18 - The West Side Story

Dara sat under the Cherry Blossom Tree and grabbed the book she was reading. She leafed through the pages and stopped at the page where she last read. The sun is about to set and the campus is slowly quieting down. A lot of students are getting ready to go home. Dara checked her phone and re-read Jiyong’s message.

He asked her to meet up at the Cherry Blossom Tree. He said he wanted to take her out that night. She doesn’t exactly know the status between them. She’s also afraid to put a label on it and Jiyong hasn’t made any attempt to clear things up either. Ever since their library incident, they still keep in touch via Twitter and Skype but this time, Jiyong calls her by her real name. He still says he loves her every chance he gets. But even up to now, they haven’t talked about Kiko. Neither of them even mentioned her name. It was an unspoken agreement between them.

Her hand rested on her chest and felt her heart. She’s never felt this excited before. She felt like she was floating in the air and she could hear her heartbeat getting louder as she imagined the night with Jiyong ahead of her. Her daydream got interrupted when a hand covered her eyes.

“Jiyong?” Dara said in a soft whisper. The hand loosened up and Dara turned her head only to see Kiko smiling down at her. Dara felt like water just splashed on her face. Kiko is back from Japan.

“Were you expecting Jiyong?” Kiko asked as she sat beside Dara, hugging her sideways. Dara froze and she couldn’t come up with something to say. She heard Kiko sigh and tighten her hug.

“I missed you so much unnie! I had so much fun in Japan and there’s an agent who asked me if I was willing to do a shoot for a magazine. Imagine, me a model in Japan? How crazy is that?” Kiko mused and settled her head on Dara’s shoulder.

“You’ll be a very good model Kiko. I believe in you…you’ll be a very successful designer and a great model.” Dara said sincerely.

“Thank you for always believing in me unnie. I love you very much. Didn’t you miss me at all?” Kiko asked cutely.

“Of course I miss you. Our place is awfully quiet without you.” Dara whispered as she poked Kiko’s nose giving a faint smile.

“Oh. Speaking of which, I dropped by at our place and found this!” Kiko waved an enveloped on Dara’s face.

“Why the long face? Aren’t you excited to see what the letter from New York Film Academy says?” Kiko pouts and looks earnestly at Dara. She just shrugged in response.

“It’s probably just a rejection letter anyways. Their school term started a month ago so I suppose this is a rejection letter.” Dara got the envelope from Kiko and placed it in her bag.

“Jiyong!!” Kiko called out and immediately stood up. She ran towards Jiyong and wrapped her arms around him. Jiyong’s eyes were fixated on Dara’s and he looked as flabbergasted as she is. Jiyong gently touched Kiko, embracing her back.

“I missed you! I brought your present from Japan, you’ll love it!” Kiko murmured and then she pulled back, cupping Jiyong’s face.

“Well I couldn’t even sneak in with the two of you. You both knew I was coming home so you decided to meet up and surprise me. I’m glad that you and Dara unnie are now getting along.” Kiko grinned wounding her arms around Jiyong’s waist. Jiyong didn’t know what to say, his eyes just darted from Kiko to Dara and then back to Kiko. Somehow he couldn’t seem to swallow the courage to break Kiko’s heart especially after what she’s been through with Seung Hyun.

“I came here at the campus also to see you. You haven’t been answering your phone. I want to take you out on a date.” Kiko said excitedly and then she turned her head to look at Dara.

“Unnie, do you want to tag along? I was planning to watch…” before Kiko could continue, Dara interrupted her abruptly.

“It’s okay. I need to finish some paperwork so you two go ahead.” Dara feigned a smile. Jiyong couldn’t do anything more but just comply with Kiko. He went along with her while leaving Dara a sorry glance.

Dara felt as if she was betrayed and yet she knew she didn’t even have the right to feel that way. She gave out a heavy sigh and decided to fix her things. She’ll just drop by Mr. Yang’s office to get her grade for her term paper and then go home and sulk.

She was walking through the halls of the campus, looking like she was aimlessly wandering in her own world. Her steps were heavy and her eyes were drowning in nothingness. She bumped into a couple of students but she merely ignored them and walked on.

What should she do?

She doesn’t want to hurt Kiko after all she’s done for her but at the same time her feelings for Jiyong has grown deeper than she could ever imagine feeling for anyone. It felt like she has denied and suppressed her feelings for Jiyong for so long that it eventually exploded when he kissed her.

Kiko just moved on from Seung Hyun and has developed deeper feelings for Jiyong…she doesn’t deserve being betrayed by her and Jiyong. She’s the least person who deserves it.

Dara bowed at Mr. Yang’s assistant politely after receiving the small slip that contained her grade for the term paper. She started walking away when Seung Hyun called her.

“Park!” Seung Hyun jogged off towards her. Dara looked over her shoulder and stopped when she saw Seung Hyun. Seung Hyun noticed that she looked a little shaken.

“I just got my grade for the term paper. I suppose we pretty much have the same grade. Do you wanna go celebrate?” He looked nervous, beads of sweat started forming in his temples as he looked at her hopefully.

“Okay…” Dara said hesitantly.

“I’ll call Kiko…she just arrived from Japan…all four of us can go together…” Seung Hyun touched Dara’s wrist, stopping her from saying anything further. opened and looked at him questioningly. Seung Hyun’s eyes were serious and determined.

“I want us to go out…just the two of us…on a real date Dara…” Seung Hyun mustered his courage and took a deep breath.

“Like on a real date?” Dara’s voice shook. Seung Hyun nodded.

“I know you still refuse to see me other than your good old best friend…I have not pressured nor pushed my feelings for you…Please give me this chance Dara…can you at least let me give it my best shot?” Seung Hyun’s eyes pierced through hers leaving her completely speechless. Here he was leaving his heart on the line asking her to give him a chance to fight. How could she say no?

*****

Dara goes home to prepare for her night out with Seung Hyun. She decided to just stay casual and wear her faded acid wash ripped jeans, white vneck shirt, university hoodie and her favorite red Chuck Taylor’s. She stared at herself in the mirror, her nerdy looking glasses taking a quarter of her face.

She took a deep breath and bru