Dara has to deal with the insistent hangover while her manager recalls why she avoids drinking so much.

a.n. I’m finally back! I want to quickly thank the subscribers that reached out to me and gave me the inspiration to go back to writing! Thank you! The chapter is kinda short but I hope you’ll like it, I already have a couple of ideas for the upcoming chapters that I hope you’ll enjoy. So without further ado, happy reading! 

• chapter 4 – hungover soup.

「Dara's POV」

CLANG

A loud thud suddenly echoed through the living room, abruptly waking me up from my slumber. 

“- These damn pots-”. 

A male voice came from the kitchen. 

“Goddamn- I'm so clumsy, these damn hands are useless”. 

j-jiwon oppa? 

is he still here? 

what time is it? 

did I pass out drunk on the couch yesterday night? 

gosh.

what if I snored? 

how can I look at him in the eyes now? 

after everything i put him through yesterday... 

I panicked as I tried to sit up, drowned in the white fluffy blanket the covered my entire body. Birds were chirping happily; a light breeze came from the slightly opened window on the right. 

“How do you feel?”. 

“oppa...” - my voice cracked as I spoke; my throat was dryer than a desert because of all the alcohol I had consumed in the evening. 

“Oppa? - This is the first time you address me like that”. 

I squeezed my eyes, a male figure appeared behind the counter of the kitchen, opposite the couch. 

“Sandara-ssi? Are you okay?”. He asked in a worried voice. 

sandara-ssi? 

since when jiwon oppa calls me sandara-ssi? 

“I can’t even get mad at you because you look so terrible”. 

The figure got clearer as the sunlight slowly filled the living room, it must’ve been 7 or 8 o’clock by then. 
“Ma-manager-nim? When did you get here?!”.  

was that really wonjun-ssi? This is the first time I hear him swearing 

I covered myself up with the blanket, I felt so guilty now that I had to confront Wonjun-ssi for my wrong-doings, I didn’t want him to see me in that horrible state. 

“Are you okay? You must be really surprised. I’m sorry”. He looked at me apologetically. 

He removed the beige kitchen apron he was wearing over his short-sleeved button-down, untying the knot on his back and hanging it back up in its original spot. 

Wonjun-ssi was a very neat and precise person, no wonder his job was being my manager. Without him, I would’ve been completely lost after parting ways with Jjangme-oppa. 

Always at least an hour and a half in advance for everything, being late wasn’t an option. He did his very best to always make me feel comfortable with him; however, I felt like the uneasiness never really diminished, perhaps because I couldn’t accept that, although he was very good at his job, he simply wasn’t Jjangme-oppa. 

I was the very first idol he managed, he barely even knew about 2NE1, he thought I was an influencer and occasionally, an actress. 

Truth to be told, that kind of hurt me, as I held to my singer title tightly; him not knowing about my music career just confirmed the fact that I became Sandara Park - the actress, still I couldn’t be more grateful as he took care of me very earnestly, always going out of his way to make my life somehow easier. 

With him, I felt like a kid who was about to get scolded by his parent. 

“Ouch-…". 

I reached for my head with my hands, a grunt of discomfort leaving my lips. 

“Sorry for waking you up like that, I dropped the pot all of a sudden and-”. 

did jiwon oppa manage to go home in the end? 

i bothered him so much yesterday... 

“Sandara-ssi”. 

“Oh?” 

“Are you even listening to me? You’re still half-asleep, huh?”. 

I simply nodded, I just couldn’t help but think about him. 

“On the other hand- I would’ve woken you up anyways- Come on Sandara-ssi, have a bowl of hangover soup”. 

“H-how do you know I’m hangover?!”.  

“Well... You told me just now”. A sigh left his lips as a disappointed expression spread on his face. 

“A-ah, I guess I did” - I broke into nervous laughter. 

He kneeled to open the bottom cupboard, taking a big bowl to place on top of the counter. 

“When you stop responding to my calls it only means you’re drunk”- he continued, scooping some soup into the bowl. 

