c/to: monsterLea

 

 

 

 

DARA

 

I swiped the curtain open to see him clearly.

He seemed to notice my presence immediately as he set aside whatever it is that he was watching at his phone to greet me.

“Hey, you’re back.” He said.

I gulped in surprise as I looked at him.

Damp hair.

Half-.

In my bed.

The first thing that came out of my mouth was – “Please tell me you’re wearing something underneath my blanket.”

 

 

He moved his hand towards one end of the blanket and smiled at me deviously and before I knew it, the blanket flew in a different direction just in time for me to divert my eyes so I won’t see anything inappropriate.

 

 

“Relax,” He said while I’m still not looking. “I had my boxers on.”

 

Oh dear God. Have mercy.

 

“Get yourself and your boxers off of my bed.” I yelled at him as I watch him lie comfortably on his stomach. I freaked out (more) when he started fiddling whatever it is on his phone while crossing and re-crossing his ankles.

 

 

“Didn’t you hear me?” I yelled (again). “And why are you MERELY on a pair of boxer shorts on other people’s house? God, Jiyong. Do I need to teach you about modesty at your age?”

 

I grabbed him by the ankle and tried to drag him out of my bed but he quickly rolled to the other side and stood up.

 

“I am modest. That’s why I’m wearing boxers.” I threw a pillow at him (which he caught and drop to the floor) before dusting my sheets. “And what’s your problem, this isn’t the first time you’ve seen me . Besides, I wear boxers because I can. Everybody says I’ve got a great .”

 

 

“Oh yeah,” I agreed. “That’s what everyone says: Hey there’s Jiyong, what an !!!”

 

When I finished, I stood properly across him. My bed is the only thing separating me and his almost self. “Put some clothes on, dude.” He flinched but didn’t exactly do anything else.

 

“My clothes got wet.” He said afterwards.

 

“What?”

 

“I was trying to take a shower this morning but when I turned it on, it didn’t work. At first I thought it was jammed or something so I tapped it a little using your shampoo bottle then water started coming out, like a lot and it won’t stop so I think your bathroom’s flooded right now.” He explained like it’s an everyday occurrence.

 

 

Good morning to me.

 

 

“Oh, your heater is broken as well.” He added.

 

 

Way to start off my day.

 

 

“I know I told you this before, but your place really does .” He finished before walking out of my room.

 

 

***

 

 

I followed Jiyong out after a change of clothes and few minutes of chanting calming words.

 

 

I caught him slaying my kitchen apart.

 

More chanting later.

 

“I want to eat Kimbap.” He said as I approached my little table that is filled with ingredients that is clearly NOT for Kimbap.

 

“I don’t really feel like cooking.” I told him. “Do you want Chinese? I can order us Chinese.”

 

“Chinese food for breakfast.” He said. “That could work.”

 

“Okay. Put all of these back where you got them and I’ll call for food.”

 

“Dara,” he called out. “I destroy things but I don’t put them back together.”

 

“Ugh. Leave it there then.”

 

After my call for a delivery, I checked my message and call logs because I thought it was odd that I didn’t get any notifications after I entered my password. I always get at least 20 messages and maybe a couple of voicemails overnight.

 

There it was, I got some messages and voicemails received yesterday up to last night but it was already marked as opened.

 

 

“Jiyong, did you touch my phone?” I asked the likely suspect.

 

“That is an extreme accusation--,”

 

“DID YOU?!!”

 

“Yeah.” He answered immediately.

 

 

My eyes widened in disbelief.

 

“Some idiot had spammed your inbox with stupid messages as well as voicemails so I deleted it.” He explained without looking at me. “There was nothing important with it anyway so…”

 

My guess, he was that idiot.

 

“How did you even know my password?”

 

“I know a lot of things that’ll blow your mind.”

…

“Like putting peanut butter on a kimbap.” I suggested as I started arranging back my kitchen.

 

 

“That was supposed to be a dip.” He retorted.

 

“Really Jiyong, that’s wonderful.”

 

“It really is. Thank you.”

 

“Listen, about the other night,” I said.

 

 

Nothing beats a confrontation like a sudden attack. I was thinking about what Bom says regarding how I bid good-bye to Jiyong. She’s right again of course, seeing as how Jiyong still treats me like he owns me.

 

 

 Little fcker.

 

 

“I think I wasn’t clear as to what I meant when I said good-bye to you.”

 

“You think?!” He replied which silenced me.

