-=Chapter 1: Of Dara, Depression, and Dolls=-

"Dara-unnie!" a voice sounded from the nearly empty hallway of the YG compound.

"Omo. CL-roo!" Dara said, using her pet name for her friend and fellow trainee.

"What are you still doing around here?" she said, turning around to see a breathless Chaerin panting, her hands on her knees.

"Yah unnie! Are you deaf or something?! I was calling you since you started coming up the stairs from the second floor!" Chae Rin said, pouting at the older girl.

"Really? Oh, I'm sooooo sorry, Chae!" she apologized, then held up a pair of headphones, "I was listening to Gummy-unnie's I'm Sorry. I guess I was too concentrated on it that I didn't notice you calling. Sorry, C to the L!"

Chae Rin waved off her apology and said, "Doesn't matter now. Anyway, did you know that YG sajangnim wanted to see you tomorrow?"

"Really? I didn't know that," Dara said slowly.

And before Chae Rin could explain, her eyes rounded and a horrified expression filled her face, "Omo! Maybe I'm getting laid off!"

"Wha – " the younger girl started to say, confused by her unnie's reaction.

"Maybe he's going to tell me that he's letting me go!"

"Unnie…"

"Aisht! I'm so stupid! Why didn't I know?"

"Unnie…"

"Oh my ghad! And he so said last week that I was improving a lot, and now, he's letting me go?!"

"Yah! Un – "

But Dara was already trapped in her own world full of angst and despair, "What was I thinking?! I have a really weak voice and I can't dance to save my life! Noooo!" she screamed, putting both hands behind her head.

"Sorry for this, unnie," Chae Rin murmured before she slapped Dara on the face. Not hard, but not soft either.

That did the trick.

Dara blinked at Chae Rin, who was peering intently on her face.

When the older girl's eyes could already focus, the girl rapper said, "Congratulations! You are back to the world where your paranoia doesn't exist and won't materialize. Seriously, Dara-unnie!"

"Thanks CL-roo. I needed that," she said, before she gave out a wail and slid down the wall, sitting on the floor, clasping her knees to her chest and putting her head on it.

Chae Rin looked at her pitiful form and sat next to her.

"Unnie? Are you alright?" she asked tentatively.

"I really hoped that he would notice how I'm working so hard to get better. But I can never be as talented a singer as Bom-unnie, or as great a rapper like you, or as amazing a dancer as Minzy. I'm the weakest of all the YG trainees!" Dara said, choking a bit with tears in her eyes.

"Yah! Don't say that Krungie," a male voice said.

The two girls on the floor looked up to look at the newcomer.

"Oppa!" Chae Rin exclaimed, hurriedly standing up.

But Ji-Yong had focused on the distraught girl who was still on the floor.

"What's wrong with you, Krungie? I've never heard you say such cruel things to yourself," he said.

Chae Rin hurriedly answered, "I've been trying to tell her that it's not the end of the world and that she's not getting laid off. But she's gone off into her own little dark world."

"But it's true. I'm the weakest here. Aisht! I don't know what I was thinking when I all but forced sajangnim to accept me as a singer!" Dara wailed.

"Stop it, Sandara Park!" Ji-Yong said, squatting down to sit beside her. Chae Rin hurriedly sat back down next to her friend's other side.

"You know, you have a different spark in you that makes you stand out. You have what others here lack, and that's charisma," he said, looking into her eyes.

"But Jongie, I –" she started to say.

"Nope. Don't talk down on yourself again. Believe in yourself, Krungie. Believe in yourself, the way we believe in you," he continued to plough on, looking at Chae Rin for support.

The other girl nodded and said enthusiastically, "Yeah! We believe in your Dara-unnie! Tam-Tam believes in you too, see?"

She rummaged in her bag, and took out a violet plushie rabbit doll.

"Here, you can keep him. So that you remember that there is always someone who believes in your abilities," she said, handing over the doll to the still-sniffing girl.

"Thanks," she murmured, taking the doll and hugging it to her chest.

Ji-Yong smiled fondly at Chae Rin who was grinning back at him, both glad that they managed to cheer Dara up.

