the pain behind the glam

(YG Trapped Prologue)

 

 

 

 

 

Three years before the wedding…

 

 

 

With a heavy heart and fingers that felt like iron, she pushed the ring forward while avoiding his eyes.

 

 

 

“I’m not ready…”

 

 

 

“Bull, Dara! You already said yes! You can’t back out now!”

 

 

 

“Jiyong, I can’t explain it. I just can’t do this now or anytime soon like you wanted!”

 

 

 

“Then we won’t do it now! I can wait!” In his anger and panic at the situation, Jiyong banged his fist on the cold stone table. “I waited for so many years why can’t I wait for a couple more?”

 

 

 

She made a move to stand and escape but he was fast and too angry to notice that his grip on her arms were tight and that he had shoved her hard on the concrete wall. Dara didn’t make a sound, nor did she fight him. 

 

 

 

She knew she wouldn’t win.

 

 

 

She’d never win because she always let him win and she doubted if she could resist, at the moment.

 

 

 

“You will have to do better than that! You want out of this engagement, then you better have a reason that I can accept!” He practically shouted at her. “Look at me, Dara! Look at me!”

 

 

 

But she didn’t and the sob that escaped her lips almost had him on his knees.

 

 

 

“I just want to know…” Jiyong almost whimpered. “We were so happy. You were getting comfortable and I can almost show you off to the people that matter to me. We had our future planned, Dara. If you don’t want to get married before I enlist, fine! I can wait!” He tilted her head so that he could see her eyes but the tears she shed had him undone. “Dara…”

 

 

 

“I can’t do this, Jiyong. I can’t get married…I don’t want to get married!”, she angrily spat out. She hated his persistence and she could almost feel his pain. “You have planned our future but I’m not sure its the same future I want!”

 

 

 

“Don’t you love me anymore?”, he asked. The look in his eyes almost made her change her mind but Dara held onto her decision with a conviction. 

 

 

 

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you what I feel.” She said in a whisper before she shrugged his hands away from her arms at the exact moment she felt his hold on her, losen. “You only believe what you want, Jiyong. You wouldn’t listen anyway so why should I tell you?”

 

 

 

“You expect me to believe that you don’t love me anymore?”

 

 

 

“Dara…”

 

 

 

“Goodbye, Jiyong.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dara’s momentary recollection was broken by a whistle from behind her and when she turned, Dongwook, formerly known as Se7en, was walking towards her with flowers and fruits in hand.

 

 

 

“How’s the beautiful Mrs. Kwon doing?”, he asked upon reaching her and kissing her cheek in greeting. “You look wonderful, Dara!”

 

 

 

“I feel swollen everywhere, Oppa!”, she says while he helps her onto a chair. They were in the garden, overlooking the sea at the back of the Yang’s Vacation house. It was a bright sunny day, and the wind made the heat bearable as two friends catch up.

 

 

 

“You’re not. You’re still pretty. Jiyong is one lucky bastard, I don’t know what could have happened had I not come back just in time to knock some sense into both of your hollow brain! And you, you stubborn little creature, I’m so happy he got you pregnant or else, this push and pull game you have will drive you both crazy by the time you turn 35.”

 

 

 

“You have been a good good friend to us, Dongwook oppa.”, Dara smiled at him. “Truthfully, before you came, I was thinking of that time that I broke up with him. A year before he enlisted.”

 

 

 

“Was that the year I got out of military service and found him gallivanting around with…”

 

 

 

Dara nodded, not letting him finish. Somehow, she didn’t want to hear the other woman’s name right now.

 

 

 

“Will I ever find out why you did what you did?”

 

 

 

“You know how much I wanted to be an actress, right?”

 

 

 

“I know but, didn’t you agree about not taking those projects that asked you to be in kiss scenes and intimate scenes? Didn’t he promise the same in his music videos?” Dongwook raised a brow at Dara. “Dara, if you insisted on acting, he would have let you. So I don’t see that as a reason for breaking off your engagement.”

 

 

 

She was caught. Dongwook knew her well. She had no choice but to tell the truth.

 

 

 

“Its pretty hard to be convinced when her name is always around the corner, haunting me whenever there’s a chance. I’ve met all his friends that year. He gladly announced that we were engaged in secret so when I travel places and his friends are there, I make it a point to see them and at least, get to know them. And I’ve met everyone close to him, except her.”

 

 

 

“I have seen Han Byul have her share of jealousy but I really can’t understand this thing you women have…”

 

 

 

“Its not a thing!”, Dara interrupted and turned cold eyes to Dongwook that made him shut up immediately. He knew that look too well. Han Byul has given him that look whenever he misunderstands her. Now Dara is doing the same thing. Perhaps it was the hormones that made her brave enough to show him what she really feels at the moment and he was taken by surprise.

 

 

 

“You, out of everyone in the company, know about my history with men. Perhaps its just self-preservation or perhaps its because I understand a heart that loves. I may not have met her, but I’ve seen her and I know, she loves my husband.”

 

 

 

“Dara…”, Dongwook reaches a hand out to hold her cold fingers for comfort. “And what did Jiyong say about this? You’ve talked about this, right? I mean, especially when he’s living away from you, you would have talked, right?”

 

 

 

“Like you said, when you finished military duty, you found him gallivanting around her…”

 

 

 

 

At first, he was confused but when the realization hit him, he didn’t want to accept it. The man that he treated like a brother couldn’t have done anything like it. 

 

 

 

 

“He used her against you?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~

 

 

 

 

 

Flashback

 

 

 

“You have got to be kidding me!”, Youngbae almost shouted inside the studio when his best friend walks in, drunk and stinking of smoke and sweat. “Where the hell have you been?”

 

 

 

“Bae, you sound like my mom!”

 

 

 

“We were supposed to meet here about 3 hours ago!”

 

 

 

“Shh…can you tone it down! My ears are ringing!” Jiyong complained as he fell on the couch. Youngbae and the other producers knew it was another day lost. At his current state, Jiyong wouldn’t be able to make music. They have all seen him in a slump, but this had to be the worst. 

 

 

 

Youngbae let the other occupants of the room leave so that he could have a talk with Jiyong, who was currently just staring into space. He was about to show Jiyong something when the latter spoke.

 

 

 

“I called you last night, thinking I would be fine now and we can work on our album.”

 

 

 

“I was under the impression that, that was the case, Jiyong.” Youngbae sighed. “Seungri and Top-hyung were here earlier but they couldn’t wait for you. Seungri told me you were in Japan with Daesung. You are almost always in Japan these days.”

 

 

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter