Dara Park wiped off the sweat on her forehead using the sleeves of her pink jacket. She tried to fan herself with her two hands, hoping that somehow it would lessen the heat, but it didn’t quite work. It was about 12 noon and the California sun was in its brightest. Dara could have sworn that she could cook eggs using only the heat of the sun.

She instantly regretted her decision. She watched the weather forecast the night before and she knew that it was going to be a hot day (the weather girl even said that it’s the hottest day in 50 years). But seeing that she didn’t have anything to do, she decided to jog.

Who in their right mind would jog in the middle of the day? Unfortunately, the California heat had fried all of Dara Park’s brain cells that she could no longer think straight.

Her outfit didn’t even help. She was wearing a pink jacket over her white tank top and black shorts. But, she was thankful that she opted to wear shorts instead of sweatpants. Before, she wasn’t even allowed to wear shorts because people might see the huge birthmark on her leg, but nothing’s gonna stop her now. After all, she wasn’t an idol anymore. So, she didn’t have an image to protect anymore.

She wanted to remove her jacket, but after feeling how soaked her white tank top was, she decided against removing it. Even though she wasn’t an idol anymore, she had some decency to not let the other people see her neon pink bra which would be very visible under a wet tank top.

Not wanting to stay out longer, she turned around and jogged back to her apartment. About 3 blocks away from her place, there was a big grocery store. She remembered that her fridge was a bit empty, she decided to stop by.

As she opened the door, she shivered as the cool air from the airconditioning unit greeted her. In a matter of seconds, she felt herself dry up.

She grabbed a push cart, feeling lazy to carry a basket around the grocery store, even though she only had one person to feed...aka herself.

As she was in the fruit’s corner, she felt eyes staring at her. She thought that it could have been some of her fans. She hasn’t been performing for 5 years now, but people would ask for her autograph from time to time.

She looked around and she didn’t see anything. And so, she just shrugged it off and continued picking the best oranges. She picked about 3 oranges, for she was the only one who was going to eat it anyways, before she moved to the next fruit—apples.

Apples... it brought some memories back but her thoughts were interrupted when someone patted her back. She turned around and she almost screamed when she saw several people in blue carrying several cameras with them. But as she saw a familiar face, she relaxed.

Curtis Stone.

When she migrated in America 5 years ago, she realized that she had nothing to do. She practically knew no one and despite the fact that she used to be a celebrity, she was actually a shy person. The media followed her often and she didn’t want people to know where she was, and so she transferred from one state to another. After 5 years of constantly moving, she stayed in California. She had been in California for only a few months and she never did made friends with her neighbours. Some of her neighbours, who didn’t know the existence of KPOP, thought that she was just another Korean girl who barely spoke English.

Seeing that she has no friends, she just killed boredom by watching television. One of her personal favourite channels was Travel and Living. Nigella taught her how to cook something tasteful in 5 minutes. Jamie made her start growing some greens on her backyard (and believe me, her planting had nothing to do with her fear of being attacked by those ugly creatures of the night called zombies). She learned how to add an exotic twist to her usual dinner because of Everyday Exotic. She learned how to bake because she wanted to create cakes like Buddy in the Cake Boss and she wanted to make delicious desserts like Rachel Allen in Bake! But her favourite show was Take Home Chef.

Yes, she did learn how to cook those meals because of the other shows but her cooking weren’t as majestic as the host of the show. If she could rate her cooking, she could have given herself 2.5 stars out of 5 stars (well, 5 out of 5 stars if we’re talking about a hot bowl of ramen).

For years, she had daydreamt that maybe one day; Curtis Stone would catch her shopping for food and would cook a glorious meal for her.

And now, her dreams were becoming true. Here she was stinking because of too much sweat, holding a piece of green apple while she stared at the dashing Australian chef who just flashed his newly bleached teeth (How she knew? You wouldn’t want to know) at her.

“OMG! You’re Curtis Stone!” Dara squealed like a fan girl (Well, she IS a fan girl.)

Curtis was about to greet her and explain the mechanics like he usually did in all of his previous episodes when he realized that he knew her.

“Wait! You’re a member of 2NE1 right?” Now, it was the guy’s turn to act like a fan boy.

Dara blushed as she heard him say that. ‘Oh come on! Curtis Stone knows her! I should feel honored.’ She said to herself.

“Well, I was. We disbanded 5 years ago.” She said trying to suppress her emotions.

