Chapter 53

[YG Announces New Trainee: Park Sandara]

Just a few days ago, YG Entertainment revealed their newest addition to the YG Family, Park Sandara. According to CEO Yang Hyun Suk, she has been training with YG Entertainment for some time now. “The moment I met her, I knew she had talent,” He explained when asked about his first meeting with Sandara.

Just like her label mate, Taeyang, who had recently debuted a day before the announcement, YG Entertainment wasn’t originally planning on revealing her identity to the public. When asked why the change of plans, this is what Yang Hyun Suk replied:

“I am very confident on her success and her ability to bring something new to the industry. After only a few weeks of training, she has shown much promise and I feel that revealing her identity to Korea will only be positive. She is very excited in showcasing her abilities and wants to rely on the strength and support of fans who are excited to meet her as well.”

Although, they’ve kept her identity a secret, they didn’t keep her completely hidden. It was recently discovered that she was the leading actress in her label mate, G-Dragon’s music video ‘Breathe’. Not only that, but there have been sightings of her as G-Dragon’s backup dancer in several recordings. Before the announcement, there were a lot of speculations online about who this mystery girl was, especially because there were sightings of another mystery girl with G-Dragon coming in and out of the YG building together. They even came out from the same car!

When asked if the girl in the music video was indeed Park Sandara, Yang Hyun Suk confirmed to the speculations. He said, “She is very versatile and we wanted to see how else she could thrive. It was the perfect opportunity and G-Dragon always wants to support and help the trainees. He always spent his time to help them train, take care of them, and better themselves.”

Upon hearing this news, many G-Dragon fans drew a sigh of relief with comments such as, “G-Dragon is such a great sunbae”, “Sandara is so lucky to have such a good mentor”, and “My heart is at ease knowing it’s a sunbae and hunbae relationship!”

It is unsure of what exactly Park Sandara is training for at YG Entertainment, but it seems like a little bit of everything! Everyone is excited and has high hopes for what she will bring once her training days are over.

~*Dara’s POV*~

I let out all my nerves with one sigh as I push my laptop away from me and sink into my bed with my eyes staring at the ceiling. My name in big bold headline letters were burned into my vision as I remember the past 10 or so articles about me on the internet. All of them said the same thing: new YG trainee, talented, versatile, expectations, Taeyang, and, of course, the erasing of any suspicions of Jiyong and I. I rolled onto my side as I thought back to all of his fans’ comments on YouTube, his fansites, and all of those articles. They hated me, but now after a few days of stories they are ‘tolerating’ me and fully taking in the idea that we are only label mates and nothing more.

My brows furrow and my heart still slightly pinches at the thought of Jiyong. It’s been three days since my phone call with him and I haven’t seen or spoken to him since. But then again, it’s probably because I’ve only been allowed to come to the building for practice and then be immediately escorted out and back home. I haven’t even been able to see or talk to Youngbae since the announcement… I guess he is just as busy with all this like Jiyong…

I glance at my computer screen with the opened articles. Everyone is lying and being troubled for our sake…

‘Don’t give up on us.’ ‘I won’t give up’

His voice echoes in my head causing the pain to increase slightly more. No. I sit up and shake his voice out. Get a hold of yourself. That was it. This is your new life now. For everyone’s sake, stick with it. Do you want to cause more trouble for everyone?! I take in a deep breath and try to relax while closing my eyes. Upon opening them, I no longer feel anything in my chest except the same nervousness and pressure I’ve had since I’ve become the talk of the city.

You are now Park Sandara, the highly anticipated YG trainee.... You can’t mess this up. All eyes are on you now.

~*Jiyong’s POV*~

I rub my eyes with the palm of my hand as I take a rest from the bright computer screen set up in the recording studio, but no matter how much I rub them, I can still see the pictures and screenshots of Dara all over the Internet along with her name.

“Seems like it’s working.” Teddy says while looking over my shoulder. “The nasty comments are subsiding now.”

I open my eyes and stare lazily back at the screen, not really bothering to read the words I’ve already read countless times.

“Yeah…” I say while sighing.

“What,” Teddy leans against the table at my side, “Aren’t you happy? No one’s bashing her anymore and if anything, I think she’s already got a couple of fans.”

