"Noona, noona, noona!" Seungri rushed to Dara's side and gently but urgently excused her from the people she was talking to.
  "You brat! I just got her, where are you taking her?" Bom shouted after him much to the amusement of the people around her.
  "Dara seems to be in demand tonight." Heechul commented airily. Many people are unaware that he and Dara have been good friends since their hosting stint in 2013. They knew each other before that because of Dara's friendship with Donghae but they grew closer as they prepared for the show. 
  "Oooooh. That Seungri is so clingy. He must be in trouble again and is need of Dara's protection." Bom mused as she accepted the drink that Leeteuk handed her.
  Tiffany put her arm around Bom and joked, "Don't worry. We're still here. We won't abandon you even though we aren't supposed to be friends."
  "Oh, you.." Bom answered as the group laughed at the stories of their alleged fights.
  Meanwhile, Seunrgi was still holding on to Dara as he rushed to find a private space.
  "Lee Seungri, what is going on?" Dara demanded as she tried to keep up with Seungri's pace.
  "I have to show you something!"
  "What is it? Show me now!" Dara demanded.
  "I need to do it in private! Aha!" Seungri exclaimed as he found the coat check. He scanned the area for staff but didn't find anyone. He made a mental note to mention it to the manager. Coat checks were supposed to have staff watching the coats and bags at all times, people! Then again, if they followed the rules he wouldn't be able to use the room. 
  "Lee Seungri!" Irritation laced Dara's voice, effectively breaking Seunrgi's contemplation.
  "Oh, sorry." He drew them further into the room and took out his phone. "Have you been online tonight, noona?"
  "Nope. Why?" Dara asked as she took out her own phone and checked her instagram account. She was surprised at the tags proclaiming that JaeDara, as the fans dubbed her and Jaejoong, was real. She clicked on a post and saw that it was a screen capture of the NYE countdown. She and Jaejoong looked to be staring at each other. She knew for a fact that nothing like that happened, it was just the angle of the shot making it seem like they were staring into each others eyes. There was no eye contact beyond the initial one, wherein both of them were surprised to find themselves next to each other. After that, she got distracted by Mino, Seungyoon and Zico teasing each other.
  She clicked another one, and it was another screenshot. It showed the whole stage this time but there were several circles for emphasis. One circle to show Big Bang. Another one to show 2ne1. And finally one more, circle around her and Jaejoong.
  There were several more links that she opened up. Fan accounts relaying their versions of the night. A popular one is a post about how as soon as the idols were asked to be on stage Big Bang and 2ne1 were led by the staff to center stage but Dara 'purposefully' stayed in the back and she was later on joined by Jaejoong. Fans claim that based on this, it was obvious they were waiting for each other and wanted to welcome the New Year together. Many fans were asking if anyone caught the two sharing a New Year's kiss.
  But probably most damning and confusing of all was a link to a youtube video. The full video had about 15 minutes worth of footage but fans have kindly made new videos showing the important stuff.
  Dara was silent as she watched the clipped video. It was only 58 seconds and yet she feels like those 58 seconds are going to unleash hell on her personal life. Seungri watched her as she played the video over and over again. Finally clicking on the full video. 
  The camera was wobbly but the video and audio were very clear. The screen spanned around the stadium, recording artists and fans alike. Then whoever was shooting the video started walking explaining that she will try to get closer so that she could film EXO and Jaesuk as they went down the stage after their performance. The person recording did just that and she spent two minutes freaking out over Park Chanyeol waving at her. The person then ranted at being swept away by the crowd until she found herself at the edge.
  "People, there's YG!" the voice said.  "It looks like he's monitoring TOP and Dara's segment. Let's try to get him on video or maybe a photo."
  She started moving again until she stopped abruptly causing the screen to shake. 
  "They look good together." the man beside YG commented.
  "Hmm." 
  "Jaejoong and Dara, I mean." the man clarified.
  YG gave an aggrieved sigh. "Those two used to drive me crazy. Jaejoong would take Dara away with him to Japan for days at a time. I would think she was at home with her mother or in the Philippines but she was with him." YG shook his head. "Thank God, they finally stopped pulling stunts like those."
  "Oh my God!" the person holding the video squealed causing YG and the man beside him to turn around. The video once again wobbled as the person presumably ran away. She could be heard squealing over and over again and soon the screen out.
  Dara was staring at her phone, paler than Seungri has ever seen her. He rushed to her side and led her to one of the couches in the room. "I tried calling YG but couldn't get him on the phone. I already texted him. I also sent a message to Eunkyoung noona. I.."
  "What do I do? What do I do?" Dara asked helplessly. "Why would he even say that? Who was he...? Why? We've kept it a secret for so long, how could he casually mention that in public?"
  Seungri remained silent but he has his suspicions. YG's behavior and outburst earlier was causing his mind to think along some pretty disturbing lines. He hopes he's wrong.
_______________________________________________
    "You okay?" A voice broke Jiyong out of his reverie. Looking up, he found that the voice belonged to someone very much unwelcome in his life. He scoffed as he swirled the contents of his glass before drinking it in a single gulp.
