Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lee Chaerin was left on the steps of Grace Orphanage. A single letter lays tucked in the folds of the girl’s blankets as her hooded mother leaves with one final look back.

The mother had cancer. Her father was dead.

Lee Chaerin is officially an orphan.

The girl Lee Chaerin grew up well. The orphanage was kind, but she was lonely.

She had no friends, in everyone’s eyes. Every single recess, she would disappear on her own, sitting under the large oak tree of the park nearby. The caretaker never said a word about her behaviour there, but everyone knows.

She talks, plays and laughs to herself, like she was with some playmate that isn’t there.

They thought she was having an imaginary friend.

She did.

A friend that, she knows, is not imaginary.

Once upon a time, there was a girl codenamed CL. She handed a mix tape to the president of YG Entertainment, a single resume tucked in the casing.

She was an ex-JYP trainee, whose dreams never changed.

 CL is an idol in training from YG ENT.

The girl CL learnt well. She was about to debut, and the president was getting harsher on her.

She had no worries, in everyone’s eyes. Every single training session, she works unbelievably hard. 2NE1 was her debut group; and everyone knows that they would be a hit.

Her and her beloved oppa-sunbaenim, G-Dragon, were like twins: both perfectionists, both explosive in aura, both adorable off-stage, both leaders, both clean-freaks… …

Everyone thought they would become a couple one-day.

They did.  

 A couple kept secret to the media but well-known by most in the industry.  

She takes Jiyong’s hand, smiling brightly at him. He was going to bring her into a world of more beauty than the drabness of the world here.

“Ready Chae?” She nods back, and he tells her to close her eyes.

He tells her to imagine.

She sees a wood, with exotic flowers and tall, old trees. On an oversized mushroom, lies some tea. She giggles and pulls Jiyong with her towards the already set table. She picks up a strawberry and dangles it teasingly in front of his mouth, before popping it into her own. He mock-frowned, and then tickles her in retaliation as she squealed and shied away quickly.

 She sees herself flying on a phoenix, her hands tightly around his waist, her hand leaning against his broad shoulder. Her willowy, white dress blows gently with the wind, twisting around her legs in a dreamy manner. She reaches her hand out and the clouds fingertips gently, bathing her in a breath of cold air as she hugs Jiyong tighter while looking down at the sea of green.

She sees herself riding a snow-white unicorn, led by Jiyong as they chat freely. Finally a place where the echoes of people jeering fades away, a place where it is only the two of them.

A place of imagination and magic.

They stop at the cliff and embrace silence as they watch the sunset, painting the sky colours of romance.

Their hands brush against each other as the sky changes into deep, sparkling blue. 

They understand the meaning of eternal, forever.

And then they kiss. 

She twirls in his arms, both perfectly in sync to the Latin music playing gently in the background. They were dancing, free souls that mingle and add colour to each's world.

Catching her, he holds her steady as she bends backwards, all this time, each enjoying each's company.

No words are needed, just each other's silent company.

Their eyes meet each other’s with frightful intensity as he smirks and leads her into another intimate dance, sinking themselves into a place of their own.

A place of passion and beauty.

The music rolls gently to a stop, the faint trills of music fading away in the silence.  In the dark, intimate setting of the dimly lit studio, he leans in and whispers, oh so softly.

“You know that I love you, forever,  right?”

They kiss. 

A little fast forward in time, and people were getting worried.

Why was she still having an imaginary friend when that sort of imagination should have died off long ago?

They worry at how she makes chocolates and leaves them under the oak tree, they worry about how her lips move when she is alone, they worry about her suddenly bursting into laughter. They worry about her sanity, her grasp of reality, and her imagination.  

They actually worry if the shame was worth it. 

She didn't really understand, why everyone was looking at her like that. She didn't understand, why people were taling about 'face' and 'money', 'ego' and 'backstabber', 'betrayers'. 

While she was beginning to realize that the world isn't all about rainbows and butterflies, and that love doesn't make the world go round... She always believed that the world was in balance. 

She always dreamed, and believed in forever.  

Her mother told her to. Jiyong told her to. Her heart told her to. 

That was enough. 

A little fast forward in time, and a bump in the relationship. 

G-Dragon found positive in testing. G-Dragon and Kiko Dating?

It was the Heart-Breaker case all over again. It matters only what the fans, netizens and public think. 

It does not matter what the stars themself feel. 

Does being a star mean being ripped open, like being shorn into bits and still being shredded in the end?  

She understands, everything, perfectly. The uproar, the pain, the distance. 

What she doesn't really comprehend is why he had to keep pushing her away. 

Did he forget how they dreamed, together? 

Did he forget about forever? 

They say,  when there was a bump in the road called love or life, all you need to do is to push and then you would get over the hump. But now she's beginning to realize that when you get over that euphoria high of getting over that hump, you discover there is another bump in front of you. And you have to keep pushing, until you just run out of steam. 

The councilors' smile was fake. An obvious fake. She makes an effort not to look into those questioning, piercing eyes, but ends up realizing that the coldly welcoming room was no better. Carefully arranged pillows on a perfectly clean cream sofa. Every single soft toy unmoving, perfectly positioned.

