Chapter 49

~*Dara’s POV*~

“Sh*t.” I hear Jiyong say under his breath as we pull into the driveway of the YG building. I look out the window to try and see what’s wrong but everything seems normal.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask while watching him reach to the back seats for something. After a while of searching, he takes out a beanie and a mask and hands it to me. “Put this on.”

“Huh?” I take the items and look at them curiously, “What for?”

His eyes look at the rear view mirror, “There are fan girls waiting across the street.” I turn to look out the back window of the car to see a group of girls jumping up and down while giggling and holding ‘G-Dragon’ signs.

“They are going to start taking pictures once we exit the car… and if they see you coming out of the car with me, your face will be plastered all over the internet.” He sighs while he puts on his baseball cap, however just as he is about to put his sunglasses on he hands them to me instead.

“Eh? What about you?” I say under the mask that I’ve just put over my nose and mouth.

“It doesn’t matter, they already know who I am. It’s more important to keep you hidden. Who knows what they will begin to speculate when they see you coming out of my car.” From how serious Jiyong was talking, I didn’t dare to second-guess the seriousness of this situation. I put on his sunglasses and check the mirror to make sure that my face is completely covered.

“Ready?” He asks while taking out the keys from the ignition. I turn and nod to him as I take a deep breath, slightly worried on what might happen when I step out of the car. “Don’t worry, they won’t get past the gate. You get out first and go straight into the building. I’ll follow behind you afterwards.”

I nod and am about to get out of the car before Jiyong pulls my arm back towards him. I turn my head to look at what might be wrong but am only welcomed by a quick kiss on my forehead. I am stunned as he pulls back and I can see him smile behind the mask.

“I’ll see you in there.” He says and lets go of my arm.

“O-Oh, yeah. See you.” I say quickly. I push the door open, jump out and head straight for the door. I hear distant screams from the girls across the street that started off loud but then changed to confusement.

“Who…she... G-Dragon’s car… why…” Those were all the words I could make out before I entered the building. I kept walking until I was sure I couldn’t be seen anymore. Moments later, I hear the screams again but this time never ending until I see Jiyong enter the building with the doors closing behind him.

As he makes his way towards me, he takes off his disguise. “You okay?”

I nod as I hand him back his sunglasses, mask, and hat. “I’m fine.”

“Good.” He takes them from me and stuffs it into his bag and slings it over his shoulder. “Alright, now let’s go figure out what’s going on with Youngbae.”

As we reach the dance studio, we could hear the cheers and applause from the dancers. Jiyong is the one to push the door open as I follow in after him. I see everyone is crowding around Youngbae who was standing in the middle of the room, confetti was everywhere and Minzy was even holding a small cake.

“Congratulations to Taeyang for his debut!” Jae Wook calls out causing everyone to cheer. That’s when I also notice that YG sajangnim was standing quietly off to the side but smiling.

As I observe everyone’s happy faces, I can’t help but bring a smile to my face as well. This was great news after all!

“Yah! Youngyang!” I called out loudly as everyone turned to face me, “Congratulations!”

I see a huge smile spread onto his face before he made his way to me.

“Thanks Dara!” He envelops me into a hug and lifts me off the ground. I squeal at the suddenness but just end up laughing. He sets me down and ruffles the top of my head. “It’ll be your time soon.” He leans towards my ear and says just below a whisper so only I could hear.

“Yah.” Jiyong lightly punches Youngbae in the arm. They just stare at each other until finally a smile creeps onto Jiyong’s face. He opens his arms inviting Youngbae into a hug that he accepts. “Congrats, man. You looked good today.”

“Thanks, Ji.” They pull away from each other and then fist bumped, “Sorry I had to keep it from you. From all of you.” He raises his voice as he looked around the room and his eyes landed on mine.

“Don’t worry about it!” Bom chirps up, “We all know how sneaky YG sajangnim is. I’m honestly not that surprised.”

“Park Bom. I am in the room.” YG sajangnim speaks up still with the same smile on his face. Everyone just bursts into laughter at the expression Bom makes, indicating that she seemed to have forgotten he was in the room.

“Anyways, on a more serious note, I’m sure you are all aware now on what this means. You will all be backup dancers for G-Dragon and Taeyang.” YG sajangnim states clearly. He looks around the room as everyone nods simultaneously.

“Hmm…” He scans the room again and brings up his hand to his chin, “Now that there’s Taeyang, I guess there will be an uneven amount of girls to guys… speaking of which, where’s Sohee?”

My heart jumps at her name and I immediately look towards Jiyong who is also looking at me. I was torn, to be honest, whether or not I really wanted to tell YG sajangnim all about Sohee’s little game. She tried to hurt me and sabotage my life and relationships. It’s true that all of this is unforgiveable and what good would she be if we still were around each other…? Especially now that Jiyong and I share mutual feelings… But, I had to admit there was still a small sliver of hope that the Sohee I knew does exist… somewhere deep down that maybe she can’t find… And I was afraid… afraid that if I did this and turned her in, I would ruin all chances.

Jiyong opened his mouth to answer but as if reading my mind, he closed it again and gave me a small reassuring smile and a look that said, ‘Don’t worry… We’ll think it through’. I smiled back at him and mouthed a ‘thank you’ that he nodded in response.

Everyone looked around at each other as if expecting someone to answer YG sajangnim and eventually all began shrugging when they realized no one knew where she was. YG sajangnim lets out a sigh before heading towards the door.

“Alright then. Let me know if she comes in late.” He directs towards Jae Wook and exits the room.

“Okay guys, let’s get started with practice.” Jae Wook claps making the room quiet. “Since the cats out of the bag about Taeyang, we will now begin working on choreography for his pieces.” The guys cheered a little before quieting down again, “There will a lot of stage performances on Music Bank, Music Core, and Inkigayo coming up so we gotta get this down ASAP.”

