The incessant ringing of her phone and an annoyingly persistent mild headache woke her up the next day. She was meant to sleep in but the ringing of her actual home phone dragged her out of bed. As she was walking to the phone, she noticed the time. 9:00AM. Still early. She didn't have any work schedule for the day and she only planned to work out so she was feeling extra pissed off that she had to get out of bed. Only a select few people know the number for her landline and she got an idea that this call should not be ignored. 

"Yeoboseyo?"

"Dara-ya, why are you not picking up your phone?" Jjangmae said impatiently.

"Wae? I was asleep." 

"I'm sending the car to your home. Yang Hyun-suk sajangnim is asking for you. Please hurry and get ready."

"Why? Did I do something? What's going on?" she asked in panic. She was only ever asked to see him on an emergency meeting when she got in trouble. 

"Check the news. You'll know why! Now pali!"

As soon as she dropped the call, she went and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She ignored all messages and missed calls and went straight to look at the news. She was shocked her name and Jiyong dominated all the headlines. She clicked on one entertainment portal and read the article. "GDragon protecting his lady love from paparazzi!" OMMOOOO. A video is attached to the article. She immediately clicked to watch it. She almost dropped her phone when she saw the two of them getting out of the restaurant. Aissssh! No wonder it's blown out of proportions. From any angle you look, it really did seem like Jiyong was protecting her. and for the record, HE WAS. 

As soon as she arrived at the YG building, she was lead to the 7th floor by one of the staff who, she noticed, was nervously waiting for her at the entrance. Please proceed to the room. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before entering, but that did good for only about a second, because as soon as she entered, she not just saw her boss, she also saw Jiyong sitting across from him. He looked... bored. Like he can't wait to get out of there. 

"Dara, come in, take a seat." he pointed to the chair next to Jiyong. 

She bowed to him and then got herself comfortable.

"I'm sure you both know why I asked you in. You guys got our PR department busy this morning. I'm only going to say a few words but I'll start with a question: What the hell were you thinking????" 

Dara didn't wait for Jiyong to answer, she took it upon her to defend them both. "Sorry about that sir. Jiyong tried to protect me because there were a lot of people outside the restaurant." she meekly said. 

"This is why I hire bodyguards and managers for my talents. To do just that! Jiyong! Did you really have to walk with Dara like that???" their boss' voice already raised. He looked pissed. He looked so pissed. 

"Yeah, I had to. It was instinct." Jiyong casually said. Not looking or sounding at all bothered by their boss' angry demeanor. 

"May I remind you that you are still a public figure. Whatever you do will be watched by everyone. Now what do I tell the media, huh? They're already spinning it into something romantic!" 

"It is romantic!" Jiyong said. 

"Kwon Jiyong!" both Dara and Yang Hyun-suk yelled at the same time. It only made Jiyong laugh specially after seeing Dara's very angry face. 

"This isn't a laughing matter, Jiyong. What are you talking about? Romantic??" 

"Hyung, sorry about that. Last night, I saw the paparazzi and the crowd that formed outisde and I just merely protected Dara from them. You can tell that to the media. It's really that simple. And it should be romantic, right Dara? I was your knight in shining armour." he added the last one as a jest and winked at Dara but she only looked at him like she was about to kill him. 

"It's not that simple, Jiyong. We don't want the media to assume that there's something going on between the two of you. You think friends do that to oth