Chapter 6
New Start

--- Did you ever have that feeling of too much excitement that you can't get rid of? That feeling when you know something big is coming up yet you know that you're not ready for it? Your palms start to sweat and you can actually hear your heart beat as if it was pumping right next to your ear. It's a nauseous feeling but you still reach for the thing that gives you that feeling.

"You nervous?" Jiyong asked Dara, who was gripping her mic at the side of the stage as she watched So Nyu Shi Dae sing their last stanzas and dance the last steps of their choreography.

Dara nodded her head still a bit dumbstruck.

Jiyong put a hand on her back to calm her down. "You can do this, you've been training hard for this remember?"

"Was it enough?" She asked him, finally leaving her eyes off the girls that made the growing tension inside her edgy.

He nodded his head and looked deep into her eyes. There he saw the little girl that he used to play and laugh with. The little girl who manages to annoy the out of him, yet be the only girl he had ever truly loved in his entire life (aside from his mom and sister of course). The sad truth was, she doesn't know any of it. She doesn't remember, even the tiniest fragment of his being. Or at least that's what he believes in.

Jiyong stared at her a little while longer, baffling her out of her wits. Her eyes widened when he started to lean in and her rapid heart beat pumped faster than it already did. She froze on the spot and expected his lips to land on hers, but was greatly surprised when he moved up to kiss her forehead. It was an act of care and selflessness. She didn't expect that at all. And to think her hands were twitching, getting ready to bring them up and slap him hard on the cheek if he did kiss her again without warning.

"It was enough. You're amazing, you can do this." He encouraged.

She was awestruck. Her muscles refused to move as she stared up at him. For once, she saw someone beautiful in Kwon Jiyong's place. It seems like her whole belief had turned a whole 180 degrees because he wasn't the same in her eyes anymore. He wasn't the arrogant jerk that she used to hate, but the sweet and caring boy that she'd grown accustomed to.

"And here I thought Bom and TOP were the only ones who made googly eyes at each other." Seungri interupted breaking the whole idea of the moment they were in.

Dara and Jiyong both looked his way and saw that he was pointing his thumb over to the new couple right at one corner of the room. They both had their backs on the wall up against them and it was obvious that they were a little shy towards each other due to the fact that Bom kept on unneccessarily tucking her hair behind her ear, while TOP kept on kicking imaginary dust on the floor.

It was funny the way they hooked up.

After Jiyong told Dara about TOP's same feelings towards Bom, they worked their way on getting them together. Naming: a surprise visit from Kwon Jiyong and TOP at the penthouse of the girls.

It took a little white lie to get TOP there though. Jiyong remembered he asked him to come with him to buy a new CD when he suddenly said out of nowhere that he should just borrow Sandara's. The expression on TOP's face was priceless when he found out they were driving towards the UPA girl's avenue, much more when they were already parked right outside his crush's penthouse.

Flashback

"G-D, I'll buy you the CD, let's just get out of here." He suggested staring at the house. He was already getting out of the car, but his left foot remained inside getting ready to leave any time soon.

Jiyong shook his head no and made his way up the driveway and into their door. "I already sent Dara the text, so we're going in."

He hung his shoulders and burried his hands in his jacket pocket trying to act as low-profile as he could as he walked behind his best frined.

Jiyong brought his hand up to buzz the doorbell as TOP stood right behind him trying to hide himself, even if it was pretty much useless due to his towering height.

Two-seconds after he rang the door bell, Jiyong whirled around. "I forgot something in the car, hold on." With that he ran down the driveway and back into his car.

"Wait what  did you-"

"Why me!?" A familiar muffled voice from inside the house hold shouted. His whole body froze and his breathing stopped. He turned around to face the door just in time when it had swung open revealing the cute child-like face of Park Bom.

"Annyeo-" She also froze as she came face-to-face with no other than Choi Seunghyun.

Jiyong was leaning on his car with a smug grin on his face, while Chae Rin, Minzy and Dara all crowded up in the kitchen's doorway anticipating the next move. It seems the three of them knew what was going to happen considering the sheepish grins on their faces.

"O-oppa..." Bom started. "Why are you here?"

She looked behind her crush and saw Jiyong standing beside his car trying to get a good look at the two. She became suspicious at why he was there, so she turned back to the kitchen doorway. Her eyes focused to Dara in particular.

