----

 

 

------

“Bommie-ah! You got us all worried! How could you leave your apartment keys and phone behind, huh? Chincha, this pabo!” Dara uttered animatedly, scolding an expressionless Bom who was quietly sipping a cup of hot cocoa while sitting awkwardly at the sofa. It was past midnight when the 2ne1 members returned to the apartment, as they waited for the street flood to recede.  “You couldn’t even call us that you were just safe here, sipping hot cocoa while watching…. Wait, you’re watching that?”

 

Dara hinted at the TV where her DVD of Dating Agency: Cyrano was playing. It was already in Episode 9.

 

That was weird, since Bom detested her collection of romantic Korean dramas. Romantic genre of any kind had always been last in her friend’s list of favorite dramas to watch.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry… Slipped my mind.” Bom replied dispassionately, her eyes still darted on the TV, but her attention floating somewhere in an alternate universe where she kept on repeating what TOP had just told her.

 

“Nappeun yeoja… Stop tempting me…”

 

The deep, baritone voice haunted Bom, as it had been for the past couple of hours where she sat in the sofa and started watching Dara’s DVD involuntarily.

 

“Slipped your mind?!” Dara asked, now blocking Bom’s view of the television. “And tell me, why are you still the same clothes you wore this morning? Do you want to get sick or something?!”

 

Bom was still stared blankly, aware of Dara’s nagging but too baffled to move.

 

“Unnie… I think she’s gone mental.” Minzy commented, leaving her jacket at the coat rack.

 

“CHANGE. NOW. PPALI!” Dara commanded.

 

-----

 

“Gomawo!” Bom embraced him instinctively, taking TOP by surprise.

 

All the emotion he tried to suppress seemed to break free with that embrace. This was the moment that he dreaded; the reason he tried to be cold in front of Bom. He knew that she could break his indifference, that she could affect him with the simplest of gestures. His heart ached. He shouldn’t have let her.

 

And he thought he was safe from her. He had survived the day alone with Bom. But as he was going back to his apartment, she came out and embraced him tenderly.

 

TOP couldn’t turn back then. Bom only needed to hold him to make the guy realize how badly he wanted to stay in her arms. So he reached out to her, locking Bom’s petite figure tightly with his arms. A few more seconds wouldn’t make a difference. He just couldn’t let go.

 

 

-----

 He lit a cigarette, leaning towards the metal railings of the Bigbang apartment’s balcony. The rain was gone, the sky was starting to clear up. Yet, TOP’s mind was as clouded as ever. He stared at it while contemplating on what had happened that afternoon.

 

‘Thank the heavens for Seungri…” TOP thought, puffing smoke to the Seoul skyline. That moment was a close call. He knew very well what he say, and what he would do, had the maknae not interrupted. 

 

“Hyung.” GD said, walking towards TOP and leaning to the balcony railings beside him. He raised his left hand, where a cigarette stick was, in front of TOP. “Light it, juseyo.”

 

“Oh.” TOP remarked, getting a usb shaped lighter from his pocket and using it to light GD’s cigarette.

 

“Seungri told me what happened.” GD mentioned knowingly, his gaze at the gloomy midnight sky. “If you want to talk about it, you know I don’t cackle as fast as maknae.”  

 

TOP smiled appreciatively. Seungri, or little Seunghyun as they always called him during their pre-debut days, always had his best interest in mind. However, the young guy could never keep a secret, especially when it wasn’t his.

 

“When I saw Bom noona act bizarrely around you during your celebratory dinner, I had a hunch…” GD explained keenly. “So I randomly asked about her from your uncle.”

 

“What did he say?” TOP asked casually. If anyone, he already knew GD would be the first to find out about him and Bom being childhood friends. The Bigbang leader was meticulous with details like that.

 

“Nothing much, just that you two knew each other way before.” GD answered briefly. “I remember you telling me that one reason you wanted to be famous was so your childhood friend in America could notice you. Bom noona studied in America for four years. I can only deduce so much from that.”

 

This clarity of details in GD’s above average memory was getting to TOP’s nerves. Normal people weren’t supposed to remember that much.

 

“I can never cheat with that memory of yours.” TOP said, stopping GD from saying anything more. Whatever he deduced, it was probably correct anyway.

