*italicized words means the conversation is being spoken in Korean

 

“Oh hyung!” Daesung

Dongwook had finally showed up. The guys all got up and said their greetings and exchanged hugs. They hadn’t seen Dongwook since before they finished the album.

“Hey I know you guys are busy, but thanks for coming anyway. It means a lot to Byul.” Dongwook told them.

“No problem. You know how much we love noona!” Youngbae told Dongwook.

“Where is Seunghyun? Is he not coming?”

“You know hyung, he does what he wants and goes where he pleases. Lord knows where he is right now.” Jiyong told him, and they all nodded in agreement. They all knew how Seunghyun could be.  

“So how have you guys been? How is the tour going?” DongWook asked.

“It's good.” Daesung told him.

“It's good to be on stage again.” Youngbae agreed.

“I think that it would be more bearable if the scheduling wasn’t so back to back all the time.”  Jiyong weighted in. It was true.The scheduling was brutal, with the promotions, photoshoots, and tv appearances, there was very little breathing room. But after the year they had they wouldn’t dare complain. There was a time they never thought that they would be on stage again.

“We can always sleep when we’re dead.” said Seungri.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam and the girls finally made their way into the the VIP suite section. She hoped that Grace wouldn’t be too upset at Daesung when she saw him. Hopefully the presence of the other BigBang members and a bunch of party goers would subdue her anger a bit. Things between Grace and Daesung have a bit tense lately or at least their version of tense. Which means Daesung missing Grace's calls or texts and then Grace does the same thing to get back at him. Then one of them complaining to Sam about how the other was acting weird. Then Sam has to sit, listen, and hold her tongue like a good friend instead of yelling at them to get their together and actually talk about the actual problem at hand. Why they thought avoiding the problem would eventually solve it she would never know.

 

A slightly painful pang ran through her chest reminding her to stop judging other people about avoiding their problems when she had been doing it for almost ten years. Instead she should thank God that he had never surprised her by having Seunghyun cross her path. To be honest if Sam had even thought that any of them would be able to come to Byul’s party she would have came and left earlier.

However she was proud of herself. She had managed to keep her cool while meeting the rest of BigBang. She had met many “celebrities” through Natalie and some just by chance, however they weren’t as important to her or had as much impact on her life than BigBang. Despite the distance that she had tried to put between herself and the group members she had been a dedicated fan from the beginning. BigBang meant a lot to her. They had got her through some very dark times in her life. Not even Daesung knew how big of a fan that Sam was. She was too embarrassed and respected him too much to show him too much of her fangirl side.

One thing that she wasn’t proud of was her flight instinct to the name and presence of Choi Seunghyun. She didn’t know why she kept hiding from Seunghyun. Like why was he even a factor anymore, she thought. It had literally been years since everything went down. She hated the fact that someone had that much of an effect on her still years later. She should really stop dodging Seunghyun. At least she could say she hadn't affected her enough that thought she had to move to another country like Natalie. Plus Seunghyun probably didn't even remember…

 

“. . .” Sam said out loud.

Sam only realized then that she was essentially leading Natalie into the lion’s den.

“What? What's wrong?” Nana became alarmed as they got passed the entrance of the vip suite.

Sam had been spending so much time freaking out about meeting Seunghyun that she forgot about Jiyong and Natalie’s dramatic and complicated history. It was partly with Natalie’s help (unknowing to Natalie) that Sam was able to avoid any encounters with Bigbang for so long. After the break up Natalie would rarely talk about them unless it was about Daesung and she rarely did anything that involved them. Even when Teddy would invite her to things she would turn it down. She very rarely went to any of their concerts and when she did she never went backstage. As soon as the concert was done she was out, and Sam was always right behind her. Natalie probably thought that Sam was just being a good friend and not running away from her own troubles. They never addressed the situation either. Sam never asked about their unspoken arrangement and Natalie never told.

