“So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday.” 

―Nicholas Sparks

-when she was 9-

Jiyong wouldn't stop crying with his loud and ugly sobs and Dara didn't know if she should pity him or be annoyed him. Sighing a very woeful sigh, the older girl patted the space beside her and the small child gingerly walked over to her, still in the midst of bawling his eyes out. 

It's been about two weeks already since the 'tomato incident' where the two got into an accident in front of a room full of people because of their argument concerning tomatoes being a fruit or a vegetable. 

It's a fruit. 

Like the little precious baby boy that Kwon Jiyong was, he instantly snuggled closer to Dara, waiting for her soothing and protective hold as he sobbed against her shoulder. A small sneer appeared on her face as she circled her arm around his shoulder while she kept her injured arm away from him.

Luckily, Jiyong only ended up with minor sprains and a few bruises. Dara however, ended up with a broken arm and some other sprains since there was no one to cushion her fall unlike the crying boy in her arm. 

Any time Jiyong would see her, the boy would immediately erupt in tears. The guilt made him queasy and the arm sling Dara was wearing would just make him endlessly remember what happened. 

"Alright, already. Geez." She muttered. "I'm fine, Jiyong."

"No you're not, you big stupid head!" 

Dara's eyes almost bulged out from the audacity of the young turd. She pinched his ear and Jiyong winced childishly. "Repeat that again. I didn't hear you." 

He looked at her with complete contempt before bursting out, "If you didn't just believe that tomatoes were a fruit then you wouldn't have died!" 

She blinked. Alright then. Dara thought that Jiyong felt guilty, hence the crying, but she guessed he was crying because he thought she was... stupid? 

"First of all," she paused, trying to get her head wrapped up in what he just said. "I'm not dead. Second of all—"

"YOU'RE A BIG IDIOT!"

Her hand unconsciously landed on her chest while gaped at the boy's gall. Had she not raised him right?! In a burst of irritated rage she whacked him upside the head, only making him cry even harder. Dara was about to show mercy but then he started repeatedly calling her an idiot and now they were caught in a wild goose chase in her bedroom. 

Dara was caught in a surprise when Jiyong suddenly took a sharp turn and it led her to stumble and hit her arm. As the burning pain shot through her, Dara released an ear-splitting shriek and fell down, too much overwhelmed with the pain in her arm. Jiyong immediately stopped. He wanted to come closer but her restrained hiccuping sobs made him freeze.

A beat passed before her bedroom door opened to reveal Dara's frantic-looking mother. Jiyong didn't even get a chance to look away when Sunmi caught his eye before she dashed towards her crying daughter. Amidst, Sunmi's worried questions and Dara's mewls, Jiyong was deaf to everything else other than his heart beat. It thudded even more frantically as his eyes froze to the sight of her. He made her cry. 

"I fell down." Dara breathed. "It hurts but I think I'm okay." 

Sunmi flashed her an unconvinced look. "You cried so loudly." She sighed, shaking her head. "You had me really worried. Are you sure you're alright? I can take you to the hospital right now."

There was still an ache but it wasn't the same painful ache she first felt after she felt that day. "No, I'm fine. I just need to rest." She was about to say more things to appease her but then her gaze darted to the small boy's horrified expression and suddenly, all she could think about was him. 

Dara grunted as she pushed herself up. She could hear her mother's soft scoldings about being careful but as she made her way to the frozen child, being careful seemed to be the least of her worries. 

"Are you alright, Jiyong?" Sunmi finally noticed his expression and combed his unruly hair. 

When he didn't respond, Dara crouched down, silently grunting as she did, so that she could meet Jiyong's face. The boy's eyes were glazed with unshed tears. The frightened look on his face made her heart ache and her face crumple with guilt. She didn't mean to scare him so badly but she didn't mean to fall and feel the lingering pain of her injury either. 

"Yong-ah." Dara cooed, holding his hand and swaying it a little. "Noona's fine. The hurt is gone now." She was lying. Her arm was still hurting but she just wanted to erase that look on his face. She wonders why she cares so much... but she just does.

His lips moved but she couldn't hear what he was saying so she made him repeat it again.

"Sorry," he whispered shakily, tears falling on his cheeks. 

"Oh Jiyong." Sunmi cooed sympathetically. 

Dara smiled sadly and patted his wet cheek. "It's okay."

"You cried."

"I was just shocked, that's all," she assured. "I'm not crying now, see!" Jiyong didn't seem convinced. 

Sunmi clapped her hands and grinned, "Tell you what, I'll make some cookies to get that smile back on Yongie's face~" She kissed both their heads before she went off to do her promise. 

