Chapter 31

~*Jiyong’s POV*~

I’ve never wanted to go to work less than I do right now. Not only did I not sleep well last night because of Dara’s voice haunting me, I also don’t want to go back into this building to relive the incident that happened and deal with the damages that have been done. Most of all, I didn’t want to see her… I didn’t know how I should react… what am I supposed to say to her? I feel so weak that I might even shut down if I saw her.

I rest my head on the steering wheel of my car, which has been parked in front of the YG building for 30 minutes now. Come on... Get the hell out of this car.

I sigh in annoyance to my own inner voice as open the car door and drag myself out. There… now go into the building. Slowly but steadily, my feet begin to move towards the main entrance. As I get closer, I notice a girl pacing back and forth near the door.

Great… a fan? This is not the time to deal with this. I pull down my hat and hold my mask over my mouth in hopes to successfully get by without being recognized. Just as I rush by, a name catches my attention and makes me stop and listen.

“Park Sandara… no updates, no calls, and now she won’t even pick up her phone!” The small girl grumbles to herself as she presses in numbers into her phone.

This gives me time to fully study her face and finally realize that I’ve seen her before.

“Um, excuse me.” I say while approaching her. She is surprised to see me but just bows, “Are you looking for Sandara-ssi?”

Her eyes light up at the name but then she quickly becomes skeptical, “And if I am…? Who are you?”

I look around to see if the coast is clear before pulling down my mask to reveal myself. drops and she bows her head many times before speaking again, “Omo, G-Dragon-ssi, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Like wise… uh…” I try to recall her name but can’t seem to dig it up from my overly tired brain.

“Sulli.” She smiles and bows again.

“Ah, yes that’s right. Sulli, I’m sorry for not remembering your name.”

She shakes her head at my apology, “It’s completely fine. I understand that you must have seen a thousand of girls that day with thousands of names. I don’t put it against you.”

“Thank you for understanding.” I reply and smile a weak smile before remembering why we were talking in the first place, “Ah, that’s right. You said you were looking for Sandara-ssi?”

Recollection shows on her face as she nods, “Yes! I am. I haven’t heard much from her since the audition and have been wondering how she did. However, once I saw her on Music Bank last night, I realized that must’ve meant she got the audition! I’ve been calling and texting her all night and day and decided to show up here to congratulate her in person.”

The words ‘music bank’ makes me want to cringe but I try to hide it to the best of my ability, pushing down all memories and feelings that came on that bitter sweet night.

“Actually, she didn’t get the audition originally. We picked someone else but I guess because of her talent and uniqueness, YG sajangnim called out to her personally and brought her in as an extra backup dancer.” I explain as I see Sulli’s mouth drop in amazement.

“Omo, that’s amazing! But then again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from a person like her. YG sajangnim really has a good eye.” She smiles to herself, “Oh, then if you don’t mind me asking, who was it that originally got the audition?”

“Ah, I don’t mind at all.” I say, “It was Ahn Sohee.”

I watch as her face scrunches up in confusion and disapproval. Curiosity strikes me from her reaction.

“Ahn Sohee? As in Sandara’s cousin?” She asks catching me off guard.

“Eh?” I immediately reply.

“You don’t know? Ahn Sohee is her younger cousin. They came together that day to audition.”

“How… how did you know that?” I ask, still unsure of what this all meant.

“While waiting in line, I was able to make friends with Dara and was curious on why she was looking around so much and fidgeting. When I asked, she told me about how her cousin was auditioning as well that day and she was worrying that she couldn’t find her.”

Pieces of the puzzle slowly started to match up in my brain. If Dara wanted to keep it a secret… why would she tell a stranger so freely?

“Do you by any chance know why they came to audition that day?” I ask and see the confusion on Sulli’s face at my strange question. “Was it because, Sandara-ssi was a big fan of mine?”

She suddenly lets out a small giggle before apologizing, “Oh no! What she said at her auditions must have gotten to you! But here, please let me clear up any misunderstandings about Dara.” She clears before beginning, “What you say is true, Dara is a ‘fan’ of yours but not in the way that you think. ‘Fan’ wouldn’t be the right word to describe it. She really looks up to you and admires you as an idol.”

She smiles to herself, as if remembering her conversation with Dara, “She told me how you had such talent and skill when you perform and that she admires you for the work that you do. I don’t know why, but that girl always doubts herself and her abilities. She kept saying how she would never be a good enough dancer to one day be on the same stage as you.”

‘So that no matter what, everyone would see that she was the better dancer.’ Sohee’s words pop up in my mind but are completely erased at the information just given to me.

Sulli looks at me in the eyes and smiles as she speaks from her heart, “G-Dragon-ssi. Dara is not a ‘fan’ but more of an enthusiast for talent. Just from speaking and texting her throughout that audition day, I learned how devoted and passionate she is about dance and is always looking for ways to improve herself. She appreciates your talent and admires it. If anything, you should be happy to have such a sincere person admiring you.”

My thoughts run to all the memories of her: how concentrated she was during practice, how devoted she was to making sure the choreography was perfect, how she shyly came to ask for my help. Why have I not noticed this before?!

