I could dance for hours and hours with them, myself and others- and I would never get bored, ever. I was effectively cuddled between Taeyang and a cute rocker chick, while of course the other musical brothers attracted females the way honey attracted flies, and soon the floor was completely packed. When there was a lapse of synthesizer in the musical rhythm, Taeyang leaned forward and murmured in my ear, “You dance well, Taren-ni.” I pinched his cheek. “I can’t dance for -so coming from you, that means a lot.” He laughed, and then swept me away from a startled Junho, who shouted out, “Hey~!!”

“Never doubt yourself; I promise you’ll discover strength you never knew you had.” His eyes glanced into mine as he spoke, and I felt as though he was searching my soul. An arm came down between us, effectively canceling the moment, and Taec’s voice came through as his body followed. “Mind if I dance with the bride?” Tae-hyung laughed as I was spun away from the Korean version of Usher. “Bride?! But I’m not even engaged yet!!” Woo, who was nearby, shrugged, smiling. “Sorry, noona- but that’s what you get when you’re good looking and living in a house full of eligible bachelors.”

The DJ put on Maroon 5’s ‘This Love’, and Taec and I jumped right into the beat, laughing and borderline mosh-pitting the other dancers around us. We danced like that through 3 more songs before a hand tugged mine gently and I turned, coming face-to-face with my Nichkhun. “May I have this dance, sweet Taren-ni?” he asked as the DJ whipped out ‘Bailamos’, by Enrique Iglesias. I could only nod as he swept me away from a playfully growling Taecyeon and into the rumba position. “I like to dance as well as the next man, but I don’t know a lot of ballroom dancing,” I whispered to Nick as everyone else on the floor noticed us and began to match up with partners, acknowledging the mood of the piece. “Do not fret your heart, my dear-you will be fine~just walk with me through the steps, like this-and twirl, and bend here..”

All throughout the song, Nick coached me with sweet sayings in my ear, and soon I began to feel the music in my bones, instead of just feeling it out. We danced like that for eternity-when in reality it was only 20 minutes, and when he finally dipped me low, and pulled me up slowly, we stopped to tremendous rounds of applause. Nick led me off the floor back to our area, where I was handed a glass of Ciroc Blue by the Little Dragon, who winked at me. I took one delicate sniff, and giggled. “I’ve never gotten drunk in my life-but I do believe that you are trying to get me ed up tonight, Yong-ni.” He shrugged innocently. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, my friend…”

TOP sat down next to me, clinking his scotch glass lightly against mine before taking a sip and smiling as I inhaled my first gulp on accident and almost died. “How do you like your return to Seoul?” I nodded at the scene before me (Chan was telling a story, his hands moving and gesturing as his eyes lit up to Jay, Su, Seung and Nick; Taec, Yong and Junho were debating ping pong with some girls and Dae, Woo , and Tae were chatting it up with the DJ, who had lulled the music for refreshments before returning to his stand, smiling)  and smiled. “I’m happy to be back, and to be able to do something that I love-I’m very blessed to have met you guys, I’ll need all the fun adventures I can get.”

TOP nodded in understanding. “I think you’ll make it far here,in fact, you may even think about staying after your contract expires, if you wanted to, find a nice husband, settling down, have plenty of Korean babies,” His sly grin and wink took off about 7 years off of his face, and I laughed and hit him in the upper arm. “Oh my gosh, TOP-oppa~ are you flirting with me?” I teased the rapper, and he grinned, putting his arm around my shoulders. “So what they say is true-love is a language that needs no words….”

“Hey~watch where you’re putting those hands, TOP-shi!!” Junho appeared and plopped down between us, and we all laughed. “Technically she is free to anyone she desires,” TOP said coyly, but slid a little ways away in amusement. The DJ spun out Cee-Lo Green’s ‘Forget You’ and I grabbed Junho’s hand and ran towards the dance floor, laughing, “Junho-ni, I feel like I’ve neglected you all night~allow me to make it up to you!!”

We slid out to the floor as Junho clapped his hands in front of him like a high school girl. “I get to have you all to myself?!” His hopeful look made me laugh. “Only in this moment for right now, so make it count!!”

I see you driving round town with the girl and I’m like, Forget You!!

I guess the change in my pocket wasn’t enough, and I’m like, Forget You and Forget Her, too!!

