—

“Yah Son Ga-in, are you listening to me?”

Seulong shouted over at the other line. It was three in the morning when Seulong suddenly called her. Ga-in answered the phone, irritated and half-asleep.

“What?” She said between gritted teeth. “Yah Im Seulong, do you really expect me to listen to you drabble on at three in the morning?”

There was a short pause before Seulong answered back. “Mm.”

“Aish.” Ga-in rolled her eyes in frustration. “You idiot. You're disturbing my sleep so go away!!”

“No.” Seulong said. “Not until you tell me that you're okay and you know what I was talking about.”

Ga-in fell silent when Seulong asked her if she was okay. She wants to say that she is but to be honest, she's not. Ga-in knows that the scandal was not Kwon's fault and she is sure that he's not even aware of it but she can't herself to feel hurt because of what happened. If she was just there then this whole thing would not exist.

“Ga-in? Are you still there?”

Seulong's voice snapped her back to reality. “Huh. Uhm. Yes, I'm still here. Sorry. I had to go to the bathroom.”

“Aigoo. You should've told me that you idiot!” Seulong said, sounding a little embarrassed. “I would've hung up and not bother you if you told me that.”

“I needed to go really bad that's why I didn't tell you okay.” Ga-in half shouted to Seulong. “Im Seulong, just let me sleep.”

“Alright. Sorry for waking you at this ungodly hour.” He said, snickering. “Do I just hang up?”

Ga-in shook her head in disbelief. “Yaaaah. You're really an idiot, aren't you. You're worse than Kwonnie.”

“What do you mean I'm worse that Jo Kwon?” Seulong suddenly shouted, making Ga-in laugh.

“No. Nothing.” She sighed. “Oh, by the way, thank you Seulong-ah.”

Ga-in heard him snicker on the other line. “You can thank me with food. But yeah, no problem. I'm just looking out for both of you that's why I'm doing this. This will pass, don't worry. Me, Jinwoonie, Changmin hyung and your unnies are always here for you.” Seulong said in assurance, making Ga-in smile.

“You're not this helpful the last time I had a problem.” Ga-in accidentally said her thought out loud.

“Last time?” Seulong said with a shocked voice. “Yah, Ga-in ah. The last time you had a problem and you know me was when...”

Ga-in's eyes widened in horror. “Omo. Sorry Seulong. I need to go to the bathroom again. I'll see you later or whenever.”

“Yah! Wait Is your–” With Seulong shouting from the other line, she hung up her phone. Ga-in wanted to disappear from the world. “Aish. Son Ga-in, why are you careless.” She sighed. “I just hope he doesn't get so curious that he'll start to investigate or something.

Meanwhile, at Seulong's apartment, he was staring at the wall thinking of what Ga-in just said. “Now when is the last time that she had a problem and I "helped" her...”

-FLASHBACK: August 26, 2010; Seulong's Office-

“Huh. What are you doing here, Ms. Son Ga-in?”

It was six in the evening and Ga-in was standing at Seulong's office door, giving him a deadly glare. “If I tell you the reason for my visit, do you promise not to tell anyone. Especially Jo Kwon?”

“And that answered my question. Thank you, Ga-in.” Seulong said sarcastically to his same-aged friend. “Well, whatever. I'm just curious why you suddenly turned up at my office door.”

Ga-in moved to his direction and glared at him. “If you really tell this to your friend I will kill you.” She let out a little sigh before continuing. “I don't know what to do for Kwonnie's birthday”

Seulong looked at her, his poker face on. “Is this the part where I'm supposed to laugh?” He said, now holding back his laughter. Ga-in slapped him in the head.

“Yah! I came here asking for your help and you're just going to laugh at me?” She shook her head. “I knew it. I should've just went to Jinwoonie or Changmin oppa or to the unnies.”

“Why them?” Seulong said, massaging his head. “I can help you!” Ga-in let out a hollow laugh making Seulong's eyebrows furrow in irritation. “Why are you laughing? I can help you! Remember that his birthday is in two days and you still have nothing. While I, on the other hand, have plenty of ideas to blow Jo Kwon's mind away.” He said, beaming proudly.

