Credits go to hungry- (from  affamé graphic shop), for this amazing poster.

[ Forty Five. Question Mark ]

“You’re asking me to marry you?” Dara asked dumbly, the words rolling from her tongue slowly. Her mind went temporarily blank as she stared blankly at Jiyong and the ring. Proposal. Marriage. The words and its meanings were so foreign to her.

“Yes I am.” Jiyong’s wide smile and shining eyes were full of passion and anticipation. For an orphan like him, building a home was his biggest wish. Now that he and Dara were back together, there was no reason for him to wait any longer. He had daydreamed about the idea of marrying her in college and had been considering proposing since he bought the diamond ring for her as a gift for working on his mini-album. It was insane in a way that he would think about that when they were not even back together at the time, but he knew what his heart wanted. Her. “You are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, Dara.”

“But you were acting so indifferent recently…” Dara mumbled weakly, leaning against the wooden horse closest to her. She was having a tough time grasping what was going on. She had been in low spirits the last few weeks, even to the point of bracing herself that he was cheating on her and that they were about to break up, and then it turns out that he wants to marry her. Her head was in a daze from the emotional roller coaster.

“It was because I wanted it to be a perfect surprise for you. I was busy preparing for this moment and contacting everyone without you finding out, and when you came to Japan earlier than schedule, I had to rearrange everything again.” Jiyong then started to explain everything from the beginning. He had originally planned to propose in Europe, but then Dara had unexpectedly chose to stay in Korea. Then, Jiyong took the opportunity to search for the perfect ring while he was in Europe, which was why he was photographed by the press when he went to visit jewelry stores with his model friends. When Dara called to tell him about her award nomination, he was planning to see the engagement ring of a friend for reference. The pieces slowly came together to Dara; her friends’ strange behaviors, Jiyong’s busy schedule, and even what Kiko meant when she met her. Kiko knew about Jiyong’s proposal, so she was basically hinting at the fact that I would not be Jiyong’s girlfriend, but his fiancée soon! Dara’s jaw dropped open at how everything suddenly made sense to her now.

“Come on, Dara. My knees are getting sore,” Jiyong whined, pouting cutely. “And everyone’s dying to hear your answer.”

“Say yes for crying out loud, Sandy!” Teddy shrieked while waving his arms around like a madman. Dumbfounded, Dara looked around to see all of their friends, who had taken off their bear costumes, standing outside the fence surrounding the carousel. All of them were holding their phones readily to snap pictures of the moment they’ve been waiting for, faces beaming with excitement. Bom was already fanning her eyes with her hand, trying not to tear up as Seunghyun patted her shoulders comfortingly. Everyone smiled expectantly, their full attention on the couple in front of them.

Dara was silent for a moment before opening to speak. “I don’t know. Do I really want to be with you for the rest of my life?” She furrowed her eyebrows as if in careful consideration, causing Jiyong’s mouth to fall open. What does she mean by she doesn’t know?! He had thought that she would say yes in a heartbeat and throw her arms around him in happiness. Seeing the shocked expression on Jiyong’s face, Dara fought hard to keep herself from bursting into laughter. You aren’t the only one who can use the push and pull technique, Kwon Jiyong. She was ready to say yes, but was too tempted by the chance to get even with him for being rather cold to her lately. “Donghae visited every day when I was in the hospital, and you were only there to see me for five minutes. Maybe I should consider Donghae instead.”

“Not funny at all, Dara,” Jiyong growled dangerously as he struggled to get up so that he can pull Dara into his arms, but the body of his bear costume made him wobbly and close to losing his balance. The flashes from their friends’ camera indicated that they had captured this hilarious moment, and Dara laughed as she swiftly stepped down from the carousel.

“Since the park has closed for this event, it means that I’ll be able to go on the rides now, right?” Dara skipped towards the path leading to another area of rides. “Bommie, stop crying! Come on, Hyeongseop, let’s go on the ferris wheel!”

