Bom’s POV

It was either obsession or the greed of always wanting to be in the centre of attention for everything that drove this creature I no longer understood, others would idolise her but for me she grew to be someone I don’t know. Lee Chaerin…the name doesn’t sound intimidating at all, some might even think the name was for someone angelic and innocent, but in the end a name is just a name. 

What amazed me the most was her ability to be able to flicker from the side she showed us to the side that the nation loved, I swear she could be casted as an actress with her impressive skills and to think she’s just getting better day by day with more practice. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous that she had such great charisma to schmooze people to like her so quickly, but at the end of the day I just have Seunghyun and Minzy to thank…

Just be yourself…

That’s what they said, but now that statement baffled me, was it a trick question? 

Whenever 2NE1 as a group would have a interview I would always stay quite alongside our maknae, giving the leads to our leader to answer. Maybe that’s why people loved her so much, she took the lead while I just remained there…immobile as I barely spoke during interviews afraid to spark any fights which would explode after the interview for anything wrong I would say.

‘Unnie you’re going to ruin our reputation if you continue to blurt your thoughts just like that!!!’

That’s just one prime example of what she had yelled at me in our van when our manager was driving the four of us home. That’s how I grew to stay speechless during interviews, I grew tired of having to fight back every single day because Lee Chaerin would always manage to find a fault in everything I do, when I would prefer to just let her win then save myself from having to explain myself again and again.

“Noona said you wouldn’t be able to join us today,” Chanyeol said shocked, the smile on his face still there ever since Dara walked into our dorm.

“Well turns out we could, sorry we couldn’t join you last night, we had some other plans,” CL excused, “I was given the opportunity to walk the DKNY fashion show, so I had a few important meetings to settle.”

“Woah, daebak!” Chanyeol said with sparkly eyes.

Catching Minzy shake her head at our leader’s sly gloating, Dara nodded her head proud of her partner in crime, “yeah we’re going to perform at the after party as well,” Dara added on.

“Oh that’s cool,” Suho smiled, shifting in his seat as if getting a waft of the tense atmosphere between us YG family members.

“Why don’t we continue our cooking huh boys?” I suggested, patting Luhan’s back.

“Cooking? Do you want me to help?” CL offered, her eyes turning into slits as she smiled.

“Oh yeah I heard you’re really good at cooking!” Tao said enthusiastically.

“She is,” I agreed, smiling stiffly.

“Why don’t you just take over my roll then cook with the boys,” I suggested, biting my tongue as I said so.

“Really? That way you could also rest unnie,” CL answered brightly.

“True, noona had to deal with us the whole day basically,” Baekhyun teased, nudging me lightly.

“Yeah you yourself is already a handful…you tried to steal my popcorn,” I shook my head disapprovingly.

“You know I love you right?” Baekhyun sleazily wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“I love you too,” I replied blinking profusely, before shoving his face away with my palm to everyone’s amusement.

“And here we have the beginning of a new cat and dog relationship,” Luhan laughed.

“Umm…should we start cooking? At this rate we’ll end really late,” CL reminded, her eyes searching desperately for attention.

“True, Kyungsoo and Lulu go help her, while Chen you replace Seunghyun,” I ordered, smiling sheepishly at the relaxing troll.

“Me? I thought hyung was helping?” Chen questioned blur.

“Yes…but now you are,” I answered, motioning my head towards the kitchen, “chop chop, my leader awaits.”

“Alright…for you noona I’ll go,” Chen teased, poking my arm playfully before he chased behind Luhan towards the kitchen.

“You guys are pretty close huh?” Dara asked catching the tone of displease as she sat down on the sofa.

“Well we’re definitely friends now right?” Kai questioned for confirmation, his eyes only lingering on our maknae.

“Yeah I guess so, they’re quite easy to get along with, even though they’re kind of a pain in the a.ss,” I laughed, joining Sehun on the floor.

“Why do I feel like that’s only meant for a few people,” Sehun coughed, his eyes shifting from left to right.

“It is…you, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are like kids high on sugar,” I giggled, “the only decent ones are Suho, Lay and Xiumin.”

“They’re the boring hyungs, Lay is just always high off himself,” Sehun explained.

“Like that’s worse than you guys?” I retorted sarcastically.

“I give up, noona you really don’t believe in me do you?” Sehun sighed dramatically whilst pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Would you believe in yourself?” I posed, watching his face carefully.

“That’s unfair…” Sehun groaned, throwing his arms in the air. 

“So what did you guys do earlier?” Dara questioned as Chanyeol kept glancing at her.

