“Who is she?”

 

“You don't have to know Sandara, there is absolutely no need.”

 

“Why? What do I not know about you?”

 

“You know everything about me so-”

 

“You're lying, I heard everything.”

 

“Lying or not, you still love me. That won't change. And that's enough for me.”

 

She watched his retreating back and sighed. He was right, no matter what happened, she still loved him. As indignant as she was, she knew he had the upper hand. She watched his shadow grow darker and bigger and size, until it grew so monstrously huge it scared her. She no longer recognized his shadow, all she saw was a terrifying monster in front of her.

 

Dara’s eyes snapped opened. Another nightmare. She has been experiencing these nightmares every single night for these few days. In her dream, she was a mere high schooler, talking to a man way older than her. However hard she tried to bring the pieces of her dreams together, they still seemed like random images which held no relation with one another. The faces in her dreams were nothing less than blurry, hazy ones. She stared at the clock on the wall. 7am. Time to wake up and prepare to meet Bom.

 

_________________________________

 

She walked to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water, and saw Jiyong’s silhouette reaching out for a jar of blueberry jam.

 

“I thought you didn't like-” She yawned, “Blueberry jam.”

 

“I don't have a choice.” He merely replied, “Someone threw my nutella away.”

 

“Right.” She yawned again. “Remember we're meeting at the fish farm this evening.” She reminded after clearing the contents in her glass of water.

 

“I'm not going.” He simply told her.

 

She glared at him. “I have no time to argue with you because I'm going out now, but I expect to see you there exactly at 6pm.”

 

He furrowed his brows. “Where are you going?”

 

She shrugged. “To meet a friend.”

 

“Miss Kim?”

 

“What? No?”

 

“I thought she was the only one you knew aside from me. You have friends?”

 

She let out a sarcastic smile. “Miss Kim is a colleague, not a friend. And yes, I do have friends you !” She was very insulted by his question.

 

Jiyong looked at her in surprise for a moment, and then he chuckled. “Sure, if you say so,” He mocked and stepped out of the kitchen. That jerk! He didn't believe her words!

 

_________________________________

 

“It broke, what are we going to do now? Can you see?” Dara waved her two arms in front of Bom.

 

“No worries,” Bom told her. She bent down to pick up the left spectacle lens which fell onto the ground and took off the pair of glasses. “I just wore this to make me look smarter. No degree.” She placed the frame on the table and rolled her eyes, “Cheap things really don't last.”

 

Dara looked at Bom in disbelief. That lady really does have a thousand personalities. She brushed off that thought and went back to their original topic. “So… what do you think?”

 

Bom leaned back on her seat in the library. “Your father died of heart spasm.”

 

Dara nodded.

 

Bom continued, “It was late at night. Your mother was asleep. There was only your mother and Minho in your house. Source claims that it was found that your father was in his study room looking through your old pictures. Minho told the press he was too upset over you.”

 

Dara let out a bitter smile. “His heart must have been unable to accept that car accident… I trigger his heart attack. I killed him…”

 

Bom looked up at her. She paused for a while before she spoke again, “But… you weren't dead yet. In fact, you were doing so well the doctors said you should be able to regain consciousness after a while even though they weren't sure about the aftereffects of the accident. You died a few hours after your father’s death.” She looked back at Dara and allowed her some time to process the information. “Many people were fooled to think you passed away first because of the car accident that took place. The press released the deaths of the two of you on the exact same day. However, if you compare the exact date and timing,” She paused and pointed to the two dates on the newspaper, “He died first, but no one really paid much attention to that.” She looked back up into Dara’s eyes, “Why would your recovery trigger a heart attack in your father?”

 

Dara gasped.

 

Bom hit Dara with a final blow, “Why would the press be misled to believe you died first? The exact time of your death was only published in one newspaper out of the many other news agencies. I would say it's smart media play to avoid suspicion. Why… And why… would you die all of a sudden from a lack of oxygen to your brain when you were recovering well?”

 

Dara shook her head slightly, her fists clenched tight. She wondered what Bom was trying to tell her.

 

“You know who was the last one who saw you before your death?” Bom pressed further.

 

“It was your best friend, Jessica.”

 

Everything clicked. Dara finally understood what Bom was trying to get at. She stared at Bom while the three words which escaped Bom’s mouth hit her hard.

 

“You”

“Were”

“Murdered”

 

_________________________________

 

Bom picked up a lettuce and munched on it. “You need evidence, Dara.”

 

Dara sighed. “How?”

 

“Get close to Minho. Dig out information from his side.”

 

Dara winced, “I wouldn't like that after all he's done to me.”

 

Bom shrugged and picked up another huge chuck of the salad with her fork. “That's the only way if you want evidence. The information we have isn't enough to prove anything. Even if you and I think he's the murderer.”

 

Dara hesitated a little. “They killed me… I can't believe that…”  

 

“It's just a gut feeling, but most of the time, I'm right. Minho and Jessica were in cahoots to kill you.”

 

“What for? What good they have from killing me?”

 

Bom rolled her eyes, “Money, duh.”

 

Dara’s heart sank. Did Minho do all these for money? Was money all what Minho thought about?

 

The answer is NO. Sadly, Dara hadn't put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Dara thought the mystery was solved, yet the truth is, she was far away from seeing the whole picture. The only question is, would Dara be able to handle the truth?

 

_________________________________

 

“It's the same Dara, so just pick anyone.” Jiyong groaned and looked away. He was exhausted in having to deal with Dara’s weirdness.

 

“It is different!” A voice screeched. “They look totally different!”

 

Jiyong sighed. Now, it wasn't only Dara’s weirdness he had to deal with her friend’s as well.

 

“You're hurting their feelings.” Dara said with a face full of disgust. “You've never considered how they would feel when you said that.”

 

Jiyong stared at Dara in disbelief. He articulated each word and dragged his sentence long. “These.Two.Octopuses.Look.The.Same.Dara.”

 

Dara scoffed and shook her head. Ignoring Jiyong, she turned to the sales assistant, “Miss, did you see that? He's going to be the father of our new octopus, but he doesn't even care about picking the right daughter. He doesn't even put in effort!”

 

The sales assistant nodded awkwardly. Jiyong could only send her an apologetic look.

 

After a few more minutes of their argument, Dara decided to pick the octopus on the right and dragged Bom away to pick up more fish food for Jiyongie. She glared at Jiyong one last time, “You have no right to name our daughter!”

 

He blinked. “I can't be bothered. What are you naming her?”

 

“Octopus”

 

“What?”

 

“I said, octopus! You have hearing issues.” She stomped away, leaving dumbfounded Jiyong behind.

 

“How creative,” He muttered under his breath.

“I HEARD THAT!”