Chapter Twenty Five

Their friendship....

Jiyong POV

December 1, 2004

 “Jiyong, can you come out here for a minute.” Se7en called for Jiyong as he peeped his head to the practice room.

“Deh,” Jiyong nods. He then pushes Youngbae playfully who started goofing around trying to lower the tension in the room since they had a new member in their group that YG-sajangnim wants to start the first Idol group in YGE. An underground rapper who calls himself Tempo named Choi Seunghyun. He was glad that his hyung that he has known since middle school is fitting well with the team that he, Youngbae and Jang Hyungseung are part of “Be right back, quit goofing around and practice.” He added in a serious tone this time. It is rare that the boys can have the practice room on their own and during the day since they are only trainees.

“Yes boss…” Youngbae said and he did a salute with a sly grin on his face. When Seunghyun joined their team YG-sajangnim appointed Jiyong as the leader of the group. Jiyong took the responsibility rather well but at the same time there are moments when he becomes his name sake.

“I’m serious, we can’t be sure how long we can use the practice room today. If the Hyungs will use it today, then we have to vacate it,” His voice turned harsh a sign that he means business.

Then he walks out of the room and shuts the door behind him. He lowers down a 90 degree bow to greet his Se7en-hyung. “Oh, hyung.”

Se7en looked rushed and impatiently looked at his watch then phone, “Listen I need you to meet this new trainee downstairs. She’s here now too.” His said far too quickly as he didn’t want to waste any time.

Jiyong tried to hide the fact that his eyes were about to bug out of his eyes by how surprised he was, not really knowing how to respond. It was obvious that it was supposed to be hyung’s job to greet this new trainee but passed on that job to Jiyong. Usually when there’s an already famous trainee that joins YGE an actual artist would greet this trainee but if it’s not then either Youngbae or Jiyong would do the honors because they are the longest trainees in YGE so far. Though he is sure that hyung said she, so it should be Chaerin or Bom-noona.

“She’s Korean and she’s also an established entertainer in the Philippines. So I guess she’s here to get more training or broaden her prospects.” Se7en explained briefly though he was too busy replying to a text message it was obvious that he wasn’t really that interested.

Jiyong already knew who his hyung is texting, and it’s clear that it’s Se7en’s secret girlfriend, Park Hanbyul-noona. Him and Youngbae had always been their protector from the start of their relationship and the boys don’t mind because it gets to be going to eat good food or have great breaks during their hard lives as trainees. He scratched his head, not knowing how to respond. He’d really rather practice with the guys than welcome another trainee, a girl in fact when it should be Lee Chaerin or Park Bom-noona’s job. “What about—“

Se7en just cleared his throat expecting Jiyong to ask this question, “Chaerin wouldn’t be in today, obviously you can’t ask Gong Minzy since she’s too young and well… you are more than welcome to wake up Bom. She’s upstairs.”

Jiyong almost choked remembered one of the biggest mistakes he had ever done in his lifetime was to wake up Bom-noona from her nap it was like asking for a death wish without really thinking it. Never again will he do something that idiotic. “Is she downstairs?” he asked referring to the new girl that Se7en hyung threw at him.

Se7en nods and then gives Jiyong a heavy pat on the shoulder as he answered his phone call.

Jiyong realized that he should probably start getting used to things like these because as appointed leader there are going to be things that he needs to do as a representative of his group or even the company. So this should be a start.

He found her immediately. It also helped that she’s the only person sitting on the waiting lounge by the entrance. She had her palms on her knees and her head was turned towards the wall staring at the picture as if overanalyzing the meaning of the painting. This amused him because most trainees would sit there uneasy, impatient and usually at least their heads turned with their eyes memorizing every nook and cranny of the building as if that day was going to be the first of many amazing yet hardships of their lives. He would have thought that she seems calm and chilled for someone who is about to start their training times but the closer he had gotten is when he notices that she’s chewing the inside of her cheeks and squeezing her knees, she may even be holding her breath quite often.

This is the reason why he dislikes welcoming girls because he always feels worried for them. not all trainees make it to the next level and he does have his urge to want to save them but he knows he couldn’t he still has his own future to worry about.

