A/N: Surprise!!! I wanted to get the first part of this out before the new subunit debuts!

 

'Tablo had a problem. Today was a chilly November Sunday and it was supposed to be a normal day in the Lee household, but it wasn’t. For one, today they were filming ‘Superman is Back’ and for another his wife had to film for her new movie today. Now normally this wouldn’t be an issue, except she was called in unexpectedly twenty minutes ago and had to catch a flight to Tokyo in two hours. And it just so happened that Tablo had a doctor’s appointment of a more…sensitive…nature and couldn’t bring five-year-old Haru with him.

“You shouldn’t take her with you to your doctor’s appointment. It’ll be a long wait for her by herself,” Hye-jung said, handing Tablo a pair of pants to fold for her as she quickly packed her bag. Haru was watching them both and ‘helping’ her mom fold some socks for her trip.

“Jeong-sik is visiting his wife’s family and Jin is filming today. Can you take her with you to film? The director didn’t mind last time.” He neatly (or so he thought) folded the pants and handed them back to his wife. She took them and wordlessly unfolded them and refolded them the correct way.

She shook her head. “Not this time, we have to film all night scenes and there won’t be any free crew members to watch her.”

“Sean? No wait, he’s got meetings today…and Chan-hyuk and Soo-hyun are filming their new MV. IKON is on tour with WINNER…are any of your friends free?”

“No, they’re all out of the city or country right now. Is anyone else available from YG…?”

Tablo snapped his fingers. “I know who to call.” He ran out of his room to find his phone.

Haru had given up on the socks by now and was now watching her mom who had picked up her phone and was scrolling through the contacts. “Eomma, can Dara-imo watch me?”

Her mother briefly looked up, smiled, and patted her head before returning to her phone. “Do you like the 2NE1-unnis?” Haru nodded her head and Hye-jung called Dara’s number. She put it on speaker so Haru could hear.

“Yeobseyo?”

“Yeobseyo this is Lee Hye-jung and Haru, Haru say hi,” Hye-jung said, moving the phone closer to her.

Instead, Haru asked, “Dara-imo can you watch me?”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry to ask this but I got called to film in Tokyo today and Tablo has a doctor’s appointment and Haru asked if you could watch her today.”

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry Haru, but all the 2NE1-unni’s are filming today.”

“Oh,” Hye-jung said.

Haru tapped her arm. “Ask imo where they are filming.”

“Go ahead and ask,” she replied back, handing the phone to Haru.

“Dara-imo, where are you and Park Bom-unni and Minzy-unni and CL-unni filming?”

“We’re in Gangnam, filming with Running Man. You’ll watch it right?”

“Mom?”

“Mm?”

“I can watch it right?”

“When it comes out.”

Haru returned to her conversation. “When it comes out, I’ll cheer for you.”

“Aww thank you Haru. Can I speak with your mom again?”

“Ok. Bye Imo.”

“Bye Haru-yah.”

Haru handed the phone back to her mom and went out to see what her dad was up to. Hye-jung took the phone off speaker to talk with Dara. “Hello Dara?”

“Ah, unni. I’m so sorry I couldn’t help watch Haru today.”

“It’s okay Dara-sshi, you’re busy.”

“Have you tried any of the Epik High-oppas?”

“Yeah, but they’re all busy today and Sean is in meetings today.”

“Oh, I was going to suggest him next…oh wait, I know who isn’t busy today!”

“Who?”

“Lee Hi-sshi! She had a photoshoot earlier today but she was done early and I think she’s free for the rest of the day.”

“Really? Thank you Dara-sshi.” The two exchanged farewells and Hye-jung quickly dialed Lee Hi’s number. I don’t know why I didn’t think of her first, she’s babysat for Haru several times before.

Lee Hi picked up on the third ring. “Yeobseyo unni?”

“Ah Hayi-sshi, what are you doing?”

“I just finished working out at the YG building, I was going to take a shower.”

