Chapter 51

“…ara… hey… Dara!” I jolt back to real life as I hear Jiyong call my name. I turn to look at him who is staring at me full of concern. I look around and notice we’ve already pulled into the driveway of the YG building.

“Oh, we’re here?” I say as the nerves in my stomach built even more. It was the first time I’ve ever dreaded seeing the YG building. I turn back towards Jiyong when I feel him grab my hand.

“Are you okay?”

I shake my head as I tried to take breaths, “Honestly, not really.”

We both sat there in silence, fully aware of what is about to happen in a matter of minutes, and there was most likely no way of going around it. Finally, Jiyong is the one to break the silence.

He unbuckles his seatbelt, allowing him to turn his whole body towards me and cupping my face in both of his hands.

“Dara,” He begins while looking at me in the eyes, “Whatever you do, remember what I told you last night. Okay?”

I just stare back at him wondering if that will really be enough to solve the situation. We didn’t have a chance to talk about what we were going to do. We didn’t even discuss on what we even were to begin with.

“Promise me, okay? Don’t give up.” He traces his thumb on my cheek as he waits for me to answer.

“I promise.” I finally say once I felt a bit of hope. Whatever may come… whatever YG sajangnim may tells us… Maybe it won’t be so bad? He gives me a weak smile before kissing me on the forehead. He reaches towards the backseat before handing me the same hat and mask as yesterday. “The fangirls are back again.” He motions to the opposite side of the street where I see a few of the same girls again but this time there seemed to be more.

Without any more instructions, I place on the beanie over my head, took out my own sunglasses, and tightened the mask over my mouth and nose. I turn to Jiyong who is already covered up and nod at him.

Just like yesterday, I quickly push the car door open, hop out and walk quickly towards the entrance. The screams were as loud as usual but instead of dying down, they increased in volume… and in hatred.

“IT’S HER! THAT’S THE GIRL!”

“What is she doing with OUR OPPA?!”

“STAY AWAY FROM HIM!”

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!”

“You are SO UGLY. STAY AWAY FROM HIM!”

“B*TCH! WH*RE!”

Just before I passed through the doors, I glanced over to look at the yelling girls and see that their insults were indeed directed at me. Even though I was inside already, I began walking faster and faster into almost a jog because I could still hear their voices screaming at me. I could still hear their bitter and poisonous words.

“Dara!” I finally stop and turn to see Jiyong catching up to me. “Why are you running?” Seeing as he wasn’t mentioning what those girls said earlier, I assume he didn’t hear it.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” I repeat not bothering to look at him in the eye. He was right, there was no need for me to run anymore… we were way deep inside the building already. I couldn’t hear their actual voices anymore… but they were still inside my head.

“Aren’t you going to take those off?” Jiyong asks as he takes off his own mask and hat. I nod and quickly take them all off and hand him back his stuff.

“Hey,” He grabs my arm for me to look at him but I don’t, “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you looking at me?”

I take a moment to decide whether or not I should tell him the cruel words I heard before, but decide against it. It was pointless anyways and would just give him even more to worry about. I take a deep breath and put on a serious face.

“Well besides what’s about to happen… nothing.” I say as I shake my head and try my best to look at his face and block out those girls’ voices screaming at me.

He studies my face before sighing and grabbing my hand. He brings it up to his lips and kisses it gently.

“Let’s go.” He says before pulling me towards the elevators. The whole time we walked, I just stared at our connecting hands, wondering how much longer we will be able to be like this for… and if this will be the last time.

The whole elevator ride up was silent and we both just stared straight ahead. Finally, when the doors open and I see the door to YG sajangnim’s office, my heart drops into my stomach. I try to pull my hand away but Jiyong’s grip tightens.

“Jiyong…” I look at him as I shake my hand, “We shouldn’t…”

He doesn’t let go but instead intertwines our fingers and bringing our hands up to eye level for both of us to see.

“He already knows. There’s no point in trying to hide it anymore. Besides,” He smiles at me, “This way he’ll know how serious I am about you.”

I blush but can’t help but smile. It’s probably best this way anyways… The feeling of his hand in mine was after all what was keeping me from running away.

We step forward and Jiyong knocks on the door.

“Come in.” YG sajangnim voice was so clear and sharp that it made me jump. Jiyong tightened his grip on my hand. I don’t know if it was supposed to calm me or because hew as surprised too… but it was obvious that YG sajangnim was not happy.

Jiyong pushes open the door and steps in first before I follow through behind him. Before I could get to the side of Jiyong and get a clearer view of the office, Jiyong growls.

“What the hell is she doing here?” My eyes finally spot Sohee who was standing in front of YG sajangnim, her eyes focused not on our faces… but on our intertwined hands. My heart sinks further as I watch her eyes grow wide and slowly look up to meet mine, full of anger and hatred.

