A Night of Worry

Dara was surprised to receive a call from the Manager that he was picking her up along with the other girls to go to the hospital and see Daesung, who had been severely injured due to a car accident.

“I don’t know much about what happened yet but I’ll be with you in a while. I’ll pick up the others from your unit and then we’ll come and get you” the Manager had told her and she immediately scrambled to fix her stuff.

“What could have happened to the forever-smiling Daesung???” she thought worriedly. It was so hard to imagine someone like that involved in any misfortune such as a car accident. “Could he have been hurt really bad??? Oh My God! Were the others with him?!?!? Where was Ji Yong?!?!”

Without thinking twice, she looked for her phone and immediately dialed Ji’s number. The phone rang but Ji wasn’t answering yet.

Dara felt her surrounding getting colder every second that Ji wasn’t answering. “Could he have been in the accident too? Oh My God. Ji… ANSWER! PLEASE!” She was looking up the ceiling in prayer already.

“Dara?” she heard his voice on the other line and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ji?!?! Are you ok? You weren’t in the accident??? You’re fine???”

She heard him inhale “I’m ok. Me and Dae weren’t together when it happened. I’m here in the hospital now.”

“Thank God” she exclaimed, totally forgetting that she wasn’t even supposed to show him just how much she was really worrying.

“Manager will be picking you up soon so we’ll see one another. We’re just waiting now for the Doctor. We still don’t know much about Dae’s condition but he’s been hurt pretty bad.”

She clasped her hands to “Ommo!”

“Let’s all hope he’s going to be fine” Ji told her “He’s got to be.”

“I know he will be” Dara agreed “Dae will let us see his smile again.”

“That’s the spirit” Ji replied “Now, get all your stuff and wait for Manager ok? Don’t be rushing off here or anything crazy ok? I don’t want to worry about you too.”

Suddenly reddening at his words that she was thankful she was only talking to him through the phone, she said yes and promised to wait until Teddy and the others came. “Anyeong Ji-oppa.”

She felt him smile even though she wasn’t seeing him, making her pulse race faster than it already was “Anyeong Dara-maknae. I’ll see you in a while.”

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From the Angel to the Devil

Ji put down the phone and was not able to hide from the rest the smile that curved his face. Dara had called him with such worry that despite the situation, he couldn’t help but feel his spirits lift.

“She thought you were in the accident too?” YB asked.

He nodded “She was really worried.”

The others smiled at that and went back to their somber moods. “I can’t believe Jin-ah would do this” T.O.P. said aloud the thoughts that had been running through their heads before Dara’s call.

“Nevertheless she did” Mai answered “and almost escaped with it.”

“I also can’t believe how you could have ran after her noona” Seung-ri exclaimed “You were in heels, the area must have have been marshy as it had been raining, and she must have run with such speed.”

“I guess luck was with me at the time” Mai replied “but enough of that. I need you all to focus ok? That girl has done something grave which could have easily killed off Dae – I think that was her intention. And I don’t know the whole story but I have enough of an idea now to understand that” she turned to face Ji, her profile very very serious “you and Dara have something really special going on that this girl wants to break apart… am I correct?”

After Dae’s car crashed, Mai had immediately seized Jin-ah, who at that time had recovered from the shock and was trying to take advantage of the moment for her to make her escape. However, Mai was unperturbed and had been forced to render the younger girl unconscious with a “thug” move that she had learned from her wild and out days.

Thankful that her phone had held on to her pocket, Mai immediately called up Hyori to alert all the staff and cast members of the accident and they had mobilized to bring Dae to the nearest hospital. She, along with Jae had dropped off the unconscious Jin-ah (whom she had learned of due to the latter’s ID) in a nearby Police Station and were both about to leave to head for the hospital when the girl recovered, raving like a mad woman.

Mai had understood enough then to know that the accident wasn’t a random act of violence. It was planned. It was going to be murder.

“The girl frenziedly tried to reach for me and told me things like you guys have been hiding things from the public… that you guys are liars… and all of those things…” Mai covered her eyes, seeming to want to erase the memory of that young girl “That’s why I called you guys up first… coz I wanted to clear everything. I didn’t want Teddy barging in here and hearing stuff about this from Jae Seuk coz he will get curious and I had this feeling that this was something you didn’t want him to know.”

