“Because this is what I believe - that second chances are stronger than secrets. You can let secrets go. But a second chance? You don't let that pass you by.” 

―Daisy Whitney

-3rd Week After Dara's Operation-

The sound of crunching leaves sent a familiar foreboding chill down his spine. It wasn't his first time to visit alone yet he was still always on-edge because of the vibe the place had. There was just something about cemeteries that he really didn't like. He wasn't sure if it was because of his distaste for horror that factored in on this apprehension but the overall atmosphere of the place somehow always makes him want to look back and check if he was being followed by a murder—or worse, a ghost.

Jiyong shuddered at that thought. 

Tucked in his arm was a small bouquet of flowers while a small bucket of water and a washcloth dangled against his other hand. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as soon as he stepped foot in Park Wooyoung's tomb. Carefully, he set down the bouquet in front of the man's grave while he tucked the bucket beside him. Kneeling to the ground, he offered a chaste prayer before sweeping the fallen leaves from his tomb and cleaning his grave. 

There was no one else in the cemetery other than him, he noticed. It seemed like no one even visited since the other graves looked clearly unkempt and forgotten. It was a depressing sight but what could he do? Curse the families of the deceased for forgetting their dead loved-ones? The guilt he felt for the disheveled resting places was probably going to make him want to clean them all. Jiyong sighed. Maybe cleaning the whole damn cemetery would get his mind off of things. 

The washcloth traced over the intricate carving of the man's name, date of birth and death, as well as a little phrase that summarized his life. 

Park Wooyoung
August 24, 1968 - December 22, 1996
A loving father, a doting husband, and a good man

Jiyong felt like there was something missing in his memorial phrase. He didn't know much about Park Wooyoung in a physical sense but he knew that his phrase held truth to the hearts of everyone who knew him. He'd heard that he had been a timid and humble man. Park Wooyoung would had always been selfless—always showing compassion with a smile on his face and a bright mood. He truly was the epitome of a good man...

Yet why did they have to take him away?

Bitterness and anger struck him as he continued to clean the poor man's grave. They took him because of some stupid 'curse' that Park family had. Jiyong looked at the the dates once more and felt himself grow colder at the observation. Park Wooyoung died at the age of 28. He didn't even reach 30 yet still, he was taken. 

Dara...

He felt his heart race with anxiety at the thought of her name. Dara was 26 years old now and if her father had died before the intended year then... 

No... No!!

Dara's at the hospital and barely breathing—barely surviving. A surge of nausea hit him but he managed to compose himself before anything could happen. Jiyong put a hand on Wooyoung's grave desperately as if the dead man would hear his plea. 

"P-Please." he looked at Wooyoung's name with frantic eyes. "Don't l-let them take her away. Please. P-Pl-Pease! Oh my god." He felt like he couldn't breath. Dara. "Please!" 

She shouldn't die! She's too young to die! I don't want her to die!!

Tears started to stain the marble slate, his hands crumpled into fists on the ground. His tears were only a reminder of how helpless he truly was. Jiyong had nothing left to do but cry and beg, and it made him a weaker man than he already was. 

Dara was a good woman just like how her father was. Why couldn't they just take some selfish like him to take that rightful place? Why couldn't it just be him? He was the opposite of a good man. He was selfish and he wanted to keep Dara alive and all to himself. He didn't want them to take her like they did the rest of her family. 

Why just couldn't it be him?

A faint crackle of leaves made him flinch and hurriedly wipe the hopelessness from his eyes. He tried to play his anguish off by continuing to clean Wooyoung's grave but then a pair of dress shoes stopped straight at his line of sight. Tentatively, he glanced up to see an old man with a holding a lone flower by the stem. The grey-haired man was looking at him with sympathy and he patted Jiyong's shoulder and crouched to get to his level. 

"Is everything alright, son?" his gruff voice questioned. 

Jiyong didn't speak, he didn't even move his head for a response. The old man patted his back once more, his big hand resting heavily on the younger man's back. 

"Everyone dies sooner or later." the man spoke again. "We shouldn't be afraid of death." 

"I'm not afraid." he heard her say as she put her head on his shoulder. 

He scooted closer and wrapped his scarf around the both of them. "About what?" he asked. 

"Dying." she whispered. 

Jiyong glanced up at the somber night sky as his head landed softly against hers. "Me too." 

"That's good... we shouldn't be afraid of death." 

He didn't like this. 

Jiyong looked up, stunned to see the face of the girl he left lying on the hospital bed. Her face was adorned with an array of scratches and bruises yet her gentle smile remained. He opened his mouth to call her but a suffocating lump on his throat silenced him. He blinked and opened his eyes to see the same old man from before. Jiyong urged himself to look away but the man's calloused hand suddenly held his chin and he tilted it up for Jiyong to face him again. 

"Don't be afraid."

He blinked and opened his eyes once more to the sight of an 18 year old Dara beside him. The strange old man vanished into thin air and was replaced by his melancholic-looking best friend who looked at him with glassy eyes. 

"Jiyong?" 

"But I don't want you to die." he blurted out, heart pacing all of the sudden. He could feel her tensing up beside him and he tightened his hold against her arm when he felt her trying to remove herself. "I don't want you to die, Dara."

And then he heard her soft cries.

