Time does not matter

“Papa, don’t be angry with what I am to say ok? You look stupid” Mai said alouyd, her brows tight knit as she looked in all seriousness at the man she had considered her father for years now - the one who had picked her up from Teddy’s club for this first night of performance that 2NE1 did after training with her in “disguise”.

“I wanted to see how the training will turn out for them” Mr. YG answered non-chalantly as Mai slid beside him.

“You could have told me that you wanted to watch them” the woman answered, helping Mr. YG remove a piece of the mustache he put on “I’m sure Teddy would have welcomed you.”

The President smirked.

“Well, he might not welcome you yet with open arms but he surely would have extended his hand to you” Mai told him.

“No need to be so defensive of Teddy. I do believe he will do as you say.”

“Then, why did you disguise yourself?”

“I wanted to watch the girls without being distracted. This is pretty much what I did with the boys too.”

“And?”

“They still need to improve a lot” Mr. YG replied dryly, shrugging his shoulders as he ordered the driver to head to their favorite restaurant.

“You’re not saying the truth” Mai .

“They do need a lot more to improve on” the President contradicted as he reached down for a bag to put his mustache, bull cap, and night glasses in “You’ve taught them to perform better than they previously did and the crowd loves them but I don’t think they are prepared for the mainstream just yet.“

“I know you think otherwise” she replied stubbornly.

“Very hard-headed I see… Why do you want to fight for these youngsters? You’ve only known them for what? A week right? You cannot judge talent that quickyly.”

Mai smiled “You, more than anyone, should know Papa that recognizing a star does not take a very long time.”

Mr. YG shook his head “You will not let up about this, will you?”

“No” Mai answered seriously “I want you to help them Papa. We have to take them away from Song Yu Seuk.”

The president heaved a deep sigh “You do know what that means, right, Mai? Have you forgotten what it will take for me to do as you ask?”

“How could I ever forget that Papa?” Mai asked.

Deeply frustrated, Mr. YG looked directly at the woman he had closely regarded like his own child. “I cannot allow myself to let you throw away everything you have worked hard for.”

“Papa, I am not throwing anything away. I will still be your child and I will remain in this industry – with you – to look for more idols and stars.”

“But everything will be different! If Teddy knows what is at stake for what he asks of me, I am sure he would not have asked it at all!”

“That’s why he must never know Papa… you must never tell him” Mai took the President’s hand in hers and pressed upon it “You and Teddy have sacrificed for me over the years and sometimes, I still think that I might have ruined you both –“

“Of course you haven’t!” Mr. YG cut in.

“That is what you say Papa but I know that that isn’t the case. You and Teddy might never be able to go back to the time when you saw one another as father and son because of me…” Mai tried her best to hold back the tears but one drop ran down her cheek “Let me do this Papa. Let me do this sacrifice.”

“No!!! You’re only doing this for Teddy! And he won’t even be happy when he realizes what you have done!”

Mai nodded “I will admit… before I met Big Bang and 2NE1, I would have only done this because of Teddy but Papa, those girls and guys are some of the best talents I have ever seen. They’re the kind of stars that pass us by once in our lifetimes. Their talents are so pure and raw and wonderful that I can’t let them be caged by Song Yu Seuk’s bullying. They have to share that with the rest of the world and you have the capability to make that possible!”

“Let Jay take them instead! They’ll be better off with JYP!”

“Papa!” Mai said in shock “How could you even think that?!?”

“Mai… please… think through this carefully. We could find an alternative solution.”

Mai kissed the President’s hand and looked at him sadly. “You and I both know Papa that there is none. This is the only way. You are the only one who can give Yu Seuk something that he wants.”

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A Brother’s Love

“How long have you guys known?” Ji asked his brothers as they reeled from the aftermath of Jin-ah’s wrath. The woman had not gone without a fight. Shouting explicits to the sky, she made sure that Ji Yong would never forget her promise that he and Dara would never find happiness.

“We’ve had our doubts for some time now” YB was the first to answer “but we’ve never really confirmed anything until now.”

Ji looked at each one of them “So Jin-ah has been doing a lot of things for a long time and you guys have been trying to contain it?”