“We watched a movie,” Chanyeol replied eagerly.

“Hold your horses boy,” I laughed earning a side glance from Chanyeol, surprised that he even spared a look at me with the presence of his bias.

“We went to the cafe as well,” Kris reminded, raising his finger at the same time.

“Cafe? What cafe?” Kai interrogated to my dismay, wanting to smack the smug look on the tall male’s face.

“Huh?” I said dazed, sneaking a look at Seunghyun as our gazes met, a look of amusement playing over his face.

“No wonder you didn’t have the appetite to eat popcorn earlier!” Kai connected the dots as if figuring out a huge revelation.

“Geez people relax…it was only a muffin and a sandwich,” I explained innocently.

“Don’t forget your slice of double chocolate cake,” Luhan interjected as he walked in.

Feeling my heart drop to my stomach, I whipped my head towards the direction of the vocalist, “what are you doing here? Go assist CL,” I growled, not liking how the conversation was emphasising my appetite.

“So feisty huh noona?” Luhan chuckled, “anyways CL-shi wanted to know where you kept the kimchi.”

“Oh it’s in the fridge,” I answered still getting up for the better as Luhan and I walked beside one another towards the kitchen.

“I know by the way…” Luhan mumbled unsure on what he meant.

“What are you talking ab-“

“People don’t call me Sherlock Hannes for nothing,” he arrogantly cut me off, “there’s something  fishy about 2NE1…”

“Oh unnie! I was just wondering where the kimchi was, I really can’t find it,” CL cried out in relief as she saw me.

“It’s right there,” I said in a daze with Luhan’s words ringing in my head.

“Yah pabo!” CL scolded Chen whilst giggling, as she reached for the container with the kimchi.

“I swear it wasn’t there a few minutes ago!” Chen argued outraged, “I bet Bom noona has some kind of power, it only appeared when she was here!”

“Sure Chen, as if I would waste my energy to walk all the way here just to show off my powers,” I replied sarcastically.

“True…” Chen hummed agreeing, “that’s sounds like noona…”

“YAH!” I yelled with a laugh, “you’re not supposed to agree!”

“Now if that’s all, I’ll go back,” I announced, turning on my heel as to avoid the observant eyes of the eldest Exo member.

“Noona…” Luhan called out, as I was about to leave them.

“Yes Lulu?” I called back lightly, sparing a glance back at him.

Taking a deep breath as if he was going to say a long speech, I waited for him to speak as the rest were preoccupied with their tasks as the aroma of food slowly wafted around the whole dorm. With a few seconds passing watching Luhan contemplate on whether to say it or not, as if his brain was rearranging his statement to make it sound better as he stood there with his mouth open shaking his head every once in awhile.

“Never mind…I forgot, I’ll talk to you later…” Luhan compromised, bowing his head slightly at me as if signalling that we had something important to talk about.

“If you say so,” I acknowledged reluctantly, worried with how the male was able to catch on very fast.

He’s a dangerous one…

With so many thoughts occupying me, I walked down the hallway towards the living room silently as I played with fingers, unsure of how to face Luhan if he throws questions about our group. Sure my close friends knew about our hardships but was it right to share such exclusive information with someone I barely knew? 2NE1’s relationship with each other would be the death of our group if the nation was to find out, it was like giving the power to detonate our group.

“This is your room right?” 

“Huh?” I said still caught in my thoughts.

Raising my head I found Kris having his hand wrapped around the knob of my bedroom, a hint of mischievous sparkling in his eyes.

As if spending the whole day with the bothersome group wasn’t tiring enough, I had this specific problem to deal with yet again. I didn’t understand why he kept pestering me, what did he get from doing this anyways? How did it benefit him? Because from my point of view Kris was like a child playing with a toy until it would finally break, he kept poking and poking at me like he was trying to provoke me to go mental.

“What’s his problem?” I groaned, complaining to no one in particular.

With heavy steps I watched the male disappear past the door, leaving it open for me to follow while the noisy chatter from the living room got louder with each moment. I knew it would be a bad decision for me to follow the male, but on the thought what good would it be if I left the male to roam around my own personal space? Like they say you can learn a few things about a person just by observing their belongings, not that Kris didn’t know me, but I would never want him to fiddle with my precious items.

“What are you doing? Get out…” I said softly, not wanting to grab the attention of the others.

Finding him sprawled over my bed without a care, he lifted up his head briefly with a grin, “I never got to visit your room before…”

“And that gives you permission to go in why?” I asked whilst leaning on the door.