 

“Dara, it was horrible.” He continued. “I thought it was weird of course, what with you asking for a random hug. But I didn’t really dwell on it much. Then I learned from another person that you actually got fired and that’s when I felt mad.”

 

“Mad at you because you gave me a crappy hug for a good-bye but mostly mad at hyung for firing you for unknown reasons. But then he told me about his ultimatum and as I lay to sleep on your bed last night, I have decided on what you must do.”

 

 

It’s amazing that I can concentrate on what he’s saying while he talks to me in all his glorified ness (with boxers). It’s just disturbing how I seemed alright with it. You know what else is disturbing, the fact that he just casually blurted out that he made a decision FOR ME while he’s lying IN MY BED.

 

WHATTHEFCKISWRONGWITHTHISGUY???

 

“I’m sorry. Did you say you slept in my bed?” I asked to which he nodded in agreement.

 

 

“Do you have any idea how creepy that is?”

 

“It’s not my fault your lock is easily picked.” He said loosely. “As I was saying,” he then dismissed my argument with a wave of a hand. “Hyung had made some really good points and I think that acting is good for you. You should accept his offer. I mean you did well with the MV and people really liked it except the kissing scene which was really unimportant but you know, that aside, you still did well.”

 

“And hyung said something about you growing as an actress in the showbiz industry instead of just being an assistant forever and that you’d still get to be my manager because surely you’ll start at small roles and probably land on a few modeling gigs and then in a few years, maybe, you’ll become some sort of a big star, even bigger than Big Bang.”

 

“And then you’ll be busy too to the point of having the need to have your own manager…and then you’ll be too busy to handle my affairs as an artist so technically in the future the two of us will go on without each other and you know…as I tell it…I don’t like it…and maybe…you shouldn’t accept hyung’s offer after all but...”

 

His voice started fading off slowly as he says the end of his sentence and instead of continuing, he then just looked at me pensively.

 

As I processed in my head all of Jiyong’s thoughts regarding my career choice, a loud knock from my piece of crap door shook our silence.

 

“Food’s here.” Jiyong nippily hollered as he skips to the door (undressed).

 

 

***

 

Chinese food suddenly didn’t become as appetizing as I remembered eating it during brunch.

 

I think it’s mainly because of how my guilt filled up my entire system.

 

I never thought how deeply my decision regarding YG’s ultimatum would affect Jiyong’s should I say, mentality.

 

In the past, I would just be another manager he kicked out by means of his extensive bad behavior. He hasn’t noticed (or if he did, he definitely just ignored it) that in a little over a year of working together, he had warmed up to my nagging personality. I must admit too that at the same time, his attitude seemed like that of a little kid having tantrums and so I just treat him like one but instead of offering him candy, I just make fun of him.

 

I don’t know how our relationship went from fighting an awful lot to being actually casual friends.

 

So I know I’m going to hate myself for saying this but I think over the years, I grew quite fond of Jiyong.

 

We still do fight a lot but thinking about it today more than ever we stood by each other while spontaneously giving comfort to one another. He makes me work hard for my brother and at the same time (odd as it may seem), forget about whatever happened to me in the past and I know he hates to say it but he does actually needs me. It’s cute that he can’t survive a single work day without me. And everyone knows that.

 

That’s why I felt guilty that I didn’t think through the consideration of his feelings and just decided to quit.

 

It makes me want to stab myself with a chopstick. Make that a pair of chopsticks. That’s twice the pain.

 

“Jiyong,” I started. “I’m sorry for being a superficial .”

 

 There. I said it. I’ll understand if he won’t forgive me.

 

“I hate YG.” He replied.

 

Okay. Not what I was expecting.

 

“I can’t believe he played me into believing that you’d still be my manager.” He puffed some air. “Manipulative son of a ”

 

I wouldn’t say that’s false.

 

“Right.” I agreed with him (clearly, I wasn’t thinking). “He knows how I always needed money and just because he wanted my talent to work for him, he uses my weakness to shake me. Such a terrible person.”

 

He nodded and shared, “You know how I used to have baby fats right? I was a teenager, I can’t help it. He told me he’d cut me from the group if I didn’t lose all of it.” Jiyong vented.

 

“That’s so mean.” I sympathized. “But you did lose all of it and you sure love your body right now, what with you flaunting it, so I guess you should at least be thankful towards him.”

 

He looked at me with raging furrowed eyebrows, like asking me if I was crazy.

