He found himself wishing he had never introduced her or actually he had never allowed Tae-yang to introduce himself to her that night. He would never have foretold that his best friend would try to make a play on---take that back---he didn't think Ji-won would have been his type at all, what with her being so “uny” compared to the girls Tae-yang dated.  In fact, all the girls both had ever dated had been so different from her. Then again, if she had been able to capture his attention, how could she not have done the same with Tae-yang? Dammit!  The whole situation was beginning to frustrate him. He hadn't realized the extent to which Tae-yang had been able to worm his way so close to her.  He was so close that she was comfortable enough to go out with him alone.    

His jealously really stemmed from the fact that Tae-yang might have a chance whereas his attempts or at least one attempt had failed miserably.  Tae-yang had also been the one to catch her fall that night as well. Being best friends, both had their share of women but it was few and far in-between to have one that both could possibly care romantically about.  There had been that one incident in high school where they had both stopped speaking to each other for about a month only to find out that the girl already had a boyfriend. 

Wasn't he guilty himself though, Seung-ri pondered. He never quite made his intentions completely clear to Tae-yang nor did he choose to stop messing around with other girls. Was he now making excuses for his best friend, who had a bloody knife ready to stab him directly in his chest? He slammed his door shut.  

And then suddenly, he made an observation, something that had slipped his radar.  He had not seen this coming at all: Tae-yang had suddenly stopped using his apartment as a love nest.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his best friend over with a random girl.  But then it came to him, the last time was the night Tae-yang had spent the night at Ji-won’s, the night of the reception—six months ago, more or less.  Either Tae-yang was in a dry spell, which was absurd, or curiously enough, Tae-yang was--  Seung-ri wasn't sure if he wanted to finish the thought.  It was almost as crazy as Tae-yang in a dry spell. 

Seung-ri’s warning had left Tae-yang’s mind working overtime.  He used to have a conscience but everything just fell apart.  What was he thinking?  Well, what wasn't he thinking?  It had been just bad enough that he had walked away and Seungri didn't try to stop him.  This was a change from their normal routine with each other. Usually they cheered one other on when one was going to score. It was not the case this time. Then again, he wasn't quite sure if Ji-won would let either of them score. He was doing so much chasing rather than so much of the other things.  It was about time someone made him work, he chuckled to himself but was bothered by Seung-ri’s words.