Chapter Fourteen

It’s the end where they begin…

Fighting in a relationship is normal because there is actually talking that comes with it. That’s a lot better than staring at your phone trying to wait for a response that would never come or worse when you, yourself have forgotten to respond because you have stopped trying. At some point there is a stage where trying doesn’t seem to work anymore and the distance grows. The love is still there but the question is its it enough…?

Dara POV

July 21, 2011

Dara’s eyes was literary going to fall out of her sockets by how tired she was. It wasn’t even funny. Their schedule has been too busy these past three days she probably only gotten five hours of sleep total. With their MV shoot for Ugly was rushed to end this morning and not even an hour after that the girls have to hurry to leave for their flight to Japan. She didn’t even have time to wash up and didn’t seem to care that she looked like a gangster with the many fake tattoos she has drawn on her arms. She was hoping to be able to sleep on the plane later and she definitely looked forward for that.

When they got to the airport, her plans got shattered when CL hands her a hand held camera. She was staring at her leader confusedly, “Why am I getting that? I had that yesterday.” The girls take turns who takes the camera for self cam.

CL raises an eyebrow at her as if Dara had lost her mind, “No, unnie. That was three days ago.”

“Oh…” she blankly and she accepted the camera from Chaerin.

Has it been three days since I talked to Jiyong? She wondered. And the sad thing is, she didn’t seem to notice at all. She could say that it’s probably because she got too busy but basically she thinks it’s more than that… it doesn’t bother her as much anymore. Besides she is sure that it’s Jiyong that had forgotten to respond just like he always does.

She looked at her phone to double check but when she did what she saw stunned her. It wasn’t Jiyong who had stopped, it was her. There was an unanswered text message from Jiyong yesterday asking her how the MV shoot was going. She then remembered that she planned to respond to him after she took a five minute nap or so but when she woke up she had forgotten all together and went on the day not even bothered that she hasn’t talked to her boyfriend for two days.

And these past three weeks she doesn’t seem to care that he would randomly stop talking to her for days at a time. In the back of her mind she claims because he always comes back to her so it doesn’t really matter but secretly she will never admit to it that the real reason is because she was starting to get tired… she wasn’t sure how long she can endure this anymore. A week ago a photo surfaced in the internet. A photo of Jiyong and Kiko in the carnival and a dinner date. Jiyong always tells her if he hangs out with Kiko but still there this year was different… many fans claimed that the photos looked edited. She hasn’t really straight forwardly ask him about it, all her had told her was “Trust me,”

“Aww, you didn’t need to wait for me.” Chaerin said dramatically as she stood in front of Dara.

Dara blinked, confused. She didn’t even notice that Chaerin had left her side, let alone the fact that Bom and Minzy walked ahead of them. “You’re welcome?”

Chaerin sighs and links her arm on Dara’s, “Today is going to be hard… I can barely keep my eyes open.” They followed after Minzy and Bom.

Dara kept her mind blank of worries as she her camera. She always has a perfect legit smile in front of the cameras, she and Bom are sitting together on the plane, she was still taking when she sees Bom's knowing smile, a sign that Bom had seen Jiyong. She finds it rather amusing that her members sometimes get giddier if they see Jiyong than she does.

"Oh look there's Se7en sunbaenim and G-dragon—GD." (A/N: Bold is what they said on 2NE1TV) she started to stutter as her heart leaped when she said her boyfriend's name. She glared at Bom when she was stifling a giggle knowing that Dara is flustered by her boyfriend's smile.

"You have graffiti all over you," he said with a mischievous smile and pointed at her arm that had full of the tattoo for their music video

If you had talked to me then you'd know this, she thought bitterly. She was angry all of a sudden but she laughed hiding her feelings and replied, "Yeah, I haven’t much time to get cleaned up," She got irritated that he sat down before she was able to finish the sentence as if he wasn't interested in what she had to say.

"Woah," Bom mumbled noticing this as well. She just ignored Bom's questioning gaze and started rambling on about washing up and scrubbing off her 'graffiti'

During the flight as soon as Dara turned off her camera, in the two hour flight not once Jiyong moved from his seat. Normally, if they’d be in the same flight he would almost always make one of the girls move so he can sit next to her even if it be a short flight or have Dara sit next to him. He sat next to her three weeks ago to their flight to Singapore which annoyed Minzy because Dara would just randomly go to her and turn on the camera wake the maknae up just to have her wave at the camera then go back sitting next to Jiyong.

