Hyunjae was watching his groupmate, Youngchul, fall into fan boy coma ever since 2ne1 came inside their dressing room. Youngchul has been a fan of the fierce girl group since they debuted and followed their activities religiously. Even, staying up late to watch their shows online. And for a trainee, giving up sleep is a major sign of love.
  They have been casually chatting with Park Sanghyun aka Cheondoong regarding his promotions when the room was swept in a blanket of silence. They looked up and saw 2ne1 standing in the doorway.
  CL's unconventional greeting jolted them all out of their stupor. He saw Sanghyun blush and bow his head to hide his embarrassment. On one hand, he pities the young man since the whole South Korea knows his not-so-manly nickname, which was lovingly bestowed upon him by his older sister. On the other hand, he also envies him because he is close enough to 2ne1 and probably Big Bang for them to feel comfortable calling him the said embarrassing nickname.
  He watched Youngchul stand up a little straighter and attempt to subtly check his appearance as 2ne1 approached them. Sanghyun's sister, Sandara Park, was leading the rest of the girls towards her brother. Their attempt slowed by the numerous bows and greetings they received and returned. He smiled as he watched as brother and sister embraced in greeting.
  "They really have a warm relationship, huh?" Youngchul commented quietly. "I want a noona as gorgeous and as pretty as Dara noona to give me hugs too."
  "Fool. What you're imagining would not be appropriate if the girl was actually your noona." He whispered back.
  Youngchul blushed and vehemently denied thinking anything like that. Hyunjae laughed and smiled at CL as she apologized to the group.
  "Say something." Youngchul demanded, nudging him with his elbow. He shot him a glare but he also tried to think of something to say.
  "Dara-ssi really loves Cheondoong." He finally commented. "He's a lucky guy."
  CL laughed. "Oh, you have no idea. Whenever Dog -, sorry, Sanghyun has activities she compares our schedules meticulously and tries to figure out which of his activities she can support personally and which she has to have recorded. She's also not above begging to be released early if needed."
  "She drives a hard bargain even though she doesn't need to." Minzy added with a smile. "She'll take earlier call times as long as she can make Sanghyun's schedules. It's good for us, since all of us aren't morning people."
  "Noona, I'm not sure if you've met Hyunjae  and Youngchul personally." Sanghyun interjected as he turned his sister towards the other two idols. "If not, well.. this is them." He introduced awkwardly. "Guys, my Dara noona and my adopted sisters who also bully me mercilessly."
  "Aww. Sanghyun-ah. I knew you really love us even though you keep denying it." Bom teased the younger man.
  "This is a surprise, Sanghyun." CL observed in a teasing manner. "I would have thought you would whisk your sister away from here rather than introduce her to some boys. Does this actually mean you're allowing her to date?"
  "Lee Chaerin!" Dara was surprised at CL's comment. Does this woman have a death wish? "It's not like Sanghyun has put a dating ban on me, you know." She turned away from her laughing members and faced Hyunjae and Youngchul. "Please excuse, CL. She hasn't taken her meds yet."
  "Yah! Unnie!" CL whined in a manner very different from her stage image.
  "Oooooh.. Tokki fighting back. I like it." Bom singsonged.
  "Aisht, these unnies. Come on, we have to go to our own dressing rooms. Jjangmae might be in convulsions by now thinking we've gone missing." CL snickered.
  "It's his fault anyway. He left us." Bom pouted as she started to say her goodbyes.
  "He brought all our stuff in our dressing room, unnie. It's not like he abandoned us." Minzy said reasonably.
  "But he's been with other YG artists for so many months! Didn't he miss us?" Bom asked as she walked away. "I would have thought he wouldn't let us out of his sight for a while. Well, except for Dara."
  "Maybe he doesn't like you as much as you thought." Dara teased Bom. She turned to Sanghyun and wished him luck and also said her goodbyes to the rest of people in the room, walking backwards as she wished everyone luck. Upon reaching the door, she turned to leave but bumped against a very uncomfortable Kim Jaejoong.
  "Sandara." Jaejoong greeted her as his eyes shifted from her to the people in the room behind her.
  "Jae." Dara greeted him back. "Uhm.. Hey. I was just visiting my brother." She pointed towards Cheondoong's general direction.
  "Ah." He bent slightly to get a better look inside. "I thought this was our dressing room." He admitted. "Junsu and Yoochun went ahead of me with our managers. My manager has my phone.. so.."
  "Were you staring at yourself for too long in the mirror again?" Dara teased.
  "That's TOP, not me." Jaejoong protested. Seeing that everyone was still watching them, he coughed. "Uh.. I better find where I'm supposed to be."