Sulli continues, not noticing my complete inability to form any more words. “Sohee… on the other hand… Well, I’m surprised she made it that far if you were trying to avoid ‘fans’.”

My ears perk up at her name, “What… what do you mean?” Suddenly dread started creeping over my head.

She raises her eyebrows at me but continues, “You haven’t noticed? She’s completely obsessed with you! When I briefly met her, all she’d talk about was how attractive you were, complained about not meeting you, and she even lied at her phase one auditions just to make sure she wasn’t suspicious!” Sulli crosses her arms in front of her chest, clearly ticked off just thinking about her.

“Also, she doesn’t seem to be a very nice cousin to Dara… Not only did she keep degrading her, saying that she wasn’t a good enough dancer or wouldn’t make it past phase one, but forcing Dara to accompany her to audition because her parents wouldn’t let her go alone? Sounds like a spoiled brat to me! If she was my cousin I’d…”

Sulli continued to talk but I couldn’t hear anything any more. My heart has stopped and so has all of the blood in my body. My vision darkens but my mind shines brightly, finally seeing the light. Finally seeing through the lie that was so deeply embedded in my mind.

“What… did you say?” I ask again to make sure I’ve heard correctly. Holding my breath as I await her answer.

“Eh?”

“Sohee… forced Dara…” I help her out until she realizes what I mean and continues for me.

“Sohee forced Dara to audition with her because her parents wouldn’t let her go alone. But if you ask me, Sohee clearly underestimated Dara’s true talent… probably thought Dara would make her look better. But that’s where she’s wro—. Ah hey!“

I hear her call out to me as I dash inside the building. A thousand thoughts were running through my head. All the lies Sohee fed me, all of Dara’s pleas and begging for me to believe in here, everything that Sulli just told me… and most of all, my own thoughts screaming at me for making the biggest mistake of my life.

As I approach the first place I could think of finding her, I can hear yelling from inside. When I open the dance studio doors, I see Sohee cowering behind the girls as the guys, including Jae Wook, are holding Youngbae back.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HIM? HUH?!” Youngbae is yelling at Sohee, as the guys try to calm him down.

“Where’s Dara? I call out above the commotion as all eyes turn towards me. Sohee’s eyes light up and she begins to run towards me and calls out.

“J-Jiyong o—“

“DON’T ‘JIYONG OPPA’ ME!” I yell at her making her stop in her tracks, as her eyes grow wide in fear. I look around the rest of the room, “Where. Is. Dara?” I ask slowly but clearly.

“YG sajangnim called her in to talk to her…” CL speaks up, “What’s happening Jiyong?”

My eyes grow wide knowing that what happens next would be completely my fault.

“!” I snap as I run out of the room. Just as I reached the elevators I feel someone grab me by my collar and force me hard against the wall, knocking the air out of me.

When I see that it’s Youngbae, anger fills me, “YAH! DONG YOUNGBAE. WHAT THE F—“

“It was YOU wasn’t it?!” He growled at me, pushing me harder against the wall, “Were you the one who notified YG about what happened last night?!”

“LET GO!” I try to push him away but he doesn’t budge.

“WAS IT?!”

“YES! OKAY?! IT WAS. NOW LET ME GO.” I yell back at him. I swing my fist at him but he barely dodges it without letting go of my collar.

“What the actual were you thinking!?” Youngbae continues to yell in my face, p*ssing me off even more, “Who are you to decide on something when you have absolutely NO idea about her! You don’t know her reasons for being here! How can someone like YOU decide on her fate when you know NOTHING about her?!”

I grab his hands and push them away from me, “HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHEN SHE DOESN’T TELL ME?!”

“GOG DAMMIT JI! NOT EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU, YOU EGOTISTICAL FOOL! SHE DIDN’T TELL YOU BECAUSE SHE COULDN’T TELL YOU.” He yells and looks at me as if he is about to rip my head off.

His voice lowers a notch but still has the same amount of anger behind it.

“She couldn’t tell you because she promised YG sajangnim she wouldn’t.” He gazes directly into my eyes, making sure I was paying attention and would hear every single word that came out of his mouth.

“She’s here to TRAIN, to IMPROVE, to LEARN, and to GROW. To become something that she NEVER even imagined would be possible for her. If you ruin all of that for her…”

He stops and takes in a deep breath to calm himself down again before finally revealing the last puzzle piece of Park Sandara.

“She’s a ing YG trainee, you a**hole.”

*BlueNote*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ta-dah! The moment you have all been waiting for!
Sulli saves the day with Youngbae giving the last few blows!
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the last few chapters and don't hate me for what I'm about to say next!

The announcement I had to make was that updates will be a little slow/almost none for the next few days (until my Thursday EST).
Unfortunately, I have 2 exams this week that I really need to get started for
and as much as I'd want to continue writing for all of you lovely readers
I need to study :( boo.
So just a warning and an early apology if updates are not as quick and frequent as before
But I promise to be back ASAP!

I love you all so much for reading and staying with me this long.
I love reading all the comments and seeing how much you all enjoy it!
Wish me luck for my upcoming exams, I'll probably need it ><
Thank you all. And good night for now :)

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