“Are you busy for the rest of the day?”

“No…ah! Do you need someone to watch Haru?”

“Yes, Tablo has a doctor’s appointment and I got called to film in Tokyo. My plane leaves in less than two hours.”

“Omo, that’s close.  I have to shower first but I can be there in 30 minutes, is that okay?”

“Thank you so much Hayi-sshi, we’ll treat you to a meal when we get back.”

Lee Hi laughed, knowing better than to not accept the offer. “Okay unni, I’ll see you soon.”

Hye-jung hung up and exhaled, relieved. That was close. She continued to fold her clothes, smiling how Haru had folded all her socks inside-out.

*          *          *

Meanwhile in the main room, Haru was curiously watching her dad scroll through his phone. He was mumbling to himself. “Daesung and Seungri-sshi are filming in Japan…Taeyang is shooting a CF…Jiyong…she’ll be too shy…Haru-yah, do you want TOP-samcheon to watch you?”

“TOP-samcheon?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

“Bingu-samcheon.”

“Okay.”

Tablo chuckled under his breath and dialed TOP’s number. There was a pause before a tired sounding, “Yeobseyo” sounded over the phone.

“TOP-sshi?”

“Ah, Tablo-hyung?”

“I’m sorry did we wake you?”

“We?”

“Haru is here, Haru say ‘hi’ to Bingu-samcheon.” He pushed the button for speaker and handed it to Haru.

“TOP-samcheon were you sleeping?”

“…yes I was.”

“Why?”

“I was filming late so I slept in.”

Tablo looked at his watch. 10:32. Damn, must have been a late night. “Did we wake you? I’m so sorry TOP-sshi!”

“No it’s fine. Did you need something hyung?

“Haru and I were wondering if you would mind watching her for the day since I have to go to the doctor and Hye-jung has to fly to Japan today.”

“Oh. Sure, I can watch her. Haru-yah, can I come and watch you today?”

There was a pause as Haru nodded her head. “Okay.”

“Thanks Haru-yah. Hyung, I can be there in 30 minutes, is that okay?”

“That’s perfect, thanks TOP. Let’s go drinking soon, okay?”

TOP laughed. “Sure hyung, see you soon. Bye Haru-yah!”

“Bye.”

Tablo hung up his phone and exhaled. That was close. He wandered back into his shared bedroom and attempted to help his wife fold more things.

*          *          *

Thirty minutes later Hye-jung was all packed, Haru was dressed and Tablo and Hye-jung were all ready to go. The doorbell rang and Hye-jung jumped up from the couch to open the door. “Haru-yah! Unni is here!”

Tablo looked up from coloring with Haru. “Unni?” Haru stood up, grabbed her dad’s hand and pulled him toward the door. Hye-jung opened the door and saw…

“TOP-sshi?”

“Good morning noona,” TOP said, bowing. He wore a long-sleeved white t-shirt beneath a black fitted hoodie over which he wore a comfortable green coat, jeans and black and white sneakers. Hye-jung stepped aside to let him in and he stepped inside, clasping hands with Tablo and kneeling down to give Haru a high-five. Since BIGBANG had come back from the military, she was a lot less shy to all the members (except with Jiyong. She still got embarrassed every time she saw him.) She high-fived TOP, then grabbed his hand pulling him off somewhere to “see her fish”.

Hye-jung tapped his arm lightly. “Oppa, why is TOP-sshi here?”

“I called him to watch Haru.”

“When?”

“Thirty minutes ago.”

Hye-jung gave Tablo a look that clearly said ‘oh ’. “Thirty minutes ago I called Lee Hi-sshi to watch Haru.”

Tablo’s face now mirrored his wife and they were silent for a second. Then he spoke. “You think…?”

“They both could do it right?”

“Exactly.” They both nodded and high-fived each other with sly smiles. Hye-jung and Tablo were in sync, thinking today would make for the most awkward date the two had yet. Before either could speak, the doorbell rang again and Tablo opened the door.

