"I love Jiyong." 

At that point Jiyong was all she could think of. From his lame pick up lines, his mischievous smirk, and to the way he looks at her which always sent tingles on her body. That was the only thought that trumped the others and Donghae wasn't able to match up to his effect. 

Donghae tired to search the uncertainty in her eyes but he couldn't find it. He smiled weakly at her and moved closer. When she was about to put her hand up to stop him, he held her hand and kissed her palm. 

"Please just this once." He whispered. 

She pursed her lips and closed her eyes feeling him getting closer to her. She felt his warm lips kiss her forehead despite the cold rain that was showering both of them. He looked at the small girl that le loves, seemingly protecting herself from his advances. He put the hair that was sticking on her face away and scrutinized her wholeness. She never really had changed in his eyes. She would always be the beautiful girl that he fell in love with. 

And that beautiful girl that got away. 

"Can I open my eyes now?" she cowered.

When she heard him chuckling, she opened one eye open and soon opened the other one. She was 'discreetly' scooting away from him which wasn't left unnoticed. She heard him heave an exasperated sigh as he looked up at the mucky skies. She could see the raindrops hit his face and roll down on his chin. But unknown to her, he was letting his tears break loose. He rubbed his face suggesting that he was just wiping the rain off of his face. 

He forced a smile and looked ahead but was surprised to see her gone. He looked around the area and found her in a shade of a door canopy of a convenience store. He scurried towards her feeling the sudden cold of the air. 

"Just wait for a minute. I'll be back." she said and went inside the store. 

He followed her through the glass with his eyes. She was greeting the cashier as if she was his best friend. She was giving him the finger as she made her way to the 'staff only' room and the cashier just shook his head amusedly. After a few minutes, she came out of the staff room with an ahjumma seemingly scolding her. The ahjumma was hitting Dara with a rolled up newspaper and Dara would just laugh. Donghae met her eyes and saw her grinning at him. A soft smile escaped his. This was the Dara that she missed out on. 

Dara exited the store with a bag full of plastic containers with food in them. Donghae raised a brow at her as she handed the umbrella to him. 

"I work there." She pointed at the store with her lips. "C'mon. Let's get out of here before that crazy old lady sermons me again."

She nudged at him to open the umbrella and he reluctantly complied, not really knowing what was going on. She lightly kicked him behind the legs, signaling him to move. She told him to walk over to the bus stop and the silently did with Dara leaning closer to him since she didn't want to get anymore wet than she already was.

Donghae lightly tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "Where exactly are we going?"

"To my house." she said as if it was no big deal.

"What about school?"

She suddenly stopped and shook her head at him while ticking her tongue. She gave his cheek a soft pat before settling her hand on his shoulder. "Donghae-yah--- wait. do you mind if I call you that?" He shook his head innocently. "Arasso. Donghae-yah, you have to live life to the fullest. Your friend right here," Oh, that hit him straight in the heart. "lives by a set of exceptions. Do you want to know about those exceptions?" He shook his head again. "When Jani ahjumma gives you free food and a lot of it," Dara held up the plastic bag to accentuate her point. "you take that chance and savor every second of eating Jani ahjumma's food. Even if it means being absent from class. You won't understand until you tried her food." she then continued walking making him hurry up to catch her. 

"What about your attendance?"

"I live by 'three strikes and your out'. I granted myself the opportunity of having three absents all throughout the school year and once I used up all those strikes, I can't go for anymore absents. Even if I'm dying and already have my will handed to those greedy bastards who want my gold, I'll still go to school." 

A corner of his lips started to tug up to a smile as he admired the amusing girl beside him. "Are you really going to use up one of your strikes for that ahjumma's food?" 

"Ani, I'm also using it so that I can talk and catch up with you." She glanced at him momentarily before looking ahead. 

He looked ahead as well and unconsciously gripped on the umbrella handle. They surely need to catch up on a lot. 

_____________________________

"I'm sorry that's the biggest shirt I have in my closet." 

I gave her a tight smile as I closed the bathroom door behind me. She gave me a tight-fitting shirt that had a weird chick cartoon on it. The shirt was barely covering my bellybutton and I could feel the tight fabric sticking to my skin. Thankfully, she had a pair of men's joggers lying around. She said she stole it from one of her brothers and I'm just glad that it fit me well. 

"No, it's fine." I waved my hand. "Thank you." 

"Just sit down on the couch and I'll prepare the food."

She scurried off into what seems to be the kitchen but it looked to small to be one. I sat on the couch and glanced at her apartment, well it looked more like a condo. Only the bathroom and the bedroom were divided into rooms and the rest were all in one area. The living room only spanned up to fifteen steps. Yeah, I counted. And the kitchen, which was directly beside it was even smaller. There were tiny cracks on the wall and the wallpapers were noticeably chipped. But even with the small space, they managed to make it as homely as possible. There were loads of pictures and frames on the walls and on top of shelves. Most pictures were of Bom and Dara but some of them had Youngbae, Seunghyun, and Jiyong in it too. My eyes unconsciously focused on a picture of Jiyong kissing Dara's cheek while she was smiling. 