Of course I was happy. I was happy to see those hateful words about the girl I love slowly disappear and begin to be replaced by words of encouragement. This was good for her and I knew it would make her happy.

But…

“It’s actually working.” I say out loud.

“What are you getting at?” Teddy cuts straight to the point, knowing the way I think way to well.

“All of this is working and protecting her.” I begin feeling almost empty and useless, “She’s going to see that and realize things are better without me around.”

The words left a bitter taste in my mouth as I sigh again and run my fingers through my hair.

“Hyung, she’s giving up on us.”

There was a moment of silence as the reality spills out and is free to roam the open air. I hated the thought of it. I didn’t want to let it out because then it would become too real. Our phone call that night, her voice, how she tried to hold her tears in… She didn’t have to say much for me to know that she thought this was for the best. Once again, she was putting everyone else before herself.

“Well,” Teddy breaks the silence, “Are you giving up?”

I let the words float around in my head before turning to him.

“Hyung,” I begin as I stare at him seriously. But soon a smirk appears on my face, “Do you even know me after all this time?

He smirks back and punches me in the arm. “I thought I lost you for a second there.”

I laugh before handing him a piece of paper, “By the way, I finished it last night.”

“Finally, I thought you’d never get to it.” He says while making his way to the console. “Are we sticking with the same melody as the first verse?”

“Yeah,” I smile as the thought of it brings back happy memories. I move to Teddy’s side as he prepares the song. Soon, the sweet and high-energy melody comes alive in the studio as I read over the lyrics I’ve written for the rest of the song. As I mouth the words, images pop up in my head and warming my entire body. I knew there was no one else that could make me feel this way at just the thought of them.

That’s why I was never going to give up on her.

~*Dara’s POV*~

“Sandara! How are you feeling today?!”

“Have you eaten?”

“Stay healthy!”

“Good luck at practice!”

I bow my head and awkwardly wave to the screaming crowd across the street while quickly rushing into the building. I jump to the sounds of their screams in response to my actions and causing me to rush into the building.

Once I felt safe inside, I pull the mask off of my face and take in a deep breath. This is so weird. Having complete strangers who know my name… I keep walking down the hall and towards the dance studio in a daze. Today the crowd was even bigger and even more affectionate than yesterday’s. As I repeated their supporting words in my head, I couldn’t help but feel just a little bit lighter on my feet. It was weird, I had to admit and I still wasn’t used to so much… attention. But I also had to admit that it made me happy… and it gave me such a different feeling of strength. Knowing that people believed in me and cared for me gave me unimaginable amounts of pressure but at the same time made me feel like I could accomplish anything. Is this what it is like to be an idol…?

Just before my mind could remind me of Jiyong, my head suddenly crashes into the real life version of him instead.

“Ah!” I gasp as I stumble back a little and hold my head.

“Are you okay?” I hear the concern in his voice and his warm touch on the top of my head. It didn’t hurt, but I’m sure I was going to get a headache with just him being around.

“I’m fine.” I slightly brush his hand off as a signal of ‘no touching’, “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

I keep my eyes down at an angle so I couldn’t see his face.

“Well, I must get going to practice.” I bow politely and quickly make my way pass him. Just as I think I’m about to escape smoothly, his voice echoes throughout the hall melting my heart and stopping me dead in my tracks.

“You’re wearing my hat and mask.” He says sweetly. Without even looking at him I could tell there was a small smile on his face. I kept my back to him as I tried to calm my heart. I suddenly became so aware of my short breathing.

“Keep wearing it. You look really cute.” I feel my heart jump out of my chest with his words bouncing around in my head. My thoughts are all over the place trying to figure out what’s an appropriate response but become useless when I hear his footsteps moving away from me. I take this opportunity to peek over my shoulder at him and watch his moving figure disappear around the corner.

What… just happened?!

I tried to even my breathing by taking in deep breaths while I analyzed what just happened. Why is he being so bold about his feelings?! No matter how hard I tried to calm down, my heart keeps beating remember every word and every touch. Stop it Dara… Just be normal! I try to tell myself but it is clearly not working. I look down at the mask in my hand but quickly stuff it into my bag along with the beanie. You’ll get new ones after today. I take a moment to recompose myself and empty my mind of Jiyong. Remember, this can’t work anymore. I think back to all the trouble that this has caused the company and everyone for the past few days and remember the feeling of guilt and shame I had. This is for the best. All I had to do was avoid Jiyong.

