A/N: A BELATED MERRY CHRISTMAS GIFT! 
I planned to post this before christmas day, but my netcon only came back last fri evening, and well
got tied up celebrating the holiday season....
This is dedicated to all you awesome readers....seeing this monster getting featured last week made me 
THANK YOU for the  , if anyone deserves credit for the success TMK received, it's all due to my dearest readers
*kneels down and bows* again, THANK YOU!

Dara's party look is inspired by her savvy look in her nikon 1 CF... now nuff of this rambling...Hope you'd all enjoy....

A buzzing sound comes from the door as Seunghyun is about to turn the door to his room open, ready to retire for the night. His brows connected when he happened to glance at the clock on the wall and sees that it's almost midnight. He walks over to the front door.


"Hyung?" Surprise lacing Seunghyun's voice after he opens the door. Won Bin is standing out by the hallway.


"Can I come in?" The latter asks.


Seunghyun steps to the side and opens the door wider, allowing Won Bin to step inside. Won Bin proceeds to the living room and slumps on the couch.


Seunghyun appears on Won Bin's side, bearing a tray in his hands, which carries two snifters, a small bucket of ice and a bottle of scotch. He places it on top of the table. 


"Thanks." Won Bin mumbles to Seunghyun, when the younger guy hands him one of the glasses, now filled with the amber liquid.


"I might've scared Dara." Won Bin breaks the silence that filled the air. 


Seunghyun quietly stares from the side, waiting for Won Bin to continue. It was the first time for him to see Won Bin worry to such an extent, over something. 


"When I left the country, I wasn’t sure of how I feel for her. I thought I fancied her only as a dongsaeng." Won Bin begins to recount. "Being away from her, set things clear for me. Often, thoughts about her had plagued my mind. I’ve looked forward to every mail or phone call I had with her. At first, I shrugged things as Dara reminding me of being back and that I’m only having a case of homesickness.”


Won Bin shifts, leaning his back against the couch this time, before he continues “You’re aware of how I had fought hard with my parents so I can pursue my dreams. I wasn’t ready then to give things up and go back because I was missing home. I decided to detach myself. The emails and calls I’ve been exchanging with Dara became rare. I’ve only sent one on holidays or on her birthday.”


Seunghyun still hasn’t said anything. 


“I didn’t live a life of a saint as what everyone else thinks I did. I played the field like any normal guy. But none of the girls I’ve dated made me want to commit. It was like I was being held back by something. One time, while cleaning up in our dorm room, my roommate handed to me a box he had stumbled upon, stashed way behind some other stuff inside our closet. When I opened it, I saw the old letters Dara has sent. I was smiling the entire time I was reading through them once again. That’s when I became honest with myself. That the reason why it never crossed my mind to get serious with any of the girls I’ve dated, it’s because they were not Dara. I promised then, once I’m back, I’ll do everything to make her mine. Make up for the lost times. But I went overboard tonight.”


“What do you mean by that hyung?” It was the first time Seunghyun spoke.


“I meant to take things slow. Court her like a princess should be. But earlier, I kissed her. I don’t know what came over me.” Won Bin sits up and drinks the scotch in one go. “No, I’m actually lying. I know exactly why I did that.” He chuckles bitterly “I’m jealous. I’m fcuking jealous of Jiyong.”


“Jiyong?” Seunghyun feels alarmed to hear the name.


“Dara and I were at the theater earlier this evening, she went to the ladies room while I was getting us some drinks during intermission. When she returned she looks shaken. And I noticed that she has her eyes turned towards someone in the crowd. Following her gaze, I saw a man and a woman leaving. It was also uncanny for Dara to guzzle down two glasses of champagne like it was water.”


“Hyung, are you sure it was Jiyong? It could be someone else.”


“I grew up with Jiyong. I’d recognize him anywhere, even with his back turned towards me.” Snatching the bottle of scotch, Won Bin pours himself another shot, which he downs in seconds.


Won Bin takes a glance at Seunghyun. He’s debating whether he’d tell the younger guy what he saw in the sauna weeks ago.


The sour taste of bile rises up to his throat as jealousy consumes his entire being, as Won Bin is reminded of how Dara was looking at Jiyong that fateful day.


He had witnessed how Dara and Jiyong were having fun. From the moment when Dara cracked the eggs against Jiyong’s forehead, until the time Jiyong got to tackle Dara from behind, after running around inside one of the sauna rooms. He saw the tender expression on Jiyong’s face when he noticed the bruise that was starting to form on Dara’s knee. But what really had turned his blood to ice, is how Dara was looking at Jiyong. She only had eyes for Jiyong. 


It took him a lot of effort to drag his eyes away from the two and to walk away without making his presence known. He drove around the city for a few hours to clear his head and to decide how he’d handle things from then on. 


Seunghyun’s voice pierces through his reverie. “I don’t think you have anything to be jealous of Jiyong hyung.” 


“I really wish I am.” Won Bin’s gaze didn’t falter as he uttered the next words “Whatever happens, I am not going to give Dara up, easily.”









