1. [+4561, -1497] That black has ruined TaeYang-oppa! If she wanted to date a Black, she should date a Black. Not make oppa act like one.

2. [+3958, -1327] She's why he changed his style. I bet she bought him that stupid, ugly grill, and braids his hair while eating fried chicken and watching basketball. 

3. [+3519, -946] TaeYang-oppa should stick to his own kind. She's not that pretty, anyway.

4. [+2937, -1084] I bet she's G-Druggie's dealer. That's probably how they met. I bet—

“Don't read those,” came a voice from behind Luna. A hand reached over her shoulder and took her iPad from her hands. Teddy turned the iPad off and shook his head. “Keyboard warriors are at it already, huh?”

“The foreign sites aren't so bad. The American ones are the nicest. Bae and I have unofficially become the poster children for AMBW relationships.”

“AMBW?”

“Asian Man, Black Woman,” she explained tiredly. Luna sat back in the chair and rubbedher eyes. “Why are you here? It's after five.”

“You know I live in this studio. Come here,” Teddy sat down on the sofa and waved her over. Luna sat down next to him and brought her knees to her chest. “Why are you here?”

“I couldn't take the sound of Bom crying anymore,” Taking Luna's safety into consideration,—because, yes, her safety now required consideration—JiYong thought it would be best if Luna stayed in 2NE1's dorm at the YG building until things calmed down. Luna had no idea how long it would be until that happened. “I know she feels bad, but she keeps crawling around on her knees and trying to give me stuff. She even offered me free reign in ChaeRin's closet since she's closer to my size.”

“You should take her up on that. I doubt she'd even notice,” he joked. He saw Luna wipe at a tear and rubbed her back. “Everything's gonna be okay, Lu.”

“Right now, I really don't believe that. I'm counting the minutes until the morning news cycles starts. You Koreans love nothing better than a scandal and this, is going to be a good one. I mean, it shouldn't be, not really. 'Two People Seen Kissing!' B.F.D! But him being who he is, and me being American—and black— just makes it so much ier.” Luna wiped at another stray tear and pressed her face to her knees. Teddy put his hand on her neck and pulled her over to lean on his shoulder. She didn't want to cry again, but she couldn't seem to stop.

“You know we have a great PR team here. We're not going to leave you out there to weather this alone,” Teddy promised. He hugged her tighter and her hair until she stopped crying. “Go back upstairs and try to get some sleep. Bom has probably passed out by now.”

Luna wiped her face and nodded as she stood. When she got to the door she turned back. “Thanks, Teddy Bear.”

“Anytime, Lu.”

*****

ChaeRin woke Luna a little before eight a.m. and told her to go to the conference room on the first floor. After she washed up, she dressed and opened the curtains to look outside. What she saw made her stumble back and fall to the ground. The area surrounding the YG building was a sea of black-haired girls in school uniform and news vans. There were cameras trained on the building and Luna knew they were hoping for a glimpse of her.

“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod,” she moaned. She had almost convinced herself that the night before had been a dream. It wasn't a dream. Luna the TV and with almost every station she turned to, there was a still shot from the video or a picture of BIGBANG on the screen. With a twelve second video, she and YoungBae had made national news. . Me., she thought as she got up to find a hoodie.

*****

Luna could hear the sound of voices before she opened the conference room door. She walked inside slowly and closed the door quietly behind her. Yang HyunSuk was leaning back in his chair at the head of the table with JiYong to his right. She saw DaeSung and SeungHyun in deep conversation with people she recalled meeting from the legal department. Everyone was talking at once, so Luna only caught bits of the conversations being held.

“. . . damage control. . .”

“ . . . we need to get in front of this . . .”

“ . . . is already turning into a media circus . . .”

“ . . . pretty damn stupid if you ask me . . .”

To Luna's left she saw a guy leaning against the wall talking on the phone. “. . . should do, is cut their loses. I say, hold out until the new year, say he wants to go solo and put him out of the group. Give him a few bad songs, let him flop, then send him to the military.”

“Ah, Luna!” HyunSuk called out and stood. The room went quiet and all heads turned in her direction. Luna looked at the man to her left with murder in her eyes. He stared at her, eyes and mouth wide open. He put his phone in his pocket and walked out. She bowed a few times to everyone and waved nervously. SeungHyun and DaeSung both rubbed her on the back and smiled encouragingly as she passed. “Come. Have a seat.” he offered while pointing to an empty chair next to JiYong.

When Luna got to HyunSuk's side first and bowed deeply. “Sajang-nim, I am so sorry—”

“Not your fault,” he cut in. He waved her into her seat, then sat down himself. “Just please tell me someone took that damn phone from Bom, right?” Someone that Luna couldn't see told him 'yes'. “Okay. Mr. Jang. Enlighten us.”

“Well, I don't have to tell you that the timing of all this couldn't be worse,” said the puffed-up, older man in the well tailored grey, pinstriped suit. “Lee SeungHyun's album is being released shortly, JiYong's a few weeks later. Right now we really can't afford the bad press.”

