Chapter 5

“And I hate it when you’re driving in the car and the wind shield wipers are making that awful screeching noise,” I said as I put up my arms to mimic the motions.  “Screech, screech.  Ugh I just hate that.”

Jiyong raised his hands in the air and gave a silent laugh as I tried to show as best as I could my ultimate pet peeve.  We made our way to a 24-hour ramen shop near the YG building where Jiyong said he frequently visits.  We ended up on the topic of what annoys us.

“I hate it when people can’t take jokes or they get hurt by them easily,” Jiyong stated.  “Its no fun at all!  I can’t be around people that are like that.  I feel like I am going to hurt their feelings all the time.”

“You’re probably the kind of boyfriend that plays pranks right?”

Jiyong nodded excitedly, “Yes!  I love pranks.  I need someone who doesn’t mind me acting like a two year old sometimes.”

“I can see Seunghyun-oppa acting like a baby all the time.  Every time he calls me he says one word and then hangs up, what is his deal?”

Jiyong laughed at my story and began shaking his head.  “He’s just like that sometimes.  But if he can joke around like that with you that means his comfortable with you.  When he doesn’t know someone he gives off the impression that he is actually a serious person.  That, is probably the most false thing I have ever heard about him.”

“He’s like a two year old trapped inside a 25 year olds body,” I said.  “How awkward.”

Jiyong laughed and pointed at me, “Seungri, has taking a liking to you.  He seriously won’t shut up about you.  Its annoying actually.”

I awkwardly laughed and looked to my now empty bowl that was in front of me.  I reached for the salt and began shaking it into the remnants of my ramen. Jiyong watched my actions with great confusion.

“What are you doing?”  He asked as he watched me pour soy sauce in it as well.

“When I’m bored I like to make weird concoctions up.  My parents think it’s disgusting, but I get bored easily so I need to entertain myself.”  I added a scoop of pickled radish to the mixture and I heard Jiyong laugh.

“Am I boring you, _______-sshi?”

“Of course.”

Jiyong clapped his hands and laughed loudly.  He shook his head with a smile and watched me put more ingredients to the mystery mix.  He leaned forward and grabbed some of my left over kimchee on my plate.

“You need some of this too.”  He said adding it to my bowl.

“Ahh yes!  I was just going to do that!”  I said smiling.  “Give me some of your left over corn, that should make it look interesting.”

Jiyong laughed and handed me the small plate of corn.  He watched as I excitedly stirred it in and we both made the same face as we saw the result.

“I dare you to eat it,” I said looking at Jiyong.

Jiyong opened his eyes widely and shook his head.  “No way, that looks disgusting!”

“I will give you 5,000 won if you eat it.”

“10,000.”

“6,000.”

Jiyong eyed me out and raised his eyebrows playfully.  I mimicked his gesture and he laughed at my failed attempt to wiggle my eyebrows as successfully as he did.  Jiyong shook his head and spoke, “We both take one bite and then who ever breaks their poker face first loses.”

“Deal.  Ready, set…go!”

We both grabbed our spoons and took a bite of the concoction.  What the did I just make, holy sweet cheese this is disgusting.  I opened my eyes widely as I tasted the mixture.  I swallowed it with great effort and I looked over at Jiyong who looked like he was about to vomit at any minute.  My lips began to quiver and I tried so hard to suppress the laugh that wanted to escape my mouth.  Jiyong put his hands over his mouth and looked straight at me with struggling eyes.  My lips started to shake more and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.  I reached for my cup of water and took the biggest sip out of it.  I looked over at Jiyong who had his hands in the air, waving it with great pride.  Seconds later he downed the whole cup of water and he began wiping his tongue with a new napkin.

“What the hell did we make?”  Jiyong asked as he wiped his tongue once more.  “I thought I was going to die there for a second.”

“I think I did die,” I said.

We both shared a good laugh together and the annoyed ahjumma waitress came and took away our bowls and cups.  I bowed my head towards her and Jiyong did the same.  We both turned to look at one another and we burst into another fit of giggles.  We are seriously five years old.

Jiyong took a sip of his new water and reached over to play with the chopsticks that the waitress accidentally left on the table.  “_______-sshi, that was really nice of you to help Joon-sshi like that.”