Ga-in sighed. “Well, this is better than doing nothing. What do you have in mind?”

“Hmmmm.” Seulong looked at the window, thinking hard. “Cook something for him.”

Ga-in looked at Seulong with a blank expression. “Idiot. Of course I'll do that. I need something to give to him. Or like a special event. You know your dumb dongsaeng, he's always full of surprises and ideas. This time, I want to give him one.”

“Right.” Seulong nodded. “You can.. oh! Give him a new car! He's been complaining to me about his care being all no–” He stopped midway in his sentence when he saw that Ga-in was raising her eyebrows to him. “Right. Not car.”

“Uh.. Oh! Give him a stuffed bear!!” Seulong exclaimed happily. “He likes the one named Rilakkuma. Oh wait, I guess you saw his Rilakkuma collection, right?”

Ga-in has absolutely no idea what Seulong was talking about and just nodded. “But that's not a grand event. I need to top the ones that he's been doing.” She took note of the Rilakkuma bear anyway.

“Well, if you can't think of anything might as well just kiss him.” Seulong suggested, apparently out of ideas to say.

Ga-in became embarrassed and turned away from him. “Yah. Im Seulong. What are you talking about? What kiss...”

Seulong smirked at her. “Son Ga-in. Don't tell me you're embarrassed to talk about you kissing Jo Kwon.” Ga-in gave him another deadly glare before standing up.

“Ah. Forget it. I think I just wasted my time, effort and gas when I decided to visit you.” Ga-in said to a laughing Seulong. “Babo Ong, I'll be going.”

“Tch. Whatever Ga-in.” Seulong stuck his tongue out to her. “Just.” His tone changed into a serious one, making Ga-in turn her head back to him. 

“Do whatever you want. I'm pretty sure Kwonnie will love whatever surprise you have for him. He's fallen too deep to see your stupidity anyway.” Seulong ended the serious advice wtih a sarcastic compliment.

“Hark to the one who's more stupid than me.” Ga-in glared. She smiled at Seulong when she reached the door.

“Thank you, Seulong.”

-END OF FLASHBACK-

“Right. I did not really help her.” Seulong commented after remembering the past. “But, does she– I mean.. I think she–” He scratched his head. “Aish. This makes my head hurt. I'll think about this later. I just need to focus on Kwonnie and Minyoung.”

He sighed as Seulong started to message the reporters and Minyoung again.

—

If Ga-in was having a hard time, so was Kwon. After the convention, many reporters are calling him and bothering him about what happened in the convention. Kwon was confused as to why the people thought that he was dating Minyoung. 

“Nothing is going on with us.” That's what he would always say to the reporters. Jo Kwon is a man who refuses to read the newspaper and internet articles because he knew that some of them are fake, and his issue is one.

That's not the only thing that Kwon is stressing about. Ga-in was also adding to his stress. After he told her that he got the number one spot at the convention, she suddenly stopped taking to him. Kwon called her over the weekend but she was not answering his calls. He asked Jea, Miryo and Narsha if they knew what happened to Ga-in but they won't tell Kwon.

“Kwon ah. It's not like we're taking sides here but just please leave Ga-in alone for a while. She needs to sort things out first.” Jea told Kwon when he called them up.

His friends were no help either. Jinwoon and Changmin will just give him lectures and Seulong seems like he's avoiding him on purpose. “Yah. I really just want my friends' support right now but you're all doing the opposite!” He remembered shouting those words to them when his scandal broke out. Since then, he did not try to contact his friends.

Having no one to talk to is making Kwon feel depressed. He just wants someone to understand his situation right now. More than that, he needs to see Ga-in. 

“Ah. I really miss Ga-in noona.” He sighed as he woke up one rainy wednesday morning. Kwon didn't go to work for the past two days and he's certainly planning to skip again. Jinwoon advised him not to go to work if he'll just ignore him. Plus, the reporters are around the building so he said that Kwon should lay low for a while. He got out of bed, hair still messy and went straight to the kitchen. He sighed as he took the ramen bowl and cooked it. “Besides missing Ga-in noona and my dumb friends, I miss eating real food.” Kwon pouted as he slumped in his couch. 

