TOP was still sitting on the couch, waiting for the two to come back. It had been an hour or more after Jiyong left and he hadn’t come back yet. He kept on staring at the clock. He was about to stand up and fetch Dara himself when the door opened.

 

Dara walked in, her body wrapped with Jiyong’s jacket as she just walked straight upstairs, not even acknowledging him. He then stared back at the doorway where Jiyong just entered with a haggard look on his face. He also passed by him without acknowledgement until TOP decided to stop him by his arm.

 

“What happened?” TOP asked.

 

Jiyong shook his head. “I’m tired,” he said and removed Jiyong’s hand from his shoulder.

 

TOP hesitantly headed towards Dara’s room. He raised his fist and was about to knock but he didn’t know what to say or ask.

 

“Whatever,” he muttered before proceeding to knock. “Dara, are you already asleep?”

 

No response.

 

“I guess, you are,” he said, but before he could even turn his back, the door opened.

 

“I’m not yet asleep,” Dara said, her eyes not meeting his.

 

TOP was unable to say anything though while he just looked at her tired face. He was sure something had happened but both her and Jiyong were too stubborn to say anything.

 

“Do you need something?” Dara asked, breaking his reverie.

 

TOP pursed his lips and thought what he needed. He couldn’t open his mouth and ask if she was alright. He turned dumb. “Uh… well… Kush… Kush-hyung… he’s wounded,” he stuttered.

 

Dara’s eyes widened. “Oh? Where is he?” she started running towards Kush’s room as if she wasn’t tired at all.

 

TOP followed behind and just watched as Dara inspected Kush’s wounds. He watched as Dara removed Kush’s bloody shirt and saw more wounds underneath it. He just realized how unskilled he was with treating other people’s wounds as Dara expertly went on to treat Kush’s wounds as if it was just doing an ordinary chore.

 

“Oppa, can you help me a bit? I need a basin of water,” Dara said.

 

TOP complied and returned with a basin of water on his hands. Dara continued working as Kush was heavily breathing. It was easy to say that he did a bad job at trying to treat his hyung’s wounds. Even those wounds on his face which he tried to treat were still bleeding.

 

“Dara…” he called.

 

Dara briefly looked up and then continued treating Kush’s wounds. “Hmm?”

 

“If something happens between Jiyong and you, don’t ever hesitate to tell me.”

 

Dara’s hands stopped midway and then she looked up. She bit back her lip and forced out a smile. “It’s nothing. Jiyong and I were just tired,” she said and went back to treating. “You should rest now, oppa. You’ve been lacking sleep.”

 

TOP smiled. He found it amazing how she even knew that. Without saying anything, he backed away, leaving Dara to focus on treating Kush's wounds.

 

He found himself on the rooftop where he expected to see someone and he was right. He walked to him as he was leaning on the railing, a cigarette on his mouth before he puffed the smoke out.

 

“I was wondering what took you so long,” TOP started, startling Jiyong a bit.

 

“Why are you still awake?” Jiyong asked.

 

“Although I had been lacking sleep for these past few days, I just couldn’t sleep even just a blink. There had been something bothering me since you came home.”

 

Jiyong sighed and stepped on the cigarette. “Nothing’s going on, alright?”

 

“I didn’t ask yet, Jiyong. How could you even know what I was bothered about?”

 

“You’ve been concerned about her since then. I know what you’re thinking,” Jiyong said, turning around and leaning his back on the railing instead.

 

TOP chuckled. “You’ve known me for so long, G. I’m impressed how you read through me.”

 

“G? Heh, what made you call me that again?” Jiyong asked.

 

“I just missed being your partner in crime. Remember when we were given the trainings by Kush-hyung and Teddy-hyung when we were still very young? We would crack codes, assemble guns, and even follow their victims, using us as their eyes.”

 

Jiyong chuckled. “GD & TOP, eh?”

 

“Yep, G-Dragon,” TOP said and sighed, reminiscing the past. “I can also remember how you told me each and every feeling and emotion you had. We really knew each other since then, eh?”

 

Jiyong fell silent.

 

“Being older than you, I tried to become a good hyung to you,” he said. “I’ve been always self-sacrificing to everything you wanted. Those were the times.”

 

Jiyong stared at him, trying to read what he was talking about.

 

“I even sacrificed my feelings for her. I’ve seen how you looked at her, Jiyong,” TOP said then turned to him and smirked. “I’ve been sacrificing everything for you because I’m your hyung. But there would be limitations, remember that. My feelings for her never once wavered and if I see you upsetting her again, you would wish you hadn’t.”

 

Jiyong tried to open his mouth but he didn’t know what to say. TOP didn’t know what happened. He misunderstood Dara’s emotions a while ago. He knew that it was complicated that he couldn’t even explain it to TOP. But what should he do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The noise of the club was reverberating inside Dara’s ears and it was what she hated the most with her job. Another one was the smell of her client – the smell of combined alcohol and sweat. Sometimes, it would also be combined with cigarette. Totally disgusting!

 

Her client tonight was already too drunk and his sweat was already sticking to her body. She already wanted to escape but she was waiting for him to fall asleep so she could pickpocket him. His client was already a forty-year old man who she learned from him sprouting nonsense while being drunk that he was having problems with his wife who he thought was cheating on him.

