March - Come Be My Lady

SeungHyun fidgeted nervously where he sat at the busy shopping district fountain. All around him, Cheongdang-dong(*) bustled with everyday life as shoppers came in and out of posh boutiques and street performers gathered the public. The nervous man tapped his foot anxiously, while unconsciously thumbing the necklace box inside his big jacket. He did not pay attention to his surroundings, instead his mind wandered to past memories of a cute girl shyly giving him Valentines Day chocolates in front of his school, and boldly asking him out. He blushed slightly and smiled, remembering his own surprised at being asked out – which was the first time anything like that had ever happened to him.

He turned his head to the right, as his girl walked up to him. He couldn’t help but think she looked so cute, all bundled up in faux fur-lined coats, mittens, two scarves, and a red runny-nose. With a smile, she handed him warmed green-tea that she bought with his money as well as the excess change.

          “Thanks,” SeungHyun mumbled, moving over to let her sit down, “YeonJoo-yah.”

The girl named YeonJoo flashed her sweetest smile and plopped right down next to her boyfriend, snuggling up to him to keep warm in the chilly March(*). SeungHyun smiled to himself as he looked down on the small form snuggling against his right arm. The two sat in the cool day, both happy and content in each others presence.

SeungHyun couldn’t help but feel lucky that everything was going perfect for him. When YeonJoo first asked him out a month ago, he only said yes out of curiosity. Now, as he looked down on her smiling face, he couldn’t help but fall for her. With a smile, he nudged her with his shoulder.

YeonJoo looked up at him, her big eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Hm?” she tilted her head to side.

SeungHyun broke into a sweat and gulped, losing his nerve. He caressed the box in his jacket pocket, and looked at her with seriousness.

With a laugh, YeonJoo reached up and massaged her boyfriend’s bushy and knotted eyebrows. “SeungHyun-ah, what’s wrong?”

He laughed at her antics, and wiggled his eyebrows, resulting in a louder laughter from YeonJoo. They both lost themselves in the moment as he and YeonJoo tried to “out-wiggle” the other. When the laughter subsided, SeungHyun returned to his former seriousness and took YeonJoo’s hands in his.

          “What are you doing?” YeonJoo asked, as SeungHyun placed her own hands over her eyes.

          “Keep it like that,” the low baritone voice of her boyfriend ordered.

She giggled, nodding her head, “Araso.”

Unseen by her, SeungHyun took the necklace out of the box and held it up in front of her covered face. He held back a smirk, knowing full well that his gift will earn him many kisses from his excitable girlfriend. “Open them,” he ordered with a smile.

YeonJoo’s eyes opened excitedly, but then grew huge in delight. She gasped, “It’s beautiful!” Dangling in front of her eyes was a white lily necklace with a pearl in the middle. YeonJoo remained speechless, utterly surprised and overwhelmed with emotions.

SeungHyun’s rich laughter filled her ears as he swung the necklace from side to side. “Are ya gonna put it on or am I gonna have to return it?”

She laughed, the melodic laughter warming SeungHyun’s heart. She eagerly turned around and lifted up her wavy reddish-brown hair, exposing her neck. SeungHyun unclasped the hook and brought the chain around her neck. With a snap, the necklace was in place; YeonJoo let her hair down, combing through it with her fingers. SeungHyun s his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck from the back.

He smiled when he felt YeonJoo’s breath hitched at the contact. “Happy White Day,” he whispered into her ear, “Park YeonJoo.”

YeonJoo turned her neck, so that she faced him. The two were locked in an everlasting gaze, mesmerized by each other. SeungHyun leaned in for a kiss, closing the distance between them.

All around them, the crowd walked on by, unaware to being witnesses to the purest form of love.

The next morning testified to be one of the best Choi SeungHyun had ever had. The world seemed bright and good. He yawned, stretching his arms over his head as he kicked of the bed spread. He immediately dived for his phone, which somehow found its way underneath his bed. SeungHyun opened his bedroom closet, taking out his school’s uniform, which consisted of a white polo shirt, a brown vest with the school emblem, and white slacks. He usually paired it off with his white Reeboks which he bought half-off and his black hoodie. He styled his hair into a faux Mohawk, all the while texting a ‘good morning’ to his girlfriend. Yes. Life was good.

He finished getting ready for the new day and with a smile on his face, he bounded down the stairs of his two-story family home. He rounded the corner and into the kitchen area where he found his older sister, HyeYoon(*), eating breakfast with short-shorts and a white cami, while his best friend, Go JaeCheon, sat across from her, practically drooling onto his rice.

