Chapter 13:

Someone was shaking him. Tae Yang grunted something and turned around but the hands were still there, trying to wake him up.

"Tae Yang Hyung, wake up. You need to wake up." Dae Sung said, sounding rather anxious.

"Go away." Tae Yang mumbled, raising his arm to protect the light of the sun from shining very brightly right upon his face. The brightness almost blinded him as he kept his eyes closed and when the shaking did not stop, Tae Yang finally gave up on resisting.

Tae Yang’s eyes slowly opened and he blinked a few times trying to adjust to the light.

'What’s the matter?' Tae Yang said drowsily, raising his hand to stifle a yawn.

“G Dragon Hyung,” Dae Sung turned his head a fraction to look at the door which leads to the living room where G Dragon was. “He stayed up all night waiting for Seungri.”

Bewildered and still half asleep, Tae Yang sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“What?”  Tae Yang said in a small voice. “He stayed up all night waiting for Seungri?”

“Yeah,” Dae Sung whispered, taking a step backward so that Tae Yang could get out of the bed. “This is the first time that I had seen G Dragon hyung so pissed.”

“So, you want me to calm him down?” Tae Yang asked quietly, locking eyes with Dae Sung.

Dae Sung nodded mutely, wishing the floor would swallow him up for being timid. On the other hand, Tae Yang looked shocked by this revelation. If Dae Sung was scared with someone he had worked with for almost half of his lifetime, that shows how pissed G Dragon was.

Bracing himself, Tae Yang walked towards the door, but a shaking hand grabbed his trailing sleeve. Tae Yang turned to discover Dae Sung looking at him worriedly.

“I changed my mind.” Dae Sung muttered. “Let’s try to calm G Dragon Hyung down together.”

Tae Yang nodded as he held onto the door knob and opened the door very slowly, cringing a little as the door creaked.

For a moment, Tae Yang was certain that his heart had stopped when he saw G Dragon in the living room. He had never seen G Dragon looked so angry before. His jaw was clenched tight, fists curled into balls. His silent anger was perhaps more frightening than the usual sight of him reprimanding during their big bang days.

Beside him, Dae Sung made a small, frightened sound deep in his throat, and Tae Yang felt Dae Sung pressing up against him. Tae Yang could not turn to look neither at him, nor in any way acknowledge his friend's distress, fearing that he would back out as well.

Tae Yang forced himself to walk towards G Dragon even though he wasn't sure what to say to him, but he knew that he had to say something in order to calm the fuming dragon.

“Are you all right?” Tae Yang asked G Dragon, seeming genuinely concerned.

“What’s the time right now?” G Dragon's voice was hollow and strained and Tae Yang shuddered as the anger and hurt in the voice made his hair stand on end.

Tae Yang felt his lips moving, but no sound came out.

“E…Eig…Eigh…Eight o’ clock,” Dae Sung spoke for Tae Yang but the words were almost inaudible.

Just as equally quiet, G Dragon replied.

 “That means, Seungri did not come back to the dormitory at all?”

“G Dragon…” Tae Yang began. He knew that he ought to try to bring down G Dragon’s raging temper, but the words were stuck in his throat, knowing that G Dragon would not listen to anything he says with that temper.

For a long, awful moment there was silence until G Dragon angrily slammed his hands on to the dining table. "Seungri, Lee Sung Hyun! You are so dead!”

“G Dragon,” Tae Yang said, careful to keep his voice level and calm. “G Dragon, I think you ought to take a deep breath.”

G Dragon whirled, teeth bared in an instinctive snarl.

”So now you're on his side?” G Dragon snarled. “Does big bang means nothing to you?”

Tae Yang shook his head. “We're all on your side,” he said. “Just calm down.”

“What’s the need to calm down when you guys are with me?” G Dragon argued. “I am going to make Seungri come back to his senses.”

And with that, G Dragon dashed out of the dormitory.

“Tae Yang hyung, we didn’t just worsen the situation right?” Dae Sung asked timidly, casting a wary eye on the open door.

Tae Yang was trying to get his panicked mind to work before he came to a decision.

"Come on" Tae Yang said and walked towards the door, Dae Sung followed a little hesitantly.

