Fei gave the door handle another useless jiggle as she continued to keep her back toward TOP.

“May I use your phone to call for help?  I left mine at my dressing room,” TOP said from behind her.  She realized that he was a lot closer now than she thought.

Fei slowly  turned around and held out her phone to him.  She avoided looking into his eyes as he took an unnecessary step closer to take the phone from her hand.  When his fingers brushed against hers, she quickly dropped her hand to her side.

He remained standing in front of her as he leisurely made his calls.  Uncomfortable with their close proximity, she took a step back.  When her back audibly hit the door, she looked up, and found that he had an amused smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

She had a feeling he knew he made her uncomfortable, and he found amusement in it.  She tried her best to act like she’s not nervous, but she feared she was failing miserably.  Even more so, because he was standing so close that she could smell his cologne; a sensual, seductive, masculine scent that made her want to lean in closer and buried her nose in his neck.  

The urge surprised her, so she quickly sidestepped around him, and walked to the dark corner he was sitting at when she came into the room.  She wanted to sit down, but being in that especially dark area creeped her out, so she quickly walked back to the better lit area.  

Aware that she was probably looking like a nervous fool, she moved back closer to the door, leaned against the wall, and slid down to the floor.       

Realizing that TOP was not having any luck connecting with someone out there, she became more anxious. It couldn’t be that everyone left already?  Or is it because everyone he’s calling are screening calls.  He was calling from her phone after all.  No one from his group would recognize her number.  

“Maybe you should send a text and let them know it’s you that’s calling,” she suggested, and he gave her a brief nod.

She was really worried since no one in her group answered their phones.  This wasn’t one of their promotional trip where none of them are ever truly left alone.  This was an impromptu trip in a foreign country that none of them spoke the language.  The only staff member they’re with is one of their favorite managers, who is probably getting drunk with his friend.  She’d even tried calling Min’s hotel room, but she didn’t answer.  Now she was worried for all three girls.  

“You shouldn’t worry so much.”  She looked up and found that TOP was still texting on her phone.  “My group, and most of our staffs, are probably at our Guest meet and greet right now.  Soon they’ll look for me since I’m obviously not there.”  Fei looked down at her hands and silently hope that he was right.

“What did I tell you before?”  She looked up again, and this time he met her eyes.  “Listen to Oppa.”  

Despite herself, she smiled. “I’m older than you,” she reminded him again.

Seunghyun smiled down at the phone.  “Really?”  He asked with false surprise.  “Then listen to your Sunbae.”

January 2011, Seoul

Seunghyun pulled the face mask higher over the lower part of his face.   

He was on his way to a little restaurant that one of his childhood friends told him about.  According to his friend this place had the best fusion of Chinese and Korean food in Korea.  

It was really cold out, but his friend talked up this place so much that Seunghyun found himself leaving his home in search of it. The pictures his friend sent looked too good and he couldn’t resist.

He tried to make a team meeting out of it for Big Bang, but many of them had schedules.  Too hungry to wait, Seunghyun decided to come by himself and if they could, they would join him later.    

He pulled his coat around him tightly as he stood in front of the restaurant.  Uncertain if he found the right place, he checked the address again.  The restaurant was very small from the outside, and he doubt it’d be the kind of place that any celebrity would dine at, and he liked that.  

He opened the door and a small Chinese lady greeted him.  He experimentally pulled down his mask, and was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t recognize him.  

The little lady led him to one of the four tables in the small restaurant.  He was seated at a table by the only other customer in the restaurant.  Seunhyun chose to sit with his back to the other customer while facing toward the front door.

He wasn’t sure what to make of how empty the restaurant was.  By the way his friend praised the food here, he had thought he’d have to come and stand in line to be seated.   

He took out his phone and pulled up the pictures of the dishes his friend recommended and showed it to the lady.  She took his order and disappeared.  

When she reappeared, she carried dishes to the customer sitting behind him.  It might be because he was starving, but everything looked and smelled delicious.  And from as far as he could tell, the lady was just carrying side dishes.  

He took out his phone and sent his friend a message and told him that he was at the restaurant.  He heard the buzzing, and then the ringing of the one other customer’s phone behind him.  When she answered the phone, he second guessed the wisdom of sitting so close to her.  He could easily hear everything she said.  

“Hi Oppa.”  The girl was obviously Chinese with her accented Korean.  “Are you having a hard time coming here?”  There was something familiar about the accent, but Seunghyun wasn’t sure where he heard that accent before.  “I… I know it isn’t a fancy restaurant, but I promise that the food is very good.”  That was a change.  In Seunghyun’s experience, girls always seemed to prefer fancy restaurants.

“I... I know you… I’m sorry.  I didn’t think about how it’d look for your image if you were seen in a place like this.”  Image?  Was she going out with an entertainer?  Seunghyun leaned back on his chair and carefully listened to the conversation.

“I’ve never seen a celebrity here Oppa, and the owners barely speak Korean.  We will have privacy here.”  Seunghyun furrowed his brow.  Now he remembered where he heard that voice and accent before.  It was Sniffles, wait, Wang Fei Fei that he met a few months ago.

“I understand Oppa.  What?  No, I understand.  You’re right.  I didn’t think about how it’d look for you.  I’m sorry.”  Seunghyun sighed.  It looked like she went back to the jerk that dumped her a few months ago.  “You’re right.  I should have given it more thoughts from your end.”

Seunghyun turned around on his chair and looked at her.  She looked pathetic with the way her shoulders drooped, and she was obviously crying because her hand kept going to her face with a napkin every-now-and-then.

“You’re breaking up with me?”  And it looked like she’s getting dumped again.  “But Op.. but Op.. please don’t.”

Seunghyun got to his feet and walked over to her table, and sat down across from her.  She looked up at him in surprise.  Her face turned red, then she broke their eye contact.

“Oppa?”  She quietly said to the phone, but apparently the guy had hung up on her.  Seunghyun watched as she began texting.

“Texting to beg?”  He asked.  She cautiou