Only an hour had passed after the time the party was allocated to start and already, the place was crowded. Music was blasting, graduates were dancing and everyone else was partying.

They were at the Kwon mansion, it was a time for them to enjoy to the max. It wasn’t some place you got to go every day.

Even though Jiyong had become quite a wild party animal after he broke up with Dara, this specific party, he wasn’t able to be himself. By his side, Seunghyun was patiently anticipating for his girlfriend to arrive.

His girlfriend – Park Bom.

Dara’s best friend.

He had tried to ditch Seunghyun and the party by saying he got a hangover which wasn’t quite believable since he wouldn’t say such a thing if he was drunk.

“Not a single drink tonight, huh?” Daesung asked as he and Minzy strolled towards them.

Minzy was wearing a magnificent blue short dress for featuring a jeweled halter neckline with a flirty keyhole opening and a layered tulle skirt – a dress even a modern Cinderella would envy! Daesung had matched hid date’s dress by wearing a baby blue tux with a white tie. They made an amazing couple.

“Can’t focus.” Jiyong mumbled back as a reply.

“Waiting for D unnie? She said she’ll be here soon.” Minzy said. “She said her date is really hot.”

“She has a date?”  Jiyoung found himself asking a question he swore to himself that he wouldn’t ask. Well, one of the questions. Before he had come down, he had sworn that he wouldn’t ask anything about Dara, or anything even related to Dara.

And here I am, He thought. That girl is just irresistible, huh?

“Yeah, unnie dated him for a while but then realized that they were better off as mutual friends. She said he’d be accompanying her here.” Minzy said. “Tall, handsome, muscular, dreamy, majoring in filming and arts. A natural born actor, if you ask me.”

Minzy only stopped when Daesung nudged her. She saw the look on Jiyong’s face and immediately felt guilty.

Pain.

Pain was the only recognizable thing on his face. He felt as if he had been stabbed in his heart, multiple times, yet he wasn’t able to die.

He’d rather die.

Instead, he was alive, suffering. Being tortured.

Even though girls surrounded him, he suddenly felt as if he wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t tall, okay, maybe handsome but definitely not muscular. Dreamy was upto the girls to decide and for the acting…

He was merely a high school graduate.

Why would Dara ever look for him when he had this dream guy?

“Excuse me.” he mumbled and walked away from Seunghyun, Daesung and Minzy, looking for a quick escape from the crowded area.

Only there was none.

To relieve his stress, Jiyong took a shot glass from a table and was about to pour something in it when his hand stopped.

Just wait a little longer, he told himself. Until I get to see her…I’ll just hold it in.

.

“Oh my God, you came!” it wasn’t like Chaerin to squeal like that. It was not at all like her. But she couldn’t help but do so when she saw her unnies (and Hanbyul’s date Dongwook and Minho) come out of the car. She had forced Seungri (her date, even though she didn’t want to admit it) to say outside the mansion with her until her unnies came.

Dressed in a black-white tux with a golden tie, Seungri fidgeted with his tie as he watched Chaerin greet her unnies enthusiastically.

She was wearing a stunning one shoulder white gold dress. Her elegant yet y one shoulder evening gown featured a shimmering gold print and elegant draping. Dramatic touches include the single gold strap and a seductive open back had Seungri’s eyes glued onto her ever since he had seen her.

Aggressive, he thought. But extremely lovable and y too.

Dara encircled Chaerin in a quick hug before handing her to Bom and Hanbyul who also exchanged hugs as greetings.

“Come on in! The place will look awesome, I can promise you that!” Chaerin grinned.

“And you look lovely too, Chae.” Dara grinned back.

“Oh, I totally forgot the dresses. Totally swag, guys.” Chaerin said. “But can we just go in already?” she asked impatiently.

“Thanks a lot.” Hanbyul said, almost sarcastically.

“You know, you’ve never been this excited ever.” Bom said as she and the other followed Chaerin in.

“Well, I was when Jiyong and D unnie started to date.” Chaerin reminded.

“Which we’re not going to talk about. Seungri’s your date, huh?” Dara asked in a teasing tone.

“Not date.” Chaerin said sharply.

“Yeah…I’m accompanying her.” Seungri said with a goofy grin. “Looking lovely, noonas.”

“Never stop the flirting, do you, Ri?” Dara asked with a smile. Seungri only grinned as an answer.

As soon as they entered the mansion, Dara lost where Minho had disappeared to. She did everything she could to attract the minimal attention as she could. But it wasn’t successful, being the ex of the school’s most loved – Kwon Jiyong.

“Unnie!” Minzy greeted the girls with her hug. “Gosh, your dresses!”

“You don’t look too bad yourself. Finally tried a shorter one, huh?” Bom asked.

“With your S-line, longer ones suit you better. But you still look cute, sweetie.” Dara said, hugging Minzy.

“Thanks, unnie.” Minzy said.

They all (Dara, Hanbyul, Bom, Minzy and CL) chatted for a while without any male interruptions. It was Seunghyun who decided to drag his girl away first.

“See you on the dance floor.” Seunghyun had said to the remaining girls before he walked away with Bom. It got Dara suspicious. Was he planning something?

One by one, all of the girls were dragged onto the dance floor and Dara was the only one left. Boys came and asked her to dance but she politely refused.

She was waiting for him.

She wanted her first dance to be him even if she wasn’t his.

Like that, two songs ended. No sign of Jiyong.

Dara sighed and began to walk away from her position when she felt something hit her shoulder.

“Ouch..” she heard a familiar voice mumble.

It was Jiyong.

