“I’ll be out for a while Namgook, I’ll be taking my own car” I announce as I put on my vest.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you, sir?”

“I’m fine on my own Namgook, don’t worry, moreover, you need to attend your daughter’s school play, so you’re free to leave” his eyes widen at my statement, his mouth agape in complete bewilderment.

“w-what?” I smile at his stuttering

“Your little daughter called me yesterday; she told me ‘Mister Boss, can daddy please not come to work tomorrow? I’ll be playing Anna from ‘Frozen’ in our school play and I want him to come watch my play! Please Mr. boss!’ ” I say, trying to imitate the voice of a 6 years old girl, but judging from Namgook’s amused reaction, I believe that I have failed.

Well, at least I tried. I cough to cover my embarrassment and put my hand on his shoulder.

“Go, she’s waiting” he looks at me with a glint of appreciation in his eyes. He slowly moves backwards and bows

“Thank you so much sir” I nod at him as he leaves the office with a gentle smile on his face.

Namgook has been loyal to me for two years now; he never bails on me nor complains about my flaring tempers whenever stress builds up in me, he even stays by my side even when I don’t order him to. I wonder if he ever gets sick of his job.

I know I do. Being surrounded by four beige walls with one enormous window overlooking the other sky scrapers around the area is just dull. Where’s the fun in signing meaningless contracts? Where’s the fun in meeting VIPs and making connections?

Where’s the fun in designing anymore? Everything now is simply bleak.

With a sigh, I grab my car keys and head out, feeling completely worn out from thinking.

I drive around familiar streets and stop once I reach a latent ancient coffee shop. I park the car nearby and march towards the entrance.

The shop door bell rings twice when I open the door, and almost immediately I notice the petite girl, sitting comfortably on a chair in the far corner, browsing the latest issue of ‘InStyle’ magazine.

I don’t know how she does it, but one look at her, and I suddenly relax. I smile a tad bit excitedly than usual and take the seat next to her

“For a millionaire like you Jiyong, I didn’t expect you to know of this place” she puts the magazine down and crosses her legs. I grin playfully while taking off my vest.

“For an acute observer like you Dara, I didn’t expect you to hold such a prejudice about rich people” she chuckles at my reply which makes me smile.

“Well then, why don’t you tell me?” I furrow my eyebrows in confusing at her question

“Tell you what?”

“Tell me why you wanted to meet me” She stares at me and I look down at the wooden table, thoughtfully inspecting the small cracks. I gently touch them, feeling their roughness.

“That day, when you interviewed me, you said that my designs lost their original touch, and that they’re tedious and dry compared to the old ones” she nods while staring intensely at me

“just..how did you notice the difference? Why did you say those words?” she rests her elbows on the table and continues staring at me with a warm smile

“Remember that ‘Heartbreaker’ 3D graphic design you made three years ago, the one that got you famous?” I nod, recalling the long time and effort that took me to make it.

“You did an open interview in front of your workshop that day, and one of the journalists asked you how you felt about your sudden popularity, do you remember your reply?” my eyes beam in realization

“ ‘I want people to know me through my designs because they’re the most important pieces of myself. If they suddenly lose their individuality and personality, that’s when I lose my individuality and personality too’ ” I whisper with a bitter taste in my mouth.

The words feel heavy as I voice them, every single one of them comes out strangled. It’s painful, even my throat hurts. I look up to see Dara knowingly smiling at me as if she’s reassuring me that everything will be okay, that I haven’t lost myself yet.

“I still believe in you, you know” she utters gracefully and by the time I grasp what she said, the pain abruptly disappears and is replaced by a mix of  heartfelt emotions that I can’t seem to explain.

She’s doing some sort of magic to me, because I can’t seem to stop smiling whenever I’m with her.

“Kwon Jiyong is still alive, and I’ll gladly wait for him to appear again, just don’t take too long because I hate waiting” she warns jovially and calls the waiter to refill her coffee cup.

I stare absentmindedly at this mysteriously beautiful girl in front of me. I watch as she carefully sips her coffee to make sure it’s not too hot but she accidently burns her tongue.

She winces at the pain but quickly recovers, as if nothing happened, and takes another sip of her coffee. She puts the cup back on the table and looks at me.

“Why are you staring at me?” she eyes me warily and I chuckle at her ridiculousness. I shake my head and resume staring at her.

