The Breaking Point

*banner by T3kei!

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“What kind of a place is this? Lovers’ den?” I blurted out.

“Don’t be sarcastic, Dara. It doesn’t suit you.”

“Well, what kind of a decent guy would bring a decent girl to this kind of place?”

“This isn’t really a date, is it? So I don’t really have to be romantic and –”

“”I’m not asking for a romantic date from you!”

“ – and besides,” he went on as if I didn’t speak. “The owner of this place is a friend of mine so everything’s for free. I don’t have to spend anything.”

I gave him a glare. “I can’t believe I befriended you.”

He laughed and draped his arm carelessly on my shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“Ya! Don’t touch me!”

“I’m just trying to be a gentleman, here.”

“No, you’re not!”

“Yes, I am,” he answered. “You don’t really want guys to swarm in on you, do you?”

I gave him another glare. Aish! Why am I even keeping up to this foolishness? I must be out of my mind! He led me to a table with a semi-circle seat. Dae and Minzy were already there. “Hi!” I greeted them despite my annoyance with TOP.

“Hello!” Daesung smiled back while Minzy just nodded at me. It’s not really surprising, though. “So, what do you want to drink?”

“Erm. . .” I hesitated. Aigoo, I’m not really a drinker. I remember the first time I drank, I woke up in Jiyong’s bed the next morning. I smiled at the memory. I can still remember how annoyed he looked and how he shooed me away. He’s so different from before now. Aigoo, my pancake has changed! And it’s all because of me! Isn’t that just sweet? Hihihihi.

“I hope that smile is for me,” TOP’s voice broke into my senses. I threw him another glare. Although he annoys me sometimes, I can’t understand why I can’t seem to get really. . . angry at him.

“Dream on,” I said, making him chuckle.

“Give her something light first,” he then turned to Daesung.

“So. . . this is your idea of celebration? Getting drunk?”

“Uh-huh,” TOP answered. “Get drunk, dance to the loud music and. . .” he paused then smirked at me.

“I don’t like that look on your face,” I informed him. “You looked like you’re planning something naughty and sneaky.”

“How easily you could read my mind,” he laughed. “Why do you think is that?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Duh! You’re being really obvious.”

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “I think it has something to do with the connection between us and don’t you dare deny it. I know you can feel it, too.”

“I don’t have to deny anything because there’s no connection between us. We’re friends, it’s as simple as that.”

“Most friends turn into lovers.”

“There’s always an exception to the rule,” I told him as I accepted the drink that Dae gave me. After gulping it down, I can’t help but cough as the alcohol scorched my throat. “Ugh!”

“You shouldn’t have drank all of it in one go,” he said.

“Oh, mind your own business.”

Time past by. TOP and I went bantering on and on while drinking. Minzy and Dae left us since the former wanted to dance. TOP asked me to dance then but I told him I’m no good at it. He insisted. So I thought, why not. But after only five minutes on the dance floor, he gave up on me. That’s when I started feeling the alcohol taking its effect on me because I started laughing like there’s no tomorrow at the look on his face.

“You’re a bad dancer,” he said, grimacing. “I feel like my toes are dead already!”

“It’s not my fault. I told you I’m no good but you insisted,” I giggled.

“Well, I thought you were just avoiding me again, that’s why.”

“I wasn’t avoiding you!”

“Yes, you were.”

“Why are you so stubborn?” I demanded, getting really annoyed now.

“And why do you keep on denying things? You’re not really a good liar, you know.”

“I’m not a liar!”

“Oh yeah?” he asked. “Prove it then.”

“Fine!” I hissed. “What do you want to know?”

“Do you like me or not?”

I wasn’t able to answer at once. All I know was that I felt heat crawled to my cheeks as he stared at me with those penetrating eyes of his. Aigoo! I shook my head but the act only made me dizzier. I suddenly felt thirsty so I grabbed the nearest bottle and drank it all in one go. “W-what was that again?”

“Do you like me or not?”

