Sorry for the false alarm earlier haha. I was still writing the draft when i hit Save by mistake. Anyway, enjoy ^^ Sorry for the typos and the errors. I didn't proofread =D

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“Just check on him and see if he’s okay.”

Jaejoong inwardly sighed as he drove to The Fortress with his grandmother asking him to check on his cousin. After their conversation yesterday, he felt like he doesn’t want to talk to Donghae yet. Maybe he’ll just see if he’s still breathing then leave. Report Donghae’s living form then call it a night.

“Doris told me he’s not feeling well,” his grandmother continued. “And before you go and tell me I’m being too exaggerated, Soong An is also here and she is requesting if you could just check and see if he’s well.”

“Yes Grandma,” Jaejoong said. “I’m already on my way there.”

“Good. Call me as soon as you find out. You might want to linger in the lobby for minute though.”

“Why?”

“For you to rest. I know driving over there is making you a little bit… agitated so just rest first. Call me.”

“Yes. I’ll call you as soon as I found Donghae still breathing, okay?” He shook his head before he pressed the end button.His grandma is at it again. He can understand the scare the family went through when Donghae had been lying in comatose for weeks in the hospital without knowing if they will ever see him moving again but this… checking up on him everytime they got wind of him being sick or not feeling good… god, he’s turning into his cousin’s babysitter. He had planned to return to Hongkong to attend a business venture this morning but his grandmother pleaded for him to stay for a while. He had no choice but to give in. And besides, he really doesn’t want to go back yet to HongKong. Maybe he would do what he thought to do a year ago. To move his main office here in Korea.

He entered the Fortress Parking Lot and stopped the car. He stepped out and closed the door but paused when he saw Yoona running past. Brows furrowed, he watched as she fumbled with the car’s door in a hurry and got in, slamming it. He really couldn’t be sure but it looks like she was crying. Then Donghae ran past after a minute. Barefoot. Yelling at Yoona to stop as he banged the car’s window.

“Yoona, please! Just please listen to me! Let me explain! Yoona! Please. Please! Just… listen to me!” Donghae had begged even when the car started to move leaving him in a cloud of smoke. He watched as Donghae looked like he wanted to cry as he clutched his stomach and throwing his head back. He was about to go over to him to ask him what happend when Donghae suddenly turned, raging fury on his face. He was practically standing a few feet away from him but Donghae didn’t spare him a glance. His brows are practically touching each other as he marched back to the exit of the parking lot.

What was that? Jaejoong can’t help but wonder. He had only seen Donghae this mad before. That was in that restaurant when he punched him by trash-talking Dara. Of course it was just him acting but that didn’t stop Donghae from giving him a busted lip. He slowly followed the direction where Donghae had gone to. He strode to the lobby looking around but Donghae is no longer in sight. He was about to go to the elevator when an elderly woman blocked him with a big smile on her face.

“Kim Jaejoong,” she greeted.

He was surprised. He doesn’t know her at all but he smiled politely as he bowed his greeting.

“Of course you don’t know me,” the woman said chuckling noticing the look on his face. “I’m great friends with your grandmother.”

“Ah… hi,” he greeted awkwardly as he held out his hand to shake hers.

“I’m Mrs. Hwang, from the Hwang Group Enterprises. I know this is really unusual for you and I can really understand if you will hesitate but….” She let out an awkward laugh.

Jaejoong’s brows furrowed not really knowing what she is saying.

“Come on. Do you want something to drink?”  Mrs. Hwang took hold of his arm and pulled him towards the corner of the lobby before he can even utter a word.

“Uh….”

“Your grandmother had been really boasting about your good looks and I thought she was exaggerating. But she actually did not do you justice,” Mrs. Hwang continued.

Jaejoong reddened at the elderly woman’s compliment as he let her guide him towards a table. Which he saw already had an occupant.

“This is my daughter, Tifanny.”

The girl sitting on the couch merely lifted her head with one of her eyebrows raised as she gave him a once-over. Then probably thinking he is not worth her time as she returned her attention back at her phone.

“Tiffany,”  Mrs. Hwang’s voice a warning tone to it.

Tiffany just sighed before flipping her long hair over her shoulder then gave him an eye smile that anyone could detect its fakeness a mile away. “Hi, nice to meet you.”

