(Bold = Korean)

(Black = Present)(Green = Past)

Chapter Ten

Dara POV

Everything that had happened today was too fast for Dara to comprehend. It was all a blur. If she tried to recall it all, now it was useless. Even Jay sitting next to her asking what had happened, she couldn't reply because honestly she doesn't know.

"So,” Jay started after not saying anything for a good thirty minutes, “Are we just going to sit here while I watch you try to figure out what had happened in your mind?" Jay had asked furiously. It has been a good three hours since he had arrived at Dara's after a distressing call that even she doesn't remember doing. When he showed up at her door she looked rather surprised. He told her, she called him twenty minutes ago crying not responding to him when he kept asking what was wrong.

She just blinks and stares at him. She was exhausted. She was in her lowest point about two hours ago but she had to pretend to be fine and be cheery as soon as Jinnah arrived. She kept a smile on her face as Jinnah was just sharing stories about how Christina's birthday was. She was glad that Jay was there to distract Jinnah so she doesn't have to keep smiling the whole time.

When she had finally tucked Jinnah to bed, she had dropped her facade of being cheerful and she looked as miserable as ever. "You can go home." She told Jay. She still had yet to understand why he's here. She figured he would have given up and gone home when she wouldn't say a word for a good four hours since he's been here.

He lets out an exasperated sigh, "The hell I am." He snaps at her angrily. He was already losing patience. He knows Dara always keeps things to herself but this was too much. "What happened Dara?"

"I don't know." She was closing herself off, this is the same answer she had given him every time she would ask. She didn't want to think about it because it made her feel lesser of a human being after what had happened.

"Well, if I start talking maybe I'll get a proper reaction from you." Jay said thinking that he might get something from her.

She blinks, confused. "What?"

He just ignores her and continues. "Remember that company that is merging with AOMG?" He didn't wait for her to respond since it was obvious in her expression that she wasn't really interested about it now. "Well, the merger happened about a month ago."

"Okay....?" She said in caution not sure where Jay is going with this.

He lets out a long breathe as he finally spoke the words that still seemed to confuse Dara, "Well, the company is with The Black Label."

Dara is trying to process trying to think where she's heard that name before. She wouldn't really think much but the way Jay is looking at her as if he's waiting for her to break from the news. Then it finally hit her, she could feel her eyes widening and her pulse quickening. When she first spoke, her voice broke. "It's.... Isn't that Teddy-oppa and Kush's independent label under YGE?"

Jay just nodded, "Yeah. For now, AOMG will be under YGE for another three months for evaluations and actually we might take a few trainees from YGE with us."

Dara couldn't believe what she is hearing. She didn't want to say what she's thinking because she knows that Jay isn't the type that would into her business. "Why are you telling me this Jay?"

“The merger was handled by Jiyong.” He clenched his teeth, he knows this is the reaction he's looking for. "You're smart enough to understand what is happening Dara. You don't need me to spell it out for you."

And there it is... Dara could finally recall what her mind buried as soon as she saw his car drove away.

The emotions started to flood her and she was confused as what to feel but having Jiyong's expression replay in her mind....

Dara’s throat was dry and she couldn’t speak. Her heart was pounding heavily across her chest and with the silence they both shared she is positive that he could probably hear it.

Jiyong clenched his teeth, he couldn’t even take his eyes off Dara anymore. He even refused to even glance towards Jinnah who was still smiling at him excitedly.

“I—“ she wanted to say but Jiyong’s strong gaze that her planned out words disappeared.

“Were you ever planning on telling me that Jinnah’s mine?” Jiyong’s voice was low and dark that if anyone could hear it would probably have goosebumps.

Dara panics thinking that Jinnah would understand but when she looked over at her little girl she was still holding onto her shirt and smiling playfully. That is when she realized that he was speaking hangul and Jinnah doesn’t understand Korean.

But Beverly on the other hand looked uncomfortable as if overhearing something she shouldn’t. “Well, look at that Jinnah. How could we have forgotten Christine’s present?” She walks over towards Dara and takes the box she was carrying. “Jinnah say bye, we probably should go.” Beverly stutters but tries to hide it with a smile.

“Oh,” Dara was startled since she was still staring at Jiyong. “Thanks…” She knows why Beverly seems very uneasy is because she had forgotten that Beverly can understand Korean since her boyfriend is one.

Jinnah just reaches over to give Dara a kiss on the cheeks and then waves at Jiyong. “Bye, Jiyong.” Jinnah said to Jiyong.

Dara could see Jiyong cringe at Jinnah calling him by his first name. It made her heart clench. She could never begin to understand what he feels.

“It was nice to meet you.” Beverly said quickly as she was being dragged by the four year old as fast as she could.

Then it was just Dara and Jiyong left. (A/N Jiyong and Dara are speaking hangul now. I can’t do bold in every convo thankkss)

Their eyes never left each other, waiting for someone to speak. Dara knows she should be the one to say something first but no matter how hard she tries to think, she has lost all vocabulary and nothing would leave her lips other than her lips opening and closing.

Jiyong closed his eyes, clearly frustrated. He finally stood up from partly kneeling on the floor. “So we are just going to keep staring at eachother?” He said between his teeth.

Her pulse raced in her chest, she knows very well trying Jiyong is trying his best to be calm but his temper is almost to its limits. Anything Dara might say would trigger it. She just has to choose her words carefully or he’s going to explode.

“I was going to tell you tonight. Everything.”

He clenched his teeth and nods, “Then tell me now.”

She swallowed. She had to tell herself not to even show a slight sign that she was about to cry because it’s just going to make it worse. “I—“ she stutters. She cursed at herself mentally. She was always good with words since she became a recoding producer. She could handle herself when all these people would yell at her but with Jiyong his calm demure is making her feel small and incompetent.

