“Unnie, what are you doing here?” Minzy asked, panicking.

“Well, I was just thinking of visiting umma and thought of asking sajang-nim’s permission”

SILENCE

“What are you all doing here anyway?” she asked.

NO ANSWER

She looked around, frowning a little to the unusual behavior of her fellow YG artists. Then, something in Seungri’s hand caught her eye. “Hey, that looks familiar, what is it?”

All eyes Seungri and the only photo visible in the room. The moment the others recognized Dara’s voice, they immediately hid the photos but it looks like the maknae was too shocked, too happy or plain stupid to even think of hiding it.

“Oh, this?” Seungri raise the photo up and showed it to Dara. “It’s just one of the photos of you and Jiyong hyung kissing which was used by Jina to blackmail hyung. But, don’t wo-“ Seungri stopped as he realized what he was saying and who was he talking to. His eyes widen in shock.

‘Uh-oh’ everyone thought.

Dara’s initial reaction was shock, of course. But after a few seconds, she charged in and grabbed the photo out of the boy’s hand.

“You said this is just ONE of the photos of me and Ji. . . Where are the others? Give it to me” she commanded as she looked at everyone else. Since it was already too late to deny and hide the other photos, they all handed it to her. As Dara looked at the photos one by one, her blush turned redder and redder and it didn’t escape Kush’s eyes.

“I must say, your best shot was at the Han river, I didn’t know you can kiss like that”

Her face went deep scarlet.

“How did this-? Who. . .?” she asked blankly.

“It was Jina’s doings. There was a time she followed Jiyong hyung in Japan, then she was surprised when she found out that he left for Korea already without saying anything to her. She asked some of her friends to follow hyung, and obviously, those photos were taken” Hyun Seung answered.

“Hyun Seung-ah! What are you doing here?” she asked, suddenly distracted.

“It’s a pretty long story” he answered. “What’s important right now are these photos”

Dara blushed again. But she bravely put up a face. “But why would Jina blackmail Ji?”

“She wants him back” Hyun Seung answered again.

“But why would she need to do that? Ji loves her. I heard it from him myself, he said he loved-“ Dara stopped. She recalled the scene in the hallway, which after three years was still very fresh, very vivid in her memory.

‘I loved her, noona’

Those were the exact words. He said LOVED, not LOVES. Past tense! How could she be so stupid not to notice it before?

But then again, even if it was past tense, that doesn’t mean that, he loves her, too. He said it himself, she shouldn’t have expected too much. But what jina did to Ji wasn’t right either.

“So, Jina used these photos to get Ji?”

“Yes. I think she threatened him about the release of the photos”

“So, Ji was scared that his career will-“

“Noona, you got it all wrong” YB interfered. “Now that these photos showed up, I can safely say that he was AFRAID for you, not for him. These photos can put an end to your career and can create a scandal.. But in my opinion, he was more afraid to you won’t reach your dreams because of these photos”

“I can second to that, Dara. I’ve known him for so long. I can even tell that he’s more than willing to give up his career just for you” Mr. YG added. Everyone else was starting to smile now. But Dara’s reaction took them by surprise. Instead of seeing a crying Dara, her face turned murderous instead.

“Are you telling me that he did “THAT” to me because of these photos?!?”

“W-well, YB stammered, “it’s-“

“Where is he?” she asked through gritted teeth.

No one answered.

“SEUNGRI-AH!!! WHERE IS HE?!?”

“He’s in the dorm” Seungri answered in his smallest voice, cowering in his seat. In a matter of second, Dara was out of the room already, leaving the photos flying behind her.

“Er, aren’t we going to stop her?” YB asked uncertainly.

“Or at least do anything?” Daesung seconded.

The President cleared his throat. “Er, I think it would be better to let her be. We did our parts already, let Jiyong do his. We don’t want to be involved in her wrath, do we?”

“Jina’s lucky she’s not here. She could be in deep trouble” Hyun Seung said.

“Why am I suddenly afraid for Jiyong hyung’s life?” Seungri mumbled.

“Me too” CL seconded.

------------>

‘How stupid can he get? Ahh! Kwon Jiyong, you’re gonna pay for this!’ Dara’s mind ranted as her feet furiously lead her out of the building and into the streets. Three years! She had to pretend for three years that she no longer cares for him. For three years, she tried her very best to control herself from hugging him whenever he’s near. For three years, she had to endure seeing him with that girl. All of it because of just some photos! How shallow!

She pressed the buzzer angrily the moment she was face to face with his door. She didn’t let go of the buzzer until the door opened.

“Who’s that, Ji?” she heard someone asked from the inside. There’s no mistaking that voice belonged to Jina.

“Dara, wha-, I mean, noona, what are you doing here?”

“Get out of my way” she growled and entered the dorm forcefully. She marched to Jina’s direction who was sitting in the sofa very comfortably with a remote control on her hand. She grabbed her arm and pulled her up roughly, she let go of her arm as her hand flew directly to the girl’s face. The girl’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

“That’s for being so desperate and using blackmail to get what you want!”