Jaejoong’s brows were furrowed not knowing what is going on.

“Here take a seat.” Mrs. Hwang practically pushed him on the couch across from her daughter and Jaejoong saw Tiffany’s eye roll upward without her mother noticing. “Oh! I forgot that I need to call someone so… I’m just going to be over there.” She smiled before walking away leaving Jaejoong more puzzled. He turned to look at the girl across from him. She was looking at him with piercing eyes as if she is challenging him, her arms crossed over her chest. His brows creased even more as silence filled both of them. Him with confusion and her with an intensity of a judging glare.

Then it hit him. Ah crap. His grandmother set him up again! And what a ridiculous set up it is. He let out a little chuckle of disbelief as he ran his earlier conversation with his grandmother earlier. Rest in the lobby. Right.

“I know you’re very satisfied with what you see,” Tiffany finally said, her voice dripping sarcasm thinking his chuckle came from satisfaction. “After all, who could resist me? I’m an heiress with a fortune.”

Jaejoong just looked at her wryly waiting for her to add something more but it looks like she was done. “You can’t be an heiress without a fortune, actually. So I think that’s a given.” He only thought to say that out of politeness.

Tiffany looked surprised at him pointing out her obvious mistake in grammar. “Well… whatever,” she said. “My parents actually think you’re a good match for me. And I can see why they’re vouching for you. You look hot. But I think that’s all you’ve got. And I’ve got too much hotness to handle even for myself so I don’t need yours. Why don’t you tell me exactly how much you want to get out of this arrangement?”

He was left speechless. Say what?

“They all wanted money,” Tiffany continued haughtily. “It’s always money. I have bought them all. So tell me your price.”

Jaejoong just stared at her in utter disbelief. This is new. With all the women his grandmother set him up with, none can even compare to the ridiculousness of this girl. He racked his brain for Hwang Group Enterprises. He only knew a Hwang family that is 8th to the wealthiest family in the country. Their lineage was no joke.

But so was his.

“So you’re telling me, you’re gonna pay me to break off an arrangement?” Jaejoong asked trying to clarify.

Tiffany nodded condescendingly.

“Your family was one of the richest family in Korea,” Jaejoong said. “I can tell that you can offer up to the fullest extent of where your hand can stretch out.”

Tiffany scoffed. “Not only my hands but my feet too. How much do you want to break this arrangement off?”

Jaejoong just shook his head and looked at Tiffany in the eye. “I don’t think that there is ever an arrangement I have agreed with. I don’t even know there is an arrangement. You don’t have to spend a dime.” He proceeded to stand up but Tiffany’s disdainful voice made him stop.

“So you want more?”

“Ms. Hwang,” Jaejoong said looking exasperated. “This arrangement that my grandmother and your mother set up… is useless because it wouldn’t push through. I don’t want your money. I don’t even need it because I got my own.  If you’ll excuse me.” He bowed his head before standing up leaving Tiffany looking at him with a glare with her arms crossed firmly over her chest. Jaejoong strode to where the elevator is shaking his head. He couldn’t believe his grandmother did this. She usually let him know first of the girl he was forced to meet but it looks like his grandmother is now resorting to blind dates. He might haveto be really careful of running errands for her. Next thing he knew, she would ask him to go to the market to buy some vegetables and running into a woman who will be saying they’re supposed to have an arrangement.

He looked up and stopped in his tracks. Dara was coming out of the elevator with her head bowed down. She was clutching the strap of her bag as she walked in haste. He just watched her with brows furrowed as she practically ran him over. She apologized without looking up and just as she was about to walk past him, he grabbed hold of her arm and she looked up. Her eyes are glistening with tears. Her face was full of pain.

“Dara,” he said.

“Boss,” Dara said trying to lift the corner of in a smile but a tear already escaped from her eye.

His mind ran through what he just saw in the parking lot and of Donghae marching back to his unit. He didn’t say anything but pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her, trying to give what little comfort he can offer.

Jaejoong pressed the sign for the bottle of water in the vending machine then strode over to the bench where Dara was seated. They were at the park, trying to get her some fresh air to calm down. There were a lot of people hanging out at the park even if it’s already 8:30 in the evening. He gave the bottle to Dara which she accepted but only placed it in her lap, just looking down at the ground. Jaejoong sat next to her and just watched the people pass by. She had cried. Really cried. Her muffled sobs on his chest tore at him. It sounds so pained and hopeless that he felt he can’t do anything to even lessen it.

