Text Messages

Ji, on the way to the training room, received a message on his phone from Dara. Smiling at himself, he read the message and blinked in surprise. He slowed the car to a stop near the traning area’s gates.

“Is this true???” he asked himself, his eyes widening in disbelief. The message had read “Ji, Saranghae.”

Shaking his head. “It couldn’t be”, he thought “Dara wouldn’t say something as important as this over the phone. It isn’t her personality at all… but…”

“Hyung!!!” Seung-ri greeted him as he opened the door.

“Is Dara here?” he asked, looking around and seeing everyone except Minji, Daesung, and that one special girl.

“Ow” Seung-ri’s face suddenly lit up “Noona just went to change shirts.”

Ji accepted this piece of information with a nod. His right eye had suffered no real damages last night but he was happy to have an excuse to have Dara with him.

She wasn’t totally relaxing with him yet but she was at least talking to him last night. He tried to open the topic of Jin-ah but wasn’t able to find the right timing. Dara had become immense in talking about how much she missed the Philippines after he had handed her the note from her friend and since that had been the most talkative he saw her since three years ago, he had let her continue.
Listening to her voice did wonders for him.

“Anyeong!” Dara greeted as she entered the training room.

“Noona! Ji-hyung has been looking for you” Seung-ri announced.

Dara looked at his direction and bowed. “Why Ji-sunbae?”

Totally caught off-guard as her scent played havoc with his mind, he steeled himself to be able to answer her. “I… ahhhh… wanted to ask you something” he answered.

“Ow. What about?” she asked.

“Is your phone with you?” he asked her back.

“No. I left it with Daesung-sunbae” she answered.

That surprised Ji “Uhmmmmm… Daesung has been holding it all morning?”

Dara nodded. “He said he wanted to play the games I had on my phone.”

“Ahhhhhhhh…” Ji exclaimed, understanding dawning on him.

“Why do you ask?” Dara inquired.

“It’s just that you told me I love you and I thought it was really you and I was really really hoping it was you but it turns out that Daesung’s playing games with me” he wanted to answer but kept that thought in his head. “Ow. Nothing” he told her instead “Uhmmm… do you know where Daesung is?”

“I think he went out to buy food” Dara answered, still weirded out by the things Ji had been asking her. “Why is he looking for my phone?”, she thought curiously.

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On the other side of the training room, Seung-ri sat in the middle of CL and Bom.

“I told you it wouldn’t work” CL chided him.

“We still have other plans” Seung-ri answered “That’s just one of them.”

“I’ll cross my fingers that at least one of your bright ideas will work” the 2NE1 leader answered.

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Quit playing games

Over the past week, while rehearsing Hello and practicing routines for new 2NE1 numbers, Dara saw just how playful the Big Bang-sunbaes actually were.

Apparently, the day that Ji had been asking about her phone was the day that Ji had received a message of confession from her. She blushed furiously after hearing Daesung confess that he was the one who sent the message just to pass on a joke.

YB had messaged Daesung the night before via Minji’s phone a confession as well. Using 2NE1’s Dara and Bom phones, he sent an I Love You message too to both Ji and YB.

Out for revenge, Ji had messaged Daesung via Seung-ri’s phone that Seung-ri wanted to sleep with him and on it went. The guys had begun prank texting one another that she and all of 2NE1 had vigilantly held on to their phones.

“I didn’t know they could really take prank texting to this level” CL announced.

“I think we should stop them” Dara answered "It's unbelievable how they still keep pranking each other!"

“How do we do that?” Bom asked "They're so carried away by it."

They were just resting up when Teddy suddenly came in.

They stood up and immediately acknowledged the Manager.

“So, how are you doing?” he asked.

“We’re finishing our routine for Let’s Go Party and Pretty Boy” CL answered “Aimee-unnie has been really really helpful and patient.”

“That’s good to hear then” Teddy answered and glazed CL’s cheek with his fingers “I’ll drop by later then to see the whole routine. Do your best everyone.”

As the manager left, Dara saw how CL almost melted into a puddle.

“CL-roo!” she shouted at her “You’re going crazy!”

CL seems as though to wake from a trance and wagged her tongue at Dara.

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For you I will

As he and Dara began rehearsals for Hello, he tried his hardest not to lose focus on the song. All the guys and the other girls had left for the day but the both of them still need to practice some more.

Being with her this close, though, was making him just want to hold her hand and stare at her – which would not be good at all as his focus wasn’t supposed to be those things.

This song was more for her than for him, he instilled in his mind. “I have to make her really really look good in this.” He knew how hard she was training and how much she pushed herself. It had broken his heart when she had declared herself the one who needs so much more to improve but he admired her for having admitted such a weakness and showing ferocious dedication towards chaning that.

On a professional level, her passion was something he really really admired as it burned brighter than anything he has seen. She often beat his own flame even.

As the last lines of the song played, he stopped the player and took two bottles of water. He handed her one.

“I’m finding it hard to sing when I’m moving” Dara told him before taking a swig of the water bottle.

“You need to practice your breathing” Ji replied “That could become a problem as most of your songs have you moving around a lot.”

She nodded. “I’ll practice on that more.”

“Ask our voice coach to give you techniques on how to control your singing. He’ll give you the right phase for your breathing when you’re dancing” he advised.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Let’s go at it again, ok?” Ji asked.

Dara nodded and put the bottled water down. “Let’s play!” she shouted.

“There’s the spirit” Ji commented as he pressed the play button again.

“We have to make this performance really really good”, he thought to himself, “I will not allow anyone to downsize her… no one at all.”

It was a promise he had with himself – a promise he wasn’t ever going to break. And as the first performance of this number was drawing near, he knew the promise was going to be tested most heavily.