I think I’m ugly
And nobody wants to love me

“Hey, Dara! How are you? Feel better?”

Dami scanned the girl, concern reflected in her eyes. She spun Dara around to check her body and exhaled thankfully when she saw all Dara’s body parts were still attached to her.

“I was very worried, you know?” Dami shrieked. “I don’t know how to contact you since you did not give any contact information and when I asked Jiyong, he said you did not come to school also.”  

Dara sheepishly ducked her head while her friends only watched the interaction between the girl and her manager. Luckily, they were the only customers at that time so Dami was not busy getting orders or helping cooking in the kitchen. Dami’s voice attracted Hayi and Mrs. Hwang. They happily welcomed Dara before going back to the kitchen to prepare some dishes for Dara and her friends.

“It’s my treat, kids. Eat up.” Jiyong’s sister flashed a sweet smile. Dara wondered if Jiyong would look as good as his sister too if he smile. 

Daesung, Taeyang, and Seungri were trying to make TOP eat all the food while the president only sighed tiredly. He was forced to follow them when he accidentally bumped into them when the school was over. To the boys, TOP was officially their friend too because he was also Dara’s friend.

“Where’s my brother?” Dami stopped the ruckus made by the boys by asking. Everyone glanced at each other and then pointed their fingers to TOP.

“Because TOP is here. So he didn’t want to join us.”

“He hates President TOP.”

“TOP pissed him off.”

The girls answered for Dami and Dara only giggled. Dara could see how uncomfortable TOP was sitting with the boys, but he seemed to be enjoying the conversation between them although he didn’t say anything. Maybe it was a good thing that TOP was with them. The only people he have been interacting with were Bom and then went to rebuke the students that had violated the school rules.

Dami started to complain about Jiyong’s attitude. “Seriously that boy, after being so worried about Dara, when she’s finally okay, he didn’t want to join you guys?”

Chaerin flashed a smug smile to Seungri and Taeyang. Then, she nudged Bom and Minzy, who were practically inhaling the food in front of them. “Jiyong was worried about Dara?”

“Of course. Last week, he woke up early to go and fetch Dara to go to school together. When I asked him why Dara had not come here, he told me that he waited for Dara in front of her house but she didn’t come out, so he knew you would not come to school and work.” 

Dara stared at Dami, eyes blinking a few times. She did not know about that because she never heard him calling her name or forcing her to go to school. She could feel her heart fluttering.

“And then he suddenly asked me to teach him to make egg roll. I was confused at first but didn’t ask anything.”

The boys suddenly shrieked, except TOP, but he looked amused.

Minzy whined when the boys kept giggling with each other. She was furious that they seemed to know something but the girls didn’t. Daesung was the first to calm down and told them about Jiyong saying that Dara loved egg roll, making Dara blush.

“Dami, how’s Jiyong at home?”

Jiyong’s older sister was quiet for a while, seemed to be thinking before she started to tell them about Jiyong. Jiyong was just like how everyone knew. He was quiet, mysterious, and grumpy when he want to be. He didn’t really voice out what he was thinking, but he always prove something by his action. Dami said that he was unpredictable and everyone nodded their head, agreed.

“He was really closed with our mom, but since she died, Jiyong turned to how he is today.” 

Dara noticed how Dami’s eyes kept trailing back to her, but she was not sure why.

“But these days, I notice how he started to complain about you guys to me. He did not say much, but he’s annoyed with Seungri the most.”

Chaerin snorted. “Jiyong is always annoyed with Seungri even since we were kids.”

“Did you remember when Jiyong threw Seungri’s shoes to a tree? You were wailing but then he climbed the tree to get it back.”

Everyone started to pay attention to Taeyang, Seungri, and Chaerin. They had known Jiyong when they were seven years old. From their stories, it seemed that Jiyong did not change that much. He was basically a quiet person since they knew each other.

“Did my brother give you his phone number?” 

Dara raised her eyebrow when Dami asked. She thought that it was not a big deal to answer, so she nodded. To her confusion, Dami smiled cheekily.

“How did you know?”

Dami shrugged. “He’s keeping his phone close to him since he visited you two days ago.”

Just as Dami said that everyone went quiet, eyes were on Dara. It amazed them how that girl managed to make Jiyong act so differently nowadays, especially towards her. At that time, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of a fan spinning on the ceiling, until TOP decided to break the silence.

“He’s really unpredictable.”

All of them continued to eat the free food, with mouths that didn’t stop talking and chewing.

...

Dara, Taeyang, Daesung, and Minzy walked together to send Dara back home. TOP and Bom had to go back to school because apparently, the vice forgot her homework in the student council room and had forced TOP to accompany her while Lee’s cousins went to the mall to buy Seungri’s new alarm clock. Chaerin had thrown him to the wall this morning after Seungri didn’t want to wake up.

She was in deep thought when Taeyang and the twins were talking about the upcoming event of their school. Dami’s words were playing in her brain, and Dara could not stop thinking about it. She wondered what was the actual reason for Dami said that. Was she someone that Jiyong sincerely took care of? Or he was just using her to kill time, just like what he said when they first met months ago? Did Jiyong also consider her as his friend, just like the others? Was she actually worth being Jiyong’s friend at all?

Realization hit her. At that moment, she real