Chapter 28

Wheel Alignment

 Dara woke up the following day in a pile of pillows with a mass on top of her and a hand on her .  She has gotten accustomed to waking up like this every day.  But it wasn’t Jiyong.

 “Mama.” Angela whined. The child had clung to her immediately after dinner.  Her refusal to let go led to her spending the night at the farm and them looking like every bit a family this bright and sunny morning with matching pajamas in blue, pink and yellow.

“Good morning baby. Can you move so Mama can get up? I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Ung.” The child nods her eyes half closed. Dara turned to slide the kid off her. Seunghyun pulled Angela towards him and together father and child went back to slumber.

Dara found a package at the counter, “For your peace of mind.” The note says.  The instructions were simple and the results weighing on her. Dara stood in front of the mirror staring back at her reflection, staring back at the woman who not so long ago vowed her loyalty to Jiyong.  The loyalty card, one pulled by her mother to make her stay. “So this is it. “ She looked at herself, the graceful flow of her muscle and the misplaced bump around her abdomen that she attributed to lack of exercise. “Lack of exercise.” She wanted to laugh and yet bit back a snort. She looked at the stick again. “Yeah, right.”

 She pulled the door to let herself out of the bathroom, Angela is talking to Seunghyun still sprawled on the bed. “Her ies are bigger now.” The child informed her father, eyes still wide.

“Whose ies?” she interjects. ies and Seunghyun are not a good mix.

“Yours.” Tabi retort back. His lips lift a little his eyes smiling. He pulled himself to sit up.

“Damn.” She thought. Not a good mix indeed.

“Will your ies have milk too?” Angela scuttles closer and sat at the edge of the bed.  “There’s this new baby at Nana Martha’s.  He gets to drink his mom’s milk.  Will I get to drink your milk too? Ama says cow’s milk isn’t good for me.”

Seunghyun roared in thunderous laughter. Dara is mortified.  Somebody please help her.

“Mama.” The child piped in absolute innocence. 

Seunghyun moved to pick up the towel; it must have fallen from her hands. He kissed Angela and swooped in to kiss her as well. 

“I shall leave you ladies to sort this between, rather…”  He ran his fingers on her abdomen.  “…among you.” And he sauntered out of the room still laughing.

And so she tried to explain to Angela the difference between her and a cow udder. They ended in agreement that chocolate rice milk in the morning is better.  And as a peace offering, Seunghyun made them breakfast. 

But such peace is short lived for Dara had to leave. “I think you should tell him.” Seunghyun gestured towards her phone which never stopped ringing since she decided to turn it on. “He has the right to know.” And he left a soft kiss just under her lashes as they continue to eat.

Sandara chose not to go home and face Jiyong.  In fact she decided not to for days instead found comfort in one of the few places she knew… under a metal frame that weights over a ton surrounded by steel, iron and grease.

 “What are you doing?!” Seunghyun booms as he covers the distance between the garage door and wheel alignment lift where grease smeared Dara was standing with a tape measure in hand.

“Tabi!” She perks still holding the tape as she eased from her reach just under the coupe.

“I said, what are you doing?!” he snatched the tape and threw it at the nearest bench.

“Making myself useful.  Jaejoong oppa has a rally next week and he needs help.”

“Hey Top!” Jaejoong emerged from a platform suspended at the back of the car.

“What is she doing here? Why didn’t you call me?” he continued to bark.

“Keep your pants on man!” He jumped from where he was and removed his gloves. “She used to do this a lot.”

“Not when she’s…delicate.” He pointed at Dara who simply rolled her eyes in response.

“I am fine. ” She roars and started flexing her imaginary muscles. “I am not as fragile as you think dimwit!”

“Easy on the heel.” He cried obviously perplexed.  “Be careful.” She blew him a raspberry, but eased on her heel nonetheless.

“I don’t remember being like this when Kiko was pregnant.” He run a hand over his hair and looked at Jaejoong.

“I doubt if you remember anything during that period”  Jaejoong suppressed a laugh and tapped him on the shoulder.  “Dara can take care of herself.  She can build a chassis and still haul our drunken asses home.”

“Damn right.” She tapped her chest for emphasis.

Seunghyun moved to pull her in an embrace “But not when you wake up retching on the bathroom floor.”

Dara frowned. “I did not.” She pushed him away.

“You kind of did.” Jaejoong looked at her as if in disbelief. He pointed at the room she was holed in the previous night.

“What?!” she cried in challenge. “What if I did?” It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does.  If you are married to a man like Jiyong and hanging out with Seunghyun, it does.” Jae raised an eye brow at his friend.

“We are not sleeping together.” Seunghyun clarified. But a little amused at the conversation.

“It is Jiyong then?” Jaejoong teased wiggling his eyebrows.

“We are not about to discuss my life in front of an audience thank you very much.” She gestured towards Jaejoong and his crew.

“It is ok Dara, really.” He slung his arm around her shoulder and continued.  “ When Kwon Jiyong stopped seeing his lady friends months before your wedding, everybody just kind of assumed that you’ve kept him very busy and highly satisfied.” Jaejoong chuckled.

Dara turned her body around so fast she nearly tripped.  Seunghyun glared at her.

“You married a notorious lady’s man baby.  It doesn’t take much for people to figure out that for the great G-Dragon to change his ways, he must had a better deal.” He let out a guffaw. “Too bad for him, Seunghyun is such an effective defense player.”

“ block you mean?”

“Tell me Dara, did Seunghyun make you wear his pajamas to bed?” Jaejoong cackled.

Dara smiled like a dork and said, “And his perfume too.”

“Just making sure he isn’t dipping his fingers anywhere near what’s mine.” Seunghyun spat.

“Shut up!” Dara threw him her glove.

Jiyong was never this antsy but Dara called him earlier.  She had refused to answer any of his calls so he was left with waiting for her call instead.  She wanted to talk in private. She sounded serious and nervous, her voice strained. “I miss you.” Was one of the first things he said over the phone. He hasn’t slept and barely ate.  If Sandara was torturing him, then she was doing a very good job. “I’ll wait for you.” He added.  He will wait for her definitely, not just today.

The sound of his phone managed to bring him back from where he was slowly drifting but it was not his wife… it wasn’t his Dara.

“Mr. Kwon.” His assistant began. “Ms. Mizuhara has arrived.”

A/N:  I hope no one is left confused :) Thank you for sticking around and for reading.