But this time, he didn’t even budge to look at her when the turbulence started getting strong making. It didn’t bother Dara at all what annoyed her the most was Bom’s questioning look at her wanting to know why the couple is avoiding each other. Dara was in no mood to talk about things when she doesn’t know the reason as to why Jiyong is acting like she only exist in his life on the good times and not with any troubles he has. He has never been like this but the change had started after the release of BIGBANG’s Tonight album.

Usually there is always a song written for Dara on any album he releases, but this one it didn’t have one. Or if there was, he lied because most of the songs in this album is about breaking up….

There is that gnawing feeling in the back of her mind that she doesn’t want to listen to… which she isn’t ready to admit yet.

Later that afternoon was the event for YG and Avex’s merge for YGEX. All of the YG artists are signing to this company and everyone was required to attend. If Dara was given a choice she would probably just stay under this shower and not get out at all. She was so exhausted that she was falling asleep as she was changing, worse when she’d be standing up.

She decided to sit at the back stage where there aren’t much cameras since most everyone is sitting in the dining hall and the seats were mostly taken. She usually avoids Jiyong when there are cameras around anyway so it was easier this way.

She was clenching her fist trying to stay awake, no technique was working. She blinked and she was sure she had fallen asleep for a minute or two because she felt a warmth beside her. She didn’t need to look to see who had sat beside her.

She just kept her eyes closed and breathed calmly. He has been sitting there beside her wordlessly. The atmosphere between them started being awkward and she fought the urge to either look at him or find her members.

She was thankful that Chaerin had sat next to her. “I can barely stay awake. Stay awake with me unnie.” Chaerin grumbled complaining as she held Dara’s arm and pinched the inside of her wrist.

“YA!” Dara hissed at Chaerin and clutched at her arm. If she was sleepy two seconds ago that totally changed it. With Chaerin’s expression and grin, she was positive her leader had planned it that way.

“It worked on me when Minzy did it.” Chaerin simply answered as if it was alright to pinch her unnie.

Dara froze when Jiyong reached for Dara’s arm and caressed her wrist which was turning red with his thumb, “There that isn’t too bad.” He murmured comfortingly.

“I—.“ Dara stuttered then she immediately pulled her arm away realizing that there may not be cameras here but here are still prying eyes and those are the worse kind. At least 2NE1TV crew was selectively picked by YG-sajangnim so these people can know when to start shooting and when not to. There are certain secrets that the camera catches that doesn’t need to be or even allowed to be aired on TV. “Are you crazy?” she demanded quietly.

“I was wondering when you’d stop ignoring me.” He just smiled.

She blinked, confused because she was sure that she wasn’t the one doing the ignoring. He was sitting there not saying a word. It shouldn’t just be her to make the first move all time, he is more than capable of doing it on his own. “What?”

He wasn’t able to respond to it since Gummy sat beside Jiyong talking to him.

She takes a deep breath and was about to lean Chaerin’s shoulder but then cameras started to flock around them. So she had to sit up straight as she heard Chaerin mumble, “Here we go.” Both of them had smiles on their faces as soon as cameras started to face them.

On the corner of her eye, she can see Jiyong waving at the camera goofily, he slightly glances over towards her and says, “Hello, how are you?” Gummy leaned sideways to say to the camera but got stunned when Jiyong added, “I hear I’m Dara-noona’s type”

“What?” Gummy looks over Dara trying to see her expression.

Dara just let out a nervous laugh as she didn’t know what else to say. She started to mumble when the camera immediately faced her. She clenched her fist trying to control her reaction. She was too tired to hide her expression she was sure that she showed a bit of annoyance to it. She just lowered her head apologetically, she knows that with this statement this is going to fuel Jiyong’s crazy fans.

“But, No. I don’t date within the YG family.” Jiyong immediately said with a mischievous smile.

Dara froze and her heart dropped to her stomach. On any normal day, she wouldn’t mind this comment but when she has been feeling insecure the past two weeks about her relationship status with G-dragon then these statements would get to her. Especially when tabloids ask him about his supposed relationship with Dara, he just ignores the question or states that she is a lovely girl anyone dating her would be lucky or even mentions that Dara is on a dating ban.

