Chapter 16

“Dara! Dara!”

“Somebody call an ambulance!”

“Oh god! I’m sorry! She came out of nowhere!”

Dara felt like it had taken forever until she felt the pain in her head gradually subsiding but her breathing became shallow gasps as memories after memories cascaded through her mind like flowing water, a puzzle getting back into place. Her life series running in chronological order in a space of a minute. She squinched her eyes shut, willing for it to stop.

Dara lifted her eyes, her focus blurred. It took a minute for her to realize there are a lot of people huddled around her and Bom was kneeling beside her, a look of panic on her face.

“Dara! Are you okay? Oh my god!” Bom wailed.

Her head hurts. She could hear a siren in the distance. What is happening?

“You saw it right? She ran in the middle of a green light!” A male voice said. “It wasn’t my fault!”

Dara’s consciousness slipped in and out. It was about when she was being carried in a stretcher and Bom beside her with her tear-stricken face that she vaguely remembered she ran in the middle of the highway.

“Dara! Your mom is going to kill me!” Bom was wailing. “It wasn’t my fault but she’s going to blame it on me anyway so stay alive!”

“My song…”Dara weakly mumbled.

Bom stopped wailing as she was walking next to the stretcher being brought to the back of the ambulance. “What?”

“My song,” Dara repeated, more loudly now and more clearly. “My finals!” She tried to get up but a female person in white garments told her to lie down. “No! My song! My song! My finals!” She stretched out her hand, now clearly understanding what had happened. She stretched out her hand in the distance where she can see a pile of papers scattered on the pavement as her stetcher was lifted on the ambulance. “My song!” She cried in grief as the door of the ambulance closed, her finals, her future, now gone. She tried to wipe the sweat she could feel forming on her forehead when it came off red and sticky on her hand. A surge of panic well up inside her as she stared at the blood on her hand. “Oh my god!” She exclaimed suddenly feeling woozy and weak before she felt unconsciousness swallow her up again.

Dara woke up in the hospital with Bom and her parents at her side. Bom looked like she just ran a marathon. Her hair is all over her head and her uniform is unkempt while her parents looked over her worriedly. The doctor claimed it was only a minor concussion and she just needed to rest. There was a bandage around her head and the doctor advised to clean the wound every day to prevent any infection. No other injuries but the head wound. Dara had thought it scraped half of her forehead off but it turned out to be just a little one. She was ecstatic when Bom handed her some papers, some are crumpled and dirty but she found her song in it. Bom was scowling and told her she spent almost the entire day picking eveything up and looking for that stupid song.

Dara didn’t realize her eyes have already opened and staring off into space as her life replayed inside her mind. She remembered staying for a night in the hospital and gone home the day after. She remembered it as the day when she first met Donghae. She was in her father’s music room, sitting by the piano trying to put her song into order when her mom announced visitors for her father. She barely noticed as she was busy trying to put her songs into order. She was trying to come up with a word to go with smile when Donghae passed by and she forced him listen to the song she had made. He had told her it was horrible and had then insisted she accept his help. She was insulted as she had thought she was the best. She threw him out of the music room.

But that didn’t stop him. He came back the day after. And the day after that trying to irritate her to death. At the time when she thought he and his father had already gone back to Seoul, he came knocking on their house still on his determination to infuriate her. She had no choice but to agree on his help re-arranging her composition as he brushed past her, inviting himself in, and striding straight to her father’s music room. It irritated Dara to learn the guy had some talent. And he had such a nice singing voice that left Dara no choice but to criticize him all the more.

She got the highest score in her music class and her teacher very pleased with it telling it her it was by far the best she had made. She had tried to get a way to contact Donghae in Seoul to thank him but just for Good-Manners-And-Right-Conduct sakes. Donghae had insisted she send him the music so he could listen to what he made. What he made?? She really wanted to fly to Seoul just to have the satisfaction of kicking him. She recorded the music on her tape anyways and send it to Donghae as he had instructed and that’s when Donghae’s father cane across the song, liked it, and bought it. Donghae flew over to Jeju to tell her the news. She tried to split the profit between them but Donghae cheekily told her to keep it because she needed it most, what with her peasant disposition in life and all.

It had been weird but Dara had considered Donghae as her friend after that. They had stayed in contact even though most of their conversations wasn’t even friendly. Donghae always had something to do in Jeju and she would always find him knocking on their house, charming her mom and dad. She wondered what else he could be doing in Jeju and so she asked him.

“I’m in training to take over my father’s company,” Donghae simply answered them smirked. “And besides, thhere’s nothing wrong with visiting a friend right? Even an unfriendly one.”

“Who the hell is your friend,” Dara had mumbled loud enough for Donghae to hear.

She got the scholarship and accepted at Hits as an intern when she had graduated. She had suspected Donghae had pushed his father into accepting her but Donghae had snottily told her his father sees a lot of potential from her and told her, “If it was up to me, I would put you on the waiting list so if one of the qualified intern got into an accident, then you can cover for that space.”

