The Man With A Dragon Tattoo

Bonus 1.2

Jiyong and Jelousy

The following day Jiyong arrived with a flaming red hair.

Youngbae was busy humming to a tune he was composing last night. He had his hands busy with removing every visible dirt on the cupcake display track. He looked over and saw TOP scrubbing with great verocity the windows outside. He chuckled and he saw some high school girls stop and took pictures of "Hot Pink" TOP - as what they have began calling him after the 'Seungri Incident', also another new term.

Daesung, on the other hand, was busy singing in full volume in the kitchen. His voice reverberated against the walls, and had it not for Youngbae's patience, he would've called him out over the 'noise' (not that it was an obnoxious noice, per se, Daesung has a very powerful voice).

The door jingled. Youngbae looked up to see TOP with a great smirk. "What's with that?" he can't help but to ask.

"What what?" TOP asked, playing oblivious.

"That!" Youngbae said, almost throwing his dirty clothe at TOP in haste.

TOP chuckled. "Jiyong's late," he said, as if it's a great deal.

Youngbae paused. He looked over at the clock and sure enough, it's pass seven (was he too engrossed iis cleaning slash humming that he got lost in time?).

TOP nodded, as if just reading Youngbae's head.

"Ah," Youngbae could only mutter. They've been here since quarter to seven, as their opening time was eight. "It was a first," he shrugged. Jiyong, being the proclaimed leader, does his best to 'set an example' to his 'employees' and never have been late. TOP, on the other hand, has never been early except today.

TOP gleefully rubbed his hands together, "I'm so excited to throw that fact on him," he said, giving Youngbae a flirtatious wink - one that would've work wonders on the high school girls (or Seungri, much to Jiyong's disappointment) but never on Youngbae (he's not gay lol).

Youngbae chuckled on TOP's antics, "Well, wonder why he was late."

"Who was?" Daesung asked, wiping his hands on his apron. His emerging from the kitchen meant that the cupcakes are all been placed on the oven (he's been known as a 'miracle worker' with how fast he could prepare the cupcakes and other pastries).

TOP opened his hands and gestured wide, "Look around!" he said, with too much joy.

Daesung seems to understood TOP (he was the only one who could ride in the same wavelength as that 'weirdo') and looked around, counting the current staff. "Ah," he said, with the same tone as Youngbae.

TOP chuckled. "I know! I have to prepare my scolding face!" he said, before practicing. He opened his mouth wide and scrunched his nose, like a singer preparing for his concert. "It has to be expressive and convincing," he muttered, still busy with his 'practice'.

Youngbae and Daesung laughed, enjoying TOP's usual weirdness.

"Maybe he forgot to set off an alarm?" Youngbae said, following up on his question earlier.

Daesung paused to think for a second, "Or, maybe he and Seungri got busy?" he said with a wink.

Youngbae scoffed. "Seungri would've woke him up."

Daesung shrugged, "You know how rough he could be when he's feeling possessive."

Youngbae rolled his eyes, "As if I would know I'm not one of his muse," he said, shrugging at the frightening imagery that appeared on his head. He really, really doesn't want that image engraved in his mind. It'll give him nightmares.

Suddenly, the front door opened. The chim on the display reverberating against the still empty cafe.

"Ah. We're still not open--" Youngbae's welcoming voice spluttered to a halt as he took in the sight in front of him. Without even looking at his friends, he knew that they were gaping as well.

Kwon Jiyong just entered the Cafe with a flaming red hair.

He was also sporting a short pout, arms crossed, eyes glaring at his friends, challenging them to say something. Anything.

Youngbae was the first to break. He started laughing. Daesung and TOP was quick to follow. Jiyong glared at them harder before pushing his way towards the counter, angrily opening it up and preparing the cash register. "Urgh. Friends? What friends?" He kept on muttering.

TOP was heaving heavily as he wiped away the tears in his eyes. Ah, he hadn't laughed that boisterous in weeks. "What possessed you to be a tomato?"

Youngbae smugly smirked. "I have an idea."

Jiyong glared with all his ferocity at his so-called best friend (but Youngbae has already spent a good amount of time with him that he grew immune to it). "No, just no," he said quickly. "Whatever your thinking it's not that!" Jiyong said, eyes hovering just a few centimeters away from Youngbae's face, as if he was afraid that if he stared directly at his friend, he may realize the lie he was telling.

Of course, he was cursed by the gods and TOP began to laugh at loud, again. "Ah! You're hoping for a hot red nickname from Seungri!"

Daesung was already leaning over the table from laughing so hard. He felt like he had converted all his energy to produce the best laughter possible.

Jiyong's face were as fiercely red as his hair. "No! It's not that!" He attempted to salvage a bit of his dignity through endless denial but his friends knew him too well.

When his laughter died down, Daesung commented, "Ah, I'm so looking forward to Seungri's visit!"

Jiyong clenched the cash register tighter. His ears turning red.

TOP and Youngbae, though, joined forced in teasing him. They kept on calling him chilli pepper in order to address him.

"Yo! Chilli pepper! Number five's latte is done!"
"Yo pepperman! Please help me carry this!"
"Chilli bro! The coffee machine's broken!"

It was hell on earth. Jiyong grunted every time they called him that, but he can't honestly just start stabbing his friends. Seungri would really, really upset. Plus, he doesn't want to deal with arranging his friends' funeral, nor was he in any mood to write them an eulogy.

Speaking of his beloved panda, he still havent visited the Cafe since it opened earlier.

Okay, Jiyong would be honest. When he went home that night, all he could think about was how Seungri reacted with seeing TOP with that pink hair! He curled his fists around his pillow and almost tore it into pieces. He could barely catch a second of sleep before his mind conjuring the image of Seungri blushing over someone else!

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

He stood up and went out at the middle of the night to find up an open salon. Seoul is filled with people obsessed with keeping up an appearance. He let that logic rule over him as he walked the nearly empty street.

He thankfully found an open salon and demanded to have his hair treated with a new color. "Anything but blue AND pink."

The salon manager looked at him once before pulling out a red bottle, "How about red?"

Jiyong was too busy cursing over at TOP to thoroughly consider it. He merely nodded his head. He was grunting and clenching his fist as they did his hair, itching to get that smug smile away from TOP. Argh! He'll show that oversized bingu whose the one who could rock a colored hair better!