Jiyong was still tearing up when Sunmi left and Dara sighed, seeing how they went back to square one. She pulled him down so that he could sit on her lap before hugging him from behind and resting her chin on his head. His shoulder's shook from his silent sobs and her frown only grew at the sight. 

"Stop crying, Jiyong. I'm fine already." 

"But I hurt you." 

"I feel better now so it doesn't matter." 

"NO!" He suddenly shouted, causing her eyes to widen. He turned to her with a glare. "I love you!"

Dara blinked. "Okay," she replied, albeit confused.

Jiyong snarled at her disregard. "I love you but I hurt you!" 

A teasing grin showed on her face instead, "You love me, twerp?"

She got an annoyed wail in reply. "You d-don't understand!!!"

Dara's heart warmed at his desperate attempts to try to say what he wanted. It was obvious that the boy was having trouble speaking. And he was 5 years old for Christ' sake. Some older people can't even relate to what he was feeling but Jiyong was already going through some adult emotions. Dara could only look at him with wonder. She wasn't an adult either but having lost her father at such a young age made her grow up and understand people's struggles. 

"What are you trying to say?" Dara asked softly, brushing his hair away from his face. 

Jiyong sniffed and hugged her around her neck. "I don't want to hurt you." 

There goes that teasing smile again. "Because you love me?" 

The innocent boy just nodded, making her chuckle. She rubbed his back soothingly and said, "You can never hurt me, Jiyong," she assured. "You actually made me feel better."

He leaned away to look at her face, his expression serious. "Are you sure?" 

Sometimes people need to get hurt to realize what truly matters. 

"Yup, you're crying distracted me from my arm." She laughed while he glared. 

And when she thought Jiyong had stopped surprising her, the little boy suddenly kissed her.

"Omo!" Sunmi gasped at the door, a smile forming on her lips.

On the lips!

"YAAAaAaaaaahhhHHHH!!!" Dara whined, pushing him, unintentionally sending him to the ground.

A look of shock and betrayal flashed on Jiyong's face before it changed to an accusing one... before he cried. Dara rolled her eyes while Sunmi quickly went to Jiyong. 

It was just an innocent little peck... an innocent little peck that they'd unfortunately forgotten when they grew up. 

Yet despite that, they were still each other's first kiss. 

Dara was humming in front of him while he played with her hair, bored out of his mind. 

"Why can't we just elope?" He winced when she elbowed him from behind. 

They were at the Kwon house's living room with a plethora of wedding catalogs and other wedding-related stuff in front of them. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Jiyong's spacious home allowed for more wedding crap to be spread out. Some bouquets were laid out on the dining room table for them to choose while a number of wedding design invitations were scatted on the floor beside the coffee table they sat across.

Meanwhile, the two of them lounged in one of the sofas with Dara snuggled between his legs as she perused through a wedding catalog while Jiyong braided her hair, refusing to look at another magazine. Who knew weddings would be such a pain in the ? And because of that, he repeated, "Why can't we just elope?" Because eloping right now, sounds way better. 

Dara repeatedly hit her head with his chest, making him laugh a little. "I want this to be special," she whined.

"I can make eloping special," he chimed. "We can elope to France. I know a guy who lives there. Doesn't that sound special?"

"Wise-." She gave him the stink eye. "Okay, I want it to be traditional. I want to wear a wedding dress and I want to see you in a tux. I want there to be lots of pictures of us and of our guest. And I want to keep some of the decorations so that I can look back on something that would remind me of that day." She had said it all in one breath and he was kind of impressed. Dara looked at him and pouted, "Please, baby."

He scoffed. "Don't you baby baby me." Yet the nickname made him smile big. 

"Jiyong-ah..."

He made a long-suffering sigh before muttering, "You're lucky you're not pregnant."

Dara almost choked on her spit. "Why the hell would you say that?" She didn't know why her cheeks burned so much.

He spared her a glance before surreptitiously looking away. "If you were pregnant, we would've been married tomorrow already." 

"Is that a threat?"

"It was a promise," he said but sneered again. "But you're not pregnant now, are you?"

Dara could only smile and shake her head. It's been about two days ever since they got back and her family and his started to coddle her—practically wrapping her in bubble wrap—from the things that might remind her of her traumatizing past. She hated being pitied but she didn't have the heart to stand her ground and assure them that she was fine because she knew that they were hurting too. 

Thankfully, Jiyong knew her better than anyone else and he stepped up chastised them for it. Of course they would think otherwise, saying that they were only being sympathetic but he told them that pandering to her was only reminding her that she was too weak to move on. The time they spent in Jiyong's cottage was when she realized that being out and straightforward was better than anything else. Of course that didn't mean that she'd just confess everything. It's a slow process. A wound as deep as that wouldn't just heal overnight. 