She then turns her head towards his direction and she smiles at him noticing that he was walking to her.

He froze for a second taken aback by her bright smile he even had to ignore the fact his heart just stopped beating all together then quickened a second later.

“Annyeonghaseyo,” She immediately stands up and does a low bow in greeting.

He just blinked taking a second to respond which is very unusual for him. “Annyeonghaseyo.” He greeted back and does his 90 degree bow then touches the back of his head. What is this girl’s name? Did he forget to ask or did Se7en-hyung not mention it.

He gave himself a second to observe her from head to toe. One thing he can definitely say is this girl is very tiny. Not just by body structure but height as well and quite young as well from what he can see. She looks like a fragile doll, she has this innocence radiating from her that all he wants to do is wrap her in a blanket and have this dying urge to protect her. This is the second time he felt this and that was Gong Minzy but she’s the maknae of YG Family that joined when she was 10 so obviously it made sense to be protective but with this girl, who he assumes is only at least a couple years younger than him or maybe same age as him 17, it’s different.

Realizing he had stared longer than a second, he then extends an arm to offer a handshake. “Kwon Jiyong.”

She takes his hand immediately for a strong yet quick handshake. “Park Sandara.”

“Wow, you have three syllables in your name.” He uttered without thinking which he immediately regretted. Obviously it’s her name so she knows that it is, and has probably gotten a lot of comments like this.

She just shrugs not really finding the statement odd since she’s used to it. “My appa thinks that someone as tiny as me should probably have a strong name… or so I was told.” She tried to make a joke.

“Sure,” he just grins. He also noticed that there isn’t any odd air between them when you first meet someone. This is usually a sign that he’d be good friends with them. Sort of how he felt the first time he met Bom-noona. They weren’t many girls his age that are his friends so this would be a refreshing moment.

He clears his throat as he realize he probably should start the tour and quit staling. “Welcome to YG entertainment.” He points at the sign behind him. “Before we go, when do you officially start training?” he asked. When a future trainee does the quick tour that means that they are going to start next week.

She touches the back of her neck and smiles shyly, “Today.”

His eyebrows met in confusion. This was new, “Today? Did you do a tour yet?”

She shakes her head, “This is the first time I’ve stepped into this building.”

He blinks then straightens quickly. He was more curious about this girl who had gotten special treatment for some reason. “Well congratulations on your first day.”

She takes a deep breath as if trying to calm herself down. Her expression showed that her reality starts today and she was definitely scared of the unknown. “Thank you,” she said weakly.

He immediately wanted to tell her that she shouldn’t worry about it or that she’ll be good at it but honestly saying stuff like that would be careless. Trainee life is such an unpredictable moment that someone who is that talented can’t be promised a future in this industry because they also need certain traits to stay; personality, hardworking, endurance and most importantly patience. He should know about that since Youngbae and him were supposed to debut early this year as a young hip-hop duo but that changed for YG-sajangnim wants to debut YGE’s first idol group. So honestly the only advice he could give was, “If you are nervous, good. Keep those feelings, nerves makes you more aware about the surroundings and make you work harder.”

She pursed her lips together, she nods to herself as if she was taking the advice by heart and keeping it there, “I’ll keep that in mind Jiyong-shi, thank you.”

Having her use honorifics gave him goosebumps. “You are most welcome. And if you need anything don’t hesitate to come to oppa for help, I certainly don’t mind.” he offered. He wasn’t sure what has gotten into him to be so bold but as a maknae at his home he always loved the fact that he has dongsaengs around to help.

She giggled and she seemed amused about something. “That’s very nice of you but I don’t think that’s appropriate for me to do that.”

He was surprised by her response, he would have felt offended by declining his offer but something about his smile got him curious. “Well there isn’t just me… there are others that wouldn’t mind helping. We are all family here.”

She bit her lip, “I mean thank you for your offer, I’ll definitely come to you for help but I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to call you oppa.” She explained herself properly this time.

He raised an eyebrow, he was about to ask what she meant by her statement when all of a sudden Park Bom ran into him then squeezed his arm. “Noona,” He mumbled staring at her palm on his arm because his nails were digging into his skin.

