Dara's P.O.V

"Bom, where in hell are you dragging me into?" I whispered, still hiding myself under the thick brown cloak she had lent me. The hood of the cloak covered up to the bridge of my nose, giving me a hard time to see what's ahead and every time I lift the hood up to peer, Bom would hiss and force me to take it down. So now, I decided to follow her around the building, particularly on the fifth floor of the building, finding something I don't even know as I hold her shirt from the back to keep myself from stumbling or getting lost, using her as my guide. 

"Well, you should've known by now, honey." Bom clicked her tongue as she looked around the hallway, finding someone or something. 

"Where is it? I thought it's going to be held here on the fifth floor." She mumbled. 

"What was it actually? And you promised that we will watch the audition-" She instantly covered my mouth with her eyes squinted and forehead furrowed, as if warning me to just shut my trap up and  just follow her. For an answer, I rolled my eyes, which she accepted with a grunt, putting her hand off my mouth. 

Almost suddenly, in just a nanosecond, someone accidentally bumped me by the shoulder and my hood fell off from the impact, revealing my hidden face. He, the person who bumped me, was about to apologize but quickly stopped himself when he saw who was me, and just stared at me with wide brown eyes and agape mouth. Out of nervousness, I swiftly put my hood back on after a few seconds of him staring.  

He blinked twice and pointed a finger at me. "Hey, I know you."

I instantly shook my head, my hands holding the both sides of the hood in place as I did, but he didn't sound convinced. Bom was the one who answered for me in an annoyed tone. "No you aren't."

"No," He was persistent, moving his face closer to mine, taking a closer look at me as I kept on shaking my head. "I know her. She's-"

"Johnny, you don't know her." Bom firmly persisted, glaring at him--eyes narrowed and lips curled up into a snarl--but Johnny was still insistent, as if Bom's glare didn't put him unease, moving his face closer to mine until our foreheads touched with his finger pointed at my nose, which my eyes followed so I became temporarily cross-eyed. 

"She's the one who auditioned for GD's music video five months ago. I remember her clearly. Sandara Park, right?" He asked, retrieving his hand away. I shook my head, mainly to cast my eyes from being crossed and partly to say no to Johnny's question. As soon as my eyes were normal, looking directly at Johnny's eyes, I felt a rush of relief through my body and I sighed, mentally. 

"I'm Bom's cousin." I said after a few beats. My voice was barely audible but then, clear enough for him and Bom to hear and Bom nodded with the thought. Then, my mind started to crack up of names starting with S, except for Sandara and if God forbid, Sandra. When Johnny irritably raised a brow, I quickly gulped and answered the name my mind got stuck on. "Ssantokki Park."

He blinked. "Ssantokki?" I nodded; he chuckled. "What a weird name for a girl. Well, alright, if you say so."

"Johnny, you're a pain in the neck." Bom muttered, her eyes narrowed at him. "What are you even doing here? Don't you have anything to do?" 

"Actually, I do have. I just called the last set of auditionees for BigBang's music video." He beamed proudly and after a beat, turned to me. "Would you like to audition, Ssantokki-sshi?"

__oOo__

Johnny led us to the audition sight--the one with twin stainless metal front doors five blocks to the right where we met Johnny--and opened the door for us. When the doors are already open, revealing the audition sight, all I can say is, "Wow."

It was a large practice studio with mirrors installed, replacing the walls. A thin silver horizontal metal bar is located at the middle of each mirror and probably, serves as a support when doing stunts in ballet or in dancing but now, it's left untouched for the audition. A long mahogany table is set up at the far most part of the studio with seven chairs, five occupied by Big Bang, while contrary to where we are standing, parallel to the door, is a woman in her twenties singing Bom's group song, "I Don't Care." as she faces the panel of judges. 

Bom nudged me by the elbow. "You memorized what I told you?"

"Why do I even have to do this?" I snapped, looking up to her as my forehead creases in frustration. 

"You have to do this before your time's up. Reminisce memories; bring joy." was all she said, hurriedly and not waiting for my answer, walked up to the five men at the table. She talked to them, a talk that involves too much hand signs and I vaguely hear their conversation from where I am standing, but I saw Jiyong frown at Bom.

