Five
Remnants Of The Heart
*banner by G-Dara21
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“Damn it!” Kwon Jiyong cursed as he started going down the slope. “DARA!” he called out but only the chirping birds responded to him. He felt angry and annoyed at the same. He told her she’s not going to die yet and it would be an insult to him if she dies this way. “DARAA!”
Still, there was no response. He was getting more frustrated and frustrated as the minutes ticked and Kwon Jiyong getting frustrated is not really a very good sign. Just as he was about to go to the left side, something caught the corner of his eyes. He paused for a moment and went down to his knees. He reached out for the seemingly red fluid staining the fallen leaf. He suddenly stood up and started following the trail of blood smeared on fallen leaves.
And there she was, lying flat on her back, unconscious. He sprinted towards her direction and dropped to his knees. He cradled her head and tapped her cheek, calling her name. But she wasn’t responding, only, she looked so pale like a thin sheet of paper. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he slipped his arms under her and lifted her off the ground and started running up the slope. He ought to bring her to the hospital but his pride and possessive nature stopped him. He wanted to look after her himself. Maybe the opportunity was never present to him before. When the girl was in trouble or was in pain, she kept on running away from him and running to Seunghyun before.
Pearls of sweat started forming in his forehead, as well as to the other parts of his body. A part of his mind was protesting to the way he was making it physically difficult for himself. A part of his mind was asking why he should bother looking after the girl when he was going to kill her anyways. A different side of his mind would reason out that it’s because he himself would want to do it, and he gave his word to the girl already.
Upon reaching the vacation house, he then went to his room and settled the girl down on his bed and started tending to her wound that reopened. He started changing her clothes and pressing a wet cloth to her lips as they were dry and pale. He then noticed a tear rolling down on her left cheek. He paused and looked at her whole face, a smirk curving his lips. He almost forgot that she was the world’s worst crybaby. He could remember the first time he saw her – he actually thought she was an angel, an angel assigned to guide him and correct his wrongdoings. But the girl hated his guts. He saw how she almost hero-worshipped Seunghyun before. It pissed him off, of course. That probably led him to irk her most out of all the kids he used to bully before. But the more he irked her, the closer she gets to Seunghyun. He sighed and frowned upon remembering the other one. The girl mentioned that Seunghyun sort of grabbed her out of nowhere, which obviously sounded more like kidnap. Why, though? And why would someone want her dead? He stood up and walked to the window and stared outside.
Everything was in chaos. He saw Dara and Seunghyun ran off a while ago, not even bothering to see if he was following behind. But he didn’t want to follow them. He wanted to know what’s going on. What’s with the explosion? What’s with the screams? What’s with the fire? Unknowingly, he started heading towards the direction of their house. A small portion of their front yard was caught up in fire but he ignored that and went in. He stopped upon seeing his crying mother with an unknown man on top of her. His father, on the other hand, was kneeling on the floor with a gun in his temple. Then, they noticed him.
“Kill the boy!”
“No!”
He wasn’t so sure what happened but right before his eyes, he saw how his father exploded, some of his blood going to his face.
“Run!” his mother screamed.
He ran.
He found himself next in front of Sandara Park’s house. He saw Sandara’s mother being held by an unknown man as well by the hair. He ran and jumped onto the man’s arm and bit his arm as hard as he could.
He sighed. He saw everything that happened that night, but luckily, he survived. All thanks to Dara’s parents. He could still remember how they whispered her name with their last breath. It was if they were asking him to look after her. He wondered now what they would think if they knew that their daughter would die in the hands of someone they saved.
A moan from behind him brought him back to his reverie. He looked back and went towards the bed. He sat at the edge of the bed and cleared the wet hair from his forehead. To his surprise, she heard him say in a weak but annoyed voice, “Don’t touch me.”
Instead of pitying her, he was actually amused that he smirked. “Can you do something to stop me from touching you?”
She opened her eyes and gave him what he thinks is a glare. “I hate you.”
“Yeah, I figured that out since we were kids,” he chuckled. “But tell me, what did I do this time that irked you?”
“What took you so long to get back?!” she screamed weakly in frustration.
Jiyong’s smile disappeared as his hand stopped from her hair.
“Do you have any idea how scary it was rolling down that - ?!”
She wasn’t able to finish her sentence as frustrated lips claimed hers. Her eyes widened and she blinked several times before it dawned on her what was happening. She ought to push him away but he seemed to be all the energy out from her system. There was something hypnotizing with the way his lips were moving on top of her closed mouth that she can’t help but close her eyes. A while back, she was cold but at the moment, she felt so warm it’s as if she was leisurely sitting under the warm morning sun. A soft sigh escaped her lips, giving him the chance to slip his tongue inside . She gasped and could only hold onto him as he delved in deeper. She had her fair share of kissing before but she never enjoyed it this much. And she wondered why that is – but maybe he was just simply good at it.