“It was all that we could do” T.O.P. explained “She, as you said, have become such a different person and we were fearing that she might do real damage with her scheming. As it is, she has begun pushing Dara towards one of her fanboys and she’s relentless at it.”

“We also think that she’s feeding Dara-noona false information like you and her hooking up again or something like that” Seung-ri added.

“But… how did she know about us?” Ji was perplexed. How could Jin-ah direct her ploys against Dara? Was he that crystal clear to everyone?

Daesung shuffled his feet uncomfortably “That’s our fault hyung.”

“WHAT?!?!?!”

Daesung immediately put his hands up his face, closing his eyes, expecting to be hit.

“Tell me what you mean” Ji said aloud, bewildered at D’s reaction.

“Ow!” Dae exclaimed and put down his hands as fast as he had them up “I thought you were going to punch me.”

“Will I need to do that before you tell me the whole story?”

“No hyung! Of course not” Dae answered and shook himself up “Jin-ah overheard us talking about you and noona.”

“When did this happen?”

“Tha day she returned” YB responded “Remember you left us after eating and went back to the training room? T.O.P. asked her why she had returned and she answered that it was because of you.”

“I told her that it wouldn’t work” T.O.P. continued “Because you already have someone you care about. She left in anger to go to the rest room and YB asked me how I knew so we got to talking about you and Dara. We all didn’t know that she had come back and so she heard everything.”

Embarassment creeping up on him, Ji turned away from all of them and walked towards a wall to lay his head on cold stone. “Who else knows?”

“CL, Bom, and Minji” Seung-ri replied.

“So, you all know?!?” Ji faced them again “Why didn’t any of you ask me or Dara?”

“I actually did ask Dara” YB confessed, bowing his head “but she denied it… so, I didn’t think of asking you anymore.”

“Besides, you took such pains to hide it hyung” Dae added in a whisper “We knew that if you didn’t want us to know, it was important to you to keep it secret.”

“Manager does not know of this?”

T.O.P. shook his head “We’re the only ones who do.”

Digesting all this information, Ji slid down to a slump. “But… was I that transparent to you? Could it be that other people know of this already other than you guys?”

“Well, we just know now of this because you’ve confirmed it to us… the fans do have doubts if you’ve been reading on-line but no one could really say they know a thing” YB told him, walking slowly to where he sat, he put a hand on Ji’s shoulder “We know this bro because we know you.”

Ji looked into YB’s eyes “I believe you do.”

-----------------------------------------------------------

Gravity

“Umma, drink your medicine ok?” Dara reminded her mother who was coughing again on the other line. For the second time this month, Mrs. Park was down with fever and Dara had been consistently calling her.

“I will dear. Don’t worry. It’s just its getting really really cold but I’ll be ok soon. Durami looks after me really well and you and Sanghyun always come by so I will be ok very soon.”

“I will call you again ok? I love you Umma.”

“I love you too…” another coughing fit and Durami came on the phone.

“Unnie… don’t worry about Umma. I’ll be here” Durami told her.

“I know… but it’s just hard not seeing her – or you either” Dara replied “I miss you guys.”

“Sanghyun says the same and I told him to just get back” Durami replied, laughing “Maybe you should just go back too.”

Dara smiled and joked back “When I’m so so rich that we can buy ten houses and choose where to sleep for the night, I’ll always stay with you.”

Durami laughed “You take care too ok? You might get sick and the you can’t sing your “Hello” song with Ji Yong!”

“Oh my God!” Dara squealed “What are you saying?!? Umma will hear you!”

“Duh!” Durami teased “What makes you think Umma does not know? You obviously really like Ji Yong. Umma even told me that the first time you met him, you forgot all about Joseph.”

Blushing furiously “Umma said that?!?”

Durami laughed “Even Appa said it. He’s also been calling here a lot just to check whether you and Ji Yong are already dating.”

Completely surprised and totally embarrassed to face her parents now, Dara was not able to answer at all and she heard Durami laughing more at the other line. “Hey! Don’t laugh too much. Umma’s sleeping!” she said instead.

However, Durami just laughed more “If Umma could laugh, she would have so she’s just smiling right now but I’m surely not disturbing her and she tells me that you must be furiously blushing right now.”

Dara let a groan “OK! That’s it! Bye Bye! I love you both!” and she put down the phone.

She was indeed furiously blushing.