A thunderous applause from the crowd and the cheers of fans filled the stadium as the winner of the Mnet Asian Music Award (MAMA) Artist of the Year was announced. Each artist and the entire idol groups stood to cheer for the victor to give respect and praise for winning the biggest award of the year. He stood up and quietly walked towards the stage to receive the prestigious award. As he passed by the many artists while on his way to the stage, he could not help but felt proud of himself for achieving success at such a young age of twenty four. Who would not be proud when you were the leader of the famous and award winning group BigBang? Who would want to question the award winning body when the recognition was being given to one of the most talented if not the most talented artist in his generation?

Hearing his name being announced as the winner sent shivers down his spine. He was so happy that he could not contain himself but smile from ear to ear. At the same time, he was nervous for it felt like the big award also came with a big responsibility. He felt as if he has to live to people’s expectations so as to validate that he did deserve to receive the biggest prize that an artist could receive. Hearing his name from the fans and audience made him tense. To add the long list of roller coaster emotion that he was feeling was the fact that it was his favorite actress who announced his name as the winner. That, he was not expecting.

 

Kwon Jiyong or GD as called by many of his fans and idols alike- gathered the courage and walked up to the stage to receive the trophy from the presenter. There she was beaming with her signature megawatt smile as she hands over the golden trophy to him. For him, everything seems surreal, the trophy and her. He does not know whether it was the grand prize or the woman giving the award was the reason why he felt euphoric.

 

What people did not know about GD was that he has this little crush (yeah! That’s how he refers to it) on this angelic, gorgeous and not to mention one of the best actresses of her generation, Sandara Park. At thirty, she still seems to be ten years younger than her age. If people did not know her real age, they would have thought she was just eighteen years old. That’s how young looking she was. That is also the reason why younger guys from the entertainment industry admired her. She has this megawatt smile, angelic feature, expressive eyes and the body to die for. She just doesn’t seem to age.

 

Music Awards night was not really her thing. She just felt like she did not belong in that industry. She was an actress and not a singer after all. If there is a show she dreaded the most, it was this show. She was not the type of person to mingle with people she did not know of or exchange pleasantries with strangers especially to those whom she did not share the same interests with. She did not agree to be a presenter but then it was too late to back out since her manager had already made the deal with the officials governing the show. She was professional and decided that it was best to just adhere with whatever contract her manager had agreed on. And so there she was on the stage, in front of the cheering crowd and about to give the trophy to the young man whom everyone thinks is a god and the answer to each and everyone’s problem.

No, she did not hate the guy nor did she have anything against him. It’s just that she thinks that everything is phony just like what the character in JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield believes in. For the past ten years, she spent her life playing different roles in movies and television series and it was enough for her to act up and play pretend just to give justice to the characters she was portraying. It was enough to wipe her tears right after a heartbreaking scene and transition from the gloomy character she was playing to the sometime funny and loud real Sandara right after the director’s occasional line “Cut”.

She stood on the stage wearing the elegant Dian von Furstenberg Maxi Dress, embellished with crystals and finished with side cutouts and a sheer back. Armed with her candy smile, she bowed down to Kwon Jiyong and handed him the trophy. Clad in his Armani Collezioni Pinstripe Giorgio Suit and wearing that boyish smile, he accepted the trophy and winked at her.   Dara caught that stare of his and decided it best to just ignore him. She was the presenter and she had the responsibility of sharing the same stage with him. She should feel like it was an honor to be standing near him but why did it felt like the opposite. To add to that, she had to wait for him to finish his speech and him to the backstage right after that. Yeah, she can be a sometimes. She was tired of playing the poor, naïve and powerless heroine in dramas and movies.   “Why can’t they offer me villain roles even just for once so that people can see that I can be a sometimes?”   Maybe today was not her day. Mood swings and all other sign of iness were clearly evident as she was showing signs of it. If she had not come to this Awards show, she would not be feeling grumpy. As if she had a choice.   The