Johnny slightly pushes me forward. "You're next." He whispered on my ear with a smile plastered up on his face. Even though reluctant, my legs found their way to the exact spot where the woman earlier stood--the latter exited to a door I don't even know that existed. Once in place, I automatically face front, adjusted my hood that was covering my eyes and the lights automatically blinded me. 

"Ah!" Instinctively, my hands block the light surging from god-knows-where with my eyes squinted and for a moment, all I saw was just white around my hands, which serves a poor block for the light. I heard Bom chuckle from afar, but that didn't even make me put my hands down and relax. It just made me hiss in frustration.

"Omo, Hyung*! We're going to interview a vampire-"

"She's not a vampire, Seungri." I heard Youngbae interrupt, his voice sounds amused. Maybe he knows that I'm behind this thick brown cloak unlike Seungri. 

"Eh? Only vampires react that way to light and wears thick cloaks to protect their skin. Or maybe she's---" Seungri gasped after a long period of pause--I recognize him from his voice. "You're a witch!" I rolled my eyes. 

Slowly, I put my hands down to look at them, but still, the light caused pain to my eyes so they remained half-lidded, allowing me to only see their torsos. "I'm Ssantokki* Park and I assure you that I'm not a vampire or a witch." I said, changing my voice tone to a much higher one so that I can hide my true identity, one of the things Bom told me before we went here as we were walking towards here. 

"Ssantokki?" Seungri muttered on his microphone. (Why can't he recognize me?) He was the only one who maintained his hair in natural color ever since we met. "I heard TOP Hyung once said that name." He pondered for a moment then, turned to Top, who is two persons away to the right. "A friend of yours, Hyung?"

My eyes had already adjusted to the light, so I slowly widen them up and that's when they found relaxation after moments of squinting. 

"Actually, yes." Top was smirking and had put his head on top of his intertwined hands with one brow raised and mouth curled up into a smirk. "She's Bom's cousin."

Seungri gasped again, his mouth so wide I can almost see his tonsils--and the microphone could easily fit in his mouth--and sharply, turned to Bom. "Bom Noona* has a cousin?" He gasped once again, rotating his head to a full 360 degrees. "I thought they would forget that she's their cousin due to her coping mechanism." Seungri mentioned coping mechanism with a weird American accent--his teeth showed, his eyes crossed and face surged forward when he mentioned the word. 

Bom pushes Seungri's forehead aback with a pout. "It's not coping mechanism. It's called puberty."

"You're not experiencing puberty anymore, Noona." Daesung contradicted, laughing so his eyes weren’t seen.

"Maybe it's called menopausal or post-menstruation." Youngbae suggested with a shrug. "Noona is getting older."

Bom huffed and crossed her arms. "For your information, Big Mommy is getting old by age not by face." She placed her palm under her chin as if to accentuate her face and then, pointed at me. "And please, I want this to be over quickly because I have surprise to each one of you, particularly to Jiyong, so let my cousin," She accentuated the word cousin with her fingers, both index and ring, moving up and down. "Do what I told her to do and what she practiced."

"Yes, Big Mommy." All of them replied, yes also Jiyong but he was more focused on his planner--I assume--in front of him, just on top of his table. Top and I laughed in unison but mine was more secretive than his. 

Jiyong lifted his microphone, his eyes still focused on his planner and was about to speak when Seungri beat him to it, causing for him to quickly turn to Seungri with his mouth ajar. 

"Okay, Miss Park." Seungri beamed. "Please sing us a song. And no, I don't want horror songs or ancient chants or mantras*." Daesung automatically punched Seungri softly on the cheek and mouthed, Don't be rude. 

I panic. Yes, I always do when I'm not briefed by Bom about her plans. Last time I felt nervous like this, big time, was when I auditioned for Jiyong's music video and I didn't have any CD with a minus one with me. Good thing, Bom was ready with it or I'll be not forgotten by the YGE staff and Jiyong as the only girl auditionee who didn't bring a minus one with her and has to do acapella. 