“Good morning!” I bow while walking into the dance studio.

Everyone replies happily while warming up for practice. As I am changing shoes, Jae Wook enters the studio.

“Good morning everyone.” He chimes while looking at a sheet in front of him. “Is Dara here yet?”

“Yes! Present.” I call out a little too enthusiastically and hustle to the middle of the dance floor.

“You won’t be practicing here with us.” He says without looking up as he flips to the next page of his notes. “Teddy is looking for you. So go to the recording studio.”

“Eh?” I let out before thinking. Jae Wook looks up from the sheet and gives me a questioning look, “Is something wrong?”

Teddy = Recording studio = Jiyong. This equation was blinking in the inside of my head but I just gulped down my worries and nodded.

“Nothing is wrong. I’ll be going then…” I glance to the girls who are also giving me worried looks. At least they seem to get it… I shrug before grabbing my things and head out.

With each step I took towards the studio, my heartbeat quickened. It’s okay. He might not even be there. And even if he is, Teddy will be there and he wouldn’t try anything if someone else was around… Right? I gulp and began taking deep breaths again. It’ll be fine. Just act normal, like nothing happened. After all he is your sunbae, nothing else, nothing more.

When I finally see the door to the studio, I stop to gather all my nerves that seemed to have been scattered all over the place. I grip the handle of my bag tightly before finally reaching the door and pushing it open.

“Excuse me…” I say politely while peeking my head into the studio. My eyes scan the room quickly but all they find is Teddy sitting in front of the console.

“Ah, Dara. Come in.” He looks back at me and motions me to come closer. I slip into the room feeling much more relaxed and make my way to the front of the room.

“So YG wants me to start training you on singing.” He gets straight to the point while clicking away on the computer screen in front of him. “Don’t worry, we’ll start slow. I just wanted to hear your voice right now and see what can be done with it. Okay?”

“A-Ah, yes.” I reply pressured by his quickness. It wasn’t until minutes later that I started to freak out and doubt my capabilities.

He hands me a sheet with words on them and at the top I see the title was ‘Where U At’.

“Youngbae told me you guys sung a bit of this song together.” He says still staring at the screen but now pressing buttons on his side. “Why don’t we start with this, since you are somewhat familiar with it?”

All I can do is nod as my eyes scan each word and try to remember how I did it last time with Youngbae. I hear the music begin to play, try to relax and let the rhythm fill my body just like when I dance. Well here goes nothing…

I glance up at Teddy who is bobbing his head and uses his fingers to cue me in. I take in a deep breath and begin singing to the best of my ability. As I read the lyrics and let my mouth turn them into words, my mind is buzzing with all sorts of thoughts and worries. I eye Teddy who is still just listening quietly to me with an unreadable expression on his face.

As I kept worrying, I soon find myself missing a few beats and slowly becoming out of breath, which Teddy must have noticed since he stopped the track. I place the paper on the table and look down at my lap feeling slightly embarrassed.

“That was fine, Dara.” He says while his chin thoughtfully, “You have a very interesting voice. It’s very soft and… refreshing.”

I look at him with disbelief and nod, “Thank you…”

“Of course,” He says abruptly, “There is a lot that you’ll need to work on like how to keep in rhythm and how to project your voice. That will all come with training and practice but I definitely think we have something here to work with.”

He continues to point out specifics of my voice and how I can pronounce certain words differently when singing. I listen intently as he demonstrates how to correctly take breaths in between lines and verses. The whole time I felt captivated by his words and the way he spoke about music. Everything he was teaching me and helping me with was so different from what I expected from singing. And after each time he made me sing, I had a different perspective of it and a different feeling, and after each time I fell in love with it more and more. Before I knew it, I wanted all of this more than anything.

“Good. Good.” He stops the music one last time, “That’s much better.” He smiles and gives me a thumbs up. I can’t help but smile back at him and bow my head.

“I think that’s all for today. You should go ahead and return to the dance studio, I’m sure they are still practicing. Plus, I have to keep working on some of Jiyong’s stuff.” My ears perk up at his name but I try to act unaffected.

“Oh, I see.” Is all I say as I gather my things.