"I-I can't..." she slurred. 

"You can." 

"Jiyong—"

"If either of us is dying then it should be me." he sighed. "It's better if I die before you." Jiyong murmured absently, unblinking eyes staring up at the darkening empty skies.

He blinked. 

And suddenly, he felt like someone was holding him by the neck as he felt himself getting pushed roughly to the ground. He coughed, cringed, and breathed but he couldn't find his voice. He couldn't cry for help. He couldn't open his eyes. 

At one point, his pulse was the only thing he could hear and the next thing he knew, his chest heaved massively before he felt his back landing on the ground. 

"Don't be afraid." 

Jiyong opened his eyes feeling completely dazed and confused. He straightened up to sit and found a lily resting on his palm. He looked around to see if anyone was there but he found that he was alone like he last remembered. Groaning, he set the lily down and quickly finished off the rest of the cleaning to call it a day since the sun was starting to set. 

He was about to leave when he noticed that he left the lily on the ground. Going back, he carefully set it beside his bouquet and prayed once more.

"Please protect Dara." he muttered. "Don't let her die." 

Soon after, he left and visited Dara back at the hospital to tell her the day's events. 

What he didn't know was at that time, he made a wish. 

A wish that had become a deal with the devil. 

Jiyong left a lingering kiss on her lips as he smiled down at her, "I love you." he said. 

Dara restrained the grin but couldn't help the blush. 

"I... like like you too." 

They didn't sleep at all that night. The new-found couple was too busy talking about nonsense and stealing kisses from each other, be it on their lips, parts of their head, or hands.

Jiyong was a complete mess throughout all of it. The overwhelmed man interchanged between sniffling, smiling, kissing her, sighing contentedly, and the looking at her as if she was the world. Don't give him that look. He's been suppressing the need to do all of those thing for decades so get off his briefs! Let the man live!

Dara on the other hand, still wasn't sure how to behave 'romantically' like he did. Of course, her skinship with him was still there. In fact, there was more touchy-feely going on (though not ually). Yet she still squirms every time Jiying makes her say those three words or when he's giving her those expectant eyes that say that he wanted her to do sometime. In this case, Dara was just as a squirmy mess than he was but he just found it absolutely adorable.

She thought that he was going to coax her to sleep with him (again, not ually) since it was already so late. But he surprised her with a good night kiss—or a good morning one—before he left at 5am so that he could get ready for the day. Undoubtedly, Dara was left as a complete squirmy mess on her bed. She screamed on her pillow, rolled about on her mattress, and stared at her ceiling as if there were beautiful stars above her.

She was liking the warm feeling that her heart was making. Even the corny way it pitter-pattered against her chest left her flushing and breathless. They've been together for 20 years yet still, it had to take 20 years until they were finally together together. Now that she acknowledged her feelings, it was easier to accept everything. Doing and Saying things however, proved to be a challenge. At that, Dara blushed and squealed against her pillow.

Dara felt like she was such a teenager! She didn't remember acting so embarrassing like this when she was with Seunghyun. Now that she thinks about it, Seunghyun have never made her feel so thrilled like this before. 

"We broke up because of Jiyong." 

Dara didn't say anything, instead, parted in suppressed shock. Seunghyun took this as a sign to continue. 

"You loved him too much..." it came out as a hoarse whisper. "When I confronted you about it, the first thing you did was apologize. You didn't even deny it. You loved him so much that I decided to end things... to save the both of us." 

Something in her tugged, and that tugging soon turned into an aching pain. 

"I'm sorry, Seunghyun. I'm s-sorry."

Unknowingly, a tear rolled down on the side of her face. Her eyes were unblinking as she stared at the ceiling and her body was frigid, still from the familiar apology that was repeating in her head. Her eyes closed, feeling a sudden stabbing pain. Her hands pressed hard against her ears, her body crumbling against the mattress as a panic look painted her face. Her pulse ran rampant against her chest and her breath grew laborious as the same apology kept echoing in her head. Before she could cry out a name, a knock made her body freeze. 

"Dara?" 

The haziness from her eyes instantly vanished and she groggily pushed herself up as a stabbing migraine made her groan. The door opened with a slight creek and Jiyong came in, clad in a business casual attire that made him look like a preppy college kid. Dara would've about it but before she could even manage a quick quip, her head dropped face-down on the bed as another grunt came out from her lips. She heard him chuckle a little and she knew she had changed because that chuckle made her feel warm and not needing to kick him in the shins.

Jiyong put a hand on top of her head and patted, "Are you alright?"

Her groan was muffled by the blankets. 

The bed dipped when he sat beside her and he chuckled again when he noticed that the woman's was pointing to the sky. Biting his lip, he aimed to slap that little tush when Dara's hand suddenly shot up and gripped his jaw. His eyes widened and he glanced down to see her glaring at him with one eye.

"Don't even think about it." she hissed. 

Jiyong's mouth scrunched up and he dutifully lowered his hand. At that, Dara removed her death grip on him and made Jiyong release a secret smirk. She was about to sit up when...

SLAP!

A vein popped on the side of her neck as a sting radiated from the cheek of her . Slowly, she sat herself up and deadpanned to a playfully grinning Jiyong. "I'm going to end you." she gritted. 

He kissed her on the cheek and smiled