- - -

 

Dara keyed in a message in her mobile: Class almost over. Are you gonna pick me up from my room?

 

‘No. Just go straight home. I’m here already’

 

Her face fell in disappointment but it was soon replaced by a smile as her eyes stayed on the word home. Her nape suddenly pricked. She looked back but saw no one looking at her direction. ‘Weird’ she thought. ‘I feel like someone’s watching me. Must be my imagination again’

 

The class went on in a blur. She hasn’t made any friends except for the guy she bumped into this morning. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, like they don’t have time to mingle. She ate late lunch alone, too. And the worst thing of all, she didn’t have a chance to see or bump into Jiyong. Far-fetched as it may sound but she terribly missed him. But since they have separated classes, she was left with no choice. She was brought upon the feeling of being watched again. She looked around and scolded herself for imagining things.

 

Her fellow students suddenly stood up. It was then that she realized her last class finally ended. Too excited to reach the apartment and see Jiyong, she excitedly headed towards the door.

 

She was near the door when a hand stopped her. She looked back and saw a cute, friendly face smiling at her. “You left your phone” he told her.

 

“Oh” she mumbled, then chuckled awkwardly. “Thanks”

 

“You seemed so excited of going home”

 

“Well, yeah. . .” she smiled, holding her phone tightly. “I’m Sandara Park, by the way. But you can call me Dara”

 

“Kevin. Kevin Woo” he smiled, shaking hands with her.

 

“Nice meeting you, Kevin. But I really have to go”

 

“Oh sure” he smiled.

 

“Thanks again” she waved and ran off. Due to her haste, she once again bumped into someone. And this time, she fell back to the floor.

 

“Watch where you’re going, will you?” a deep voice growled.

 

“I’m sorry” she hastily said and picked her things up. She got to her feet and looked up. A sense of déjà vu suddenly came to her upon seeing two male and one female in front of her garbed in all-black outfits. She swallowed as two deep, sharp eyes greeted her. “I’m sorry, I was in a hurry. I didn’t mean to. . .”

 

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit repetitive? You already apologized, no need to say sorry again”

 

“I’m sorry, I-” she stopped. “Oh, err. . .”

 

The guy laughed. “What a spoof” he said then turned to his friends. “Let’s go”

 

Dara stood frozen on her spot as the tall guy walked past by her. She can’t believe the guy just called her spoof.

 

“Hi, we meet again”

 

She frowned a little, then her face brightened. “Daesung!”

 

“Yeah” he nodded, smiling. “This is my sister by the way, Minzy”

 

“Hi” Dara timidly greeted the girl but the latter just looked at her with a little hostility in her face.

 

“And the guy you just bumped into is TOP, he’s our friend”

 

“TOP?”

 

“Yeah” he nodded. “Anyways, we’ll go ahead”

 

- - -

 

“Jiyong!” she called out loudly as soon as she reached their apartment. “I’m here!”

 

“Okay” he called back, making her growl.

 

Following his voice, she found him in the bedroom, in the study table. “Ya! Is that the right way to greet your girlfriend?”

 

He looked up and rolled his eyes. “I’m studying”

 

She pouted and crossed her arms in her chest while giving her boyfriend a dark look. Jiyong sighed heavily after a while and stood up. He walked to Dara and wrapped his arms around his tiny waist.

 

“Welcome back” he whispered in her ear, nibbling a little then he gave her a tiny peck on the lips.

 

“I missed you” she told him and wrapped her arms around his waist, too.

 

“I missed you, too” he said, nuzzling her neck.

 

The words surprised Dara. She was not used to Jiyong saying things like those and she felt heat crawled to her cheeks. With a smile, she hugged him tighter and rubbed her hand on his back.

 

“How was your day?” she asked, all the while still locked in his arms.

 

“It was fine. Pretty boring actually” he said, resting his chin on her head now. “How about you?”

 

“Nothing much happened, either but I’ve got new friends” she said. “There’s Kevin, Daesung, Minzy and TOP. The last three kind of reminded me of you and the gang. And oh, the TOP guy called me spoof. Can you believe that?”

 

“Your new friends. . .” he quietly said. “I just noticed, most of them are boys”

 

Dara went still for a moment. When his words finally dawned on her, she slightly leaned away and looked at him with amusement in her eyes. “Omo, my pancake’s jealous! Aigoo, aigoo. You’re so cute. Aigoo, I can’t believe you’re jealous. Omona!”

 

“Stop that!” he gritted.

 

“Aigoo!” she laughed. “My pancake’s so jealous!”

 

“Oh, shut up!”

 

She laughed louder but upon seeing the dark look in his face, she cupped his face and looked into his eyes adoringly. “There’s no need for you to be jealous. You know very well that I’m madly, deeply, stubbornly, persistently, crazily and stupidly in love with you, right?”

 

He didn’t say anything. How could he tell her that he’s afraid she’ll leave him behind once she realized she hasn’t forgiven him yet? No matter what he do, he can’t erase the doubt inside him.

 

“Jiyong, you know I love you, right?”

 

He looked away. “How could you say that?”

 

“Why? What’s wrong?”