“This is my cue to leave.” Jiyong leans in a whispers to me. I look at him in the corner of my eye and give him a small pout.

“I’ll see you for dinner later? I’ll be around working at the recording studio.” I nod as I try to suppress my huge grin from coming onto my face.

“And… we’ll talk about what we are going to do about Sohee later, okay? Don’t worry about it for now.” His voice seems softer and more serious. I glance at him and give him another ‘thank you’ smile.

“Guys!” Jiyong calls out to everyone while waving his arms in the air, “I’m going to go back to work. Work hard! And congrats again, YB!”

Everyone waves bye to him as he exits before making their way to their places. I walk over closer to everyone and position myself in an open spot.

“Dara, since Sohee isn’t here yet, why don’t you partner with Youngbae?” Jae Wook calls out to me while motioning me to go next to Youngbae.

“Ah, okay.” I quickly take my place next to him who was smirking at me, “What?”

“Aren’t you happy?” He grins from ear to ear looking at our reflection in the mirror.

“About?” I raise an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was talking about Jiyong and I.

“Finally, your dream came true. I’m your partner now.” He winks at me through the mirror.

I roll my eyes and scoff at his silliness, “I believe that it was YOUR dream to dance with me. Omo, only one day of being a star and you’re already just as bad as Jiyong.”

“I guess that just means I’m just as popular as G-Dragon then.” He shrugs as if it can’t be helped.

I nudge him hard in the arm, “Aigoo, you are giving me shivers. Quit it!”

Music starts playing right on cue and the room fills with the song ‘Where U At’. Jae Wook makes his way to the front of the room before turning to us.

“Since all of you saw the performance earlier, I’m sure you all caught most of the choreography already. So let’s get started. 5… 6… 5, 6, 7, 8!”

I dove to the floor and looked up at the ceiling as I tried to catch my breath. Choreography for Taeyang’s songs was so much more intense than G-Dragon’s. It made sense since they want to focus on how amazing of a dancer he is but it was just something I’m going to have to get used to.

Suddenly, a towel flew over my head covering my vision. I grabbed it and threw it off my face at the direction from which it came.

“Hey, so I can’t eat dinner with you tonight. I have to work on some new songs.” Youngbae squats next to me, with the towel wrapped around his neck.

“It’s fine.” I shrug. I’m meeting with Jiyong for dinner anyways. I think to myself, but for some reason I can’t seem to push the words out of my mouth. Should I tell him about Jiyong and I? “I can figure something out myself.”

“As uncaring as always.” Youngbae smirks before standing up and stretching.

I push myself up quickly to protest, “What! How am I uncaring?” I ask seriously concerned but am only welcomed by a flick to the forehead.

“I’m just kidding, dummy.” I growl at him as he walks towards the door, “You better eat something. I’ll see you later.” He exits the dance studio without looking back.

Man, he sure is busy now. As I put my things back into my bag, I think back to how things were before. How much we hung out and talked. Now, I will only be able to see him during practices just like with Jiyong before. I wonder what it’ll be like when I finally make my debut?

“Dara,” I look up to see CL and Bom linking arms in front of the door, “Do you want to eat dinner with us?”

I shake my head and smile, “I’m sorry, I can’t! I have other plans.” I don’t bother to go into too much detail, “Next time, okay?” They nod and make me promise to it before leaving me the last one in the studio.

I lie back down on the floor and let my mind wander wherever it wanted to take me. The first was on where I was supposed to meet Jiyong for dinner. Am I supposed to go find him at the studio? I wonder to myself before realizing, but Youngbae will be there. There was that nagging feeling again that it was a situation I wanted to avoid but had no idea why. Then my mind brought me to the realization that Sohee never came to practice today. It’s almost ridiculous that even after all that happened, I still have a very tiny part of me that worries about her. Is she still locked up in her room? Has she not been eating? Is she that upset? Or is she planning something… The last thought brings shivers down my spine. Whatever is the reason for her not to come… I hoped to God it wasn’t the last one.

Luckily, my phone goes off interrupting my thoughts. Upon picking it up, I see the caller ID and see that it is Jiyong. A smile instantly wipes off the worry from my face as I quickly answer the phone.

“Hey.” I say trying to sound calm.

“Hey you.” He says in such an endearing way that it almost makes my heart melt.

“Where are you? Are you ready for dinner?” I begin gathering up my stuff and getting to my feet. “Should I meet you at the cafeteria?”

“I’m at home.” I pause just before leaving the studio and I furrow my brows.

“Huh? At home?” Disappointment starts welling up in me. “What about dinner…?”

“Meet me here in 20 minutes. Or else there won’t be a dinner. Bye.” Before I could get more information out of him he hangs up.

“What the…” I stare at my phone in disbelief, wondering what this dragon was planning. I was about to call him back until I receive a text message from him. When I open it all I see is an address. Well, I guess that helps… I take a moment to stare at it curiously before using my phone to find the directions there and taking off.

While waiting for the bus impatiently, I hear my stomach grumble and feel the emptiness. Stupid Jiyong… this better be good.

Although I attempted to sound angry in my mind, I couldn’t even fool myself. I was excited.

We were finally making up for all the time that we’ve lost.

*BlueNote*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Here's an update!
Sorry I'm being slow with updates again :(
Also this chapter is a bit shorter and also more of a filler
But nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoyed it
And I promise you the next chapter will be...
Intense? Worth-while?
Idk! But I guess we'll see tomorrow :)

Love you all.
Thank you for all the comments and subscribers!
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Until tomorrow's update!

Gnight!

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