 “Good morning unni, oppa!” Lee Hi bowed before stepping inside. She was also dressed very monochrome in a grey oversized sweater with black whales printed on it, a black coat over that, jeans and black lace-up ankle boots with a short heel. Her hair was up in a bun and she shivered a little as she took off her coat. “It’s cold today. Are you leaving soon,” she asked as she followed them into the living room.

“Lee Hi-sshi?”

Lee Hi blinked in surprise as TOP stood up from his position on the floor to bow to her (he had been drawing with Haru). “TOP-oppa.” (That was so strange to say now.) Hi.” She bowed to him. Well I certainly wasn’t expecting this.

“Hi. Um…why…?”

“We invited you both to come watch Haru,” Hye-jung said surprising the couple and Tablo. She gave Tablo a look and he quickly began unpinning his mini mic to put on TOP. Hye-jung began doing the same. “We figured she would have fun with the both of you. So there’s lunch in the refrigerator for all of you, but we didn’t have dinner planned since we thought I was going to be here to take care of Haru. I left some money on the table for grocery shopping which is down the street or there’s a convenience store on the corner. Tablo-sshi will be done around 7-”

“-But I have to stop by the YG building first to meet with Teddy. It should only take about an hour so I’ll be back by around 8:30 or so.”

Hye-jung hugged Haru. “I’ll miss you. Appa will be back at 8:30. Be good for TOP-oppa and Lee Hi-unni, okay?”

Haru hugged her mom back. “Eomma, have a good time in Japan.”

“What about me, Haru,” Tablo asked.

She hugged her dad too saying, “See you soon, appa.”

Tablo let go and he and Hye-jung (suspiciously) bowed quickly and then left even more quickly. Lee Hi and TOP waited until they heard the door lock before looking at each other. It was silent for a second before Haru broke the silence. “Unni, will you draw with me and TOP-oppa?”

“Sure Haru-yah, what should I draw?”

“TOP-oppa is drawing flowers, I’m drawing a fish, you can draw…” She paused to plop down on the floor to think and examine their pictures. “Can you draw me?”

“I can draw a cartoon of you, is that okay?” Haru nodded. Immediately TOP had to bite back the impulse to say Haru-yah, did you know that Hayi is really good at drawing? She drew her album art once isn’t that COOL? And when I was in the army she drew me a cartoon of when I was a blue bear and I still have it framed at home. But he refrained, knowing that this was a national broadcast. Heck he didn’t even know if Haru knew that they were dating.

They had minimal conversation until they were done, agreeing to show off their pictures on the count of three. At the appointed time they showed off their pictures too each other, which caused them all to erupt in giggles. Haru’s fish looked like a cross between a catfish and a shark with four extra long gill slits and blue and green skin. TOP’s flowers were lilies, carefully drawn in a bouquet (Lee Hi smiled to herself, understanding the reference to her favorite flower). Lee Hi’s picture was a cartoon-like version of Haru with pigtails drawing a teddy bear on the floor. She was laying on her stomach, swinging her legs back and forth.

“Unni, can I see it?” She stood up as Lee Hi handed her the picture and she stared at it for a minute. “It’s good.” Lee Hi and TOP laughed at her critique.

“You can keep it if you want, Haru-yah.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks unni.” As a sign of affection, she began patting Lee Hi’s head but stopped suddenly. “Unni, your hair is wet.”

Lee Hi felt her bun. “Oh, I took a shower before I came here so it must still be wet.”

“Lee Hi-sshi.” Lee Hi jumped, not expecting the outburst. TOP looked shocked. “You didn’t dry your hair?”

“No, I didn’t have enough time before I came here.”

TOP stood up and offered his hand to her. “We’ll dry your hair now. Haru-yah, can you take us to your bathroom?”

“Okay!” Haru led the way as TOP pulled her up, spun her around and began pushing her toward the bathroom.