“Why is it that you were always the one to see me breaking down like this?” Dara said trying to force a smile.

Jaejoong glanced at her and noted her puffy eyes and red nose. He didn’t respond to that. What can he say to a very strong willed girl who seldom cries but does at the moment when she felt she’s already at the breaking point?

“Aren’t you gonna ask me what happened?” Dara asked.

“Are you gonna tell me?” Jaejoong asked back.

Dara glanced at him before returning her attention at the ground. “Do you remember that time when I gave him up because I thought he wants Yoona? It made me feel such a coward. So weak. I thought at that time, I could….” She drew out a shaky breath. “I could prevent myself from any sort of pain. But then I found out it was a mistake. That it had hurt a lot more when I gave him up. It hurt a lot worse when I thought i’m so shallow because I don’t even want to fight for him and I almost lost him because I’m such a coward. So this time, I tried. I really tried. I’ve fought with everything I’ve got, not wanting to make the same mistake I did. Because I know how it felt like to lose him. I know what it felt like to lose him without putting up a fight.” She could tears forming in her eyes again and she agrily wiped it away. “But I’m so tired. I’m so tired of… laying everything down just to get him back. I’m so tired of… trying to hold on, trying to be fake myself from believing I’m still happy, of trying to…  to be brave. To be strong. That even Donghae was telling me to get lost, that even if how many times he told me he wants to break it off… of how I knew he was going out with Yoona… going to her…. It’s just… I want to crumble down and just stay in the corner. I held on to the hope that… I would get him back. I just have to. He was mine. I can’t be weak. I’m strong.”  She shook her head as she wiped her eyes again. “But Donghae was right. I was delusional. The minute he lost his memory was the minute I lost him. And I can’t fight something that the accident has already taken away. He’s already gone from  me. He will always see me as what he had always seen me. A weird, pychotic, crazy girl. And he will always be inlove with Yoona the way he had always been before he struck that deal with me.” She sniffled. “Sometimes, I wonder if Donghae had really loved me back then.”

“Dara…” Jaejoong started.

“Because he was right. If he ever really loved me, he would’ve felt something for me even without his memories.” She let out a humorless laugh. “I’ve watched too many movies and dramas with that plot.” She let out a breath as she remembered what they have shared up in his unit. “Maybe he did. But his love for Yoona will always override any feelings he had for me. Maybe in all this time, his subconscious is always loving Yoona. And it just… it just made me feel like an idiot because I should’ve… i should’ve just given up earlier.” Tears fell on her eyes again and she let out a sob remembering how cold he was after something happened to him. The special moment she had been waiting for since they got together only to become the worst memory she would probably have. “It just hurts so in’  much.” She put her hands on her face as she cried, her body heaving as she tried to stifle her sobs. Damn tears. They were relentless today.

Jaejoong took her in his arms and let her cry on his shoulders while he rubbed her arm. “Sharing your pain is not weakness, Dara,” he whispered. “It just means you already had enough and it’s time for you to let go of it.”

Hearing that made Dara cry all the more and Jaejoong patted her head, ignoring the baffled looks of the passers-by as they glanced at them.

By the time that she had calmed her undulated emotions down, it was already close to 10:30 in the evening. She would’ve stayed somewhere while she let the pain eat her but Jaejoong insisted she go home and take a rest. He parked at the curb across from Dara’s apartment and looked at her in worry.

“Are you feeling okay now?” he asked.

“Yes, I feel like a butter of sunshine,” Dara said lifelessly.

Jaejoong sighed. “Get some rest, okay.”

Dara slightly nodded then took off her seatbelt but before she could open the door, she turned to Jaejoong. “Thanks.” Then she added, “And again, if you ever tell this to anybody, I’m gonna beat you to a pulp.”

Her voice still lacked the same kind of threatening tone she is always using everytime she said that but Jaejoong still smiled. “I won’t.”

Dara stepped out and took the small step of stairs to get to her door. She turned her head to see Jaejoong still watching and she made a small wave before opening the door and walking in. She found Suzy in the dining room table still in her wo