 

“But,” I continued. “Mean. It was a really, really mean thing to say to a teenager. You must be heartbroken.”

 

“I was. The point is, he does these things to get us to think things through. And he always ends up delightful because we tend to always do the right thing which is to agree with him. For once, Dara, I want his technique to bite him in the . I hate going through a lot of process thinking. It hurts my brain.”

 

“This isn’t even yours to think of.” I said nonchalantly. “This is my problem. Don’t beat yourself up.”

 

“I will never forgive you for being a superficial .” He said pointing his chopsticks at me.

 

 

Ouch.

 

“I know I’m really mean to you Dara,” He then said. “But you’re always mean to me too. That’s what I liked about you. You put up with my but you never tolerate them. I guess that’s why you lasted as my manager or assistant or whatever you are to me.”

 

“Maid, chef, driver, body guard and let’s not forget, pseudo-girlfriend.” I told him.

 

“This isn’t the time to joke.” He replied with a straight face. “Do you want to be an actress?”

 

Million dollar question.

 

I sighed deeply before I answered. “I guess I never really thought about acting as a profession. It’s more like a hobby. It’s fun but…”

 

“Don’t think about the consequences or the demons that shadows a celebrity. Think of what you want and why you wanted it.”

 

“I wanted to play music.” He continued. “I didn’t even care about having fans or being popular just as long as I can make music I’m satisfied. Then there were bumps, rumors that weren’t true and wrong-doings that I did thinking I am still me despite being a celebrity. I didn’t mean for it to blow up I was just human after all. But despite that, the thought of creating great music inspires me to go on.”

 

“Think about your next move when something is already actually happening and right now, what happening is, you’ll lose your current job if you don’t take the other one. Are you willing to make that sacrifice or are you going to let go of two opportunities because you’re afraid of what will happen in a vague future.”

 

 

I gulped. “Will you get angry if I clap my hands? I really want to clap right now. That was a very touching piece of advice. I think it’s the most sense that you have made ever since we’ve known each other.”

 

“You may clap your hands.” He told me and I did. You think it would be too much if I ask for a hug too?

 

“I thought you changed your mind and didn’t want me to take on YG’s offer?”

 

“Do you really want me to be selfish?”

 

I shrugged.

 

“If I was being selfish,” he started. “I’d tell you to take his stupid offer and then do a piss-poor job at acting. That way, you’d still be my manager and no one will ever want you to appear on any shows because you’re bad at having two jobs.”

 

I love acting. And I love my brother. Jiyong is right. I’ve done three years of not doing anything risky because I’m afraid that what happened before will happen again because I was being a careless, narrow-minded girl. This time, I’m going to take risk but be very careful. I’m not alone after all.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jiyong asked, probably because I’m staring at him while sporting the most conflicted smile one can ever imagine (I’m happy and at the same time very gratified, I wanna cry). “I’m not going to hug you.”

 

“Why not?” I suddenly whined.

 

“You hug me now and tomorrow you’ll disappear again. Nu uh.”

 

“It’s a celebratory hug.”

 

“If you want to celebrate, cook me something. I’m not eating anymore of this cold crap.” He said flinging his chopsticks down and proceeded into my room tossing his body into my bed.

 

Tsk. I’m burning that bed.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

JIYONG

 

“Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want, so tell me what you want, what you really, really want. I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want, so tell me what you want, what you really, really want. I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha), I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah ~~”

 

Catchy?

 

Try listening to that song sung by 4 men with baritone voices.

 

You would want to bang your head on the floor.

 

They’ve been at it ever since they arrived.

 

I released my song as well as my music video three days before and later on I’d be performing it live on T.V. I’m on the show’s waiting room while other singers perform before me.

 

My members decided to visit, not for moral support (obviously) but to annoy the crap out of me. I don’t know why 4 grown men would choose to jam to a Spice Girls’ song, I’m just hoping that they would stop or there will be blood.

 

“Oh my God, stop fcking singing. I can hear you from way over the entrance of this hallway. I thought someone was being murdered in this room. And I wouldn’t be surprise if the Spice Girls were the one doing the murdering. The way you butchered their song, I would want to kill you too.” Dara greeted as she entered the room carrying food.

 

 

“Jiyong, your fiancée is bullying us.” My back was facing them as I was still doing my hair but I’m sure that was TOP-hyung calling me out.

 

“Fiancee?!” Dara snorted. “So now that I have two jobs, you’ve upgraded my relationship status as well? Jiyong, where’s my ring?”

