She clenched her fist as waves of emotions washed over her and as series of thoughts poured into her mind. Who gave him the right to smile at her beautifully? How dare he stand there looking so utterly gorgeous in a simple, casual wear? How dare he use the word “miss” when she can’t even find the right word to describe her longing to see his face? To get a glimpse of his blonde hair? To hear his voice?

She balled her fists tighter, torn between walking away and running towards him. Caught in her confusion, she instead mumbled something incoherent. “What are you?” she asked.

He laughed out hard. And as the sound reached her ears, it served as her cue on what to do. She closed in on him unexpectedly and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Oof” GD felt like the wind was being knocked out of him as she threw herself to him.

“Whoa, take it easy” he chuckled as soon as his breath came back to him. He sniffed the scent of her hair then smiled. ‘Home at last’ he thought.

“Did you take a bath?” he teased.

Dara stiffened as she heard his teasing voice, dispelling the magical moment she had, it’s as if he broke the enchantment surrounding her. She removed her arms off his neck, stepped back then squinted her eyes at him.

“Ya!” she screamed, and then secretly smiled as she saw him flinched. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you of course” he answered, eyeing her carefully.

“Waiting? For me? Ya! What are you talking about? Teddy-“

“Will you please lower down your voice?”

“I’ll shout as long as I want! Especially if I’m talking to someone like you”

“I never thought that you’d miss me this terribly. Aisshh.. Just calm down will, you? The guards might find us here”

“I don’t care! So what if they find us?”

“Do you really want to get into trouble and be sent to the President’s office?”

Her eyes grew wide. She forgot about the President. “Omo, I forgot! I have to go” she said and started jogging her way but she was stopped by a hand on her wrist.

“Err, the President’s not really looking for you”

“But Teddy said-“

“It wasn’t hyung. I borrowed his phone a while ago. I know you’ll just ignore the message if it was from me. And besides, I wanted to surprise you”

“Ya! Do you know what it felt like when I read that message? Aisshh” she said, clutching her chest. Well, in all honesty, she was somewhat relieved that it was nothing serious and that she wasn’t in trouble BUT that doesn’t mean that this blondie standing in front of her looking so cute with his hoodie will go unpunished. Yes, Dara the Great will think of something to punish this guy.

“Sorry if I scared you. It’s your punishment for being away from me” he paused, then continued, “moving on, let’s get going, shall we? I didn’t come her for nothing, you know”

He pulled her back to where the black car was. As they reached it, he held her hand up then dropped a key.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“That’s what you call a key, you know, the thing that normal human beings used to run a car?”

He saw how her eyes widen, then a big smile crept to her face as she jumped up and down, clapped her hands then gave him a quick hug. She then excitedly examined the black car, running her fingers gently through the car’s body.

“Wow! Thank you so much! Though I’d prefer the color pink, black will do for the meantime. Aigoo! This will be the best birthday gift ever” she exclaimed delightedly. She hurriedly went to the driver’s side and was about to open the door when his voice stopped her.

“Silly, I just borrowed this one so I’m not giving this to you. I’m just letting you drive because you got your license”

He tried so hard not to laugh at how her face fell, but he failed.

Later. . .

He was covering his mouth and biting his lower lip hard to stop himself from laughing as he looked ahead of him while Dara was driving. He still can’t get over the scene in the parking lot. She was so hilarious. And for the last minutes, she was venturing her frustrations at him, literally barking her sentences at him. Probably to hide her embarrassment.

“IF YOU’RE NOT GONNA STOP LAUGHING, I’LL KICK YOU OUT OF THIS CAR!!” she barked.

He composed his face into a serious one. After letting her see his composed face, he turned his body towards the window, but he just can’t help it as he remembered her face. He burst out laughing again. But after seeing that she was about to cry, he stopped. Because he can’t forget the expression on her face, he just tried hiding his laughter with a cough.

“Aren’t you really going to tell me where are we going?”

“Nope. That would spoil the surprise”

“I hate surprises” she muffed.

“We both know that’s not true”


A while later. . .

“Please tell me we’re almost there”

“We’re almost there” he answered, unable to hide the humor in his voice.

“Ya! I’m serious”

“What? You asked me to tell you we’re almost there, so I just complied”

“Aiishhh!! Kwon Ji-!”

“Turn left” he suddenly said.