I almost fell to exasperation when Bom signaled acapella, her fist raised in midair and when I didn't respond with any of the hand signals she taught me a while ago, she made her way to me with Seungri's guitar, (because it has the name Seungri at the front), which she only grabbed behind her because it was leaning against the wall. The shocked Seungri only reacted with, "Hey!" because he was too late to notice.

She quickly handed me the guitar and covered my lapel with her hand. "Play this guitar and sing Little Things. Got it?"

"Why would I sing Little Things?" I asked with a panic, holding the guitar in a tight grip with both of my hands.

"Because you have to." She narrowed her eyes at me, her eyes blazing in fury. "Now, sing it or I'll leak everything to Jiyong." 

I just nodded because I was unable to refuse any more. Contented, Bom left me and went towards them, explaining that I forgot to bring my guitar. After a long deep sigh, I put the strap of the guitar on my shoulders and strum once to check if it was in tone then another one to double check. The sound resonated around the room, so I don't have any problem with sound deficiency. Now, if I just knew the chords and the lyrics of Little Things...I mean, I'm not great in English, so I seldom do memorize English songs. But I do know the tone of Little Things; Bom always plays it on her iPod inside our apartment and in addition, Jiyong sang it a while ago before breakfast. I haven’t researched about the song, not even after hearing it a hundred times, because I have priorities for the last five months that it didn't slip on my mind even for once.

As if reading my mind, Bom lifted Top's iPad with Little Things's chords and lyrics written in a fancy but readable script and in a 72-font size. With enough squinting, I had memorized the chords (because they're being repeated throughout the song) and the first part of the lyrics (so I won't appear that I didn't know the lyrics to them.)

As soon as I started playing the guitar, I heard a faint clap.

"Your hand fits in mine like it's made just for me but bear this in mind it was meant to be. And I'm joining up the dots with the freckles on your cheeks and it all makes sense to me." I looked up and I saw the second part of the first verse on Top's iPad, still held by Bom, but instead of written in fancy script it was zoomed from a lyrics sight. 

With my eyes focused on the lyrics and my hands playing the guitar, I started to sing, "I know you've never loved the crinkles by your eyes when you smile. You've never loved your stomach or your thighs. The dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine. But I'll love them endlessly." 

Bom swipes the screen of the iPad and I caught sight of the chorus. "I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth but if I do, it's you, oh it's you, they add up to. I'm in love with you. And all these little things." 

Bom swipes again and the second verse appears. "You can't go to bed, without a cup of tea, and maybe that's the reason that you talk, in your sleep and all those conversations are the secrets that I keep though it makes no sense to me." 

She swipes again. "I know you've never loved the sound of your voice on tape. You never want to know how much you weigh. You still have to squeeze into your jeans but, you're perfect to me." 

The chorus reappears again after Bom swiped the screen and I don't have to read it again because I've memorized it a while ago--yes, that fast--so I remained my eyes closed all throughout on singing the chorus (also to not appear unprepared to them) "I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth but if it's true, it's you, it's you, they add up to. I'm in love with you. And all these little things."

When I open my eyes again, Bom yawns and swipes again the screen. I quickly remember this part as the part where Jiyong sang it in a high tone, so I copied him. "You'll never love yourself half as much as I love you. You'll never treat yourself right, darlin' but I want you to. If I let you know, I'm here for you, maybe you'll love yourself, like I love you. Oh."

She swipes the screen again. "And I've just let these little things slip out of my mouth, cause it's you, oh it's you, it's you, they add up to. And I'm in love with you. And all these little things."

I closed my eyes, which I don't know why and sang the last part. "I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth, but if it's true, it's you, it's you, they add up to. I'm in love with you. And all your little things."

After the last strum, I open my eyes but instead of the blinding lights, a pair of dark brown eyes greeted mine. It was so close that I jerk back and the hood fell off with the impact. 

Jiyong raised one eyebrow and I just muttered a barely audible, "Surprise?"

