Twelve
Remnants Of The Heart
Jiyong wasn’t asleep, of course. He could hear everything they’re saying and he would sometimes sneak a look at them when they’re not looking. He suddenly felt so stupid for even coming with them. What was he doing anyways? Why was he helping them? He couldn’t help but feel resentment everytime she laughs lightly at something Seunghyun would say.
His fists balled tightly and he mentally swore to himself that as soon as his wounds would heal, he’ll leave. He was better off alone anyways he could just imagine the scenarios as soon as they arrive in their destination and he knew he had to endure them until he feels better to go on his own.
Somewhere along the way, he eventually fell asleep.
Jiyong woke up with a light shake on his shoulder. He blinked his eyes opened and as greeted by the girl’s face. She was blushing and she had her eyes casted down. “Let me guess, you guys kissed when I was asleep, didn’t you?”
It was meant to be a joke but when she blushed further, he can’t help but growl. He stepped out of the car, not really paying attention to his surroundings. A smirk curved his lips as he faced Seunghyun. “That’s it, huh?”
Seunghyun frowned. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
“Nice game you’re playing, Mister-knight-in-shining-armor,” he said. “Did you enjoy it, hmm? She can be pretty aggressive, can’t she?”
Seunghyun’s face darkened. “What’s your problem?” he growled, pushing Jiyong by the chest.
“FYI, I kissed her a lot of times as well and she seemed to have enjoyed it. Can you tell if she enjoyed kissing you as well?”
Seunghyun blinked and glanced at Dara at once. Then, to Jiyong’s surprise, Seunghyun smiled. “Ah, that. . . Dara told me all about that. She –”
“Seunghyun!”
Jiyong looked back and forth between Dara and Seunghyun. “What?” he demanded.
Dara shook her head at Seunghyun. The latter sighed. “Dara’s tired, let’s just get inside and take a rest. Come here,” he turned to her, reaching his hand out. Dara ran to his arms and let him guide her inside.
Jiyong stood there in the middle of the darkness, watching them get inside a small house. He looked up at the sky and swallowed a lump that formed in his throat. With a sigh, he opened the driver’s seat and climbed in. He leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes for a moment. “When did I become this stupid?” he asked himself. “This is stupidity at its finest. Congratulations, Kwon Jiyong. You really are the best in everything.”
He opened his eyes then. He then leaned forward and started the car back to life. He flinched as his shoulder throbbed with pain. With a deep breath, he placed both hands on the steering wheel and was about to maneuver away from the house when Dara suddenly appeared in the doorstep, her eyes wide opened. moved and but he didn’t hear it as he started reversing the car. However, he kept her eyes on her and he watched in curiosity as she started running after him. She tapped the window, frowning at him. He smirked at her and shoo her away with his hand.
Then, she ran to the back of the car and raised her arms on both sides, looking determined. A tap on the window made Jiyong look up – it was Seunghyun. When Jiyong didn’t do anything, Seunghyun pulled the door opened that Jiyong missed locking. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“Well, seeing that I’m no longer needed, I think I better leave, don’t I?”
“If it were me, I would see you leave,” he said.
“What are you doing, Kwon Jiyong?” Dara then rounded up on him.
Jiyong rolled his eyes. “How stupid,” he snorted. “I’m leaving, of course.”
“Watch your language, Kwon.”
“Why?” Dara asked, grabbing his arm and pulling him off the car.
“Aww, careful!” he warned.
“Why?” Dara asked again.
“Why what?”
“Why are you leaving?”
“I see no reason of staying,” he said.
“Well, I see no reason for you to leave as well.”
Jiyong chuckled and looked away. “I’ve got a lot of reasons to leave. Want me to enumerate them?”
Dara bit her lower lip. “You can’t leave,” she whispered.
The smirk left Jiyong’s face. Oh damn it, not that face!
“She’s right,” Seunghyun said. “You’re wounds are still fresh, you should take a rest first. Besides, I need you to stay with Dara for the meantime because I’m going to check on my mother tomorrow.”