“Are you trying to let me drive all the way to the Philippines ?” she asked as she turned left, leaving the comforts of the smooth, straight, cemented street behind. She was now faced with a narrow rocky road. Obviously, he’s planning to bring them out of the civilization, judging by the horrendous trees surrounding them.

“Did I just drive myself to North Korea ?” she voiced out.

He chuckled. “Nope”

"Why are there so many trees here?”

He rolled his eyes. “Stopped at the clearing” he said.


Dara got out of the car and saw a little stream of water not too far from where she was standing. A river? A pond? She was not really sure. She turned around and saw him at the car’s compartment

“Can you PLEASE tell me what are we doing here?”

No answer.

“Don’t tell me we’re going to swim and let ourselves turned into ice?”

He then emerged from the compartment, with arms full of bags, plastics, basket and sheets.

He smiled. “Nope. We’re camping”

She chuckled. “Oh, camping. Well, I-“ she stopped. “CAMPING?!? Are you out of your mind?!? Do you know what season it is? It’s nearly winter! Camp trips are for summer! We can’t just go camping in this time”

“We just did” he winked.

“But. . .but”

“I want to watch the sunset. And besides, I got it all controlled, so don’t worry”

“Watch the sunset? We could watch it from the car, you know”

Later. . .

“Dara, c’mon, get out of the car already”

He was already finished setting all up. And he was pretty proud of himself, to be able to set the tent up by himself was an achievement, though he wouldn’t mind if tiny Dara here lent a helping hand, but no, she stayed in the car the whole time, sulking.

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to stay? You could’ve left me now already” he said, seeing that the key was still in the ignition.

She threw him a dirty glare. “If only I can remember the way out, Mr. Kwon, I’d be gone already in a blink of an eye”

“Who would’ve thought that your poor memory would be helpful? Ahh, I should thank your poor memory for this” chuckles.

Dara grumpily stepped out of the car. She doesn’t really have a choice, does she? Though, she must commend him for doing a great job on the tent, it was vast that it can fit six people. She saw some of the foods and things at the other end of the tent in a neat pile.

‘He’s really organized, just like CL-roo’ she thought.

“See? I told you I got everything controlled” he smiled, pointing to the thick sheets laid in front of them. “I’ve also got some heat pads under those” he added.

He turned his gaze to her who was wearing a very peculiar expression.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he exclaimed. “Oh, c’mon, don’t give me that kind of look. I’m not planning anything to you, so don’t be too assuming”

“Well, good” she answered that made him laugh.

“You sounded disappointed! Ahh, noona, now you’re scaring me. Please don’t do anything to me” he hugged himself.

“Ya! I don’t have any intentions either” she answered defensively.

He just shook his head in response. He then took something from the pile of things in the far corner of the tent. “I brought you pink earmuffs and gloves” he said, putting the items on her. He took a sit at the mouth of the tent and motioned her to do the same. When she was already sitting beside him, he took one of the thick sheets and wrapped themselves with it. His arm is now resting on her shoulder, then he drew her closer to him. Upon seeing her looking at him confusedly, he said, “so you won’t get cold”

“Hey, look” he said as he turned his eyes forward. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, as the sun slowly prepared for setting. She sniggered.

He sighed. “I’m always amazed by the sunset. But when you look closely, it kinda symbolizes something sad, seeing that it’s always associated with goodbyes”

She was quiet for a while. “We should watch the sunrise, then” she muttered.

He chuckled lightly. “Yeah, I think we should do that, too”

They sat in silence and watched as the sun slowly lowered itself, giving a dull red-orange with a hinge of yellow to this other half of the world, perfectly setting the atmosphere for all the lonely and bleeding hearts out there.

“Are you hungry?” he asked a while later, when the darkness finally engulfed the surroundings.

“I thought you’ll never gonna ask”

He then set out the food he brought with the help of the light in the tent.

They ate in silence, looking at each other’s eyes every now and then. He would smile everytime their gazes would meet. But the truth is, his eyes never left her face from the very beginning. The silence between them must be the effect of the sunset. It sure does have its wonders sometimes.

“There’s a toothbrush there” he said, breaking the silence, quite unable to pull something more with a sense, judging by how his mind was in a daze.

Then, she finished her food and eyed him carefully. He smiled. “Here” he said, giving her his food. He knew that look of hers pretty well. She smiled back at him then started attacking the food as he watched her in amusement.

Later. . .

“I think my phone’s missing” he said.

“What?!”