We finished the song, and came back to the others all smiles, but I was slightly winded. “Guys~ the clock says 4 in the morning!!” Yong grinned as he high-fived Junsu. “Mission: Party Like Hell was a success then..” I raised an eye brow at the musicians as we began to collect our stuff to leave, and Junsu caught my eye and winked-he knew he’d been caught. “You had a secret mission on us?” I asked as Nick came up behind me and draped his jacket over my shoulders. The main vocalist of 2PM tweaked both of my cheeks. “I thought we could use a break from life, so I asked Big Bang to meet me here. I knew it was a success from the start…”

We chattered all the way to the V.I.P. parking lot, where their ride was waiting next to ours. As I handed my clutch to Taec to put on the seat, Dae pulled me away from the van and hugged me lightly, saying, “Don’t be a stranger, Taren-ni~ there’s an amusement park opening in 2 days for us, and we want you to come along!!” I giggled as he gave me his best puppy dog look. “There’s no need to pout, my dear-of course I’ll come!!It sounds like a lot of fun, and I love rollercoasters!!”

TOP, who had been conversing quietly with Jay, perked up aat the word ‘rollercoasters’ and smiled at me. “The real reason he’s asking you to come with us is so that you can hold his hand throughout the Haunted House segment-he’s terrified of the dark when he’s alone..” We all laughed as TOP danced out of the way of Daesung’s fist, and with a wave from either group, we headed our separate ways…

….When we got through the Mansion doors, I twirled and sighed at the others, beaming. “Now that was fun-and nobody got hurt.” I added, looking pleased at Nick, who held up his hands in an “I admit defeat’ posture. “She’s right- we need to have more outings like this in the future,” Chan said, high-fiving me as he went up the stairs. “We should get ready for tomorrow, that is-unless our leader wants to disappear again, without giving everyone a fair warning,” a tipsy Junho said, with a pointed glare at Jaebeom, who only gave him a cool glare. We all stopped on various points on the staircase as the vocalist stared down the b-boy. “I will not let your words get to me tonight, donsaeng.”

 Junho scoffed while crossing his arms. “I guess it’s up to me to be the bearer of bad news then, since no one here has the courage to do so- no one appreciates you just disappearing on us, hyung-you are our leader, not our God.” Jay retorted, “I needed space to cool my head, like all good people should do.” Junho leaned forward. “So you’re saying that we’re not cool enough to talk to now? Is that it?” His voice, starting to slur, rose in volume. “You think you’re the only one who doesn’t want to get away? You think you’re the only one in this house with problems?!” I hurriedly put a hand on both of my friends’ shoulders feeling muscles tremble underneath my light fingertips. “Come on guys, let’s not do this-we just had a fabulous night, together. Let’s end on a good note, please?” They glared at each other, and Junho turned away sharply, while Jay sighed. Woo grabbed Junho’s arm and let him upstairs, with a tired apologetic smile to me, “Goodnight, Taren-ni,” and Chan and Junsu murmured their goodbyes, the former rubbing his eyes and the latter pinching his bridge as they disappeared into their respective rooms.

The four of us looked at each other. “Sorry you had to see that,” Jay started, but I shook it off, smiling, “It’s okay, Jay oppa- I understand. Please have a good night, or morning.” I handed Nick back his jacket, and he kissed me on the forehead. “Goodnight, Taren,” Taec ruffled my hair as we walked into our own rooms, and soon there was silence in the house.

….As I walked out of the bathroom, pulling on pajamas, a sudden pain hit my groin, and I groaned. Welcome back to Seoul, Taren, here’s your gift from Mother Nature. I snorted, thanking the gods I remembered to secure a pad earlier, just in case. As I sat on the bed, my phone lit up with multiple text messages. All for me…? At 4:45 in the morning? I slid the phone open, and smiled immediately, “Big Bang brothers~!” The first message was from Seung-ri. Taren-noona, my fellow donsaeng, it was great meeting you tonight!!See you in a couple of days!!JJ The next one was obviously from Daesung-his signature was DLITE with a whole bunch of marks around the message. Aaah~Taren-ni, you are an amazing dancer-if the boys of 2PM mess up, you know that we will always keep you here, to ourselves!!See you soon!!:P The next one was from Taeyang-I could hear his quiet tenor as though he was in the room with me. Taren-ni, I feel like we’ve known each other for years, and we’ve only met 5 hours ago. I think this is the beginning of something beautiful. Have a great night, get plenty of rest. Thinking of you till we meet again, -Solar.

TOP’s was just like him-short but sweet, and comforting as I slid underneath the blankets and peeked out to put the phone on the charger while reading his note to me: Thanks for the entertainment tonight, you’re like a breath of fresh air, you know that? Have a good night, and make sure you keep your spirits up-us guys can be a handful J. As usual, the leader closed it out with a crash and a bang: Taren-noona!!You are mad talented, and fun to be around!!!I like your spirit. I want to just keep you all to myself, but I know that I must share you with our friends!! If you ever need help, hit me up-I got your back, babe!!-Dragon JJJ

I laughed out loud and sent ‘goodnight” responses to them all before I finally turned out the lights, looking forward to the next day…