I blinked then chuckled. I slumped on my seat then closed my eyes. No, I don’t want to answer. “I don’t want to answer that,” I said. “Next question please.”

“Do you think if you met me first, you’d still like Jiyong?”

“Probably,” I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I met Jae first but I still fell in love with Jiyong, he. I guess I have this weird thing with boys having bad image.”

“Why do you think you can’t push me away everytime I kiss you?”

I frowned. I still had my eyes closed because the blinking lights were making me dizzy so I’m not really sure if he’s just playing or he’s being serious. “I don’t know. . .”

“Do you think if I’d kiss you right now you’d respond to me?”

No,somewhere in my mind said but the alcohol already had its way through my brain. Instead of saying no, I giggled. “I don’t know.”

“If I go ask someone else for a dance right now and kiss her, what would you feel?”

“Annoyed.”

“Why is that?”

I frowned. Eh? What did I just say? Aigoo. “Err, I don’t know why.”

“But you said we were just friends, right? So it would not really matter if I kiss a different girl right now.”

I opened my eyes. My vision was a bit blurry but I can still see the handsome outline of his face. “Why would you kiss a different girl?” I asked, frowning.

“Because you don’t want to kiss me,” he said.

“I didn’t say that,” I quietly said.

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“I can’t,” I answered, shaking my head.

“Why not?”

“It’s wrong.”

“But it’s my birthday,” he said. “You said so yourself, we’re just friends, there would be no malice on your side, right?”

I shook my head. I don’t like what I’m feeling. It’s like warning bells are ringing in my head. “Can you dance with me?” I asked instead.

“And risk what’s left of my toes?”

“Fine,” I pouted. “I’ll go find myself a dancing partner.” I stood up and swayed but he was able to steady me up. “Dance with me,” I whispered huskily. This made me a bit uncomfortable because I sounded like I was begging.

“In your state, I don’t you can manage to stand up properly, much more dance.”

“I’ll just lean on you then.”

There was silence. As the silence went on, I felt my arms went around his waist as my head rested on his chest. Then, I started swaying ourselves slowly.

“I should be leading the dance,” he chuckled.

“Yeah. . .” I answered lazily. “Hmm, did you really drink?”

“You know I did.”

“You don’t smell like someone who’s been drinking for the past couple of hours,” I said, whining a little.

“Why? How do I smell?”

I buried my face in his chest and sniffed him. “You smell great,” I said. Aigoo! His perfume’s intoxicating. I suddenly had this weird urge to. . . to. . . gah! I don’t know what that weird urge is. All I know is that I like the smell of him, I like the feel of his arms around me, I like the feel of being with him. I smiled. “TOP?”

“Hmm?”

“Why don’t you want to be called by your real name? And what’s your real name again?”

“I don’t really want to talk about that.”

I pulled my face up and looked at him. “I’ll make a bargain with you,” I offered.

“And what’s that?”

“Answer my questions and you can ask something in return.”

He went silent again. There was a thoughtful look on his face. And then, he smiled. “Deal,” he said.

“So, why don’t you want to be called by your real name?”

“Because I don’t have a real identity,” he answered.

“What does that mean?”

“What’s the use of having a name when you don’t even know where it originated from?”

“Oh,” I mumbled as I buried my face in his chest again. “Okay, you answered one of my questions, what do you want to ask in return?”

“Do you like me or not?”

It was my turn to be silent. And then, I said, “Yes.”

“Fair enough,” he said, sounding a bit smug. “Anymore questions?”

“What’s your real name again?”

“Choi Seunghyun.”

“Seunghyun,” I repeated, smiling. “It’s a beautiful name.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah,” I nodded against his chest. “Your turn.”

“Kiss me.”

“W-what?”

“I’m asking you to kiss me.”

I pulled my face away from his chest so I could glance up at him. My eyes met his black ones but at the moment, they were smoldering. “I. . .”

“Kiss me, Dara.”

“But. . .”

“It’s part of the bargain,” he reminded me.