I looked up from my lap and gave him a look.  What was he talking about?

“I ran into Joon down the hall way and he was telling me how you fed him and gave him your phone number,” Jiyong said smiling.  “I thought that was really nice.  I see him training all the time and he works really hard.  He must look up to you a lot.”

“Or he just likes annoying me.”

“That too.  He always tells everyone how pretty and awesome you are.  So maybe he just secretly loves you.”

“Well, doesn’t everyone?”

Jiyong laughed and shook his head.  “You’re actually really funny.  Sorry I wasn’t open to you sooner, you could have made me laugh more.”

“Sorry, that privilege is only open to special people.  That doesn’t include Seungri, but he just somehow always finds everything I say hilarious.”

Jiyong shook his head.  “Seriously though, you’re a very sweet person.  I always see you working hard in the building.  And when you have even the slightest of free time you’re always feeding your staff with food or helping out the ahjummas in the cafeteria.”

I blushed a little at his last sentence because I didn’t realize anyone knew about me helping out the cafeteria ladies.  Some nights I would go down and help them clean up the cafeteria before they went home to their families.  They all worked so hard to feed the employees of the building, that sometimes I just wanted to thank them for all the hard work they do.

“Aish, I didn’t know anyone knew I did that,” I said embarrassed.

“You kind of remind me of myself,” he said.  “But not like in a weird way or anything.”

I laughed and listened for him to continue.

“We both work hard and never want to settle for less.  We rather put others before ourselves because we don’t want to burden anyone with our problems or concerns,” Jiyong said softly as he played with the chopsticks in his hands.  “Its nice to know that there is someone else out there who thinks like me.”

I bowed my head slightly and smiled, “Thank you.  You seem to know quite a lot about me.  But I don’t really know anything about you.”

“I don’t even know you.”

“Exactly.”

Those words replayed in my mind from that night.  I still was confused to why Jiyong said that.  From the few hours we spent with each other tonight, we seemed to have grown more comfortable with one another.  I still felt awkward around him and he still acted stiff with me, though that night still replayed in my head.

“Well I don’t know everything.  I know you’re an art director of some sort.  But more specifically what do you do?”

I hadn’t really heard his question because I was still busy thinking to myself.  I noticed he was trying to get my attention again and I looked up surprised to see him staring at me.  I titled my head to the side and gave him a confused look.  This is why mom keeps telling you to not let your mind wander off while you’re with people, I could avoid awkward situations like this.

Jiyong sensed my hesitation and sat back in his seat.  Too soon Jiyong, stop it.  You were having a good time with her and now you ruined it.  Great.

We both sat back and let each other get consumed by the silence.  At first it felt awkward, but then we just sat there and enjoyed it.  We both rarely had time to just sit there and get consumed by our own thoughts, so this was a nice change.  Eventually the ahjummas had enough of us and asked us to leave before the morning rush of people came in.  We bowed respectfully and Jiyong insisted on paying the bill.  After arguing back and forth, I eventually let him treat me though with the conditions that the next time we eat out, I pay.

“So we’re doing this again then?” Jiyong asked as we made our way outside to the street.  He opened up his cigarette box and lit one up before taking a huge breath in.  I watched him do this as we stood by the edge of the sidewalk.

“Sure why not.  I think—you have my number right?”  I asked awkwardly as he took another drag and let out a breath of smoke.  “I think we exchanged it that one night at the barbeque hut.”

Jiyong took another long drag and threw the cigarette on the ground.  He turned to me and stuffed his hands deeper into his jacket pocket.  “Yeah I still have it.  I will text you sometime.  But don’t worry, I won’t be like Seungri and harass you late at night.”

I laughed and played with my scarf.  “So he tells you how he says good night to me almost every night?  Oh my God, he’s too much sometimes I swear.”

“He says you never respond though,” Jiyong says laughing as he stomped on the barely lit cigarette on the ground.  “You hurt his pride.”

“Eh, there will be more things I will hurt if he keeps this up,” I shot back.

Jiyong let out a loud laugh and began bouncing in his shoes a bit.  I decided to play along and copy his actions until he noticed.  He looked over at me and laughed when he noticed what I was doing, he scrunched his nose cutely and gave me a look before I stopped bouncing.  This feels nice.