But his face remained appalled so I just bit my index finger's nail and peer over his shoulder to look at Bom, which means tiptoeing. She slides her finger across her neck and shook her head. In reaction to it, I gulped and put my heel down, looking up at Jiyong.

"So, you're Ssantokki?" He asked, not amused neither surprised and out of fear, I just nodded, without muttering anything, but managed to do it with a hum. 

"Uh, yes. I know you know it." I answered. 

He crossed his arms. "Of course, I know."

"Then, why the long face?" I asked. 

"So, you're asking me why the long face?" He repeated and I nodded. "Well, it’s because my girlfriend auditioned in a music video that I'm not even the leading man."

"You told me it's subject to change." I murmured, my eyebrows furrowed with a hint of dejectedness in my voice.

"Yeah it is, but we met a good singer a few minutes ago and our manager asked me if I still wanted the part because we made up our mind that if no one who'll audition that's better than her, we will pick her. I said “No, I won't be the leading man.” because I was thinking of you and they chose Seungri instead." He said with a low, husky voice and shook his head. "But then, you suddenly arrived in that cloak, which definitely succeeded in hiding you by the way because the maknaes didn't notice you, and I quickly thought you weren't considering my feelings on auditioning. I was happy when you don't know the lyrics--it was evident in your eyes--but Top Hyung lent his iPad to Bom Noona. You sang while playing a guitar; they chose you. Now, Seungri's excited for the shooting." 

I gulped. "It's-" I peer over his shoulder and pointed at Bom, my lips curled into a pout. "It's Bom's idea!"

Bom's eyes widen, her feet slowly dragging her back and quickly defended, "I'm not doing anything!"

Jiyong was about to say something when Seungri appeared behind his back and pat his shoulder, looking directly at Jiyong and not to me, so he still haven't noticed I am Sandara. "Hyung, I've never been this excited about shooting music videos." Seungri said and quickly in panic, Jiyong put my hood on before Seungri turned his head to see me.

I stammered, holding the sides of the hood in place. "Y-Yeah."

"Why don't you put the cloak off?" Seungri asked and in his attempt to put the cloak off, Jiyong slap his hand away. "Hyung!"

Jiyong glared at Seungri and snapped. "We're having a talk." 

"Selfish." Seungri muttered, massaging his hand with a pout and then, went off towards the table, his back facing us while muttering "You're just jealous because the moment you gave up the role, Ssantokki appeared."

"So?" Jiyong turned to me after making sure Seungri was already back to the mahogany table. His expression was still appalled and grim. "What are your plans?"

"Um, retreat?" I suggested and for an answer, he just simply shook his head with a very deep sigh. It was evident in his actions that the video requires kissing scenes and all kinds of romantic stuff. And as much as I hate seeing Jiyong kiss other girls, maybe he does to me too. And he would probably be there too in the shooting because he's the leader. And I don't want to see him frown or be sad because of me, which will eventually be done six days from now, but still, I don't want to cause more weight for him than I will already have when Bom will tell him about my arranged marriage. 

As if reading my selfless thoughts, Bom shouted, "Okay!" and we all turned to her--Jiyong massages his temple first before turning to her. She waited for the room to fall silent before she continues, "Apparently, my cousin is not available for the scheduled shooting. She's undergoing a dialysis."

She sharply looked at me I glared at her, and mouthed the words, Don't tell them I'm undergoing to some kind of dialysis but she acted like she doesn't see and continued, still looking at me. 

"I'm afraid that she won't be there tomorrow for the shooting because-"

"I'll have a date with my boyfriend before the operation!" I interrupted Bom because seriously, she can make things from bad to worse and all of them laid their eyes on me. I gulped and continued, "I didn't know that the shooting will be tomorrow and I promised my boyfriend that I will spend my time with him before my dialysis six days from now. I'm sorry."

Seungri sighed, crestfallen and sat down on the long mahogany table, in front of Top and Youngbae. "It's okay. And besides," He looked up and smiled. "I don't want to flirt with girls who have boyfriends."

"You did once." Top reminded in a bored tone; his head resting on top of his hand and eyes gazing half-lidded on Seungri.