If I had stayed, would I be the one beside you?

"Holy-- Jani ahjumma gave me a lot of ." her voice interrupted my thoughts. 

She tentatively placed a tray full of plates with food on them. She handed my some chopsticks and a spoon and told me to wait a minute. I just sat there looking at her seemingly evening out her breathing and chanting something under her breath. She suddenly offered her hand to me making me look at her confusedly. 

"Hi, my name is Sandara Park but you can call me Dara." She smiled and wiggled her fingers. "It's nice to meet you... um?"

I smiled back at her and shook her hand. Her hands still felt cold but her familiarly odd temperature always calmed me. I continued to shake her hand, savoring our contact, when she pulled her hand away. She squinted her eyes at me suspiciously and I just looked apologetically at her. 

"Don't push it." she glared. "Now tell me who you are before I call the cops." 

I laughed at her remark and covered my mouth. A habit of mine ever since I was a kid. I felt her take my hand away from my lips as I tried to stifle another impending laugh. 

"Don't hide it. I've never seen you act like this before." she grinned. "You would always stop yourself from laughing and settle with a smile." 

"I've never seen you go against me either before." I referred to when she told me to not push it. She scowled at me before sitting on the floor across from me and digging in. 

"Chop chop with the introductions." 

"Arasso." I cleared my throat to stop myself from laughing and straightened myself. "My name is Lee Donghae. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Dara." 

She gave me a thumbs up while shamelessly gorging herself with food. I was a little shocked to be honest. She never acted so 'unladylike' in front of me. But oddly enough she still looked adorable with her chipmunk cheeks.

I really did miss out on a lot. 

I grabbed my spoon and started eating as well. It was quiet for a time but then she broke the silence. 

"Now that we made our introductions, it's only necessary that we get to know more about each other."

"What are you talking about? We knew each other since we were young." I chuckled. 

"But that's when everything was all fake." She stopped and looked at me. "We weren't the same people from back then." 

"I guess not huh?" A bitter smile formed on my lips. 

"Tell me about yourself Lee Donghae. The one that's sitting in front of me, not that bull one." 

I leaned back on the couch and stared at her impassively. "Where do you want to start?" 

"From the beginning." 

AROUND 10 YEARS AGO (DONGHAE'S POV) -- AT A MIDDLE SCHOOL 

"YAH!" 

I was standing by the school gates when I heard a familiar cute voice shriek. I looked around and saw Dara holding on to an untied side of her pig tails while a boy was tauntingly showing her the hair tie that she snatched. Her back was facing me but even then I could see that she was furious. Her fists were curled into a tight ball and she was shaking a little bit. The boy still continued teasing her while she just stood there watching him. I was about to come in and stop him but Dara beat me to it. She stomped on his foot hard, and when he yelled in pain she grabbed the opportunity to take his arm and give him an Indian burn. She was whispering something to him but I wasn't able to hear it because I was a bit far. I saw him widened his eyes and looked at her horrified. She kicked his side and he ran away from her, stumbling in the process. She grabbed the hair tie that fell on the ground and lightly patted it clean. I started walking up to her while smiling when I saw her furrowing her brows, completely focused on her hair tie. 

"Are you alright, Dara-ssi?" I acted innocent as if I hadn't just seen her beat up our classmate. 

She slowly turned her head towards me while looking at me like she had just seen a ghost. She was distractedly patting her untied hair while she bowed her head, hiding her blushing cheeks. I chuckled inwardly seeing her act so shy. I grabbed the hair tie that she was playing with her hands making her instantly look up to me. I pinched her nose and gave her a peck on the forehead with my pursed lips. I saw her redden even more and I just couldn't contain my smile anymore. She frowned at me and I just grinned. Before I could tie her hair up, she suddenly removed her other pig tail leaving her hair to fall down on her small shoulders. She hurriedly hid herself on her hair while 'sneakily' peeking over it. 

"Donghae-ssi... good morning." she said softly. 

I put my arm around her shoulders and started walking to the main hall. I could feel her glancing up at me which made it harder for me to stifle a smile. I knew Dara had a crush on me, even Bom and Seunghyun told me she had a crush on me but I didn't tell her that I liked her back.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me you liked me too? Do you know how much effort I did to get you to like me back? Aisht, chincha... you really are a bastard..." Dara scowled. 

"Hey! Is that how you talk to your childhood crush? I remembered you biting your lips and always stopping yourself every time you see me." I teased. 

Her fa