Surprisingly, Dara woke up earlier than her alarm today. Not because she barely slept, in fact she had a goodnight’s sleep last night. This time, she was the one who sent Donghae a good morning message.

                To: Lee Donghae
                Hi. Just wanted to let you know I woke up early today. Weird. Good morning~!!

Not contented with her first message she sent another one, along with a photo of the girl tapping the aquarium in finding nemo.

                To: Lee Donghae
                wake up fiiiishhyyyyy~!

Dara got up to prepare. She received a text message, it was Donghae. He’s awake. She smiled.

                From: Lee Donghae
                I’m awake! Morning beautiful.

Her smiled reached both her ears. She typed in.

                Don’t bring breakfast. I’m cooking. :D

After taking a shower and changing into her work outfit, Dara went down to their kitchen to start cooking. For her breakfast menu, she prepared waffles, bacon and some fresh fruits.

“Wow noona, you’re really cooking?” Thunder who just got up remarked. “Are you sick or something?” he placed his hand over Dara’s forehead. “Your temperature seems to be normal”, he went to the fridge to drink some water while singing, “oh, the things you when you’re in looooove”.

“Ya, you better shut your mouth or I won’t feed you”, she threatened him.

“I’m telling mom you’re not taking care of your dongsaeng.”

She just rolled her eyes. “Wash your face and help me prepare for breakfast.”

Her brother just lazily went back to his room to do just what his noona told him.

Donghae arrived just in time Dara finished preparing breakfast. The three of them settled down and ate what Dara has prepared.

Thunder took a bite out of the waffle she made, “noona, you really can cook! I thought the only food you can prepare is just instant ramyun.”

She smiled confidently, “of course! Hah! I’ve learned from the best”, she said referring to her mom.

Thunder turned to Donghae, “Hyung, remember what I told you? It’s still a go?” he asked.

Dara looked at them curiously.

Donghae just nodded as his mouth is still full.

“What are you two talking about?” Dara inspected the two.

“Um, nothing noona. Just a little favor I asked from Hyung.”

“And what is it?”

Thunder scratched his head giving Donghae the ‘help me’ look.

Donghae cleared his throat. “Uh, he just wanted to borrow some video games from me.”

She seemed to buy it and just nodded. “Boys”.

Her brother let out a deep sigh.                                                                                                       

Donghae just smiled at her.

After breakfast, Dara told her brother to clean up before leaving for work.

 “Wow, you’re up early today”, Donghae said.

“I know right? It’s pretty unusual but it felt good at the same time.” She said.

“You look blooming and radiant.”

“It’s probably because I had a goodnight’s sleep last night.”

“You dreamed of me, didn’t you?” he joked.

“Hah! Too early to be so confident Mr. Lee. I’m not even sure if I’ve had a dream last night.”

 “I dreamed of you last night.” Donghae told her.

“Oh? Really? What about?”

“You were kissing me.” his smile widen.

“Then, dream on Lee Donghae!”

When Dara went inside their office, there were balloons in the hallway. Huh? Who’s having a birthday? She wondered. She walked past the balloons and from one corner, Jessica and the rest of the staff came out holding a banner with the words, ‘Congratulations on your promotion Dara!!!’ and another banner says, ‘Park Sandara, Art Director’.

She gasped, not knowing what to say. Her eyes began to tear up.

Jessica hugged her, “congratulations, chingu! You got it! You deserve this!”

Her boss approached her, “you know how hard it was for me not to tell you yesterday. Congratulations, Dara!”

Still speechless, Dara smiled at them trying to grasp the moment. “Is this really happening? Omo. Thank you so much.” She turned to her boss, “thank you… thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I promise, I’ll do my best.”

Then one of the staff shouted, “SPEECH!” and everybody goes chanting, “SPEECH! SPEECH!”

She proceeded and wiped her tears. “Okay guys…” she took a deep breath, “I still can’t believe it’s happening right now. I honestly don’t know what to say. Thank you guys for this and for believing in me. Thank you for giving me this opportunity and I assure you I will do my best.”

Then one of her co-workers popped a bottle of champagne and gave each one of them a glass.

Her boss raised her glass and proposed a toast, “To Dara our new Art Director!” they all clinked their glasses.

A while after, they all went back to work. Someone knocked on her door, it was Jessica. She smiled at her friend.

“Congratulations, Dara! I knew you’d get this!” her friend said.

“Aww thank you”, but she let out a worried smile.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Uh, nothing. I’m just worried. You think I can do this? I mean, Soo Hyun has set a pretty high standard for the past few years. You think I can come up with something like that?”

“Hey, stop underestimating yourself. You are great. You can do a better job than him. You can set a higher standard. Dara, don’t let your thoughts consume you. Just enjoy the moment, embrace this opportunity. Bring out the best in you because this is where you’re good at. The board won’t choose you if you’re not capable. It’s just that you haven’t realized it yet, that you’ve always had it in you.”

It’s the first time she heard such motivational words from Jessica. Usually, she’d talk to her about the latest happenings in their office or ask her about her love life but this time