TOP, on the other hand, was gawking at her even she was looking somewhere else, muttering words he can not make out because his heart beated faster than the volume of her voice.

He totally lost his words and he couldn't come up with any thing to say. "I- uh.. I-I..." He started, catching Bom's attention and makingher turn to him.

He was stuttering and in total panic. If his phone didn't vibrate he would have ran off then and there.

"Hold on." He said looking away.

He checked his phone and saw a message from Jiyong. He turned to him suspiciously as the latter pointed on his phone obviously telling him to read the text.

Ask her out you pabo.

He scowled at him, but Jiyong kept making funny gestures with his hands leaving him embarassed.

He squinted his eyes at him one last time before, summing up his courage and turning back to Bom who was waiting for him to say something.

"W-would you like to... uhm... go see a movie w-with me?" He asked finally getting the words out.

The look of happiness was evident in Bom's face. "Nae! I'll go get ready." She exclaimed shutting the door in his face. After a few mere seconds it opened again. "Oops sorry... come wait inside."

She swung the door fully open and let him in.

Before even stepping a foot inside, he turned to Jiyong yet again mouthing him a thank you. Jiyong gave him a two-thumbs up in response.

End of Flashback

"And you talk like you also don't have a crush on Chae Rin." Jiyong teased shutting Seungri up.

Dara turned to him. "He has a crush on Chae Rin?"

"Go ask him."

She craned her neck towards Seungri ready to throw him the question when he heard a loud applause from outside signifying that the group before them was done and that they were next.

"Dara we gotta go." Chae Rin called out to her.

"Coming!"

She turned to Seungri one last time and said, "Chae Rin," she pointed to the said girl getting ready to walk to the stage. "She's already taken so hands off. Arasso?" With that warning delivered she proceeded to go to their assigned places before their performance starts.

"That is one scary girl." Seungri muttered, loud enough for Jiyong to hear.

"Tell me about it." He remarked, shivering a little.

They both laughed at the same time and turned towards the stage. The girls were just getting into their positions right in their costumized seats in the middle of the stage. Their performance was simple and the preparation wasn't long and hard becuase all they did was buy clothes and accessories online and had their hair done by Gu Hye Sun, a closefriend of Dara's in her department (she was the only one who knew she quit the play to join the contest). It wasn't as stunning as the performances before them where they dance and sing at the same time, no. Their performance only consists of them sitting and singing their hearts out. If they can't amaze spectators with the choregraphy and costumes, then maybe they should just amaze them with their voices.

The lights dimmed and the crowd became silent as they waited for the song to start.

Dara's adrenaline was pumping and she silently prayed that she wouldn't choke in the middle of the song. In a few seconds the music started to play. The soft melody humming on her ears as she braced herself...

She closed her eyes to feel the last moments of the sng letting the echoe linger in her ears. When she opened her eyes she saw that the crowd was in awe. They were clapping like crazy.

She turned to Chae Rin who was beaming with pride as she bowed to the audience. With her lead, the three of them also bowed and proceeded to exit.

"Such powerful vocal chords right guys?" The emcee announced taking his spot in the middle of the stage.

The crowd howled.

Minzy was dancing with the howls and whistles like it was music with a good beat.

"I could get used to that." She chuckled as she walked over to the members of BIGBANG, whom they started to talk to more because of Bom and TOP, and of course Dara and Jiyong.

Daesung gave her a high-five in response. "Win, win?" He asked holding both his thumbs up his smile reaching his eyes.

"Let's not expect. I mean we did have lack of practice." Chae Rin answered.

"Win, win or not, you guys are win, win to us." Seungri added.

"Stop saying win, win. It's making my head spin, spin."

All of them laughed at Taeyang's remark. If possible they just made a nursery rhyme without the beat and melody.

They hanged out right after the performance and the girls were on full support when it was the boy's turn to sing on stage. They were all very talented, but it scared Dara a bit at how Taeyang moved his body. Though for Chae Rin, Bom and Minzy, they said Taeyang was their favorite member. She stayed silent and didn't say that she- in particular- liked Jiyong the most maybe because he had this sort of charisma oozing over him whenever he was rapping on stage. Besides, the girls didn't know that Jiyong was the one who composed the song they used.

"That was awesome!" Minzy exclaimed feeling a little jumpy on her place when BIGBANG's performance was over.