Then, she pushed her heard back to the sofa. “And that’s for stealing my Jiyong away from me!”

She turned around and gave GD a murderous glare, who was by the way, standing against the wall with a mixture of shock and fear in his cute face. She saw him swallowed hard as she started advancing on him. Then, for the second time, her hand flew again, this time, it landed on GD’s face, but not as forceful with what she did to Jina.

“That’s for you being so stupid and letting this girl blackmail you!”

Then her hand flew to the other side of his face. “That’s for you leaving and hurting me just because of those stupid photos! Didn’t it even cross your mind of how proud I will be if those photos were released because it’s YOU I’m kissing and not just because it’s for work but because I want to do that with you?”

Dara’s chest rose up and down heavily. Then, his fingers grabbed his shirt. “And this” she paused, trying to control her temper, “this is because I love you so much, you dimwitted pabo!”

She then pulled him to her and let their lips crash. If GD expected the kiss to be rough, he was wrong. Instead, the kiss was the gentlest kiss they ever shared together.

After a while, she pushed him away. “I hope you already learned your lesson” she hissed then roughly let go of his shirt. “And oh, don’t you ever show yourself or even a strand of your hair to me for a week because I haven’t forgiven you yet! If after one week you haven’t think of a perfect way to say sorry, I’m going to cut off the future of Kwon generation!” she threatened and looked down somewhere in between his legs. She looked back again. “Got that?”

GD nodded frantically. Then Dara looked back at the girl. “You can send those photos to every newspaper or broadcast company you want, I don’t care”
She looked back at GD and smirked. “Bear what I said in your mind”

Then she walked away with her head raise up proudly.

GD was too stunned to move or even speak. Then, a chuckled filled the room. His eyes turned to the source. He saw her mother looking at the closed door dreamily.

“She’s one of a kind, isn’t she?” his mother chuckled, wearing a very amused expression. “And oh, Jiyong, you’re grounded for a week”

“Eh? Umma, I’m too old for that! And why would you ground me when I-“

“Shush! I’d like to see my grandchildren before I die”

“U-umma, what should I do so that she can forgive me?”

“Who? Why? What happened here?”

GD’s head whipped towards the door. He groaned out loud upon seeing his sister with a luggage on hand. Out of all the days to visit, his sister chose this day.

“Did I miss out on something?” Dami asked.

GD didn’t answer. How was he going to explain everything?

“Ya1 Kwon Jiyong! I’m talking to you!”

Dami, come, let’s go have a walk outside. Leave your things here” his mom said.

“But, umma-!”

“Come on, now” his mom cut off and started pushing his sister out. “Jiyong still got some unfinished business to attend to”

The moment the door closed, he looked at Jina.

“You know what this mean, right?”

“Oppa” she stood up and hugged him. “Don’t do this to me, please! I only did that because I love you so much. You love me, too, don’t you?”

“I did, Jina, but that was a long time ago”

The girl hugged him tighter. “Please! If I have to beg you, I will” she cried and kneeled before him.

“Get up, Jina”

She hugged his knees. “I’m sorry. Please give me one more chance”

--------------->

GD sighed. Being imprisoned in his own place was something already, but with no phone and laptop or computer was something else. It’s been three days since the Bigbang boys raided his room and took every means of contact. For three days, he’s been alone in his dorm. The boys didn’t visit him after the raid, his mother and sister left with a few clothes with them. Four more days and his suffering would finally come to an end/ But the problem was the ‘perfect way’ to ask Dara’s forgiveness. He has some ideas but he can’t decide what to choose or even if that idea is perfect enough.

Then, he suddenly heard the door open. He stood up and saw the boys coming in with wide grins on their faces.

“Yo! You’re still alive!” TOP greeted. GD laughed. He doesn’t care what they say, he’s been craving for some human company since Gaho can’t talk back, can he? He hugged all of them.

When they were settled, he started asking them. “Can someone tell me what really happened?”

The boys looked at each other as if waiting for someone to speak up. Then, YB decided to volunteer, so he started telling him what happened, from the very beginning, from their talk with the President.

“Wait, wait. You mean, all of you knew about my fee- I mean me and Dara?”

The boys rolled their eyes. “You two were so obvious, who wouldn’t notice? Daesung said.

“Are you still interested in hearing the whole story?” YB asked.

“Of course I am” he answered. Then, YB continued where he left off.

“What? You. . You were just provoking me? So, you and Dara were never a couple or something?”

“No. And it was Seungri’s idea, I mean to provoke you. He’s been provoking you even before Jina came back. Remember when we where watching the Strong Heart episode and how the maknae kept on mentioning Lee Seunggi and how he keeps on calling noona MY DARA NOONA?”

GD slowly nodded. “So, TOP hyung and Dara are not really close, are they?”

“Ah, that. Well, they did become close” Seungri answered, grinning.

After two weeks. . .

‘You’re free to spend your last day with whoever you want to spend it with’

Dara sighed as she remembered that line. She didn’t think twice when she was asked whom she would spend her last day. The answer just automatically came out from . She sighed again and took her phone out and dialed a number.