She already had a slight idea of what to tell Jiyong about Jinnah but being in this situation now. She has no idea where to start.

“Were really planning on telling me or were you just waiting till I leave New York without even knowing that she’s mine?” Once again, he was too calm but he clenched his fist and it was too obvious that he is giving her a chance to explain.

Dara shakes her head, “I was really going to tell you. I just don’t know where to start.” She cried out in desperation. It’s just better to be honest now, with her hesitating every second is just making the situation worse.

He just smirked darkly and he runs his hands onto his hair. “Then start from the beginning. The moment you found out that you were pregnant then decided not to tell me, thinking that the best solution was to run away and rob me four years of her life!”

Ouch.

She deserved that though. She was expecting him to say all this but it still does hurt. “Everything I’d end up saying might just sound like I am making excuses Jiyong, but know this at the time I wasn’t in the right state of mind—“ She choked remembering that dark times when she was trying to deal with her mother and sister’s death. For a good two months she was in the worst state of depression and she didn’t even want to relive though that right now because she is more thankful that she got though that especially it didn’t have any effect on Jinnah. “But yes at the time, I thought it was best for everyone if I move away. You announced you were getting married, you were starting family on your own.”

Jiyong laughs sarcastically as he couldn’t believe his ears, “You thought it was best?” he echoed her words darkly. “Wow seriously Dara, I don’t even think you’re making an excuse at all.”

She didn’t understand what he is getting at but she went ahead and continued. “If I would have stayed in Korea, do you realize how it would look to everyone?”

“If you’re thinking about the stupid media Dara do you think I freaking care about that?” he snapped at her. She had always cared about what others think which is why their relationship was hidden the entire time. If it was him, he would have announced it as soon as they were first caught but he wanted to respect her wishes.

“But I do!” she raises her voice at him, “I don’t care about what they think about me but how it would portray Jinnah! You were already getting married, if my pregnancy would have been known, I would be dubbed a home wrecker. I don’t want that for Jinnah.”

He shakes his head, “Oh so now it’s my fault because I was getting married? So it’s my punishment because—“

“Stop twisting my words Jiyong because you know that’s not true.” She had said desperately because he is to a point that whatever she is going to say is never going to his head but only interpreting words that he wants to. This is always the disadvantage when it comes to her with him. He is rational with almost anything but when it comes their problems he blows it out of proportion making it a bigger issue than it should be.

Granted it’s mostly her fault because she tends to run from problems so the only way to make her talk is for him to act this way but this was five years ago. She’s changed and she is ready to talk about this properly.

“Then what is it Dara?”

She pursed her lips together and takes a deep breath, “I was trying to protect everyone.” She recalled how hard it was to make this decision that she knows this sacrifice isn’t going to be taken lightly but despite it, she still believed this was the best. She remembered how Jiyong started losing fans when he announced that he was dating Kiko and also the fact that the pregnancy rumors started to surface. His and the agency’s solution was to send him off to the military but that had changed when Jiyong announced his marriage to Kiko.

“I was also getting rumors around Jiyong and I was starting to give 2NE1 a changed image.” She was lost for bit not caring what she was doing because she in denial to admit that she had a problem. It all had started after their break up and then it had gotten worse after the accident. “If I was added to that equation, you alone aren’t just going to be ruined but the girls as well.” She did her best to save everyone from the train wreck that is her.

He just heavily scrunched his hair in frustration. “Why do you always assume that I care about what everyone thinks? You of all people should know that I’d chose you over everyone. Adding Jinnah in the picture I would have told everyone to go to hell.”

Dara lets out a sigh, she is so lost. She has no idea what to say anymore. Whatever comes out of is not worth anything, she did him wrong but she can’t explain. She knew this was how Jiyong was going to handle this if ever she stayed, he was tired of the fame around that time and as much as he loved his music he hated the complications and the drama that came with it (especially being in the public eye’s radar all the time).

“You don’t understand Jiyong, to you it’s easy to tell deal with it that way... but coming from this family after my father had left, everyone just listened to the stories they think they know. They assume these stories and swallow it as if it was the truth… imagine how I felt despite my father being the bad guy.” She remembered how she was bullied as a younger teen when her father abandoned them. She was in a different country which made it a lot harder but still rumors are still better than the truth. “When she grows up she is going to be branded by the things that aren’t true just because the media portrayed it a different way. She’s a daughter of Dara from 2NE1 and G-dragon from Bigbang that alone is enough for her to be known.” She didn’t want what life she had using her father’s lie to bully her. She knows how kids can be mean not understanding what things actually mean.

Jiyong just stares at her as he definitely couldn’t understand what she talking about, “Either I’m really slow or I just refuse to comprehend what you are saying.”

“Jiyong,”

“Dara in our relationship, I’ve accepted all the excuses you give me every time you run from me…” Which is true, it may take a while till they get back together and he does use Kiko everytime he feels lonely but that’s all it ever was. He would just be waiting for Dara to come to her senses. “But this time, it’s just all bullsht... We could have figured something together. If you wanted to move somewhere and start over then I would have done that in a heartbeat.”

Dara pursed her lips together. “As I said Jiyong I wasn’t—“

“So because of that I missed out on my daughter’s life.” He talks to himself mostly.

“I’m sorry Jiyong.” Dara said sincerely.

“Yes you should be!” He spat at her angrily. “So what Jinnah thinks I’ve abandoned her?”

Dara shakes her head but she knows that her response wouldn’t be a better one. “No, she doesn’t.” she didn’t want to add the next line but then she was tired of trying to hide it already, she was ready to tell Jiyong everything so might as well. “We haven’t mentioned you yet.”

Jiyong’s expression ch