“What?” Dara turned to her.
Seunghyun placed his arms around Dara. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“But. . .”
“How long will you be gone?” Jiyong asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” Seunghyun shrugged. “A day or two, maybe.”
“Can I come with you?” Dara asked.
“No, it’s too dangerous.”
“You can trust me with her life,” Jiyong said, obviously taunting Seunghyun. “And her. . .”
“I trust you with Dara’s safety as you were able to keep her alive all this time but to the other things, I don’t. But I trust Dara on that department.”
Jiyong realized it wasn’t really a house. It was more of a motel’s room. The moment you’ll step inside, the first you’ll see would be the dining table and the kitchen. There was a wall hiding the single bed and a couch from view.
“Wait,” Jiyong said. “My third eye is opening and it can just see that I’ll end up in the couch alone while you two get all cuddly in the bed.”
“Ya!” Dara exclaimed.
“Don’t make it too loud, eh?”
“We’ll try to tone it down,” Seunghyun said.
“Seunghyun!”
“Look, if you two are planning to get wild and loud in the bed right now, then I’ll rather stay in the car than become a witness to probably the most disgusting show in the world.”
“We’re not planning on doing anything!” Dara said, blushing furiously.
Jiyong just shrugged. “Good night then.”
“Must you really go tomorrow?” Dara asked in a whisper.
“I have to,” Seunghyun answered. “I haven’t seen her in a while and I’m worried about her health. Don’t worry, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I’m scared. . .” she confessed.
“Of whom? Of Jiyong?”
“No. . . Jiyong is harmless. He’s just a bit. . . naughty sometimes.”
“Hmm. . .” he thoughtfully mumbled. “So you really kissed, hmmm?”
“You know why I have to do that!” she said and was grateful that the lights were off as she could feel the heat crawl up to her cheeks.
“Was he. . . good at it?”
“Seunghyun!” Dara gasped.
“Sorry,” he sighed. “I’m just. . . I really am jealous even if I know why you did that.”
“You know how I feel about you, right?” she gently asked.
“I know,” he smiled through the darkness. “Come here, you sweet thing.”
Seunghyun placed a soft kiss on her hair, making Dara giggle lightly. Inspired by this, he then started showering her hair and face with kisses.
“Ya!” she playfully whispered.
“I love you,” he whispered back and captured her lips.
Jiyong was already up before the two. He was sitting on the chair in the dining table, eyeing the bed and the two people on it with disgust in his eyes. He had some of the contents of his bag spilled on the table – most of them were guns.
He was wiping a cloth on his revolver, making it look shiny when Dara woke up. He heard her purr as she scooted closer to Seunghyun. “Had fun last night?” he asked. Dara jerked up and blinked at him in a daze. Her hair was in all direction that he can’t help but comment about it. “Your hair is like a nest ready to get laid with Seunghyun’s –”
“Oh shut up!” she growled and climbed out of the bed. She went to the bathroom and he could take a guess that she’s washing her face and brushing her teeth. He checked out the place early in the morning when the two were asleep. Almost all items were couple items. There were almost identical items with two colors – green and pink. There were pink and green towels, pink and green toothbrushes, pink and green washcloth and so on and so forth. Seunghyun obviously planned to bring the girl here.
“Are you hungry?” she then asked when she came out from the bathroom.
“I already ate,” he answered.
“Oh! Where?”
“I cooked.”
“Oooooh, did you leave us some?”
Jiyong grunted in response.
“Yay!” she clapped. “Where did you get the supplies, by the way?”
“The place is already well-supplied,” he answered. “It looked to me as if someone prepared this place for a honeymoon.”
“Oooooh, you think? That guy is such a sweetheart but wouldn’t it be rude of us to stay here and use all –”
“You really are stupid sometimes, aren’t you?”
“And you’re really a jerk, aren’t you?”
“I know,” he smirked. “And it makes me wonder why you still bother talking to me.”
Dara opened but then, closed it again. “Well, I don’t really have a choice, do I? Seunghyun’s still asleep.”