I hesitated. Something was telling me this was wrong. But then, I found myself on tiptoes, reaching for his lips. It was supposed to be a smack but. . . things went out of my control. The next think I knew, he was kissing me hard and. . . . . . I was kissing him back equally.

- - -

I don’t know what gotten into me but I kept on laughing and laughing as we headed back to the apartment. I kept on tripping to the ground, too. But instead of whining about it, I only laughed harder everytime I fall to the ground. “Aigoo!” I exclaimed, laughing still.

“Get up, Dara. The ground’s dirty.”

“Pull me up,” I said, reaching out a hand to TOP. He chuckled then shook his head as he grabbed my hand to pull me up. But even before he could pull me up, I pulled him down on top of me. “Why are you so handsome?” I asked, pinching his cheeks. I wrapped my arms and legs around him. “You handsome, handsome guy,” I giggled, rubbing the tip of my nose to his. Then, I started laughing again. “Aigoo, I swear, I’m telling the truth, you really are a handsome beast!”

“I know I am,” he smirked.

I laughed louder then kissed him on the cheek. “And you smell really great, especially your breath. It’s fresh, warm, tingly, its. . . its. . . hmm. . . I want to kiss you again.”

I didn’t wait for his response. I just reached out for his lips and engaged him in an open-mouthed kiss. His tongue smoothly slid into my mouth, caressing every corner of it. Then he gently caressed his tongue at the tip of my tongue, sending a rocket of warmth through my system. I heard myself moaned against his mouth. “Seunghyun. . .” I murmured as we deepened the kiss. I grabbed his hair tightly, keeping his head in place, in fear that he’ll disappear or pull away any moment now. My right hand, on its own accord, made its way to the hem of his shirt.

“Wait,” he said. “Not here.”

“Hmm?” I asked groggily then giggled again. “Carry me, Seunghyun.”

He pulled me up and settled me on his arms and then, he transported. The moment my feet landed on the floor of the apartment, my mouth instantly searched for his. My mind was in a haze. I can’t think of anything except undress him. And so, I did that. As I did, he did the same to me. With our mouth still attached to each other, he started walking and the next thing I know, I was already lying in the comforts of my bed with him on top of me, kissing me thoroughly. “Do you like what you’re feeling right now, Dara?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Do you like the way I touch you?”

“Yes!”

“Where do you want me to touch you?”

“Oh shut up and kiss me!” I gritted. I grabbed his head and pulled it down on me again. I gave a long moan the moment our lips touched again. I could just feel how swollen my lips were right now from all the kissing but I didn’t mind. Just as he was about to take possession of me, he stopped. “Ya! Don’t stop!”

“As much as I want to continue, I can’t,” he answered. “You don’t really want someone watching us, do you?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“We have an audience,” he said.

“What?” I asked again, blinking.

“I thought you said he’ll be back by Sunday?”

I blinked several times. And then it finally dawned on me. My mind and vision cleared and as they did, I quickly pushed TOP off me. With wide eyes, I looked up at the door of the room and there he was, frozen like a statue, a blank look on his face. “Oh my God!” I breathed.

Different emotions suddenly swirled around me. Oh my God! What have I done? What have I done?!?

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here,” TOP said.

I gathered the blanket around me to cover my . Without looking at him, I said, “TOP, can you please. . . .” I started but I can’t seem to get the word out of my mouth because truth be told, I was scared and I needed support. But then, he understood what I meant even if I didn’t complete the sentence.

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” he said. He picked up his clothes then went to my direction and kissed me. “You know where to reach me,” he said. Then, with a pop, he disappeared.

- - -

How many minutes has it been? I don’t know. But he just stood there, frozen and silent. I can’t bear to look at him at the moment. I was and am ashamed of myself. Oh my God, what did I do? What did I do?

I took a deep breath and gathered all the courage I could muster and stood up, clutching the blanket tightly around me. With tight chest, I looked up at him. “Jiyong, let me explain.”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” he silently said.

For some weird reasons, I got terrified with how calm and silent he sounded. “Jiyong. . .”

