The usual thing happened on my second job.
Busy as ever.
I had this unusual smiling face despite the crowded night at the restaurant.
Maybe because I got to spend some time with Taeyang.
"Hey, Liz. You're unusually in a good mood. Did something happen?" my co-worker asked.
"You can say that," I said with a smiling face.
I started to walk out of the restaurant that I was working for.
"Bye, Lizzie." my co-worker said.
"Bye! See you on Saturday!"
As I turned around, I saw Taeyang leaning on his car; his hands in his pocket, listening to some music.
Then I thought, was he waiting for me or something.
I went up to him and tapped him on his shoulder. He took off his earphone and flashed his smile at me.
"What are you still doing here?" I asked him
"Waiting for you."
"Why?"
"I'm taking this opportunity of being alone with you. No Seungri, no Daesung, no TOP and especially no Jiyong," he said.
I looked at him in a puzzled-look, then shrugged and smiled.
"I'm a very busy person, Youngbae."
"Then let me take you to your work then." he offered.
So he drove me to work which was just a kilometer away from the restaurant.
"Ah, I see you're working in a club."
"Yeah, I'm a part-time bartender and waitress here."
"I see."
We went inside and the club was as usual full.
"I need to go and work now. See you later." I shouted.
"Wait!" he said and grabbed my arm. I turned around
"What?" I asked.
"You said you're a waitress, do you have to wear those clothes?" he asked as he pointed out my co-worker who was wearing a mini dress.
"Oh, no! I told my boss that I'm not comfortable wearing them. So I have his permission to wear pants." pants... a skinny one too. I thought.
"Oh, OK then." he let go of my hand and he sat down at the nearest table.
So I went on with my business.
I couldn't concentrate on my work knowing that Taeyang was there.
I keep stealing glances from time to time and he caught me looking at him and he beckoned me to him.
I walked towards him.
"Can I get you anything?" I asked.
"A glass of red wine, please." he said.
I noticed that this was his first alcoholic drink.
"Red wine? Got tired of drinking 4 seasons?" I asked.
He nodded and smiled sweetly.
So I went to get his order.
On my way back to his table, a drunk guy beckoned me and I gestured him to wait.
I gave YB's order and went to the drunk guy's table.
"Excuse me. More tequila here," he said.
Oh boy, he sure drinks a lot.
"OK, please wait."
As I turned my back he and his friends were laughing and smacked my butt.
Uggh...
I wanted to punch his face right there and then, luckily I can't.
So I went on.
I looked for charlie, the bouncer and told him that there were several drunk guys and he should be looking out for them 'coz they might be trouble.
I told my co-worker if she could handle them because I can't.
I might end up beating them up if I handled them any longer.
But my co-worker said that she couldn't because her hands were full too.
So I had no choice but to serve their drinks.
As soon as I gave them their tequila, this guy grabbed my arm,
"Why don't you join us for a while?" he said as he leaned closer to my face.
I pushed him aside,
"No thank you," I said firmly.
"Why not? We'll take care of your charges." he said
"Excuse me sir but we don't do that here. If you want you can go to a strip bar and find yourself a girl there. Let go of me, PLEASE while I'm still being nice to you." I said in a firm tone.
They started to laugh.
The guy tightened his grip on me and I struggled to break free from his grip.
calm down. I thought.
"CHARLIE!" I shouted and raised my hand and waved it to get Charlie's attention.
"You're not so tough, eh?" he said and was laughing along with his friends.
I glared at him and kicked his balls.
He crouched down.
"I was being nice when I told you to let go of me." As I turned my back, he got a hold of my shirt.
"I said let go!" then his friends started to get up from their seats.
"Bitch! You'll pay for this!" he said.
He was about slap me when all of a sudden, someone stopped him.
"You shouldn't be hitting a girl." he said.
Then again, Youngbae to the rescue.
Usually, Charlie would do this but where was he when I needed him?!
"You stay out of this, punk!" he said and pushed YB.
"Hey!" I said and stood in between them.
"If you don't want me to call the police, sue you for sexual harassment, then please leave quietly!" I shouted.
"What's with all this ruckus?" a big scary voice said.
It was charlie.
"These guys are causing trouble, please escort them out."
And so he did.
"Are you OK?" I asked Taeyang.
"I should be the one asking you that."
"Well, I could have handled it on my own but thanks," I said.
"Let's go." he said.
"What? My shift isn't over yet."