“Aren’t you going to wake him up for breakfast?”
“No,” she said. “He looked tired.”
“I’d rather you wake him up so you’ll stop bothering me.”
“Why are you so rude to me?”
“When did I ever been nice to you?” he asked back.
“Great!” she exclaimed. “Answering a question with another question. . .”
Silence then enveloped them as Jiyong kept his mouth shut. Dara couldn’t contain the silence even if she was digging her heart through the food he prepared. “You’ve been nice to me a few times. . .”
“I wasn’t myself,” he answered. “I must’ve been possessed by unknown spirits during those times.”
“Tell me,” she said. “Have you ever been nice to girls in general?”
Jiyong stopped wiping the handle of his revolver and paused to think. “Hmmm. . . . actually, there was this one time that I’ve been nice to a girl that I brought home who was a . She –”
“Ugh! Never mind!”
“Oh, come on! It’s as if you’re still a !”
“How dare you!” she exclaimed. “I’m only sixteen years old!”
“So?” he asked, raising a brow.
“What do you mean so? You. . . it’s. . . . aaaarrrggghhh!”
“Oh dear, you’re still a ?” he asked, feigning a shock look on his face. “I could bet you my. . . gun, Seunghyun is no longer a . How come he didn’t. . .”
“Stop it!” she hissed, glancing nervously at the bed. She was relieved upon seeing that the guy there was still sleeping.
“Maybe he doesn’t find you beautiful,” he said. “Hmm. . . well, you’re not that ugly as well but. . . you lack a bit in the. . . body department, if you know what I mean. It’s not that arousing, if you know what I mean.”
Dara stood up, fuming. She wanted to hurt him so bad but then, upon seeing the bruises and cuts on his face, she sighed and sat down. Then, she frowned. “Hang on a second,” she said. She stood up and walked over to him and pulled up his cotton tee.
“Hey, don’t please! Have mercy on my poor but amazingly y body!”
She then glared at him upon seeing the gauze on his wound soaked with blood. “Why didn’t you –?”
“It’s nothing,” he waved off. “I’ve had worst before,” he added, pulling his shirt down.
“No, we have to look into this.”
“Do you know how to stitch wounds?”
“Erm, not really but. . .”
“Then leave it alone.”
“You can’t just –”
“Hey. . .” a sleepy baritone voice joined in.
Dara stood up. “Hey!” she smiled and went to him. “Good morning!”
Seunghyun hugged her and buried his face at the crook of her neck. “Good morning. . .” he huskily whispered.
“Jiyong got some meal prepared.”
“I’ll shower first,” he said. “So I can leave early.”
“So eager to leave?” she asked.
“If I leave early, I’ll be able to come back early.”
“Good point,” Dara smiled then pulled away from him. “Go ahead then.”
Seunghyun and Dara teased each other while they ate breakfast and Jiyong just stared, no, glared at them the whole time. Dara attempted to let him in to the conversation but he always end up being shunned for his sarcastic, derogatory and insulting remarks. It even came to a point where Seunghyun almost toppled the table over and punched him because of his ist remark about Dara. But then, Dara stopped Seunghyun from doing so.
When it was Seunghyun’s time to go, Jiyong started twirling the revolver in his finger. Dara was talking to the former, asking to him to come back as soon as possible when Seunghyun suddenly glanced at Jiyong and smirked at him. Jiyong raised his brows at the other guy. But he then understood what the smirk was for as Seunghyun pulled Dara in his arms and kissed her. dara’s eyes widened at first but then, they blinked close. Jiyong stopped twirling the revolver in his finger as he watched the scene taking place in front of him. His grip on the handle tightened as the kiss deepened until he finally pulled the trigger.
The two broke apart with Dara squeaking in surprise. Both of them then looked at him. “Oops, my bad. . .” he said.
“What was that?!” Seunghyun demanded, his eyes fixed on the burning hole in the floor.
“It was an accident,” Jiyong said in a bored tone.