Just as she was enjoying it, he suddenly pulled away and smirked down at her. “You’re enjoying my lips too much already.”
She turned red and thought of different things to defend herself. But, she was only able to mumble the words, “I didn’t!”
“To tell you the truth, though, I wanted to do that for a while now,” he confessed then sighed. “If you don’t have a wound right now, I would have taken you right here, right now.”
Her eyes widen as she stared back at him. “Why you erted - !”
Soft but demanding lips invaded hers now. But the kiss didn’t even last ten seconds as he pulled away again. He patted her head and chuckled, “Behave yourself.”
Too flustered and distracted from the kiss, she stuttered, “I’m. . . you. . . I. . .”
-o=o=o-
“So you mean, her family’s doing this?” Seunghyun demanded from Dong Wook.
“Partly,” Dong Wook replied. “As I’ve said, she’s adopted and –”
“I know,” Seunghyun impatiently butted in.
“Kim Dong Shin, her adopted father, is a rich and powerful man but he and his wife, Bang Go Mi are barren. Dong Shin has two brothers, being him the middle child. Both of his brothers are married and well, technically, they thought that they would inherit or get Dong Shin’s properties eventually but Go Mi wanted a child so Dong Shin decided to adopt. Chan Yeol, the eldest, protested strongly about it but he wasn’t able to stop it. While the youngest, Bae Chul, accepted it calmly. However, it seemed that Dong Shin will be giving everthing he own to his adopted child and would not give even a penny to any of his brothers. Both brothers, of course were flabbergasted with it that at first, they were arguing with Dong Shin together. But eventually, they went into planning of what they should do next. Chan Yeol came up with the idea of killing the girl while Bae Chul just thought of kidnapping her for a great amount of ransom. Huh, if the girl thought she was pretty lucky to be adopted by rich people, she thought wrong.”
There was silence.
“So. . .” Teddy broke the silence. “Bae Chul went to you to do the job?”
“Yes and no,” Dong Wook answered. “He merely went to my to ask if I know someone who can do the job and I thought of you guys. But it’s pretty useless now, I can pretty much say she’s good as dead.”
A punch suddenly landed on his face. “Don’t,” Seunghyun gritted through his teeth. “Don’t even say those words together in front of me!”
As the others went to assist Dong Wook up, Teddy placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “He could be right, you know.”
He gave him his darkest glare. “She’s not dead.”
“Seunghyun, if the other guy hired some people used to killing people for money, don’t you think it’s pretty realistic if -?”
“She’s not dead!” he said. “I would know if she is.”
With that, he shrugged off Teddy’s hand and walked away. With every step that he took, his mind was silently chanting the words, she’s not dead, she’s not dead.
-o=o=o-
She noticed the slight change with Kwon Jiyong over the last hours. He seemed a bit talkative and well, positive this time. Positive, meaning enthusiastically laughing at her expression everytime he steals kisses from her – either on her cheeks, her forehead, her hair and yes, her lips. It somehow lessened the guilt feeling she’s feeling towards him for lying but then, she also felt burden as if she was actually betraying Seunghyun for allowing those kisses to happen. No, she’s not allowing those, they were stolen, rather, the right word was: enjoying. As much as she didn’t want to feel that way, she does feel that way everytime his soft, warm and wet lips would land on any part of her face or skin. The kisses were tingly, which were not comfortable at all but still. . . .
Kwon Jiyong wasn’t handsome. No, he wasn’t even half of Seunghyun’s handsomeness. But there was something appealing about him – it’s like a bad-boy image or something or that he seemed dangerous and mysterious at the same time. But she could just tell what girls or women would like about him – his y aura. Even his smile was y, especially the way the corners of his lips curved into a smile. There was just something about him that would make you think of the word y – or better yet the words, bed and .
She gasped and her eyes widened upon realizing what she just thought. Jiyong must’ve heard her because he looked up and smirk upon seeing how red her face was. And when their eyes met, the girl quickly looked away, looking guilty and turned even redder. He stood up and walked to her. Upon reaching her, she turned her around to face him and rested his elbows on the table behind her.
“Were you just having y fantasies about me?” he asked.
“No!” she answered too quickly and too defensively.