Curtis opened his mouth to ask her about 2NE1 but the director signalled something and Curtis couldn’t do anything but sigh.

Curtis did his usual introduction. Even without listening to it, Dara knew what he was going to say by heart. One, he was going to buy and pay for the grocery. Two, he would cook a heavenly dinner. And three, surprise a friend.

The last one echoed in Dara’s mind.

“Surprise a friend.”

She realized that she had no friends here in America, so she made up some lies saying that even though she was no longer an active member of 2NE1, her contract with YG Entertainment was still not over and she couldn’t just appear on any other shows without the approval of the president.

The Australian chef frowned and didn’t hide his disappointment that he couldn’t cook for one of his idols. But to lessen his disappointment, she gave her autograph (and asked for his autograph too) and they took a picture together.

After they said their goodbyes, Dara did her shopping fast. It took her a total of 15 minutes to finish her shopping.

She hugged the paper bag as she walked towards her apartment. She grabbed her keys on her pocket and opened the door.

She walked towards her small kitchen and placed the paper bag on the table before she grabbed a seat.

Remembering what happened a few minutes ago made her sigh. She couldn’t help but feel sad. If it weren’t for him, she would have been with her friends... she could have been still performing on the stage... she could have been still updating her me2day so that her fans would know what she was doing.

She sighed heavily once again.

She stood up and decided to take a long hot shower, hoping that it would somehow make her feel better. But as she took off her pink jacket, her phone started to ring.

Dara jumped slightly due to shock. Her phone would seldom ring since there were only a few people who knew where she was (namely her mom, her siblings and her bestfriend, Chaerin) and what her number was.

Thinking that it’s probably her mom, she answered the phone immediately, fearing that her mom might have yet another panic attack if she didn’t answer it as soon as possible.

“Hello?” Dara said on the phone.

“Unnie!!” a very girly voice said on the other line.

“CL-roo! Why are you so gay today?” She asked her bestfriend who wouldn’t stop giggling like a hyena.

“Oh! I’m sorry unnie. I just can’t help it. I’m just sooo happy.” The younger girl said.

“What happened? Did Lee Seunghyun confess his undying love for you?” Dara joked. She knew that Chaerin really didn’t like to be teased with Bigbang’s maknae.

“NO!!” Chaerin immediately answered. “Unnie, can’t you accept the fact that I’m dating Youngbae oppa?” She asked.

Dara ignored what she just said and asked her why she called.

“I’m getting married.” Chaerin frankly said.

“OMG! Youngbae finally proposed to you? I bet he almost wet in his pants before he popped the question.” Dara said with curiosity.

“Well, he didn’t actually pop the question. I thought he was going to faint that day. I saw him getting something from his pocket and I just knew it. He was shaking madly and so, I helped him out. I said yes even before he even asked me.” Chaerin elaborated.

There was a short awkward silence before Dara spoke again.

“So, I’ll send my gift to you then.”

“Well, I kind of want to ask you if you could be the maid of honor since you’re my bestfriend.” The soon-to-be bride said.

“Oh.” was the only thing that escaped Dara’s mouth. “Is he going to be there?”

“Err.” Chaerin started. “Well yes. You know that he’s oppa’s bestfriend. So yes, he’s going to be there.”

“Oh.” How could she even ask Chaerin about that? Of course, if there’s Youngbae...there’s also a...him.

“Unnie! Don’t say you won’t come to MY WEDDING...which is probably the BEST DAY of my, your BESTFRIEND, ENTIRE LIFE just because of him?” Chaerin said, making sure that she emphasized that right words.

“Of course I’ll come! When’s the wedding?” Dara asked.

“The end of the month...” Chaerin informed.

“WHAT? But that’s 20 days from now!” Dara exclaimed.

“Well, we already arranged everything. After all, being idols have its own benefits. So...no worries.” Chaerin coolly said.

Dara took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

“Okay. See you in 20 days then.”Dara said.

“Unnie. I hope I’m not asking too much but I’m kinda hoping that you would help me on choosing my wedding dress.” Chaerin said with a begging voice.

“I thought you arranged EVERYTHING already.” Dara muttered under her breath but she knew that somehow, Chaerin would nag her until she agrees.

“Okay... okay... I’ll see you in 3 days.” Dara said in defeat.

“Unnie! You’re the best!” Chaerin said before she ended the call. She didn’t even say goodbye.

As Dara put the phone down, she instantly took a deep breath. Somehow, she wished that she wouldn’t be regretting this.