Chapter Two
"Kampaiii!"
Jo Kwon raised his glass and clashed it together with the other two that were raised in the air.
He drank the soju and let out a happy sigh and then picked up his chopsticks to eat a grilled pork.
"This is nice, isn't it nice? Huh? Yoona? Taecyeon?"
Yoona gave him a grin and took a tiny sip of her drink as Taecyeon halfheartedly replied back.
"Oh, uh-huh.. yeah."
The 2AM leader sighed heavily as he stared at his two friends.
"It's kind of sad, Family Outing 2 is over so quickly cause of the ratings..."
Yoona nodded.
"Mhm, people kept comparing it to the old Family Outing and said it was heavily scripted."
Taecyeon stayed quiet, eating his own proportion of his meal while he listened.
Jo Kwon snapped his fingers. "Yeah, it's cause of the Love line, it was too much!"
Taecyeon almost choked on his rice.
Yoona sighed in exasperation. "I know, I wish they'd stop it already."
As she raised her glass to her lips, Taecyeon quickly grabbed her wrist stopping her.
"Yah, don't drink too much."
Yoona stared at him blankly.
"I won't..."
He averted his gaze down to the table and quickly let go of her wrist and continued eating.
Jo Kwon raised an eyebrow and eyed the two quietly.
The table was suddenly filled with an awkward silence, as they ate and sounds of spoons and glass were heard around them.
The ballad leader then broke the silence in with a frustrated cry.
"C'mon guys! Talk! Just cause of the whole love line and scandal around, doesn't mean you have to be all awkward with each other!"
Yoona opened her mouth in surprise.
"Oppa!"
Taecyeon took this chance to speak.
"Yah, Kwon-ah!"
Though Jo Kwon wouldn't hear any of it and continued his rant.
"Aish! I brought you guys here so we can hang out and celebrate while we can, but you two just drag around your awkward silence and now it feels like a funeral."
The more Jo Kwon vented out, the faster he talked.
Yoona bit her lip.
Just as Jo Kwon was about to rant out more, Yoona's cell phone ring tone interrupted him.
"Ah, excuse me." Yoona got up from her seat to take her call as Taecyeon tried calming down the restless 2AM leader.
Yoona pressed the phone close to her ear as she answered.
"Hello?"
"Yoona-yah? Where are you?"
"Oh, Lee Soo Man sajangnim?"
She turned her back around to see TaecYeon and Jo Kwon talking amongst themselves.
"I'm with Jo Kwon oppa and Taecyeon oppa."
"Really? Yah, Yoona.. you know you have to be careful when you're hanging out with him... people will misunderstand."
"I know, it's just the three of us having dinner."
"Alright then, I have news for you so come home soon and I'll tell you tomorrow in the morning."
Yoona blinked. "Eh? News? Come home now?"
"Don't ask any questions!"
"Okay, okay. I'll be there soon."
"Mm, okay. Bye, Yoona-yah."
"Goodnight, sajangnim."
She shut off her phone and pondered to why Lee sajangnim would want to talk to her about.
As she went back to the table, Taecyeon looked up to see her coming closer towards the table and lightly hit Jo Kwon to stop at whatever he was going to say next.
Jo Kwon looked at his direction and blinked.
"Yoona-yah.. what was that all about?"
She sat down with a sigh and began to eat her leftover meal without complaint.
"Oh, Lee sajangnim called. He says he has something to tell me tomorrow morning, so I can't stay up too late."
Taecyeon blinked.
"So..you need a ride home now?"
Yoona shook her head and raised her eyes at him.
"It's fine. It's only 10pm. We can leave after we finish our meal."
Taecyeon nodded slowly in agreement and began eating his dinner.
While eating, the three of them ate and lightly conversed with each other, though without Yoona noticing, Taecyeon would glance at her direction every now and then.
When the three finished dinner, Jo Kwon as promised paid for their meals and they headed outside.
Taecyeon in the driver's seat, while Yoona sat on the passengers and Jo Kwon in the back.
"I'll drop you off first, Kwon-ah and then Yoona last. Is that alright?"
Yoona and Jo Kwon made no complaint.