“I think I saw enough to know what’s going on,” he said.

“Jiyong, it’s not like that. I. . . I wasn’t aware of what I was doing, I was drunk! I’m. . .”

“Really?” he softly asked. “You weren’t aware of what you were doing?”

“I was drunk!” I weakly said.

A ringing sound suddenly broke entered into my senses. It rang for a few times before Jiyong decided to pick it up. “Bom,” he answered. I took advantage of the call. I quickly picked up my clothes and put them on. “No, cancel everything,” I heard him say.

“What do you mean cancel everything?!?” Bom’s loud voice came through my ears. “After all the preparations you did and all the efforts we all put in, you want to cancel everything?!? Are you being a chicken, Kwon Jiyong?!?”

If this was a normal situation, I could have laughed out loud at Bom’s loudness. “Well, apparently, Dara does not want it anymore.”

“What are you talking about?!” she demanded. “Of course she wants to –”

“Cancel everything Bom,” Jiyong said with authority. Bom went silent. And I would assume that she spoke quieter after that because I heard Jiyong say, “Well yeah, apparently something happened.”

“What happened? Is she alright?!”

“She’s perfectly alright,” Jiyong sarcastically said. “She’s more than fine actually. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he added then ended the call.

“W-what’s going on?” I hesitantly asked, squinting my eyes a little since he kept himself in a shadowed part of the door.

“I’m the biggest fool in the world, that’s what’s going on,” he snorted. “Ah. . . I can’t believe I actually thought it would be possible. I should have known. . .”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been keeping myself up late just to plan this whole thing. . . I was actually expecting it to be done by Sunday but Bom and the others were so enthusiastic about it that they placed all their efforts to help me and so, everything went earlier than I expected.”

“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” I said although I’m starting to feel really scared of what he’s going to say next.

“Of course you can’t!” he burst out. “Of course you can’t! I can’t even understand it myself!”

I flinched at the raw pain in his voice. Oh God, please not again. I don’t want to see him crying again. Please. . .

“Imagine, me, Kwon Jiyong, the non-believer to forever and love actually thought of setting up a proposal. Oh yes, Dara! I’ve been planning and preparing everything! I even asked the help of the others to find the perfect venue to propose to you!”

My hand flew to my mouth as tears started welling up in my eyes.

“I was going to ask you to marry me,” he weakly said. “I was. . . supposed to. . .”

Oh my God, he’s crying. Please, don’t let him cry. Punish me instead! This is my fault, not his. “Jiyong, I. . .”

“Damn it!” he swore, punching the wall. “I was going to ask you to marry me, Dara. I was supposed to surprise you. You don’t know how excited I was to go back here and bring you to that wretched place after everything was done! But lo and behold, I ended up being surprised!”

“I’m sorry!” I cried. “Jiyong, I’m sorry, please forgive me. . . please. . . I didn’t want that to happen. . . I was. . .”

“And stupid me! I even bought a property near a beach just so you’ll have your dream place!” he shouted. He angrily walked over to his desk and started tearing up things there. “I even had your dream house sketched out!”

“Jiyong, I’m sorry!” I cried again and ran to him. “Please forgive me. . .”

He took a step back. “I’ve had enough of this,” he said.

“No. . . let’s talk this out, we could. . .”

“What else do you want from me, Dara?” he whispered and I saw a tear fell from his eye. Oh God! Please, punish me instead. “I’m not perfect but I tried to give everything to you. Aren’t those enough?! Tell me!”

I was crying really hard now. “Jiyong, let’s talk this out, please. . .”

He shook his head. “No, I’ve had enough.”

“No, we can still fix this,” I begged. “I made a mistake. We all make mistakes, Jiyong!”

“We’ve hurt each other beyond our limits already, Dara. We might not survive anymore.”

“No. . .why are you giving up on me? Why is it so easy for you to give up on me?”

He shook his head. “I’m not giving up on you, Dara. You chose him over me, that’s far worst than you giving up on me.”

