25 - All Over Again

“I’m so tired.” Kiko moaned as she entered into their new apartment with her luggage. They were able to find a fully furnished space. The two girls just moved into today.

Dara looked around the apartment as she went in carrying her own luggage. Their new apartment is spacious. It’s more upscale compared to their former apartment back in college. The furniture looked expensive and new too.  She wondered how Kiko was able to get a good deal out of it.

Kiko dove on the huge long couch placed in the middle of the living room and wailed her arms and legs sighing with delight.

“We have one big room with a walk in closet connecting to a bathroom with a huge bath tub. There’s one little room which I believe is meant to be a guest room or storage room. The bed is king size so we get to share a room again! Just like old times! Yay!!!”

“Should we get your stuff from your mom tomorrow?” Kiko asked as Dara sat beside her, her eyes still looking around the apartment. Dara shrugged.

“I won’t be able to afford this upscale apartment once you go back to Japan.” Dara sighed and closed her eyes.

“But I told you unnie I’ll shoulder the rent for now and just worry about it once you get your finances sorted. It’s not that big of deal. I was planning on getting my own place here in Seoul anyway. My agent says that he’s planning to sign me for some Korean modeling projects soon. So we’ll share this apartment again! Yay!!!” Kiko hugged Dara tightly, smiling widely at her unnie.

“You’ve always been persistent. But you just got worse overtime.” Dara chuckled while patting Kiko’s head lovingly.

“We’ll have to do groceries tomorrow. Let’s get my stuff from mom’s some other time.” Dara answered with finality.

Just then, someone buzzed the door. They looked at each other with a clueless look on their faces. They both got up and went to the door.

“Welcome to the neighborhood!!!” Jiyong and Seung Hyun greeted them with huge smiles on their faces while waiving the packages they brought in.

“We brought drinks! We can order pizza later.” Seung Hyun grinned.

“I brought a DVD.” Jiyong waived the DVD near his face.

“Neighborhood?” Dara asked in confusion.

“We live right next door!!!” Seung Hyun answered. Dara quickly glared at Kiko and saw the conspiratorial look on her face.

She knew it. This place was too good to be true for the cheap price. Seung Hyun and Jiyong must have something to do with this. She’ll get the information out of Kiko one way or another.

“Come on in!!! We just got here like five minutes ago.” Kiko invited and made way for the two guys. Dara saw the nervous glance Kiko and Seung Hyun were exchanging and caught them both looking at her. She narrowed her eyes at the two as if telling them that she knows that they’re all behind this.

“Let’s go. I’m thirsty. We’ll get pizza. What flavor do you want Kiko?” Seung Hyun talked to Kiko and walked inside the apartment as quickly as possible, avoiding Dara’s eyes.

When the two went ahead, Dara heard Jiyong clearing . He was still standing outside the door, waiting for her to invite her in, his eyes looking at her expectantly. Dara felt blood rush to her cheeks the moment she held his gaze. She quickly turned away.

“What are you waiting for? Come in.” Dara murmured awkwardly, leaving Jiyong in the doorway.

Dara walked inside the living room and found Seung Hyun and Kiko huddled on the ground in front of the coffee table, looking at a pizza take out menu.

“This flavor looks delicious.” Kiko pointed at one.

“I like this one more.” Seung Hyun pointed at another.

“We’ll order both. Family size with extra cheese. Oi Park, what flavor do you want?” Seung Hyun asked upon seeing Dara.

She stared at the two with a look of exasperation. They were both acting too innocently that it’s obviously suspicious. She gently shook her head and walked over to  the counter where she left her oversized hoodie.

“I’m craving for some ramen. I’ll just go down at the convenience store.” Dara left the apartment abruptly.

Dara closed her eyes as she leaned on the elevator wall after pressing the ground floor. She still wasn’t used to the situation. She didn’t know how to act normally around him. She could always feel his strong presence and it bothers her.

The convenience store was just a few blocks away from their building. She absentmindedly grabbed the largest size of her favorite ramen brand and went to the cashier to pay for it. She was about to grab her wallet to pay for it when another ramen slid beside hers.

“Here.” Dara looked behind her and saw Jiyong smiling down at her while handing a bill to the cashier.

They sat outside the convenience store. Dara sat quietly while waiting for her ramen to be ready, not sparing Jiyong a glance. They ate their ramen silently. Dara got lost in eating the ramen as soon as she took her first slurp. She always loved her ramen.

For a little while, Dara forgot the world. She didn’t want to deal with her troubled feelings as of yet. She didn’t want to deal with her feelings for Jiyong. She wanted to ignore the nervousness she feels whenever he’s around. She hadn’t got around to reading all of his messages in her blog yet.

She got distracted in her thoughts when she heard Jiyong’s soft chuckle. She looked up and saw him looking at her in amusement.

“You always loved your ramen. After all these years…” Jiyong murmured.

“Yeah. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of eating ramen.” Dara smiled. She saw him look away and she wasn’t sure but she thought she saw a blush on his face. Dara cleared and resumed eating her ramen.

“I’ll just go buy something to drink. What do you want?” Jiyong stood up.

“Just whatever you’re having…” Dara’s voice trailed off. Jiyong enthusiastically went inside the convenience store. He came back with two small bottles of vitamin water.

“I also bought these.” Jiyong opened one melon popsicle stick and gave it to Dara and then he opened one for him.

“So are you mad at Kiko and Seung Hyun?” Jiyong finally asked.

Dara was silent for a moment. She gave out a heavy sigh and then she shook her head.

“Not really. I just…don’t like that they’re conspiring…they’re hiding something from me…I don’t know…it just feels weird and irritating…” Dara confessed.

“It has something to do with that apartment. I can tell.” She caught the guilty look on his face and immediately knew that he knows something too. Her eyes narrowed in on his expression as if drilling his face for the truth.

“You know something. Come on tell me.” Dara threatened. Jiyong gave a nervous laugh.            

“I don’t know anything.” He raised his hands and leaned back on the red plastic chair.

“I’m not buying it Jiyong. So you better tell me now or I’ll move out of that apartment as soon as we got back.” Dara said seriously.

Jiyong swallowed the lump in his throat, knowing that Dara wasn’t kidding. He bit his lip, hesitating if he should tell her or not.

“That apartment…well…I own it…don’t worry it’s fairly new…hyung and I used to share the apartment we’re living in and I just moved in your apartment last month…and since you and Kiko are looking for one and I don’t really need my own apartment…so I leased the apartment to both of you…” Jiyong’s voice trailed off.

“And you guys kept this from me because???”

“Well we knew you’d refuse so yeah…” Jiyong answered sheepishly.

“You gave us an unusual good bargain.”

“It’s more convenient to live next to each other given that we’ll be so busy with the movie…and we’ll all be able to see each other a lot…” Jiyong mumbled his embarrassment showing on the blush on his face.

“I don’t feel comfortable that you’re giving us favors like this…” Dara sighed in defeat. Jiyong smiled knowing that Dara is at the point of giving in.

“Friends give each other favors all the time…it shouldn’t be a big deal…We’re friends…right?” Jiyong gave her a pleading look, his eyes twinkling while biting his lower lip. Dara shook her head and laughed.

“Stop that.” Dara scolded him playfully.

“What?” Jiyong batted his lashes, trying to act all innocent.

“Don’t try to act cute because you don’t look cute.” Dara tried to stifle her laugh but she couldn’t suppress it. Jiyong’s shoulder’s fell and he leaned back on the chair again. They looked at each other and then they started to laugh for no reason.

“Epic fail?” Jiyong asked sheepishly. Dara just nodded.

“Don’t ever do that in front of me again. Okay?” Dara wa