***

Ever since TOP decided Tempo to home school, the fact of nobody will be looking after a four year old had not crossed his mind until he got home.

TOP looked as though he were battling with himself and, indeed, he was. He understood quite well how difficult it could be to be to be in hiding from the paparazzi. After all, he had been in hiding from the paparazzi ever since he started his debut in big bang. But Tempo had been into this through no fault or desire of his own, making TOP felt full of sympathy for his son.

"Daddy?" Tempo looked up at TOP while they walked towards Seungri’s office. “Why are we going to see the CEO?”

TOP beamed down at Tempo.

However, before TOP could answer Tempo’s question, TOP heard a banging sound from behind the door of Seungri’s office, which was ajar.

“Seungri! What is the meaning of this?!”

“Why didn’t you choose big bang’s come back as your choice?”

Realising that the voice belonged to G Dragon, TOP and Tempo began to walk towards the ajar door curiously.

While TOP and Tempo walked towards the ajar door, TOP noticed Tae Yang and Dae Sung running towards his direction, their breaths coming in ragged gasps.

"What on earth is going on? What are you guys doing here?" TOP asked, careful to keep his voice low so as not to disrupt the commotion in Seungri’s office.

Dae Sung tore his eyes away from Seungri’s office and looked at TOP.

“It’s obvious isn’t it?” Dae Sung started to say but was cut off by Seungri’s voice in the office.

 “I was given 2 choices.” Seungri explained. “I just chose the one that would give me the best results.”

There was a long, apoplectic silence during which G Dragon's breathing grew harder and more ragged.

“How could managing the future of YG Entertainment give you a better results than big bang’s come back?” G Dragon said. “Big bang was one of the top boy bands fifteen years ago remember?”

“Fifteen years ago.” Seungri stood up from his chair and walked towards G Dragon. “Big bang was one of the top boy bands fifteen years ago. What makes you think that big bang’s come back would give the same or better results today?”

“Why not?!” G Dragon argued. “I am still one of the top music producers in the music industry. With TOP hyung and Dae Sung’s popularity in acting and variety show respectively, I do not see any problem with the results from big bang’s come back.”

 “G Dragon Hyung!” Seungri laughed sarcastically. ”If you want a big bang comeback that badly, I will not stop you. But, not as a task to show the board of directors and President YG!”

“I believe you understand that making songs required funds.” Seungri reasoned. “With the money left behind fifteen years ago, do you think it’s enough when the prices of rental for example have increased so much? In addition, with the CD industry being so stagnant, and digital music sites are seen as vastly underpriced, with some charging just a few cents a song to compete with pirated music sites, do you think that music sales in South Korea alone could recoup that investment enough to show the results I wanted?!”

“Oh yes, I need to remind you G Dragon Hyung,” Seungri sneered. “We also have an ex-convict with us. With the current traditional mentality of the people in Korea, do you think they would support…”

G Dragon grabbed Seungri by the collar of his shirt, shaking with anger. TOP, Tempo, Dae Sung and Tae Yang quickly entered the office.

“Don’t you dare call Tae Yang an ex-convict!” G Dragon said through clenched teeth.

“Stop! Stop fighting!” Tempo shouted as loud as he could.

Totally oblivious to their surroundings until Tempo shouted, both, Seungri’s and G Dragon’s mouths shot open, clearly making ready some angry retort.

 Then two pairs of eyes shifted to the little boy standing a few steps away from them, and the rage rushed from the room like air into the vacuum of space. G Dragon released his fingers from Seungri’s shirt and scrubbed the palm of his hand against his jeans.

 While Seungri who had noticed Tae Yang in the room, looked away instantly, not able to look at Tae Yang in the eyes. The second he saw the shock and hurt in those black eyes for calling Tae Yang an ex-convict, he felt a flicker of regret among the flames of rage.

He couldn't see Tae Yang. Not now. Not when everything was falling apart in a senseless mess. He had been so sure that he was no longer weak by erasing all his bad memories, but underneath that anger, he was just that and nothing more. Unable to look at those eyes a moment longer, Seungri walked out of the office, deaf to any reply that anyone had made.