"It served as a lesson." Seungri snapped, looking down at him.

"But you still did it and you might do it again." Youngbae contradicted. 

"I oath it and wrote it on a rock." Seungri again snapped, looking down at Youngbae.

"Literally?" Daesung asked. 

Seungri turned at Daesung, who was beside Bom with crossed arms, standing between us (Jiyong and I) and them (Seungri and company) so basically, they were in the middle. Seungri shook his head for a reply.

Daesung rolled his eyes and divert his gaze from Seungri. "You'll do it again."

I didn't hear much of the fight anymore because I found myself being dragged out of the studio by Jiyong, but I clearly heard Top exclaim, "Be careful!" before we completely had gone out and doors got closed by Johnny. Jiyong dragged me to a room, which is just two blocks to the left from the practice studio, and closed the door when he had already gone inside. I looked around.

The room has walls painted in white, a large number of walls have mirrors on it about six feet tall, carefully aligned to the middle and the floor was tiled with blue and white tiles, forming a some kind of a diagonal-alternate pattern. 

Jiyong sat on the floor when I sat on one of the installed chairs, facing each other. He leaned back; using his elbows to support his weight and took a deep breath while looking up at the ceiling. "I just want a life like this."

"Life like what?" I asked, ing the only button installed in the cloak, which separates the hood from the rest and took the cloak off of my body. 

He looked up to me when I had successfully taken off the cloak and smirked. "You wore it again."

I smiled. "It has been a lucky charm ever since."

He laughed and stood up. "Hello, I'm G-Dragon. Is it Yellow Day miss?"

"I don't have time to choose a dress. I suppose this is not offending...or is it?" I asked and looked down at the clothes I wore today--the same clothes I wore when I auditioned for his music video. Light yellow sweater, yellow Keds shoes and jeans. 

He shrugged and went over to me, occupying the empty space at my left. "It's not offending. Actually, it's my favorite color."

"So that's why Bom made me wear this on that day." I turned to him and suddenly, frowned. "You haven't answered my question."

"What question?" He asked and then, pondered for a moment. "Oh yeah!" He jerked his head up and chuckled, shaking his head. "I just, you know." He took my hand and placed it on his lap, playing with it. "I wanted a simple life. No worries. Peaceful. Like the world doesn't pick favorites if you're an artist or a politician or whatever. And to have a kind of thinking that all of us are all the same. No one is higher. No one is lower." He shook his head, smiling. 

"That's a big wish you got there, big guy." I smiled.

He just muttered "I know." and kissed the back of my hand. 

He pulled my hand and I slowly found myself landing on his chest and between his arms. "Whatever happens," He closed his eyes. "I love you."

"Is it the end of the world?" I asked. 

"No."

"What's with the confession?"

"Just get along."

"I won't reply."

"Then, don't."

"It's killing my conscience."

"Then, don't."

"Jiyong you're not-" Jiyong interrupted my sentence with a kiss. Yes, not just a simple kiss on the forehead but on the lips. He wasn't moving; especially his lips, let alone his eyes are shut. 

Holy cow! My mind screamed. My third kiss with him!

Yes, I count my number of kisses with him and so far, we just had stuck on two for the last five months. And then, suddenly, the third one comes along unexpectedly. 

He pulled out and rested his forehead against mine, locking my gaze with his. "You didn't respond." He pouted. 

"Should I?" I asked, blinking twice. Yeah, should girls respond? 

He smirked and chuckled. "Too innocent."

And then, the door opens with a loud BANG! I can't turn my head towards the person who just seemingly barged in but then, I could feel the whole room warm up. 

"KWON JIYONG!" With Bom's voice, I felt the ground shake. Seriously, is she really Korea's most soulful voice? Top did say that she is Korea's most soulful voice in an interview about the newest girl group in YGE, which is supposed to be a four-member group if I didn't back down, and hearing Bom's voice now didn't convince me that she is. 

Jiyong smiled at me first, which caused one of my ovaries to explode and go to heaven before turning his head to Bom. "What is it, Noona?"

