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[DISCLAIMER: While I was doing this, I was listening to After A Long Time by Jo Eun from the Rooftop Prince OST.  So you could say I was influenced by the feeling, hence the sappy chapter.]

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“Kamsahamnida, ahjushi.” TOP spoke with the condominium’s maintenance facilitator over the phone.  He had just finished explaining Bom’s situation: how she left her keys at the agency as she hurried to go back to the condominium and close the electric stove. Fortunately, the man in charge was understanding, and agreed to come up and open the door to 2ne1’s apartment so Bom could turn off that damned stove.

Bom, on the other hand, was sitting at the kitchen counter, drying her hair with TOP’s soft towel while still in her soaked hoodie and jeans. TOP had already commanded her to get clothes from his closet, but being the naïve Korean girl that she was, she couldn’t bear the thought of entering a man’s room.

In dramas, when the girl enters the guy’s room, that’s when the romance start! Bom thought, blushing as she did. What the heck was she thinking? Aigoo Bommie-ah! TOP has a wife, you pabo!

“Yah.” TOP called sternly, catching Bom’s attention away from her semi-tainted mind. “Didn’t I tell you to get clothes from my closet?”

Bom looked at the floor; the girl was as cold as winter, but she chose to forgo her need to change clothes. “I-I’ll just wait for the ahjushi to open our apartment. It will be a hassle for you if you still have to lend me clothes.”

Yeah, what would your wife think, Tabi. She reprimanded TOP in her mind. It was hard to pretend that she didn’t know about his marriage; Bom wanted to pry about it.  Your clothes on another woman… Aigoo, this Tabi is insensitive to women’s feelings!

TOP furrowed his brows at her half-hearted response. He looked at Bom’s face and could obviously see her teeth chatter. She was just too stubborn to ask for help. At this, he removed his cotton jacket and leaned towards Bom to wrap the jacket around her.

OMO! Bom exclaimed ardently in her mind, her eyes widening. TOP’s face was now situated in front of hers. The gesture got her looking at him, studying his features. His eyes were bloodshot, which meant that he was barely getting any sleep. He also started growing a bit of moustache and goatee, which meant that he didn’t care to shave in the morning. His thin lips… They were perfectly inches away from hers.

Control yourself, Bom!

“You alien.” he remarked with his cold stern voice, as he stood straight. “Don’t you think these things through? I can’t believe you travelled here by foot, in this weather. You do know you’re a girl, and a celebrity, right?”

Just when Bom thought they wouldn’t need to discuss her unintelligent actions that morning.

Bom looked away to the window, afraid of meeting TOP’s stare. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” he continued, trying to maintain his cold disposition. 

Yet here her friend was, pitiful and genuinely sorry. This made him soften his gaze. “How long exactly did it take you to get here?”

“I don’t know. A long time.” Bom replied, her brown eyes bearing holes on the window.  

TOP sighed. “Hungry?”

The girl pouted. She was sure as the sun hungry; but wasn’t certain if TOP had asked a trick question that would lead her to getting scolded longer for not eating before travelling, etcetera etcetera, so she kept quiet.

“I only know how to cook ramen, so don’t expect anything gourmet.” TOP forewarned, turning his back on Bom and heading towards the cupboard where the boys keep a stash of ‘illegal’ instant noodles that they eat when they want to binge.

“You don’t need to cook for me, I can wait for ahjushi to open the lock and I’ll reheat some leftover food.” Bom stated shyly: partly because she didn’t want TOP to bother for her, partly because she had just admitted that after all these years the best cooking she could do was cook scrambled eggs and reheat leftovers.

“You think I’ve only known you yesterday? I know what that pout means.” TOP replied while cooking.

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Bom continued to stare, or gawk, or ogle; it was hard to describe the way she looked at the first man who ever cooked ramen for her. TOP was in the middle of cooking the ramen, his back still turned to her, giving her the license to just look overtly without being noticed.

“I have eyes on the back of my head; I know you are staring at me.” TOP teased, waiting for the ramen’s water to boil. Truth be told, the framed painting in front of him conveniently reflected Bom who was just studying him from behind.

“A-ani!” Bom denied, diverting her gaze to the pot of ramen noodles. “I was looking at the pot.”

“Right.” TOP grinned. His first grin in what seemed like ages.

“Were you just laughing?” Bom asked with fascination.

“What about it?”

“Finally!” Bom reacted oddly. “I thought you were mad at us moving in. I mean, you didn’t attend the house warming. Then, you just stopped talking after that night….”

TOP stopped, guilty of the way he acted after he gave that house warming gift to Bom. “The ramen’s cooked, let’s eat while waiting for the maintenance.”

Bom was suspicious at the sudden change of topic, but preferred to let the subject slide. “Neh, Tabi. Can I ask another question?” she requested.

“Yeah?” TOP responded, turning off the stove and lifting the pot towards the kitchen counter where Bom set up the utensils.