 

“Hyung, you know how we feel about this.” GD said, tilting his head to face TOP. “Right?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to repeat it.”

 

“It seems like I do, because you don’t seem to understand what we say when we mean that you have to be happy.” GD continued enigmatically. “Who are you kidding? You’re not Nichkhun. You’re not who she thinks you are.”

 

TOP kept quiet. He didn’t like this subject at all.

 

“You’re trying to be her happiness at the expense of yours? It was an accident, hyung. Don’t live your life like this. Nichkhun wouldn’t have wanted this for you.” GD concluded, heaving a sigh as he did. “You can’t—”  

 

 

-----

“Aigoo, that girl, really!” Dara stepped out to the 2ne1 balcony, frustrated at her careless best friend. She stomped her feet on the wet balcony floor, sliding to the railings as she did. “A-AAAH!”

 

“Yah! Be careful!”  GD shouted from the adjacent Bigbang apartment. He stood straight and walked towards the railings near the 2ne1 apartment. “Aish, so clumsy.”

 

“W-What are you doing here? It’s past 12 am!” Dara pried, diverting his attention from her humiliating fall. She had too many embarrassing moments with GD, especially that morning at the elevator. She was trying to do damage control with this one.

 

“I am… thinking.” GD replied seriously, gazing at Dara. He pouted at her, because she looked disheveled and tired. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Just letting off some steam...” Dara responded candidly, happy that GD didn’t pursue to talk about her slipping at the balcony. She walked towards the railing facing the Bigbang apartment; they were face to face, a few meters of space separating them. “Thinking in the morning?”

 

“Ah, but we just got home.” GD continued, leaning towards the railing as he spoke intently. “So, who pissed you off today?”

 

“Ah, ani. Bom was just acting weird.” Dara said, starting her narration. “She knew we would be worried but she couldn’t even call through our landline. We just got back and she’s still in her drenched attire, staring into space. I think she wants us worried for her every day. Either that or she needs professional help!”

 

GD smirked. At least TOP’s admiration was reciprocated.

 

“So Bom noona feels the same about TOP hyung.” He thought.

 

“Yah, you look like you know something.” Dara noticed his smirk. “You’re smiling evilly.”

 

GD raised his brows at her. Dara was particular with details as well. Finally they had something in common. “And if I did?”

 

“It has something to do with TOP, right?” Dara presumed on her own, surprising GD more. “She always acts weird when TOP’s around. She’s already weird to begin with but when TOP’s present she…”

 

“Acts like an alien?” GD finished her sentence.

 

Dara’s perky eyes lit up. “YEAH! EXACTLY! Omo, you observed it too?”

 

“Yeah, it’s easy to see the change of mood. The way she acts around TOP is kind of the same with the way you act around me…” GD teased, smiling coyly as he did. “Like this morning, ajumma.”

 

“Y-YAH!” Dara furrowed her brows, leaning over the railings. “Can you stop with it already? I already told you I wasn’t imagining it!”

 

“Yeah, whatever you liar.” GD laughed, trying to lean closer, but the two balconies were too far away for him to reach her. “If I could only reach you right now, I’d try it again, and you’d imagine it the same way.”

 

“D-don’t say that!” Dara was blushing now.

 

“Ah, see that? Even under the night sky I can see you blushing.” GD persisted on playing with Dara. “Aigoo, thank goodness for these railings. Who knows how long you can contain yourself from kissing me again.”

 

“I told you I was just teasing you!” Dara exclaimed, trying to explain herself. “Who told you to flirt with me that time anyway?”

 

“So you’re trying to justify something that was evidently wrong?” GD asked. “I was being friendly, you were being seductive. See the difference? You took away my first kiss!”

 

“I didn’t know that was your first kiss! I mean look at you! You’re probably the type who hooks with different girls every night and gets away with it! Teenage girls worship you!”

 

“You judgmental kissing machine!” GD yelled, pausing to think. “Wait, so you think I’m handsome?”

 

“What?!”

 

“y?”

 

“NO!”

 

“You told me to look at myself! That I look like the type who hooks up with girls every night… And you think teenage girls worship me.” GD repeated what she said. “Ajumma, you must have fallen pretty bad for me.”