They gave each other high-fives and pats on the backs for giving such an awesome performance. They were confident and...

"The winner is..."

Their fingers crossed, their hands were squeezed and their hearts beat so loud that it made the seconds tick slower.

"So Nyu Shi Dae!"

Minzy dropped her hands to the side along with Bom's and Dara's.

"I guess we didn't do too well." She said looking at the nine girls taking over the stage and taking the trophy from the emcee.

Chae Rin smiled. "It doesn't matter. At least we know we made good music."

She admired the trophy given to them a while ago in her hand and read the statement on the plate: 'best music'

"For me this is already enough."

"Cheers for optimism!" Seungri threw his hands around Chae Rin's shoulder earning him a glare from Dara.

"'Shall we celebrate?" Jiyong suggested holding up the first place trophy in his hand.

"You're boasting your success." Bom teased.

TOP sneaked his hand on hers and intertwined their fingers. "You're just jealous."

She laughed and gave him a light shove on the shoulder. "Maybe I am."

"Just be happy that you're in the pressence of winners!"

"Winners my , I'm hungry." Daesung complained as he checked the time on his watch.

"Me too. Let's go eat." Taeyang suggested.

"Onwards to Nol Boo House restaurant! Jiyong's treat!"

"Yah!"

Jiyong gave Seungri a light slap on the shoulder.

He scowled at him at first, but his features softened as his lips curved upward into a smile. "All right let's go."

They all cheered as Seungri led the way out of the building. Aside from Jiyong and Dara, TOP and Bom were the last ones out- hands still intertwined.

Dara and Jiyong just stared at each other for a long time an awkward air engufing the both of them.

"I- "

"I-"

The both of them said at the same time.

"You go first." Jiyong offered.

Dara hesitated for a minute, but then continued. "Thank you. For... helping me out."

Jiyong smiled. A genuine one at that. But before he could respond, Dara cut him off with another question.

"Why'd you do it? And how'd you know about my father?"

She just threw the questions at him like water baloons and it hit him right in the face with a big splash. He was not yet ready to tell Dara about the whole, "child-hood friend thingy".

"I..." He trailed off thinking of an answer.

Dara cocked an eyebrow noticing the change in his character and the way his eyes darted from one corner to another. She was about to question him when Bom suddenly complained at how long they were taking.

Before Dara could even make a comment, he already dashed out of the building without another word just so he can avoid anymore questions from her. She was a little dissapointed from his "answer" since she thought he would tell her now that they're a little more open with each other.

No matter. Since Bom and TOP hooked up, they'll probably hang out more often than every week so she'll have lots of time to prepare her questions for him. For now, her stomache was already complaining, so eating was the best thing to do, but before she could even step foot outside the building her song rang wildly.

She checked the caller ID and was greatly confused by the international digits flashing on her phone's screen.

"Yoboseyo?" She greeted, her voice a little unsure and her face audibly confused. When the caller started to speak, her eyes widened and her lips formed into a huge smile. She talked wildly on the phone and when she was done, pocketed it and strolled casually to her waiting friends.

"Who was with you on the phone?" Chae Rin asked as Dara let herself inside their leader's car.

"You remember my cousin from america right? She's coming home tomorrow and she wants me to pick her up at the airport tomorrow."

"Don't you have class noona?" Minzyy- who was at the seat beside the driver's seat- had asked.

"I don't, so I'm free. I'm gonna help her move into her new apartment."

"So Han-Byul is settling here in Korea..." Bom remarked.

"Yes she is." Dara answered as Chae Rin started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.

Author's Note:

Holy Week done, it's time to update! Sorry it took long guys. This wasn't the original chapter 6, but when I re-read through the first one, I didn't like it so I deleted it and made another one. Then I also didn't like that one, so I deleted it too. This is the final one, but so far this is just a filler chapter.

Just so you guys know, the first chpaters? Just the appetizer. The story doesn't revolve around the contest. It revolves in something else, but I'm pretty sure it's obvious by now. The real story will start in  Chapter 7! And also... because I am such a nice author, I will post comment replies!

Loveless3 ---> Sorry you didn't get the story before the previous chapter and sorry I didn't tell you. I was sorta keeping the suspense.

amership ---> I thought so too. Sorry for the sudden and confusing change.

lovethynne ---> I hope the flashback was enough for you, I really couldn't think of a way to hook them up other than that.