"I said let's go. Quit this job, find another one where no one can touch you and harass you," he said.
YB is concerned about me.
"But I only started 2 weeks ago."
He glared at me and I can see that he's really concerned.
"Youngbae, I appreciate your concern but I told you that I can handle and take care of myself," I said.
"No, those punks will somehow return to this place and do something stupid again. I won't be here to protect you. I know you're confident because you have a bouncer around, but he isn't enough to protect you. He has to protect the others too."
I didn't say a word.
"The bouncer was busy protecting the other waitresses. So please, LEAVE this place. If you want I'll help you find a job." he said. "Understand?"
I guess he's really that concerned about me. So, I did what he told me.
I resigned from my third job. It was a quarter to 1 when we arrived at my apartment.
"Care for some hot chocolate or maybe tea?" I offered.
"Sure, I would love to."
Good thing my apartment was spic and span and so Taeyang & I had a cup of tea.
"Where will you be shooting your video?" I asked him out of the blue.
He took a sip, then answered. "In Texas."
"Really? And you came all the way here?"
He nodded. I was surprised. I don't know what to say, except:
"Why?"
"Is it really that hard to understand?" he asked.
Well, that crossed my mind...
"I don't want to assume Youngbae, I've been betrayed twice already and I don't think I can trust anyone that easily, no offense," I said.
He leaned closer and held my hand. I looked at his hand.
"I'm in no hurry, I'll gladly wait for the time... For you to trust me with your heart."
"Trust you with my heart?" I repeated.
"Yes, Lizzie. I'm willing to wait. No matter how long it takes." he said in a serious tone.
I don't know what to say, I cleared my throat.
"Why me? Of all the girls in the world... Why me?"
He looked at me...
"I was hoping you could answer that."
My eyes widened and I leaned backward.
"How can I? I'm not controlling you."
"Well, you must be. 'Coz I've been thinking about you ever since I laid my eyes on you and no matter what I do, it seems I can't get you off my mind. Not even once." he said.
I wanted to believe every word he said but someone already told me those lines before.
You can't blame me.
*sigh*
"Well, we'll see. Whatever happens, wherever it leads us." I said and crossed my arms and tilted my head as I look at him.
He leaned back to his chair and did the same thing then smiled.
Taeyang and I had a little chitchat.
Well mostly, I did the chitchat.
Most of the time, he was just staring at me and smiling, laughing, well, you get the picture.
It was 3 in the morning already.
"Oh, I didn't notice the time, Youngbae. Maybe you should sleep over."
He scratched his head.
"Well... I... Ummm... Maybe I shouldn't do that..." he said.
"Oh no, I insist. I kept you here for a long time. It's 3 in the morning and besides, you'll be driving alone, you might fall asleep on your way to your hotel."
he smirked.
"Why?"
"To be honest, I didn't check-in in any hotel. I was planning to go back to Texas right after I spend some alone time with you."
"What?! It'll take a day for you to drive back all the way to Texas! Youngbae, what were you thinking?!" I blurted out.
"You..." he said.
"This is not the time to kid around Youngbae, you should sleep over here and as soon as we wake up, I'll be coming with you to make sure you'll arrive at Texas safe and sound." I said it without thinking.
Man! What was I thinking? Oh right, I wasn't thinking.
"You'll be coming along? And I'll drive you back here again... Ha ha," he said.
"Oh, no you don't have to. I'll be staying at my aunt's place for at least 2 days. I need to visit them anyways. Besides, it's my day-off. I'll just send my friend a message to take over my place for at least another two days."
"Wow... 19 hours of drive alone with Lizzie... Maybe I'll take my time in driving," he said.
"You've got work to do Youngbae. I don't want to be the reason why Mr. YG will get mad at you. So, I'll get some blanket and pillow." I said.
I stood up then he said,
"Thank you..." and he smiled.
"No problem..." I replied and as I turned my back.
I bit my lip and smiled.
I prepared Youngbae's bed on the couch.
"Will you be OK here?" I asked.
"Yeah sure, no problem."
"I'm feeling a little guilty sleeping comfortably on my bed... To be fair, I'll sleep on the floor next to you. How's that?" I suggested.
"Uhhh... No... If you want, you sleep on the couch and I'll sleep on the floor." he said.
Then we started to argue on who's sleeping on the floor and couch. I offered him my bed but he refused it.
"How about this, we'll sleep on the floor." he said.
Cat got my tongue. He slyly smiled.
