Chapter 23

~*Three days later*~

~*Dara’s POV*~

“1, 2, turn, 5, 6, 7, 8. And 1, 2, 3, jump, 5, 6, 7, 8.” Jae Wook claps every beat as he watches me perform the choreography.

“And again.” I begin the repeat the choreography, this time giving it a different feeling, seeing where I can fit in something that shows my personality.

“Good, Dara, good.” Jae Wook calls out. “One more time.”

After another round, Jae Wook turns of the music and I finally get to stop and catch my breath.

“That was good, Dara!” He applauds while walking over. “Not bad for your first day of training.”

I’m only able to nod since I’m still completely out of breath.

“Of course, there are still a few things you need to work on. But you are on your way.” He pats me on the shoulder, “You already had a good foundation with dance to begin with so we don’t need to do much work.”

“Thank you.” I say while smiling proudly. He returns a smile and starts heading for the door, “We are done for the day, next training will be next week, same time same place. Bring a two minutes choreography to perform.”

“Yes, thank you.” I call out. Then his last sentence finally registers. Two minute choreography in a week? I shake my head. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that YG Entertainment wants nothing but the impossible. But I smiled at the challenge.

I go over to my phone to check what time it is but see that I have a text message. From Youngbae. I gulped as my heart began to beat faster.

Meet me at the recording studio in 3 minutes.

Oh god. He’s mad.

And I probably know why. The past three days have been… weird between us. Well, more like weird with me. Because, three nights ago I’ve discovered the very likely possibility that I may… have feelings for Youngbae.

~*Flashback*~

After Jiyong left from dropping me off, I make my way up to my apartment. As I put my keys into the lock, the door suddenly opens and I see Sohee’s face.

“Unnie, you’re finally home?” She smiles sweetly at me as I just stared blankly at her.

“Sohee-ah,” I realize it’s been a while since we actually talked face-to-face, “What are you doing here so late?”

She moves away from the door and jumps onto the couch.

“I was bored at home and suddenly wanted to sleep here! I forgot you had to practice late though so I just used the spare key you gave me, hope you don’t mind.” She smiles again. Something about that smile was creeping me out.

“Of course not… I gave you that key because you practically live here anyways.” I eye her curiously, not sure why she seems to be acting strange. Maybe I just haven’t been around her in a while.

I make my way to my room, drop my bag and go back to the kitchen to get some water. The whole time I can feel her eyes on me, as if trying to burn holes through my body.

“So… how was practicing with Jiyong oppa?”

I knew it. I shrug, “It was fine. We just practiced the choreography. Luckily, we both got it pretty quickly so it didn’t take too long.”

I can see she has another question but is hesitating to ask. Finally, she spits it out, “How’d you get home?”

I didn’t really want to answer this question knowing how she’d react but it was nothing to hide, “He drove me home.”

If looks could kill, I would’ve been dead already.

“Youngbae asked him to. Don’t worry.” I add just so I didn’t have to deal with her complaints. I was just so tired from today

“Really?”

I nod and take a sip of water.

“Well, of course! MY Jiyong oppa is just a true gentleman and a good friend.” She says as she sighs dreamily.

I just nod again and take another sip of water.

“He wouldn’t be so generous usually, but it was probably just because his best friend asked him to.”

I was uncaring until I heard ‘best friend’.

“Best friend? Who? Youngbae and Ji…Dragon?” I corrected myself seeing Sohee’s face about to frown at hearing me call him Jiyong.

“Geez, you are working with us and you don’t even know?” She shakes her head.

“They’ve been best friends for eight years now. When Jiyong oppa first started, he requested Youngbae to come into YG Entertainment as well. Youngbae was the first backup dancer.” I nod finally understanding my good friend’s past. I suddenly feel giddy now that I know more about him.

As if picking up on my sudden energy from the topic, Sohee continues, “Did you know that he can play the piano?”

I shake my head but keep my focus on her and everything she says, “Yeah, he’s really good at it, he is actually a really good singer too. Of course, not as good as Jiyong oppa but he’s still pretty good. He likes to sing along sometimes when he dances. Oh and he’s also really athletic, he especially likes playing basketball. Him and Jiyong play sometimes when they have time.”

