To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself  - [Thich Nhat Hanh]

“So you’re telling me, the oranges that hit my forehead were your… erm… fake s?” the girl asked carefully, raising one of her eyebrows. Seungri nodded, completely too embarrassed to form a verbal reply or any sorts of excuses to salvage what was left of his dignity.

 “And the old man chasing you … was a ert who thought you were really a girl?” she continued. He gave her another timid nod and fearfully gaged her facial expression.

There was a brief moment of silence from her, and then…

“Hahahahahaha. What…you…Hahahahaha,” she exploded into fits of laughter, “oh my gosh… I can’t breath… Hahahaha” Tears started forming in her eyes as she continued to laugh, holding onto her stomach.

By now, the baby panda’s face had turned into the deepest shade of red. As an idol, he had had his fair share of embarrassing stories, but none of them quite surpassed this one. And the fact that this is the second time he embarrassed himself in front of this gorgeous girl made him absolutely mortified beyond belief.

But perhaps, it was the way her soft hair swayed in the wind as she threw her head back and laughed, or the way her laughter rang so beautifully in his ears, that Seungri found himself join her, bursting into carefree laughter.

“It’s okay,” she told him comfortingly, moments later after she finally willed herself to stop laughing, “you only live once, unnie,”

“Yah!” Seungri cringed at the word. He won’t ever hear the end of it, would he?

 “Alright alright, I’m sorry,” she apologized and smiled at him, finding his embarrassment cute, “I won’t call you that again, oppa,”

“Err…uh… it’s ok,” Seungri replied incoherently. From being completely embarrassed to completely flustered, Seungri doubted that his cheeks would ever have time to go back to its normal color. “And how do you know I am older than you?”

“Well, are you younger than 19 then, Seungri oppa?” she asked, sipping on her green tea.

Omg she remembered my name! Yesss!!! Seungri mentally cheered. A huge grin started to appear on his face, soon followed by a look of panic when he realized that she had said his name out loud. Right then, he felt someone tapping him on his shoulder. The situation was all too familiar to the popular idol.

Seungri took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself to run from the imminent fangirl attack. Alright, on the count of 3, I’m just gonna make a run for it.  1        2               3! The Big Bang maknae sprung out of his seat and turned around, ready to dash through the horde of fangirls with flashing camera phones ---

“Ermm… sir?” The poor young waiter seemed completely baffled by his customer’s frantic expression, “here’s your coffee,”

“Huh?” Only then did the baby panda realized that the small coffee shop was really mostly empty, saved for a few middle-aged men reading their newspapers.

“Oh my gosh thank goodness,” Seungri let out a huge sigh of relief and sat down, causing the girl to giggle. Was this guy that paranoid that the old ert would come back and hunt him down or what?

He groaned. Fantastic job, Seungri! You have successfully made yourself a fool for the third time in front of that beautiful girl with a gorgeous smile. Good job! Hey, he actually had a legitimate excuse this time, but it was not like he was gonna tell her who he was. He didn’t even know the girl’s name!

“So what’s your name?” Seungri blurted, desperately trying to change the topic from his little embarrassing moment earlier.

“It’s Aerina Park,” she replied and smiled at him warmly. He was such an amusing and genuine person, she could feel it, unlike many others who tried so hard to impress her.

Two hours later, Seungri found himself telling her how he had kissed his crush on the cheeks in third grades because of a dare. He didn’t even know how their conversation got there. Heck it was his first time in a long time recalling those memories. In fact, it was his first time in a long time having a conversation with someone who had no clue of his identity as a popular popstar --- someone who was genuinely interested in finding out who he really was as a person. The whole thing was foreign to him. Besides his public persona as Lee Seungri, the maknae of Big Bang, who was he really?

“Hey! Are you ok, oppa?” Aerina asked, waving her hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his thought, “ you seemed spaced out,”

“Yea sorry,” Seungri replied, “I just remember all the work I have once I get back today. I think it might be time for me to take leave,” He was sure all his hyungs were worried sick, seeing how Seungri took off in the market just like that for several hours now. “It was nice talking to you today, Aerina,”

“Same here. Good luck with everything, oppa!” she gave him a comforting smile, as if she could tell there was more to him than what met the eyes.

“Thank you,” he gave her a sincere smile before turning his heels to leave.

Who was he? It was a question Seungri didn’t have the answer to. Because sometimes, he felt like he himself had forgotten who he really was. 

A/N: Hey there! :D As promised, I delivered to you the full chapter. I finished it earlier than expected. Woohoo! Hope you enjoy it! A big hug to those have subscribed and commented!!!

One thing to note about each chapter: the little quote at the beginning of each chapter is not random. It always ties in with parts of the chapter, the mood of the characters, or their hidden emotions. I hope it will enhance the meaning of the story as you read :)

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH EVERYONE!!! As always, don't forget to COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE! X)