“Where do you live?  I can take you back to your home or---”

“Ah, aniyo.  It’s okay, thank you.  I’m going to head back to the building to work on a couple more things.  You can head home now, I will be fine.”

Jiyong scratched his head and looked over at me, “I don’t feel safe knowing you’re going to be walking by yourself.”

I shook my head.  “Yah!  I’m a big girl, I’ll be fine.  Plus its like two blocks from here.”

Jiyong nodded and spoke, “Arasso.  Text me when you get back to the building.  I just—just want to know if you arrived safely.”

I laughed.  “Okay, weirdo.”  Jiyong laughed with me and slightly pushed me with his shoulder.  I pushed him back harder and he almost lost his balance for a second, which earned more laughter from me.  “Bye Jiyong, drive safe,” I said before I nudged him once more.  I stuffed my hands in my pockets and turned my back towards him as I made my way to YG building down the block.  I felt his presence still there and I turned around to see him watching me with a small smile.  I stomped my foot and shooed him away towards his car.  He only responded by shaking his head and giving me another one of his small smiles.  I groaned and turned back around to head towards the building.  After a couple more minutes I decided to turn around just to make sure he had left the sidewalk.

Omo, are you serious?

Jiyong was still standing in the same spot, huddled in his jacket with his hands in his pockets.  I rolled my eyes and again tried to shoo him towards his car.  The little tiny figure shook his head and smiled again.

“You’re so stubborn!” I shouted at him from down the block.  “Go home!”

Jiyong shook his head again and stood firmly in the spot where I left him.  Annoyed, I turned around and sprinted all the way back to the building which was not too far from where I was.

“She’s cute.”

After making it back to the lobby of the building I looked down at my phone, which had just vibrated.  I had a text message from Jiyong.  I rolled my eyes and opened the new message.

Good, now I know for sure you’re safe.  Don’t stay up too late. 

I rolled my eyes and replied back.

You’re annoying.  Goodbye.

I laughed as I hit the send button and made my way towards the elevator to take me to my spare office.  After sitting back in my office chair I noticed that I had 15 new emails waiting for me from a couple of clients and my boss overseas.  I groaned as I began reading them down the list.  This is what happens when I leave work for a couple hours.  Never again.

“And then my mom kept telling me about how if I flunk out of school then I won’t be able to make it in the dancing world.  Does dancing and algebra have anything to do with one another?"

“Joon.”

“I mean, I guess the whole angles and the turning of dancing can be like geometry, but I still don’t see why I need to pass algebra.”

I sighed, “Joon.”

“And then there’s the whole grades of the school system.  It’s so dumb!  I mean, they just want to label us and make us feel stupid because we’re comparing one another based on grades.  I mean, I could get an A in English if I wanted to its just---”

“JOON!”

Joon stopped mid-sentence and looked over in my direction.  He had been rambling on for the past hour about nothing while I sat here helplessly in the cafeteria with him.  When he called me to have a “quick” lunch I literally thought he meant quick, I should have figured that nothing was quick with Joon, nothing.

“I really need to get back to work,” I mumbled as I folded my napkin for the nth time.  “We can finish up another time, okay?  I just really need to finish something before tonight.”

“Aww noona, I barely see you anymore,” Joon grumbled as he grabbed my hands over the table.  “You work too much!”

I yanked my hands away and stuck my tongue out at him.  “Shut up.  I came here to have lunch with you didn’t I.  And look, my stew got cold because I was listening to you talk the entire time instead of eating.  I chose you over food, feel special.”

“I feel special, noona!”  Joon said as he sent me a quick smile.  “But, okay head back to work.  Fighting!”

I ruffled Joon’s hair as I walked away from the table and down the hallway.  My phone started vibrating, notifying me of a new email, I looked down at my phone.  And within the few seconds I did so, I felt a body collide with me.

“Omo, sorry,” I said as I gave a quick bow.  I hurried along and tried to re-open the email that I accidentally closed.

“______?”

I turned around and saw Jiyong standing in the same spot where we had collided previously.  I opened my mouth and bowed once more, apologizing for not recognizing him sooner.  I walked back up to him and asked him how he was doing.