"Well, it's... not a problem with me... really... as long as we have a border line in between. ha ha ha." I told him as I gave him an awkward laugh.
"Whatever you want, Lizzie." he said with a sweet smile.
So we agreed to sleep on the floor.
Before I turned the lights off, I took out my instant camera and took a stolen picture of Youngbae.
"Ya Youngbae.." I called and as soon as he turned, *click*
His natural look is the cutest thing I've ever seen today. I smiled.
"I will add this to my collection," I said.
"I can see that. I saw the pictures," he said as he pointed at the wall near the kitchen.
I laughed.
"That's my first time I heard you laugh that way. Cute," he said.
I stopped laughing and cleared my throat.
"Ok then shall I turn the lights off? Hmm, well, I honestly can't sleep without the lights on. Is it OK if I leave the lights on in the kitchen?"
"Sure thing..." he said.
I was about to lie down when suddenly, I saw a red light on. I looked to see what it was then *flash*.
"Ya Youngbae. Erase that!"
"Why?"
"I look ugly without make-up on!" I said, blushing real hard.
"Who told you that? I'm going to teach a lesson to anyone who tells you you're ugly without make-up."
Then I didn't stop complaining.
"Ok, ok... here... Let's take a picture together."
I was speechless.
All I did was to look at Taeyang, eye to eye, he leaned closer and *flash*
"Oy, not fair." I said.
We took a lot of pictures from his phone and when I took a picture of us from my Instant camera, it turned out unexpectedly good.
I was smiling while Taeyang stole a kiss again from me.
I touched my cheeks and could feel warm on my cheeks.
He didn't say anything, instead he smiled.
"Well, *clears throat* let's sleep," I said then covered my face with a blanket.
Then suddenly, I felt something heavy on my shoulder.
I took off the blanket and saw Youngbae's arm.
"Eh... Youngbae... The border..."
"Just leave it be for now. Please?" he said.
Oh, what to do? What to do?
"Ok then, if you feel really uncomfortable with it." he said and slowly lifted his arms away.
Then suddenly, I grabbed his arms. He was surprised and I was surprised too.
"Ahh... Sorry... It was..." I said in a low voice, not able to finish the sentence.
He smiled and placed his arms around me.
"Thank you." he said and he fell asleep with a smile on his face and so did I.
I felt that everything was a dream.
I slowly opened my eyes and saw Youngbae in front of me.
So close that it was at least an inch away and noticed that his arms are still wrapped around me. I slowly moved his arm away from me but he moved and hugged me tightly.
"Just a few more minutes... Please..." he said.
Is he sleep-talking?
I examined his face. He's asleep.
"Few minutes? How long? I asked."
he moved his lips as if he was eating something.
"Five..."
I tried to touch his cheeks.
"No, I'm not asleep. I am awake. Just leave me be for five more minutes, Lizzie..." he said.
I stared at his face.
His manly, flawless face; his chinky eyes, his red lips.
Then suddenly, I thought of Jiyong's face out of the blue.
why did he cross my mind...
I shook my head and said,
"Hey sleepy-head, we've got a long way to go, so get up." I moved his arms away and got up.
"I'll prepare breakfast. What do you want?" I asked.
"No, let me prepare breakfast. It's the least I can do." he said.
"OK..."
We had omelet for breakfast and a piece of bread with warm milk.
Although it wasn't a complicated dish, Youngbae knows how to cook.
After breakfast, we were set to go on a long drive.
I feel sorry for him because I don't have any driving license so I can't swap with him and drive the car.
I called my friend and told her to work in my place after my day-off.
After all, she owes me big time for covering up her absences at work.
So we drove our way to Texas.
Along the way, we had to stop for call-of-nature and meal time.
As we were on our way, we had a karaoke time.
Youngbae was playing some tracks that I was familiar with and was singing along with it.
Over all, it was a fun driving experience.
after 20 hours of driving, we arrived in Texas at last.
Youngbae dropped me off at my aunt's place.
"See you around, Lizzie." he said.
"Yeah, see you." I said.
I was about to walk towards the porch when I saw a car parked in front of Youngbae's.
He looked surprised.
Then two guys, the other one wearing a gentleman's hat, wearing a suit and a dark sunglasses, while the other had his spiky blonde hair, wearing a casual shirt and a large sunglasses walked out from the passenger's seat and the driver's seat.
Youngbae nodded.
It was Jiyong and TOP.