Chapter 37

“Great. So it’s settled.” YG sajangnim claps his hands and turns to walk out the studio, “I look forward to seeing how much you will improve, Dara. Good luck.”

All I can do is bow and slip out a thank you before he leaves, still in shock at what just happened. So… now not only am I Jiyong’s dance partner… but now he is my mentor… and will be training me… personally… I didn’t even have enough time to sort out my thoughts from our last encounter where he brushed me off! Why does it seem like I can never have a break from him?!

I straighten back up to and look at Jiyong who is still smiling an accomplished smile at me. What the heck has gotten into him?

“Jiyong,” Youngbae finally speaks, “What just happened? Are you… are you sure about this?” He sounded just as skeptical and confused as I was about this entire situation. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s great you want to help out Dara… this doesn’t usually hap— I mean, aren’t you going to be pretty busy with your new album coming out and all?”

Jiyong takes a moment before answering and simply shrugs, “I can manage.” He glances at me but this time with a more serious expression on his face, “Plus, I feel like there’s a lot that I should make up for anyways.”

His words and the look in his eyes makes my heart jump and I can feel blood rushing to my cheeks.

“So, Dara…” Jiyong calls my name sending shivers through my body again, “Have you finished the choreography for Jae Wook?”

“No… not yet.” I look down at the ground ashamed, “To be honest… I’ve only gotten 30 seconds of choreography.”

“And how many do you need?” Jiyong raises an eyebrow.

“Two… minutes…” I reply sheepishly while rubbing my arm.

“Oh, okay.” Jiyong simply replies, “Can you get it done by tonight?”

I’m a bit taken aback by his seriousness and all the questions but respond quickly, “Probably?”

He nods his head and turns to make his way to the door, “Good, have it done, then we can meet Wednesday after practice to go over and clean it up.”

“O-okay.” I respond automatically, feeling as if I was a student being order by a teacher. But as soon as the words left my mouth with Jiyong out the door I remembered.

“Ah! Wait!” I exclaim but it’s too late. I turn towards Youngbae with an apologetic frown, “Shoot… Youngbae… we were supposed to…”

He gives a small smile and shakes his head, “Don’t worry, silly. This is more important.” He pats me on the head, “Plus, I’m sure it won’t take too long.”

He grabs his bag and slings it over his shoulder, “We can’t do another day, so I’ll wait for you after practice. Okay?”

“Sorry… Youngbae-ah.”

He ruffles my hair and laughs, “It’s fine. But I need to go take care of a few things, so go ahead first. Text me when you’re home.”

I nod still frowning and wave at him goodbye.

Although guilt is eating me up inside, I knew he was right. Having Jiyong as my personal mentor was important and could lead to a successful career… but was that the only reason why I felt so excited?

~*Jiyong’s POV*~

Success! Part two of ‘Protect Dara’ was official. I couldn’t help but laugh giddily to myself at how well things were working out. But then again, part three of the plan was after all the most challenging and in itself had three parts to it: one, ensure Dara’s success as a YG trainee, two, have her depend on me fully, and three (a bonus) have her fall in love with me.

Although the first part I have somewhat of a control over, everything is all up to her. She has the talent and the drive to be successful but the question is if she would be willing to confide and work with someone like me… who just earlier pushed her away. It was a huge setback… but it could be possible right?

I shake my head at my uncertainty. It’s going to work… she felt our connection too… there’s no way she could ignore it. Seeing it from Sohee’s view, she’s made it impossible for me to be more vocal about my feelings… But I still have my actions left… If I can’t tell her how I feel… I could show her instead. Hopefully that will be enough to get through to her… hopefully nothing else will stand in our way.

“Yah, Jiyong!” I hear my best friend’s voice call out to me.

“Oh, Youngbae. Hey.” I say casually despite our near-fist fight incident we had a few days ago.

He slows down to a jog as he gets closer, “So what’s up with that?”

I raise an eyebrow at his questions, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never seen you so invested in a trainee that you’d sacrifice work for it.”

“I’m not sacrificing work,” I object, “I have some free time, plus this is the first actual trainee we’ve had.”

“Oh, yeah I guess that’s right.” Youngbae chuckles a little while scratching the back of his head. What’s up with him? “Guess I never thought you’d care that much.”

“Yah,” I punch his arm, “Are you saying I’m selfish?”

“You can be.” He smirks at me and punches me back. “Well… just wanted to see what’s up with you, you know. Making sure you weren’t just doing this ‘cuz you felt bad about what happened with Dara.”

“Oh, well I mean its part of the reason,” I admit to him, “But definitely not the entirety. She’s pretty… special.” I trail off thinking of my double meaning.

“Yeah…” Youngbae trails off too, “Alright, well don’t stress out too much man.” He gives me a good slap on my back before giving me a small salute. “Don’t want to have to scrape you off the floor one day.”

“Alright, thanks man. Peace.” I laugh and give him the same gesture back.

As he makes his way down the hall, he turns and begins to walk backwards, “Oh, by the way, don’t keep her too long on Wednesday. We have a date.”

The word ‘date’ kept ringing in my ear even after Youngbae disappeared.

“A… date?” The words left my mouth, feeling unfamiliar to me.

I realized then that there was more I had to worry about than Sohee… I had to worry about my best friend taking my girl.

*BlueNote*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hey everyone! Another update for the night.
Sorry it's a bit shorter than usual but I felt it would cut off better here.
Anyways, still working on the next chapter so hopefully have that up soon!

Thank you everyone for reading!
And keep commenting/subscribing!
I miss hearing from you guys!
Love you all

*If you are confused about layout/weird details that seem wrong+right at the same time, please read the story description!*