“I texted you not too long ago,” Jiyong said looking nervously at me.  “Did you receive it?”

Aish, I totally forgot to respond.  How rude. 

“Omo, I’m sorry,” I said.  “I’ve been really busy the past few weeks so I didn’t really have time to talk to anyone.  Sorry for being rude.”

It has been a few weeks since Jiyong and I had our little ramen rendezvous.  He texted me every now and then since that night, but I just haven’t had time to respond due to the hectic schedule that my boss recently gave me.  It wasn’t like I was ignoring Jiyong’s offer to eat out with him, I just didn’t have the time.  Plus, the last time we ate together I ignored my work for a couple hours and got piled on with even more work.  That was definitely not going to happen again.

“Well how about tonight?  Can you eat out with us tonight?”  Jiyong asked while looking at me with a small smile.

Seungri was also pestering me about eating with them.  He still wrote me good night text messages when he could and I still didn’t respond.  As much I appreciated the boys all trying to make me feel like one of the gang, a part of me tried to resist them as much as I could.  It was awkward feeling like this.  I purposely distanced myself from people because that’s how I dealt with the homesickness during work.  I didn’t want to get close to people and then have to leave them after a project was finished.  I already had Psy-oppa and his family to deal with after I leave Korea, I didn’t want to have to deal with anyone else.

I sighed and ran a hand through my dirty hair.  “I actually have a lot of work to do tonight, Jiyong-sshi,” I said as I looked down at my phone.  “I’m sorry, maybe next time.”

Jiyong nudged me and I looked up to see a worried look on his features.  “________-ah, are you ignoring us?  Did we do something wrong?”

I shook my head quickly.  “Aniyo, I just have stuff I need to get to.  Don’t take it personally.”

I grabbed his shoulder and leaned forward and offered him a smile and an eyebrow raised.  Jiyong laughed at my cute gesture and I released my grip on his shoulder.  My feet began to retreat backwards to my office as I kept my gaze locked on Jiyong.

“I’ll see you,” I said to him as I headed towards my office.  I let out the breath I was holding when I was near him.  That was a close one.

My phone buzzed again and I sighed looking at the three incoming emails that were waiting to be read.

Tapping my pencil along to the rhythm of Gangnam Style, I found myself getting distracted from working on the promotional piece for Psy-oppa’s new album.  I twirled in my seat and let my head fall back on the headrest.  The feeling of light-headedness crept up on me as my seat slowly started to stop spinning.  I got up from my seat and began practicing the dance steps to Psy-oppa’s hit song.  I laughed at how ridiculous I looked from my reflection in the glass door that was in front of me.

“Eyyyy, y lady,” I sang along as I did the swift leg motion that Psy-oppa perfected during his live performances.

Not even noticing the pair of eyes on me, I continued to dance around the room.  Just then I heard someone clear their throat and I was greeted with an embarrassed smile.  I readjusted my skirt and bowed politely to the new person in the room.  How professional of you ______, dancing to your client’s song in 4 inch heels.

“Sorry for interrupting,” the young girl spoke as she walked inside the office.  “But I just wanted to drop this off for you.”  The young girl set a plastic bag on the table and she then took out a pair of chopsticks from her jacket and placed it on top the bag.  I gave her a confused look and I stopped her before she ran away.

“What is this?”

The girl shrugged her shoulder.  “Seungri and Jiyong-oppa told me to deliver this to this room number.  It smells really good though.”  I nodded my head and I watched the girl run outside my office.  Poor girl, she was probably a trainee that was sent to do one of her sunbae’s errands.  I would need to yell at them for making her do that.  I opened the plastic bag and I saw a bowl of hot ramen noodles calling my name.  I took the contents out of its packaging and noticed there was a small note with it.

Seungri and I wanted you to take a break from working and eat this yummy ramen.  I know you like the one without green onions so we picked it up for you.  Fighting, _______-sshi!

Jiyong and Seungri

I laughed at the little heart that Seungri had written near his name.  I placed the food down on my desk and grabbed my cell phone from my pocket.  It rang a couple times before I heard the familiar voice on the other line.