They were all judging her.

It always begins with the polite talk. She fidgets in her seat as she crosses and crosses her arms again and again, feeling the councilor size her up, scorning her.

 “Would you get to the point?” She mutters under her breath as the councilor beats around the bush merrily. She doesn't care for what the councilor was trying to say, all she wants is to find Jiyong and escape.

Escape from reality.

The councilor doesn’t seem to have heard her as another plastic smile plastered itself on her face. “Chaerin, do you believe in fairies?” Questions again. Earlier it was rubbish talk, then school talk, then some weird personality tests…. And now this.

“No.” Fairies are lights that glow in a child's beautiful dream.

“Chaerin, what about magic?”

“No.” Magic belongs to the fae.

“What about… hmm… Unicorns? Goblins? Enchantment, evil curses?”

“NO!”

She explodes as she shouts.  There was an awkward silence next as she fidgets some more.

“Chaerin ah, what I have been trying to tell you carefully this past two hours, is that you have to draw a line between reality and imagination. You don’t believe in fairies, enchantment or magic. You know that they are myths, a figment of someone’s imagination. Then Chaerin… Don't you understand that Jiyong is a figment of your imagination, too?”

The flat look the councilor gives her after that mini-speech.

She was judging her.

“NO! He is not! He is real. He likes me, I like him too! He is not my imagination! He is reality!” For the first time, she looks straight into the councilor's eyes, flat, dull, and pity reflected in it.

She longs for his non-judgemental eyes, eyes that shine with such warmth and happiness.

Shining with love.

“Chaerin, your Jiyong is about as real as Pooh Bear is alive!' The councilor was exasperated beyond wits as she fiercely s a plush Pooh Bear into Chaerin’s hands to illustrate her point.

Cold, dead, plastic eyes staring into hers.

It was judging her.

Jiyong doesn’t have such dead eyes. Jiyong isn’t imagination but reality.

Isn't he?

"Where's he?" Raspy voice, panic marring her otherwise low voice. Her eyes frantically scan the whole of the club desperately, looking for that familiar mop of blonde hair. He hasn't contacted her for so long since the netizens' assualt of bad comments on his scandals, and now that he finally did, there must be something wrong. 

He isn't there. 

The club music pounded in her ears and toyed with her clear-headedness. The strong scent of alcohol made her slightly dizzy as she squirmed into the mess of dancing bodies. 

They were constricting her.  

Her phone remains stubbornly silent even as she presses at the numbers again and again. The dial tone had never sounded more annoying as the operator's automated words repeat again and again. 

The voicemail still rings in her ears, even if it was only 3 words. 

"I Love You" 

 Do you understand the pain of reality now?

Do you finally feel the potency of emotions running high, tonight? 

Are we finally running out of steam now? 

@allkpop, G-Dragon gets into serious car accident, now in critical condition. 

G-dragon crashes his car near Gangnam area, running off the highway and then landing onto the road below. The car's left side has been completely crushed.  He is now in critical condition and people speculate that he has been drunk-driving since his earlier scandal of him taking drugs. However, the police and the hospital repeatedly assure the public that G-Dragon was perfectly sober at that point of time. YG Ent. has yet to make an official statement about this nor about the issue of G-Dragon and Kiko dating. But an insider of the hospital report that his last call log was to CL, his label mate and the police is looking into this seriously. Everyone, please pray for G-Dragon. 

She's running.

She's not entirely running because of the tears that fall down in pathetic streams, staining her face, but because suddenly everything she held dear disappears like smoke, all in one day.

She's just trying to chase something, something to keep her alive.

Is it so wrong... to dream that you would be with me forever? 

 “Oppa… Where are you? Why aren't you with me...."  She curls herself into a ball as she sits at their corner in the park, under the large oak tree.

She closes her eyes and tries again. A tear-stained face, tightly closed eyes as she dreams. She wishes. She hopes. She imagines.

Her hand stretches out as she longs for that caring touch that had always guided her. Her ears prick for the slightest sound of the familiar warm laughter. Her eyes close, hoping to be transported to the welcoming world of them two. Her heart thumps in her chest, fast, erratic, in frantic, desperate hope.

Night falls and she is still stiffly curled up by the tree stump, alone.

Finally she is nothing but a lonely girl, under an overwhelmingly large oak tree, waiting for the company that will never come.

She dreams. She wishes. She hopes. She searches for the entrance of the world that will never open for her again, a child tainted by harsh reality.

And still, she imagines.

Do you believe a perfect world exists? Why can’t we create our own perfect world, where there is only you and me?

And still… she loves.

He never appeared again.

My love for you shall live forever. You, however, did not.

@allkpop, The world mourns the death of genius musician, G-Dragon.

A long time ago, a girl named Lee Chaerin was left on the steps of Grace Orphanage, with a letter tucked into her swaddle of blankets.

The contents were the most heart-breaking of lies.

Dare to imagine because they give you hope. I love you.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this short one-shot like drabble. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and never stop dreaming, loving, hoping and imagining. 

XOXO.