“Yeah,” he turns back to the computer screen and clicks open some files, “Here have a listen.”

[[Author's note: Open the link in a new window for music!! Music On. Keep in mind, it is not BIGBANG singing, only G-Dragon!]]

Before I can protest and make up some excuse it is already too late. A familiar tune fills the room keeping me in place and taking my mind back to that night when Jiyong sang to me.

♪ That first day you and I

Couldn’t keep our eyes off each other

As if time had stopped

As if we were new to love ♫

There was no mistake that this was the same song from that night. The sound and beats were a little different but it was generally the same tune… and it was definitely Jiyong’s voice that was coming out of the speakers.

“What do you think? Good right?” Teddy says over the music with a smile on his face. I look at him and just nod as I concentrate on the flips my stomach was doing. “It took him a while to finish up this song, but I guess he finally came to it last night.”

Finish up this song? So… he wrote the lyrics…? It shouldn’t come to a surprise that he’d write the lyrics since he does for most of his songs… but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that they weren’t just lyrics without real meaning. My mind plays back that night as I watched him sing this song to me. His eyes, his smile, and the way he moved around me. It all felt so real… the lyrics became real in front of my eyes.

♪ You’re always in my heart

I want to give you my everything

When you are tired or exhausted

I’ll hold you tight ♫

The memory comes to an end in my head but the song begins to play the part I’ve never heard before. For some reason, I felt so anxious and made sure I wouldn’t miss a single word.

♪ Verse two, let’s go

We will have days when we fight

That’s how everyone is

We might even hurt each other ♫

My eyes widen as I realize the voice isn’t coming from the speakers anymore. It sounds way too real. I look to my side and see that Teddy has disappeared and am about to turn around until I feel familiar arms wrap around me from behind.

♪ When that happy smile is

Stained by your tears

So many problems

Will try to separate us ♫

I can hear Jiyong’s voice in my ear loud and clear and the touch of his breath tingling my skin.

♪ Don’t be scared even when I say

I’m having a hard time

If I’m by your side

I can get through any hardship

That’s why you gotta know always girl ♫

Despite my protests in my head, I can’t move my body. It didn’t want to. He slowly turns me around to face him so I can get a clear view of his face while he continued to sing for me. He had a smile on his face and his eyes were full of passion and almost desperation. That’s when I confirmed that the lyrics were real…That they were meant for me.

♪ Meetings, separation, heartbreak, that’s how it goes

It’s time for me to leave you

No one knows

But I’m different

It’s like this

You just need to follow me

Don’t need any words

Our love is enough

The blue ocean, the burning sun

And you in my arms, that’s sweet ♫

We continue to stare at each other until the song ended leaving both of us breathless and in silence. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I could feel the burning sensation of his arms still around me.

“I wrote that for you.” He says softly while catching his breath. I try to look away from him but his fingers lock onto my chin keeping my head still.

“Jiyong…” I somehow am able to produce words to protest even though everything inside of me was at war. “Please…”

“Dara, I told you I’m not giving up.” He holds onto my tighter.

I felt weak whenever he said those words. What am I supposed to do? My mind flashes everything that has happened as some sort of reminder. All the articles, the fans, and the publicity… And worst of all… Sohee hasn’t even done her damage yet.

I bring my hands up to his chest and push him off of me, which he reluctantly does.

“Stop this, Jiyong.” I try to say as firmly as possible. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“I’m not letting that happen. We can figure something out, can’t we? Why does it have to be a certain way? I’m not giving up on us.”

“Well I am!” The words burst out of my mouth without even knowing if I meant it. A flash of surprise and pain appears on Jiyong’s face making me regret what I’ve said. But it’s too late now.

“I’m… giving up on us Jiyong.” I repeat again despite the sickness I’m feeling in my stomach, “Ever since the beginning, whenever it came down to you and me there was nothing but pain and trouble. For everyone.”

I clench my fists as if to gather more strength from within, “You saw what happened when people thought there was something between us. Your name splattered all over the internet…girls going crazy because of it. And that was only because of a few pictures. What do you think will happen when Sohee makes her move?”

He stayed silent while looking at me, sadness and pain were in his eyes but his silence was confirmation that he knew I was right. I quickly gather my things and sling my bag onto my shoulder so I could escape and not have to deal with this anymore.