Her heart began to beat faster at his sight. He had gotten more handsome, if that was possible. At that time, his hair was dyed blonde, the color she had told him that suited him most. The color of which she had highlights in her hair.

“H-Hey, Jiyong..” Dara said with a smile. “Long time no see, huh?”

Jiyong stared at Dara, observing her for a while. She looked gorgeous.An absolute Goddess as she was. It took him a while to answer.

“Yeah. You look really pretty tonight.” He said, swallowing his spit.

“Thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself.” Dara said and chuckled. “The irony. We’re even wearing matching colors.”

“Since we are, it wouldn’t hurt to dance, right?” Jiyong asked.

As if on cue, another song started. A slow one.

A couple of eyes were already observing this broken up couple. They didn’t mind.

“Why not?”

When Dara took Jiyong’s hand, they both shared the familiar electric shock which they had felt when they had first kissed – at Jiyong’s brave confession. It all seemed to be happening all over again.

Once they began dancing, more eyes began observing them. From all around, people had stopped to watch them dance. Not because they were the best dancers out there, but because it was the reunion of a couple the whole school loved.

Soon, they were joined by some familiar couples on the dance floor; Seunhyun and Bom, Seungri and Chaerin, Daesung and Minzy, Dongwook and Hanbyul, Yongbae and Jieun, even Minho and Minyoung.

It was pretty cliché, dramatic, but it didn’t even occur to them how cliché or dramatic it was.

At least, not until the dance ended.

.

Dara took in a deep breath of fresh air as she opened the doors of the terrace in one of the rooms of the Kwon mansion. As soon as her dance with Jiyong ended, she had escaped the ballroom.

It was all too much for her. Too much memories, too much time together.

She just felt …sad.

“Right now, I wish I can take it all back.” Dara mumbled.

She was standing by a corner when she was surprised to see another figure enter the terrace.

“Jiyong!” she gasped, seeing him walk in.

“Oh! Was I interrupting you?” Jiyong asked at once.

“No…not at all. I was just surprised.” Dara answered truthfully. “Don’t you like to party? Why are you out here?”

Jiyong stole a look from her. “For the first question, yeah. The second, I wanted to get some fresh air. It reeks alcohol down there.”

Dara smiled. “That’s so you. You drink so much yet you hate the smell of it.”

“I like the smell of peaches.” Jiyong said. “And it doesn’t smell peaches down there. But out here, it does.”

Dara understood what he was implying. When they were dating, Jiyong would always say that. Dara always used peach vanilla body butter.

“So…one year has passed.” Dara casually said, walking with Jiyong by her side. “What have you missed?”

Jiyong didn’t answer for a while. From the position both of them were in, they could observe the Kwons’ beautiful garden at its best.  But that wasn’t what Jiyong was concerned about.

Should he say it? Or should he wait for her to strike first?

If he said it, there was a huge chance of her rejecting him. No, he didn’t miss how she and the guy whom she had come with exchanged glances, even though they weren’t with each other.

But if she said it first, he’d have the guarantee. Yet again, there was a chance that she wouldn’t say it.

“I’ve missed a lot of things.” He said, making up his mind. He turned to Dara. “I missed holding your hand, smelling your perfume, having your lips pressed against mine.

“I missed your laugh, I missed your smile.” he said, gently looking at Dara. “But most of all, I missed the way you said I love you.”

Dara could only stare at Jiyong. She didn’t know what to feel, she didn’t know what she was feeling.

“I’ve lived and tried to forget for a long time. For a while, it seemed like it was okay. But as time passes by, I come to realize, that without you, I can’t go on. Maybe if we were just a little more mature then, maybe if we knew back then what we know now.” Jiyong mumbled.

He turned around. He couldn’t do it anymore.

“That’s funny.” Dara mumbled. “We’re standing face to face, just like that day. The beautiful stories we wrote down then, the promises of forever we prayed then. All come back to me one by one.”

“Even if they are, it’s not like you’re going to accept me anymore. You have your actor with you. Why would you want me?” Jiyong muttered, his voice breaking.

“Why would I? That’s a good question. I would only be able to decide that if I had to choose, wouldn’t i?”

“So you want me to say it?”

“That’s up to you.”

“And you’re going to break my heart again?”

“I never said that.”

Jiyong turned around and scratched the back of his head. “I’ll just poor it out. At least I won’t have any regrets when I get rejected.”

“Can you give me one more chance? If I could go back to our old days, I would.To the days when our love was beautiful and happy, heartbreaking stories, meaningless arguments…I miss those times, I want those times back…that’s all I wanted to say.” Jiyong sighed and turned around again. He couldn’t face her for her answer.

Much to his surprise, he felt Dara’s arms wrap around his body. “Let’s bury them all now and say we’ll never bring it back up. Even when the seasons change and the years pass, let’s just not have the feelings which we’re having now.”

Dara didn’t know what she was saying. Her words sounded somewhat poetic to her, even though she considered herself as a terrible poet. It was all she had wanted let out.

“The feelings we’re having now?”

“Hesitance to say three simple words. I don’t ever want to feel that.”

Jiyong turned around again. This time, he didn’t look scared. He didn’t feel scared. Slowly cupping her small face in his arms, he leaned down to kiss her.

And this time, they were pretty sure that that kiss meant forever. 

the new aff eatures are really handy.

/nod,nod

gawd, who is is loving 2ne1's i love you?

totally not them, but totally them! 

i don't give two s about anyone insulting them.

haters, there's the exit.

our 2ne1 will always, always, be awesoem for us.