 

“I’m so sorry. I didn't even think about it. I totally forgot. Please don’t hate me.”

“What are you even talking about?” Nana asked in confusion.

“I thought that you were still with the models and that I would just surprise Grace and then we would leave before you ever knew we were gone. Which now seems very flawed since we are all here for the same party. And bound to bump into each other.”

“Sam…” Natalie began before Sam cut her off.

“I'm really sorry!!! I'll..I’ll make it up to you. I promise that I’ll be your date for the next stupid party thing that you always want me to go to.” Sam promised.

“If you think about it it was bound to happen anyway. So let's just get this over with.” Even as Sam was saying this she wanted to slap herself.

“Samantha…” Natalie began.

“Actually you know I think it would just be better if we left.” Sam said as she blocked Natalie’s path but still following Abrianna’s lead. “Yeah let's do that. I think it would be a good idea. I should have just done that when I saw them. Let’s just go, we can tell Byul that we got food poisoning or something.”

“Sam i'm not leaving until I see Byul and eat some birthday cake. So tell me what is going on?” Natalie laughed.

Abrianna led the girls into the middle of the room which was more filled up with more of Hanbyul’s close friends. Sam still blocking Natalie’s view looked over her shoulder towards the back of the room where she previously sat with the boys only to see that there was another tall man standing with them. Sam of course panicked. She couldn’t really tell if it was him. Whoever it was had a similar build to Seunghyun but she was quite sure. If it was him she was ready to dip at anytime, her fight or flight switch immediately flipped to flight. Luckily the guy turned slightly and she was able to see that it was just Dongwook, and she remembered that Seunghyun’s hair was probably had bubblegum blue hair still. She immediately relaxed and thanked baby Jesus for once again saving her from an unfortunate reunion. Then she quickly scolded herself for reverting back to her old ways not five minutes after declaring her indifference about the whole thing. She mentally kicked herself for forgetting about the very pressing situation she was about to get Natalie into.

“We probably have about thirty seconds to bounce out of here before Jiy…” Sam was cut off by Abrianna.

 

“You have got to be kidding me.” said Abrianna as the smile she once had was being replaced by a sad frown. Abrianna like many of the other party goers were observing five of YG Entertainment's finest artists. At the back right corner where Daesung and the rest of the boys now including Dongwook were sitting and chatting. At that moment to Sam and Natalie’s luck was when Jiyong choose to turn his head and spot Abrianna and herself. He shot Sam a smile and she returned with her own smile which probably looked more like a grimace. His eyes went wide as he looked behind he saw a glimpse of who he thought was Natalie, he stood up to get a better view.   

 

“. It’s already too late, I think he saw you. So you can be mad at me later but for now just re adjust the girls and toss your hair a bit and you will be fine.” Sam rushed as she fully blocked Jiyong’s view of Natalie.

“Oluchi what did you do?” Nana asked using Sam’s Nigerian name in the same tone her mom would when upset, but then ironically Natalie proceeded to toss her hair a bit and shift her chest in prime position before Sam unblocked her view.

 

Nana looked around at the scene before her and began to recognize the faces of the people she was once so close too. Then her eyes landed on someone who was once one of the most important man in her life.

She locked eyes with Jiyong for a brief moment, but that was all it took for both of them to be washed over with memories of the past.

 

“, Sam what did you do.” Nana said quietly.

 

“What? What is it?” Grace asked as she pushed Nana aside breaking her eye contact with Jiyong. Nana avoided looking anywhere near his direction. And Jiyong...he couldn't take his eyes off her. When Sam mentioned the “girls” he didn’t think anything about it because Natalie was usually in Europe or somewhere else. She was never really in the same country when he was. He had a feeling that it wasn't just by chance that they hadn't been in the same room as each other in years. It seemed to be too coincidental and planned.

“Is that….” Min Hee started before she was interrupted.