  Jaejoong smirked as he sat down beside a glowering Kwon Jiyong. "You used to like me.."
  "That was before I found out you dated my girl." Jiyong retorted quietly, aware at the lack of privacy.
  "Dated being the operative word." Jiyong stared at his empty glass sullenly. Jaejoong sighed and took a swig of his own drink. "Look, she's with you now, knowing about us shouldn't matter."
  "I know. I know in my head it shouldn't matter. I know that." Jiyong told him honestly. "But I can't help but get pissed when I think about it. About you two.. I just.. I just want to punch you.. But I can't do that. Partly because you could probably beat me up but also because I know she'd hate it. She'd hate to think that someone got hurt because of her. She'd hate knowing that this anger I feel is definitely because of you and of her. She'd just.. I think she's been through enough, don't you?"
  "I do. And I'm actually impressed you know that too." Jaejoong said, not bothering to hide his surprise.
  "Why are you here?" Jiyong asked him after a few seconds of silence.
  Jaejoong shrugged. "It's a party."
  "Why talk to me? We were friendly before but we weren't friends. We would only hang out if TOP hyung was with us." Jiyong pressed on. "Why bother doing this now? Especially when you must know that  you're no where near the top of my list of favorite people right now."
  "I'm not really sure." Jaejoong answered honestly. "Maybe because despite all the personal with us, I still think you're an incredible artist. Maybe because I enjoyed hanging out with you guys back then. Maybe because I can see how you've grown up. Or maybe it's because once upon a time I hated that you once had her too."
  Jiyong stared at him in surprise. "What?" Suspecting something and actually knowing for sure are two very different things. He knows they loved each other back then. Dara herself said so but hearing it from Jaejoong.. made him feel all kinds of weird.
  "I loved her you know." Jaejoong told him seriously. "And because I loved her, I hated you. I hated how you hurt her over and over again. Even before I fell in love with her I already hated your guts whenever she'd tell me the latest insensitive thing you've done or said or whatever. That grew ten-fold when I finally realized and accepted that I loved her. I hated how despite that she found it so damn hard to let you go." His eyes grew distant as he remembered her words. "She once accused me of not really loving her. She said I just wanted to fix her. Fix what you broke. I accused her right back, of liking the pain.."
  Jaejoong and Sandara were spending a lazy weekend holed up in his house. They loaded up on junk food and planned to watch horror movies all weekend long.
  After watching The Ring and The Grudge, the Japanese versions of course, they decided they needed a break and started watching Scary Movie. Sandara was just coming back from popping some popcorn and Jaejoong watched her as she sat down next to him, hugging the bowl.
  "Aren't you going to share that?" He asked with a smile.
  "Get your own." She teased but offered the bowl half a second later.
  He smiled as he took some and threw them in his mouth. He raised his arm and waited for her to come to him. She didn't disappoint him, snuggling into him as she watched the movie. He tried doing the same but he couldn't help but stare at her.
  Even barefaced, she was gorgeous. They've been doing whatever it is that they've been doing for months. It started since they got back from Japan. They've been more affectionate with each other, more caring. What used to be SOS phone calls and invitations to get drunk to drown their respective miseries turned into checking in 'just because' and 'thinking about you' calls. They stopped hanging out to hide and started hiding because they actually wanted to hang out.
  "This is good, right?" He asked her.
  "Hm? It's funny." She answered, her eyes still glued to the screen.
  "Not the movie.."
  "Then what?"
  "Us."
  She finally tore her eyes away from the TV and turned to look at him. "Yes.." she answered carefully.
  "I mean, you like spending time with me, right?" he twisted so that he was now facing her fully. "I like spending time with you too. And I'd like to do it more often."
  "More often than we do now?" She asked incredulously. "When do we sleep?"
  "Maybe we won't."
  "Contrary to popular belief, this face actually needs work you know? I need as much rest as I could to maintain my pretty face otherwise they'd kick me out of my group." She joked but Jaejoong could hear the underlying bitterness in her airy words.
  "I'm serious." He told her. "Let's do this."
  "Do what?" She asked but he could see that she has an idea of what she's asking.
  "You and me. I want to give us a shot." He told her. When she scoffed, he rushed to elaborate. Knowing her as he does now, he knows she has a hard time believing that people see more of her than just her appearance. "You're gorgeous, that's like a given but Sandara, there's more to you than that and I see you. The whole you. I see the girl who just wants to be able to perform, I see the girl who wants to make sure her family is well cared for. I see the woman who wants to be appreciated and loved for who she is and not what she looks like." He took her hand in his. "Sandara, I see you."
  She looked away. "No, you don't. You see someone hurting and you want to make things better. You see me in pain and you want to fix me."
  "I don't want to fix you." He denied her accusations fervently. "I want to make you happy."
  "Jiyong makes me happy." She whispered softly but he could feel the blow of each word like a physical punch. He know she didn't say those words just to hurt him but because she somehow felt he had to know.
  "He also makes you miserable." He pointed out. "How many times in the past month alone have you cried because of him?"
  "It's not his fault.."
  "Not his fault?" He asked, unable to hide his anger. "He flaunts his girls in front of your friends, knowing