“_______-ah, did you receive our gift?” Seungri yelled through the phone.  I heard a couple mumbled voices behind him as well.

“Ne,” I responded.  “How dare you make a trainee come and deliver it to me.  You’re such a mean sunbae.”

“Aniyo, _______-ah,” Seungri said defending himself.  “She volunteered to do it.  I think she has a small crush on me that’s why.”  Seungri laughed on the other line and I joined him.  He probably made her do it.

“Well we just wanted you to eat well tonight since Jiyong said you had a lot of work to get to tonight,” Seungri said to me as I sat down and opened the steaming ramen bowl.  I sniffed in the warm aroma and began pulling my chopsticks apart.  “We miss you.”

My chopsticks broke unevenly as I heard those words escape his mouth.  I put my phone between my ear and shoulder and tried to smooth out the ridges as best as I could.

“Thank you oppa, I promise to eat every last bite,” I said ignoring his last statement.  “Tell Jiyong thanks as well.”

“Here, you can tell him yourself,” Seungri said as I heard him pass the phone to, who I assumed was, Jiyong.

“Hello,” Jiyong laughed into the phone.

“I hate you.”

Jiyong laughed even louder.  “You can’t hate me.  I brought you food.”

“You’re distracting me.”

“You won’t eat with us.  So we brought the food to you.  Better us sending you the food rather than us coming to bother you ourselves,” Jiyong said sweetly.  I smiled at his words and began picking at the ramen.  “We know how busy you are, we didn’t want to bother you.”

“Where are you guys?”

There was a slight pause on the other line before Jiyong returned, “We are in the studio on the second floor, come visit us if you have time.”

I glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

11:29 PM

“Maybe,” I said quietly.  “Are you going to be there all night?”

I heard Jiyong sigh on the other line, “Probably.  Seungri is going to go back to the dorm soon but I want to stay up and finish a track.”

I nodded my head and took the first bite out of the ramen.  Ugh, totally in my pants worthy.  “Arasso, work hard.”  I slurped up a noodle and I heard Jiyong laugh on the phone.

“I see you’re enjoying your meal.  Good.  See you soon, hopefully,” Jiyong said before hanging up the phone.  I took another huge bite from the ramen and I sighed from the satisfaction of a good meal in front of me.  I glanced back at the clock again and bit down on my lip.  It was earlier than usual and I was nearly done with my projects.  I finished the last remaining bites of the ramen and threw the rest in the trash.  Quickly, I grabbed my bags and headed out towards the exit.

I’m going to regret this tomorrow.

“Again.”

Kush sighed and pushed down the recording button.  Jiyong rubbed his tired eyes and started listening to the chorus once more.  Jiyong opened his mouth to sing but was greeted with a small coughing fit instead.

“Jiyong-ah, take a break.  Your voice needs it,” Kush said through the monitor’s speakers.  Jiyong nodded and took off the headphones.  He made his way towards the front of the recording studio and collapsed on the leather sofa.  Kush turned around in his seat and looked at Jiyong with tired eyes.  “Stop pushing it, it’ll come naturally.”

Jiyong groaned and sat back up in his seat.  “It’s not right yet.  Something is missing.”  Jiyong looked over at Teddy and Kush and shook his head in confusion.  Kush shrugged his shoulder and Teddy just gave Jiyong a reassuring nod.  Jiyong glanced at his phone.

2:13 AM

“Ugh,” Jiyong groaned and threw his phone on the opposite side of the couch.  The song he had been working on was nearly complete, yet some parts of the song felt awkward and lacked something that he couldn’t pinpoint.  Jiyong flipped through pages of his songbook and tried to figure out what he could put in the spots that bothered him.  A picture of his ex-girlfriend fell out of the book and he stared intently at it.

Come on, think.  What more does it need?  How much more pain do I have to go through to finish one damn song?

Interrupting his thoughts, the studio door was suddenly opened.  There you stood with a handful of plastic bags and your foot was pushing the door open.  Jiyong laughed at the sight and stood up to help you with your bags.

“What are you doing with all this stuff?”  Jiyong asked as you made your way towards the small table in the studio.  Kush and Teddy both turned around with smiles on their faces as they saw you enter the room.