“Ya! Kang Daesung!!!” Grace exclaimed as she made her way to the group of boys as the rest of the girls trailed behind her. At the mention of his name, Daesung shot up. He knew by the tone of Grace's voice that she was surprised and it would quickly change to anger at the realization that he hadn’t called her in a couple weeks and he hadn't even told her he was back in the country. He had been staying in Japan whenever he wasn’t touring, trying to finish his japanese album. But that hadn’t been enough for him not to call and check in with Grace and both of them knew.

“This is not gonna end well.” Min Hee said as she took a seat far enough from Grace so she wouldn’t get into Grace’s tornado of anger, but close enough to Daesung so she could see all the action.

“...Surprise! Wow you look great!!!” he complimented her hoping that would soften her up. However as he went in for a hug she put up her hands on his chest to stop him and glared.

“Uh Oh.” said Seungri.

“What? Whats going on?” Dongwook whispered to the guys.

“It seems like hyung forgot to tell his best friend that he was back in town.” Seungri replied quietly. He like the rest of the group stood frozen in their spots as they watched on. They feared any sudden movement would alert Grace and shift anger away from Daesung and towards them. Grace was always usually bubbly, nice, and very rarely outwardly vocal about her angry. However when Grace was angry she was could make anyone feel unsettled by just one look. The same look that she was giving Daesung at the moment.

“Let me see your hands.” She asked Daesung.

“What? Why?” he asked her as he gave her his hands. She gave no answer as she examined them.

“All five fingers on the left, all five fingers on the right. No open wounds, no bandages. All limbs are intact.” She rattled off her findings.

“Gra…” Daesung began before she interrupted him.

“Wait let me feel your forehead."

"Grace." Daesung sighed as he pulled her hand off his forehead.

"What! I'm just trying to figure out why my best friend hasn't been returning my messages. I mean I'm not asking for you to call everyday. I mean is it really that hard to send a text or an email, postcard, even a letter. Hell even a homing pigeon would do." Grace fumed.

"I'm sorry. I've been busy." Daesung said quickly. He winced as soon as the words came out of his mouth, knowing full well that his excuse was not going to be good enough.

"Oh come on Daesung! That’s not going to cut it. Abrianna said that you stayed behind to work on your solo project and I totally understand that. But were you really too busy to text or call but not too busy to come to a party? Seriously?" she scoffed.

"Grace leave the boy alone, if it wasn’t for him we would probably be at the police station right now. Plus you know how Byul can be she probably nagged him to death to come. " Sam said as she snuck her way between the two. She thought that everyone had seen enough and Daesung probably needed some back up right about now. Plus she seemed to be the only person brave enough to get in between the two.

"I told you that excuse wasn't going to cut it Daesung." Sam whispered to him.

"I thought you said that you weren't going to save me?" He asked.

"Would you like me to leave so she can start her FBI like interrogation on you in front of all these people. If you prefer that then I can just leave..." Sam finished and began to walk away.

"Don't you dare leave me." He grabbed her arm like he was holding on for dear life.

"What are you two whispering about? Sam did you know that he was back?" Grace asked with a betrayed look.

"No I didn’t and if I did I would have told you...Grace, why don't you cool down over there." Sam directed her to the other side of the table next to Dongwook. Daesung didn’t dare follow. He knew that is was better for Grace to cool down before they had any type of conversation.

"Nana will get you a drink, right Nana." asked Sam.

"...Sure." Natalie shot Sam a sharp glare as made her way across the room to the bar, making sure that Sam knew that she was going to have some explaining to do. Min wanted to go after her but she didn’t feel like dealing with a livid Natalie. Plus Grace was hilariously uncomposed when it came to being mad at Daesung, and it was very entertaining to watch...to her at least.

 

Jiyong on the other hand could not help but watch Natalie walk away. It didn't go unnoticed to Samantha where Kwon Jiyong's eyes were following. She made a note to herself to start her own interrogation on Jiyong later. But probably not before a verbal thrashing from Natalie.