As they dropped off Jo Kwon at his dorm, the car was filled with silence as the two drove to the SNSD dorm next.
Taecyeon glanced at Yoona and cleared his throat.
"Ahem.. Yoona-yah."
Yoona blinked and turned her head to the side.
"Hmm?"
Keeping his eyes in front of the road, with his fingers firmly grasping the wheel, he continued to talk.
" I just want to say, whatever with the whole Love Line thing... I'm sorry. And I hope you get over the harsh comments and antis."
Yoona forced a smile and looked down at her hands.
"Thank you, oppa."
"I like you, I mean, as friend, as a family... you know. We're the nut family."
Yoona let out a short laugh after that.
"Yeah, I understand, don't worry, oppa."
As the two parked outside of the dorm, both Taecyeon and Yoona got out of the car and walked near the front door entrance.
Then Yoona turned around and gave him a small smile.
"Thanks for driving me home, oppa. I'll talk to you next time. Good night."
Taecyeon nodded and smiled at her.
"Mmm, next time, Yoona."
Though it was a kind gesture, Yoona wrapped her arms around him for a few seconds, only meaning as a friendly hug.
Taecyeon stiffened.
As she began to pull back, he quickly wrapped her arms around and returned the hug back, this time it was longer.
Taecyeon sighed deeply into her hair.
"Goodnight." then he finally let go.
Yoona said nothing, she looked up, gazing at his expression and then, with a slight nod of her head and faint smile, she walked inside the building.
Taecyeon watched as she walked away, then finally, while she was out of his sight, he turned around and walked back to get inside the car. He ruffled the back of his hair and sighed heavily again.
"Man.. why did I do that?" he said to himself.
As he got inside, buckling his seat belt and driving off, he scolded himself.
"Idiot. You're an idiot, Ok Taecyeon."
As he was sleeping sound asleep, Kwon Ji Yong turned his body around as he heard the loud knock on his bedroom door.
"Hyung! Get up~"
Knowing it was Seungri, the maknae, he ignored the call and continued to sleep.
While having his eyes closed, his ears heard two other footsteps entering his room.
"Hyung! Wake up!" Seung Ri yelled close to ear.
Ji Yong frowned and pulled his pillow over his head.
He felt someone tickling his feet and the heavy weight of someone constantly jumping on his bed, but he still wouldn't wake up.
"HYUNG!"
"Yah, Ji Yong-ah, get up,man."
"Hyung, you have to wake upppppppppppppp~"
Suddenly fed up with the loud calls and lack of sleep, Ji Yong got up from his bed and glared at the two young members, excluding his best friend Young Bae and chucked the pillow at his first victim, Dae Sung.
"Ah! Hyung!" whined Dae Sung as the pillow hit him right in center of his stomach.
Seung Ri's eyes went wide as the leader grabbed him and started elbowing him down on the bed.
"Ow~! OWWWWWWW!" Seung Ri cried out.
"That's what you get for waking me up! Can't a guy get some good sleep around here?"
Tae Yang, sighed sleepily as he watched the scene before him.
"Ji Yong, knock it off. YG hyung wants you."
Ji Yong stopped torturing the maknae and looked up in confusion.
"Huh? Why?"
"Yoona!"
"Get up, sleepy head."
Yoona groaned and lifted her blanket up to her head.
Suddenly she was getting with an air-filled balloon hammer and hearing the noisy sounds of plastic battery filled toys.
"Wakey, wakey!"
Then lifting the blankets up, Yoona's eyes were hit with bright sunlight. She covered her eyes and squinted to see her older members, Jessica, Hyo Yeon and Tae Yeon trying to wake her up, as they hovered over her bed.
"Sajangnim wants you to come to his office~ He has something important to tell you. So get up!"
Yoona rubbed the sleep off her eyes and got up, she yawned.
"Huh? Why?"
The group leader knocked on the door before entering, he opened the door and peeked his head inside.
"Hyung, you wanted to see me?"
"Oh, Ji Yong-ah. Yes, come in."
Ji Yong sat down on an empty seat next to the YG chairman.
"There's something I want to discuss with you."
