~Samantha Krede~

JunHyung doesnt text you as often as he used to throughout the weekend. You and him used to chat at least once a day, but now you haven't talked to him since you both heard the news of working with GDragon; and you don't even know if you were going to work with him for sure yet.

You feel nervous as Jared drives you to meet with GDragon at the YG Entertainment building on the other side of Seoul. Your special camera crew has followed you here as well and keep the cameras pointed on you. You hide from their questions behind your headphones as you direct your attention out the window. Seoul is busy and bustling even in the evening on a Monday. You watch the people moving about attending to their own type of schedules. Shopping, talking, walking, running, families, friends. Cars rush past in some type of a hurry. Each car... each building... every person with an individual life. Their own struggles, triumphs, defeats and love.

"You excited?" you can just hear Jared call back to you from the front seat.
You pretend not to hear as you listen to your music. This doesn't last for long as Jared picks up an apple from his lunch bag and tosses it over his head. The fruit lands square in your lap and you jump wtih fright. You pick it up and look at it, turn it around in your hand and examine its color, its smooth feel, even the smell. You look down at your ipod and turn on the screen. "Butterfly" by GDragon is playing. Since you heard about GDragon wanting to meet you, you and the rest of Eclipse started to research BigBang a little more. You found that you really did like a lot of their music... especially GDragon's work. Butterfly had to be your favorite song as you couldn't stop playing it on repeat.
"Sam!" Jared yells back to you, bringing you out of your own thoughts.
"What?" you whine as you pull your headphones down.
"I asked you if you were excited?" he says quietly.
"Hm, i guess so." you answer.
"Nervous?"
"Not really."
"Then what is it?"
"Nothing. I don't feel anything. I'm just... nothing."
"Feeling depressed?"
"I don't know." you answer honestly.
You might be a little depressed. You miss JunHyung, that much you know. And you're anxious about working with GDragon.
You look to your phone as the screen lights up indicating a new email. Your mom. You sigh and lock the screen again. Family adds to your guilt as well as to your sadness.

