True to what Dara had promised, she came back the next day at the hospital. And the next. And the next. Each time Donghae opened his eyes from sleep, he would see her with a big smile on her face as she greeted him cheerfully. Then she would arrange his pillows, his blankets, peeling his fruits, arranging his food, feeding him…. She’s acting like she’s his wife already. He tried not to shudder at the thought but it’s completely making him want to jump out of his skin.

And the fact that his mother and his grandmother has become all familiar with her…. It’s really too much information to swallow. It’s like he had survived an apocalypse only to be enlisted in another one. Dara became a part of his family, even working at The Scope which his grandmother owned. His friends didn’t help on the matter either. They were all acting as if he didn’t told them Dara was a crazy stalker as they all bantered around with her everytime each of them visited him. Everyone seems to be really fond of her. Except him.

There were a lot of questions he had asked everyone of them and the answers just left him more confused than ever. He was inlove with Dara? He was crazy about Dara? He hit Jaejoong because he likes Dara? He went crazy with panic when Dara was in danger with his drug-addicted cousin? Rick actually came back? And his grandmother knew? He met Dara’s mother for permission to marry her? Oh, she had a brother too? All of it seems outrageous! Yeah, he already accepted the fact that he won’t be able to remember anything from last year but this revelation is close to being really weird. Did he really do all those things? He couldn’t even think on the last memory he’s had left before the accident flushed the rest of it away. Eveything is so convoluted.

He gave Dara a surreptitious glance as she stirred the soup before placing it on the overbed table that morning and rolling it over Donghae’s. “Eat up so you would be healthy.” She was the only person who is inside the room. His mother left saying she needed drop by at the pharmacy. Her voice and the look in her face told him she was lying. He knew she’s going to meet his father and probably report his condition like what she had been doing for the last couple of days. That is also one revelation which he really cannot accept. He hadn’t seen his father since that day they found out his brain cortex was damaged. And it was all for the better as he doesn’t think he would ever want to see him again. He just couldn’t understand why his mother forgave his father. He wondered if the reason is valid enough for him to forgive his father too. His mother didn’t give any explanation and he didn’t ask. It’s just gonna be too much information for his suddenly fragile brain to store.

“Soup is healthy?” Donghae couldn’t help but ask wryly as he eyed the soup.

“The doctor said it’s safer for your stomach to start digesting soft foods while you’re on the mend.”

Donghae responded dryly, “Soft foods. Which means solid. Not liquid.”

Dara raised one of her eyebrows at him. “I seem to remember you whining to your mom like a little kid that your stomach hurt when you ate that tofu and that you think you can’t take any solid food yet.”

Oh, he didn’t realize she had been there. “I just… don’t like tofu,” he just reasoned.

“Neither do I,” Dara said. “So it’s a good thing I know how to make soup. Are you gonna eat this or do you want me to feed you?”

Donghae scowled at her as he took the spoon on his hand. For a girlfriend, she seems to be really commanding. Another reason to ask himself what was he thinking when he dated this girl.

Dara smiled as she watched Donghae take a sip of the hot soup with the spoon. He hasn’t warmed up to her as of yet. In fact, he’s alternately being sarcastic and dry to her. Sometimes, she would catch him studying her with that frown on his face like he’s trying to figure out the greatest mystery of his life. She never take offense with that. He can look at her as much as he wants if that would mean he would see her. Like really see her. The girl he had asked to marry. The girl he had been telling I love you every morning, every night, every text messages, every phone calls. Even in every fights. If he can’t remember that, then maybe he can find it in himself to actually feel something. She just needs to be patient. He’s in a state of shock right now and she can completely understand the confusion he is under.

Instinctively, she lifted a hand to gently touch Donghae’s cheek which are now shadowed by growing stubble. But Donghae suddenly recoiled, leaning away from her, his eyes round as he dropped the spoon with a clatter.

“Ya! What are you doing touching me?!” He demanded.

Dara pierced him with a glare at his exaggerated reaction. “Don’t act as if I tried to molest you. And I only touched your cheek! What’s wrong with that?”

“You… you should not touch me!” Donghae said. “I don’t like to be touched!”

“Since when?” Dara retorted. “We did a lot more than touch before and you didn’t have a problem with that.”