She could remember Donghae always going into their office and bothering her. Even during lunch, he would always sit to wherever she was just to irritate her. She remembered how she only asked Donghae once if Bom can work as an intern at Hits too and after two days, Bom is at her side, also as an intern at Hits. They became a trio as Donghae would always squeeze himself in. It was only after Donghae’s father had suffered a heart attack that Donghae seriously took on his training to take over the company. It reduced a considerable amount of time Donghae has irritating her. She also remembered going to Donghae’s new office whenever she thinks her song is not good enough and he would just listen. Then reassuring her afterwards that she had developed her skill of song writing as it is not much of a crap like the one she made before. Dara always end up walking out of his office with loud gffaws trailing behind her. She didn’t know then, but talking to Donghae is making her feel better. And his infuriating attitude is relieving her stress. She thought herself crazy then.

Her compositions were used by one of the artists and it was a hit. She had celebrated with Bom in her rented apartment. And Donghae, inviting himself again.

She continued her Internship while going to college. Her songs are now being praised. Some of them being recorded by different artists as their single. She became known as a song writer and composer. She remembered some of other music companies recruiting her to work full time but she stayed at Hits. Dara had felt everything as perfect in her life. Until the news of her parent’s divorce.

She remembered it as the day everything had crashed down on her. Everything she thought was real is a hoax. Her family is one big lie. She remembered trying to hold her tears, her cries. Her pleas. Hoping this is all just a bad dream. She remembered feeling every emotion. Anger, fury, disappointment. And then nothing. She simply buried herself, working at Hits, to forget. She applied for a full time job at the company, quitting college. She remembered her parents going to her, their faces in agony. And she had just called security on them. Determined to forget about them and thinking herself off as an orphan from then on.

She had closed herself off without realizing it. She simply forgotten to live outside of her desk at Hits, curled up in her empty bubble. She forgot she had friends. She forgot she have Bom. She forgot she have Donghae. She had forgotten everything aside from the bottomless pit of hate she is feeling. She remembered how she just wanted to barricade herself in an impenetrable wall so nobody could hurt her. Especially her parents. She had never even realized then how Bom tried to reach out to her. How she goes to Hits even after quitting the internship checking on her. Or how Donghae goes to their department and make some lame jokes just to get her to laugh. She become so blinded with hate that she forgot the people around her.

She remembered the first time she met Jiyong at the rooftop of the building when she wanted to scream her frustration out. Dara didn’t realize it but she ended up telling him about her parents. There was something about telling your troubles to a stranger and pouring out all your burdens to someone who doesn’t even know you.

“My parents are divorced too. My father hated me when I told him I wanted to pursue a singing career.” Jiyong had stated while twirling the pen absentmindedly on his hand. “My father was a doctor and wanted me to follow on his footsteps. I found about about the divorce when I met my father’s mistress and after that I felt my future no longer mattered. I don’t even want to be a doctor anyway and I only agreed just to please him. But I realized…  I got to make my own dreams, you know? So i quit high school when I passed the audition at Hits and told my pops.” Jiyong looked at her and smiled at her frowning face. “I never spoke to him for years now. I talked to my mom now and then but… I think it best for me to just live by myself.”

Dara studied Jiyong’s face as he smiled at her. He continued, “So you’re not the only child whose dreams of a happy family shattered. You don’t need to stress yourself over it.” Jiyong held up her hand at her. “I’m Jiyong. One of the trainess here.”

And before she knew it, they were always meeting at the rooftop. Dara always looking forward to it everyday. They talked, shared their troubles, what their want in their life. Dara thought she found someone who understood her and what she’s going though. She felt all the hate in her gradually fading. She had found her smile again. She had found a new reason to hope. A new reason to dream.

They were already dating when Jiyong had fully debuted. His first single was her composition and the first song which made him known in the music industry. Dara could remember how happy she was with Jiyong that she didn’t even notice that Donghae drifted away from her. Only giving her a pained half-smile whenever she sees him, which she thought was stress as he is now taking over the CEO position.

She remembered how she had disregard that. How she didn’t even ask if he’s okay. Or how she didn’t even thanked him for trying to cheer her up at times when she was down in a puddle at her own feet. How she had built up her company with his help and she didn’t even thanked him for anything he had done for her. Donghae had given her so much without asking for anything in return. She was so absorbed in herself, how she wanted to make it big, how she wanted to become so successful, to be the number 1 music company in the country, that she didn’t realize she had taken Donghae for granted so many times she couldn’t count. She had taken everyone for granted. Even Bom. She demanded everyone to work their best, seeking perfection from every staff which drove them to fear her. Nothing ever seems to satisfy her. The drive in her to be successful was so overwhelming she had felt it choking her.

No one was able to douse that fire insider her. Not even Jiyong. Whom