Maybe the Night:

Maybe the night, holds a little hope for us.

Her arms are wrapped around his neck, while his hands rested on her waist. He cannot take his eyes off her, and she’s drowning in his light brown pools. His hands travelled lower, right on her hips. Both swayed—as they enjoy the sweet melodies. If Sandara is being honest, which is quite rare these days (if Jiyong is being honest), he’s the only man that can ever hold her just like this, so close to be intimate but not close enough to be lovers again.

Their good friend Dong Youngbae, decided to spend the rest of his life to that someone he truly loved. Both cannot be any happier because he deserves to be loved. Long time friends came to celebrate with the newly weds, the whole YG building is literally in the reception.

The place is romantic enough with how it is designed—but it turned sweeter when a love song serenaded them. He was sitting three chairs away from her and he hasn’t spoken anything to her aside from a casual greeting earlier at church. That is why when he offered a hand when the music turned slow, her heart cannot keep up.

“You look lovely tonight,” she heard him say while he looped her arms around his neck, “as always.”

She smiled and looked him in the eye and there she found it again. It was never lost, and he was honest that it will never be lost. She found in his eyes, that after all these years—it will always be her.

“You only said HI and ignored me this whole time.” She saw on their side, Taeyang and Hyorin having their own world, and the others joined them too. Like the newly weds, they’ve entered another realm, that only them can enter.

“It’s only because I have to stop myself from falling over and over…” He snickered, “I am wearing a Tom Ford tux…I have to be careful.”

She replied with a smile, “You know that I know and it’s okay. You do not have to explain.”

Like her, he drowned himself in her stare—to look for something that will always be there as well. No matter how much she denies it, her eyes held on to what they had. More importantly, as much as she refuses to accept it, her eyes glow differently, and it tells him whatever it is that they’re having—it is so much deeper than she makes it out to be. He found something else while he got lost in her eyes, it wasn’t only love, there was also the pain.

“Explain what?!” he asked. Is she talking about the New Year’s scandal?

“That you started dating again…”

“I didn’t.” He tried to look for a reaction but Sandara is a champion in hiding herself from him. She tries to keep on putting up these walls but it’s him, he knows her all to well.

It’s the truth he hangs out with certain women and that’s it.

“I am still healing—I don’t use people anymore.” His words are heavy with honesty and it fueled her guilt. Kwon Jiyong knows about Sandara and the men that she invites for dinner—those who wanted to be hers, but they don’t know any better, it’s her nice way of rejection--paying for the bill. She knows damn well that Korean men hated to have their ego trampled.

When she told him about it whenever they go to dinners, he pays in advance. Jiyong refuses that rejection money and Dara knows he’s got millions of them.

“You know I never used anyone. Not Donghae, not even you.” He raised his eyebrows on her, throwing an accusatory glance.

“I didn’t say you’re using me…” She can only sneer at him, quite annoyed. He snorted and it provoked her, his shady isn’t blinding at all. “We have never been intimate—since we broke up…But come to think of it, I loved the women after you but not the same as how much I love you.”

He saw her twitch, she hates it when Jiyong admits that he loved somebody else other than her. That’s when he gets furious, it is obvious that she wants him all to herself because she gets jealous but will never admit to that. Make it, make sense please.

Sandara gave him a mocking snort, “Jiyong, do you really want us to be friends with benefits?!”

He replied her with silence. He let his eyes feast on her beauty—he let his heart beat with fury, he’s holding Sandara, the woman he’ll always be in love with.

The stray hair blocked her beautiful eyes, Jiyong carefully placed it behind her earlobes, “When you said I was good in mildang, you did not tell everyone you’re better at it…” She was about to say something but then he whispered, “You know that I never wanted us to be friends…”

“Calling me your friend is an insult to how much I love you, Dara-yah.”

“Jiyong…” she groaned. Her heart is fluttering in a very dangerous way, right in the middle of the dancefloor. Right in the middle of lots of people, she has a love and hate relationship with the way he jellies her knees.

The music was changed into one of their favorite songs, 4Men’s Baby Baby. They saw Chaerin and Seungri controlling the music.

“Those two.” She shook her head; her mind is telling her to let go of him, but it was her heart that stayed rooted on the dance floor.

