It has been a hectic week at the YG building. Artists have been coming in and out of it like it’s a convenience store; open 24/7. Everyone has been particularly busy because the most awaited comeback of the decade is already happening in a matter of months. There are songs that needed recording. Variety shows needed to be called. CF gigs needed to be negotiated. Concert venues needed to be booked. There are just too much to do in so little time. But no one in all of YG Entertainment is more tired and overworked than Jiyong.

February 13, 2015 - 1:09 am

“Again.” Jiyong said as soon as Seungri finished his part of the song.

“Come on, hyung. I think the last one was good enough. We’ve done this fifty times already.” Seungri argued. He had a point. Bigbang had been recording for hours at this point. Top is already snoozing his way into dreamland with Daesung right beside him on the black couch.
 

“We can’t work with “good enough” we need excellent.” Jiyong replied.

Seungri sighed and looked at Youngbae, who was sitting beside Jiyong, for some back-up. They all know Jiyong was a perfectionist, but this was way out of line. Youngbae had been noticing the change in his friend since they’ve arrived in the studio; which was about 10 hours ago.

“I think we should take a break. It’s been hours since we last had one.” Youngbae interrupted as Seungri was about to do another take.

“Yes. I think you’re right, hyung!” The maknae said as he immediately exited the booth.

“Yah! Where do you think you’re going?!” Jiyong said as he watched Seungri lied down next to his sleeping hyungs on the couch.

“Ji, can I talk to you for a minute?” Youngbae asked his friend as he was about to approach Seungri and drag his back inside the booth.

“Can’t it wait? We have to finish recording this tonight.”

“No, it can’t. Come on, let’s go outside.” Youngbae motioned for him to follow; already holding the door.

They settled near the L-shaped couch right outside the studio. As soon as Jiyong took his seat on the couch, Youngbae asked “What’s going on, Ji?”

Jiyong sighed. No one knew him like Youngbae did. There was no point in hiding it from him so he decided to be honest. Something was surely bothering him for the past few months but it has all gone to overdrive since he’s all stressed and he lacked sleep.

“It’s her again, bae. I can’t seem to take her off my mind.” Jiyong explained.

“Her? Which one?” The response was met with a resounding punch from Jiyong to Youngbae’s arm.

“Just kidding. I know who you’re talking about. Go on.” Youngbae said as he rubbed his affected arm.

“You know what I’ve been through, what we’ve been through, it just feels like there’s so much unfinished business between us.” Jiyong put his hands on his face trying to make sense of it all.

“Then do something about it.” Youngbae rolled his eyes to his clueless friend.

“I would love to, but as you know, she stopped talking to me; borderline ignoring me even.”

They haven’t talked in weeks. The blow of the Kiko-GD controversy was all to blame. In reality, nothing happened between them. The paparazzi just caught a tabloid-perfect moment. Kiko’s a close friend but that’s all she is – just a friend. And even if he and Kiko had a thing, technically it wouldn’t count as cheating because they already broke it off by then. After a series of serious talks between him and Dara, they decided to break up. They needed to focus on other things and they felt like they’d only hinder each other by staying together. It was a clean cut, or so they thought. Again, even if he and Kiko had a thing, it wouldn’t count as cheating but, why did he feel so guilty?

The first thing he did when the photos came out was to call Dara and say that it wasn’t true. Dara said it was okay but Jiyong knew better than that. He called his manager to deny the news to the press. He always takes responsibility for things like these; same goes for the Sohee incident that happened before. Jiyong wanted to better explain things to Dara but she was out of reach after he did some damage control. Next thing he knew, Dara was already out and about touring Asia.

“I don’t even know where she is right now.” Jiyong said.

“Liar. You know damn well that she’s in Singapore right now.” Youngbae teased. True enough, Jiyong knew that. He still follows her on Instagram. Even Dara’s fans know that she’s in the land of the Merlion.

“I just want to talk to her. That’s all.” Jiyong looked at Youngbae with a pleading look on his face. It’s been a while since Youngbae had seen his friend in this state. From the start, he knew that Jiyong loves Dara. He didn’t buy this break up crap anyway. But, it was fun seeing the two tiptoe around each other like they were “just friends”. It was cute during that period, but now, it’s just really frustrating.

“I’ve been silent for way too long while I’ve seen you, the both of you, suffer. You’ve got to get your head on straight and be honest about what you want. What do you want, Ji?” Youngbae stood from the couch to face his pathetic looking friend. He doesn’t even know why he was asking this because he already knows the answer. After a minute, Jiyong lifted his face from his hands. His expression has changed from a desperate one to a determined one.

“I want her.”
 

Youngbae laughed. He knew he’s friend wouldn’t be that dull to continue torturing himself. He pat his friends back and said

“Then go get her.” 

_____

A/N: I need to sleep now. I'll post the next one in the morning :)