 

"Oh oppa! Hello." said Grace. Sam rolled her eyes at the fact that Grace had finally realized that they were in the presence of other people.

"I promise from now on I will text you everyday, twice a day if you like." He joked.

"Haha very funny." Dongwook laughed and gave her a hug as they began to catch up.

Everyone was able to breath a sigh of relief as Dongwook entertained Grace for a bit.

“I told you.” Sam scolded as she walked over to Daesung. Daesung whimpered into her shoulder. “I’ll go get you a drink.” Sam told him as she patted him on the shoulder.

“A fruity one?” he asked looking up with pleading eyes. Sam hesitated and they both knew why.

“You can have one and then you go back to regular alcohol or water.” The only reason she said yes was because Grace could be a pain in the when she was mad and alcohol was usually a good way to numb the process and get through it. Sam was making her way when Abrianna stopped her.

“Samantha wait. So this is not like some type of elaborate joke. These are seriously the guys that you met? Sam you said that they were going to be hot models!” said Abrianna who was clearly disappointed at the men standing before her.

“I never said that. I said that he had friends. The rest of that stuff you made up all by yourself.” Sam rolled her eyes.

“Well can you blame me for being mad? I just wanted to relax and have fun for a night and my work follows me. You could have warned me!” Bri called after Sam who was walking towards the bar.

“Then it wouldn't have been a surprise.” Sam yelled back over her shoulder as she walked into the crowd.

“Hey, I think that the 55,000 people at our last concert would argue that we are infact an attractive quintet of men.”said Seungri before he went out to go make a call. Abrianna rolled her eyes, Seungri would always be BigBang’s number one fan.

“I thought that you guys had a meeting or something.” she pouted.

“Oh come on Bri you know you love us.” said Jiyong as he wrapped one arm over her shoulder. He had finally stopped pulled himself together after seeing Natalie.

“I don’t think “love” is the word I would use. I think it's more like “tolerate.” she said as she unwrapped herself from Jiyong’s arm and took a seat right in between Dongwook and Grace on the couch.

“It’s a party why are you pouting Bri?” asked Dongwook.

“Because after what happened in Tokyo. They won't leave me alone when we go to out.”

“What happened in Tokyo?” He asked. Abrianna mentally kicked herself. She forgot that she hadn’t told the girls what had happened.

“Some tried to spike my drink.”

“What! Are you okay?” Grace exclaimed.

“I’m fine.” she rolled her eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell us? Daesung why didn’t you tell me?” Grace scold him.

“Don’t yell at him. He wasn’t even there.” Abrianna told her. She was not about to give Grace another thing to be mad at Daesung about.

“Why wouldn’t you tell us?” Min asked very concerned. This was the first time Min was hearing about this, which was odd cause Abrianna told Min mostly everything.  

“Because then that would just make you guys worry, when nothing really happened.”

“What did happen then? Did they ever find the guy?” Dongwook worried. The girls were like sisters to him and if anything were to happen to them he would see to it that the person was punished.  

“Luckily Youngbae saw the guy put it in and was able to stop me from drinking it. And Youngbae and Seunghyun were able to catch him before he got away. We had to got to the police station and make a statement and everything.” Abrianna was embarrassed about the whole situation. She didn’t like feeling like a damsel in distress. She should have been more careful. Now the guys(especially Youngbae) were watching over her. Although she did appreciate it, it still made her feel a type of way.

“Only you would call that nothing.” Min shook her head.

“Which is why we will now be keeping a close eye on you.” Youngbae told her and Jiyong and Daesung nodded in agreement.

“We just want you to be careful.” said Jiyong.

“You should be happy that people are looking out for you.” Dongwook told Abrianna.

“YoungBae.” Grace said.

“Grace!” Youngbae said as he pulled her into one of his famous bear hugs.

“Thank you for helping saving Bri.”

