[SAME DAY…SAME TIME]

“No! That can’t be placed over there, it doesn’t connect with the theme!” I say rushing over to the piece before it is nailed to the platform. “Can you just put it to the side, until I figure out a better place for it? Thanks.”

“How’s it coming?” Diane, my boss says behind me before glancing at the exhibit.

“Well this is what I have so far, and I’m waiting for a few more pieces to arrive before it is completely done.”

She’s making this ‘I’m Judging You’ face while looking at my work as a curator. I can already see tell she doesn’t like it.

“This exhibit is supposed to exude happiness from the moment I step into the museum…and I didn’t feel it” she says bluntly. “Fix it.”

                She turns to walk away as I let out a frustrated breath before rubbing out the crease in my forehead.

“Alright everyone…take five” I order and the people to leave the area as I try to re-work the exhibit.

                I have no idea what she wants me to change, I’m completely happy with what I’ve done. Part of me feels like taking the Christmas and Halloween decorations from the storage closet and just drape them over everything in sight. I sit on a bench placed in a corner of the exhibit and I’m left alone for a few minutes before I hear people talking outside of the exhibit area.

“Sir, you are not allowed past a certain point.”

“I have a friend who is behind there” I hear an accented voice say. “She wants to see me; so let me pass?”

                I feel the corners of my mouth turn up as I recognize who this voice belongs too. And it takes everything I have not to run like a mad woman out of the exhibit. I feel my eyes grow bigger as I see Daesung’s face brighten as he sees me.

“See! That’s my friend.” He points me out to the security guard like ‘I Told You So’, before jerking his jacket as I walk over to him. “They wouldn’t let me back there.”

I nodded. “The exhibit isn’t open yet, I’m working on it now.”

“Can I see it?” He smiles hopefully.

                In my head I’m shouting yes, but when the security guard gives me one quick shake of his head I know that no amount of eye-smiling will get Daesung a sneak peak.

 “It’s not finished yet…soon though” I say seeing a small wisp of disappointment cover his face. “What are you doing here?” I almost squeal in amazement.

                Seeing Daesung…at my job…is a thought I can’t even fathom; and the fact that it is happening at the current moment is enough to make me jump for hours.

“I came to see you.”

He says this easily like I’m asking him about the weather; but for me hearing those words is like hearing the Alleluia Chorus. Those words hit me like I stuck my finger in an electrical socket, and this dream is so perfect I never want to wake up.  I duck my head down and smile totally getting high off of his existence, let alone being in the same room.

“Paije!” My boss shouts. “I thought I told you no visitors during working hours!”

“I am so sorry, it won’t -”

“Hi.” Daesung smiles like the angel he his. “My name is Daesung…what is yours?”

                Even my dragon lady of a boss can’t escape his amazingness; she’s totally entranced by his gorgeous face and genuine smile. I’m pretty sure that if he started singing now, she would collapse from her spazzing.

“Diane” she answers clearly flustered before turning on her flirtation. “You know...our names sound really good together” she laughs playfully.

“They do?” He answers innocently, totally not even thinking in that direction. “They both start with D’s.”

                He offers this and I can’t help but laugh until Diane’s glare makes me try to pass it off as a coughing attack.

“So what brings you here?” She tries again.

“Well, I have this problem” he begins.

                Both Diane and my ears perk up.

“I was going to go get food with Paije but she has to work here so-”

“No she doesn’t” Diane says quickly still under the spell of Daesung’s charm.

“I don’t?” I ask hesitantly. “I thought you said that I needed to fix things, that it’s not at all what you wanted-”

“Oh it’ll be fine in the end” she says cutting me off.

He rewards her with a giant smile before looking to me. “I’ll wait in the lobby?”

“Are you sure I can leave?”

“Well I can’t take it back now, so you might as well go and have a good time” she grumbles walking out of the room. “Besides, you need to study happiness, and if he’s the professor sign me up for few classes.”

                My face has a look is a mix of terror and revulsion as I picture Daesung in the clutches of Diane. I am quickly getting my stuff together before I’m calling my mom telling her that she doesn’t need to pick me up. The car trouble I was having this morning was a blessing in disguise; and now I can get a ride from Daesung. I swear as soon as I saw my car I was going to kiss it in gratitude. Daesung was talking with a little girl and his mom at the museum. She looked like they had been crying, but Daesung was now singing a remixed English version of ‘Pop Goes The Weasel’ and I was doing everything but choking on a rainbow. He did the dance and the little girl gave him a watery smile waving goodbye before his mother thanked him and they left.  When he stood up from his crouched position he finally noticed me and my fan-girling smile both waiting patiently for him.