She just giggled as much as she can muster when she was close to crying already. She was infuriated that she was exhausted, if she wasn’t then she could have been able to handle herself more. She is positive that she has showed her real feelings in front of the camera more than twice in the past three minutes. She didn’t even realize that she had to get up now until Chaerin helped her up.

“You okay?” Chaerin asked noticing Dara’s pale expression.

She swallowed and nods, “Of course. Why?”

Chaerin just watches her closely and if there were no cameras around, she really would ask what is going on. She has been noticing lately that Dara and Jiyong haven’t been in the greatest terms. “Nothing,” Then squeezes Dara’s hand comfortingly and started walking towards the line in front of Jiyong hoping that the two would talk but Dara stuck closer to her.

Now it has been Dara who has been deliberately avoiding Jiyong. She is far too tired to even deal with him, she doesn’t know what she’d do if she was near him. So when the girls were allowed to go back to their rooms to get ready for tonight’s company dinner, Dara was the first one to leave to head out towards the van.

“One hour…” Chaerin said to Dara when she hopped off the elevator for her floor. The girls were given one hour to get ready.

“Yeh,” She replied with a yawn. For Dara an hour isn’t too long. She already knows what to wear since she wants to get out of this dress and just wear pants for comfort wise. Then maybe she can take a quick power nap after that.

She walks in her hotel room and the view outside was so spectacular she gazed at it for a minute or two. The lights of Japan shinning outside her window reminding her that she’s alone tonight. She growled at herself and decided to turn on the 2ne1TV camera to show her fans the view.

“Omg, I just got back to my room. And the city lights are so beautiful. If you could only see it first-hand.” She leans on the window and turns the camera towards her, “Something this beautiful needs to be shared with someone—OH NO! here I go again!” She slapped her lips lightly trying to make it as if she did it on purpose trying to be cute when in reality those words slipped out without any filter. She sighs, looking at the window again hoping that she indeed was going to share it with someone, her members or even her boyfriend “Anyhow, it is breathtaking.” She mumbles to herself. She was staring at the window longer than she would like and hoped the TV people would edit this. She then started to talk about what the company’s plan was tonight, stating that she was tired and hungry before shutting off the camera.

After she changed, she laid down for a bit setting an alarm for thirty minutes. “That should be enough for a power nap.” She told herself excitedly.

But what Dara didn’t expect was how drained she was that she didn’t even hear her alarm go off and the fifteen missed calls that she had gotten just to get her to come out of her room. The only reason why she opened her eyes because she was sure her stomach growled.

“Aish! Chicnaro!” She gasped dramatically when she glanced at her phone to see it was already almost midnight and what’s worse all the missed calls she had gotten. It was all from Chaerin and the last one was from Jiyong not five minutes ago.

She slaps her forehead panicking. She had missed the company dinner and usually those are mandatory. She is so going to be in trouble in the morning. And what makes everything more miserable than what she is feeling right now is that she is famished. She wasn’t sure when she orders room service if the company wouldn’t be too happy about it since she had missed the company dinner she should just go ahead starve but then again she can just use the her money to pay since her stomach is growling at her for missing dinner.

She’ll apologize to Chaerin in the morning and everyone from YG family as well. She’ll call room service and then call Jiyong back.

“Yep, that sounds like a plan.” She said to herself as she rolled herself towards the telephone thankful that she had gotten rid of the dress she had worn since that stunt wouldn’t be possible if she had it on.

She was about to raise the phone when there was a soft knock on the door. Her eyebrows met in confusion, and in her delirium mind of not having anything to eat in the past 13 hours had gotten to her she said, “That was quick,” thinking she had ordered or not. Maybe Chaerin brought her food…

She walks towards the door and opens it, her heart leaped for joy when the person standing in front of her was none other than Kwon Jiyong and he was carrying a tray full of food. She wasn’t entirely sure if she was happier to see him or the food tray. The smell of it made her stomach churned loudly, she gasped embarrassed by the noise she just made.

“I figured you haven’t eaten all day. I thought I’d bring you food.” He offered a small smile and stepped forward to plant a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Is everyone upset that I missed the company dinner?” She steps aside so Jiyong can walk in and put the tray on the table. She closes the door beh