"You're right. I can do this. I'll make sajangnim proud of me! I'll make him glad that he chose me over the hundreds of wannabes that fight to be a trainee," she finally said.

"Atta girl!" Ji-Yong said, ruffling her hair.

"Thanks a lot, CL-roo and Jongie. I'm sorry you had to see me like this," Dara said, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.

"Oh, unnie. It's nothing! That's what friends do, right? They slap you when you get lost in your despair and give them your plushies to make them feel better," said Chae Rin, handing Dara her hanky.

Dara smiled at that.

Then Ji-Yong took out his cellphone, making the two girls look at him in curiosity.

"Besides, Krungie…" he started to say, taking out his phone and looking pressing a few buttons, "If you quit now, I would unleash this on the Internet," he continued to say slowly.

"And you really DO NOT want this seen by other people," he said with a sly smile on his lips, turning to show them his cellphone screen.

Dara's eyes got bigger and bigger as she realized what was on it, while Chae Rin's eyes got narrower and narrower as she looked at it intently.

"Omo! Unnie is that…" Chae Rin said slowly, small giggles already bursting from her lips.

Ji-Yong's wicked grin turned into a wicked laugh as he turned up the volume causing Dara's impromptu performance of "In Or Out" to be blasted throughout the hallway.

"What are you doing?! Turn that off!" Dara exclaimed, lunging at Ji-Yong who quickly got up and start running.

"Nah, nah, na-na, nah! You can't catch me!" he said childishly as Dara's digital voice continued to blast from his cellphone.

"Aisht! You are so dead when I catch you!" Dara shouted, going after him.

"Unnie! Oppa! Wait for me!" Chae Rin said, following the two dorks out of the hallways and spreading havoc throughout the entire YG building.

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When the morning comes will I be able to see you again

I'll love you like the first time we met

No matter how much time passes us

Everyone blesses us

For some reason, your seat feels so empty

All day I cry

I'm sorry for hurting you

I'm sorry for doing nothing for you

I'm sorry for not forgetting you

I'm sorry, but today

I want to see you one last time

"And this is where I come in," Choi Seung-Hyun, more popularly known as TOP, muttered to himself.

Out of all those girls, you caught my eye

She's beautiful like the main character in a movie

I couldn't get her out of my mind

My sincere apology is late

I'll give you all my tears

Please forgive me, I'll beg on my knees

Please give me a chance

I was so sorry I ripped up all the letters

I just have something to say, give me a minute

If you still want me in your heart

I'll hold you like that day when we were happy

Those past days were hard for you

No one lent a helping hand

I'll always be on your side

I wont burden you any more

I'm sorry for hurting you (for hurting you)

I'm sorry for not doing anything for you (i really didn't)

I'm sorry (I'm really sorry)

Because I couldn't forget you (because I couldn't forget you)

I'm sorry, but today

I want to see you one last time

"And back to Gummy-noona," he muttered absently, concentrating on the lyrics of the song.

How many pains

How many accidents

How many tears you shed alone

How many pains

How many accidents

How many tears hurt you

I'm sorry for hurting you

I'm sorry for not forgetting you

I'm sorry for not forgetting you

I'm really sorry, I love you

"What are you doing, hyung?" SeungRi asked.

"Go away," Seung-Hyun said.

"Not until you tell me what you're doing," the younger man asked, settling down into the sofa beside him.

"Fine, fine. I'm listening to Gummy-noona's I'm Sorry," he answered impatiently, repeating the song again.

"You rapped in that song. Why would you need to listen to it yet again? Are you becoming narcissistic of your own songs, hyung?!"

"Aisht! Stop it maknae or you're really gonna get it this time."

"I was just wondering! You never even listen to our own songs repeatedly, and now you're doing this?!"

"Yah! Aisht, what is it to you? You're such a nosey guy for someone so young."

"Hark says the old man! You're only a few years older than me, hyung."

"Whatever, maknae."

"…"

"…"

"So, why are you listening to Gummy-noona's song again?"

"AARRRRGGGGGHHH! That's it!"

SeungRi scampered in a hurry, knowing that this particular hyung is particularly dangerous when angered.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" he said as he ran to the safety of Dae-Sung's room.

