"I don't even want to be here." I grumbled to Vinny as we pulled into the employee parking lot at our family restaurant. I had literally just gotten done with dance practice, and I was dead tired, but we had to work. I was tired and my muscles hurt and all I wanted to do was look at the pictures I had managed to sneak of BIGBANG (don't ask how).

"Your best friends are working." Vinny chuckled when we parked.

I groaned when I saw a red jeep a a black Mustang parked in their usual spots. I didn't even want to see them...

My dad always hired our family and friends. Our cousins Madeline and Brett worked with us, and we had a lot of friends as coworkers. The problem was, I worked with two ex-boyfriends. One I dated before me and Vinny's weight-loss "transformation", and the other was after.

We got out of the Jeep and headed inside. I stopped when I saw the back door open. My ex-boyfriend, the one I dated before I lost weight, walked out, a to-go pizza bag in his hand. His name is Elliot, and he's a year older than me. He went to my cousin Brett's school, and is 6'7", and has the body of a god. He has short brown hair and green eyes. I'm not sure why he chose me to date, and we were together for two years. We started going out my freshmen year, when I was pudgy. We had met at one of his and Brett's football games, after the gamee when me and Madeline stood on the field with her dad (my uncle and my mom's brother) who was the coach. I had gotten a lot of bullying from dating Elliot, because a lot of cheerleaders from his school wanted him, and I was "Fatalia". I wasn't good enough for Elliot, and that's why I was scared to lose him. I did anything to keep him with me. So...

I lost my ity to him.

That following summer was when me and Vinny lost all the weight, and I thought it would've gotten Elliot to love me even more, but that December, he cheated on me so I broke up with him.

Yet he was still a cook and delivery driver for my dad.

Elliot gave me that smirk that once turned my heart to mush. "Didn't know you two were working today, 'Lia."

That was always his nickname for me. While most people called me "Natalia", "Nat", or even "Natty", he had always called me "Lia".

I shrugged. "It's not like I want to."

We walked into the backdoor that led to the kitchen. My dad's restaurant was actually created by his dad, my Nonno. It's specialty was authentic Italian pizza, but we had other dishes, too. It was kind of a restaurant but had a fast-food twist. Instead of waiting on tables to get orders, they would come up to the counter and order. We would bring it out for them.

I put on my dreaded visor before making sure my Marcs Italian Restaurant t-shirt was tucked into my yoga pants.

"Natty!" Brett smirked, waving at me before working on the pizza he was making.

"Hey, cuz." I yawned. I stepped to the front counters.

"You look tired." My other ex, AJ, said, looking at me through the window the food was put through.

AJ was the opposite of Elliot. He was only 6'2", still tall compared to mey 5'11" stature, and had blue eyes and shaggy black hair. He was lanky, wore glasses, and only did cross country as a sport. He was a farm boy and was the head of the robotoics club at our high school. We dated a few months after Elliot and I broke up, and we were together until a couple months ago. Unlike me and Elliot, AJ and I never got that... intimate. Not even close.

"She's tired because she was grinding up on Seungri the whole afternoon." Vinny snorted.

"Shut up." I growled. I felt my face go hot.

"That was today?" AJ asked. "You finally got to meet your precious band?"

"She passed out."

"Stai zitto." I glared at my twin.

"Farmi." Vinny said back.

"Supereroica." I smirked.

"Ragazza ventola."

"Idiota."

Vinny smirked slyly. This was always our little competition to see who could come up with the nastiest names for each other. "Cagna."

"Asino-foro." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Testa merda."

I glared at him. "Mafanku-"

"Hey!" My dad exclaimed as he walked in. "I don't care if no one understands besides Madeline and Brett. No cursing."

"That's what they were doing?" AJ asked.

"Shouldn't you know that?" Dad asked AJ. "You dated her for almost two years."

"Yeah, man." Elliot said as he walked back in. "Curse fights have always been a thing between Vin and 'Lia."

"Shut up, Elliot." I sighed and shook my head.

"I'm just stating a fact, 'Lia." Elliot smirked.

I hated that he called me that.

"Do you guys fly to Las Vegas tomorrow?" Dad asked me and Vincent.

I nodded. "For three days. Too bad you guys can't go with. I wish YG would've given us two more tickets for you and Mom."

"You guys have fun with your band." Dad shrugged. "You're very fortunato, Natalia and Vincent."

"We met them today, Dad." Vinny told our father.

"Oh? How was that?"

"I started dance practice." I shrugged.

"Natalia passed out." Vinny chuckled.

My dad looked at me. "You fainted? Why?"

"She was riled up." Vinny shrugged. "Oh, and she barged into TOP."

Dad looked at me, amused. "Your self-proclaimed marito?"

I winced and nodded. "I looked back at Vinny and then, BAM. I became face-to-chest with TOP. I fell."

"She cried." Vinny cackled.

"Aww. Little Lia couldn't take seeing her precious Korean."Elliot teased.

"Elliot, don't even talk." I warned.

"Wait, so since you became face-to-chest with him, does that mean you were crouched down when you met the little guy?" Elliot snickered.

I felt anger course through my veins. "Elliot, I'm serious."

"Wait, could he even see you?"

"Dude, quit being racist." Vinny warned, shaking his head.

"I'm just saying-"

I couldn't take it anymore. I stormaed back into the kitchen. "You're such a jerk." I exclaimed. I reached out and punched Elliot's arm. "Sei più di questo. Sei un cazzo. UN pizzicore. Nessuna meraviglia perché mi sono rotto." I pushed him again.