 

Dara could only roll her eyes. The guy was even hitting on her a while ago. She bet that the guy was also cheating on his wife. But of course, because the guy looked rich, she pretended to listen. She even promised him to meet the night after this. But they were only empty words.

 

She adjusted herself on the guy’s lap as she inconspicuously looked down at her watch. It was already late. Why the hell is this old man still awake?!

 

She felt the man’s moist lips on her shoulder as she looked around her, totally bored. When she did, her eyes caught someone glaring at her. He had a couple of girls around her as if he was a king or something. However, even though there were these y girls around him, he only had his eyes set on hers.

 

Dara’s eyes widened so she hastily turned to the man and kissed him on the side of his lips, covering her face with her red long wig. She tilted her head to the side and held on to his nape so that it would appear as if she was kissing him deeply. The guy noticed this and he tried tilting his head to the side to kiss Dara on the lips. but Dara was already disgusted that she kept his head trapped between her hands and continued making it appear as if she was still kissing him.

 

After a few seconds, she heard bottles being broken and girls squealing. She turned around and saw a raging Jiyong who caught the man by his collar, causing Dara to be thrown to the ground. Jiyong went on to punch the guy on the face repeatedly.

 

Dara stood up and went in between them. Instead of going to Jiyong, she went to the guy.

 

“Hey, hey, are you alright?” she asked.

 

The guy was bobbing his head up and down, going in and out of consciousness. He tried opening one of his eyes. “You’re meeting me tomorrow night, right?” he asked before smirking showing his bloody mouth, making Dara scrunched her face in disgust.

 

Before she could even respond, Jiyong caught him by his collar again and then landed another punch on his face, causing the poor guy to be thrown to the other side of the club.

 

“Jiyong! Stop it now!” Dara shouted.

 

Jiyong stared back at her, his eyes full of fury. He pulled Dara away from the crowd and into his car. He started his car and they drove off, without anyone of them uttering a word. But Dara was sure that Jiyong was still angry by the way he glared at the road ahead of him.

 

“You’re not going to stop me from earning money, Jiyong,” Dara started, suffocated by the silence hanging around them.

 

Jiyong suddenly halted the car and faced her. “You enjoy kissing random men like them?”

 

“It’s not like I—”

 

“They wander their hands all over you. They kiss you on your neck, shoulders, lips, and it’s alright with you?!”

 

“I don’t like them too, alright? I ju—“

 

“Then why don’t you ing stop your nonsense already?!”

 

“I need money, alright! Just accept the fact that whatever you do, I won’t stop doing this until I save the right amount of money I need!” Dara shouted back.

 

“You badly need that money?! Let me give them to you then!” he said, grabbing his wallet from his back pocket.

 

“I don’t need your money. This is my problem. Let me take care of this myself! I’m not everyone’s baby anymore! I can definitely take care of myself!”

 

Jiyong’s eyes softened at her words. “You want us to stop taking care of you?”

 

Dara blinked rapidly and then looked ahead. “Let’s just go home. I’m tired.”

 

The moment they arrived home, they went into their separate rooms without uttering another word to each other again. Dara stomped her feet the moment she closed the door behind her. She wanted to shout but she was sure that he would hear her.

 

She roughly removed her long, red wig from her hair and then threw it to the floor. She felt sticky all over her body because of sweat and that man’s saliva. She started to strip down and prepared to wash herself when a wallet fell to the floor. She smirked and remembered that she was still able to pickpocket the guy when she acted concerned towards him. Thankfully he didn’t notice.

 

She pulled a drawer out, revealing several other wallets as she threw her latest client’s wallet into the pile. She closed it and went in to the bathroom to bathe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Hmmm… this is such a comfortable bed,’ Dara thought as she snuggled closer to the comfortable thing beside her. ‘Why is this feeling so familiar though?’

 

Dara’s eyes slowly fluttered open. Her eyes met a chest causing her to lean away. She looked up and she was met by Jiyong’s sleeping face. She blinked several times first before really leaning away. She realized that she was hugging him close to her, her legs across him. She moved towards the edge of the bed.

 

Twenty seconds after discovering Jiyong sleeping beside her and she hadn’t screamed on top of her lungs yet. This was a record. She stayed still, her mind fuzzy. She didn’t scream because she was confused. She had a fight with him, exchanging harsh words to each other last night, but why was he beside her?

 

She buried her face on her palms, totally confused. Suddenly, she felt the bed moving and an arm wrapped around her waist. She looked behind her and Jiyong still looked like he was still sleeping. She placed her hand on his arm and was about to unwrap herself when Jiyong pulled her towards him.

 

“Why aren’t you screaming yet?” Jiyong said in his sleepy voice.

 

Dara couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m too shocked and confused to even react violently.”

 

Jiyong’s eyes opened and he sat up, rubbing his sleepy eyes. “What are you shocked and confused about?”

 

“Why are you here?”

 

Jiyong was blinking his sleepy eyes and then stared Dara straight in her eyes. “I’m sorry I can’t promise you what you wanted last night.”

 

Dara tilted her head. She was confused more.

 

“I can’t let you take care of yourself. I will still stay by your side, being one of your oppas,” he muttered. “I can’t let you go your way. I’ll be here for you. I will still take care of you.”

 

--

 

thank you dokiiedokiie for the poster. :)