Back when I was young, a ship was nothing but a big bulk of metal that floats on the sea. But as years pass (and as I discovered the amazing World Wide Web), a ship had been given a new (and powerful) meaning. Yet, with all honesty, I never knew how powerful a ship was until I stumbled upon a certain 2NE1 fan forum one August afternoon 2 years ago and discovered the existence of Daragon. Nevertheless, the ride’s still bumpy.

Lysander said in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a Shakespearean comedy) that “the course of true love never did run smooth.” Perhaps, that was the very reason why we were allowed to die and go to heaven only to resurrect us and send us to hell. Unfortunately, this cycle is still ongoing.

We had been bombarded with good news and bad news all the time that I was starting to fear that we might lose our sanity, or at least, become bipolar due to excessive news about our ship. Among all KPOP ships, we had been the most criticized, if not most hated. But did we ever falter? No. After all, we’re like the pillars of the Parthenon—we stand and remain firm. And as long as we have our faith, we would never go down.

Yet, the devils had always been cunning. They couldn’t shake us with their criticisms and their hate and so they started to make a tiny crack on the wall—a miniscule crack that allowed doubt to get inside. The faithful ones didn’t even see it, yet the young ones notice it. And then, their faith started to waver.

Baby Applers (or the new Daragon shippers) had been the target of our haters. The ship had expanded exponentially in the last year and we have become stronger than ever. And if they [haters] couldn’t attack the foundation, they could at least stop the growth.

Haters would often say that they know something—that they have a source from the inside [YG Entertainment or at least, friends of Dara or GD]. They would feed the babies with bull such as that Daragon does not exist and is merely a product of our delusions. They would say things that we have no concrete evidence to prove the existence of Gdragon and Dara’s relationship.

But then, Dr. Carl Sagan said that the “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” Yes, baby applers might have thought that there’s no evidence since they haven’t seen it. Perhaps, it’s because my Honie umma decided to increase the minimum post to view the spazz thread to 50 (Just joking!) But let me tell you something, if they say that they have an insider, what made you think that we, applers, don’t have the same? And didn’t you even think that they just made it all up?

Still, there’s this “applers are delusional” attack which I must say, only made the haters look dumber than Patrick Star (Seriously! Couldn’t you think of ANYTHING new? You haters got to be more creative than that!) We had been providing them of existing interviews and videos, yet they still refuse to accept it. Were they really hard to understand? I mean, this isn’t rocket science people! Just give it a chance—look at it! And perhaps, they would eat your own words. As talented we applers are, we didn’t make all this interviews and videos up. Those were facts that they refuse to look at. And perhaps because of their stubbornness, they started to close their minds. But remember this, no matter how much they run away from the truth, it would still follow them. No matter how close their minds are, truth would find a way to create a hole. Truth’s like a drop of water slipping out of the hole in the dam. And that’s the greatest thing about truth. Once a drop passed through, the whole river would follow. Be careful, your stubbornness could drown you.

But on the lighter side, perhaps they couldn’t handle the truth that they lost their marbles and started to think that delusional means AWSM (that’s awesome!)

I hoped that somehow, this had cleared some things. So baby applers, sorry if I had to do something disgusting but I had to remove this gum that I had been chewing, ever since I started writing this, out of my mouth and use it to cover the crack on the wall. There! No bet no doubt would ever pass through my saliva—I mean, gum.

But then, even if doubt had been removed, it wouldn’t change the fact that we had our fair share of “good things” that sent us to Daragon heaven for several times (I swear, we’re more AWSM than cats! Cats only have nine lives and we applers died and resurrected more than that! How AWSM is that?!) And as mentioned earlier, we also had experience living in hell for a while. But no matter how many more times we had to go back to hell, we still manage to get up from the ground. And being in hell made us even more aggressive and even more passionate on what we do for this couple. Every time we hear some bad news, instead of rolling my eyes and saying “Oh no, we’re going back to hell,” I say, “Oh, we’re going to visit our haters! After all, they live in hell right?” (Ha! I’m so mean!)

Humor aside, that it can still be tiring to wait for our couple to finally admit the real score about them right? Well, patience isn’t exactly a virtue that we possess but over the time it had been constantly proven that “good things happen to those who wait.” But then, why wouldn’t they just say it?

As a KPOP fan for more than 3 years, I observed that there are three types of fans: (1) the possessive “HE-IS-MINE-AND-MINE-ALONE” fan, (2) the “I-WILL-SUPPORT-YOU-NO-MATTER-WHAT” fan and the (3) anti-fan. And we all must know by now that these fans had the power to make or break you (think of Jay Park and 2PM Sasaeng fans).

When the ship started, Dara was fairly new to the Korean Entertainment industry. She had several controversies (her y pictorial and such) in the past and her career could be gone in a snap of a finger.

In a normal relationship, there should only be a “him” and “her”. But G-dragon and Dara’s relationship would always be far from normal. The “him” and “her”, once it would be revealed in public, would turn into “him, her and their fans”. And with all honesty, relationships between two Korean celebrities would often break the fine line between the fans and the anti-fans. There’s a higher probability that, instead of the possessive “HE-IS-MINE-AND-MINE-ALONE” fan and the “I-WILL-SUPPORT-YOU-NO-MATTER-WHAT” fan being partners, the possessive “HE-IS-MINE-AND-MINE-ALONE” fan would partner up with the anti-fan. Possessive fans have their own tendencies to be, well, possessive wherein their motto becomes, “if I couldn’t have him, she can’t have him too so I must ruin her.”

Believe me, it’s the last thing G-dragon wanted for Dara.

And think about this: G-dragon’s the time of person who would give up everything for love. Do you think after they finally admit their relationship, he’s going to stay as an idol and make girls drop their as he sing songs of love for his them [fans]? I don’t think so. When G-dragon say that he’s going to choose love over his career, we should know what he’s would do—give up his career. And as much as I want him to finally profess his undying love to Dara in public, I don’t think I’m quite ready for him to say goodbye to us. (I bet he’s going to marry her and they’ll start a family.)

There’s this verse in the Bible which states that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And judging from all the investigations and the recent happenings, I bet it wouldn’t take Kwon Jiyong and Sandara Park long for their hearts to burst out all their love for each other. Hopefully, we’ll be ready for it.