“Hello?”

“Ya! Youngbae-ah! Are you free tomorrow?”

Neh. Why?”

“I have some plans in mind, you game?”

He chuckled. “of course I am”

“Good. Meet me in front of the building at 6am, okay? And oh, bring a hooded jacket, face mask and big glasses. Oh I forgot, bring your bike also, okay?”

Dara was sure about him. And for some reason, she knew that if YB was in her place and was also given the chance just like her, he would also choose her to spend his last day with.

The following day. . .

Dara smiled as he saw YB in front of the building with his bike. She also brought her pink bike with her. Both of them also had backpacks with them. When YB saw her, he smiled.

“Hey’ he greeted.

“Hi! Good morning!” she greeted back.

“So, what do you have in mind?”

“Let’s have a race to Han river”

He chuckled. “Okay. What would be the consequence?”

“It’s up to the winner” she grinned.

“Sounds good to me”

“Good. Okay, let’s start here. Ready, set go!” she shouted and went off.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” he called to her. She laughed. And so they raced each other towards the Han river.

“I won” she proclaimed.

“It’s because I let you win and you cheated” he answered. “So, what do you want me to do?”

“Drive us around the Han river”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to leave my bike here. I’m riding with you” she answered.

“Oh, okay. So, where do you want to sit? Front or back?”

“Back” she answered.

Dara wrapped her arms around YB’s waist as she rode at the back part of the bike.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Neh” she answered energetically. Then, they started circling around the Han river.

------->

“Let’s go to the karaoke!” she chirped after “touring the Han river, and bringing the bikes back to the dorm.

“Let’s have some lunch first”

“Oh, yeah, of course. And let’s put our disguises on”

After having lunch, they went to the karaoke and sang their lungs out, cosuming at least five hours of their time. Then, she invited him to Lotte World.

“It’s still early. It would be more fun at night”

“Let’s watch a movie first then”

They want to watch a funny movie and by the time they got out, it was already dark.

“Lotte World, here we come!” she cheered.

“Don’t you ever get tired?”

“Nope. Not today. Ssantokki is full of energy!”

And so, they went to the Lotte World and enjoyed every ride, still wearing their disguises.

“Let’s go to YG building. I’ve got something for you that I left in one of the practice rooms”

“Oh, really? What is it?” YB asked.

“Secret! Surprise surprise!” she winked.

Upon arriving at YG building, Dara immediately pulled YB to one of the building’s practice rooms.

“I made that myself” Dara proudly said as they both sat on the floor.

“Oh, a starfish plushie”

“Ya!” Dara exclaimed, slapping YB’s arm. “That’s not a starfish! That’s Tam-tamie’s sister. It’s color yellow because that’s the SUN’s color. And if you look closely, that’s actually a rabbit, not a starfish. Aish, I can’t believe you can’t recognize a work of art”

YB was silent as he squeezed the “yellow rabbit” tightly.

“Thank you” he mumbled.

She grinned. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it!”

He chuckled. “I didn’t say anything like that”

“Aigoo! Give that back then!

“I’m just kidding!” YB chuckled.

“Well, since it’s my last day, I had a confession to make” she suddenly said.

“oh, really? What is it?”

“Aigoo! This is going to be embarrassing! Okay, here it goes. I-I used to have a ‘thing’ for you before” she confessed then covered her face. But when she didn’t hear any reaction from YB, she looked at him. “You knew!” she exclaimed in disbelief as she saw his expression. “You knew, didn’t you?”

He nodded.

“Aigoo! Was I that obvious?”

He chuckled. “Not really. But since you made a confession, I’ve got a confession, too… What I feel for you is more than mere friendship. It has been like that for as long as I can remember” he mumbled. “But I guess I was too shy to tell you, so I ignored it. Then, the next time I looked, you were already deeply into him. Too deep that I can’t pull you back again anymore. But knowing you, even if I can pull you back again, you won’t allow me, will you?”

She smiled. “Yeah, I’m afraid I won’t let you pull me back again even if you can”

For some reason, she wasn’t THAT surprise about his confession. Maybe because deep inside, she knew all along. But since she was stubborn, she ignored and denied it.

“Come” YB suddenly said, taking her wrist and pulling her up with him.

“Where are we going?” she asked. He just smiled.

She saw some instruments as she entered the room where YB dragged her. But what’s standing among them all was the grand piano. YB pulled her with him as he went to the grand piano. He took a seat and motioned her to do the same. As she sat beside him, she playfully stomped her fingers on the keys, making a nonsense noise.

“Lalalalala…..” she sang tunelessly.

YB laughed. “You should take piano lessons again. And take your fingers off the keys, have mercy on the poor thing”

She laughed back and removes her hands on the “poor thing”. Then, YB put his own fingers on the keys and started playing to the melody of Always Dara’s head nodded to the beat of the Bigbang song. Then, he started sining. She sang along with him. She would chuckle once in a while but she laughe earnestly at the rap part as she stammered with the words. Then, the keys shifted as another song started to fill the room. She automatically froze..