A knowing smile curved his lips. “I see,” he silently nodded. He then leaned forward to her left ear and whispered words that a teenage ought not to say and even know. But then, he wasn’t just any teenager anyways. With a chuckle, he nibbled on her earlobe and loudly said this time, “So, do we have the same scene in mind?”
“Of course not! Never would I imagine a scene as horrid as that!”
“So, I’m right!” he said. “You were thinking of y fantasies about me!”
“I wasn’t!”
“You’re already caught red-handed and you’re still denying it?” he asked in mock disbelief. “Wow, you’re really something, huh?”
“ert!”
“You know, if you’ll just say you want to do it with me, just say so. I don’t argue that much when it comes to things like that,” he said, winking.
And Dara could only blush to the roots of her hair. But seeing his playfully teasing side gnawed the corners of her heart from guilt. How many times had she lie to him already when all he was only ever honest to her. He said he’s hired to kill her and that he would, eventually, no pretenses. But what was she doing?
She knew the answer of course. It was the instinct to survive. When one’s face in the matter of life and death, it was a normal human reaction to do what is needed to survive. And she wondered. . . she wondered if she’ll tell him the truth, would he be mad and complete his task at once?
No, she could not tell him yet. So with a bright smile, she turned back to him and asked him to walk her around the area.
As they walked around, Jiyong kept on stealing kisses from her and she allowed him, let him – made him think that there’s no way for her to escape, that she’s enjoying every bit of it when she really wanted Seunghyun to do that. Jiyong’s kisses weren’t comfortable as well because aside from his lips being smooth and wet, there was some sort of tingly and hot sensation that would crawl up her skin everytime his lips touches her skin. That wasn’t comfortable. She prefers a warm and comforting kiss, not a hot and tingly one.
“There’s actually a shortcut here,” he said. She just nodded, acting as if she’s more interested with the wild flowers growing nearby. “There’s a little trail, almost invisible that you can follow and it will lead you directly to a town that would also lead to the city. There’s – hey, are you even listening?”
“Huh?” she asked.
“What are you preoccupied about?”
She looked down and smiled. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Pft, flowers!” he snorted.
She looked up and glared at him. “Ya! What’s with that tone of voice?”
“Why are girls fascinated with flowers?”
“Duh!” she said, rolling her eyes. “Why do you think boys are fascinated with guns and toys?”
“At least guns and toys don’t wither.”
“They rust,” she retorted.
“Plastic toys don’t rust,” he reasoned out.
“They can be deformed!” she annoyingly fought back.
Jiyong chuckled upon seeing her annoyed face, it was almost baby-like and it reminded him of the old days. It was so easy to piss Dara off, that hasn’t changed.
And that was nice to know.
The day passed by without any mishaps for Dara, except probably when she was about to go to bed and Jiyong was insisting that they should bring her y fantasies of him to life. He was endlessly chasing her around the room and in bed but when his phone started ringing, he suddenly transformed into a different person – more of the person who’s hired to kill her.
He went out of the room as he accepted the call. She immediately went to bed and tried to get some sleep. Sooner or later, she felt the other side of the bed moved. A soft kiss landed on her forehead which squeezed her heart for some unknown reasons.
“Sweetdreams crybaby,” he whispered. She was tempted to whisper back, she was tempted to open her eyes gave him a sleep smile but she didn’t. She can’t understand what she was feeling as well. But she was sure of one thing, she needs to close her eyes firmly and pretend to be asleep. If she opened her eyes, he might see the guilt and truth in her eyes and she can’t help but think that he would be hurt, although he’s not sure if he’s capable to feel that emotion but. . . .
She shook the thoughts away from her mind. She was just being sympathetic, that’s it. And she can’t afford to be one at the moment.
It felt centuries to Dara as she listened to the clock ticking. But she endured it, she has to. When she felt it was the right time, she opened her eyes and silently glanced at the clock – it reads three in the morning. She slowly looked back at Jiyong. He was asleep. She then slowly stood up and carefully went out of the room, barefooted and in tiptoes. Based from what she observed, Jiyong is actually a light sleeper so she wondered for a moment why he’s not calling her or doing anything. Then it came to her that he probably thinks that she’s scared or honest enough not to leave. Or maybe he actually trusted her not to leave. Her mind immediately dismissed the second possibility. No, she could not afford to think that way. It would only add up to the guilt feeling that she ought not to feel towards the person who swore to kill her in due time.
She was able to get out from the house with no hassle. Looking around, she immediately sprinted to the path where Jiyong mentioned was a shortcut. Since she was barefooted, it wasn’t easy but she endured it. As she followed the tiny trail, tears rolled down her face which she could not explain. Oh Seunghyun, please help me.
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