While waiting for his food, his phone suddenly lit up. Kwon lazily grabbed it and read the message.

From: Lee Minyoung; 8:30am

  Oppa, are you awake? Want to grab some coffee? ^^

Jo Kwon just stared at Minyoung's message. “Do I want to be seen with her?” he thought out loud. “Or do I just lay here and hide until this passes.”

“Ah but I miss eating real food.” Kwon was arguing with himself. He noted that he really is crazy. “Or, maybe I can talk to Minyoung. Yeah. I think I can sort this out by talking to her.” But as he was about to get ready, he remembered Seulong's words to him.

“Kwon-ah. Please promise me that you'll avoid Minyoung for the meantime. I'll try to sort things out first.”

Kwon furrowed his eyebrows. “Aish. Seulong hyuuung~ Why are you–” Then, another message from Minyoung came.

From: Lee Minyoung; 8:45am

    Kwonnie oppa? I know you're awake. I'm on my way there since you're not answering. 

Kwon's eyes widened. “WHAT?!” He ran as fast as he could to his bathroom and made himself presentable. “Well I'll just take this as a good thing. I can clear things up with Minyoung. Plus, I'm not in trouble since she's the one who went here in the first place.” Kwon said to himself as he the shower. “And I think no one would know that she went here since my house is secluded.”

An hour passed when he heard his doorbell. “Well I haven't heard that in a while.” Kwon half ran to the door, not surprised that Minyoung was standing at the door frame. “Hello oppa! It's been a while!”

“Ah. Yeah. It's been a while, Minyoung-ah.” Kwon replied gloomily. “Listen. We need to talk.” He wants to get straight to the point so that the issue would stop.

“Uhm, sure.” Minyoung replied with uneasiness in her voice. “But, can we talk inside? Because, uhm–” Kwon was confused. He was going to ask why but his question was answered with a shout from his gate.

“Mr. Jo Kwon! Over here!” A reporter shouted, with his photographer taking pictures of them.

“Oh shoot. Minyoung, get inside.” Kwon had no choice but to let Minyoung in. He was originally planning to talk outside but since reporters are now wandering around his property, he decided that the inside of his house was safer.

Kwon prayed hard that they would not release another article this day. He closed his front door and his conversation with Minyoung began.

—

“Seriously, I will kill that Jo Kwon.”

Seulong said as he dragged Jinwoon and Ga-in to Kwon's house. A few hours after Minyoung showed up at Kwon's doorstep, three articles were written about them. Ga-in didn't want to come but seeing Seulong worked up, she asked Jinwoon to accompany them.

“Hyung. Calm down. Maybe Kwonnie hyung has an explanation about this.” Jinwoon said when he noticed that Seulong was driving the car over the speed limit. “Besides, we really haven't given him the chance to explain himself, right noona?” He looked over at Ga-in, begging for help.

“Yah, Im Seulong. Jinwoon is right. Besides, this is between me and Kwonnie. If anyone should be worked up, then it should be me. Not you.” Ga-in said. “Well okay you guys can get angry or worked up at Kwon but not this much.”

Seulong was not listening to them. They reached Kwon's house, which seems abandoned. He got out of the car and looked around for any reporters, then marched to Kwon's front  door. Jinwoon and a hesitant Ga-in followed him.

“YAH! JO KWON!” Seulong banged on the door. “Get yourself out of here you idiot!” No one was answering the door. Jinwoon and Ga-in stood silently beside Seulong while he banged numerous times.

“If you want, I have a spare key.” Ga-in said to Seulong, but he didn't hear her. He grabbed the doorknob and tried to open it. To his surprise, the door was open. He barged in, not caring about Jinwoon's rants.

“JO KWON YOU–” Seulong stopped midway when he saw a sleeping Jo Kwon in the couch.

He slowly approached him, planning to smack his head but stopped when he was close to his face. Seulong noticed that Kwon got thin and he looks tired even though he's sleeping. 