The van pulls up to the YG Building; it's bigger than Cube's but not as open to the public. Jared gets out at the front and a YG staff member comes to park the van. You follow Jared up the stairs and into the giant building.
"They're here somewhere..." Jared mumbles as he looks at the map.
His fingers trace along the room list and stops at a number.
"Here we go." he says and starts for the elevators.
You hurry to catch up. Jared gabs on about what a great opportunity it is to work with a YG artist and GDragon specifically. You nod along but put your headphones partially on at the same time.
Jared leads you down the hall and to a recording room.
"You ready?" he asks as he straightens his tie.
You nod and concentrate on swallowing.
He knocks quietly on the door and then opens it just a crack. He looks in first and then opens it the rest of the way and brings you in.
The room is small and stuffy. Three people sit at a table full of computers and other flashing tech equipment. They face a window to a recording room where a man on the inside is singing into the mic.
"Who is that?" you whipser to Jared as you take off your headphones again.
Jared chuckles, "That's Tablo."
Tablo? You don't know much of Tablo besides that he was involved negatively with the press recently. Is he working on a new album?
You then look to the people at the table. There's a bigger guy with dark hair wearing a white t shirt; and next to him, leaning back in the chair is a blonde boy with skinny jeans, and a black t shirt; a third man stands to the side, older and a little bigger around the waist, dressed in a suit. This last man turns as you and Jared stand along the back wall in silence.
"Alright, Tablo," the bigger man calls in, "We're going to do it again, but GD needs to leave."
The man in the recording studio nods and gives a thumbs up.
The blonde boy at the table sits up and looks up at the bigger man in confusion. He quickly turns around and his eyes widen as he sees you. His hair is short blonde and styled in a spiked fashion with purple and pink tips. His eyes are wide and clear. His lips are... perfect, and when he smiles, all of his teeth show.
"Oh," he exclaims, "You must be Samantha!" he gets up and bows as he nears. He takes your hand in both of his and smiles a sweet smile.
You can't help but to smile back as you quickly bow in return. "And you must be GDragon." you say quietly.
"You can call me Ji Yong." he says, "I mean... when in public people call me GDragon, but as friends i would like you to call me Ji Yong."
A smoothe talker, you think. You smile and nod. "And you can call me Sam." you counter with a sly smile.
 Ji Yong laughs and nods. He purses his lips and smiles. Then he turns to Jared, "And you're the Jared Regan i talked to on the phone?" he bows again.
"Yes, i am." Jared says a little too loudly.
"Let's go outside and talk." GDragon smiles and gets the door for you. He puts his hand out to urge you on and you smile as you leave.
You and Jared walk out to the hall. He smiles widely to you with his back to Ji Yong. He gives you a thumbs up and a goofy expression. You laugh and roll your eyes as you playfully slap his arm down.
"So," Gdragon goes to continue.
"Well," Jared interupts, "I actually have to get going, Sam, i have another meeting with Cassie back at Cube. But i'll send the van for you when you're ready, just text me."
"Are you serious, Jared?" you ask in aggravation.
"Yes, i'm sorry i can't stay." Jared turns to GD.
"Oh, really?" GDragon says innocently.
"Yeah i have more work to do."
"Jared, you must be joking." you say through clenched teeth as you grab onto his sleeve a little too tightly.
"No, i really need to go." he says as he yanks your hand off of him. "This is your album, Sam," he says a little quieter, "You make it how you want it." then a little louder, "I'll be off then." and he walks down the hall to the elevators.
You turn to Gdragon, embarassed, but he's already smiling.
"Shall we go?" he asks informaly.
"Sure." you smile back.
GDragon starts off down the hall and you hurry to keep up with is pace.
"So, why don't we go somewhere where we can talk comfortably. I know there's a lot going on around here."
"Oh, alright." you say as you hurry along. "Where exactly are we going?"
"Hm... we'll find a spot somewhere around here..." he answers as if he doesn't even know yet.
You follow closely behind him, watching your feet to avoid looking at his shoulder muscles through his shirt.
"So," he called over his shoulder, "I heard you on the interview a few days ago and looked up your group. You guys have some good music. You are really good at rapping as i thought your lyrics were deep, emotional and powerful. So i thought you would be a good pick to work with. I hope you don't mind that i asked your manager about it... i know this is your solo album..."
"No, uh it's fine." you stumble as you try to keep up with his quick pace. 
He rounds the corner and stops short. You run into his back and your nose bends into his hard shoulder blade.
"Oh!" you exclaim as you hop back and hold your nose with both hands and wide eyes.
He turns around quickly with a worried expression. "Oh!" he says as he moves to you. His hands go on your shoulders and he bends closer to look at you. "Are you okay?" he asks.
"I'm fine." you answer in a nasally voice. You drop your hands in embarassment and try to sweetly smile your way out of the awkward situation. "Are we here?" you quickly try to switch the subject as the smell of his cologne still swirls around on your nose.
He smiles and turns back around. He opens the door and walks into a vacant recording room. It's set up just like the other one except there are no people here. "This can work, right?" he asks as he walks in and turns to you.
You smile and follow him in. There's a couch with a coffee table across from the computers and recording studio.
"This is perfect." you answer.
