The One Who Got Away

Chapter 4

Recording wrapped up early that day. The boys were all on pitch. No one was offbeat either. On any typical day they would usually end late in the evening. Today everything seemed to just turn out right on the first try. It was only 4pm and they were done.

They still had dance practice planned for the evening but since they ended early, the gang planned on eating out before practice in their favorite restaurant a few blocks away instead of the usual takeout in between breaks. 

They were on their way out of the YG entertainment building when the receptionist called out to Soonho. She was talking to a courier with a package and was gesturing to their group. The man approached them. 

"Excuse me, sirs, but I have a package for Mr. Soonho Choi. Your receptionist said that he is with your group?"

"That's me," Jiyong's manager said. "But I'm not expecting any packages. Who is it from?"

"Actually, sir. We're returning your package. It's the one you sent a couple of weeks ago to Ms. Sandara Park. She no longer lives in that address. We are sorry but we tried to ask details from the apartment's management but they said they don't have information about her new residence."

"Oh." Soonho scratched his head and looked sideways at Jiyong, hoping that he didn't hear the conversation.

"If you would just sign here, sir." The courier pointed at his clipboard. Soonho grabbed the pen and scribbled his signature on the line.

He approached the group. "Sorry for the slight delay." He held the package to his side, keeping the name and address hidden from their view.

Jiyong was raising one eyebrow at him. Not a good sign. "Do you have something you want to tell me, Manager Choi?" Not a good sign. He uses Manager Choi only when he's not amused. Usually he just calls him Hyung.

Soonho shook his head but did not say anything. He was invoking his right against self-incrimination. Besides, he wasn't lying when he shook his head. He really did not want to tell Jiyong about the package.

They continued on to the parking lot. He surreptitiously hid the package underneath the car seat but a tattoed hand stopped him and took the package from his hands. Soonho stiffened and waited with bated breath for his charge's reaction.

From Jiyong's initial reaction, Soonho was expecting smoke to come out of THE G-Dragon's nose and ears but his reaction was unexpectedly calm. Too calm actually. 

He placed the package upright on his lap and just stared at the name. His fingers tracing the letters of his former flame. "Sandara Park. I haven't heard that name for a long time." He half-whispered.

It was a good thing that the ride to the restaurant was short because the silence that followed was awkward to say the least.

The lucky streak they had during the day didn't last until the night. To say Jiyong was distracted was an understatement. During the whole dinner he didn't participate in the conversation. He just ate a few bites and then just played with the rest of his food.

During the dance practice it took him way too many attempts before he got the choreography right. The others shared worried glances wondering what made their usually goal-oriented, obsessive-compulsive, perfectionist leader act so out of character.

Earlier, they also heard the courier mention Sandara Park. They didn't think it would mean that much to Jiyong. They knew Jiyong and Dara had a short-lived romance before but they thought it wasn't that special of a relationship since Jiyong did not appear heartbroken when they broke up. In fact they thought it was just a mild fling because right after they broke up he immediately hooked up with Kiko. Did they miss something before that could explain why Jiyong became like this after just hearing her name?

Soonho drove a very silent Jiyong home that night. He eyed his charge from the rearview mirror. The guy was staring blankly out the window. His actions seemed to confirm Soonho's suspicions further. He suspected that despite the string of relationships that Jiyong have had he still haven't moved on entirely from Dara.

When Kiko and Jiyong broke up, Jiyong acted so heartbroken everyone assumed that he loved Kiko very much. But as Jiyong's manager he was with him more often than most. It was not Kiko's name that Jiyong was murmuring when he was in a drunken stupor, it was Dara's.

Besides his songs after the breakup pretty much described Dara and not Kiko. He surmised that what caused Jiyong's devastation was the realization that he chose to be with the wrong person and broke up with the one girl he truly loved, Dara. 

One rainy night, a month after breaking up with Kiko, Jiyong finally got the nerve to go to Dara's house. Jiyong wanted to come alone but he insisted that as a good manager he should go with him. Who knows if Jiyong might need a lookout or something in case there would be paparazzi around?They waited in front of her house until morning. She never showed up. They went home disappointed.

Soonho was later able to find out that she had moved out months before. He was able to get Dara's new address from her neighbour after much begging and bribing with tickets to front row seats for five Big Bang concerts. He gave the address to Jiyong. Jiyong, however, told him to forget about it and didn't even glance at the address.

Soonho started sending the packages to Sandara in the hopes that she'd come back. Being a hopeless romantic himself, he just kept on sending them despite not getting any response. Now after six years, a package was returned to its sender unopened.

It was partly his fault that Jiyong was feeling down. If only Jiyong didn't see the package or hear Dara's name, he would probably still be acting fine. Maybe it's a sign for him to stop. Maybe it's time that he stopped pushing for the impossible. Maybe, just like with the last package he tried to send, its time to let the past remain unopened.