“Please… don’t do things like this anymore.” I plead but don’t dare to look at him. “It’s painful and troublesome…” It hurt saying these things to him but I could only imagine the pain he was feeling being on the receiving end. But this is the only way. “It’s better off this way.” I take a moment for that to sink in for both of us before walking out of the room and eventually running back to the dance studio.

My thoughts were consuming me so much that I almost didn’t notice YG sajangnim and Youngbae walking towards the studio as well.

“Oh Dara, you’re finished training with Teddy already?” YG sajangnim asks surprised. I glance at Youngbae who is obviously trying really hard to look anywhere but me.

“Yes…” I reply not bothering to hide the horrible mood that I was in.

“Good timing, we were just coming to the studio to discuss a few things. Let’s go in and talk more.” YG sajangnim says as he motions me to go in first. I thank him and bow before opening the door and slipping into the room with them following behind me.

We stand silently on the side as the rest finish up the last few counts of the choreography they must have learned while I was gone. Finally, Jae Wook stops the music and signals everyone to stop and direct their attention to YG sajangnim who is now standing at the front of the room.

“First, I want to say that I am proud of all of you and what you’ve all done for this company with this recent ordeal. Because of all of you, we have successful avoided a possible scandal for the company and it seems that everything is returning back to normal.” Everyone begins to clap and cheer happily while giving each other high-fives and I exchange grateful smiles with most of them.

“However, I’m sure most of you have realized that Sohee has yet to show her face.” All the happy noise instantly disappears as the news hits some while others just nod in awareness.

“Well, since we beat her to the chase and announced Dara noona as a trainee… shouldn’t we be alright now?” Daesung asks.

“You could be right.” YG sajangnim says while crossing his arms in front of his chest, “But at the same time, we can’t be sure about that.” Suddenly, his focus turns to me, “Dara, what do you think?”

Right at that moment, the door of the studio opens and Jiyong slips in with a solemn expression on his face but stands quietly to the side. I quickly divert my eyes from him and back to YG sajangnim.

“If the Sohee that I know and grew up with is still in her, one thing is for certain, she never gives up and will always finds a way to get what she wants.” I say with complete certainty, “So no, I don’t think we are safe just yet.”

YG sajangnim nods at my statement, “I was thinking the same thing. A girl like her, I don’t think she would back down so easily.”

“Well all she has left is to try and create rumors about Dara and Jiyong dating right?” TOP asks, “So all we have to do is take the attention off of those two.”

“But that’s almost impossible now that the music video is out.” Seungri chimes in. “I’ve been looking at all the comments for the music video and there are some people who are saying that they have great chemistry together and look like a real couple.” My jaw tenses up at his words but thankfully CL nudges him in the side preventing him from saying any more unnecessary things what could have been.

“Then how about giving them something else to talk about?” Youngbae suddenly speaks up bringing all the attention to him. Our eyes meet as he answers his own question, “Like Taeyang and Dara.”

“What?!” Everyone in the room, except YG sajangnim, exclaims with their jaws dropped.

“Well, everyone already knows that Dara is a trainee here, she’s already appeared in a music video once, why can’t she appear in another one but with me?” We just stare at each other as he lets this idea sink into everyone’s heads. He was right…

“That is true.” YG sajangnim nods while processing the plan in his head, “Now that everyone knows Dara is training, her appearing in a music video wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, but it may divert people’s attention from Dara and G-Dragon if the chemistry between you two is good enough.”

I look around and see everyone slowly coming to the same conclusion that this was the only option we had. Finally, my eyes fall on Jiyong who is looking straight at me with an anxious look on his face.

“So, Dara, it’s your choice on how you want to go about this.” YG sajangnim says giving me the final decision. As I stare at the distress in Jiyong’s eyes and wonder the reason behind it, my thoughts are consumed by one phrase:

This is for the best.

“Let’s do it.”

*BlueNote*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hello everyone!
Sorry again for the slow update :(
I was looking back at my old chapters and realized how short they were
So I'm trying to make each chapter longer and more satisfying
But of course that also means a slower update
So I'm sorry for the wait!
I just hope these longer chapters are worth it!

Anyways, thank you for the comments and subscribers!
I hope to keep reading your guys' thoughts on the story!

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