“Ready?” He says hesitant; like he’s expecting me to say no…AS IF!!!!

“Yeah, I’m good” I say as he opens the door for me and I step through.

                When we exit the museum and I look into the parking-lot I’m searching for a car or some type of transportation that involves four wheels, but Daesung jogs carelessly to an impressive looking motorcycle. It’s sleek and black with streaks of yellow and intimidating.

“I didn’t know you rode” I tell him impressed.

“I figured I could do less damage with two wheels instead of four.”

                I take a quick intake of air at his serious joke; the look on my face clearly tells him I don’t find this funny in the least.

He looks at me and smiles a little. “Relax…okay?” He accents the last part trying to make me smile but I’m still frowning a little. “So, are you coming with me?”

I look at him stunned, before laughing. “Is that even a real question?” 

                I walk over to the bike and he magically pulls out an extra helmet from a small compartment. He straddles the bike and scoots forward making room for me. I’m a little hesitant at first but once I swing my leg over I become even more nervous. My arms latch onto his waist before he can start the engine.

“Have you never been on a bike before?” He laughs.

The slight roar of the vehicle has me hold on tighter. “No!”

“Hang on!!!!!” He shouts kicking the kickstand up and rolling us out of the parking lot.

                Soon we are zooming through the streets past the down town area of the small city. Eventually I calm down enough from my fandom that I actually start to pay attention to where we are heading…towards the coastline. Our town doesn’t have a huge beach, but it’s got a long sand strip or boardwalk that people can walk on. He slows down a bit  turning into the parking lot; he shuts off the engine expecting me to let my grip on his body go. I think I settle in even more and he lets out a deep chuckle before I feel his hands gently pull mine apart setting him free. He gets off the bike first and I get off too almost losing my balance.

 “Do you like hot dogs?”

                Normally no, but he could’ve pronounced asparagus  and spinach and I would’ve eaten it just as happily. He bought two of them and we sat at one of the nearby picnic tables.

“So, when do you show your exhibit?” He asked in between bites.

“In another two weeks.”

“Ah!” He groaned impatient. “I want to see it!”

“Now you know how I feel” I say smiling at him. “YG is such a troll.”

“YG is no troll! He is a great man who helps us all become better people” Daesung said getting defensive.

“No” I said calming him down with another smile. “I mean when you guys make comebacks, there are teasers.”

 “Yes…to advertise for the release date” He explained.

“Yes but it’s torture.”

“Torture?” He’s so adorable trying to understand when I talk. It’s like it’s a really difficult math problem and he’s determined to solve it.

“Imagine your excitement for my exhibit.”

“Uh huh…”

“And multiply that times one million.”

“Yeah…”

“That’s how excited I get for you.”

                He blushes finally understanding as I take another bite of my hot dog which really isn’t that bad. Perhaps it’s because I’m eating it with Daesung; he just makes everything much more pleasant.

“By the way, when can I expect your solo album?”

He shrugged his shoulders real easy-like. “I’m not sure. I mean it’s done but I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with a solo album yet.”

“Of course you are!” I encourage. “You are wonderful, how can you say you aren’t ready.”

“All of the promotions, and performances by myself?”

“You’ve done it before” I shrugged easily. “Baby Don’t Cry, Wings, Try Smiling all were successes and you did them on your own.”

“Now you sound like YG” he laughed. “But maybe I’ll wait for another member to release theirs before I release mine. I’m in no rush.”

                I felt my face fall. He might not have been in a rush but I was! I wanted his album downloaded on my iPod now. I felt my phone vibrate and I flipped it open answering Devon’s short text message.

“Is that your boyfriend?”

I shook my head with a laugh. “No…it was Devon.”

“Oh…how is she?” he asked sounding sad.

“She’s alright” I answered.

“Alright, alright? Or is she doing badly?” He asked but the look on my face already gave him the answer. “Seunghyun isn’t doing well either.”

“They will both get over it” I said dryly.

“Yah!” He smiled nudging me. “Aren’t you supposed to say they will be together.”

