“Are you sure you’re sleeping there?” Chaerin asked Seunghyun.

Seunghyun just nodded. “Don’t you think it’s too inappropriate for two unmarried persons to sleep in one bed?”

“Geez, you’re such a no fun. It’s not like we’ll be doing something, you know? Besides, everyone’s sleeping with their partner. I don’t think they’re going to do IT, do you?”
“By the sound of it, it looks like you really want to sleep with me. I thought you don’t have feelings for me anymore,” Seunghyun said, with a teasing tone.

“I was just being concerned for you. Fine! You sleep there while I comfortably sleep on the bed,” Chaerin said, stomping her way to the bed. “And I don’t have feelings for you anymore, okay?!”

Seunghyun laughed out loud. Chaerin and Seunghyun have this kind of relationship. He just laughs on how she easily gets annoyed.

It was past 1 AM when Chaerin heard a light snore. She got up and grabbed an extra blanket in the cabinet. She went towards Seunghyun who was sleeping with a book on his hand. She got the book and neatly put it on the table.

“I can’t believe that you can actually sleep while sitting on a couch,” Chaerin said, shaking her head. She lightly put the blanket over his body and left to sleep again.

Meanwhile, Dara seemed to not able to sleep. She was staring the ceiling for an hour now. She looked at the clock and it said, 1:05 AM. She tried to sleep again but she can’t. She rolled to her right and just stared at the back of his partner. She never noticed how lately, she loves seeing his y back. Somehow, she wanted to hug him from behind. But she knows she can’t. She sighed heavily. If she had successfully convinced to sleep on the couch or on the floor, maybe she would be able to sleep now. Or maybe not. His mere presence makes him very uneasy, maybe because of the recent happening.

She sighed heavily again. “Jiyongie? Are you awake?” she asked in her small voice.

“I’m asleep,” he said.

“I can’t sleep. You too?”

“I said I’m asleep,” he said again.

“I know you’ve been awake for some time now, too. I have something to tell you.”

Jiyong waited.

“Tomorrow, I’ll be having my first shooting for a music video. Seunghyun and I would be starring on it. I’m so happy for it, you know? I hope you are happy for me too. I’m especially happy that Seunghyun is with me. I would not be nervous like I did before when I first auditioned knowing he’s with me.”

Jiyong narrowed his eyes. Then he closed them. He rolled to face her. He put his arm to hug her close to him.

“Ji...yong?” Dara said, eyes wide open. She can hear his heartbeat under his chest. His heart was beating wildly. She can smell his body perfume and the feeling of him close to her comforted. She closed her eyes and leaned a little closer to him. He leaned his chin on her head.

“Be still,” he said, tightening his embrace but making sure he would not crush her.

“Just stay with me until morning...” he started. “When morning comes, I will give you back to Seunghyun.”

This caught her off guard. She felt her body tensing up. Dara started to protest. “Jiyong, you’re mis-“

“Just shut up… and be still.”

Dara gave up protesting. She doesn’t understand him. It’s like he’s pushing her away. But his arms hugging him say otherwise. The way he embraces her soothes her, comforted her. She wanted to stay like this forever. However, she just closed her eyes and just enjoyed the moment.

 

“How was your night?” Bom asked the next morning during breakfast.

Taeyang craned his neck. “The worst night ever.”

“Why? What happened last night?” Chaerin asked.

“Last night, I thought Bom forgot that there was someone besides her sleeping. After five minutes, she was already snoring. Then after an hour, her feet were already on my face. After that, she kept on kicking on my face and body that forced me to sleep on the sofa. But when I woke up, I was already on the cold floor,” Taeyang explained.

“Wow. What a tough night,” Seunghyun commented.

Bom giggled.

“Stop giggling!” Taeyang said, pushing her.

Instead, it made Bom’s laugh harder.

“Well, for me, I was too comfortable sleeping alone on my bed,” Chaerin said.

“What?! You didn’t let Seunghyun sleep on the bed too?” Dara asked.

“Oh, don’t worry, Dara. I didn’t tell YOUR Seunghyun to sleep on the couch. He was the one who insisted to sleep there. Right, Seunghyun?” Chaerin asked turning to Seunghyun.

Seunghyun just smiled.

“How about you two?” Chaerin asked.

“Well…” Dara started.

“It was fine,” Jiyong continued.

“I slept well too,” Dara agreed.

“That’s it? Boring,” Bom said, rolling her eyes.

“Anyway, guys, I want to invite you to something,” Seunghyun started. All eyes and ears were on him. “Dara and I are going to a shooting today,” Seunghyun plainly said.

“Wha… you’re finally appearing on something?” Bom squealed.

Dara nodded.

“Yes, and we will be the lead stars of the music video,” Seunghyun said.

“Are you going to have a kissing scene?” Chaerin asked.

Seunghyun chuckled. “We still don’t know. Probably.”

Dara stiffened. We’re going to kiss?

“Oh my, Dara. You’re finally getting your first kiss,” Bom squealed again.

“You were never been kissed?” Jiyong asked.