“Don’t worry, Miss Ahn was just about to leave.” YG sajangnim says also staring at our connecting hands, “Go.” He directs coldly to Sohee. She jumps a bit but turns quickly on her heel and heads straight for the door and us. As she gets closer and closer, I swear that she is going to slap me until she moves just slightly to our left.

She stops just as she reaches right next to us and our shoulders were about to touch. I tried to keep my head forward to face YG sajangnim but my full attention was on Sohee’s presence beside me as she looked straight-forward as well.

“Better hold onto that hand tight.” She says before taking a side glance at me, “Because I’m not the only one you are p*ssing off.” And just like that she left the room with the door slamming behind her.

‘I’m not the only one you are p*ssing off.’ Simultaneously, images of those girls across the street appear in my mind and I fully understand what she’s implying.

“You two…” YG stands up suddenly from his chair and rubs his face with his hands. He steps from behind his desk and begins pacing back in forth, “When did this happen?”

It takes me a while to think of what he was referring to but Jiyong answers right away, “I’ve always liked her. From the very beginning.”

I turn towards him with my mouth open in shock. How could he be saying things like this in a situation like this?!

“But I didn’t find out about her feelings until two nights ago.” He continues. I slowly turn my head to see YG’s expression and see that he looks furious.

“What the hell were you thinking, Jiyong?” He raises his voice to a whole new level I never heard before. Instinctively, I grip my his hand tighter. “Do you have any idea what this could do? To you? To Dara?”

“I know the risks.” Jiyong replies but I see that he is keeping his eye level down and towards the ground, “But I believe it can work… without harming our careers.”

“You believe?” YG sajangnim replies as if almost mocking him, “You believe? Well, believing is not enough in this situation. You are still just a child!” His voice echoes throughout the room, rendering us speechless. I squeeze Jiyong’s hand again but this time as a signal to stop talking.

“This has to end now… the word is going to get out about you two.” YG sajangnim’s voice was softer but still full of authority. “Ahn Sohee will try to expose the two of you.”

I raise my head in shock, “S-Sohee?”

YG’s eyes direct towards me making me flinch a bit, “Yes. I called her in this morning because I wanted to know why she didn’t attend practice yesterday night.” He makes his way to the front of his case of figurines, “But it seems that she thought I was calling her in because of you two.” He turns to look at us with a very grim expression, “She came storming in here saying that if she gets fired, she will expose your two’s relationship and that Dara is a secret YG trainee.” I feel the color drain from my face as I realized exactly how serious this situation has become… and how much more likely, Jiyong and I will be separated.

“She plans on twisting it to appear as if because of your two’s relationship, she received special treatment. Getting important roles such as being G-Dragon’s partner and starring in the MV.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Jiyong calls out, anger resonating in his voice.

“Is it? You out of anyone should know how much the press and media get a kick out of scandals like this? What’s more is that this is all coming from a FIRED backup dancer of yours who could quite possibly witness such favoritism. Not to mention she is Dara’s cousin.”

“So you’re saying that Sohee is throwing a pity party for herself… making YG, Dara and I the bad guys…”

“And everyone will be invited.” YG finished Jiyong’s sentence.

We all remained in silence as we let this visual sink into our brains. This was completely out of hand. How did things become so skewed from the truth?

“So, what did you do?” I finally am able to speak up, wondering what had become of Sohee’s fate.

“I fired her.” YG sajangnim states as a matter of fact, “I’m not allowing some teenager try and blackmail me and my company.”

I felt like the breath was knocked out of me as I now imagine what will be coming next.

“You’re just going to throw Dara under the bus?!” I feel Jiyong’s grip tighten even more around my hand, causing me to wince slightly in pain, “I’ve already made my name out there, but Dara… She hasn’t even started! Her entire career will be crushed before she can even start!” He almost began to yell but somehow managed to stay at a level showing just enough anger but also respect.

“Do you think I’m an idiot? I know that already. I know exactly what will happen to Dara if this gets out.” YG sajangnim retorts, “That’s why I’ve decided that there will be an official announcement of Dara being a YG trainee.”

Suddenly, I feel as if a whole large amount of pressure has just been dropped onto me, making it almost impossible to breathe.

“It is better if the company announces it first before an outsider, that way it doesn’t seem like we were trying to hide something.” YG explains to us, “Once the word is out that Dara has been a trainee with us, no matter what stories or lies Sohee digs up, it will make sense and work in our favor since she is a known trainee that we are proud and excited for.”