Lee Hi allowed herself to be pushed into the bathroom where she saw Haru waiting, pointing at the hairdryer. “Unni, can I dry your hair?” Lee Hi gave TOP a discreet glance, glanced at Haru, and nodded.

“Haru-yah, how about we both dry unni’s hair?” Lee Hi smiled, happy he understood her telepathy. She took down her hair from her bun and shook it out, finger combing it a little. TOP picked up Haru and stood her on the toilet seat so they both could reach Lee Hi’s head. TOP handed her the hairdryer and Haru turned it on. TOP had a hold on Haru’s arm so she didn’t get too close to Lee Hi’s head, but he soon realized it wasn’t necessary. “Wah, Haru how did you get so good at blowdrying hair?”

“Eomma lets me blow dry her hair after she has a bath.”

“How are you doing, Lee Hi-sshi?”

“It feels good, thank you Haru.”

Haru nodded, carefully blowdrying the bottom of her hair. TOP stood still for a second, now at a loss of what to do. He glanced at Haru and then realized she still hadn’t done her hair that morning.

“Haru-yah, can I brush your hair? It’s a little tangled.”

“Okay,” she said, not taking her attention away from Lee Hi’s head.

TOP picked up the brush that was on the sink and carefully brushed her hair. It had gotten longer and now reached below her shoulders. When he was done brushing, he absentmindedly picked up two hairpieces and began daydreaming as he absently fiddled with Haru’s hair. Hayi’s sweater is cute, I wonder if it comes in men sizes. I want one. We should get couple shirts. Or couple hats. Her hair has gotten longer, how did I not notice that? It’s pretty when it’s down. Should I tell her that? Should I casually mention that or would the fans catch on-

“TOP-samcheon.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m done.”

“Oh.” Lee Hi was facing him and was brushing her hair. “Nice job Haru-yah!” She gave her a high five, then blinked in surprise at Haru.

“Wah, Haru. TOP-oppa, I didn’t know you could braid!”

TOP turned and realized his ‘fiddling’ had resulted in him French braiding half of Haru’s head. Oops. He turned Haru around so he could do the other side. “Um, yeah…”

“How did you learn to braid hair?”

“Bom-noona. During her training days she made me learn so she could do her hair faster.” Lee Hi nodded, grinned a little mischievously. She whispered something into Haru’s ear and Haru grinned.

“TOP-samcheon.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever braided Taeyang-samcheon’s hair?”

TOP and Lee Hi actually snorted at the question (well, Lee Hi’s was theatrics, TOP already knew she put Haru up to it). “Um, no. I don’t think he knows I can braid hair.” He finished tying off Haru’s braid and patted her head. “All done.”

Haru peeked in the mirror at the twin braids that TOP had braided down her back. Lee Hi was impressed. “Wah. Don’t they look pretty Haru?”

“TOP-samcheon, do unni’s hair too.”

“What?”

“TOP-samcheon should braid unni’s hair so it won’t get in her face like mine does.”

TOP and Lee Hi glanced at each other. Haru’s logic was pretty good, knowing how Haru played Lee Hi would definitely want her hair back. Lee Hi shrugged. “If you want to.”

TOP nodded, his brain slightly combusting at the thought of touching her head. Skinship was still new to them so this would be his first time touching her hair for longer than a couple seconds. Lee Hi handed him the brush and her hair tie and turned around. Haru had left to put the hair dryer away so it they were alone as TOP slowly began brushing her hair. He handed the brush back to Lee Hi when he was done and she giggled a bit. He hid his smile and asked, “Why are you laughing?”

“Sorry Oppa, I was just thinking how funny it would be if you showed this as a talent on variety shows.”

TOP snorted as he separated her hair into sections. “That would be original.” Haru returned and climbed onto the toilet to stand eye-level with Lee Hi. She handed Lee Hi’s phone over to her.

