Chung Ho sighed, looking around the café. It was already noon, where almost every staff were behind, busy with the baking and cooking. He was outside tending the café as he waited for people to come up to him for the check.

The door opened. Ji Yong entered the café wearing a disguise. “Ah, Lia is at the back,” he told him.

He nodded, coming over to him. “I know,” he replied. “I came to talk to you.”

Chung Ho looked up. “Uh . . . okay. What about?”

“I want to talk to you about Lia.”

Chung Ho sighed. He had a feeling he knew what it was about. “Look, Lia is a nice girl. She’s reliable, determined and a really good friend. But I don’t like her,” he said. “I already have a girlfriend.”

Ji Yong waved his hand away. “I know, I know,” he said impatiently. “Lia told me even though it was unnecessary.”

“So why are you here?”

“Lia’s birthday is this Saturday,” he said. “So the guys and I are planning something for her. We want to take her out for the weekend at a private beach. But I need to ask you if you could give Lia the weekend off.”

Chung Ho hesitated. The café had plans on the weekend and they would be busy and they would need as many staff as they could to help out. And Lia was their best baker. But on the other hand, Lia has been working really hard and while everyone tries to take as many off-days as they could, the only off-days Lia had was on Valentine’s Day.

He nodded. “Okay, sure,” he said. “I’m happy with the work Lia has shown. She has worked really hard and she deserves it.”

Ji Yong nodded as well, relieved. “Thank you.” He turned around to leave but then he stopped and turned back. “Oh, could you lie to her? It’s meant to be a surprised.”

Chung Ho grinned. “No problem. I’ll cook something up.”

“Bye!” Ji Yong waved as he walked out.

Chung Ho shook his head and turned to the back and was face-to-face with Lia. “Oh, Lia, just the person I wanted to see!”

“Er, wait,” she said. “Let me go give the people their order.” She walked to a table and gave them their food before coming back to him. “Yes?”

“This Friday —”

“You want me to come to work, right?”

He shook his head. “No, I want you to take the weekends off, Lia,” he told her. “You have worked hard enough to earn it.”

“But —”

“Besides, I know how much you miss being with Big Bang,” he added.

Lia nodded once. “I do miss them,” she said quietly. “But are you sure? I mean, you’ll need a lot of —”

“I’ll just make my sisters work extra hard that day,” he replied with a sneaky grin.

She laughed. “They’re gonna hate you.”

He spread his arms wide and shrugged. “Ah, they already hate me.”

Lia smiled. “Thank you, Chung Ho-sshi,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

Friday came and for once, Lia slept in. When she woke up, it was already nine in the morning. She sighed contently. She had a good night sleep.

The door opened and TOP walked in with a tray. “Hey, Mei,” he greeted. “I brought you breakfast.”

Lia sat up, smiling. “Morning, oppa,” she said. She yawned, stretching. “Ah, that was a good sleep!”

He set the tray on her lap and kissed her on the forehead. “How’s my baby sister doing with work?” he asked her.

She grinned. “It’s going great!” she said enthusiastically. “I love my job. It’s awesome.” She frowned. “There’s supposed to be a lot of people today but I don’t understand why I was given the weekend off.”

“Just don’t stress out, okay?” TOP said.

There was a knock on her door and the other boys came in. Ji Yong was holding King in his hands. He put him down and the little dog ran to Lia, jumping on her. TOP had to quickly lift the tray up to stop King from eating the food off or worse: knocking it down.

Lia hugged her dog, who her on the chin. She giggled.

Ji Yong sat on her other side and took King into his own laps. “Eat your food,” he told his girlfriend as TOP gave her food back. The rest sat at her feet.

Lia began to eat. She got that feeling again: the throwing up feeling. She quickly covered and forced herself to swallow.

“Are you okay?” Tae Yang asked her.

She nodded, taking a gulp of water. “Yes,” she replied. She smiled weakly as she tried to eat again. She ended up nibbling on her bread.

TOP frowned. “Mei, I notice you haven’t been eating properly these past few months,” he said casually. “And it’s not just breakfast.”

Lia froze.

Ji Yong nodded. “We all noticed it,” he spoke up, “but we didn’t want to say anything. But Lia, are you okay?”

“It’s been like this for months now,” Seung Ri chimed in.

“You can tell us anything,” Tae Yang said encouragingly.

Dae Sung nodded. “We’re here for you. We’re your oppas.”