 

-----

Lee HI sat inside the recording studio together with president Yang Hyun Suk, GD, Teddy and Kush. Despite the heavy rain which caused traffic and delays the day before, they all diligently went early to the YG building to listen to Kang Seung Yoon’s recording of his self-written song, ‘It Rains.’

 

GD, in particular, looked like he could use more sleep. He was up with Dara at the balcony until four in the morning.

 

“You see, he sings just like you.” The president commented after the recording was finished. “Husky low voice, mature for the age bracket.”

 

“Deh.” Lee Hi replied courteously.

 

Kang Seung-Yoon went out of the booth and bowed politely at the president’s presence.

 

“Seung yoon-ah, you wanna debut?” Yang Hyun-suk said randomly, confusing everyone in the room. “I think the song’s ready.”

 

“C-chincha, sajangnim?” Seung-yoon verified. There ware no plans of having him debut anytime soon.

 

“Yeah, let’s have you debut next week. That’s the week of Halloween right? Let’s make it a Halloween special.” YG said, as if having an artist debut was the easiest thing in the world. Boy was he wrong.  “Jiyong, Kush, Teddy, help him with his other songs. Let’s release one song this October, and then let’s move on with the others in the following months.”

 

“Deh, sajangnim.” Teddy replied, GD nodded sleepily.

 

“I’ll go now.” YG concluded. “Ah, Jiyong, you seem to be overworking yourself. Get some more sleep or your VIPs will worry.”

 

 

-----

That afternoon, the Bigbang and 2ne1 members were tasked to start practicing their choreography for the Lollipop commercial.

 

Almost everyone arrived at the rehearsal room, with the exception of TOP and Daesung who were coming from their respective drama shootings.

 

Meanwhile, Bom was thinking frantically. She still hadn’t stopped feeling awkward about what TOP did and said to her the night before.

 

“Maybe I should just feign sickness?” Bom asked herself foolishly. Of course there was no backing out.

 

“Unnie, you sure you’re okay with starting rehearsals now?” CL asked, remembering Bom’s blank stares. She naively thought it was truly because Bom wasn’t feeling well.

 

Both GD and Dara watched keenly, waiting for Bom’s response.

 

“Y-yeah, maybe I just need a cup of water.” Bom replied sheepishly, heading out of the room to the water dispenser.

 

“See that?” GD pointed out to Dara, she nodded. They looked like they were investigators onto a lead for their case.

 

The morning when they talked in the balcony, the two had decided on a joint venture: they would keep an eye on Bom and TOP, since the two weren’t that open about what was happening to them.

 

“Something definitely happened between her and TOP yesterday.” Dara hypothesized. Another point for Sandara Park's intuition because GD hadn't told her about what Seungri saw. “Did TOP tell you anything?”

 

 

-----

Bom got a plastic cup from the table beside the water dispenser outside the rehearsal room. She was still deep in thought on how she would react around TOP.

 

“Noona, annyeong!” Daesung called, walking in the corridor with TOP. “Have you guys started yet?”

 

“A-a-a-ah! Not yet!” Bom answered anxiously, letting the plastic cup slip from her hand. The water spilled as the cup fell to the ground. “Aigoo, how could I be this careless.”

 

“Let me.” TOP volunteered, getting some tissue from the table to wipe away the spilled water. “You guys go inside. The rehearsal will start soon.”

 

“Arrasou.” Daesung agreed. Walking to the rehearsal room. “Let’s go, noona.”

 

“Oh, you go first.” She said. Bom finally decided: she would talk to TOP about it. “I’m just going to have a drink.”

 

Daesung nodded and went inside the room.

 

“Tabi, about yesterday…” Bom started. “I-I mean the hug.”

 

 

“Forget about it.” T.O.P. tilted his head to face Bom and smiled at her. “It’s nothing.”

 

-----

While I was writing this chapter, I kept repeating Something Flutters by Ra.D. It’s part of the OST for Dating Agency: Cyrano. Especially the Daragon parts. I seemed to have formed a habit of allowing music to influence the chapter content :)) 

 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Thank you and please continue subscribing and leaving comments! 

 

Here's my other fanfiction if you're interested: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/481515/conspiracy-bigbang-dara-top-ygfamily-originalcharacter-smtown

 

Many thanks!