“How the heck did you lose so much weight?!” Bom continued trivially, trying to lighten the mood. “Before I left for America, you were this huge grade school kid who could barely fit through narrow doors!”

“Yah, you talk as if you weren’t that fat yourself.” TOP raised his voice.

“I was fat, but you were HUGE. GI-NORMOUS.” Bom uttered exaggeratedly as TOP lifted the pot cover. They both got their chopsticks and started digging into the ramen noodles. “Do you remember that time when we were at your uncle’s house? I was eating corn while you were getting some spicy noodles from the kitchen.”

“Oh, when I sat down and broke a chair?”

“Yeah! That wasn’t just any chair that was Nichkhun’s favorite chair! He said his mom especially carved it for him before she passed, but you just brutally destroyed it when you sat down.” Bom reminisced, dumping in noodles in like a vacuum. “Aigoo that cute little cousin of yours even said he’d get revenge even if it meant his life, but ended up being your best friend, right? How is he nowadays?”  

“He passed away.” TOP uttered briefly, looking down at the pot. “Five years ago.”

Bom was surprised. She saw sadness fill TOP’s dark eyes. “Oh… I’m sorry.”

“Yeah…” TOP said. “Me too.”

At that moment, she wanted to console her friend. She wanted to pat his back or embrace him, but then her inner conscientious Korean drama scenario analyst had crept back in. Embracing him at this vulnerable situation would only result into unnecessary ‘skinship’. Bommie-ah!  Don’t you dare hug him, or else! Aigoo…Look at what you did! The first time you see him happy in a long while and this is what you do?! What to do?

Before Bom could try to mend the situation some other way, the guy asked offhandedly, “since when have you been back from America?”

“Oh, about four years ago.” Bom replied, happy that TOP managed to shift away from the awkward silence. “After I graduated from high school.”

“Nappeun yeoja, you never told me you were back.” he looked at Bom, hoping for an explanation.

“Yah, you’re not that good yourself. When we met in YG, you pretended not to know me! In fact, they still don’t know we’re childhood friends!”

“They will find out, even without us telling them. And when they do, the agency will make use of our past to pair us up in commercials, variety shows, maybe even in movies. I’m just prolonging your semi normal life, really. But you’ll eventually end up like Dara.” TOP explained generally, hinting at Bom being chased by his fan girls.  “When we start doing that lollipop commercial, they’re probably going to pair us together so you’ll still end up under the scrutiny of my fans.”

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“Kamsahamnida!” Bom bowed politely at the condominium’s maintenance man. Finally, the door to 2ne1’s apartment was unlocked, and she could prevent the apartment from burning down.

“Young girl, make sure this doesn’t happen again.” The maintenance man advised. “When you forget important things in this apartment, like that electric stove of yours, usually nothing happens. But there are times when these things cause trouble for everyone.”

“Deh.” Bom laughed. It almost felt like the man was giving her relationship advice.

As soon as the maintenance supervisor left, Bom ran to the kitchen where, true enough, an open electric stove was placed. She quickly turned off the stove, and unplugged it from the socket.  

“Thank the heavens! Our beautiful apartment didn’t burn down!” Bom exclaimed blissfully, a wide smile plastered on her face.

She was jumping up and down at the thought of being able to change into dry clean clothes, then realizing she also needed to thank TOP for his unusual hospitality.

“Tabi!” Bom called out as TOP was about to enter the Bigbang apartment.

“Yeah?” he faced her while his hand was still holding the door knob.

“Gomawo!” Bom embraced him instinctively, taking TOP by surprise. She had wanted to hug him ever since she found out about Nichkhun, and this seemed like a perfect time to do so without being judged by her inner Korean drama guru.

We’re not alone inside the apartment, and I’m simply thanking him for letting me stay over! This should be okay, right? She asked herself, still conscious about the fact that TOP was married. This is simply a friend-to-friend thank you for letting me eat ramen and I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sorry for not telling you I got home from America four years ago hug. Clear?

But what TOP did had shocked her. Instead of leaving that brief embrace, he let go of the door knob and wrapped his arms tightly around Bom. He rested his head above hers, his eyes closing as he did.

Dugeundugeundugeundugeun. Bom’s heart was beating hastily at the unexpected motion. She was trapped awkwardly at the embrace. Her eyes wandered on nothing but TOP’s chest, which was beating irregularly fast too.

“Nappeun yeoja.” TOP said, the words coming out of his voice hoarsely. “Stop tempting me.”

“Hyung?” Seungri called from afar. 

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A/N: How was the chapter? Thanks and please continue to subscribe and comment! 

OH, and if you're interested, I do have another fan fiction which is totally different from this one. For now, I named it 'Conspiracy.' Here's the link  http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/481515/conspiracy-bigbang-ygfamily-originalcharacter-smtown-topoc-daraoc

Thanks!