“Do you want to come to my place?” I ask randomly and she almost spits her coffee

“W-what? Are you crazy or what?” she gives me a disgusted look and that’s when I realize that she misunderstood me.

“It’s not what you’re thinking”

“Then what?” I smile as I stand up

“I want to show you something” she stands up with a befuddled expression on her face.

We walk towards the car and I open the passenger seat for her. I walk back to the driver seat and start the engine.

“So, where do you live?” she says as she fastens her seatbelt. I smirk as I glance at her side

“You’ll see”

I drive for nearly 20 minutes until we reach a rusty old apartment complex.

“wow, you’re right, you really can’t trust those cliché prejudices about the rich” I chuckle at her statement and guide her towards the entrance

“hate to break it to you but I do have a condo, though it’s miles away from the office, that’s why I’m staying here right now” we take the elevator till the 8^th storey and walk towards the last room at the end of the hallway

“Are you ready to see something amazing?” I watch her excited reaction with amusement.

“Stop talking and open this door” she commands and I slowly, in a dramatic way, open the door.

“woah..” she steps in first as she gapes gleefully at the various designs decorating the room. Illustrations are scattered all over the desk and the floor, while some are hang on the wall.

“This is so beautiful” she says as she holds a sketch of an imaginary car I made when I was still a kid. She roams around enthusiastically while I stay in place, enjoying her little fangirling.

“Oh, I remember this! It’s called ‘Butterfly’, right? I had this as my phone wallpaper for two months actually” she giggles shyly while holding a butterfly drawing in her hand.

I honestly can’t keep a straight face while watching her. She’s so energetic and lively that it’s hard for me not to smile. She jumps from a place to another, throws a comment here and there while taking pictures of the small room.

“This place is magical, do you actually live here?” she asks and I nod.

“This is where I had the inspiration to make the ‘Heartbreaker’ design. It’s very peaceful and quite here, that’s why I like it. The condo is extravagantly big for my liking, I can’t focus in it. I like confined places more when I’m working” she nods at every word I say with joyful smile.

“ah! I wish I lived here. It’s so beautiful, I don’t want to leave!” she falls down dramatically on the ground and lies next to a pile of sketches. I lie down next to her and lean in close until our shoulders are touching.

We stay in that position for a while, bathed only with silence, until she grabs a sketch of what I think is an old attic with a singular window in the middle. She scrutinizes it while I take the chance to ogle at her.

It’s weird how frisky I feel whenever I’m around her. This morning, I left the office with a bad mood and now as I’m staring at her, I feel so light and so at ease.

When I invited her to see my place, I was really nervous. I was afraid she would be disappointed like with my designs displayed in the gallery, but her face glowed up in happiness upon seeing my old works, and I felt genuinely happy. For a split second I felt like Jiyong again when he was at the workshop, happily designing, and the kids would gather around him and gawk at his works in total admiration.

My works were the reason behind their smiles

I was the reason behind their smiles, and now, I’m reason behind Dara’s smile, and this joy of hers is making me happy too.

“Dara..” I whisper

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for believing in me” she turns her head to face me and gently smiles.

“I’ll always be your fan, Jiyong”

“Then, can you help me with something?” I slowly get up and she does too. I rub the dust off of my clothes and adjust my pants.

“What is it?” she asks and I smile

“I want you to be by my side, as much as possible. Let’s meet up here every day and we could designs things together, I mean, I’d draw the designs and you would give me your inputs on them” she looks around dreamily at the small room and smiles in satisfaction

“but, Jiyong, why me?” I grab the attic sketch she’s been holding in her hand and glance knowingly at it

“Because you’re honest, and honesty is exactly what I need” she nods understandingly

“Alright then, let’s meet up here every day, but only under one condition”

“What is it?” she pushes some curls away from her face and smiles

“Kwon Jiyong, let’s not fall in love”

It’s those words again. They sound ridiculous and strangely melodramatic, but her cold tone and feeble smile tell me that I should take her words very seriously, and I don’t like it.

I don’t like her offhand threats, I don’t like her flimsy words, and I don’t like her distant tone.

I don’t like how she’s ignoring the depth of this relationship that is between us right now.

Say, Dara, why are you pushing me away?

♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧

AN: WARNING: the updates may be very slow these upcoming days due to some personal stuff going on but I'll try my best to finish this before school starts in my country

if you notice any grammar/typo mistakes, please notify me.

Thank you to the lovely subscribers and I hope you enjoy this crappy chapter ^^