 

“TOP-hyung swallowed it.” I quickly replied.

 

I heard Dara fake-gasped and saw in my peripheral vision that she’s choking hyung.

 

It has been a couple of days since her drama of leaving me. It was hard but I did convince her (and myself) that this opportunity is good for her. We don’t know what will happen in the future but for now, I’m content that she can still be by my side. This is better than not knowing where she is at all. Besides, she’s doing this for her brother so everybody’s happy.

 

Of course, the most blissful is the devil himself, YG-hyung.

 

When Dara and I saw him to explain our decision, he did all but cartwheel because of happiness. But he quickly dismissed us because he had people to call. My guess, Dara would be a very busy girl.

 

I have learned that Dara got casted in a historical drama and I was like: Damn, YG move really fast. It’s a small role so she had time to be my manager while I’m still promoting my album after that; she would work on filming the drama. Which remind me; I have yet to scan her script.

 

Yes, we’ve also agreed that I would get to work with Dara’s offers. I am to read and analyze all of her drama scripts as well as future advertising contracts. I don’t want to be looking at my T.V. and then bam—there is a forbidden kiss happening right in front of me. If possible I won’t accept anything that requires Dara to have a love interest.

 

 

A high school cheer leader that turned out to be a serial killer, she can pull that off, easy-peasy.

 

A grandma that used to be detained in a maximum security prison, sure, bring it.

 

A sinister spinster with a lot of cats in the house and dead bodies in her basement, no problem at all.

 

A lady whose looking for love, hell no.

 

 

I’m gonna be really picky with her roles. It should be fun.

 

My fun was interrupted with a knock and a clearing of a throat.

 

“A-anneonghaseo,” Someone greeted. I looked at the door through my mirror and saw that it was some guy from 2pm I think. I recognize him because of his muscles. I swear those biceps are unnatural.

 

“Jang Wooyoung imnida,” muscles continued talking. “I’m from 2pm.” See I’m right.

 

People from the room greeted him back and Dara even invited him to come in.

 

It didn’t escape my eyes how the guy blushed when Dara talked to him.

 

 

“Um…no…I was just um…w-wondering…um…” he continued stuttering I didn’t catch any of his words when someone else came flying through the door.

 

 

“Hello, I’m Nickhun. WewanttotakepictureswithDaraifthat’salright.”

 

He talked really fast but I had faster hearing.

 

 

I waited for someone else to speak because I know that if I reacted first, these two muscle-heads would be exiting the room through the window in a blink of an eye. Mind you, we’re on the 10^th floor.

 

“S-sure.” Dara answered.

 

 

HUWAATT!!

 

 

I think it is Dara who wanted to exit the room through the window.

 

I watched Dara stood up and took some photos with them. These muscle-heads tried to pose aegyo with Dara it’s disgusting.

 

“Take your glasses off, Dara.” TOP-hyung suggested. Oops another one is exiting through the window.

 

“And your scarf,” Youngbae followed. And another one.

 

“Your coat too,” Daesung will be next.

 

“Let me hold that for you Dara-noona.” Nickhun blushed reaching for Dara’s stuffs. “Is it okay if we call you noona?”

 

“You’re not that close yet.” Seungri answered “Leave your coat on NOONA. It’s cold in here.” I’m going to buy Seungri a pony.

 

Dara widened her eyes on Seungri but the maknae just shrugged and took her scarf and glasses.

 

They took a couple more shots and then the two of them went on their way. I’d like to think they’re destination is on hell.

 

“You haven’t started yet and you already got fan boys.” TOP-hyung commented with a tease.

 

“They must’ve started liking you when they saw you on that charity ball a few months back.” Youngbae ensued.

 

Dara looked at them with a smug face which only enflamed their teasing. Stupid pieces of s.

 

Dara blushed extremely and stood up in front of my mirror which also placed her at my back.

 

I looked at her trying to suppress her blush and she asked me, “What?!”

 

It took me a long time to give her an answer and it’s the lamest of ‘em all, “Those guys are going to give you cooties.”

 

 

 

 

Told you it was lame.

 

 

 

 

a/n:

I know, it took me quite a while to update and the feels aren't even that strong on this one.

I just want Dara's transition from assistant to actress to be the focal point of this update.

She had lots to think about but aren't you just glad that Jiyong is being supportive?

So what do you think will or want to happen next?

Let me know on the box below.

(That totally rhymed)

xoxo