  "Oh. Yeah! Me too!" Dara nodded and bowed once again towards the occupants of the room. "I can't believe those girls left me." She mumbled as she edged away from Jaejoong and towards the hallway. "See you around, Jae." She gave him a wave and started fiddling with her phone. "Yah! Where are you? Which way do I go? What? Where is that? Come and get me! Why did you leave me in the first place you evil girls!"
  Sanghyun started moving. "I'm going to make sure she gets to her dressing room." He told the rest of the room.
  Jaejoong watched him make his way towards his sister. Turning back to the room's occupants he asked, "Does anyone know where JYJ's waiting area is?"
  Just like that, three staff volunteered to assist him. As Jaejoong left with a staff, he heard one of the people in the room ask, "So they really are dating?"
  Youngchul nudged Hyunjae again and asked, "Do you think they set it up? I mean they made plans to run into each other here?"
  Hyunjae snorted. "I doubt it. If they were actually dating, they would have been safer meeting up in either of their group's dressing rooms."
  "Maybe that's what they want us to think.."
  Hyunjae shook his head. "Drop it. It isn't any of our business what they choose to do in private."

______________________________________
  "And just where have you been, Sandara Park?" a voice demanded as soon as Dara entered 2ne1's dressing room.
  "Sajangnim!" Dara clutched her hand over her chest as she backed away in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
  "What do you mean what am I doing here?" Yang Hyun Suk narrowed his eyes at the girl. "The question is: why aren't you here when I arrived?"
  "I just meant, you know.. It's New Year's Eve and although it's not seollal, it's still time to be with your family, you know?" Dara rushed to explain knowing that like many Koreans, YG's family traditionally celebrates the lunar new year instead of the new year based on the western calendar. "And I know how you prefer spending time with your kids during holidays like this."
  "Eh." YG said. "I have to make sure you guys don't mess things up."
  "Sajangnim, we practiced really hard. Of course we won't mess things up!" Bom piped in.
  YG glared and mumbled something like 'It's not you I'm worried about.'
  "Are you saying something, Sajangnim?" Bom asked cutely.
  "I said, put down that corn, Park Bom!" YG ordered, causing Bom to hide behind Chaerin as she tried to finish the rest of her corn as quickly as possible. As everyone laughed, he turned back to Dara. "Don't think I've forgotten you, Sandara Park!"
  "I just went to say hello to my brother, sajangnim." Dara admitted, a little worried why her boss is demanding she answer. He usually doesn't care where they spend their free time as long as they don't compromise their image, endorsements and commitments. "Did you need me for something?"
  "Go with your manager and speak with PD Lee. You and TOP are hosting a segment for Cass." He told her. She nodded and went to look for Jjangmae. "Sandara, as soon as you're done get back here immediately, alright? I don't want you dawdling around in the hallways."
  Dara nodded and left quietly but as soon as she was out of earshot, she grabbed Jjangmae's arm and whispered, "What's going on? Am I in trouble again?"
  Jjangmae shrugged. "Not that I know of. I also don't think it's about any YG artist, otherwise we would have been briefed earlier."
  "I wonder why he's acting like that then." Dara wondered out loud. "If I didn't know better, I would have said he's doing Jiyong a favor." She giggled at the thought. Even Jiyong has his limits. He wouldn't enlist Sajangnim for guard duty.
  "Dara!" PD Lee greeted her as soon as he spotted her. "Good. You're here. I apologize for the late notice but there were some changes with the sponsor that's why we were only able to finalize your segment now. Hana!" He called one of the staff as he ushered Dara to one of the small tables in the room. "Where's Dara's script? Have a seat, Dara. Jihoon. Good to see you again. Just a minute, Dara." And with that he left the two of them shouting for his staff.
  Dara smiled at Jjangmae and sat down. She's a little nervous since she has so little prep time but since she did Sugarman and her judging stint in the Philippines she has grown more comfortable with improv talks. Less than a minute later, PD Lee returned with the script and started explaining what they wanted Dara to do. It's nothing unusual, she and TOP are going to introduce the next performer as well as the new installment of their CF which will be shown as soon as the show goes on commercial break and then later on, she will be one of the hosts counting down until the New Year, well, January first.
  On their way back to 2ne1's dressing room, she told Jjangmae that she wanted to rehearse with TOP.
  "Is there even a point to that?" Jjangmae asked with a laugh. "You know he'll just go off script the first chance he gets and then you'll end up flustered because it's not what you rehearsed."
  "I've been doing better!" Dara defended herself.
  "Yes, you have." Jjangmae agreed. "But so far you didn't have to do a segment with a bingu."
