Breaking Rules

RULE # 62: DO IT ON YOUR OWN

Intertwined

As worried as she was of the situation, Dara knew she had to keep sane and stop thinking about the worst. "Unnie, please hold on" she prayed, with closed eyes. Her sunbae had to survive this. "I have not even thanked you yet... please... please be ok."

She felt hands clasped hers and she opened her eyes.

"We're near the hospital now" Ji, who was driving, told her "Unnie wouldn't leave us like this... she has to see how happy she's made the both of us. I'm sure she won't allow herself to leave without knowing."

Dara nodded and tried to control the stream of tears threatening to overwhelm her. She had just found Ji Yong again. She didn't want to and couldn't lose Mai now. She had to repay her. She had to plan out how to make her as happy as she is.

***

One week ago...

"Dara... what's stopping you from doing what you want to do?" Mai had asked her while they were in the middle of training for their dance routine to Fire.

"Uhmmmm... what do you mean unnie?" she asked, confused.

"You sparkle on stage, I know that, I've always watched you and I know you really give it your all but there's this hesitation I see sometimes" Mai explained "The truth is I see it in all of you. You're so calculated with your performances... sometimes even seeming so robotic to me... it's like you're not allowing yourselves to have fun onstage. It's like you're thinking of this way too much as a job... you're in the middle of your performance and just when you're about to have fun, something snaps and you suddenly remind yourselves that you're suppose to be serious with what you're doing."

Mai motioned for the trainer to play Fire again.

"Close your eyes for a moment and think that this is the last performance of your life and you have to play with the audience. You have to make them enjoy what they will see of you guys for the last time because this will be the performance that they will remember all their lives..."

"A fun and fierce performance" Dara told herself "I want them to see me as someone fun yet still so fierce."

"Listen to your heart beat... listen to the music... this is your stage and your show... what do you want your audience to remember about you?" Mai continued as the opening beat of Fire blared around the training room like a gun shot.

"I want them to remember my smile" Dara answered inside her head "I want them to remember how I smiled for this one last performance."

"What do you want them see? Unleash that now.... Let it loose..."

"A butterfly" Dara whispered, concentrating and feeling the emotions Mai was imbibing in them "Yes... a butterfly finally breaking away from its cocoon... spreading its wings and flying away."

"Now, Open your eyes" Mai commanded just as the first verse was about to come in "Blow me away!"

"Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh... 2NE1... Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh... You better ring the alarm

Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh... We're 2NE1... Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh... Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Like lionesses on the loose, she, Bom, Minji, and CL jumped, stomped, slid, glided, growled and danced like there was no tomorrow but only here and now. She didn't care whether she was breaking off the line or missing a step... she didn't care whether her voice would crack or whether the tone she used could be too high-pitched... she just didn't care... "People are going to remember how much fun I had and how much I smiled during this performance... they will forever see that in their minds... forever."