“Maybe I don’t want them together” I confessed. “They both might be better off.”

                Especially Devon but I didn’t say that part.

“Maybe, but maybe not” Daesung sighed.

~~~~

                I hit my alarm clock groggily before letting out a huge yawn. It was ten minutes after ten and I knew that  I’d have to ready for work. I looked to my dresser that held my phone and picked it up to check my nightly text alerts only to find my phone had been blasted by members of BIGBANG. Teddy and T.O.P must have had a competition as to see who could call me the most, because I had about fifteen voice mails from each. Taeyang had texted me and even tweeted me a couple of times throughout the night. Part of me was excited with mountains of feels that I was actually receiving this kind of attention from them, but then the other part was scared to go to work. Where I knew that they would try to see me, talk to me if they could. I only had one option…stay busy.

                As soon as I got to work at the outside pool, I worked on things that wasn’t even in our job description. I painted the fence and pulled weeds, and watered the nearby plants along with cleaning the bathrooms and wiping down the mirrors and cleaning out the bathroom sinks. As slow as I had tried to go I still was too fast for it to be the end of my shift; I had no other choice but to wait out the remaining hours at the sign in guest table. Not even fifteen minutes later a shirtless Seungri and Daesung were walking to the sign in table with their bathing suits. I legit froze as they kept walking towards me; I tried to think of places I could go or things I could do to avoid them but it was official, I was stuck.

 “You work here?” Seungri smiled trying to sound surprised. “I completely forgot!”

Daesung and I both rolled our eyes at his attempt to be sly.

“Right” I nodded refusing to look at Daesung, even though I could feel his concerned stare. I began signing them in. “You’re all set.”

 “Did you get our calls?” Daesung said caringly. “We were worried.”

 “Don’t be. I’m really good” I lied practically wincing. “I just get a little busy.”

 “Well when you have time, you should visit” Seungri laughed lightly.

                I shook my head immediately and earned another laugh from Seungri but Daesung was looking at me indifferent. “I need to leave…sorry. I’ll see you around?”

“When?” Seungri said but it was too late hurrying off to check the filters.

                After a while I noticed Daesung and Seungri didn’t even bother swimming but returned back to the hotel. I finished refilling the baskets with chlorine, checking the levels and rearranging the deck furniture I was getting a phone call on my cell phone.  I didn’t recognize the number so I didn’t answer the first few calls; but whoever was on the line was persistent so on the fifth one I picked up.

“Even though you won’t see me, you should see them” I heard T.O.P’s voice say.

“I don’t want too” I answered quietly.

“What do you mean you don’t want too?!” I heard Taeyang whine on the other end. “You’ve never said no to us before.”

“Do you have me on speaker phone?” I asked mortified.

“Hyung! Are you sure this is Devon?” Taeyang asked T.O.P. “Because my Devon would return her Tae-oppa’s calls on the first one!”

“It’s me and I’m sorry” I said firmly. “I won’t be able to see you guys as much…my job won’t allow it.”

“What about when you get out of work?” Taeyang asked.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t” I said starting to tear up. “You still have my undying support…just not so up close and-”

“But it’s us!” Taeyang pouted.

“Yeah! And we like it when you’re here” I heard a new voice say…it was GD.

“My job makes it difficult; Paije will still come see you guys, I just can’t.”

“Then we will go swimming everyday!” Taeyang stated.

I smiled a watery smile over the phone. “I love you guys so much, but I’ve got to go. Bye”

“Devon” T.O.P said.

“I don’t want to see you” I half-groaned. “Don’t you get that?”

“So you won’t see them?” He challenged. “That makes no sense!”

“How can I see them without picturing you there? You guys are like a set! When I see one I can see you all.” I explained, maybe this time he would get it. “Other than at my job, I don’t want to see you.”

                I hung up the phone waiting to finish out my last two hours on my shift. I hoped I could just get through my shift in silence. Wrong.

“Devon? Can you come into the office please?” Summer pages me on the walkie talkie.

                I don’t even bother answering but just locking the empty pool before going to her office. Summer is waiting outside and before I can ask anything she’s making a motion for me to follow her. I breathe heavily awaiting another staff talk but she leads me to the lobby. When I reach the front desk I see this stoutly man dressed in the hotel colors.

“Ms. Ashford?” He asks hesitant before I nod. “Follow me please.”

                I walked with him to the back of the hotel to the main offices and we passed the area where the other department manager offices were. He led me to a large mahogany door that had his name Donald Conners plated in gold tacked to the front. His office was huge and comfortable and he had me take a seat in one of the expensive leather upright chairs.

“Let me first say that I’ve asked you here not because of something you’ve don wrong…in fact you’ve done extremely well in your five years of service for this hotel.”

“Thank you?” I say slowly…something felt fishy.

“You are more than welcome” he smiled at me before checking something on his computer. “What I’m here to talk to you about it a temporary promotion.”

“A-A promotion? Sir! That’s wonderful!”

“Yes, even though this position is temporary the pay raise will more than make up for it.”

“So far so good…what exactly is the position?”

“You will be Head Manager of Celebrity Affairs” he says with wonder.

A small frown forms on my face. “That sounds really important…are you sure I’m even qualified to do something like that?”

He waves away my question with a laugh. “It’s just a fancy title for personal assistant.”

“Who is the client?” I ask still in the dark. “Are we getting someone new?”

“New?” Mr. Conners says confused. “I was under the impression that you already knew them?”

Each word slowly catches up to me until I understand what he’s saying. “Wait…them?”

                A knock comes at the door and a head with honey brown hair pops in smiling. My nostrils flare as T.O.P walked in the room sitting in the chair next to me.

“You said you didn’t want to see me other than at your job” he smirks. “Now it’s your job to see me.”  