Donghae felt his mouth fall. “Wh—what?!”

“You like to be touched here… here… here… here.” Dara used her index finger to lightly touch his chest, his shoulder, his arms, his stomach, leaving Donghae looking more scandalized than before and he swatted Dara’s finger away from him and Dara crossed her arms across her chest smirking before she asked languidly, “Do you want to know where else you had made me touch you?”

She’s not only a crazed stalker but a crazed stalker without any morals whatsoever! He grabbed the blanket and pulled it over his hip while he glared at her. “No, I don’t want to know.”

“You made me touch your…” She let her voice trail off as her eyes trailed down over him and Donghae crossed his leg even though the blanket is already covering his lower half. “… hands.” Then she laughed out loud making Donghae feel so irritated.

Innoncent Donghae is just too irresistible not to make fun of. Dara went to the fridge to get him some water and placed it on the overbed. “Here’s some water. I’m sorry for making you sweat.”

Donghae gritted his teeth as he glared at her. “I didn’t sweat.”

“Whatever you say,” Dara said with a tone that sounds as if she really doesn’t believe him. 

Donghae wanted to annoy her as much as she does to him. “No matter what my family say, I really think there is a reason that I have gone out with you for a year because there is no way I would actually do that.” He narrowed his eyes as he regarded her. “It’s either you’re some kind of a… of a hypnotist or… or a witch.”

Dara wryly looked at him. “A hypnotist or a witch?” Donghae still hasn’t change even without his memories. His comeback is still as pathetic as ever. She leaned over to him as she whispered dangerously, “I’m neither of those. I’m actually a cult member who have sacrificed the blood of a for the demon realm to present me with a healthy, virile, young man to feed on my hungry soul.”

Then she straightened up as she tried to hold back her laughter at the look on Donghae’s face. It’s like a cross from disbelief and horror of being subjected to the presence of a demented woman. She knew she’s aggravating the situation by making him confirm his suspicion that she was the psychotic girl he had played a bet on. Hell, she should be acting like a decent, modern, gentle woman so he would see the reason why his family is telling him he proposed to her because she would be the ideal wife for anyone. But she just couldn’t help it. She and Donghae had been playing cat and mouse, playing with words, bantering endlessly, even spouting the most outrageous reasons at every fights for far too long that it just comes out even without her meaning to. Her derisive mouth is one of the reasons why Donghae loved her. And she knew he would not want her to change that because it is still going to be the reason why he would fall inlove with her again. She was sure of it.

A snort came out of her and she covered it with her hand, still trying to hold back the laughter while Donghae was still sitting there looking stupefied, not knowing how to react at the sudden show of madness by the woman everyone is vouching for as normal. Dara then turned to him chuckling. “You do know I’m just kidding, right?”

Donghae couldn’t wait until he get out of the hospital so he can take her to the mental institution. “All I know is that there is a woman who is manically possesed by a delusion that I would actually marry her.” Hah! One point for him. He expected her to be deterred but she just smirked much to his further irritation.

“Ow, you really hurt me,” Dara said putting a hand over her chest then sighing. “There is already a submitted article at The Scope about your proposal to me. If you think it was a delusion, then I would be more than happy to bring it to you once it gets printed. You had begged me to marry you. Knelt down, cried, lying down on the floor in a heap, not moving and swearing you will starve yourself to death until I say yes.”

“I would never do such things like that!” Donghae denied hotly.

“You’re right, you didn’t,” Dara agreed immediately surprising him. “But I think that story would be a lot more interesting. Don’t you think so?” She gave him a wide grin.

“Listen, you crazy girl—“ Donghae said having enough of this but a knock on the door made him stop and they both turned to see a tall, slender girl entering the room. His face brightened. “Yoona!”

Dara saw Donghae’s face light up when Yoona walked in and she suddenly felt like smashing his head again. Yoona had visited when Donghae was in the ICU unit and had given her some reassurance that he would survive. Dara was thankful for that but it made her bitter that Donghae would look at Yoona like that when he can’t even glance at her without glaring.

“Hi,” Yoona said reluctantly as her eyes passed from Dara to Donghae to Dara again. “Is it a good time to visit?"

“Of course!” Donghae said before Dara could answer. “Come in, come in.”