All four lads nodded and Mai felt her heart almost rip open. “How long has this been going on? How long has this been happening? Somebody… please clear the situation up to me.”

Ji clasped and unclasped his hands and looked at the woman he had come to fully respect both as an artist and as a senior for the past month. “You’re right Noona. I’ve been in love with Dara for the past three years now… maybe even longer. And Jin-ah was someone I used to date…”

“…who developed quite an obsession with him” T.O.P. continued “She just recently came back into the picture again Noona and we did everything we could to try to contain the situation but it got sordidly out of hand. We have never thought it would come to this. She was our friend and she wasn’t like this before.”

“That’s right Mai-noona” Seung-ri added “What the hyungs say is true. We don’t know how this has gone out of hand just like this. We’ve never even thought she would actually go that far.”

“You have never told anyone about this?” Mai asked.

“Well… we all know noona but it’s complicated… you see… us – Big Bang, and the rest of the 2NE1 girls know of Ji and Dara but Dara doesn’t know that we already know and we currently don’t want her to know about it and –“

Mai cut off YB by raising her hand “I’m getting more confused” she declared.

“The story’s really long Noona” Ji responded ans walked towards Mai tot ake her hand in his “and if I begin to tell you now… we might take up until morning. However, I would like you to promise one thing to me. Please, don’t let Teddy-hyung know of this and Dara… don’t tell her of this yet. I want to protect her from all this horror. Please Noona. Please.”

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One Family

As soon as Teddy had parked safely, they all dashed towards the emergency room. She, CL, Bom, and Minji didn’t flinch from the cold night air and immediately hurried.

They were met by Seung-ri, who CL instantaneously hugged, “How is Daesung-oppa? Is he ok?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

The drive from the training room to the hospital had been one of the longest of their lives. They held on each other and prayed as Mai had called them up to inform them that Dae had to undergo operation because he had fractured his ribs, broken his nose, and may possibly have internal bleeding.

Dara had never faced losing a friend in this way before and she hoped that everything was going to be fine. Ji had told her that it would be and she had to believe that.

Seung-ri gently rubbed CL’s tears “We’re still waiting for the doctors” he answered “but he’s going to be fine ok? You have to believe in that.”

CL, who had never ever displayed such an action to Seung-ri suddenly became self-concious and let go. She didn’t move any farther away from him, however.

“Where is everyone else?” Bom asked.

“Follow me” Seung-ri told him as he received a hug from their Manager.

“Let’s go” Teddy told them and they walked towards the other end of the corridor.

There, sat the rest of the boys with Dae’s Father and Mother and their Unnie, Mai.

Teddy immediately reached for Mai, who they were surprised to see, was dirtied with mud and smudged with dirt. Dara remembered that Teddy had told them that Mai was there when it all happened but she had not expected that their unnie was indeed really that close to the accident’s location. It seemed as though she was actually part of it but had barely escaped.

“How is he? Are you ok?” the Manager asked Mai worriedly as Dara searched for Ji’s eyes.

Ji, whose eyes looked tired and looked worn down, gave her one of those smiles that melted her to a puddle and walked towards her and pressed her hands together in his.

“No news yet?” she asked, uncaring whether the others saw. This night had shaken her and all she wanted to do was make sure that everyone she loved was safe and sound.

“A nurse came out a while ago and told us that everything’s been ok so far. They might be able to finish soon” Ji answered, oblivious to the others as well.

A doctor came out of the operating room and asked for Dae’s parents. They all huddled closer.

“He’s going to be fine but he will need a lot of rest” the Doctor told them and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank God” Mrs. Kang exclaimed.

“He’s going to hurt pretty bad, though, and he might not be able to hear very clearly or smell at all” the Doctor added, patting both parents with assurance “The crash affected his olfactory senses and this might panic him but you have to keep him calm as it could bring more damage. We’ll take him to his room now.”

The doors to the O.R. opened and they were all able to see a badly beaten Daesung whose eyes were closed asleep. The nurses paused for all of them to be able to assure themselves that he was doing fine.

“When will he wake up?” Mr. Kang asked.

“He’ll most probably wake up in the morning Sir” one of the aides answered.

“We’ll be there then” Teddy announced, looking at each one of them and then down at Daesung as though making a promise “We’ll be there when he opens his eyes.”