TOP’s POV

“Agas-” I began but stopped and corrected myself. “Crystal-ah,” I whispered nudging her gently. “Crystal-ah we’re at the café. We need to go get something to drink and eat for lunch,” I added softly. Her eyes closed tighter and then opened after a few blinks as she raised her head. She looked at the others who had just exited the van, then looked up at me blankly, and then ahead again only her eyes widened.

“Omo! Mianhamnida,” she said as she quickly unbuckled and somewhat stumbled out of the van. I followed her out and shut the door. She was over by Suzi and JiYoung, with her head on the eomma’s shoulder.

“Unnie?” Suzi asked with a slight laugh of confusion. “Mwo-?”

“I’m so lame,” Crystal cut her off in English.

“Wae?” Hana asked pulling the two girls away from JiYoung’s side for a moment.
Crystal glanced at me and smiled before returning her attention to her friends and whispering something like, “I’ll tell you later.”

I placed my hand of JiYoung’s shoulder and walked with him behind the manager as we came up to the back door. “We need to some way to let those girls feel more comfortable around us.”

“Jinja? I think Suzi-ah and Hana-ah are pretty casual now,” the shorter one said.

I shook my head a bit as we stepped into the café’s door. “Crystal-ah was thinking the same thing. But she commented on that, saying they’re usually really shy and it’s probably their excitement that’s driving them to be so open.”

“SeungHyun hyung?” JiYoung asked as the hostess lead the Manager and us through the kitchen. I looked at him with an expression that urged him to continue. “Do you think they’d still like us if we weren’t the famous Big Bang?”

“Now why would you ask that? I’m very confident that they would. I think we’ll all realize that as we get to know each other better,” I said with a smile as a door was slid open and we removed our shoes, carrying them into the room, and setting them on the cloth just inside. I waited until all three of the girls took seats in a row, next to one another.

Our manager sat at the head of the table on my right. To my left was JiYoung, followed by Daesung, and then Seungri. Across from me was Crystal, and to her right, my left, were Suzi and then Hana, followed lastly by Taeyang.

GD’s POV

The host came and got our orders before we got started on conversation. If SeungHyun hyung was right, then I might as well get to know them now. I’m not sure why I’m being so cautious. “So what kind of things do you girls like to do other than dancing?”

Suzi perked up and swayed a few times on her pillow as she sat criss-cross, answering,
“Shopping, as you know by now, but also writing, acting, and although I’m not that great, singing too. Crystal-unnie and Hana-ssi are better than I am at it.”

“Shikkuro,” Crystal scolded. “You’re fine. You have been since we met Freshman year, pabo.”

TOP and the other members including myself smiled with curiosity. “We’ll have to hear you three without our assistance on some more 2PM songs,” he said only half-joking.

“So what else?” Taeyang asked, becoming drawn into the conversation too.

“Horeseback riding and volleyball. Helping out with special needs children is a passion of mine too. I’m thinking about becoming a Hippotheripsit after graduating college,” the maknae said calmly. It seemed some of her ‘excitement’ was dying down and she was more relaxed. I noticed Suzi was also the same way as she sat with a more-so blank expression and toyed with her natural French-like nails as she looked at her friends.

“Wow, that sounds wonderful Hana-ah!” Taeyang pitched in. I agreed. The whole helping children with special needs with horses as therapy sounded like a very respectable way to make a difference in the world and we all voiced our support for her thoughts on her future.

“What about you Crystal-ah?” TOP asked, leaning in just a bit.

“This entire thing I’m going through right now is definitely what I was hoping to happen. But as Suzi-ssi said, I love singing as well. Writing is fun too, but I was thinking after college, I’d want to get into becoming a Music/Choir teacher. I’m not so sure now, though. I think there’s still a lot of time to think things over,” she answered.

“A teacher?” Daesung asked. “I can definitely see you being a good one. I think there should be more teachers out there who are actually passionate about the subject they teach and have more personal experiences within it that have a meaning to the teacher themselves.”
We all agreed with Daesung’s comments and again vocalized our support to her on whichever decision she chose. “Suzi-ah, what about you? Any future plans?” Seungri cut in.

“I’m planning on sticking with my dancing, but I feel like I want to move up higher. I feel like I could be doing something more with-,” she paused and put her head in her hands in what looked like embarrassment. “Oh my God, that’s so cliché,” she mumbled with a nervous laugh.

“It’s fine. We’re singers. We live on clichés,” I said with a chuckle to reassure her to continue.

“Well, what I mean is, I’m happy at Taste of Rhythm Studios, but I feel like there’s a job out there where I could be practically working in a heaven,” she ended with a sigh.

“Not that working with Usher, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, etc. is a form of heaven or anything,” Hana teased, getting her playfully elbowed by the girl in front of me.
But with the first two mentions of artists that Hana-ah named, TOP, Taeyang, and
Daesung’s eyes went wide as they stared at the three. “Here we go,” I said rolling my eyes.

