Chapter 23
Topposites Attract
I tightened the laces of the rented neon yellow bowling shoes on my feet.
Why do they have to look so goddamn flashy? I mumbled to myself.
"Raena-ya we're gonna be on the same team!" Daesung came over and excitedly fist pumped into he air.
Teams..?
It had been quite a while since the last time bigbang was together so we had decided to go bowling for fun. And besides, it was Daesung's birthday. The bowling alley had been rented out by YG family for the day and so it was just boggling with people from YG.
Bigbang, 2ne1, Tablo, members of Winner, Lee Hi, music producers, dancers and such.
It was really kind of cool how everyone in here were celebrities yet they were dressed all very casually...just to have fun.
I stood up and spotted some people that I knew. Teddy...looking just as I had always seen him in the studio, with a purple SnapBack and a white hoodie right over his head. Jiyong casually dressed in a jean jacket and black pants...talking with his fiancé Remi and Youngbae.
Hmm...no TOP though.
Everyone seemed to be having loaded of fun.
"Teams?" I asked pulling at my socks that tightened around my ankles.
"Yeah, we're gonna start a game!" Daesung smiled at me with his small yet soft eyes.
I liked Daesung. The way he seemed really funny yet conserved at just the right moments. He wasn't just the average guy but even more than that. His smiles were full of genuine kindness that seemed to say the right things in the world. Most people think that he would be really talkative but he really wasn't. He just kinda like me. Maybe that's why we fit together as friends right away.
We headed over to the bowling alleys with the neon lights beaming in the black light of the background. Pop music poured in from the speakers, creating a light and fun atmosphere.
"Oh Saengil chooka haeyo* Daesung oppa!" Remi said happily with a bright smile. She was dressed in a pretty solid colored maternal dress and a fedora hat that looked like it was Jiyong's.
We exchanged "hi"s and smiles just as normal. It still amazed me how Remi was a year younger than me yet she was already pregnant and getting married. But then again she seemed much more mature than me, the way she dressed, the way she talked with people.
"Woah Remi, you're like a bowling ball!" Seungri joked as he held up a blue marbled bowling ball with one hand.
"Yah Lee Seunghyun, come here." Jiyong said half seriously and half jokingly.
"Aniya, no time for that. Let's start the game!" Seungri loudly said to change the subject by walking away.
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*saengilchookahaeyo- (formal) "happy birthday"
We made 9 teams and whichever team made the highest cumulative score was to win. Daesung and I were in a team whereas the other teams all had three players. Why didn't anyone want to be on our team?
And then I heard the whispers go around. Apparently Daesung at bowling.
And then right before the round began, TOP came steadily walking in with his dark espresso hair sharply slicked back and black ovalish glasses on his face. His outfit was casual just as everyone else's. A navy blue plaid long sleeve shirt and washed jeans.
"Tabi's here!" Someone shouted out.
Yeah no .
Jiyong ran his thin fingers through his ash blonde hair and laughed, "Hyung why are you late again?"
"I bet $1000 he overslept." One of Jiyong's friends, a model, said laughingly.
TOP's eyes widened and shook his head as he tried not to laugh. "I-I...I" his dark hair flopped on his head as he came down the steps towards the bowling alleys.
"Overslept! Overslept!" People began shouting excitedly in the background.
Come to think of it, when I left the house this morning, I didn't see him at all. Usually he's always in the kitchen eating fruit by 10 am.
TOP only laughed at the people's chants. His smile was really something. I haven't seen a lot of him smiling so genuinely when I first met him. But there was something different when he was really happy, the way his eyes even seemed to curl from his cheek muscles smiling too widely.
"What team am I on?" TOP asked as he pointed at himself.
Everyone looked at Daesung and me. We were the only team with two people when everyone had three.
I looked at him and shook my head a multiple times but all he did was smile as he went over to Daesung to high five him. The two looked so happy that I might have almost puked. But I mean...it wasn't too bad I guess.
The only problem was that...apparently, TOP was a worse bowler than Daesung.
Every single time they rolled the bowl down, it would roll down into the gutter. EVERY SINGLE TIME.
And EVERY SINGLE TIME, Daesung and TOP laughed and high fived each other as if they had gotten a strike.
After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. "Can we get the gutter bumpers on the sides?!" I asked loudly above the loud music.
Youngbae stopped posing and held up his bowling ball. "That would be cheating." He cracked up as he saw our score.
All of the sudden, there was a loud beep in our lane. Everyone began to laugh loudly and point.
"Hyung! You can't step across the line!" Seungri laughed out loud as with his mouth wide open.
TOP was dancing down to the middle of our lane and rolling the ball from there.
Even though I was slightly annoyed that our score was ridiculously low, I had to admit, I couldn't stop smiling so widely.
"Get over here!" I yelled loudly as TOP danced his way back.
Oh god, he really did at dancing. But it was his kind of dancing.
I grabbed a heavy neon blue ball from the rack and rolled it down out lane towards TOP.
"What are you doing?!" TOP jumped out of the ball's way.
"Hyung is the pin. There's only one pin! Hardest game ever!" Daesung laughed his off as he grabbed a ball off the rack and rolled it down. But as usual, it went into the gutter even before it reached TOP.
I sighed and looked up at our pathetic score. Oh well, at least we're having fun.
We didn't even have to finish our round to know who won. Jiyong's team.
But of course, the two idiots on our team couldn't care less.
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I let my fingers fit into the three holes in the bowling ball and rolled it around the table. From the edge of the table, I could see TOP's hair cutely sticking out. He was sitting on the ground right by the table trying to untie his bowling shoes.
"So Raena...you have a boyfriend?" I heard a voice come from the side. One of the producers that I've been working with, Junha, asked as he sat down next to me. He was already married but known as one of the kinder producers who was like a cool uncle to everyone.
I almost choked on my own spit.
I blinked rapidly as I tried to regain my normal breathing and shook my head, "U-Uh...um no I d-don't."
Gosh why did I have to hesitate like that?
I could see the top of TOP's head turn slightly towards the table as if he were listening in.
Junha cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows, "Really? Why don't a fine girl like you have a guy?" He counted his fingers as he listed, "...you have this amazing talent with music, you're unique, attractive and pretty-"
TOP grunted.
I felt a bit overwhelmed. Pretty? Now everyone knew that was an overstatement, come on!
"W-What? Me? No!" I shook my head as I smiled.
"You know what? There's this kid that I know and he's about your age. He's been wanting to meet someone lately..." Junha rubbed his chin.
I raised my eyebrows in some sort of anticipation.
"How about a blind date with him?" Junha said with a wide smile.
I opened my mouth to speak, "a-a date?!" I stuttered as I dropped the bowling ball that was in my hands. The 12 lb blue and green bowling ball rolled down and fell of the table, letting out a loud deep yell.
Wait...that wasn't the bowling ball that yelled.
That was the little Bingu child that had been struggling to untie his shoes. And the ball had fallen hard on his shoulder.
Uh oh.
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