“You can’t play games with guns Jiyong,” Dara seconded.
“Wow! Two against one, how fair is that?”
“I think. . . you should just leave.”
“Seunghyun!” Dara exclaimed.
“I’m sorry Dara but I just can’t trust his state of mind right now.”
“You want me to leave?” Jiyong asked. “That’s fine with me, I’ll leave now.”
“Stop being childish, Jiyong.”
Jiyong ignored her and started stuffing his things back to his bag.
“Seunghyun, he can’t leave. He’s wounded because of me! Let him heal first.”
Seunghyun didn’t say anything as his jaw clenched and unclenched. Dara turned back to Jiyong only to see his face scrunched up as he wore his backpack. She walked over to him and pulled his bag from his hand. “Oh, don’t be stupid!”
“Makes you feel good, huh, Jiyong? Acting all wounded up and –”
“It’s not my fault if you were too weak to stop me from abducting her from you and –”
“You take pride in abducting her and –”
“STOOOP!” Dara shouted. “Guys, we’re no longer kids! Please!”
“Sorry,” Seunghyun said at once.
“Well, I’m not. . .” Jiyong smirked.
“I’m sorry,” Seunghyun said again, pulling Dara in his arms. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You know how he is,” she whispered. “I know he’s a bit. . . rude but he did help me. Let’s just bear with him for now.”
“Until his wounds stop bleeding?”
Dara opened then closed it again. They stared at each other for a while before she gave a small nod. Seunghyun then smiled and gave her a peck on the lips. Jiyong made gagging sounds that earned him a glare from Dara.
“What is your problem?” Dara then faced Jiyong after Seunghyun left?”
“What did I do?”
“Why do you always taunt him?”
“Tell me, do you really like him, huh?” he asked, looming over her. Dara started retreating as he started advancing forward.
“”It’s none of your business!”
“You think?” he asked. “Coz girl, the way he kisses you is nothing to the way I can kiss you. Do you remember, hmm?”
“Stop this. . .”
“Do you want me to remind you how it is with us, hmm?”
“No. . .”
“Why not? You started this, remember?”
“I didn’t. . . !”
“Oh yes, you did. Sweetheart, I’m a guy, I easily fall to temptation and I do sympathize with girls having unrequited love.”
“Unrequited. . . what?”
“Playing mind games with me, darling?”
“Jiyong, stop this! You’re scaring me!”
“Do I?”
“Tell me, what’s with you chasing me last night and not allowing me to leave, hmm? Tell me. . .” he said.
Dara squeaked and paled as she backed against the wall. Jiyong then placed his palms on either side of her head, his face just an inch away from hers.
“Come on, sweetheart, spill it out.”
“I don’t have anything to spill out.”
“Liar!” he hissed.
“Look, I’m sorry if you took it wrongly but I was doing everything I can to stay alive!” she burst out. “I never said I love you or that I. . .”
Dara’s hand flew to as she watched emotions played in Jiyong’s face. Her heart started beating so hard in her chest she wondered if he could also hear it. Jiyong straightened up and stared at her with stranger eyes. “I see,” he murmured. “So. . . it was an act. Did you have fun fooling me then?”
Dara blinked at him. “I. . .”
“Was it fun making me believe with those lies, Dara?”
“Jiyong, I’m. . .” she started, reaching out for him but he stepped back, shaking his head.
“You’re nothing but a lying witch, are you?”
“Jiyong, you don’t understand. I was –”
“Save your lies to someone who will believe you,” he cut off and stormed away.
“Where are you going?” she asked. “Hey!”
She grabbed his wrist but he pulled it back and pushed her away. Dara almost stumbled to the floor but she managed to keep her balance. Jiyong got into the car and started it. Unlike the last time, he stepped on the accelerator and went off.
“Oh God,” Dara gasped as she tried to ran after the car. But it was too fast for her. She angrily wiped the tears away from her eyes as she watched the car disappear from view. She bit her lower lip, trying to stop the trembling but when she could no longer hear the sound of the engine, she gave in and cried.
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