“Jjinjja,” Jiyong hissed, “You can let go. But believe me, I can only pull you closer.” In which he did but she was able to hide the flush. She forgot this is Jiyong the only man she allowed to know her deep within, her masks are a no-match on how he knows her.

Her gaze told him otherwise, “It’s our song.” IT was their song. They loved listening to it while they only stay inside their home. They loved singing and dancing to it during their lazy Sundays. Everybody got tired of hearing it and he was able to draw inspiration from it while thinking about her. He didn’t write it, but it became their song.

It was his first time taking his eyes off her, he looked up stopping his tears to drop. He is holding his one and only weakness but at the same time he holds on to her like his one and only strength. Their song fueled all these emotions. Tonight, is a celebration of love—maybe all sorts of love.

The lost, the denied and the obvious. Love is still there, nevertheless.

“What is this kind of love that we have, Dara?” he was successful not to cower to his feelings.

She kept silent but unlike him she was already a whole mess of tears. Her silence wasn’t because she doesn’t know the answer. It’s because it’s the only thing that she’s sure of.

The love that they have, was the kind that made them believe in love.

“We need to heal ourselves first before we love again, Jiyong-ah,” comes her truthful answer. It wasn’t what he was expecting—it wasn’t what he wanted to hear but it’s enough to keep him alive.

He leaned closer until he felt her forehead pressed into his, breathing in her scent. She smells like home, where his heart truly belonged. He grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest—“You should know…” she felt his heartbeat speed a little, “You should always know.”

“How can I forget?” she drew a deep exhale. She can never forget how Kwon Jiyong loves. She gripped his hands and made her way out of the dance floor, leaving him. It is a relief that people are all busy with other things, their eyes are all focused to the newly-weds, after all, it is their love that they are all celebrating.

Jiyong stepped off the dance floor to follow Sandara—he thinks that the woman deserves an Oscar for acting like nothing happened when they’re in each other’s arms. Forgive the man but he is human too, he may have been a monster to her for his past mistakes, but he deserves her love again.

--

Their story can be traced back to their trainee days, in which both are two people with big ambitions, two people who dreamt huge, two people who can understand each other’s desire to share happiness through performing and music. The foundation of their love is not only of friendship, but it has gone deep, they saw each other starve, pass out because of fatigue and almost give up.

Sandara and Jiyong are both witnesses of their own beginnings. She was there way before he’s become THE GDragon, he was there when she was still just another pretty face who failed to get into a new girl group. In more ways than one, they both have pulled each other up and push each other to do better.

It took Jiyong a couple of years to muster courage to tell Sandara what he really feels. It took her awhile to be brave enough to trust again.

You know what they say, if this love is for you—the universe will conspire. It has never been easy, but they were happy, to the point that Sandara admitted that it has been the happiest she’s ever been.

“I’d die if you’re not mine…” he whispered to her once when they were in a meeting, all she did was reach for his hands interlocking their fingers, “Na do,” she’d whisper. They were so lovely, so in-love like Highschool students experiencing their first love. The people around them supported them and thought that they’d end up marrying each other. Most can say, they’re pretty much married—all they need is a formal ceremony that’s how solid they were.

It wasn’t easy but were they worth it?!

Of course, they are.

She thinks they were. He still thinks they can still be worth it.

Love blossoms but it can also wither—gradually. Slowly but surely. Will it hurt any less if they if ended fast? It will never hurt any less. The love that they once had was rooted from friendship, Jiyong risked his one and only strength to become his weakness. Sandara knows this, that’s why she’s too scared to risk it all. Until he told her, “I know I already crossed a line Dara.” He did, ever since Jiyong dropped all the honorifics and only called her by her name.

“I am ready to risk everything and cross all those lines…” his eyes were dripping with honey when he confessed to her, “over and over again.”

“Jiyong-ah…” she called, “Am I worth risking everything…?”

“Sandara—you’re worth it all.”

Throwing caution to the chilly winds of Seoul she hugged him tight. Her best friend loves her too much too, that is indeed worth risking everything.

“ALL IN!!!” she screamed from too much happiness.

“Saranghae, Jagiya!” he gave her a kiss on the lips. It’s their first kiss. Her body turned jelly despite of the cold temperature, her nerves are pulsing warm blood. She will never forget the sensation she felt when she first felt his warm lips. “Saranghae…”

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It’s also a f