I smiled nervously again; Wonjun-ssi indeed knew me well. It wasn’t the first time I sneaked out, ignoring his texts and phone calls until the next morning. 

I was a well-behaved idol to manage, I always avoided giving problems to manager-nim but somehow, I couldn’t trust Wonjun-ssi with my private life as much as I did with Jjangme and because of the constant monitoring he did for my company, I started to sneak out. 

[…] 

Wonjun couldn’t stand looking at her innocent face, his mind was playing images of that stinky man with his hands all over Sandara, taking advantage of her naiveness, eating up her innocence with such low methods. 

Disgusting. 

All those thoughts felt sticky to him, he suddenly felt the urge to shower, to wash away all those nauseating thoughts. 

“Why didn't you take your medicines to avoid getting drunk?”. 

He kneeled in front of the couch, looking at her, upset with himself for not being able to protect her. 

Deep sighs interrupted the silence that reigned over Sandara’s apartment that morning. 

“You always take them, Sandara-ssi". He thought as he kept circling the living room in deep thought. 

who was that guy? 

do you like him that much that you let him get you drunk? 

you never let others get you drunk 

is he that special? 

of course, I can’t ask you all of this. it’s your life after all. 

The smug smile on that smelly man's face made him swell up with anger. 

As a good manager, he perfectly knew that the celebrity he was managing had an alcohol tolerance close to none. She had the good sense to take medicines before drinking any type of alcohol. 

Sandara was THAT cautious. 

She often seemed to exaggerate, even going to the length of taking two pills before drinking a harmless glass of champagne during parties and celebrations. 

[…] 

“Oh- Are we going to drink? Then I have to take my medicines”. With a hand in her Givenchy purse, she tried to find the pill packet scattered with her other belongings.  

“Jajang!” She said victoriously as the other guests looked at her in utter confusion. 

“Come on Dee, it’s just Chardonnay, you won’t come out of this restaurant wasted, I promise you”. Jiyong took the packet out of her hand trying to reassure her. 

“B-but...”. 

[...]

It was at a YG after party event that Wonjun finally understood why she avoided alcohol. 

A sudden business call urged Wonjun to go outside of the venue, the loud electronic music had boomed in his ears all evening; he was only waiting the right time to excuse himself and was lucky enough he got one before his eardrums bled.  

“Yes, I'll inform her of your offer. She’s been very busy lately; I almost had an aneurism trying to figure out her schedule, yes! Send everything in my e-mail..” 

A woman standing a couple of meters from the manager started to yell all of a sudden, causing his already pounding headache to worsen. 

“What’s with you all of a sudden?! You can’t just pull me out of the venue with such urgency and then refuse to talk eonni!”. 

“Gosh, this person is so loud, I can’t even hear the person on the phone,” he thought as he quickly dismissed the broadcasting representative on the other side of the phone.  

Wonjun sighed, annoyed beyond measure. He was ready to turn around throw a fit, that was the last straw. He had endured everything all night, why would people yell like that outside a club? Where there’s no music?    

“It’s just that... he’s here. I thought I’d be ok if I avoided him but now, he’s here and...”. Another woman spoke up softly. 

That voice was oh so familiar. He perfectly knew who that delicate voice belonged to. 

The manager’s ears started to pulse, telling him to eavesdrop on their conversation instead. 

“ I turned around and you’re already wasted?! Do you think getting drunk will help you getting over him eonni?”. The woman with the sharp voice scolded her, making wonjun shiver because of how severe her tone was. 

“He’s a dog, ok? You shouldn’t even consider him a man unnie” – She continued. 

“B-but- chaerin-ah”.  

“No eonni. That jerk just used you. He forced you to drink just to hook up with you. You just don’t realize how vulnerable you are when you get tipsy. HE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF, NOT YOU”. 

Wonjun kneeled behind a car, spying on the two women; they were none other than Chaerin and her own client. Sandara Park. 

“It’s my fault for liking him… I just kept drinking because I liked him…”. She wobbled as her legs weren’t reliable enough to keep her standing. 