"You are still so dead for freaking bothering me!" Seung-Hyun yelled, following the younger, and faster boy.

But SeungRi had already come into Dae-Sung's room and locked him out.

"Yah! What are you doing here maknae?! I'm watching Doraemon and you're disturbing the peace!" Seung-Hyun heard Dae-Sung's muffled voice behind the closed door.

"Shhhh, hyung! TOP-hyung is out there. Waiting to kill me!" he heard SeungRi answer.

"Aisht! What did you do this time?!" asked Dae-Sung in a slightly amused voice.

"Yah! SeungRi! Get out of there and face me like a man!" Seung-Hyun said, banging on Dae-Sung's door.

"Get out of here maknae before hyung breaks my door open!"

"Noooooo!"

And into this fray, Ji-Yong entered.

"Er, what are you guys doing?" he said, looking at Seung-Hyun's slightly reddish face outside Dae-Sung's room.

"Tell the maknae to not bother me again until I cool down. Which will be happening in the next century," said Seung-Hyun.

"Okaaayyyy," Ji-Yong answered, knowing that the best way to let him calm down was not to ask him to elaborate further. Besides, he knew that Seung-Hyun cared about all of the Big Bang members to actually take his anger seriously.

"Where have you been?" Seung-Hyun asked, turning back to his iPod and listening to the song again, though turning down the volume to hear his friend's answer.

"Oh, I was on my way here when I spotted Krungie," he answered.

"Krungie?"

"Sandara Park."

"Oh. Dara?"

"Yep. You know her, hyung?"

"Yeah. We bumped into each other a few times."

"Oh. Well, she looked down in the dumps, so I stopped for a minute to cheer her up."

"Is that right? Why would a cute girl like her be sad?"

"Well, she was feeling like she wasn't good enough and all that trash. So I cheered her up and told her that," Ji-Yong paused, "Did you just call her 'cute'?"

"Yeah, I did. So?" Seung-Hyun answered nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders.

"But – But…You never think that a girl is cute!" the younger man said.

"Yah! What are you implying Ji-Yong-ah?! That I'm a faery?!"

"Heck no!"

"So? Can't I say that I find a girl cute?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Sheesh. You're acting like the protective older brother or boyfriend or something," Seung-Hyun muttered, making Ji-Yong flush.

"OMO, Yah! Seung-Hyun, alias TOP, alias I'm-Too-Cool-For-Everybody-Else! I was just saying that it isn't in your nature to say things like that, okay?"

"Fine, fine, if you say so," Seung-Hyun said, smirking a bit.

"Whatever," Ji-Yong replied, still a bit out of sorts, "So, what are you doing?"

"Aisht! If someone asks that one more time, I'm gonna…"

"I was just asking!"

"Fine, fine, fine! What am I doing, you ask? I'm listening to Gummy-noona's I'm Sorry. Why, you ask? Because President YG told me to internalize the friggin' lyrics. Why, you ask again? I don't friggin' know, so don't ask me anymore. Happy?" Seung-Hyun said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Ecstatic," Ji-Yong replied sarcastically.

Then the two of them lapsed into silence as Seung-Hyun continued to listen to the music in his iPod and Ji-Yong went to sort out SeungRi and Dae-Sung who had tumbled out of the latter's room and were now wrestling on the floor.

"Yah! Break it up you two," Ji-Yong said, walking over to the two wrestling Big Bang members on the floor.

But the two maknaes just continued rolling around the floor, each struggling to get hold of whatever it is that was trapped in each other's hands.

"Watch the freaking furniture!" Ji-Yong yelled out as they ignored him and continued to wrestle on the floor, bumping on the glass-topped table and breaking the vase on top of it.

'And this is one of those times that I hate being the leader. Ladies and Gentlemen, these are the amazing Big Bang members that you idolize so much!' he thought before he had to jump away from the oblivious wrestling boys on the floor, oblivious to the broken china.

"This is gonna be a long night," he muttered.

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Mwahaha! OTL! I had to fix so many things in this chap alone. Argh.

Anyways, will be posting my other stories once I finish editing them. ^_^

Comments are love! <3

Kudos,

~Belle