“No, I’m not choosing him! I’m here, Jiyong. I’m. . .” I cried, trying to reach out for him but he kept on stepping away from me.

“Let’s put an end to this, Dara.”

“NO!” I screamed. “Don’t give up on me! DON’T!”

He shook his head. “It’s over,” he said. “We’ve reached our limits already. Maybe we’re simply not meant to be.”

“DON’T SAY THAT!” I screamed and threw myself at him. I hugged him tightly. “I love you, please don’t do this to me!”

“Love?” he snorted. “I don’t think I could believe that it does exist.”

“It exists! And it exists between us!”

He forcefully removed my arms off him and pushed me away. “I don’t want to be a part of this stupidity anymore. I’ve had enough.”

He started walking away. I ran after him and hugged him from behind. “No, please. . . Jiyong. . . I’m begging you. Don’t leave me. . . please. . .”

AUTHOR’S POV

Jiyong’s jaw clenched. He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to swallow the overwhelming emotions stirring up to the surface. He tried to remove her arms off him but she only held on tighter to him. “NO!” she screamed. “I won’t let you go! I won’t!”

Tears welled up in his eyes. He was close to breaking down and even before he succumbed to the pain imprisoning him, he transformed into a crow and started flying away. “NO!” Dara screamed again.

He flew and flew until it started raining. He could hear Dara running after him, screaming for his name. She was crying. And it was painful to hear her like that but he was also crying. and the silent sound of it drown hers.

“JIYONG!” Dara screamed as she ran through the heavy pour of the rain. “COME BACK! JIYONG! PLEASE!! JIYOOOOOONNGGG!!!!!!” she screamed. She ran and ran until her knees finally gave in. “Jiyong. . .” she weakly cried. “Please. . . please. . . please. . .”

She forced herself up again as the rain grew heavier and heavier. “Jiyong!” she called out and started walking. “Jiyong!”

She walked and walked until she fainted. But even before she could hit the solid ground, two set of arms caught her.

- - -

The rain went on for hours. It grew heavier and heavier. Jiyong was silently sitting on a branch in a forest, his head tucked inside his wing. He was wet. . . he was cold. . . he was. . . he felt dead. As the rain poured on him, he felt heavier and heavier. And so, he stretched out his wing and flew to the center of the forest. He went back to his human form and landed on the soft earth steadily. He threw his head back and closed his eyes, letting the rain washed away all of his tears – both shed and unshed. And then he screamed.

He screamed and screamed and screamed until he could the dark part of his veins taking over him. He screamed with force again, sending dark force to his surroundings that the trees nearest him burnt out and died. He screamed again and again until all the grass, tress and unfortunate animals within a few kilometers from him burnt and died.

He fell to his knees. He bent over and freed his tears, swearing that it would be the last time he’ll be shedding tears for love. No, he thought. This will be the last time that I will feel pain because of her. If I had to turn my heart into a dark stone, I will. If I had to give in and surrender to my dark nature just so I won’t feel pain and shed tears anymore, I will.

I swear, I will.

Jiyong can be found leaning against a dead tree a while later. He didn’t mind the heavy pour of rain on him. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He took a box out from his pocket and opened it. A vintage ring greeted him. His eyes instantly turned to black and the next thing that happened, the ring and the box were rapidly burning and made into ashes even through the heavy pour of the rain.

Thunder and lightning went here and there. But Jiyong didn’t mind. He actually liked the sound of it. Out of nowhere, he started laughing. He stood up and spread his arms wide, still laughing. And then, he turned into a crow and flew against the raging wind and heavy rain. He screeched loudly as he reached his destination. He turned back into his human form as he knocked on the door.

The door opened a while later. “Jiyong!” Sohee exclaimed. “What happened to you? Why are you all wet?”

Jiyong didn’t say anything. Instead, he just stepped in, closed the door behind him and grabbed Sohee’s arm. He pulled her towards him and claimed her lips possessively.

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a/n: ermm..

sorry for the typos and grammar errors!

got another banner!! from G-Dara21!!