“You're right, you don't have to tell me that. I am well aware of the effects this could have on the upcoming album sales. What I'm paying you to tell me, is what we do next.” HyunSuk told him softly. It was like a tennis match in the room. It was stone silent and all heads turned in the direction of whoever was speaking.

“Well . . . umm,” Mr. Jang sputtered. “Well, deniability is, unfortunately, out the window. If he hadn't kissed her, we could have said this was a joke between friends. I would have been able to—”

HyunSuk raised his hand to quiet the man. “Please save the 'could haves, should haves', and the 'would haves.' You have a team of eight people and you've known this meeting was happening since 4a.m. What we need, is a plan. Do you have a plan or just more useless advice?”

“We have a plan,” JiYong spoke up. He reached under the table and held Luna's hand. She looked at him just as curiously as everyone else in the room. “We talked about it as a group last night and we think it could work.”

“What did you come up with?” HyunSuk asked him as he leaned his elbows on the table.

“One of the things that BIGBANG has going for it, is our fan base. V.I.P.'s are very loyal. They stuck by me through my scandal, they stuck by DaeSung through his, and they voted for us enough that year that we won an EMA. We can use that.”

“How?”

“We need to introduce her to them,” JiYong felt Luna tense and held her hand tighter.

“I need more details, JiYong.”

DaeSung stepped forward and raised his hand to get everyone's attention. “The fan cafe's are going crazy, right? Already, they're fighting amongst themselves, telling the haters to shut up and leave the fandom if they can't handle one of us dating. The sane ones are sticking by YoungBae-hyung and turning on the saesangs. And the international fans are all over this.”

“What we came up with, is that we have them meet her on our terms,” SeungHyun added. “You all know that by now, they have her name and they're going to find every person who ever sat next to her, and try to keep this going. Luna needs to be the one to tell their story.”

“Are you suggesting a press conference?” Mr. Jang asked.

“Not at all. Press conferences are for admissions of guilt,” Jiyong explained. “We thought it would be best—”

Luna's phone alerted her, loudly, to an incoming text message.

Mike: I need to see you. Now.

Luna made a distressed sound that made the whole room turn in her direction. JiYong looked confused as he read the message. Luna took her hand from his and stood. “I have to go,” she announced.

“What? Wait! Luna, where are you going?” HyunSuk called after her.

She stopped at the door to turn and bow. “I have to go to work."

*****

Getting to the embassy proved to be an adventure. Getting away from the YG building was just the first step. Luna, and the four burly men JiYong assigned to protect her, rode in silence. The van swerved occasionally to avoid the cars that were tailing them closely. Luna was terrified, and it got worse when they pulled up in front of the embassy's usually open gates. They were closed for the first time in her recollection to keep out the crowd of angry, Korean, teenaged girls.

“Is there any other way in, Luna-shi?” DongWan, the leader of their merry band, asked from the front seat.

“No, there's not. I'll call inside and let them know we're out here,” she told him as she pulled out her phone and dialed. “How in the hell do they know where I work? It's been, what, six hours? . . .Hey, Carla. Tell the Marines to open the gate enough so we can come in, please. Thanks.” As they waited for confirmation from Carla that the message was received, the van began to rock.

“They're trying to tip the van. We need to go now.” JungHyuk told them urgently, taking his spot closest to the door.

“Here's what we're going to do. HyeSung will stay with the van. JungHyuk will try to part the crowd in front of me. I want you to hold on the the back of my jacket and do not look up or let go, no matter what happens. ChoongJae will walk behind you. Do you have sunglasses?” he asked. Luna shook her head. “Take mine and put your hood up. Do not let go of me. Understood?” Luna nodded and followed his command. The men nodded to each other and took deep breaths before opening the van door.

It was chaos, pandemonium. What was normally a ten second walk turned into the most horrifying near minute of Luna's life to date. She was pushed, and threatened, and cursed, and jeered at. She felt something wet land on her hand. She didn't want to dwell on what that might have been. She clung to DongWan with all her might. With one last push from behind, Luna found herself, on her knees, on sovereign American soil. She was tempted to kiss it. Andy, one of the Marines she had seen on duty for over a year, reached down to help her up.

“Are you okay, Miss Rae?” he asked.

“Nope,” she answered simply. “Not even remotely close to resembling something that could be confused for 'okay'.” She wanted to sign the three Korean men in so they could accompany her inside, but they declined. They needed to check in with their supervisor and discuss further plans for her security. With a nod, Luna took her hood off and walked through the doors.

When she got inside, there was a hush as all the employees turned to look at her. Luna ignored them and went to the bathroom to clean up before going to Mike's office. She knocked lightly before poking her head inside. He held up a hand for her to wait, so she stepped back out and waited on the bench. Luna felt like she was sitting outside the principal's office, just waiting to be given her punishment for misbehavior.

Luna heard the clicking of heels coming at her and saw Carla coming her way. She offered Luna a small smile before sitting next to her and pulling her into a hug. Luna was grateful for it. Carla let her go and sat back. They didn't talk for some time, then Carla broke the silence.

“I guess Stacy wasn't lying, huh?”

“About what?” Luna asked her.