"Do you want me with my hair up or down?"

Jiyong looked at her incredulously. "Are you seriously asking me that?" She just shrugged. He breathed out a chuckle before kissing your head. "I don't care if you have a paper bag on your head or tissues stuffed in your bra, I just want you to marry me, Dara." 

And with all that, the woman only caught one thing. "Stuffing my bra?!" She practically shrieked.

Jiyong took one quick glance at her chest before he met her eyes. In response, Dara started pinching his arm. He was wincing but the laughing overpowered it. "Don't worry, babe. I like you the way you are."

"YAH!!!"

"I am a size C!"

He snorted, "You clearly don't know your bra alphabets."

"And you do?!" 

"No but I sure as hell know you're not a C." 

"Oh yeah?" Dara moved back and turned to him, arms crossed and one brow raised, "What's a C look like to you?" 

Jiyong gave her a blank look as he raised his hands in a cupping position. He glanced over at her chest and asked, "May I?"

" no!" 

He rolled his eyes and cupped his chest instead. It was obvious he had no chest but there were still some thickness in there. "This one's an A." He nodded over to his flattened hands. He moved his hands away from an inch but then grunted and moved it another inch. "This one's a B." He looked at Dara before kissing the air. "My favorite." 

She grew red with rage and embarrassment but let him continue. 

Jiyong moved his hands another few inches away from his flat chest before a satisfied grin appeared on his face. "And this one's a C." He said it a little too cheerily for Dara's liking and without another thought, she walked away, leaving him alone, cupping the air where his C-cup s would've been. 

Dara glared at him from the rim of her glass before she set down her cup with enough force that Jiyong was sure he'd heard a crack. 

"Jesus, what did I do this time." 

"Yeah, call god because you sure as hell's going to need him." She muttered more to herself. 

He rounded the kitchen island with a worried frown before he settled behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Tell me what's wrong and I'll fix it." He kissed her head.

"I don't need you to fix anything. It's just..." She sighed and faced him. "You've had girlfriends, didn't you?"

He pursed his lips and nodded. 

Dara bit her lip and looked shy as she glanced away. "Did they..."

"Did they what?" 

Instead of answering she cupped her s before moving it a few inches away. Jiyong's brows rose in surprise before he became a giggling mess. Dara let out a small whine as he caught her in a loose hug while muffling his laughs on her shoulder. Eventually, he calmed and faced the music, albeit with an amused expression. 

"Not really," he confessed. "They just had about the same size as you... one of them was even smaller. But what do I know, I never saw them ." 

Now it was her turn to raise her brows. "What?" 

He shrugged, "Didn't have with either of them."

"Why not?" It came out as accusing.

He let out an exasperated laugh. "Did you want me to?"

"Well, no... I mean... look at you."

"I don't know what that means, Dara." 

"You're," she then started motioning her hands to him as if saying 'look at this'. "That."

"I'm guessing that's a compliment." He smirked while he let his hands rest on her hips. 

"It's just..."

"I kept thinking of you when I should've been thinking of them," he finally confessed. "I felt like an and things never went farther because I couldn't get my head away from the girl who took advantage of me."

A flash of hurt appeared on his face before it turned accusing. "You took advantage of me too, you big oaf. I was drunk that day, wasn't I?"

"You remembered that?" He asked, surprised. "Well, we both took advantage of each other that day and I wouldn't mind taking advantage of you over and over again once we elope." 

"We're not eloping, Jiyong." 

"You say that now but wait until you get stressed the out." He tipped her chin and softly kissed her lips. "Don't come running for me to take you away, baby." 

"I'm getting married."

The three others immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at the smug son of a with gaping mouths. Youngbae blinked. Daesung swallowed. And Seungri moistened his suddenly parched lips. 

The triumphant look on Jiyong's face slowly diminished seeing how his friends' expressions turned unbelieving. They were looking at him as if he was crazy!

"Yah, why the hell are you all looking at me like that?" 

The three shared a knowing look before Youngbae piped up, "It's Dara noona, right?"

Jiyong glared at them, "Who else would it be?" 

Instead of a rousing cheer that he expected, the group was caught in an almost deafening silence. Youngbae coughed and looked away while Daesung started disinterestedly playing with his food. Seungri, who was the most outspoken one, was the most eerily silent of them all. Meanwhile, Jiyong was beside himself with confusion.

"What's going on?" He couldn't help the incredulity in his voice.