  Dara sighed and continued walking. "I have to learn this, so you have to keep Bom away from me. And CL. And maybe even Minji. You know they'll distract me."
  "I'll try but you know those girls. I can't stop them if they put their minds to something." Jjangmae replied. "And if Big Bang comes by, I cannot be held responsible for their actions."
  "Big Baby." Dara teased with a laugh.
  "I admit it. When you guys join forces, I shudder to think of the chaos you cause."
  "But you love us anyway." Dara countered.
  "I do." Jjangmae conceded with a sigh. "I think I have brain damage."
  As Dara dissolved into giggles, he reluctantly joined in. He really loved his girls. He's been with them since they started and he hopes he'll be with them for years to come.
 __________________________________________
  Back in the 2ne1 dressing room, the door opened and deep voice boomed, "Wassup, 2ne1!!"
  "Oppa!" Minzy greeted TOP as he entered their dressing room in what has become his signature greeting for 2ne1.
  "What are you doing here, Seungyhun?" YG asked.
  "What are you doing here, sajangnim?" TOP asked in return as he made his way to the couch where their president was seated.
  "Dara asked the same question." Bom whispered giggling.
  "Where is noona?" Daesung smoothly interrupted before his hyung could be scolded buy their president. "Minji-ah, you greeted your TOP oppa but not me. Is it because there are no cameras?"
  "Oppa! There you go again!" Minzy protested at Daesung's favorite bit of teasing her.
  "Dara unnie went to PD Lee." CL answered Daesung's question.
  "Oh, good." TOP commented. "I wanted to run lines with her. See how hard we're working Sajangnim? Don't we deserve a vacation?"
  "You want to go on a permanent vacation, Seunghyun?"
  "Two weeks will do, Sajangnim." TOP replied seriously.
  YG's reply was interrupted when the door opened carefully and Jiyong entered the room slowly.
  "Hyung! What are you doing? You can't do stealth so just forget about it!" Seungri's voice was heard loud and clear much to the amusement of the people inside the room and the annoyance of one Kwon Jiyong.
  "Shut up, you brat!"
  "Hyung! I'm only concerned about your image!" Seungri protested. "You looked silly doing.. whatever it is that you were doing."
  "Ehem."
  "Hyung!" Jiyong greeted as soon as he spotted YG and approached him. "What are you doing here?"
  "Why is everybody asking me that?" YG asked annoyance clear in his tone. "Do I not have the right to be here? Am I not part of YG Family? Are you forgetting that I am YG of YG Entertainment??"
  "Sheesh. Calm down, sajangnim." Seungri answered since everyone seemed to be frozen in surprise at YG's outburst. "It's just you usually skip the end-of-year activities to be with your family. What is it? Did you do something bad and your wife kicked you out?"
  "Why you - "
  Just then the door opened once more to reveal a giggling Dara followed by Jjangmae who was also laughing.
  "And you! What are you laughing about? Didn't I tell you to come right back here?" YG demanded.
  For a couple of seconds, Dara stared in shock as if trying to verify if YG was speaking with her.
  "Hyung!" Jiyong protested at his girlfriend's treatment. "What the he-"
  "Shut up, Kwon Jiyong! You ungrateful brats, all of you. After everything I did for you, am doing for you, you disrespect me like this?"
  "Hyung, what is going on? We're all just joking around here." Jiyong asked. "If you're going to yell at us at least tell us what we did wrong."
  "I don't answer to you, Jiyong." YG said firmly. His voice chilly and his expression blank. "When I tell you to do something, I need you to do it. Especially if you signed a contract agreeing to do it! I can't always baby you and cater to your whims! As much as you like to think that I am the end-all and be-all at YGE, I also answer to several other people." He stood up and made his way to the door.
  As the door closed, a shocked Dara  looked at her members and Big Bang waiting for them to explain. When no explanation was forthcoming, she shook her head as she whispered, "But I came right back.." Then a lone tear fell slowly down her right cheek.
  "Baby." Jiyong rushed towards Dara and enveloped her in a hug.

Dara was still frozen in surprise and confusion. "I don't understand."
  "We don't either." Jiyong replied as he led her to the couch, beside TOP.
  "Noona, don't cry." Seungri comforted her. "We were just talking, then boom! He exploded."
  "It's your fault, you rat!" CL hissed as she approached Dara and started her back. "You said his wife kicked him out!"
  "It was a joke!" Seungri defended himself. "And I was just speaking the truth! He never comes to shows like this."
  "You just came in at the wrong time, Darong." Bom assured her as she handed Jiyong