The sudden intrusion of light woke him up. He groaned and pulled the covers up over his face but the covers weren't cooperating. His tugs were met by resistance. He opened one eye and found his older sister holding on to the opposite end of the sheet.
"Ugh. Noona, come back tomorrow and let me sleep. My head is killing me." He groaned and hastily flung a tattoed arm over his eyes.
"And whose fault is it that you're wasted? You made a mess of yourself last night. Your headache is the least of your worries. Get your drunken ass up and do damage control or you'll regret it." Older Sisters are merciless creatures. If he was expecting sympathy, he was disappointed. "I'm giving you five minutes. If you're not up by then, I'll post one embarassing picture of you on IG for every minute of delay. It's 12:05 on my watch."
She turned and entered the adjoining bathroom. He could hear her running a bath. His sister's words registered vaguely through the post drunk haze. His sister said something about damage control. He couldn't remember much from last night. Their concert was a success. That much he could remember. The rest of the night was hazy. He felt as if he'd been run over by a 10-wheeler truck. His head was killing him. He groped for the bottle of painkillers he kept on his bedside and swallowed one blue pill.
"Your bath is ready. Eew. You stink like yesterday's puke." She crinkled her nose daintily. "I'll start preparing hangover soup for you. Five minutes. If you're still in bed by then, you know what will happen. Don't say I didn't warn you.
What did I do last night? Jiyong kept asking himself. He groped blindly for his phone under the covers. He got a message from Bajowoo: "Your baby girl's already home. Don't worry she's safe. Had to drive her home myself. She was a crying mess. You better think of something really good to make up to her tomorrow. You messed her up pretty bad."
"Fxxking hell. Jiyong, what the fxxk did you do?" He cursed at himself when the events of last night came flooding back. If he could kick himself he would. He could now remember Dara's stricken look before she left the club.
He checked his Instagram. Slightly apprehensive. If some people have the embarassing habit of drunk dialing randomly, he on the other hand posts or like random pictures on the app.
Fans usually psychoanalyze everything. Sometimes his posts do make sense. Sometimes they don't make sense to him after he is sober but amazingly people can come up with thousands of theories ranging from the entirely plausible down to the ridiculously absurd. His fans can be pretty creative. To his relief he found that he just drunkenly posted a selfie of himself doing his finger heart hand sign.
He threw the covers off and went straight to the bathroom. His mind still reeling. His friend was right. He regretted everything he did the night before. He caught a glimpse of himself at the mirror. He was a mess.
His bright green hair was sticking out in oily clumps. He still had eyeliner left over from his concert makeup. It made him look like a hybrid between Joker and a panda. His shirt was stained with something in a putrid shade of greenish to dark yellow. His sister was damn right. He smelled like yesterday's puke because he was wearing yesterday's puke.
He took his clothes off and threw them in his laundry basket. He got himself inside the tub and cleansed himself mechanically, his mind mulling over as to what damage control options he had. His post drunk mind still unable to function clearly but he was filled wit resolve that he would do whatever means necessary to earn Dara's forgiveness. He could not foresee a happy future for him without her in the picture. He was willing to go along with her decision. He would wait until she is ready to go public no matter how long. He loved her too much to just let her walk away without a fight.
*** *** ***
Earlier...
She stared blankly at the kitchen wall, unconsciously twirling the ring on her index finger. A cup of lukewarm coffee sat forgotten on the kitchen counter in front of her. She couldn't shake off the sense of impending doom that settled on her after she heard Sajangnim's voice on the phone telling her, "I'll see you in my office at 10 am. Alone." He just hung up right after without waiting for a reply.
She was startled by the alarm on her phone. The screen kept on flashing 8:00 am. She had it set before she slept but she was awakened before the alarm by the call from YG's CEO. She reached out to dismiss the alarm, grabbed her lukewarm coffee and finished it in one swallow. She automatically, tidied up her kitchen after which she went straight to her room and started preparing for the inevitable meeting.
To say that she was nervous was an understatement. Their CEO was pretty much predictably unpredictable. Just when you think you had him all figured out, he'd throw something unexpected at you to unsettle you.