“Help me look for it, will you? Look here, I’ll go look for it outside”

As soon as he said that, she turned away from him and started looking for it. He smiled then went out quickly. He took something near the river then shook it.

“Come now, don’t disappoint me” he murmured. He went back to the tent.

“I already found it” he said.

She turned her head, then started crawling towards him.

“Oh, look! The Christmas lights are flying!” she said with amazement, pointing outside.

GD was thankful that he was not sitting on a chair, he could’ve fallen off from that statement, total brain damage. That’s what it is.

“They’re not Christmas lights! And in the world of normal and sane people, Christmas lights don’t fly”

Her eyes were still full of wonder as she answered, “I know they’re not Christmas lights, I was just kidding”

She looked outside again, then gasped. “F-fireflies!” she exclaimed.

“But how. . . .? Impossible!” she added in amazement.

He chuckled. “Nothing’s impossible for G-dragon”

“Fireflies!” she exclaimed again. She took his hand then pulled him up, bringing him with her outside. She let out a delighted giggle as she joined the fireflies, tried to catch one by jumping up and down, then chased the lights around.

He watched her in wonder, laughing at how childish she looked playing with the fireflies.

He went to her later on, took her hand, facing it upward. He put his closed fist atop her palm, then slowly opened it and pulled away. As he did, three fireflies are now sitting on her palm

“Ooohhh” she let out in wonder, lowering her eyes to take a closer look. Then, they watched as the three lights flew out of her palm then stopped midair where their gazes met. Then, the three fireflies started moving in synchronized movements, as if dancing, then the others followed, surrounding the two of them, sending sparks into their eyes.

A moment later. . .

He used all his strength to pull her back to the tent because it was getting colder by the minute. They sat at the mouth of the tent again. Both wrapped in the same sheet they used this afternoon. He pulled her closer and pushed her head on his shoulder, then squeezed her arm a little. They sat in silence as they watched the fireflies one by one disappearing.

“You should lay down and go to sleep now” he murmured.

“Hmm.. I want to see the sunrise”

“I’ll wake you up, now, c’mon, lie down”

No answer. Instead, he felt her burying her face on his neck. He waited for her to sleep soundly. When he saw her even breathing, he slowly laid her down and covered her with the thick blankets while he just sat there and watched her sleep. A smile would come every now and then when she moves or stirs or mumbles some incoherent words.

----->

He looked at his watch. It was already four in the morning. He went outside then stretched a little. He started jogging around.

Then, later on, he saw her emerged from the tent, yawning. He went to her.

“I never thought you could be an early riser”

“I alarmed my phone because I don’t believe you”

He chuckled.

“Right on time” he mumbled as he faced forward, seeing the first rays of the sun coming out from the confinement of the mountains. He glanced at her and was captivated at how the rays perfectly lit her face.

“Sandara” he whispered. She turned her head and he let their gazes meet for a moment before his head swooped down and his lips reached for hers. His hands framed her face, and as he did, he angled her head to deepen the kiss. He felt her hands on his shoulder then s to his nape, making him gasp as she answered him with equal fervor. He could now feel the sun piercing through his closed eyes, but he didn’t mind. He numbed his other senses to everything as he only wants to feel this moment with her.

And as if the nature was with him, a gentle breeze shyly passed them as if afraid to disturb the moment; the insects who were chirping noisily a while ago suddenly became quiet; even the sun joined in as it took its time in rising as if prolonging the moment between two people who’s hearts have been drained by their past.

He pulled her closer, then silently, secretly, he moved his lips against hers to form the words he longed for her to hear; longed to shout out loud. But he knows she’s not allowed to hear it; he’s forbidden to say it. So instead, he put the words into discreetly as their breaths become one. As if in notion, his lips repeatedly mouthed and formed in silence the words: ‘Saranghae, Sandara’ over and over again.

Eventually, he had to break the kiss. With eyes still closed, he leaned his forehead against hers as he opened his senses again. He listened to their ragged, uneven breathing until it evened out. He leaned back then opened his eyes to look at her. A small smile curved his lips as he saw her eyes still closed. He rubbed a thumb gently over her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open and he felt like he was being swallowed deeper into the depths of her eyes.

“Happy birthday, by the way” he greeted.

She looked shock for a moment but then she smiled. “I should expect more to come, then” she sniggered, blushing.

He looked at her blankly.

“It’s my birthday, remember?” she reminded him.

He threw his head back in laughter.