~oOo~









Dara is fidgeting with the skirt of her gown. Her fingers are busy in picking on the nonexistent lint over it. She’s riding at the back of the car along with Bom and Seunghyun. They were on their way to a hotel to attend Won Bin’s welcome home party. 


“Ssantokki? Are you feeling okay back there?” Bom asks.


Raising her head, Dara meets Bom’s eyes in the rearview mirror “Nerves.” She gives Bom a small smile of assurance. 


Dara fully knows how her sisters are aware of how she detests going to social functions like this. And so, using that excuse, she’s aware that Bom would drop the subject and would no longer probe her for answers. Answers, she herself, are looking for.


Dara feels anxious. This is one of those moments where she’s cursing the circumstances that Jiyong and Won Bin are cousins. Making the chances of him not attending tonight’s function to be around 1%. 


It’s been a week since the ‘incident’ with Jiyong happened. A week in which she felt as strained as the string on a tightly strung bow that’s about to snap, expecting for Jiyong to appear and confront her, like he’s been doing for the past weeks when she started to avoid him. Or rather, trying her damnest not to be left alone in the same quarters with Jiyong. She decided to distance herself from Jiyong right after Won Bin confessed his feelings for her, and not because of how her heart had drummed crazily inside her chest at the sauna.


However, Dara never expected to meet Jiyong at the theater, when she and her Bin oppa went out for a date. What surprised her even more was her body’s reaction when Jiyong’s hot tongue touched her skin. Remembering what transpired, brings a shudder to run down her spine and a flush to creep up her entire body. 


Dara winces as the car pulls to a stop in front of the hotel. in a big gulp of air, and expels it slowly to calm her nerves.


“Fighting!” She mumbles to herself. Placing her hand on top of the attendant’s who opened the door for her, she steps down from the car.


Standing behind Bom and Seunghyun, they walked off towards one of the function halls where the party is being held. 


“Oppa!” Dara greets, a smile appearing on her face, as she catches sight of Won Bin standing by the door.


“Wow!” Is the only word that came out of Won Bin’s lips. He received a message from Bom informing him that they’ve just pulled over in front of the hotel.


Won Bin’s eyes slowly perused from the tip of Dara’s feet encased in white, strappy high heeled shoes, to the silky looking bared skin of her legs to the white dress sheath sleeveless dress she’s wearing, until his eyes devours her face which looks innocent and sultry at the same time, because of the smoky eye make-up she has on.


If it weren’t for Bom faking a small cough, Won Bin wouldn’t have snapped from being dazed. 


“You look beautiful Dee.” Won Bin says, moving forward to clasp Dara by the elbow. “Let’s go inside?”


Dara gave a small nod in response.



People had already littered the halls. A tinkling of laughter and hushed conversations can be heard over the soft strain of the music. Dara surveys the area, trying to locate the person she dreads the most to see. Thanking her stars that Jiyong is still not among the crowd.










~oOo~










More than an hour had passed, Dara is starting to enjoy the evening. Since it looks as if Jiyong is no longer coming, the tension that was gripping her earlier ebbs away. 


Raising the glass to her lips, Dara takes a sip from her third flute of champagne. She’s now standing near the area that is set up as dance floor. 


She had excused herself from Won Bin who’s currently engage in a conversation with his parents and the board of directors of the hospital where he’d start working. 


“Hey there.” A masculine voice greets from behind.


Dara instantly relaxes the second she recognizes the face of the person who called her attention. 


“Seungri-ssi.” She greets in response


“Cool! You still know who I am.” Seungri is grinning like the chesire cat in Alice in Wonderland.


“Well, it’s kind of hard to forget someone who tried hitting on you, which is rare for my case.” The bubbly drink had not only loosened Dara’s tensed muscles, but also her tongue.


Seungri chuckles at the catty remark Dara threw at him. “I’m just a man who appreciates beauty.”


“And I bet you said that same thing to half of the women in this room between the age of eighteen to forty five. Too bad it won’t work on me.”


“I still need to try. You’d never know if it might work.” Seungri sighs “Are you sure you don’t find me cute?” 


“You’re cute. Not my type though.” 


“As long as you find me cute, then I’m fine with it.”


“You’re quite full of yourself, aren’t you?” 


“My ego’s not the only thing that’s packed”


Dara’s face right away turns crimson when understanding dawns on what Seungri meant. Seungri laughs at how flustered Dara became. 


“I was pertaining to your ego.” Dara grumpily mumbles.


“Looks like you two are having fun.”


All alarms inside Dara’s head rang at the same time. At the sound of the voice, her whole body is enveloped by a cold feeling. She stayed rooted in place. Not even taking a glance.


“Hyung!” Seungri cheerfully greets the newcomer. “We thought you were no longer coming. Hey, Yoona baby. It’s been long since I last saw you.”


Yoona raises an eyebrow and ignores Seungri and his remark, turning her attention instead to Jiyong “Oppa, I’ll go to powder room.” With one last look of disdain at Seungri, Yoona walks away.