“I think you’re about to witness a fanboy moment,” Seungri said with a sigh.

“You know them?” TOP asked with a grin.

Taeyang piped up next with and excited, “Can you contact them? Would it be okay if I could talk with one of the two?”

Daesung’s eyes were just as bright as the other two. “Wow! To think you guys got to meet them is really something!”

“Those are two of several artists who inspire some of our music,” I said just before they started to laugh.

“What is it?” the manager finally spoke up.

“Well, yes we’ve met them, but we’re not really allowed to speak with them,” Crystal explained.

“How come?” Seungri asked furrowing his eyebrows. The rest of us mirrored his expression.

Narrator’s POV

“It’s just how Hollywood operates. The small pebbles can’t outshine the large crystal, and if they do they can be tossed out of the mine,” Suzi said with an analogy.

“That’s strange. I mean, I don’t speak with our back-up dancers that much, but it’s only because a lot of them seem so cold and not really approachable. But the ones that aren’t just don’t seem to talk much, outside of sharing a few laughs about certain mistakes or questions about choreo,” TOP stated.

“That’s because some companies train them that way,” the manager cut in again. “YG explains to our dancers that we employ, that communication is good, however not necessary. It’s best that the artists can fully focus on making themselves shine instead of polishing up a conversation or glancing at the pebble, as Suzi agasshi mentioned, in the background. There are only some cases where it’s alright for a backup dancer to stand out, and that’s in dances such as GTOP’s Knock Out, or even Se7en’s Better Together.”

All of the people in the room paid deep attention to the wise manager as the three girls nodded in agreement. Soon their gaze was diverted as the hostess and waitress brought out the group’s tea and side dishes of fruit and sandwiches. More small talk occurred as they ate their lunch and soon were full.

“Good idea Seungri,” the manager said with a chuckle. They had both been on the same wavelength before, as he had already reserved this room early this morning.

“Kansamnida. You too,” the male maknae replied. They all filed out into the van soon after and sat in the same spots. All three girls and all six of the men commented on how good the food and tea was before the radio was . It was soft enough to where it almost sounded like background music in a movie during a really intense confession. After all the shopping and walking around plus the fact they were pleasantly full, some began to doze off. Hana went first and fell asleep, slouching comfortably against the back of the seat where it met the side of the van at a corner.

Seungri had gone off into slumber as well with a simple, “Wake us up when we get back,” to the driver. Crystal and TOP slept as well, him in a position like Hana, and Crys against his shoulder again. Taeyang slouched down as well and pulled a baseball cap from the floor, down over his eyes. Jiyoung pulled up the hood of his bright yellow jacket and let his head drop down to his right and slouched a bit just as the other members, and crossed his arms casually. Suzi had let her head drop down to her right as well and tried to fall asleep without falling onto Taeyang who squeezed in between her and Daesung.

G opened his eyes for a moment to see Suzi in a somewhat uncomfortable looking position. He let his mind bounce around a few choices before nudging her a bit. Thank God for his quick senses and thinking or else he would have been stuck there staring for a while. “Suzi-ah?”

She turned her head to him. “Ne?” she asked softly, making him smile a bit. His quiet phase he was on this morning was gone, and he was back to self-esteemed G-Dragon.

“You don’t need to make yourself uncomfortable. You can use our shoulders for pillows,” he said quietly. G-Dragon watched as she slowly and a bit hesitantly let her head rest on him, giving him the urge to let out a small chuckle before whispering, “No need to be embarrassed either. We’ll all be like family by the end of the week, I’m sure.” With this she smiled and fully relaxed upon the leader’s shoulder and slept.

Crystal was content herself against Seunghyun’s long sleeved casual dress shirt. The black fabric smelled of the tea he was served at the café and acted as aroma therapy to the girl’s tired body. All the excitement was finally taking its toll physically on the girls and they were going to need all the rest possible before showing what they learned with Teen Top to the almighty Big Bang.

Kiss the Radio played more songs in a row, with Key and Leeteuk breaking in to MC every once in a while. “Here’s the next one for you listeners. By the TRAX, Oh Naye Yeoshin.”

“Nuni nuni neoman bara boge haneun girl.
Nae mami mami neoreul gadeuk chaewo beorin geol
Bada jwo nae mam, aetage neol waiting, baby.
Buni nuni neoman bara bogo itneun boy
Nae mami mami geunyeo maeum bbaeseo beorin boy
Oh jebal nan deo, ji chineun geon no more baby.
Oh naye..yeoshin.”

(The eyes, the eyes, gets me to look only at you
My heart, my heart is already filled by you
Accept it, my heart’s impatiently waiting baby
The boy’s eyes, eyes that only looks at you
The boy who has stole her heart, heart
Oh, don’t tire me out no more baby
Oh! My Goddess!)