Dara stared at him for a long time, as if transmitting messages only they can understand.

“Well?” Chaerin asked, interrupting them.

“Yes,” Dara answered at once, not breaking gaze from Jiyong. “I’ve never been kissed.”

“Did you hear that, Seunghyun? You’ll be his first kiss,” Chaerin joined in.

 

“It was too bad the others couldn’t come,” Seunghyun interrupted Dara’s thoughts while she was sitting on the set, waiting for the director to start the cue.

Dara nodded.

“You nervous?” Seunghyun asked.

Dara nodded again.

“Perhaps, because you forgot to wear this,” Seunghyun said, showing the necklace hanging from his hand.

“It’s with you?” Dara asked a smile already on her face.

Seunghyun smiled. “Jiyong said you left it at the rooftop.”

“Jiyong?” Dara’s smile faded.

“Yeah, why?” Seunghyun asked.

“Nothing.”

“Come on. Turn. I’ll help you wear it.”

 

“Good take everyone!” the director shouted. “Good job Dara. Next time, I’m going get you as an actress when you debut.”

Dara bowed and thanked the director.

“That was a good acting,” Seunghyun said, appearing beside her.

“Thank you, T.O.P.,” Dara said.

“You don’t need to call me that,” Seunghyun said.

“I don’t want to. I want to call you T.O.P.,” Dara said, teasing him.

“Whatever,” Seunghyun said.

“Finally it’s done,” Dara said, stretching her arms up.

“Well you takes are done. Mine’s not just yet. I have to be absent tomorrow,” Seunghyun said.

“Fighting, T.O.P.!”

“Let’s just go home,” Seunghyun said, putting his arm around her shoulder.

The moment they stepped out of the building, they were met by flashing lights and chatters of people.

“What’s this?” Dara shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Media,” Seunghyun said. “Hurry up. Get in the car.”

Dara hurriedly moved through the crowd of people. While doing that, Dara heard a couple of the media men throwing questions to Seunghyun.

“T.O.P.! who is she?”

“T.O.P.! are you dating her?”

“T.O.P.! is she a YG trainee?”

When Seunghyun finally made it to the driver’s seat, he exhaled. “Those media men just can’t stop throwing rumors on me.”

“They thought I was you’re girlfriend, didn’t they?” Dara asked.

Seunghyun nodded.

“Did you answer any of their questions?”

“I’ll answer them if they interview me properly. Right now, I just can’t.”

 

“Dara-noona!” a junior boy called her the moment she arrived school. “We saw the news! Are you officially dating T.O.P.-hyung?”

Dara was taken aback. She shook her head.

“Oh there she is!” another student said pointing at her. “Unnie, we heard the news. So you’re a YG trainee now? Now, I won’t hate you whenever you’ll be with T.O.P.-oppa. Since I know you’ll debut someday, I’ll support you.”

Dara hurriedly got out from the crowding students around her. When she was a good distance away from them, she stopped and turned.

“They were all rumors!” she shouted.

“Cute!” the students said, complimenting.

“Let’s be friends, unnie!” a student said, waving.

She waved back. She ran as fast as she could as she noticed that the students started to follow her. She was running fast that she bumped to someone.

“Omo, Mianhe,” she said bowing. When she looked up it was Jiyong. “Oh, Jiyong.”

“Are you alright?” Jiyong asked.

Dara gasped for breath. “Students… are… cha…sing… me…”

Jiyong looked behind her and saw a crowd of students, mostly boys. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her.

Because it was still early, the hallway wasn’t too crowded. And because Jiyong was a fast runner and he was half-dragging Dara while running, they were far from the rioting students who obviously became interested with Dara.

Dara hasn’t noticed that Jiyong brought her to the comfort room. Jiyong locked the door and leaned to the wall to catch his breath. Dara did the same. She bent her hips with her hands on her knees and caught her breathe too. After that, they laughed so hard they didn’t notice that someone has been watching them.

“Omo!” Dara gasped. She immediately turned to face the wall so she won’t see the boy who was just zipping up his pants. “Mianhe, we were escaping from some students who are running after us.”

After a while, she heard him opening the door and left.

She exhaled in relief. “You didn’t tell me you brought me to a boy’s comfort room,” she said, turning to Jiyong.

Jiyong just laughed at the look of her face.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Your face… it’s so red. Are you alright?” Jiyong said, cupping her face, then continued laughing.

Dara joined in. then suddenly, they heard a commotion just outside the comfort room. They pressed their ears on the door.

“Look for her there, I’ll look here,” a student said. “Dara-noona?!”

“Are you stupid? She won’t hide at a boy’s comfort room,” another one said.

“Oh yeah, what was I thinking? Let’s look for her there.”

When they heard the fading steps, they leaned away from the door and sighed in relief.

“That was close,” Dara said.

“You are a celebrity now,” Jiyong said.

“I’m not. They said they saw the news. I don’t know what they were talking about.”