“Don’t even mention it.”

Nice hair! You look great.” Grace commented on Youngbae’s tall and thicker mohawk.

“Thanks! You look as beautiful as ever.”

“Aww thanks”

“I hope that you're not too angry with Daesung. We really have been busy with the tour.” He told her.

“You’re a good friend Youngbae but there is no way i’m gonna let him off of this one.” She said as she glared directly at Daesung.

“Where is Seunghyun oppa? I want thank him for helping Bri.” Grace looked around.

“Grace you’re not my mother. You don’t have to go around thanking them for me. I am more than capable of expressing my appreciation.” Abrianna was a bit annoyed that the conversation was still on her.

“We aren’t really sure where hyung is but I doubt he is gonna make it tonight. But i’ll make sure to tell him.” Youngbae told Grace.

“Move Youngbae you’re holding up the line.” Jiyong said as he pushed Youngbae aside.  

“Can I get a hug.” Jiyong asked with some Jiyong like charm.  

and gave Grace a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Of course! How are you Ji?” Grace asked after giving him a hug

“Im much better now that I got to see you.” He said while flashing a gummy smile.

“Aww, stop it Ji.” Grace batted her eyes.

“What I'm serious.”

“Are you sure that your it's not someone else that's making you feel all warm inside?” Grace joked. It was kind of a big deal that Jiyong and Natalie were in a room together again. And it didn’t go unnoticed to Grace.

“I have no idea what you are referring to?” He told her. They both knew exactly who she was talking about.

“Sure oppa.” Grace mocked as she patted his shoulder.

"Since you won't give Daesung hyung a hug can I take his?" Seungri asked Grace cutely, enjoying one of the rare times that Daesung was in trouble instead of himself.

“Five feet Seungri.” Daesung warned him.

“Don’t mind him Seungri. He apparently still thinks that we are on speaking terms. Come here!” she gave him a hug. Grace gave him a big hug. He was very much like a little brother to her, always a good person to hang out with and have fun. “I can’t actually remember the last time I saw you.”  

“That’s because you only ever hang out with hyung. I'm actually kind of offended. How come you didn't yell at the rest of us for not calling? I never get a call from you unless you're looking for hyung.”

“That’s because you are always asking me if I have any single friends that I can introduce you to.” Grace laughed.

“Well you should be wanting to set me up with a nice girl. I'm your favorite maknae!” He argued.

“And here I thought I was your favorite Grace.” Min complained playfully. Seungri finally noticed the newest face in the group. She was gorgeous with big long curly hair, olive skin, and long legs. She looked like was around his age. Not that age had ever stopped him before.

“Well i'm sure there is enough room in Grace’s heart for the both of us.” Seungri smiled.

“That's okay. You can keep her. I like Daesung better anyway.” Min said as she went and gave Daesung a big hug.

“Grace can keep him if I can have you. You’re so much better than Seungri.” Daesung hugged her back.

“I’d trade Grace for you anyday. Now with her gone we can do fun stuff instead of all the lame stuff she forces you to do.” Min promised and Daesung laughed.

“Hey im standing right here.” she said as she got in between the two. “And I do not force him to do anything. Daesung loves hanging out with me. We are like two freakin peas in a pod. I’m the ying to his yang.

“Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore.”

“You’re kidding yourself.” Grace said dryly.

“It's just that I have invested over 15 years of my life with you and I won't allow you to be in to Min’s sometimes warped ideas of having fun and make it all go to waist. You two hanging out alone would only lead you to a life of crime and corruption and you’ll probably end up dangling off a cliff somewhere asking yourself why you didn’t listen to me.” she quipped.

“You only live once. Life is too short not to break a couple of rules. Live a little Grace.” Min laughed. She could very much be an adventure junkie at times. She loved anything that would make her feel an excess of adrenaline in her veins.

“Hyung...who is this.” Seungri asked without taking his eyes off of Min.