“About the two of you dating members of BIGBANG,” Luna snapped her head to look at her. Oh. . Luna had forgotten Stacy said that at the dress fitting. The terror must have been clear on Luna's face because Carla reached over and held her hand. “Don't worry. My lips are sealed,” Carla assured her. Luna thanked her and leaned her head against the wall again. More time went by before Carla spoke again. “So . . .what's it like? Dating a celebrity, I mean.”

Luna chuckled and wiped her hand over her face. “If you asked me any day other than today, I might have something good to say about it,” She heard the doorknob rattle and saw Mike step out. Luna stood and faced him. “Hi, Mike.”

“Hi, Rae,” he said with a sad expression. Carla hugged Luna again and walked away. “Come on in, and close the door behind you.”

*****

Luna came out of the embassy and put her borrowed sunglasses back on. She looked at the security team and nodded to them. They got in formation around her, prepared to do battle with the unruly mob again on her behalf. The trip out was no easier than the one going in. Someone got close enough to kick her in the knee and she lost her balance. Another 'fan' was able then to grab her hood, and her hair, and yank. She screamed and she panicked, she kept hold of DongWan, and almost took him down with her. Luckily, ChoongJae was on his job and picked her up. Her feet didn't touch the ground again until they got to the YG building. She shook the whole way there.

A bow didn't seem like thanks enough, so Luna turned around and hugged her four protectors once they were back inside. “We're only going to have to do that one more time. Please eat a lot, I'll let you know when I'm ready,” she told them as she started walking slowly up the stairs. Outside the dorm, she saw JiYong on the phone, pacing. “Hey.”

“Hey, back,” his expression cleared when he saw her, but when he tried to hug her, she side stepped him. “What's wrong? Why are you limping?”

“I got kicked in the leg. No big deal. I'll go inside and put ice on it.” Luna said as convincingly as possible.

“Hyung says he's been trying to call you since last night. He really wants to talk to you. Call him on facetime when you go in, okay?”

Luna nodded to him and stood still when he kissed her on the cheek. Luna walked into the blessedly empty dorm and flopped on the couch. She looked at her phone and saw the numerous missed calls and ignored texts from YoungBae. She also scanned through some of the texts she had been receiving from anonymous sources. Luna didn't read all of them, the first few gave her the gist of things.

She didn't blame YoungBae for this—she really didn't—she just didn't know what to say to him. Her first thought was to keep ignoring him. It was her second thought, as well. After much inner debate, Luna looked around for her laptop and saw it on the kitchen table. She got a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down. It took her a little time, but she finally opened the computer and put the call through to YoungBae.

“Hey, baby,” he said from his hotel room.

“Hey.”

“How are you holding up?”

Luna raised her eyebrow. “I've been better.”

“JiYong told me you went to the embassy,” he said hesitantly. “How did it go?”

“As well as could be expected.”

YoungBae watched her sip her water and play with the cap. She was avoiding. When she avoided, he knew he had cause for worry. “Did you lose your job, Luna?”

“Not yet.”

YoungBae waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't. “What did Mike say?”

“He was nice about it. He expressed his disappointment in me for not being more careful. He told me that he's been getting calls from Washington since they identified me. Then, he told me he was sorry, that the decision was made above his pay grade and that I am being placed on administrative leave. Effective immediately, for three weeks. He also told me that if there was anything in my office that I needed immediately, I should take it with me today.”

YoungBae waited for her to continue. She started playing with the label of the bottle. “That's good, right?”

Luna looked at him, scoffed and ran her fingers through her hair. “No, Bae. That is not good. Administrative leave is one step below firing me. In that time, they are going to dig up any and all the dirt they can on me to prove that I at my job. That way, when they fire me, they'll have justification. And when they can't find anything, they'll send me to Pakistan. Or Libya. The U.S. has SUCH good relations with both countries.” Luna put her elbows on the table and rubbed her face.

YoungBae looked closely at her. He knew she was still hiding something. “We'll get through this. Luna, listen to me. I love you and I promise, everything is go—”

“Don't say that. Don't you dare say that to me. My life, is completely ed! Do you know what happened today? While you were judging a dance contest, I had a massive crowd of girls trying to hurt me! They spit on me, they grabbed me, they called me all kinds of ugly names. They rocked the van and tried to tip it over, with me inside! I have some amazingly, grammatically incorrect text messages that contain racial slurs and death threats!”

Luna stood and started pacing stiffly while running her fingers through her hair again. “I should have just gone to Argentina. It would have saved me all this trouble, if I had just left then. But nooooo. I was too in love. I wanted to stay here. I should have just taken my happy to South America. This is what the I get for choosing love over work.”

“What job in Argentina?” YoungBae asked softly after a moment of silence.

Luna froze and turned towards the computer. It was then that Luna realized she had spoken aloud. . “That was supposed to be an inner monologue. Don't worry about it.”

“Luna! What job in Argentina?!”

“The one I turned down when I took Dave's position! If I had known you were so damn unhappy and wanted to break up with me, I would have just gone, and sold the damn the house!”

“I can't believe you w—!,” YoungBae stopped himself and moved off camera. Luna heard a few thuds and grunts and assumed he had punched a wall. YoungBae was calmer when he sat back down. He didn't speak, he didn't look directly at her. He