“It’s his fault for taking advantage of you in that state! Even if you should’ve drunk less he should have taken care of you instead of doing as he pleases. Stop blaming yourself. You’re the victim here unnie”. 

“I’m sorry… I promised you and Bom unnie not to get fooled again but..”.  

Sandara sat on the side of the road, defeated and drunk. Hiding her face in her palms. Her sobs faintly echoing in the empty street at the back of the venue. 

“Eonni. Look at me”. Chaerin kneeled in front of her eonni, slightly shaking her shoulders in the desperate attempt to make her go back to reality. 

“We always end up falling for bad men… Some talk like princes but are just wolves in disguise, and you’re a cute little bunny Dara-unnie, just try to be more attentive”. 

“I—just—didn’t think he’d be invited here… - I didn’t expect to see him-  so soon…”. The hiccups of the small woman made the difficult job of expressing herself even more difficult. 

Chaerin brought the long sleeve of her top to her unnie’s reddened cheeks, gently drying the tears that were slowly pouring down her small face. 

“... what do I do now?”. The soft-voiced woman panicked. 

“I’ll talk—“. 

“Chaerin eonni! I’ve been looking for you everywhere in this club! Come back inside, the president wants to talk to you!”. One of the staff had hurriedly run up the flight of stairs leading outside just to inform the artist. 

“Gosh…You know how grumpy he gets when you don’t go immediately, that man gets super impatient, you already know. I’ll be right back eonni”. She gave her eonni a pat on the back before running back inside. 

Sandara nodded, giving her friend a smile, to the best of her abilities. A faint smile appeared on her lips instead.  

Wonjun hated that feeling. He hated being so involved with her work life but not being part of her actual life at all.  

Why wasn’t he able to give her a shoulder to cry on? Why wasn’t he able to make her happy instead? 

He didn’t even know she was dating a man. He knew absolutely nothing. 

His constant presence and monitoring didn’t mean a thing. He still couldn’t sense she actually had another life going on. He couldn’t accept the fact that he actually knew nothing about her.  

“Oh, Dara noona, you’re here”. 

A tall man towered over Sandara’s small figure. He was dressed in a perfectly tailored grey suit, his black hair neatly slicked back. 

“O-oh h-hi”. Sandara greeted him avoiding his gaze at all cost, a slight hint of panic in her voice slipped out. 

“Wow noona, have you drank?”. The man chuckled by himself, a sense of superiority filling his ego. 

“Just leave me alone”. 

“You weren’t so unpleasant last week when you threw yourself in my arms”. 

“S-shut up”.  

“Don’t misunderstand noona, I came here to apologize. To see you drink so desperately as soon as you’ve seen me? Didn’t think you liked me that much. I kinda pity you”.  

“P-pity me?”. Sandara tried to stand up, slowly regaining some lucidity. 

“I-I pity you for b-being such a dog!”.  

“D-dog..?!”. 

“Yes, I liked you! B-but you know what? You’re a terrible kisser, t-the worst ever!” 

“What?!”. 

“A-and your breath stinks!”. 

The smug expression on the tall man vanished immediately as Sandara’s body convulsed bending forward to throw up, releasing everything on his shoes. 

“HEOL, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS. THESE ARE SO EXPENSIVE!”. 

“E-expensive? Expensive my a-! TSK- I c-could buy you 500 pairs of those if o-only I wanted!”. She laughed as she wiped the corners of clean. 

“Y-YOU!”. 

Wonjun immediately ran towards the two, pretending to be there by chance. 

“Uhmm- Sandara-ssi? Wow! I’m so lucky to find you here. Come on, I’ll ride you home. You have a long day ahead of yourself tomorrow!”. He nervously chuckled while helping her walk towards the company’s car parked right there. 

“M-manager-nim! So good to see y-you! Cook me some hangover soup pweaseee!”. She wobbled behind Wonjun. 

“Sure thing”.  He opened the car door for her.