"Good, it's my personal recording room." he smiles.
"Really?" your voice gives away your genuine interest.
"Yep, so from now on when you come here, you can just come up here. Even if i'm not here yet, you can wait for me here." he walks over to a mini fridge on the side wall and opens it up. "You can help yourself to anything too. Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, sure."
He tosses you a Diet Pepsi and keeps one for himself. He pops the top and throws it back as he grabs a folder off the compuer table and goes to the couch. He plops down comfortably and sets the folder down on the coffee table. He sets his Pepsi down and flips through the folder's contents. He looks up to you when he notices that you haven't moved yet. He smiles and pats the couch cushion next to him.
You laugh and pop open your drink as you go to sit next to him.
"So, i've already thought of some stuff." he says.
"Oh good."
"Have you come up with anything so far?"
"Some lyrics and stuff but that's all."
He nods and pulls out some sheets of music. You pull off your lucky pack and pull out your own music scrawled on notebook paper.
"What were you thinking about for a concept?" he asks next.
"To be honest, i wanted this album to show my real personality and life."
He nods. "Okay." he smiles. "We'll have to see if we can find common ground then. Certainly... certainly you have had love before, right?"
You blush with his question. "Uh huh." you nod.
"Sorry, weird question i know. But love is sort of universal, so we have common ground now." He looks to you and you look back into his deep eyes. Mesmorizing eyes.
"True." you smile and look away with a shake of your head. "Love was definately a part of mine, in which case we can use that to do... a duet?" you're starting to feel more comfortable now.
"A duet, perfect!" GD exclaims. "I wanted to try a half and half album. Half yours half mine. And for the duet we can... meet in the middle i guess."
"Oh!" your eyes widen and you sit up quickly as new ideas pop into your head.
"What?" Ji Yong asks as he looks up with a shocked expression.
"I've just had an idea..." you say as you stare off into space.
"Well, let me hear it." he smiles warmly.
You quickly lean forward and pull out your notebook and pen to scribble it all down before you forget.
"This is what i was thinking." you start, "You said a half and half album. Songs from me and songs from you and then songs from both. Well, why don't we try to create a story? LIke... i'll have my songs and you have yours but they compliment eachother. Kind of like in a relationship you have the girl's feelings and then the boy's feelings." he nods along with you as you draw. You draw an album case. One one side you write your name and on the other you write his. "So say i'll have the first song. I can make it personal to me. My story. Then in the next song you can come in and be featured in it, adding parts of your story to mine," you begin to draw a line coming from your part of the album towards the middle, "Then then next can be a complete duet, half and half, completing the story. The song after that can be yours featuring me," then you draw a line coming from the other end of the ablum, "and the last one just you. So its like, both of our stories start on one side of the album and... meet in the middle." you bring both lines together in the middle of your album.
You look up to GDragon and he's looking down at your sketch. His hand is on his chin as he thinks. Then it seems to click in his mind and he looks up.
"Yeah!" he exclaims excitedly, "We'll make it a story. The girl's side and the boy's side. An when performing on stage, we can alternate. Your song, my song, your feature, my feature, and then the ending will be our duet together..."
"The ending to our story." you smile as you go along with his train of thought.
He looks into your eyes and smiles. His smile reaches all the way to his wonderful eyes, and makes you smile back in joy.
"I like it!" he says, "I like it a lot! This is good! This will work. It'll be dramatic..."
"Inspirational..."
"Uplifting..."
"Hearbreaking..."
"Sad..."
You both start to laugh with each other at the genius of your plan. You smile and nod. This will really be a good album. This was a great idea.
"Alright," Gdragon says, "But this means our stories have to somehow be the same... but from different perspectives. How can we do that?"
"Acting." you answer quickly.
"How so?" he asks inquisitively.
"On stage it'll just be acting. No big deal."
"Okay, but what about the actual album? The lyrics? The actual story? We need to... need to get to know each other a bit. See if our stories can be meshed together."
You nod but are hesitant. Do you have to tell him your life story? Your pains? Sorrows? Regrets? How can you tell him all of that? How can you tell your fans all of that?
"It's a scary idea, right?" He says with a smile as he seems to be reading your thoughts.
"Uh, just a little." you say as you run a hand through your hair.
"It's okay, you get used to it. You kind of have to accept that sort of thing when you get into this business." he looks back to the paper on the table.
"What sort of thing?" you keep your eyes on him.
"The lack of a personal life." he replies flatly.
You watch him as he shuffles the papers around on the table. He seems to be avoiding your eyes now. He all of a sudden seems like a child. Not too much older than you, yet somehow he has experienced a lot as well. Perhaps you and him are more compatible than you thought.
"So," he says as he sits up and claps his hands, "What do you say you and i go out there and get to know each other a little, huh?"
You start to laugh and sit back on the couch.
GDragon laughs with you and packs up with stuff. "I know a good little cafe down the street, why don't we head that way?"
"Okay, sounds good." you laugh as you put your things away too.