Vinny grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back. Elliot looked at me, shocked. "Lia, I'm just joking!"

"Don't call me that!" I said louder. "I'm sick of you, Elliot!"

My dad walked into the kitchen. "Natalia Nicoletta, fermare questo processo. I don't want you to be loud in the restaurant." He looked at my brother holding me back. "Take her home. She's all worked up from the eventful day. Go home and pack. You havea big day tomorrow." He looked at Elliot. "You of all people should know how personal Natalia takes those jabs. She loves those guys, and now she has this great chance. Do I have to start scheduling you two so you don't work together?"

"No, sir." Elliot shook his head.

Vinny loosened on my shoulders. "Let's go home, Nat."

I needed to go home to get away from them. I hated their teasing. It was mean.

---

THE NEXT DAY

"Too early." Vincent grumbled when I pulled into the YG parking garage. It was five in the morning, and we were so tired. We were all meeting here at five so we could go to O'Hare together. I couldn't even think straight.

"Did you ever reply to Elliot?" Vinny asked me as we hopped out of the jeep and grabbed out suitcases. After our fight at work, Elliot texted me to apologize. I never replied, so he kept trying. I never said anything back. He always made fun of my love of K-Pop, so I was sick of it.

I shook my head. "He doesn't need to hear from me."

We walked into YG, and I kind of kept my cool when I saw BIGBANG with YG and other staff members in the lobby. I was glad I was wearing sunglasses because if I wasn't, my eyes would've been glued to BIGBANG.

Their airport fashion always amazed me. I now felt drabby in my tie-front tank top, tie-dye shorts, Vans, and snapback I had stolen from my brother.

Outfits:

Taeyang chuckled, to me and Vinny's surprise. He nodded over to us. "Vincent, right?"

Vinny nodded, shocked. "Y-yeah. What's up?"

I looked at Vinny in shock as Taeyang spoke. "I love your tank top, man. Where did you get it?"

Vinny looked down at this "Suns Out Guns Out" tank top. I stifled a laugh. Vinny shrugged. "I think at Pacific Sun."

"Is that a boutique in America?"

Vinny shrugged. "Just a store in a mall."

"How much did it cost? Like, 50 dollars?" Taeyang smiled.

Vinny chuckled. "Nah, man. Try, like, fifteen."

Taeyang looked at Vinny, surprised. "Really? That's really cheap. I'll have to check that out."

I felt my phone vibrate, which was really weird since it was so early in the morning.

I checked my phone. My best friend since high-school, Ava Lee, had texted me:

heard u met my cousin ;)

I looked at my phone, confused:

whos ur cousin?

I waited and listened to YG's explainatiion of how we were getting to O'Hare. My phone buzzed. A picture message?

I looked at it. It was a selfie with Ava and....

I gasped and grabbed Vinny's arm. He looked at me. "What?"

He looked at my phone. "Is that-"

I nodded as we both looked at the selfie of Ava and Seungri. "Yep."

Vinny looked towards BIGBANG, and quickly switched to Italian (A/N: Italian is bolded). "But why?"

"They're cousins. That's her cousin. He's her cousin."

"Why didn't she tell you?"

I shrugged. "Maybe I should've known. She's half-Korean. Her last name is Lee. She talked about her cousin Seunghyun a lot."

"Well, I'm sure there are a lot of Lee Seunghyuns in Korea. But still!"

We looked to BIGBANG, which were all staring at us.

"S-sorry." I stuttered.

"Italian." Vinny explained.

-----

"Okay, here are your tickets." YG said as some staff members handed them to us at the gates. "We're all in first class. Find your seats."

We walked onto the plane, Vinny and I ahead of BIGBANG. We had flown plenty of times before, because every year we would fly to Italy to visit our family there. We had never flown first class, though....

I tried to keep my cool when we got into first class. It was so roomy and looked comfortable.

I looked at Vinny. "So where are our seats?"

"I'm in this row. You next to me?" Vinny asked.

I checked my ticket. "Uh... I'm behind you."

"Really?" Vinny took my ticket. "Then who are we sitting by?"

"I guess we'll find out." I shrugged. I put my carry on in the overhead compartment and sat down in the spot closest to the aisle. I took out my iPad and activated it. I had music and music videos to keep me entertained for this flight.

As BIGBANG walked on, I felt a pang of jealousy when Seungri stepped in the same row as my brother. "I guess we are going to sit together."  Seungri said to Vinny as he sat down. He turned around and smiled at me. "Hi, dance partner."

I smiled despite my warming cheeks. "Hi."

"I guess my seat is next to you. Sorry." That beloved deep-bass voice said next to me.

I looked up and gulped. TOP was putting his own bag in the compartment above my row.

Excuse me. I mean, above OUR row.

"Y-yeah." Was all I could say. I quickly stood so he could get through, but that was a bad move. I hit my head on the speaker hanging above our row. "Oww." I winced, plopping back down. I held my head and lifted my feet into my seat as TOP squeezed past me.

"Are you okay?" TOP asked me. I could hear Vincent stifling a laugh ahead of us.

I nodded and kept my eyes on my knees. "I'm fine. Sorry."

This plane ride was going to be a long one, counting how I knew it would be awkward if I watched Knockout next to the man who starred in the video.