“Hyeongseop, you are forbidden to go anywhere near her!” Jiyong yelled angrily at Hyeongseop as he ran after Dara, and Hyeongseop could only shrug innocently in response. Jiyong freaked out when he saw the intimate poses from Dara and Hyeongseop’s photoshoot, with the model’s hands all over Dara’s waist and shoulders. “Sandara Park, come back here! You’re not going anywhere until you give me an answer! Yah!”

Their friends watched as Jiyong, still wearing the body costume of the bear, chased after Dara, who was laughing breathlessly. Seungri chuckled with the others as he took a quick video of this comical and romantic scene before posting it on his social account. Question mark. Although Seungri was positive that Dara would be with Jiyong, technically she has not given a direct yes or no to his question yet. Within seconds, he was receiving hundreds and thousands of comments, most of them speculating who was the girl that G-Dragon was chasing after. Wow, I never knew that I had so many followers. How did they know that the person was Jiyong hyung anyways?

Wait, this isn’t my username, this is Jiyong hyung’s! Seungri’s eyes widened with shock when he realized that he had uploaded the video with Jiyong’s account with Jiyong’s phone. Before the event, Jiyong had given Seungri his phone to record the proposal for him. Seungri had forgotten that he had two phones in his hand, and mixed them up. Oops.

“And the award goes to…G-Dragon!”

Jiyong had barely sat back down in his seat from receiving his third award when his name was announced again for winning the “Song of the Year” with “R.O.D.”. He headed back onstage amid ecstatic screaming coming from his fans and polite applause from the numerous idols that were present at the annual award ceremony. Dara stood up, joining in the applause. She was sitting at the table reserved for the nominees of the special awards, which was usually given to non-performing musicians such as producers and songwriters. She was originally nervous about attending the ceremony alone, but luckily Teddy, who was also invited, was at the same table.

“I don’t get the point of hosting this event when it’s always the same idols receiving the awards.” A producer who was sitting on the other side of Dara complained to her underneath his breath. She eyed him disdainfully, wanting to retort something in Jiyong’s defense when Jiyong began his speech.

“First, I’d like to thank Tablo, Teddy, Choice37 and all of the amazing people I work with at YG. A big thank-you goes out to my fans and those who gave this song so much love. It is a very meaningful song to me, so to have it received such good feedback makes me very happy. Last but not least,” Jiyong turned his head towards the direction of Dara’s table, and his eyes twinkled at the sight of his girlfriend, “none of this would be possible without Sandara Park. Thank you.”

The cameraman closest to the table of the nominees of the Special Awards was quick to zoom on Dara’s face as everyone in the room turned in her direction. Dara smiled graciously at the camera, but her heart was thumping loudly at Jiyong’s words. She was sure that the song holds the same meaning to Jiyong as it does for her. It was their song, the one about their story and the one they worked on together. For it to have received such a prestigious award was wonderful, but the most important thing to her was Jiyong choosing to include her in this moment with him. She should be worried about how people would interpret Jiyong’s words, but that was the last thing on her mind.  

 “As the co-writer of this song, she deserves at least half of the credit for this award. If you want, I can cut this award in half and give it to you later.” Grinning, Jiyong said jokingly while everyone else laughed heartily. It was a rare moment to see G-Dragon smiling and cracking a joke in public. His fans that were sitting in the crowd were in awe of this sight, and those that were in charge of his fan club and fan cafes were quickly updating this information online. GD mentions Sandara Park in thank-you speech for “R.O.D.”, joking that he should cut the award in half for her! Gah!! Isn’t that sweet?! It’s my first time seeing GD oppa making a joke like that!! “Again, thank you all for this incredible night.” He held the award highly in one hand before walking coolly back to his seat.

“Cute,” Teddy remarked, raising his eyebrows at Dara as they all sat down. The producer who had complained earlier avoided eye contact with Dara, embarrassed that he had openly dissed Jiyong in front of the songwriter of one of his songs.