“I know,” he said, grabbing his phone and searching the news up. “Here”

Dara read the news. It was actually about what happened last night when she and Seunghyun went home from their shooting. Most of the pictures taken were when Seunghyun’s arm was around her shoulder. The news talked about how Seunghyun is already going out with a rumored YG trainee even though he’s just a new artist. They accused him of using her for publicity so he would be famous. But netizens commented that they didn’t mind. Actually, they supported him even if he’s dating or not.

Dara returned the phone to him. “Media men,” she sighed.

“So… is this true?” Jiyong asked.

“Of course not. Media men, they talk nonsense. I’m sure Seunghyun’s going to clear this up.”

“So… how’s your shooting yesterday?”

“It was fine. It was great experience acting. I even got compliments from the director himself.”|

“Did you…” he started.

Dara looked up. “What?”

“Never mind…”

“Oh come on!”

“Did you have a kissing scene with him?” he asked.

Dara creased her forehead. “Well… we didn’t really kiss. But it’s supposed to look like as if we really kissed. It’s the miracle of the camera tricks.”

Jiyong nodded. “So, it was really your first kiss?”

Dara was taken aback, but she answered anyway. “Yes.”

After an awkward silence, Dara decided to carefully open the door to check if the students were still there.

 

During lunch break…

“Oh look, they posted a signup sheet for this year’s sports fest,” Bom said. “Let’s join!”

Bom signed up her name on the swimming and volleyball list. Chaerin signed on the swimming too.

“How about you, Dara?” Jiyong asked.

Dara shook her head. “It’s not my thing.”

“Come on, let’s just try,” Taeyang said.

“There’s no harm in trying, you know,” Jiyong said.

“No, that’s really not my thing,” Dara said, backing out.

Bom pulled her to one side and whispered to her ear, “You have to enter at least one sport, Dara. Did you know that Jiyong’s past relationships are girls who were usually involved with sports? Maybe he’s attracted to sporty girls. Try entering.”

Dara gave her a questioning look.

“Trust me,” Bom mouthed.

Dara walked towards the three who were busy reading the list of the students who signed up.

“Oh, are you entering now?” Taeyang asked.

Dara nodded. “I’ll try entering track-and-field.”

“You sure?” Jiyong asked.

“Why are you worrying about her?” Chaerin asked, putting her arm around Dara’s shoulder. “I know she can do it, right?”

Dara nodded and smiled. Then she wrote her name on the signup sheet.

A few seconds later, her phone beeped. She grabbed it and read the message. It was from Jiyong.

 

                Just don’t hurt yourself.

 

At first, she creased her forehead. She looked up to him but he wasn’t looking because they’re preparing to leave already. She just secretly smiled.

 

While walking home alone, her phone beeped.

 

                This is Mr. YG. Come to the building ASAP.

 

Dara’s eyes widened and her heart began to beat wildly. Her mind also had thoughts running wildly. The first thought she had was that Mister YG would be reprimanding her about the rumor issue about her and Seunghyun going out. She hurriedly headed to the other direction where the YG building is located.

When she arrived, she knocked carefully on the president’s door.

“Annyeong, Sajang-nim,” she said, bowing. But before Mister YG could talk, she beat him to it. “Look, the rumors aren’t true. Seu-err-T.O.P. and I aren’t going out. We’re just…”

“I wasn’t actually going to talk about that,” Mister YG interrupted.  Dara exhaled in relief. “But since you brought it up, maybe I can talk about it. However, first, sit comfortably. Stop fidgeting there.”

Dara obeyed. But she didn’t stop fidgeting out of nervousness.

“I read the news this morning and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t see it coming. I have a confession to make. It was actually T.O.P.’s idea to give you a chance on being a YG trainee. I was supposed to reject you but he pleaded me to give you another chance.”

He paused. Letting everything he said sink in to her.

“But before your violent reactions, it was actually my idea to have you as his female lead on this music video. Because I saw potential in you. You are a hard-worker and I admire you for that. And as for the rumor, well, I would be lying that I didn’t see this coming. Don’t worry about our agreement that I would not let you debut as an artist if anyone knows about you being a trainee. I heard that your friends knew about it. But I will let it go. Because I decided to let you debut two or three years from now…”

Dara stood up out of happiness.

“Sit, I’m not yet done.”

She obeyed.

“For now, train hard. Learn other languages. Protect your image and T.O.P.’s too. I want to see you improve, okay?” he said. He noticed Dara trying hard to keep something just by looking at how she smiles to herself. “Okay, you can shout now if you want.”

 

A few days later, the music video starred by Seunghyun and Dara was released. Many netizens watched it already and everyone were impressed about how the video came out, how Seunghyun and Dara were so compatible, and most of all, Dara’s acting.

Dara was walking with Seunghyun towards the school when a crowd of students started gathering around them.

“Dara-noona!”

“T.O.P.-oppa!”

They had a long time being trapped in the middle of the crowd. They didn’t have a choice but to let them take pictures with them and sign some of their things. Dara was amazed at how she became popular overnight just because she starred at a music video.

“Good morning!” Dara said opening the door while catching her breath.

“We’re sorry we’re late, Mister Choi.” Seunghyun said.

“I saw the whole thing. Just sit.”