FAVORS AND TEMPTATIONS

and

It would be a long Friday night. He thought.

The streets burgeoned with excitement and laughter as a motley crowd thronged along their lengths – young and old, able-bodied and infirm, lovers walking hand in hand, parents and their children, groups of friends – some waiting for their blind dates, some having peaceful night-time jaunts on foot while others preferred traversing the streets on bicycles.

Silently treading among the crowd was a tall sinewy young man with hands inside his jacket, wearing a hood that would help him in disguising himself as just an ordinary man lurking in the street and to hide his infamous new hairstyle.

But that can't hide his distant almost dreamy look glazing over his dark eyes and slackening his jaws which made him look feeble-chinned, marring his otherwise strong and handsome visage.

He was too bored to pay attention to the other people around him, people are busy doing their own stuff and it helps him not to noticed him as T.O.P of Bigbang or else it would lead him to a big problem.

And was too tired to notice a gaggle of girls throw him coy looks; giggling amongst themselves,

...too preoccupied to hear someone calling his name with a voice so distantly familiar it felt as though he knew it from another lifetime.

“Seunghyun!”

He whirled around sharply when he heard the said voice right behind his back. He blinked, mutely staring at the creature before him.

“Oh…Dara- noona,” he raised his brows in recognition.

Looking at her, T.O.P wondered how Jiyong could ever have trusted him or any other man to look after her in his behalf. He saw her floating – rather than walking – towards him with a radiant smile on her face, short soft hair billowing behind her – exposing smooth sensual neck, short not almost as black silk number hugging her every curve as it got caught by the passing breeze, thin shapely legs glimmering against the surrounding city lights, snow-colored skin opalescent and inviting.

‘ESPECIALLY me,’ he thought.

His mind suddenly wondered if his good friend Jiyong had even been aware of how many girlfriends, lovers, wives and mistresses he had stolen, how many women of variable age range that would willing to bedded him and how many young and innocent virgins would do everything just to seduce him.

He chuckled of the idea.

But when he had met Dara-noona, her friend Jiyong was already on his way to pursue her.

So he had never seen her in a romantic light, not that he didn’t find her attractive, just that he never even considered.

The kissed they had in their music video was part of his job and nothing else.

but... yeah, maybe .. deep inside, he wished it was not just part of his job. 

"Jeezz.. What am I thinking?! Aiissshh!! Jiyong!" He shaked off the thought. Cursing Jiyong for making him think those things.

Thinking about it, he realized that he was one of the guys in the YG family that Jiyong ever trusted when it came to Dara – and that means a lot to him. Knowing all that, he wondered why he still felt a strange streak of anxiety in the pit of his stomach.

“Where are you going, TOP?” She asked, catching up to him.

“Funny you should ask; I was looking for you.”

“For me? Why?”

“Well…” he paused, formulating his words carefully, “Jiyong  said he’d be late but he doesn’t want you to be alone…so…”

“So he sent you,” she finished for him, hugging her bare arms against the cold. “Why, did anything happen?”

Catching a hint of fear and concern in her voice, T.O.P was suddenly stabbed by a pang of conscience for agreeing to become an accessory to crime.

“No, no,” he answered quickly, “it’s just…it’s…there’s this…he was…it’s really really important. Really important. It’s a matter of life and death.”

“Uhu…He got in trouble, didn’t he,” she arched her brows knowingly.

“No…yes,” he nodded guiltily. “He’d be an hour late.”

“Arassooo…”

“Are you cold?” He unzipped his jacket and started pulling it off.

“No, it’s okay, Seunghyun. I left my coat inside the bar.”

All the same, he took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

“Come on, let’s go inside before they noticed us.”