Seunghyun looked down at their hands, and noticed his was starting to shake. He looked at Jiyong who seemed to be dreaming in a dozing state. Seunghyun finally breathed and took Jiyong’s hand off of his wrist. He crouched by him and said, “I’m not going anywhere.” Jiyong smiled and snuggled his face against the jacket.

Seunghyun put the towel in the hamper and crouched down with his back to the refrigerator when he heard voices coming closer. He shot up to see a couple faces he recognized. It was Teddy and Danny from 1TYM. They were speaking with a foreign accent that sounded vaguely like English. 1TYM… they really were big as far as rappers in the Korean music scene went.

Danny had bleached orange hair and looked lanky next to Teddy who was a little more built. They both wore baggy pants. Danny was in a tank top and Teddy had a large hooded sweatshirt with the hood almost completely synched around his face. Seunghyun bowed as they approached him. They laughed at the little pudgy kid. Their eyes were soft but sharp and looked somewhat familiar.

“Well, what do we have here?” Danny asked, lifting up the jacket to reveal a sleeping and drooling Jiyong.

“Jiyong is sick today and didn’t want to miss work but I knew he wasn’t feeling well so I went with him just in case he couldn’t work,” Seunghyun practically whispered. He was surprised any words came out of his mouth.

“Ah,” Teddy said peeking in the fridge, taking out a water bottle and tossing another to Danny. Danny who missed grabbing the bottle cursed and jogged down the hallway to grab it.

“So, I take it that you two are close. You must know that he works himself to the bone here then,” Teddy said with a little admiration and pity before chugging the water.

“Yeah. I’ve been worried about him.” Seunghyun admitted quietly.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t been sick before now,” Danny said returning to the nook. “He is always working when I see him. He never takes a break. I have no idea how he has friends.”

“I’m glad you are here. I should introduce myself. My name is Park Hong Jun but everyone calls me Teddy. I’m the leader of 1TYM.” He smiled, bowing then extending his hand.

Seunghyun wiped off his palm on his pants before returning the handshake, not expecting to be pulled into a hip-hop man hug. He patted Teddy’s back awkwardly making the older man laugh.

Danny laughed. “Hyung, look at this kid. He must have heard of us before. He’s all jittery,” Danny commented. “I’m Im Tae Bin but everyone calls me Danny.” He extended his hand but slid it before hooking Seunghyun’s fingers and pulling him in for the same gesture.

“Really? Are you into hip-hop?” Teddy asked Seunghyun, looking obviously surprised.

Seunghyun nodded his head and looked at his shoes. “I like to rap.” He said quietly.

They laughed and patted him on the back.

“Say it with a little more confidence. Rapping is really cool.” Danny told him.

 “We will have to talk to and see you more then. What is your name, kid?” Teddy asked him.

“I’m Choi Seunghyun.” He muttered before extending into a bow.

They laughed again like they thought this kid was the funniest thing since chickens crossed the road.

“Hey, enough with all the formality, Seunghyun. And don’t worry about the water today. Papa YG only has Jiyong do that to establish boundaries and give him something to do. He really has potential though. He’s really good for his age. It just isn’t his time.” Danny said looking at the sleeping bundle on the chair.

“Yeah, he showed me his rapping notebook one time for advice. It blew me away. I didn’t know what to say. He thinks of so many ideas I never thought of before being signed. It’s like he has it in his blood.” Teddy said.

Seunghyun nodded. Jiyong really did have music in his blood. It was with him every moment he saw him.

“Well, we have to get back to dance practice but don’t be a stranger, Seunghyun. I’m here if you ever want to share your rapping ideas.” Teddy said getting into leader mode and shoving Danny down the hall to the practice room.

Seunghyun stood there in awe. He just had a conversation with Teddy and Danny from 1TYM. How many other surprises would this building hold for him? He jumped when the washer buzzed. He opened the door to toss the towels before closing it and switching it onto dryer mode.

He crouched down on the floor and took his rapping notebook out of his bag. He let his hand glide over the surface. Does he have potential too? If he did, it wasn’t as much as Jiyong, he decided. How much would he give to have what they have? Could he actually make his family proud of him without going to college? Could he become be a rapper like Danny and Teddy?

He shook his head to rid the thoughts. His heart rushed at the thought of performing on stage, having all those eyes on him performing his raps. It was overwhelming and it’s not like he could become famous. He looked at his body, sighing at the look of his gut. He wished he had some more clothes to cover it up.

He looked at the bear still in his hand and smiled, starting to calm down. He tore a corner off of a page in his notebook, scrawling a quick message on it he stuck it to the bear’s leg with a piece of tape from his backpack before slipping it into Jiyong’s bag. He looked up at Jiyong who started to move like he was waking up.

“Jiyong? Are you feeling any better?” Seunghyun asked the half awake boy.

“Mmm? Seunghyun?” Jiyong asked, rubbing his eyes. Jiyong looked around the room like he was wondering where he was and how he got there.

“Yeah. Do you remember? I brought you to work after school. You were really sick and I didn’t know what else to do.” Seunghyun said, explaining himself, albeit awkwardly.

“I’m thirsty.” Jiyong said throatily while sitting up and sniffing.

Seunghyun opened the refrigerator to find it empty, minus an ancient pizza box on the bottom shelf. He started to panic, looking all over for more water. He was sure he had counted more bottles than that in there earlier.

“There are some in the freezer, Seunghyun. You just need to let them sit in the refrigerator for a while.” Jiyong said before blowing his nose loudly.

“What about for you?” Seunghyun asked.

“I’ll be okay. Are the towels done? Did you bring water to the guys? They usually want to get it themselves but YG specifically told me to never let them do that.” Jiyong said in panic.