As I listen to YG’s explanation, I can feel myself almost begin to relax. Everything he was saying made sense and seems to be the best solution to our problem… but I was well aware that there was a catch. After all, he already had this plan since the moment we walked in.

“That is why, you two must absolutely not continue this relationship. Jiyong, you will no longer be Dara’s personal mentor. Any and all of your interactions that may have been witnessed already can be covered up by the fact that Jiyong, Dara’s sunbanim, was merely helping his hunbae out with training. But from now on, you two will not be seen speaking to each other more than just greetings and occasional small chat.”

My heart felt heavier and heavier with each word he spoke. I was well aware that it was going to come to this but I was never expecting it to be so extreme.

“It seems that you two still don’t seem to understand the seriousness of this situation.” YG sajangnim says while making his way over to his computer. He begins to type in a few things before turning his computer screen to us. “Come here you two.”

As we get closer still hand-in-hand, I see that he has YouTube on his screen and a video was just about to play but was paused.

“We posted this last night.”

[G-Dragon – Breathe M/V Teaser]

“No, don’t.” Jiyong says almost begging, “Don’t show this to her. You can’t.” I look at him curiously but see him looking straight at YG with pleading eyes.

“You knew this was going to happen eventually. Do you really think she wasn’t going to see?” YG replies while still looking at the screen.

“This is not the right time. You can’t go about things like this so—“

“Jiyong.” I say firmly and catch his attention, “Stop.” He looks at me with worried eyes but finally sighs and turns his view away from the screen.

“Smart decision, Dara.” YG sajangnim says before moving his mouse, “As you know, you appeared in G-Dragon’s music video for this song.” He begins to scroll down, past the video and into the comments section.

“This.” He leans back in his chair, allowing me to view the screen more clearly, “This is what you will need to get used to if you continue to be in the eye of the public with Jiyong.”

Although they were just words on the screen, they came to life in my head giving each and every comment a different voice. Screaming at me, just like the girls this morning.

SheluvsGD

MY HUBBY
can’t wait for ur MV u are such a hottie!!
BUT who is that SL*T all over you!!

MissKWon999

WTF. here I was being serenaded by my man
and suddenly this ugly COW pops up?! She needs to GTFO

GDGDBABI221

I HATE THAT B*TCH. she shuld go DIE

Gdselena   in reply to MissKWon999

LOL I was thinking the SAME THING.
She’s not pretty and at acting.
Why did they even pick her?!

xxxhettyg

WHO IS SHE?!

yggdragon

ZOMG
SHE WAS SEEN WITH GD

xxxhettyg  in reply to yggdragon

WHERE? WHEN? HOW?

wenlovegd  in reply to yggdragon

SOURCES?!

yggdragon  in reply to  xxxhettyg

www.gdlove.com/posts/mystery-girl-gdragon-car.html

jikwonji  in reply to yggdragon

thnx for the link
but she better not be GD’s gf…

thisismybabe  in reply to jikwonji

No way
GD would never like a stupid looking gurl like her
we don’t have anything to worry about guys
chill out!

“That’s enough.” Jiyong says while pulling me away from the screen, “She’s seen enough.”

My eyes were burning. I don’t know if it was from staring at the screen for too long or if the burning sensation was from the harsh words I was reading that we all directed towards me. It never occurred to me before how popular Jiyong was… it never occurred to me what would happen if I were to be seen with him… being intimate with him. How did things turn out this way?

“This is why I am telling you two to end this.” YG’s voice was much more calm now and almost had a hint of sorrow, “If we do this right, we will still be able to save Dara’s future success with us in this company.”

I was out of words and completely blank. All I could do was manage to switch back from hearing those awful comments and the words that were coming out of YG’s mouth. This was not at all what I expected things to be. This is not what I signed up for. When I first came into this company, I thought it would just be something that I could explore and test my strengths. Suddenly it became more than that. I wanted to learn, to improve, and to succeed more than anything. And then things with Jiyong happened and made me believe that everything was falling into place. So, why now? Why is this happening now? All the problems and consequences are suddenly appearing before my eyes.

“If we do this... and things turn out okay… and Dara becomes an idol that everyone accepts… what happens then?” I turn to look at Jiyong wondering the importance of such a question.

YG sajangnim just shakes his head and sighs, “Jiyong, why are you asking such questions when you already know the answer.” He changes his focus to me allowing me now to see the sadness and pity in his eyes.

“Even if Dara became successful and an idol that is adored by her fans, you two will still not be able to date.” He directs to Jiyong even though we were looking at each other eye-to-eye.

“Because no matter what, Dara will never seem good enough to be the girlfriend of G-Dragon.”

And just like that, my hand slips out of Jiyong’s as my whole body goes numb and letting me get the taste of our first second of cruel separation.

*BlueNote*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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