"DON'T JUST DRAG DARA WITH YOU ANYWHERE YOU WANT WITHOUT ANYONE WITH YOU!" She shouted, frustrated and I felt a tsunami occur somewhere in the Southeast part of Asia. Poor people. I could hear their cries and whines from here. 

"Why?" Jiyong asked, blinking innocently with a smile plastered up on his face.

"BECAUSE SHE'LL BE INVOLVED INTO A SCANDAL!" Bom whined, her hands her hair and stomped her feet. 

"What scandal?" We all turned to the owner of the voice, a man leaning by the wall with crossed arms, wearing a leathered jacket and cap. His expression was bewildered and amused at the same time. Wait, I know him. He's.... Uh-oh. 

"Yangoon sangjanim*?!" We shrieked, both Jiyong and I jumping up from our seats. 

"Yo!" We all turned to the man who just appeared behind sangjanim. 

"APPA*?!"

And I heard the chicken -a-doodle-do. 

__oOo__

Kafir- a noun used to refer to non-Muslims. [Target 26 Part 1]

Ahjumma- a noun used to refer to old woman/women. [Target 26 Part 1]

Swear Jar- a jar usually found in households (but not mandatory to have one). Every time someone curses or speaks profanity (e.g. $@*#^+~), he or she would put a quarter (depending on the currency of the country) for every profane he or she would speak. [Target 26 Part 1]

Noona- a noun used only by younger boys/men on calling older girls/women as a sign of respect. Usually added at the end of each name, (e.g Bom Noona) or used alone. [Counterpart: Oppa]

Hyung- a noun used only by younger boys/men on calling older boys/men as a sign of respect. Usually added at the end of each name (e.g Top Hyung) or used alone. [Counterpart (for girls): Unnie]

-sshi - suffix used at the end of each name. It means either 'Miss' or 'Mister'. 

Sangjanim- a noun used as referring to people who're in much higher status (either in means of work or by in life) as a sign of respect.

Appa- Korean word for 'father'.

YGE- acronym for Yangoon Entertainment 

Southeast Asia- if Asia is divided into groups according to location (e.g. East, West, North, and South), this is the group where the countries Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar and East Timor belongs. (Korea belongs to East Asia) [DYK: Russia is a part of Asia when speaking by means of area (politically, it's not a part.) It's the whole North Asia.]

mantras- Indian prayers or chants. [DYK: In Indian culture, marriage is done by means of going around a bonfire while an Indian priest (I forgot the specific name of this kind of priests.) chants a mantra. The couple will go around the bonfire three times while a priest chants a mantra. Before that, the boy will be going around the city or place while riding a horse with his boy friends or family member following behind.]

Ssantokki- the nickname given to Sandara. Commonly used by Bom. It came from the first syllable in Dara's name (San) and the Korean word for rabbit or bunny (Tokki/Toki). (See the video where Taeyang (Youngbae) called Dara 'Ssandara' (It's somewhere in 2NE1 TV where they shot I Need A Girl). A note pops from above that the prefix 'ss' means cheap.) [DYK: D-ah, one of Sandara's many nicknames, once came from G-Dragon's mouth. He once introduced her on one of their performances together with the name. And also, he called her Darong on one of his twitter conversations with her.] (Other nicknames of Sandara are: Dalong, Sandy, Butterfly and Star.)

Vampires- magical creatures that are derived from empousais. The difference is that empousais lurk their prey by means of making them fall in love first. Also, empousais have mismatched legs. Empousais and vampires drink blood to live. [I haven't known yet if the preys of empousais are going to die once they're bitten unlike vampires where the bitten prey will turn into a vampire also.] 

Witch/es - person/s that practices witchcraft. (Completely different from wizards.) 

Little Things (c) Performed originally by One Direction. All Rights Reserved. 

Little Things-One Direction (Lyric Video)

Little Things-One Direction 

(Yes, I'm one of the people who thinks that both One Direction and Big Bang are both great and there's no need to bash or to fuss over or to hate each of the boy bands because seriously, we should respect each and everyone's favorites. The number of fans doesn't assure the popularity of the band.)