Seunghyun gulped. He didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to let them get water. He didn’t want Jiyong to get fired because of him but being around Danny and Teddy kind of left him frozen and shell shocked.

“They got water during practice and the towels are drying now.” Seunghyun said, not wanting Jiyong to find out about the water incident.

“Good.” Jiyong said reaching for his schoolbag.

“What are you doing?” Seunghyun asked naively.

“What does it look like,” Jiyong sniffled. “I have homework to do.”

“Don’t you think it’s okay to skip out on homework just for one day? Your brain seems to be need rest with the rest of your body.” Seunghyun said to the younger.

Jiyong looked up at him with a stubborn scowl on his face. “You think I can’t do homework just because I’m sick?” He jabbed at Seunghyun.

“Well…that is…I mean…” Seunghyun stuttered.

Jiyong rolled his eyes and opened his English textbook and notebook. He started writing for almost a minute before his eyes started to glaze over and he sniffed. Seunghyun started to get up to pull his book away. Jiyong snapped back into consciousness.

“I’m okay! I’m okay!” He said, holding his one hand straight up and gripping his books with the other to stop Seunghyun from taking them away.

Seunghyun backed away and sat by the refrigerator again. He was really worried about Jiyong but what could he do? He was only a year older than him. That didn’t mean that much considering that Seunghyun had no idea what he was doing. Wait. He had an idea.

“Jiyong?” Seunghyun asked.

“Mmm?” Jiyong replied, trying to focus on his English reading.

“Where is the bathroom?” Seunghyun asked him quietly.

“Next hall over, second door on the left.” Jiyong answered without lifting an eye.

Seunghyun got up and walked nervously over to the front desk. He was never really good at talking to people but he needed help with Jiyong and this seemed like a logical answer.

When he got there, the woman at the front desk was talking animatedly on the phone with someone so it must not be office business. She quickly hung up when she realized she was caught.

“Hello, little boy. Can I help you with something? How is your sick friend?” She said in a condescending tone.

Seunghyun scrunched his face. He wasn’t a little boy. He was 15 years old but he let it pass.

“He isn’t doing so well, madam. He thinks he is doing fine but he won’t let me help him. He keeps insisting on working.” Seunghyun explained.

“Ah. Normally I would say that he has a very admirable work ethic but he has been working himself into a bad state.” She said while tapping her cheek with a pen.

“Is there anything you can tell me to do to help him? I’m not really good at taking care of people,” He said looking at his shoes again.

She smiled and opened a drawer in the desk. She gave him a couple pills and pulled out a teabag.

“How about you get him to take these and I’ll make him some medicinal tea?” She offered in the same voice that sounded like she was talking to a 5 year old.

“Yeah. I can do that.” Seunghyun said, trying to ignore the tone and think of Jiyong.

He walked down the hall to find Jiyong working on his Korean homework, a pencil in one hand, a tissue in the other. He had to figure out a way for Jiyong to take the pills. He was acting like he was just fine now even though he was a mess.

“Jiyong, you remember how we stopped at the pharmacy earlier?” Seunghyun asked the dazed Jiyong.

“Mmm.” Jiyong answered.

“Well, I got these for you. Will you take them? They will help you focus on your work.” Seunghyun pleaded.

Jiyong looked up at Seunghyun and the pills before sighing and holding out his hand for them. Seunghyun smiled and placed the pills in his hand.

“Get me some water?” Jiyong asked.

Seunghyun opened the refrigerator to grab a half frozen water bottle. Jiyong rolled his eyes at the bottle that was offered and took the pills.

“! That bottle is cold!” Jiyong exclaimed after he downed the water and pills. He dropped it on the floor with a thud.

Seunghyun knew he’d have to clean it up later but he smiled, happy with his small victory. Jiyong sat there in a momentary daze before going back to work on his composition. Slowly, Seunghyun started to notice Jiyong work faster and his eyes look sharper. Those pills were magical. Soon, the front desk lady came with the tea.

“Hello, young man. You look to be feeling better. I brought you some tea.” She said to the working Jiyong. Seunghyun wrinkled his face. How come Jiyong was the young man and he was just the little boy? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?

“Thank you. That was very kind of you,” Jiyong smiled up at her.

“Oh, it was nothing!” She smiled down at him before ruffling his hair and going back down the hall to her desk.

Jiyong sipped his hot tea while switching over to his math homework. Seunghyun didn’t know how he did it. It was making him feel exhausted watching him work that hard. He knew Jiyong went above and beyond because his composition was longer than his required essays in 8^th grade had to be. Why did he push himself so hard?

Jiyong yawned looking at his watch before continuing his work. Seunghyun fidgeted. Would Jiyong find the bear and the note? He didn’t expect him to work on his homework. He thought he would find the bear the next day or at home, not here with him sitting less than 2 meters away.

He decided to take out his notebook and take it to Teddy to try to relieve some of the tension. He laughed to himself. Seeing Teddy is less stressful than being next to Jiyong now. He wouldn’t believe himself a few hours earlier.

He got up and walked down the hall without Jiyong even batting an eyelash at his leaving. He knocked on the practice room door but got no answer. He opened it to find it empty and messier than the day before. He sighed before looking at the next door. His heartbeat raced. It was the recording studio. He couldn’t open the door. They were making music in there. He would throw them off. He could ruin the whole next album. He looked down at his feet and told them to move down the hall but his arms seemed to have their own idea as one of them knocked on the door. Seunghyun gulped as he heard the beats behind the door turn into silence and he heard a voice from inside say, “come in!” Way to go, arms.