“Why?” Daesung sighed. Seungri had that look in his eye again. The one where it looked like he was gonna get himself into trouble.

“It's only polite to introduce your pretty friend to the people who are like brothers to you.” Seungri told him. Youngbae and Jiyong looked on curiously amused. It seemed like Daesung had a more interesting life than he let on.

“Today you're my brother, but tomorrow you will ignore my calls like I'm your annoying coworker.” Daesung scoffed.

“That's not true. I always call you back.” Seungri argued.

“Yeah. When you want something… ”

“Daesung obviously this guy wants to know who I am. Why should we deny him the pleasure.” min stood with a hand on her hip and a smirk playing on her lips.

“This is Youngbae, Jiyong, and Seungri. Guys this is…”

“Min.”

“Delighted to meet you.” Seungri said as he stuck out his hand for a handshake.

“I know aren't I a delight.” she returned the handshake with a wink. The guys laughed and greeted her as well.  

“Daesung where have you been keeping these amazingly charming woman.”

“Away from you.” Daesung joked.

“Now Grace are you going to be able to suppress the urge to kill Dae if I leave?” Min asked. Grace rolled her eyes in response and asked Min where she was off too.

“I need a drink and there is a guy at the bar at 6 o'clock in a letter jacket has been checking me out since I walked in.” Min slightly nodded behind her. Both Grace and Abrianna locked eyes and shared a knowing look.

“I thought you were on a diet.” Grace said referring to Min’s declaration a week ago when she showed up late to the girls weekly brunch. Apparently her newest guy was already being entirely too clingy for her liking. She declared that she was taking a break from all men for three months. She called it a cleanse. The rest of them called it BS.

“I am but looking at the selection is harmless and again who am I too deprive a fine young man of my presence.” Grace just shook her head letting it go, it wasn't worth the argument.

“I’ll go with you Minnie.” Abrianna said as she got up. “Maybe he has a friend.” she said hopeful. Obviously still not over Sam’s “surprise.”

“Dae will you be okay if I leave you alone with this woman?” Min Hee ask.

“Why are you so worried.” Grace asked squinting at Min.

“Because despite being one of the nicest people I know you can also be the most dramatic when pissed off. And Daesung is too precious for you to attack.” Min laughed and patted Daesung’s cheek affectionately.

“Thanks but i’ll be fine Minnie. Go have fun.” Daesung laughed.

“Good luck then. See you gentlemen later. Daesung scream if you need back up.” she kissed Daesung on the cheek and dodged Grace's smack as she and Abrianna took their leave.

“Be careful!” Dongwook called after them. “I should go see if I can find Byul, we should be cutting the cake soon. See you guys later.” Dongwook told them before he left.

“So Min is fun.” Jiyong said with a laugh.

“You don’t even know the half of it.” Grace sighed.

“She’s sassy, charming, and gorgeous.” Seungri said as he watched her go.

“Don't even think about it Ri.” Grace warned.

“What? It's not like I declared my undying love for the girl. I'm just appreciating what i'm seeing. I was simply stating facts.” Seungri told them.

“Minnie is way too much even for you. She will chew you up and spit you out before you know it.” said Daesung.

“Plus your not her type at all.” Grace agreed.

“What's wrong with me?” Seungri asked confused.

“You're pretty boy in a boy band.” Daesung told him.

“You don’t really have that bad boy vibe.” Grace added.

“I beg to differ.” Seungri said taking offense. “But were you two really hiding her from me?” Seungri asked them.

“It was more like we were saving you from your own demise.” Daesung assured him. “Like I said before Minnie will end you without a second thought. She could literally kill you.” Grace nodded in agreement.

“If I have to leave this world early, it would be an honor to go by those hands.” Seungri said confidently as he watched her flirt with the guy in the leather jacket.

“Oh Lord.” Daesung closed his eyes and shook his head.

“This is gonna be interesting.” Jiyong said.