“Sorry…”Bom said adorably as she made an adorable apologetic face which meant that she wasn’t sincere with her apology. “Well, I was—.“ She didn’t really want to say what she was doing for the past twenty minutes… so she clears , “Anyways, I can get it from here. You can go practice with Youngbae and them.” she said but she wasn’t really looking at Jiyong but was eyeing Dara carefully studying her. She was clearly was amused and surprised, “I am Park Bom… Wow, you need to tell me all your beauty secrets to keeping young!”

Jiyong just stared at his noona thinking she’s insane. Why would she ask that as if it’s some miracle… Sandara looks young because she’s young.

Sandara just giggled and replied, “Not sure if I have much, but okay. I’m Sandara Park.”

Bom claps her hands excitedly, “Ohh… You’re a Park too!” she said as if she hasn’t known that Park is a common last name for Koreans. “We can be like the Park Sisters!” She added like she’s naming her own future reality TV show.

Jiyong rolls his eyes and stifles a laugh. “You can call her unnie. She likes that.”

Bom then turns towards Jiyong giving him her famous I’m going to hurt you glare. “Yah!” she punches his arm making sure she’d use her knuckles for effect. “Just because I don’t look as young as her doesn’t give you the assumption that I am older than her!!!”

He blinks and then blinks again trying to decipher what Bom-noona means then at the same second Sandara’s response that it wasn’t appropriate to call him oppa totally made sense now. He couldn’t help but widen his eyes as he was staring at the girl in front of him who he had thought was in her middle teens was actually 21 years old. “You’re a noona?”

July 30, 2015

Jiyong saw her immediately sitting by the balcony alone. He wondered where her friends are at or the We Broke Up cast that supposedly arrived in the country not an hour ago. He arrived just now with Seungri and the security just pointed to the second floor as soon as they got to the entrance gesturing that their party was at that side of the club. Of course leave it to Seungri who for some reason randomly found friends as if he’s known them for awhile when in reality they only met during rehearsals when the sponsor introduced them to a few young starts in this country or even people that they had met three years ago when they were last here.

Seungri, the social butterfly. He commented to himself.

His eyes were still fixed on the beauty sitting alone, Dara was enjoying herself watching the people from downstairs on the dancefloor, and she had her fingers on her bare knees tapping to the beat of the song. He remembered all her posts on Instagram about her progress with her instrument playing. She looked nothing of her real age but just a young lady possibly in her twenties. It always amused him how she seems to have not changed at all and to be honest she looked rather younger from when they first met. He always wondered how she did that.

He walks over to the table, she was slightly clueless that he was close by. “You are getting really good with your drum solos by the way,” he complimented her knowing that it’s true.

She tucks her chin to her neck, embarrassed. “Ani, I need a lot more practice. Unlike Daesung who is like a master compared to what I can do.” She said complementing Daesung’s amazing performance for Sober on his Drum Solo

He shakes his head and he smirks, “That kid has been playing the drums since our first concert he is just too shy to show his other hidden talents. He held back still though…” He knows that Daesung is a lot better at playing the drums than he lets on because he is far too humble.

She smiles as she had times where she’d have a jamming session with Daesung or she’d get tips from him as well. “Maybe he’ll be more comfortable now that he’s performed it a couple times already,”

He nods, “He gets confident every time.”

“The show was amazing by the way, I don’t think I told you that yet.” She said softly that it took him a second to realize that she was talking.

“Thank you.” It was amazing because you were there and it gave us all the fighting we need. Especially me.

Then silence. But the thing is, it was a comfortable silence that doesn’t need to filled with small talks. They never really had this much of a moment together for a while maybe a couple times since they established that they were sort of alright with each other’s presence. So he enjoyed that silence and just looked at everywhere but her face but in actuality he is watching her at the corner of his eye. They were just nodding at the beat not really wanting to go dance but at the same time just swaying along the music as if waiting for someone to offer for them to go dancing.