Wow, she’s only worked with him for a week and she’s learned so many details about him? I smile excitedly just thinking about what I’ll get to learn about him.

“Unnie, you like Youngbae don’t you?”

I almost spit out the water that I was drinking.

“Eh?!” I immediately begin to blush. Why is everyone asking me that today?!

She smirks and gets up from the couch heading to the front door.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.” She puts on her shoes and opens the door before turning back to me, “I just came over to make sure you weren’t starting to have feelings for my Jiyong oppa. But now I can see you have your eyes on Youngbae. So, bye bye!”

“YAH!” I yell after her. Just before closing the door, she calls out, “Don’t bother denying it, you know it’s true!”

I just gape at the now closed door, her last statement repeating in my head.

Me? Like Youngbae?

I sigh and slump onto the couch trying to rearrange my thoughts. Suddenly, the vibration of my cell wakens me from my trance.

Yah dummy. Did you get home okay? Did Jiyong take you home? I told you to text me.

I laugh to myself, but as I was about to reply, another text comes through.

If you don’t reply in 5 minutes, I’m going to call the police.

Geez, he's so silly.

I’m fine Youngyang-ah! I’m a strong girl and can take care of myself! ^-^

…Did Jiyong take you home?

I wonder what he’d do if I said…

Nope. Why?

I’ll kill him.

Omo!

Aigoo I’m joking! Yes, he took me home like a real gentleman!! Kekeke

After a few minutes, he finally replied.

I could be a gentleman too...

I blush at how cute his text was.

Yes, yes. You are a real gentleman as well! ^-^ Thank you for making sure I got home safely.

We continued to text each other for the next half an hour. I didn’t notice that I was smiling and giggling the whole time until my cheeks started to get sore.

Get some rest. We have to be at the studio early tomorrow.

I frown that our conversation was ending.

Okay >_< you should rest too! See you tomorrow!

Can’t wait ;) night.

I stare at the words on my phone as my cheeks flush a dark shade of red.

Can’t wait? Can’t wait… to see me?

I toss my phone aside as I feel my heart pounding in my chest. This feeling… I haven’t felt it since… my high school crush.

I bury my head into my hands and whine outloud, “Dong Youngbae, what are you to me?”

~*End of Flashback*~

Aish… what do I do… what do I do… I’m still staring at his text message. Two minutes have already passed. Since my night of semi-realization, I haven’t been able to act normal with him anymore. Whenever he would put his arm around my shoulder, I would find some way or reason to get out of it. When he’d come over to try and talk to me, I’d run and strike a conversation with the nearest person, which was usually Jiyong. He definitely knows something is up. I couldn’t keep running from him forever, right?

But… if he asks what’s wrong… what am I supposed to say?

“Oh, it’s nothing really. Just that I found out I might like you but am too awkward to know how to act in front of you anymore.”

I sigh to myself knowing how fully incapable I am when it comes to romance and relationships… There’s a reason why I still haven’t had a boyfriend even though I’m already 25 years old… Because I’m completely clueless about it!

I look down at his text again and check the time. It’s been three minutes… And as if something inside me clicked, I quickly grabbed my things and ran to the recording studio. I didn’t prepare what I would say, how I would act. But all I knew was that I wanted to see him, to talk to him like we used to.

I can’t keep running away anymore. He deserved more than that.

*BlueNote*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Finally an update! I'm sorry it took me much longer than usual.
First, I had to admit I got confused on what I wanted to happen next.
I had to scrap a chapter and start a different scene but now I'm satisfied with it.

*Just to clarify, YES it is still a Daragon fic!
It may be confusing now, but just consider Dara's character and also how Jiyong first started treating her!*

Please as usual, I love reading your comments and thoughts!!
Also, thank you to all the subscribers :)
I hope I can keep updating but midterms are coming up so I'll try my best!

*If you are confused about layout/weird details that seem wrong+right at the same time, please read the story description!*