“Let’s talk.” Jiyong says, not wasting any second, to Dara who was looking at anywhere but him.


“I’m sorry, but Seungri-ssi had just asked me for a dance. And we’ve nothing to talk about.” Dara grabs one of the hands of a very perplexed Seungri then drags him out to the dance floor. “Excuse us.”


Dara rests her hands loosely on Seungri’s shoulders, while his hands are gently placed on her waist. Seungri stops Dara from moving once the music stopped.


“I don’t know what’s really going on between you and Jiyong hyung, but we could still go for another dance, if you want?” Seungri offers.


“Are you sure?” Dara hesitantly asks. 


Seungri looks over his shoulders and sees Jiyong eyeing them with an unreadable expression on his face. “No problem. At least I can say I got murdered because I protected a beautiful lady” He gives Dara a wink.


“Huh?”


“Nothing.”


Once the dance came to an end, Seungri escorts Dara off the dance floor.


“Thanks for the dance and for not asking questions.”


“I’m glad to be of help.” Seungri gives a salute “I’m off.”







Dara feels relieved that Jiyong is not nearby. She heads back to their assigned table to grab her purse. Bom and Seunghyun were nowhere in sight. 

So she went to where Won Bin is, to tell him that she’ll be leaving early. But before she could come close, Dara sees Won Bin still busy talking with his parents and guests. She turns the other way and walks towards the door.


She feels lucky, because as soon as she has stepped foot out the front door of the hotel, a taxi pulls to a stop. She hails the taxi. Dara is already poised to slide inside at the back of the taxi, when a hand shots out and tugs her arm.


“Ahjussi, sorry but she’s taking a ride with me.” Jiyong says authoritatively, shutting the door close and drags her to his waiting car.


Dara on the other hand, is shocked with the things are going, she couldn’t say anything. When she snaps back, she tries to tug her arm away from Jiyong’s vice like grip.


“Get in.” 


Jiyong’s tone of voice is dangerously low, that Dara followed his instruction without a fight. Her eyes followed his lithe form as he rounds to the driver’s side of the car. Not long after, they were out in the streets.











~oOo~












The car rounds to a part of the city Dara is unfamiliar with, and then heading straight to a building’s basement parking. Jiyong parks the car. 


Rounding to the passenger side, Jiyong opens the door and tugs at Dara’s hand again, pulling her out of the car. Dara is half running, half walking trying to keep up to with the hurried, and long strides Jiyong is making. She is too confused with what’s happening that she couldn’t even muster up a complaint.


Jiyong still hasn’t spoken anything. The elevator makes a pinging sound prior to the door opening. Jiyong drags her inside, only then did he release the hold on her wrist. While she massages the smarting area on her wrist, Dara sees Jiyong pressing three floor buttons. 


He steps closer to her. With each step forward he takes, Dara scoots backward, until her back meets the cold sheet of metal of the elevator shaft. Jiyong rested his hands against each of her side, closing any chances of her evading him. 


Staring straight to her eyes, he says menacingly “Let’s play truth and dare. I’ll ask you a question, each time you’d lie, I’ll punish you.” And with that, the door closes.


“Do you like me?”


Dara is startled with the question he flung at her, but she gives an answer “No! Why woul---umppfftt!”


Jiyong kisses her on the lips. The door opening at the first floor Jiyong pressed for. Dara shoves Jiyong enough to raise his lips away from hers. 
The door closes, and the elevator moves up again.


“Do you like me?” Jiyong asks the same question.


“I told you I’m not—“ Dara wasn’t able to finish her sentence, turning her head to the side as she tries to avoid Jiyong’s advances on her. Jiyong cups the sides of her head, to keep it in place, before he lowers his head for another kiss in sync with the elevator making the second stop. Dara 
struggles against Jiyong. 


Her chest is heaving when Jiyong broke the kiss. He stares straight into her eyes.


“I’ll only be asking you the same question.” Jiyong admits “Slap me if you really don’t like me. I’ll let you go and won’t bother you anymore.”
Jiyong inched closer until their bodies touched, their lips only a breath away. He whispers in a hoarse voice “Do you like me?”


Dara didn’t respond, expecting another intense kiss, like the previous ones. Instead, Jiyong lowers his head for the third time meeting her lips in the gentlest of touch. And then slowly, he nibbled at her lips, coaxing them to open and give him access. When Dara lets out a sigh, he slipped his tongue inside her lips and .


The pinging sound the elevator made, signaling that they’ve reached the designated floor, jars Dara back to reality. Jiyong raises his head and waited for Dara’s next move. Dara raises her right hand, and slaps Jiyong across his cheek.


Before Jiyong could move away from her though, Dara leans forward, snaking her arms over his chest until it loops around to meet at his nape and pulls his head down for the deepest of kiss.





 

hohohoho
and that concludes the latest chap

the special chapter is well something extra
peeps have the option to read it or not
but will still get to follow the flow of the story
i'll give the details for it more on the next chapter....

THOUGHTS and COMMENTS
are welcome and appreciated

THANK YOU
for always reading

much  
CHET