Jiyong can feel someone watching him, he would have thought it was Dara but the direction of the reason why he is having goosebumps is from downstairs and that is when he saw him. Jang Kiyong. Dara’s little puppy. Everyone in the YG family knows that this kid has a huge crush on Dara he’s rather surprised that Kiyong and Dara are still fairly close. He suspects that Jay isn’t the jealous type if Kiyong is still hanging around Dara.

He just nods at the kid who then was dragged back into the dance floor by one of Dara’s costars in We Broke Up, which he thinks her name is Seunghyun. That’s where he sees that Dara’s friends/costars of her web drama was downstairs on the dance floor. her friends that she's going to do a tour around the Philippines tomorrow. A clench of jealousy hit his chest and he couldnt help but say, "You've known Bigbang longer than them, why is it that we never got this lavish tour from you?" He raised an eyebrow teasingly.

She immediately frowns at him, and she couldn’t hide the guilt on her face. She still feels very bad about that unsuccessful trip to Tagaytay. Plus the fact Daesung almost always makes her feel bad about it when she'd come visit or vacations in the country. She knows that Daesung would about it tomorrow morning at brunch. "Yah!" She crossed her arms across her chest not knowing how to respond. "You guys all take a break all once when I come back here, and I mean EVERYONE. If we all have time off the same time I promise to bring you on a tour around the country!" She said rather stubbornly not really realizing what she had just promised to Jiyong, aka her exboyfriend.

He just raised an eyebrow and used to this an advantage, "You sure?" He knows that when Dara is in the zone to try to make up for something that she thinks she's done something wrong she always doesn't think about her promises whether they are impossible or not. She only does this to her close friends though so with her speaking like this it was a good stop into their complicated friendship.

She gasped dramatically annoyed that he had doubted her. "I always keep my promises!" 

And this is when he knows that he has to keep going before she realizes what she's saying, he sticks a hand out with his pinkie finger. "Swear on it then..." He put his free hand behind him and crossed his fingers hoping she wouldn't snap out of it just yet.

She raises an eyebrow and scoffs, "What are we children?!" She demanded.

A sly grin leaves his lips, this is the exact thing she had said to him the first time he did this a decade ago. He pretended to back out and said, "Well promises are just words if there isn't some sort of seal that makes it worth it."

"Wait!" She said as she linked her pinkie finger to his immediately. "Okay, there." She touched their fists together and the tip of their thumbs touched.

“This promise is witnessed by the gods of friendship, and may he see any punishment deem fit to the one that broke it." He added knowingly to seal the deal.

Dara's eyes widened as she stared at their hands. "Mwoya..."

Sure it sounded ridiculous now because it's supposed to. Long ago when they were still both trainees when Dara was leaving for the Philippines he made this silly statement just to get a laugh from her and since she had really upset the whole day. It had indeed a snicker from her and since then during their friendship era they'd use this once in a while since they'd get funny looks from their friends, they had stopped using this in early 2009.

November 29, 2005

Jiyong is never the type to regret anything. He always accepts the consequences of his actions but at this moment never had he wanted to turn back time and shut his mouth or even smack himself across the head for making Dara cry. She hasn't really stopped crying and it has been thirty minutes, she cries and mumbles "sorry" every minute or so.

"Noona...." He sighed finally speaking up since he knows any minute now everyone is going to be here and they might think he made her cry when all he did was ask her how she was when he saw her at the practice room. He understood why she's emotional, today was her last day of training since her six month contract ended yesterday. Tonight she leaves for her hometown in Busan to visit her relatives then she goes back to the Philippines a week later.

They had asked her to come to YG building to give her a proper goodbye party and what Jiyong didn't expect was Dara was far too early than everyone else. So when he asked her how she was her response was to bawl out.

"I am so sorry...." She grumbled again and started to wipe her face from tears and possible snot. She was using Jiyong's towel which is now soaked with her tears.

He groans and grabbed her shoulder so he can turn her to face him, he lightly shook her, "Chincharo noona, stop apologizing for crying. You can cry but please stop soon. Everyone is going to walk to that door and they are going to think I made you cry. And Bom-noona is going to be there, she's going to kill me." He brushed her hair off her face quickly and patted her back awkwardly. He was never good at comforting crying girls.

"Mian...." She sniffled some more.