~~~~

                When T.O.P came back from the meeting with the hotel manager and Devon, we were all expecting her to be entering with him.

“Devon didn’t change her mind?” I ask noticing her not with him. T.O.P shakes his head no sitting on the couch next to me.

 “This makes no sense.”  Taeyang said unsatisfied. “I mean usually she’s trying to find more ways to spend time with us-“

“Or at least getting worked up over something we do” Seungri added. “I mean Dae and I were standing shirtless in front of her…and not one squeal. Do I need to work out more?”

                Taeyang chucked a couch pillow at him and he caught it easily before resting on it.

“Hyung” Seungri called to him. “What exactly did you do?”

“Do?” He asked innocently as everyone’s eyes turned to him.

“Yeah, what did you say to her?” Teddy asked walking into the conversation. “Paije said you ed her out, so I’m assuming you yelled?”

                Everyone is watching T.O.P bite on his bottom lip.

“Aww Hyung!” I whine hitting his shoulder. “You yelled?”

“Jiyong, I didn’t know she was that sensitive!”

                We’re all looking at him like he’s the biggest idiot in the world.

“Of course she’s sensitive! She’s a girl!” Taeyang groaned.

“She’s a pretty tough girl! She’s not as emotionally frail as she looks, besides see it from my point I thought she had forgotten me!”

“See it from her’s hyung!” Taeyang whined. “Not only is she in love with you, you're like her favorite person in the whole world! And you yelled at her? And knowing you, you probably said the stuff that would hurt her the most-”

“And with his limited vocabulary, who knows what he told her or how harsh it sounded” Seungri added.

“What were the words you used?” I ask trying to understand.

                T.O.P began saying some hurtful sentences earning collective groans from all of us.

“What would make you tell her that?” I unintentionally laughed at his stupidity. “Like I get why you said it, but I don’t see how you could if you like her? Like, did you not want to get with her ever again?”

“You really hurt her heart” Daesung sighed finally talking. “That is wrong on many levels hyung.”

“Wrong?!” Teddy yelled. “He’s a jackass!”

“Is no one seeing my side of this!” T.O.P yelled. “Two years without hearing anything from her! She made me feel like I wasn’t important and that I wasn’t good enough for her! And when I finally try to make an attempt to really get over her, she shows up out of nowhere expecting me to just love her again? Two years ago at that event, I let her into my heart. It was a short romance, but I thought I made it clear that when I got out I’d come back to her!”

“Why didn’t you tell her that calmly?” Daesung says.

“Because! Every single place I went, she was there! It took everything I had not to collapse when I saw her. I was so happy seeing her! I wanted to confess my love again but my pride wouldn’t let me. She didn’t deserve my loving words; she had forgotten me. She didn’t care about me at all…she broke all of her promises to me and I was hurt and angry. Do you know how hard it was to let her touch me, let alone hug me and not respond. I had to force myself not to keep her there.”