           “JaeCheon-ah,” HyeYoon said, rather nonchalantly, “I want juice. Go get me some please.”

Almost immediately, JaeCheon rose from his chair and ran to the fridge. He took out the cartoon of orange juice and handed it to HyeYoon. “Here ya go ma’,” he said with a wink.

SeungHyun blanched at the sight. ‘So much for the perfect morning,’ he scowled. Call him overprotective, but he detested it when guys ogled over his sister. Even if it was his best friend, SeungHyun couldn’t help but be annoyed at him.

          “Aish,” he cussed, drawing the two’s attention to him, “Yah! Stop hitting on my noona.”

JaeCheon, used to SeungHyun’s grouchy attitude, rolled his eyes and continued staring dreamily at the uninterested HyeYoon. SeungHyun growled, not liking the fact that nobody listened to him. “Noona, why can’t you cover yourself up?” he stated, “And go to class. Appa is gonna get pissed when he finds out your skipping another one of your college classes.”

HyeYoon stood from her seat and slinked her way to her brother. She pinched her cheek, to which he glared at her. “Yah! Piggy, don’t tell me what to do.” She patted his checks and left.

If SeungHyun was honest with himself, it irritated him. Even though he was about a foot taller than her, he couldn’t stand up to his older sister. Something about the Choi women struck fear into the hearts of the males in their family. He groaned, and pulled JaeCheon out the door by the collar.

Despite the minor annoyance during breakfast, Choi SeungHyun was still in a pretty good mood. The lunch bell rang about 21 minutes ago, and only a few students stayed in the class to eat their home-made lunch. SeungHyun, too caught up with his thoughts to notice his surrounding, sat at his desk next to the hallway window; his mind too preoccupied with images of the smiling YeonJoo.

          “Why the good mood man?” the voice of JaeCheon said to his right. Snapping out of his thoughts, SeungHyun turned towards the source of the voice. JaeCheon leaned in through the open hallway window, smirking knowingly at SeungHyun. “Is it because of your hot and heavy date with Miss Park YeonJoo?”

In that instant, the kissed they shared at the plaza resurfaced in his mind’s eye, prompting him to flush red. Totally embarrassed, he pushed his friend out the window. He heard a soft thud as the boy hit the floor as well as the subdued giggles of girls loitering around in the hallway. SeungHyun stood up, stretching his neck to see over the window, snorting as JaeCheon grumbled on the floor. He reached his hand over the window, hoisting his fellow rapper up from the floor.

          “Sorry man,” he said, rubbing the back of his head,

JaeCheon dusted off invisible dust from his wardrobe and leaned against the window ledge. “Nah man, it’s cool,” he said, “although you owe me.”

To that, SeungHyun chuckled, sitting back down on his desk.

          “In all seriousness man, what’s up?” JaeCheon inquired, “You’ve got your head in the clouds. I seriously could’ve thrown a paper ball at your face during Lee’s class, and you wouldn’t have blinked.”

SeungHyun shrugged, smiling in remembrance. He recounted his amazing date with YeonJoo last Friday. At the end of his tale, JaeCheon fought hard to contain his laughter.

          “Aight, dude ya whipped,” JaeCheon said, snorting with laughter.

SeungHyun just rolled his eyes, knowing his friend couldn’t understand the elation he felt whenever he was with YeonJoo.

          “Are you going to go pick her up after school?” JaeCheon inquired, after he stopped laughing.

SeungHyun shook his head, “Nah, she has cleaning duties for her school this whole week.”

          “Great!” JaeCheon exclaimed, pulling away from the window. The bell signaling the end of lunch rang; many of their classmates began to settle down. JaeCheon stood in front of SeungHyun, his hands on his desk. “My hyung said they need a new opening act in the Odyssey Club(*). Dude, I heard tonight is gonna be sick! Go with me, bro.”

          “Araso,” SeungHyun agreed, smiling. JaeCheon gave him a high-five, and began dancing a small victory dance.

It was their dream. For years, SeungHyun had been honing his rap skills, admiring and learning from talents such Usher, Omarion, Jay-Z, and B2K to name a few. What he’d give to sign a record deal or become a part of a talent agency like SM Entertainment or YG Entertainment. It was their dream. And both he and JaeCheon would do anything in their power to make that dream come true.

Just then, their homeroom teacher walked in, carrying a sheet of paper in his fists. He stood in front of his class, glaring at the students before him with mix emotions of disappointment and anger. “Aish!” the teacher screeched, “Once again we have the lowest test averages in our grade. That having been said, it’s not a surprise, since our class has the lowest ranking student from the test.” He shifted through papers on his podium and extracted a particular one. “A grade of 4, Yim JoonSook? Couldn’t you at least have copied from your desk mate?”