You scoffed and nudged Jiyong’s shoulder.  “This is the thanks I get for cooking you guys food?  Fine, never again.”  Jiyong’s eyes widened as he looked at the packages before him.  You began unpacking the small bento boxes and lining them up on the table.  Containers filled with egg rolls, kim-chee pancakes, rice, egg drop soup, different kinds of meats, and side dishes were all being placed on the table.  Teddy and Kush scurried their chairs over as the smell of the food became irresistible in the small studio.

Kush grabbed your hand and dramatically went down on one knee.  “Again, marry me.”  You laughed and pushed Kush out of your way.  You went into a small cooler and grabbed a couple of drinks for them.  Jiyong was still in shock over the amount of food you prepared for them.  He knew how busy you were the past few weeks, so he tried to not take his ignored texts seriously.  But even though you were piled with work, you still made the time to make them a huge meal.  Jiyong looked over at you sitting on the couch and reading through your phone’s messages.  He still couldn’t believe what you did for them.  Teddy and Kush were already starting to eat the food that was in front of them, they couldn’t wait to be polite any longer, they were starving.  Jiyong made his way towards you and sat down with you on the couch.  You momentarily looked at him and then back at your phone.

“What are you doing, go eat,” you said shooing him away.  Jiyong laughed and grabbed your phone so your attention would be on him.  “Hey, give that back!”

“Thank you _______,” Jiyong said smiling down at you.  “You seriously—umm didn’t have to do all this.”

You rolled your eyes and grabbed your phone from his reach.  “Its fine, I had time.”  He knew you were lying, he knew how busy you were.  He only nodded his head and looked back towards the table filled with food.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Jiyong said as he looked at all the food in front of him.  “Are you sure everything is edible?”  Jiyong joked as he nudged you on the side.

“Are you blind?” you asked him in English.  “Of course its edible, just look at that presentation!  That should be considered a masterpiece.”  You giggled to yourself and looked back at your phone.

Blind?

Jiyong blinked a couple of times and thought to himself.  He quickly went up from his seat and grabbed his notebook.  He began to scribble down some more notes as he bit down on his lower lip.  You watched him in confusion as he got up so fast, but you later just shrugged your shoulders and went back to checking your emails on your phone.

They say love is blind.  Oh baby you so blind. 

Jiyong smiled, satisfied at his new lyrics he turned his attention towards you.  You were still intently looking at her phone and biting down on your lower lip. Jiyong felt his lips doing the same gesture and he smiled at how much similarities you two shared.  You eyebrows were furrowed into a thinking position and your usually curled hair was tied up into a tight bun on the top of your head.  You looked tired.  But yet here you were, making them food out of the kindness of your heart.  Jiyong stood up from the table and walked towards you, he knelt down in front of you and you looked up at him with surprised eyes.

“You,” Jiyong said as he leaned forward.  “Are awesome.”

You laughed and pushed Jiyong backwards so he fell on his bottom.  You leaned forward and responded in the same slow tone Jiyong used, “I.  Know.”  We both laughed and you motioned towards the food on the table.  “Eat.”

Jiyong nodded his head and stood up to grab some food.  His mouth watered just looking at all the things that lay before him.  He grabbed an egg roll and examined how intricately you made it.  He plopped one in his mouth and his eyes shot open.  Holy balls this is good.  Jiyong grabbed a couple more rolls and put them on his plate.

“Yah!” Teddy shouted.  “Stop stealing all of them.”  Jiyong smirked and walked back towards the desk that was near the studio equipment.  He peered down at the songbook below him and popped another egg roll in his mouth.  His ex’s picture lay on the page and Jiyong turned back around and looked at you.  Still on your phone, you now smiled at the email you read from your father.  Jiyong turned back towards the songbook and closed it shut.  When he went home, he had every intention of throwing that picture away.

A.N.

Thanks to all the commenters and new subbers out there!  Love you guys!  This was actually a really fun chapter to write.  I guess I'm more of a fluff writer haha.  Hello also to all the silent readers out there, please susrcibe or drop a comment, I love hearing from all of you!  Thanks again for supporting this story and I will try and update again tomorrow!  Have a great day and happy reading!