“But what I don’t get you do stuff to try and get back at her” Seungri says. “Like going out on dates where she’ll see you.”

“I found a random pretty girl in the lobby to ask as my date, but it was an effort to keep my attention on just her.”

“It didn’t look like an effort” Teddy mumbled.

“Oh come on Teddy, you saw Devon! She looked absolutely stunning.”

“Yeah…she grew up” Seungri smiled and I watched Taeyang hit him knowing what he meant. “But why does she let you treat her like that? I don’t get it.”

“I do” T.O.P says evenly. “She’s a strange girl. Like she always puts others before herself; she knew I’d be upset…she allowed me to be angry and she didn’t even try to explain. She feels like she’s earned it…she feels guilty.”

“She didn’t yell back when you yelled at her?” Taeyang asked stunned.

T.O.P shook his head no. “She just cried quietly before she apologized. Like I said she felt guilty so she probably thought that me yelling at her was a good punishment for all the pain she caused me.”

“She was crying! And you still yelled?!” Taeyang groaned before hitting him.

“So why is she upset now if she feels like she earned it?” Seungri asks.

“She’s embarrassed” T.O.P laughs.

“About what?” I ask.

“The letters” he smiles bigger. “Like she’s hurt about what I said to her, of course…but I know her. More than anything she’s embarrassed that I know how she feels about me. It’s not really that pretty…like I didn’t know she could be that…passionate. She likes me…way more than she would like to admit..but she does.”

“How can we get her to stop” Taeyang grumbles earning laughs from Daesung, T.O.P and I.

“I have no idea” T.O.P grins. “She likes me for stuff I have no control over. Like she pays attention to my mannerisms and things that people make fun of me for…but they get her so excited. Like she tells me she’s my biggest fan, but then some things she writes tells me that if I wasn’t an idol she’d still be my biggest fan.”

“Like if you guys met at a coffee shop and you were a struggling artist, she’d still think you were wonderful?” Daesung asks really dreamily.

“Neh! Like in one of her letters, she writes that she even likes me better fat. That maybe if I were it would ‘Even out my perfection’ so she’d have a better chance with me.”

I laugh remembering that night when I found her joking about T.O.P’s weight and manners after he had insulted her.

“But back to that night at the club; Paije wasn’t making that night any easier either. She placed herself right across from me just to talk about Devon and Hyun Joong all through dinner.”

Daesung chuckled and we all looked at him. “Sorry, but I kind of like how she’s loyal to her friends. Scary as all hell though, but I still like her-”

“Yah! You like her!!!!” I shouted looking to him.

“Ani! I don’t! I mean I like her, but I-” Daesung said starting to blush. “Yah! Back to Hyung! Enough about me!”

“Watch yourself Dae, she’s insane” T.O.P says.

“Either way you owe her, she gave you the letters” I said as he shook his head realizing I was right. “Are you ever going to give them back?”

“Not at the moment…they are all I have to keep reminding myself how she feels about me because every time I try to talk to her she’s still upset. But at least now she knows how I’ve felt for the past two years.”

               We all rolled our eyes as he completely missed the point. What T.O.P failed to realize that if you truly love someone, it shouldn’t be about getting back at the other or trying to hurt the person you like. Sure Devon was wrong for not explaining her situation but the way T.O.P expressed his broken heart? He was going about it the wrong way. We stayed quiet for a moment or two until Seungri spoke.

“Well I for one am happy about this” he said cheerily as we all looked at him confused. “Hyung blew it so maybe the rest of us have a chance.”

“That’s not funny” T.O.P snapped.

“It is though! Devon will be the biggest idiot in the world if she forgives you after everything you’ve done.” He grinned. “She’s not dumb, so…I’m gonna ask her out!”

~~~~

okay, so i owed you guys an update...hopefully this explains T.O.P a little more! i absolutely adored him in this chapter...he was being all sensitve and romantic and clever, esp. with creating a job specifically for Devon *wink* but yeah! so Dae & Paije? Dev & TOP are all dramatic so i needed a place to focus my warm fuzzies lol and idk yet how Dae feels about Paije...he definitely likes her around though

so leave me a comment, let me know what you think and with this new REPLY feature on AFF i can answer you personally...so...much love...pce!