 

“How could you keep on saying that knowing that I’ve caused you too many sufferings and pain befo-”

 

“KWON JIYONG!” she sternly cut off. “I’ve already forgiven you, okay? I told you before that no matter how many times I get heartbroken because of you, I still want to be with you. I can’t imagine life without you by my side. You can call me selfish, I really don’t care because I won’t let you leave me again. NEVER”

 

“Maybe you’re just staying with me because I’m all you’ve got”

 

Dara sighed heavily, surprised with Jiyong’s ‘sensitivity’. Where did her sarcastic and insensitive pancake go? She felt a twinge of guilt for questioning his conscience before. “Pancake” she slowly said. “Have you forgotten everything? How could you think like that after all the things we’ve been through?”

 

He remained silent. Dara looked into his eyes and hated the look of desperation in them. “I’m sorry” he muttered.

 

“No, don’t be” she shook her head. “I love you, okay? I. LOVE. YOU. If you care for me, don’t talk like that again. You have to forgive yourself”

 

He didn’t say anything.

 

“Come here” Dara said. “Let’s fix this problem of yours” she added, pulling him towards the bathroom. “Let’s take a bath together so you’ll cool down, okay? And maybe we could do something more than taking a bath”

 

“You’re pretty erted for a girl”

 

“You should be thankful because I’m only like that when it comes to you” she returned lightly, glad that Jiyong’s snapping from his downtime.

 

- - -

 

“I’ve been thinking”

 

“Not a good sign” he snorted. He may have sounded rude but Dara knew better. As they both lay under the covers, he was softly brushing his hand on her hair, a total contrary to his tone.

 

“I want to sync my schedule with yours”

 

“No need to do that. We always see each other, anyways”

 

“But-”

 

“No buts, Dara” he sternly cut off. “And oh, I forgot. No PDAs in school, okay?”

 

“But why?”

 

“Because I said so”

 

“Why?”

 

“You can be. . . annoyingly distracting”

 

“That’s really lame”

 

He gave a light laugh. “Go to sleep. We still need to be up early tomorrow”

 

“You’re really rude” she pouted. “And mean!”

 

“Yeah, that’s what I am”

 

“I know but that won’t change how I feel for you. Nothing would”

 

“You can be so melodramatic”

 

“I’m not being melodramatic, simply stating a fact”

 

“You don’t know what the future holds, Dara”

 

“True” she agreed. “But I know myself and my feelings enough to say that. And will you stop being pessimistic? Now, just kiss me goodnight”

 

“I must admit, you can be adorably cute sometimes”

 

“What do you mean by SOMETIMES? I’m pretty and adorable every second there is”

 

“Conceited” he chuckled and captured her chin to lift her face up. He leaned down and gave her a sweet and tender smooch. “Goodnight” he whispered and leaned away from her, gebtly rubbing his thumb on her lower lip.

 

She smiled. “Goodnight, my pancake”

 

“Don’t have wet dreams about me again, okay?”

 

“Arrogant crow” she murmured, blushing deeply. Not long after that, she finally succumbed to sleep.

 

Jiyong looked up at the ceiling and sighed heavily. Then, he looked down at Dara’s sleeping face. “Sweetdreams, my Dara” he whispered and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. He reached out for the bedside lamp and turned it off.

 

 

Unknown to the couple, two eyes were silently watching their window. “You’ll pay for what you did. . .” he gritted under his breath. He may be a normal human being and does not possess any abilities like a shadow, but that won’t stop him. He will get his revenge from the both of them. Oh yes, he will. Even if he has to sell his soul to the devil himself, he will. With one last smirk, he walked away and headed back to his place.

 

o=o=o

 

DARA’S POV

 

I looked around, trying to find a table to sit in. Jiyong said he won’t make it so I’ll have to eat alone, which I’ve been doing for the past two days. I suddenly lit up when I saw Daesung with Minzy and TOP. Again, they were all wearing gothic clothes. They actually looked cool. I just noticed, it’s only the three of them sitting at the long table. I can’t help but remember Jiyong but of course, my pancake’s still the coolest in an all-black getup.

 

“Hello!” I greeted cheerfully upon reaching them. “Mind if I share? I can’t find other vacant tables”

 

They all looked at each other. For a moment, I thought they’d say no. Minzy wasn’t really wearing a friendly face, Daesung was looking rather surprised as for TOP, I don’t know. He had his back on me so I really can’t tell.

 

“Oh no, not at all” Daesung then answered.

 

“Thanks” I murmured and occupied the space beside TOP. As soon as I was settled down, the three of them looked at me quite intently. “Err, something on my face?”

 

“Do you have a boyfriend?” TOP suddenly asked.

 

I glanced sideways, surprised. “Well, yes I do have-”

 

“How long have you known him?”

 

“Quite some time” I answered. “Since grade school, at the most”

 

Awkward silence veiled us.

 

“How well do you know him?” Minzy then broke the silence.

 

“Why are you guys asking this kind of questions?”

 

“Just curious” Daesung shrugged. “Anyway, don’t mind it. Let’s just eat”

 

“I’ll introduce you guys to him one day. I’m sure y’all get along pretty well”

 

“I’m sure we will” TOP snickered.

 

Is it just me or. . . they’re a bit weird? No, I should not be judgmental.

 

“Maybe all of us could hang out sometimes” I beamed brightly at him. They only exchanged glances and didn’t say anything.

 

Aigoo.

 

-----

*a/n: admit it, at 1st you thought the other  guy's Kevin.. haha.. just have to include him here. He's such a loyal fanboy, don't you think? ke.

 

Yeah, it's TOP.. Dae and Minzy are here too!! hehe.. 2NEBang!

 

oh, check this Tug Of War banner by daragonlai! ain't it cute?

 

xoxo

hagocimit

 

*banner for this chap's by daragonlai