“Next up is one of our special awards: the Song Writer award.” Lee Minho appeared on the stage, and Dara recognized him immediately as the guy that tried approaching her at Xin’s launch party. The big screens started introducing the nominees one by one, with examples of their works playing in the background. When her face and name appeared on the screen, Dara felt her stomach churning with nervousness and excitement. It was proof that she was eligible to be sitting there with some of the best musicians of the Korean’s music industry. Most of the crowd that were not paying attention earlier, since they were mostly here to see and support the idols, looked up immediately at the mention of Dara’s name. It was the co-writer of “R.O.D.” that G-Dragon had previously thanked.

After the video ended, Lee Minho opened the envelope to announce the winner. When he saw the results, he had an odd expression on his face that was immediately replaced with a charming smile. “The award goes to…Sandara Park!”

“What?” Dara stood up shakily, looking around her as if seeing this world for the first time. Other nominees offered their congratulations civilly and everyone was clapping for her. She had a hard time believing that her name was announced as the winner of the Song Writer award until she spotted Jiyong yelling loudly with enthusiasm, jumping up and down in his seat.

“You the best, Sandy!” Teddy hugged her tightly before giving her a push towards the stage. “What are you waiting for?”

Dara could feel her knees shaking terribly as she made her way to the stage. If it were not for the long evening gown she wore, everyone would laugh at what an amateur she was. It was a miracle that she made it to the center of the spotlight without falling on her face. Lee Minho bowed at her courteously before giving her the award, acting stiffly towards her and careful not to make physical contact with her since the memory of what Jiyong had said before was still in his mind.

“Ah…” Dara was lost for words that she smiled radiantly on the stage, facing the sea of strange faces in front of her. She could feel a lump in , lips trembling and tears swelling up in her eyes. She had a hard time believing that this was really happening, her dream was actually coming true before her eyes. Jiyong was smiling as well but when he saw how emotional Dara was, he bit his lip to stop his eyes from watering. Seeing her like that made him vulnerable. There was no words for how proud and happy he was, witnessing this important moment with her. None of the awards that he received brought as much happiness as this one did. You deserved it, Dara.

After clearing and breathing deeply to calm herself, Dara regained her composure to start her speech. “I am honored to have received this award. I cannot thank my parents, Byul and Dongwook, enough for supporting me endlessly to pursue my dream. I’d like to also thank my friends and YG family for their love. More than anything, a big thank-you to the artists that I’ve worked with…G-Dragon, CL, Winner, iKON…for making my music come alive. I will work harder to bring you good music! Thank you!”

“The daragon ship is definitely sailing,” Soon Ho announced cheerfully as he walked inside Jiyong’s studio, putting down a bag of beverages on the table. Dara rolled her eyes, resuming her task of rewriting the lyrics for “Hello”. Ever since the award ceremony, her name has been everywhere. Rather than receiving the attention because of her award, she became the most searched-for name by being in Jiyong’s speech. There were also fancams of Jiyong’s touched and proud expression when Dara was on the stage receiving her award that night, which convinced many people that the two were more than friends. Their past scandal was brought up once again, now tied with the more recent evidence of being photographed multiple times in the same group of friends. Many of Jiyong’s fans were already doing background checks on her and updating every piece of information to the love section on his fan café, much to Jiyong’s delight. To Dara, it was downright shocking the way his fans have accurately analyzed how his posts on social media could be linked to her and had compared their couple clothes.

“What happened?” Jiyong asked Soon Ho eagerly, stopping in mid-action of rubbing Dara’s ears. It was something he does out of habit when he’s working with Dara beside him. After the award ceremony, he finally put an end to his globetrotting and returned to working on his next studio album with Dara. He did not have much of a break before returning to work, but he was satisfied to do anything as long as it was by Dara’s side.

“There’s now videos under the Daragon section of your fan café,” Soon Ho stated matter-of-factly. “There was a leaked video at Xin’s launch party,