She hung her head. “I’m fine, you guys.”

Ji Yong kissed her on the cheeks. “It will be all right. Now eat your food but don’t force yourself, okay?”

Seung Ri and TOP got up. Seung Ri took her luggage out as TOP started to take her clothes out from her cupboard.

“Er, what are you guys doing?” Lia asked, looking up.

Dae Sung grinned broadly at her. “We’re going on a road trip!” he announced.

“President gave us the weekend off,” Tae Yang explained. “You have the weekend off too so we decided to take this opportunity and go to the beach.”

“Stay a few nights and just have fun, you know?” Seung Ri added. “In fact, we were just thinking of leaving as soon as you finish your breakfast. So faster eat!”

Lia ate as much and as fast as she could. When she felt like she’d had enough (which wasn’t really much) she hopped out of bed and went to bathe.

Once they set off, Dae Sung turned from the passenger’s seat to see Lia struggling to take King out of his cage. “Need help?” he offered, smiling.

She shook her head. “I can handle it,” she huffed. Finally she freed King, along with the other dogs. Gaho jumped on Ji Yong’s lap and woke him up from his sleep. TOP took Charlie into his own lap. Boss tried to crawl into his master’s lap but Dae Sung took him away.

“Thanks, Dae Sung,” Tae Yang said from the driver’s seat.

He grinned back. “Wouldn’t want to have an accident before we reach there now, do we?” he laughed.

“This is unfair,” Seung Ri whined. “All of you are making me wish I have a dog.”

Ji Yong dumped Gaho in his lap. “Nah, take care of him,” he instructed his maknae. “I want to sleep. But this does not mean Gaho is yours to keep forever.”

“Yay!” Seung Ri was happy to take Gaho.

“You’re such a baby,” Lia remarked as she leaned against Ji Yong, King gently in her lap.

Seung Ri made a face but he grinned when he turned to her. “That’s what you always say,” he said, shrugging. “I got used to it.”

“Whatever pleases you, Maknae Oppa,” Lia replied, rolling her eyes but she was smiling at him.

They joked around and talked until one-by-one they fell asleep, except for Tae Yang, who was stuck behind the wheels.

When Lia woke up, King jumped off her lap, barking.

They had arrived.

When she was able to focus her eyes, she saw that only she and Ji Yong were in the car. Seung Ri and Dae Sung were outside, looking around and playing with the dogs. King joined them. Tae Yang and TOP were nowhere to be seen.

She looked up to see Ji Yong smiling at her. “Hi, Ji Oppa. Where are Bae Oppa and Bingu Oppa? And why are you not outside with the others?”

“They went to check in for us,” he replied. “I stayed because you’re leaning against me and I didn’t want to wake you up.”

She winced. “Sorry.”

He hugged her. “Hey, I don’t mind. I’m not complaining,” he reassured her. “It just give me more time to spend alone with you, even if you are sleeping.”

She giggled. “I miss being with you,” she confessed. “I want to be with you.”

His grip around her tightened and she could feel him flexing. “You want me, huh, Princess?” he whispered seductively in her ears. “That can arrange, if you want.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

“I want to be with you,” she said quietly, feeling shy all over again.

He chuckled, kissing her neck. “Okay. I’ll tell them. You and I, we’ll spend time alone tonight, all right? It’s going to be your night. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

They got out and the others came back.

“We’re sharing the same suite,” Tae Yang said. “Three rooms, which means everyone is getting the same partner they have back in the apartment. But for Ji Yong and Lia, you guys are pairing up.”

TOP nodded, looking sternly at them. “I trust you two so no funny business.”

The two of them nodded and they all took their stuff to their room and settled down in it. It was nice and cozy.

“So, what are we going to do?” Dae Sung asked. “I’m hungry.”

“We had lunch a few hours ago!” Seung Ri protested.

“So what?” he said defensively.

“Forget that. What are we going to do tonight?” Tae Yang asked.

“Er, if you guys don’t mind,” Ji Yong spoke up, putting his arms around Lia’s shoulders, “is it okay if Lia and I spend the night together alone on a date? We haven’t spend alone time together in so long.”

Dae Sung, Seung Ri, TOP and Tae Yang all nodded, not surprised. “As long as we get to spend time with her tomorrow,” Seung Ri joked.

Ji Yong and Lia both grinned at each other, happy to have gotten thumbs-up from them. They can’t wait for the night to come. They know it’s going to be fun!