“Hey ma! It looks like you’re getting new neighbors,” I said when Dakota and I came over the next day. She was on the phone, but when she saw us she rushed off and I assumed she was talking to her bus driver who was a notorious chatterbox.

“Girl, I’m glad you came now. I was tired of her,” my mom said when she hung up the phone. “We have to wait on your aunt before we go.”

“Did you really call her? Mama, we already have Dakota, does Auntie Carla have to go too?”

“Oh hush up,” Dakota said.

“What did you say when you came in?” my mom asked.

“I said you’re getting new neighbors. I saw the moving trucks.”

“That house has been empty for a while. As long as they don’t have any dogs I don’t care who moves over there. It must be expensive ‘cause no one stays in there very long.”

“I didn’t see anyone so I can’t tell you anything.”

A knock on the door signaled that my aunt and little cousin were here. The little girl was skipping school but I couldn’t admit that I’d missed fussing with her so I didn’t mind. At least I would have someone to complain with. When she saw me she got real excited.

“LeeLee you’re back!”

“Hey Nijah. Who told you you could stay home from school?”

“Gran-T said I could come look for your baby stuff. What kinda baby are you having?”

“That’s what you’re worried about? I spent a year with GD and TOP and everybody and you don’t even ask about them? But, I’m having a girl and I’m naming her Hana.”

“Wait, you stayed with TOP? Is his hair really blue? And did you see my cousin…what was his name, D-day-Daesung?”

I laughed. I’d started getting Nijah into k-pop before I left and started by showing her videos of Big Bang and making her pick out the members. Dakota had joked that if Nijah didn’t know anyone, she should know Daesung because he was going to be her big cousin one day. “Yes, TOP’s hair is still blue and I saw Daesung, but he’s not going to be your cousin.”

“But I liked him. And what about Taeyang?” I was proud of her pronunciation. “And GD and Panda, right?”

“Taeyang is really nice, GD panics a lot, and Panda…Panda is Hana’s dad. He’s the one that’s going to be your new cousin.”

“Are you getting married?”

I nodded. “Yes Nijah, I’m getting married.”

“What kind of dress are you gonna have? Can I be in your wedding? Where is Panda anyway?”

“Little girl, what are you talking about?” my aunt said. She had all the makings of a great interior decorator and she’d been looking in the other room trying to envision how it should look and came back at the end of the conversation.

“Leelee’s getting married!” Nijah said.

My aunt raised an eyebrow at me. “When?”

“Let’s go shopping,” I said, avoiding the question. “We’ve got baby stuff to get.” I rushed out the house and into the car before anyone could say anything back. All day, Nijah continued to question me on each of the members, asking everything from what their favorite color was, to did TOP’s voice really sound like that to how many dances did Taeyang know how to do.

“This child is wrecking my nerves,” I muttered in Korean. “So many questions… Why isn’t she tired? I’m tired just listening to her.”

Dakota chuckled. “What are you going to do when Hana reaches that age?”

“God forbid she be this talkative, but seeing how her father is…”I shook my head.

“Oh! Leelee, what did you just say? Teach me how to say something in Korean.”

“If I wanted you to know what I said, I would have said it in English,” I replied. “And you don’t need to know Korean. Learn your times tables.”

“Leah, stop picking at her,” my mom said from the front seat.

“She’s the one that’s been asking me questions nonstop all morning,” I shot back.

“Girl, you may be 20, but I’ll still reach back there and punch you,” she said.

“Ah ha, Leelee!”

I threatened Nijah in Korean, but she thankfully stopped questioning me. As we were walking through the first store, I kept hearing music, but it didn’t seem to be coming from the store. Finally, Nijah pointed out that my phone was ringing.

“Hello?”

“Hey Leah.” I looked at the phone to make sure I was hearing the voice I thought I was, then I unleashed a torrent of words in a mix of English and Korean. “Don’t ‘hey’ me! What have you been doing the past week that you couldn’t call or text me back? Huh? Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? Aish…Nu choogle lea?”

“Calm down, Leah,” Panda said. “President Yang took our phones. He said not to call you guys to let you get used to being back home. He even disconnected the house line.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” I said.

“It’s President Yang. Do you really think he gives us explanations?”

“Fine,” I said. “But there was some kind of way you could have gotten a hold of me. I know there was.”

“Leah, if I could have, I wouldn’t have let you leave in the first place. Why would I ignore your calls?”

“You’re right Panda. I’m sorry.”

“Look, we’re about to go on a show, but I wanted to sneak and call you before you got too mad. And TOP hyung says to tell Dakota he’ll try to call her soon.”

I sighed. “Okay. We’ll talk later.”

“Definitely. Saranghaeyo.”

“I love you too,” I said and disconnected the call.

“Was that Panda?” Nijah asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “Kota, TOP says he’ll call you later. Apparently Papa YG took their phones.”

“Lie!”

“That’s what I said, but there’s no way to verify it, so I’ll have to take his word for it.”

“Aish…the very next time I see them, I’m going to hit all of them.”

“After I choke them all,” I added.

“Don’t choke TOP. He might like that…”

“Aish! Don’t say things like that!” I said. My mom whipped her head around.

“What are you two gabbering about?”

“Nothing mother,” I said. It was scary how easy it was to slip into Korean without meaning to. “Just how we’re going to kill the boys the next time we see them.”

“Oh. Okay.” She and my aunt went back to looking at cribs.

“What did I say about that? I don’t want to know about TOP’s preferences. It’s bad enough that he and I watch the same . Now I know how JiYong would feel when SeungRi said stuff like that.”

“I was just saying that choking wouldn’t be an effective murder method,” Dakota defended.

I shook my head and walked off, pretending to be fascinated in car seats when in all actuality, I couldn’t care less. It’s not that I wasn’t excited; it was just that I really missed Panda and that short conversation made me miss him more than the past week without hearing from him. Anyways, we continued our shopping trip, stopping at way too many stores and having to referee my aunt when she was looking at baby clothes. She was trying to get me to buy a bunch of stuff, and I had to remind her that I still had to have the baby shower first.

We got home and I plopped down on my mom’s couch, my ankles slightly swollen. I had a doctor’s appointment for my six month check up the next day but the only thing I really wanted was to talk to my Panda. After a quick lunch, Dakota and I went back to our apartment. I took a nap and woke up to the Super Mario Bros. theme in my ear. Half-asleep, I answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Leah.”

“SeungRi!”
            “Wait, am I still in trouble? You never call me SeungRi anymore.”

“No, you’re not in trouble,” I said. “Well…maybe a little, but you deserve it.”

“How are you?”

“Why are you being all weird and formal? I’m good. I miss you.”

“I miss you too. President Yang has us working like crazy. I think he’s trying to keep us from thinking about you guys too much. The hostel has been really weird without you guys.”

I laughed. “You guys act like you didn’t have lives before we came.”

“We did, but it’s different now. Like, we know you’re supposed to be here. And now I have to wake up JiYong-sshi and it’s not fun at all.”

“Poor baby,” I teased. “You had to go back to being the maknae. They aren’t too hard on you, are they?”

“Youngbae hyung hasn’t adjusted to doing laundry again, but he doesn’t complain about it. The clothes don’t come out all fresh smelling like when Dakota does it, and they definitely aren’t folded like she does.”

“You guys sound so pitiful without us,” I commented.

“I am pitiful without you.”

“Awww. Panda, you’re not allowed to fall off the face of the earth again, okay?”

“Okay Leah,” he said. “I gotta go, but we’ll talk again soon okay?”

“Yeah. Saranghaeyo.”

“I love you too.”