“Hyung! Where's Kwonnie– Oh. Is that him?” Jinwoon said as he stepped inside. “Noona, he's here and alone. You can come in.” He shouted back to Ga-in, who opted to stay outside.

“Hyung what are you doing? Are you really going to strangle– Omo.” Jinwonn could not hide the shock in his voice. “It's only two days since he missed work and he looks like this now?” He poked Kwon's face. “Is he even eating?”

Seulong did not answer Jinwoon. Instead, he went out to talk to Ga-in. “Ga-in ah. I think you need to talk to Kwon alone.”

“Eh?” Ga-in said with a surprised voice. “Why? You idiot, can't you see I'm not in the mood to talk to him.” Seulong just stared at her, his eyes dull. Suddenly, he dragged Ga-in inside. “Im Seulong you–” She stopped when Seulong positioned her in front of the sleeping Kwon.

“Yah, you idiot. Look at him. He looks tired. I bet he's doing everything he can to clear his name.” Seulong said in a serious tone. “Just give him a chance to explain himself.” He quickly said as Ga-in was about to cut him off. “If you don't like it, then me and Jinwoonie will punch him... Even though he looks like he's about to die from starvation.” Seulong glanced at Kwon's direction. “We'll leave you two alone. We're going to buy decent food for this kid as our apology gift. And when I said our, I mean me and Jinwoonie. You're not included.” He stuck his tongue out to her. 

“Jinwoon-ah! Let's go! Let's buy food for your sleeping hyung.” Seulong patted Ga-in on the shoulder. Jinwoon waved at her before following his hyung out. “Hyung, can we buy like three sets of meat?” She heard Jinwoon negotiate with Seulong as they were heading out.

Ga-in just stood there, looking at Kwon. She debated on whether to yell at him or to just wait for him to wake up. Then, before she can make her decision, Kwon suddenly stirred in his sleep, eventually falling off from his couch. 

“Ow! My face.” Kwon said, half-asleep while massaging his right cheek. Ga-in was sure that he wasn't aware of her presence, but his fall was so funny that she started to laugh at him.

Kwon wondered where the laughter was coming from. “Who, What? Who's there?” He said, his eyes still closed. Ga-in laughed harder when Kwon spoke. “Hold on, I know that laugh.” He said. “Or am I dreaming again? No. Yes. Yeah. Maybe I'm dreaming again.”

Ga-in can't take it anymore. She smacked his head. “Aigoo. You kid. Your dreams about me better not be weird or else I will kill you.”

Kwon opened his eyes, surprised at who's in-front of him. 

“Noona!”

He jumped over to her direction to hug her, making Ga-in a little bit surprised. Then she heard little sobs. “Yah. Yah. Yah! Are you crying?! Jo Kwon stop crying! What– YAAAAAH!!” She shouted at the top of her voice to make the awkward atmosphere go away.

Kwon didn't even notice that he was crying. He hugged her tightly, his head bowed down on her shoulders.

“Noona. Yeobo, I'm sorry.”

—————

a/n:

Hello everyone! Another long chapter. LOL. I think these days I like writing long chapters cos I don't want to miss out every single detail of the story. So, I'm really sorry if this is a long update.

ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER CHAPTER. LOL. It's not that I like to do this but I have to since my story's all planned out. Kwon's conversation with Minyoung will be shown on the next chapter. Plus how would our Adam Couple make-up? Hihi. 

Minyoung should go right? Well, her departure from the story is all planned out so look out for that. Annnd.. I'm thinking of writing a chapter about BEG.. Just like what I did with 2AM so watch out for that as well.

Sorry if I made Kwonnie cry. I just thought that Ga-in is a little bit stronger than Kwon when it comes to these kinds of situations. And it looks like Seulong will try to investigate Ga-in after Kwon's scandal. Hmm.. maybe I should write a chapter about their weird friendship. What do you guys think? ^^

To my subs and my silent readers.. Hello? Long time eh? LOL. Thank you for still reading the fic. I promise when spring break comes, my updates will be faster. ^^

Comments are jjang! and appreciated. Till my next update! :D