“Unni, your phone rang once, so I brought it for you.”

“Thanks Haru, I think it might be a text message.” She intended on answering the text message later, but her phone vibrated again and ‘HYE-JUNG UNNI’ flashed on the screen. She opened up the message and blinked in surprise.

Hayi,

IF you have time, the turtle eggs hatched at the aquarium. ;) Money is on the table.

She quickly put her phone away and launched into a stimulating conversation with Haru about the differences between octopus and squid.

“…really? Their eye is seriously the size of a basketball?”

“Yeah. And their ers are the size of my hand,” Haru said holding up her hand to Lee Hi’s and placing it over her’s. “I think they could be as big as yours.”

“What about TOP-oppa’s hands?”

“No, he’s too tall.” TOP’s lips twitched upward as he finished tying off Lee Hi’s braid.

“Lee Hi-sshi, I’m done.”

“Thank you Oppa. How does it look Haru?” She spun around to show Haru the back.

Haru giggled. “It looks like a fish.”

“It does?” Lee Hi checked the mirror and was again surprised. “Oppa, you can fish-tail too?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his head as Lee Hi admired the neat braid.

“Maybe you should use it for variety shows.”

Haru laughed. “You should braid Taeyang-samcheon’s hair on TV.” TOP and Lee Hi burst out laughing.

Haru giggled with them and then asked, “TOP-samcheon, will you take a picture of our hair?”

Lee Hi clapped her hands in excitement. “Oppa, will you take a picture of us and post it on Instagram? I have a plan.”

TOP smiled and left the bathroom quickly to grab his phone from his coat. He had just unlocked it when he found three messages from Tablo.

Go on a date with Hayi and Haru.

Go to the aquarium.

Turtles were born.

…Well that’s interesting. TOP closed out of them quickly and ran back to the bathroom. Lee Hi crouched down next to Haru and they smiled. TOP took the picture and then handed his phone over to Lee Hi. “What are you going to do?”

“Just a second…” She typed something on the cell phone, giggling a bit. She handed it back to TOP and he laughed. She had captioned the picture as ‘Braids for YG Girls…Taeyang you’re next’. She had tagged Taeyang, herself and Haru (well, Haru’s account managed by her dad). TOP burst out laughing as Lee Hi proceeded to explain the joke to Haru, who also started laughing.

“I didn’t post it yet, is this okay?”

“Yes, please post it.”

“Taeyang-oppa won’t get mad?” TOP wordlessly took the phone from Lee Hi and clicked the ‘post’ button.

“Haru-yah, if Taeyang-samcheon calls us and asks us about the braids, we’ll say it was Lee Hi-sshi’s idea, okay?”

“Oppa!”

“Okay,” Haru laughed. Lee Hi laughed too, realizing the idea was indeed hers.

“Fine, but if he lets you braid his hair, I get to feature with you in a rap single.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I rap, you dance.”

TOP burst out laughing. Dating Lee Hayi: BEST idea EVER. “Call. But you have to do our cover art.”

“That’s okay, I’ll have Haru here help me.” Lee Hi held up her hand and Haru automatically high-fived her. Tablo’s right, that kid is chic.

TOP turned to the cameraman hiding in the toy house. “Everyone, you heard that promise. If Taeyang-ah let’s me braid his hair, Lee Hi will feature for me in a rap single, I will dance in the music video, and Lee Hi-sshi and Haru-yah will do the cover art.”

Lee Hi smiled at all this. Even we bet on ourselves. It’s a good bet though. “Haru, do you want lunch? It’s almost noon.” Haru nodded and they headed to the kitchen to heat up the food left for them. Both adults had almost completely forgotten about the texts from Haru’s parents when both of their phones went off at the same time. They caught each other’s eyes for a second and then quickly glanced at the text. It was from Hye-jung.

You are by no means obligated to buy Haru another fish plush. :)

 

A/N: Abrupt ending I know. More to come soon! :)