Yoona sat down next to Lee Soo Man and blinked, with eyebrows furrowed.
"We're collaborating with YG company?"
The SM CEO nodded.
"It's a little project we decided to do together, and we both decided for you and G-dragon to star in a music video and pair up to make a catchy song."
Yoona's eyes widen in surprise.
"WHAT?"
"Yoona? From SNSD?"
Ji Yong blinked, his face showing how surprised he was in hearing the news.
Yang Hyun Suk confirmed it with a curt nod.
"It might be not be what you expect, since we have different style in music and all, but it's something bold and new to work on. Now, I would like you two to be working together. We both would." he explained.
Ji Yong leaned back in his seat and furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
"I barely know her, and I don't know why I'll be the one doing this project along with with her? What is this suppose to accomplish?"
The chairman sighed.
"Well, Lee Soo Man and I both concluded that joining our company together for this collaboration will create unexpected reactions, with our different style clashing together, we could somehow work it out into making a different mixture of music genre. You know, like... pop, dance, hip-hop, something catchy."
Ji Yong nodded slowly to show that he understood, but was still hesitant in the idea.
"But hyung, I'm still dealing a lot of work, with the comments and all, and what about Yoona? She's probably dealing with her own problems right now... how can this work?"
Yoona voiced out her opinion.
"I mean, I've met him in a couple variety shows and all, but I barely know him.."
She continued on.
"I'm honored to work with him, but I don't know.. we both have our own problems to deal with, he had a solo album released recently. And with all the bad comments going around, won't this create more flames?"
Lee Soo Man tried stifling a heavy sigh.
"We've discussed that as well. We both think we should risk it, if that ever happens. Yoona-yah. You realize even if you do make this music video with Kwon Ji Yong, no one can ever get away with harsh comments and criticism. This is what the music industry is about. Not everybody is going to support or praise us, you knew that the moment you joined SM entertainment right? Look how far you've gotten."
Yoona bit her lip, realizing the encouraging words that her older senior was saying.
She worked hard to get to where she was, struggling and worrying before her debut. All those times of dedication and shooting dramas, CFs and all. Why should she doubt about this now? Where was her confidence?
"You're right, sajangnim. I'm sorry for raising my voice like that."
Lee Soo Man smiled kindly at her and shook his head.
"No, it's fine. I understand. Now, are you willing to do this, Yoona?"
Yoona looked at her senior and with a firm look, she nodded her head.
"Yes. I'll try my best."
The SM founder smiled grew and clapped his hands.
"This is great. You can go now, I'll have to call Yang Hyun Suk about this. Thank you, Yoona-yah."
The young SNSD member nodded, got up from her seat and headed out the door.
"Oh, and remember this Yoona..."
She stopped and turned around to hear what LSM had to say.
"Even if you get 100 antis and bad comments, there will be 1000 more fans and good comments supporting you."
Yoona smiled brightly and laughed.
"Thank you, sajangnim!"
Ji Yong sighed and let out a small smile.
"I can deal with it."
Yang Hyun Suk smirked.
"That's the spirit."
The young man in front of him was G-dragon. He was a leader, a singer, an idol. Of course something like this wasn't going to get in his way.
Ji Yong stood up from his seat.
"Well, I'm going to go now. I gotta a lot of ideas in my head and want to write them down."
Yang Hyun Suk smiled and nodded.
"Okay. I'll talk to Lee Soo Man about the confirmation and we'll start on this right away. We'll have to plan up a meeting as well for you two to start working together."
Ji Yong smirked.
"Alright, sounds good. Then, take care, sa-jang-nim."
Yang Goon let out a small laugh as the young leader confidently left the room, suddenly his ring-tone went off and he picked up the call.
"Hello?"
"Yang Hyun Suk ssi?"
"Oh, you called just in time, Lee Soo Man ssi."
"Just in time? So, is it confirmed?"
"Yes."
"Good, both of them agreed."
"Now, when and what time should they meet?"
"Well, I was hoping tomorrow in the late morning. They need to be comfortable around each other in order to work together."
"I agree. Then tomorrow it is."
"Alright, it'll be an honor working with you."
"Yes, take care."
"Goodbye."