GDragon walks you to a small coffee shop down the street, luckily not many people are out. Some fans do spot you and take pictures. After all, being a blonde American girl in the middle of Seoul with Kwon Ji Yong, it was hard not to stick out.

You and GD spend the time talking and getting to know each other. He tells you about his family, his mother and father and older sister. He tells you about his business and music. And he tells you about his girlfriends. He says he's only had one serious girlfriend pre debut but has seen other girls and even had feelings for them, but never made them his girlfriend.
"You see," he continues, "My first girlfriend said i changed. Which i admit to. It's hard not to change when you go from a no one to the only one. Debuting was hard, i did have to change a lot about myself, but i never changed who i cared about... but she did."
"She cheated?" you ask.
He nods.
"I'm sorry," you apoplogize, "I'm a really open and honest talker. I don't always know what's appropriate to say and what's not."
"No, it's okay!" GDragon assures you, "I really like that. It makes the conversation more comfortable." he smiles to himself.
"Hm, good." you smile and look down.
"And you?" he asks.
"Well..." now you feel embarassed that he could tell you all of that and you can't even tell him about you.
So you tell him about your family. You tell him about your hard times pre debut and about your parents splitting.
"What about a boyfriend?" he asks after a while.
"I had one." you answer.
"...And?" he urges. "I'm sorry, it's just that, that's what our album's going to be on... so..."
"No i know, i understand, it's okay." you assure him. "Well, i'll just tell you right now that he was not a good guy. I made stupid decisions to keep him because i was scared, but i was just so stupid then. We broke it off really badly..." you look away.
"Okay." GDragon says simply. "Why don't you just work on your first songs, and that will give me a better idea of what to write. I'll help with adding my feature into your second and then we'll work together on the duet."
You smile and nod, grateful that you don't have to say anything more.
"I think my first song is just going to be about me personally, but my second, when i add you, will be more like a relationship." you say.
He nods along. "Okay, that sounds good."

The rest of your meeting with him is more leisurely. You two talk about more fun stuff: likes, dislikes, habits, interests. By the end of the night, you feel like you really know him. You can now talk to him openly and easily and you two even tease each other.
You pull out your phone and dial Jared as you two walk back towards the YG building. It must be around eight at night now.
"Who are you calling?" Gdragon asks as he puts his hands in his pockets and you stroll down the sidewalk.
"I'm telling Jared to pick me up." you smile, "Funny, back in the US i have my liscense but not here."
"Well, hey, i'll take you back!" Gdragon offers.
"No, really it's okay. Jared said to call."
"No, i'm serious it will be fine! My car is right out back, no problem."
Jared won't answer his phone.
"Really? Are you sure?" you look to him.
He smiles back. "I'm sure. Come on, i'll take you back."
He leads you around the YG building to a parking garage. He open the door to a nice white Audi and you stand and stare at it.
"This is your car?" you gasp.
"Ha, yep." he smiles. "Do you like it?"
"Yeah!" your jaw drops as you slide into the passenger seat.
GD shuts the door for you and goes in on the other side. He starts up the car and drives off. The ride is more quiet but comfortable. You don't mind the easy silence, and he doesn't seem to care either.
Once outside of the Cube building you open the door and then turn back.
"Thank you!" you smile awkwardly, "This was not what i expected. I'm glad we're working together on this album."
He smiles back. "I think it will turn out really well!"
"Me too." you laugh and go to leave when he grabs a hold of your arm.
Panic jumps out of you first but you gather yourself up quickly. You turn around cautiously and look to GDragon.
His lips curl into a half smile, almost as if he's a little embarassed. "Do you think... do you think i could get your number? So we can keep in touch on this?" he asks.
"Oh! Uh.. sure!" you laugh to yourself and gather your stuff.
You tell him your number as you get out of the car. He smiles and nods as he enters it directly into his phone.
"I'll just text you so you can have my number too." he calls to you.
"Okay, good idea." You wave goodbye and shut the door.
You turn around and try to hide the smile that spreads over your face. You walk up the steps to the Cube building when Jared calls your phone.
"Where are you?" he asks.
"Walking up the steps to Cube now." you reply.
"How'd it go?"
"...Great." you know he can sense the smile through your voice.
"Good! Go to your dressing room, we can all talk there. I want to hear about it."
You smile and nod as you go up the steps. You can't get those butterflies out of your stomach.