Green – Past

Black – Present

Chapter THREE

Dara POV

It was about the fifth time her phone buzzed in her pocket that she had finally answered the call. It was from her baby sitter stating that there’s an emergency and she couldn’t watch Jinnah tonight. She apologized repeatedly saying that she'll make up for it by watching Jinnah on a weekend.

"Seriously Beverly, it's not a problem at all. Just hope everything is alright." Dara said lightly knowing that emergencies can't be helped. She still has three hours before Jinnah gets out from school to call on her back-ups to watch her kid since she's not sure how long her recording would go today. Today will be her last for now that she had demanded a break from her CEO yesterday.

"Well, I am still serious about that weekend thing, anytime it could be like a last minute thing." Beverly reminded her. Beverly only works on the weekdays and needs about three days in advance to note about watching Jinnah.

Dara just laughs and shakes her head. She wanted to decline but her offer sounded so good to be turned down. "I'll make sure I’ll keep it in mind." Then shared a few words of encouragement before hanging up. Her smile disappeared and she heaved a heavy sigh. Normally it wouldn't be a problem since she still has three hours to spare but she then remembered who she was working with. She knows her artist, Dianne, is such a perfectionist recording two songs is going to take most of the afternoon and part of the night.

She looks over at the studio to see that Dianne is talking to the sound engineer checking out the progress of her recordings probably keeping in mind what needs to be redone. In the corner of the room she sees Leah browsing through her tablet reorganizing her schedule, since Dara is going to take a break in the next two weeks. So she's going to be assigned to a different producer at the moment. She's not working personally for Dara but for the company though both prefer to have her work with Dara.

She walks in quietly and sits beside Leah.

Without looking directly her Dara she can tell that she was distressed. She puts her phone away and gives her a pursed smile, "Everything alright?" She whispered since she didn't want Dianne to hear, although her manager is looking at the two girls.

Dara slightly shakes her head and mumbles, "Beverly canceled on me."

Leah then frowns, "Don't look at me." Like she can feel a favor coming. As much as she likes Jinnah as the next person, she claims that she doesn't get paid enough to watch Jinnah. Last time she offered, Jinnah talked her into letting her eat ice cream... It would have been fine but at the time the three year old who was already full of energy has added sugar into her system. Leah ended up running around far too much for two hours that Leah looked rugged and exhausted afterwards. She had sworn that she wouldn't do that ever again....

Unless it’s a big emergency. An example to that would Dara losing a limb or something. Yes it was that severe.

Dara just smiles, "I wasn't even trying to look at you."

"Everything alright?" Dianne's manager, David Keith, asked in concern.

Dara turns towards him but not before she mumbled at Leah to shut up because Leah looked like she was about to laugh at her own inside joke. In return she just gave Dara a flashy toothy smile. She rolled her eyes before finally changing her soft expression to face David. "It's nothing."

"Yet, he's still willing to jump that hoop for you." Leah grumbled inaudibly just enough for Dara can hear clearly. She had her eyes on her phone knowing that Dara was probably giving her the stink eye. Leah claims that David has some sort of feelings for Dara. He always finds an excuse to meet with Dara despite not really needing to. Leah always mentions that Dianne is already an established song writer but for some reason he'd always seek for Dara to write a song

This time Dianne has noticed that Dara seemed a bit off, "Yeah. What's the matter?"

Dara sighed. "It's not really a big deal though. It's just my sitter just had an emergency. So I just need to find someone to watch her tonight. It won't take me a long time to find one." Which is true since Beverly works through an agency so she is positive it won’t be trouble.

And Gavin was shaking his head the entire time, "You can just bring her here. It's much easier than finding a sitter." He suggested.

Dara's eyes widened. It's not that she doesn't want to have her daughter here. Jinnah's been to the studio a lot of times when Dara would be recording sample tracks for some of the songs she produces but never when she's working with an artist. It doesn't seem professional to bring your child to work no matter how big the emergency would be, she always had a sitter called or even had Leah watch her. “No, seriously. I can call for a sitter it’ll take me about fifteen minutes to find one.”

“Nonsense, it’s no trouble at all.” David insisted, he glances over at Dianne.

“See, no trouble at all.” Leah said calmly but there as an edge to her voice and her expression that totally meant that she was yet again teasing Dara.

“Aist. Jinja.” Dara grabbed on to Leah’s arm to squeeze it tightly in frustration. When Dara would slip into hangul sometimes that usually means that she is too annoyed to translate herself.

Dianne was smiling and nods, “You’ve always mentioned her before… so I would definitely love to meet her.”

Dara just blinks unsure of what to do next. She couldn’t say no three times anymore. It would just sound too rude. “If you’re sure…”

Dianne pats David’s arm as if trying to send off some secret message. “Yes. We are sure. It would be an fun for her to join us.”

She swallowed deep hoping that her hesitation would have them change their minds but a second later she said. “Okay.” As she finally succumbed to everyone’s will. “II have to leave in an hour to pick her up---“

“I can do it.” Leah said far too cheerfully than Dara would have liked. She freed herself from Dara’s tight death grip.

“Thank you…” Dara hissed between her teeth darkly definitely giving Leah the look of death.

It was almost five when Dianne had finally finished recording her second song which was too quick for a perfectionist like her. A song for her would take at least five hours to even be close to be finished. They had only been working on it for about three hours. And she seems happy and satisfied with the work done that she even suggested the sound engineer to go home for the day.

“So, that was really good right?” Dianne asked, not Dara but Dara’s four year old, Jinnah.

Jinnah was sitting on the chair where the sound engineer was at. She clapped her hands excitedly and nods. “Yes it was awesome!”

And again Dianne smiled that Dara knows all too well. It means that the recording has officially ended. “Cool.”

“If you really want to redo that, it’s not a problem at all.” Dara suggested, thinking Dianne can’t just accept that opinion from a 4 year old about her future track.

But Dianne just shook her head and smiled again, she squeezed Jinnah’s cheeks. “Kids these age are too honest for their own good. My brother is they say way with my music. He can always tell what’s good or not. He is also not afraid to tell me if a song stinks like dog poo…” She laughs at her own joke probably missing her little brother in Ohio. “And to be quite honest, your daughter has an ear for music as well. I can tell she got it from you.” She winked at Dara.

Dara just chews her inner cheeks and blushes. Dara acknowledges her daughter’s talent and despite her age she can definitely pick up a melody rather fast. Obviously her father is one of the youngest producer in Korea in his time and also an amazing musician so it’s clear that’s where she got it from.

The reason why Dara had loved making music is she would spend her time so much in the studio with him during her free time just so she can be with him in their short breaks together. Eventually, he taught her the basics when she started to play the guitar but she didn’t really start exploring more into it until she was hiding away. It was her only comfort. Music was her outlet signing at small clubs and bars that’s where Mark heard her offering her a job.

“Um, thanks.” She replied softly not wanting to take all the credit for Jinnah’s talent.

Jinnah stands up and runs to David. “Are you guys leaving?” she looks up at him.

“Apparently so,” David kneels down and puts up a fist which he taught Jinnah three hours ago then smiled when she reciprocated the first bump. “T