CL stared at the loud crowd not far from her and felt blood rushing to her cheeks, turning it into a deep crimson color. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Talents from different entertainment companies were laughing and were huddled into the crowd that made everyone excited. Except her, Minzy, and Taeyang. And Seungri? He’s having the time of his life.

She decided to call Dara, just so she could talk to someone whose sanity was still intact and hoped that some of it would brush off to her. Her call was answered after a few rings and CL sighed with relief when she heard her beloved unnie’s voice.

“O, CL-roo. What’s up?”

“Nothing important, unnie. Just checking up on you. When we left, you were not home yet. So…” CL’s voice trailed off when she saw what Seungri was doing.

“Ya! You still there?” Dara asked when her dongsaeng stopped talking. “What’s that noise all about?”

“Uh, nothing. It’s just Seungri,” replied CL. Her eyes were fixed on Big Bang’s maknae who was making hip s in front of Hyuna from 4Minute. “He’s having an epic battle dance with Jo Kwon from 2AM. Seungri is winning. It’s kind of…scary.” She heard Dara’s giddy giggle.

“You don’t seem to be thrilled,” Dara commented. “Is he embarrassing the company again?”

CL groaned miserably and said, “It’s Seungri, unnie. What do you expect? Even Jo Kwon-ssi seemed confounded right now.”

“Where’s Taeyang?” asked Dara.

CL looked to where the other member of Big Bang was and said simply, “He died…”

“Died?”

“Yeah, he died of embarrassment. He’s with Minzy,” CL cackled. “How I wish you’re here with us so you can see for yourself how humiliating Seungri can be.” She heard Dara laugh and flinched when she heard an unwanted noise—male voices—in the background.

“Unnie, I know that the other ahjumma is with Gummy-sunbaenim, and I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t have a manly voice,” CL warily said. “So who are you with? Are you on a date?!”

“What?! Don’t be ridiculous!” Dara screamed on the phone. “That was Thunder and Seungho. They came for a visit, and guess what? They brought the ramen we both love! Isn’t that nice?”

CL smiled once she heard the word ramen, and said, “That’s nice of them. Tell them thanks. But I hear three guys…So who is the other one?”

“That would be Nichkhun,” Dara shyly answered.

“Nichkhun?” CL asked, but this time, her voice doesn’t sound worried. She was just shocked by the fact that a guy from another company, besides her brother, was there with Dara. There was an awkward pause and when CL recovered, she said, “Oh, okay.”

“Hm, that went better than I expected. I thought you’re going to give me one of your ahjumma lectures.” Dara happily remarked. “What time will you be home?”

“Uh, about that, unnie,” CL hesitated. She then went on telling Dara that the meeting and orientation would take the whole day, and they would be back past midnight or tomorrow morning. She heard a disappointed huff from Dara.

“Bom won’t be home until tomorrow,” Dara explained. “I’ll be home alone.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be back before the recording of the new song,” Chaerin paused as she tried to remember. “That is tomorrow, right?” She heard Dara say yes and both said their goodbyes, after Chaerin told Dara to have the guys home by nightfall.

That morning, Nichkhun, Thunder and Seungho hung out, played games, and had their lunch with Dara in 2NE1’s dorm. They had a late lunch, and when they were through, the guys said their goodbyes and left. By then, Dara’s foot was already fine and she could already walk without the pain. She made a quick mental note to buy something for Nichkhun, as a thank you gift for what he had done. Dara also reminded herself to buy something for MBLAQ, too.

As she was thinking of the perfect gift, Dara suddenly remembered that she has not seen her phone ever since she got the call from Chaerin. Now where did I put that? Dara nervously thought. Aside from being the PR director of 2NE1, she was also in charge of their schedules. That required her to be with her phone at all times.

Dara reached for the dorm’s phone and dialed her number. After a few seconds, she heard her muffled Hands Up ringtone and she immediately retrieved her phone which was squeezed in the sofa. Dara was relieved when she saw she missed no calls, but was definitely surprised to see one message coming from Wooyoung. It said:

From: Wooyoung

Good morning, noona. I’m currently having my breakfast now. Do you have a schedule today? Let’s hang out.

8:28 A.M.

She scanned the message again and let out a small gasp when she saw the time it was received. 8:28? Dara glanced on the time. More than six hours have passed since then. OMG! She quickly dialed Bom’s phone number and hoped that she would answer.

Bom picked up the phone after a few rings and she said, “Dara? Is something wrong?”

Dara heard munching noises and asked cautiously, “Are you eating again?”

“No!” The sound disappeared and Bom confessed, “Okay, I’m eating. But I don’t think you called me for that. So what is it?”

Dara started to tell Bom about the text message she received from Wooyoung. She was not even finished talking when Bom let out a high-pitched squeal.

“Dara-yah! That’s great!” The eldest in 2NE1 squealed like a fangirl who just saw her ultimate bias. “So? What time is your date?”

“Uh…I haven’t actually replied to him yet.”

“What?! Unbelievable! And how rude! He texted you this morning and you haven’t replied yet? Dara-yah, where’s your heart?!” Bom screamed on the phone. “Quick! Text him and say that you’ll have a date with him. You owe him that much!”

“Eh? What about Chaerin?” Dara asked nervously.

“What she doesn’t know won’t exactly kill her. So go!” Bom encouraged. “I’ll back you up!”

“Why do I get the feeling that you are more excited with this than I am?” Dara chuckled.

Bom laughed and said nonchalantly, “I have no idea. Now go! Tell me everything tomorrow. I’m being called by Gummy-unnie.” They said their goodbyes and hung up. How weird is it that Bom is fangirling over this? Dara thought. She took a deep breath and replied to Wooyoung’s text message, hoping he wasn’t angry at her late response.

The 2PM beast-dols, with the exception of Wooyoung, were all huddled in front of the plasma TV, watching a random show, when Nichkhun got home. “I’m here,” Nichkhun said as he removed his shoes.

“That was a long walk, hyung,” Junho commented. “Where did you go?”

“Nowhere,” Nichkhun replied. He doesn’t like lying to his friends but he thought that it would be for best for everybody if he just omit the part where he really was. He scanned the place and asked, “Where’s Wooyoung?”

Chansung pointed Wooyoung’s direction with his foot and said, “He’s been like that since morning. He’s so weird.” Junsu nodded in agreement. Nichkhun went to the balcony and tapped Wooyoung’s shoulder.

“Oh, hyung. You’re back,” Wooyoung said. Nichkhun looked back at the others who just shrugged. Taecyeon on the other hand called Nichkhun and pulled him aside.

“It’s actually my fault,” he whispered.

“What did you do?” Nichkhun worriedly asked. “Wooyoung looked like he was in a daze.”

Taecyeon was about to speak when Wooyoung went to the living room, jumping like a rabbit. Everybody was shocked at his sudden change of mood and Junsu asked, “What the hell happened?”

Wooyoung stopped jumping and when he did, he said, “I think I got a date.”