Yoona strode in and placed the bag of fruits on the table while she smiled. “How’re you feeling?”

“Fine. More better now that you’re here,” Donghae said ignoring Dara’s deadly look. Yoona smile fell down into a slight grimace as she looked like she didn’t know what to do so Donghae looked at Dara. “Can we talk alone?”

“Okay, I’ll leave now,” Yoona said immediately.

“No,” Donghae immediately said. “I meant… can we talk alone.” Then he gave Dara a pointed look which Dara gritted her teeth at. Then she strode on the chair and lifted her bag as she pasted a grin on her face.

“Okay, I’m ging to be late for work anyway,” Dara said then she blew a kiss on Donghae’s drection. “See you later, loverboy.”

She walked out leaving Yoona watching her with amusement. Donghae let out a depressed groan. “Can you believe…. Oh god, I think I’m losing it.”

Yoona chuckled while she took a chair to sit on. “I think she’s just being Dara.”

“Yeah. She’s as psychotic as I knew her to be. Why can’t anyone see that?” Donghae said looking really miffed.

“Everyone can see that,” Yoona said with a smile. “She’s not hiding it anyway. That’s what makes her so adorable."

“Oh no, not you too!”

“What?”

“Am I only one who can see how completely… crazy this whole thing is? Me dating her? I don’t even want to say engaged because I can’t wrap my head around it. This is ridiculous. And everyone seems to be really fond of her! Maybe she really is some kind of a cult member that I really need to stay far away from.”

Yoona let out a chuckle at his rambling. “You know, I didn’t believe it at first when Kyuhyun called and told me you lost a part of your memory. But now I can finally believe it.” Donghae looked at her and Yoona continued, “Because you couldn’t last a day without her before. I know that much.”

He frowned. “I can’t see myself lasting a day with her.” Then he asked, “Where have you been for the last year?”

Yoona pressed her lips together before answering, “I was… out of the country.”

Donghae nodded slowly, coming to a conclusion. “So you really left huh? You left again.”

A look passed over Yoona’s feature before looking down at the hands in her lap before lifting her eyes to  him again. “I was in Barcelona, then Italy, then London…. I’ve been to a lot of places. You told me I looked good when we saw each other.”

Donghae’s brows furrowed. “We met up already?”

Yoona nodded. “I had invited you and Dara to dinner before your accident happened. And I can never forget what you looked like then.” She smiled. “I have never seen you look so happy and contented. So bright and…” She softly tittered. “…radiant. And I knew then, that as far as soulmates go, you already found yours.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You and Dara complements each other. You look so good with her that I really don’t think a mere memory loss can keep you from her.” She sighed. “I went here because I was informed you were confused. I didn’t want to at first because it would complicate things. I know you went back to the time when you were… fond of me… and I don’t want to add burden to anybody, specially to Dara. But you are still my best friend and you will always be my best friend. And I wanted to answer the questions which I know you wanted to ask.” Yoona looked at Donghae in the eye.  “The feelings that you think you had for me was long gone. The bet you made with the guys only gave you a way for a chance to get over me and fall inlove with someone else. With Dara. So if you think she was crazy, then you are too. Because that’s exactly what you love about her.”

Donghae couldn’t find himself to speak. He just stared at Yoona who saying things he doesn’t want to believe. Hearing it from Yoona made it seem more real and not some fib that his family and his friends is amusing themselves on.

And it hurts him. Because she was telling him he looks good with someone else. He knew it. He never had a chance with Yoona.

“You… did I… did I tell you….Have I confessed my feelings for you?” Donghae asked in a quiet voice. Then he let out a breath feeling like an idiot for asking the obvious. “Of course I did if you were telling me it was long gone. You rejected me huh?” He tried to laugh it off but he couldn’t even force it.

It took a moment before Yoona answered, “Yeah, I did. You are just… like a brother to me. I’m sorry.”

Looks like he got rejected twice now. It’s a good thing he didn’t remember the first. But it still hurts. Yoona is the only woman he had ever dreamed of since he was young. She was the only woman he could never have. He just should’ve stuck in just dreaming about her instead of being told in the face that she only regarded him as a brother.

Yoona stood up and went over to him seeing the look of hurt in his features. “Stop looking like that.” She chuckled. “You see, I really don’t want to see you hurt but I just