A girl with short hair who sat in the back, shrugged in response. “I will next time!”

The teacher groaned, and said, “This class better start buckling down and studying! Its embarrassing to have the lowest averaged class.”

SeungHyun rolled his eyes at the teacher’s words. He never really liked school; he thought it was a pain to wake up early every day to do the same thing over and over again. He’d rather stay at home and come up with new songs for his rap battles. SeungHyun turned over to his left, about to say something to JaeCheon, but he found his friend fast asleep with his head on the desk and a book covering him. Not wanting to listen to his teacher’s tirade about how stupid his class was, SeungHyun pulled up the hood of his hoodie and slept too.

SeungHyun felt his heart beat race faster and faster; sweat trickled down his neck and back, thoroughly drenching his XXXL white shirt. The black bandana on his neck itched and his pants hung dangerously around his , exposing his blue Calvin Klein boxers. At an all time adrenaline high, he screamed into his mic as the crowd below him exploded in cheers and applauses and screams. The bright lights showered down on him as he basked in its rays. A big grin of satisfaction etched on his face as he glanced over to his right as JaeCheon brake-danced on the small stage. The crowd erupted in another roar as SeungHyun finished his verse.

          “Yo Yo! Give it up for Speedmotion!” the DJ at the stand belted out into his own microphone. The crowd below cheered and hollered as JaeCheon bowed. “AAAAANND TEEEMPOOOOOO!”

If it was even possible, the crowd grew louder, chanting his name while giving him standing ovations.

          “Yeah Yeah!” he bellowed into his mic, “Thank you Odyssey! Good night!” SeungHyun bowed to his audience, and left the stage followed by JaeCheon. They made their way down the stage stairs and were greeted with hand shakes, girls’ numbers, and a few s. The two teens made their way towards the back of the club, and hung out at the bar.

          “That was some pretty good vocals you got there boys,” their bartender said as she placed two cold beer bottles in front of them. She gave them a wink and said, “You guys earned these. They’re on the house.” She smiled at them one last time before slinking away towards another customer.

          “Aight,” JaeCheon nodded, taking a swig of the alcohol, “I could get used to this.”

SeungHyun swiveled his stool around to get a better view of the stage. He took a swig of his own beer as he watched the main rapper take the stage. The two watched the show in silence, satisfied with how their performance went.

Once the main show was over and the rest of the time was filled with dancing, both SeungHyun and JaeCheon were a little bit buzzed after a couple of bottles of beer. While in the middle of ordering a new round, JaeCheon nudged SeungHyun’s side, motioning him to turn around. To his surprise, the main rapper, NBK Gray, walked towards them with his posse. He was a short man, no more than one or two years older than SeungHyun, but had the air of a well-known rapper at his prime. He gave both JaeChoen and SeungHyun one of those gangstah handshakes and sat down next to them, ordering them another round.

Both SeungHyun and JaeCheon thanked him and held on to their third bottle of the night. NBK took a swig of his beer and turned to SeungHyun

          “You guys gots some mad skills up there,” he said, motioning towards the stage with a nod of his head.

          “Thank you,” SeungHyun said, bowing politely at the sunbae(*).

          “I like you,” NBK admitted casually, “How about being regulars? I want ya’ll to open up for me from now on.”

          “Really?” JaeCheon asked, his eyes large with excitement

          “Ha Fo’sho,” NBK replied, taking another sip of his beer. “And who knows, maybe the owner of the club will give you guys your own show if you impress him.”

Both SeungHyun and JaeCheon looked at each other, knowing exactly what the other thought. Everything was falling into place. They were one step closer in achieving their dream.

          “Thank you,” SeungHyun said, and bowed to show his appreciation. It definitely was a good day today. He had both YeonJoo and his dream – life for him was good.

So what do you guys think? Good? Bad? Please comment, I’d really appreciate it, seeing as this is my first Big Bang fanfic and I’m a bit scared that SeungHyun (TOP) might seem out of character.

Until next time!
~Asian_Innocence

Notes:

• Cheongdan-dong – “Fashion and Art St.” of Seoul; characterized by expensive prices and good coffee
• …March – I checked the actual temperature for 3/14/03 and it was 37F, pretty chilly. But in Korea, its normal weather to be cold in March.
• Odyssey Club - very popular club in Korea, known for its space like feel and for its very hip hop based music.
• NBK Gray - actual underground rapper who used to rap with TOP before he debuted.
• sunbae - term used to describe someone who is ahead in status/rank. Someone who has seniority over you.