Dara's POV

I couldn't tell you how long we stood there holding on to each other. All I knew was that I felt warmth and security.

/naega chae chala ga/

I pulled away slightly from Jiyong as I heard my phone go off in my pocket, disturbing the tranquility of the moment.

"Chaerin's calling, I best pick up," I said, my voice coming out rough from all the crying. He nodded and let go of me. As soon as he did I felt cold, the cold sea air flowing between our seperated bodies, making me shiver.

I turned away from Jiyong and pulled my phone out of my jean pocket and pressed answer before pressing it to my ear.

"YAH! Ssantoki! Where are you? Do you know what time it is?! What did I tell you about that curfew huh?!" CL's angry voice rang in my ear. I pulled the phone away from my ear wincing.

"Calm down Chae, I'll be home soon," I replied tiredly.

"How can I calm down?! It's past midnight and you aren't back home!" she continued to scold. My eyes bugged out, temporarily waking me from my tiredness. Past midnight?! We'd left the restaurant at around 9PM... Which meant... we'd been at the beach for over 3 hours?!

"Where are you?" CL asked slightly calmer, when I didn't reply.

"Erm... on a beach..." I trailed off.

There was a long pause before CL spoke again, "You're... on... a... beach?" she asked slowly, probably wondering what the hell I was doing on a beach in the middle of the night.

I sighed, "I'll explain later Chae, go to sleep, I'll be home soon." I hung up before hearing her answer, knowing that she would want an explanation on the spot, but I was too tired to answer her questions.

I turned back to face Jiyong our eyes meeting.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Mmm, Chae was just worried. Do you know it's past midnight?" I murmured, as I felt heat flood my cheeks, when I recalled the feeling of being in his strong arms. I can't believe we hugged for like 2 hours straight! I had never hugged him before, besides that fleeting moment when I realised he wasn't a mass murderer. I can't believe that my first proper hug with him had lasted for more than 2 hours! It was just ridiculous!

"Really? I guess it's time for me to take you home then," he replied with no surprise in his voice, as if he were fully aware of how long we were in each others arms. I blushed even harder as the thought crossed my mind. You don't understand how thankful I was for the darkness that was currently hiding my blushes.

We walked back towards the car in comfortable silence, his jacket still draped over me, our shoulders occasionally brushing against each other. What had transpired on the beach had made me realise that there was alot more to Jiyong that I didn't know, and although I didn't want to admit it Jiyong actually meant more to me than I had thought. It made me want to get to know him even more, to strip back all the different layers around him, and get to know who he really was. Something that I should've done along time ago.

As soon as we entered the car Jiyong turned the heater up whilst I buckled myself up before draping his jacket over me, rubbing my hands against each other underneath, trying to warm them up. Soon the car started to move as Jiyong shifted into gear.

I stared out of the window, taking one last glimpse at the beach. The beach where Jiyong almost lost his life. The beach where Jiyong said he felt the most loved. The beach where I truly began to understand Jiyong. The beach where we shared our first proper hug. A small smile formed on my lips. 'We'll be back' I promised, and with that last thought I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

========

"Dara-ah, wake up," I felt some shake me gently.

"Mmmm," I weakly protested before I began to drift off to sleep again.

"Come on Dara, wake up. I thought you said you didn't want to be carried by me?" Ergh, such an annoying sound. My eyes flickered open to see Jiyong's face extremely close to my own.

"AAHHHHH!" I screamed, punching him in the face in instinct, my right fist connecting with his jaw. I gasped as I saw Jiyong sprawled out on the floor holding his right cheek in shock.

"YAH! Is that what I get for waking you up?! Yeesh, next time I'll let you sleep forever!" he pushed himself off of the floor to stand as he continued to rub his cheek and jaw, wincing in pain.

"Well sorry! You shouldn't have been so close to me! It was a natural reflex! How was I supposed to know you were Jiyong and not some ert?!" I said defensively, "What were you doing so close to my face anyway?! Maybe you are a byuntae!" I accused in an attempt to hide my embarassment of punching him for trying to wake me up.

"Puh-lease! If you think I was going to try something then go back to sleep and dream of it hmm? I was just fasinated by your drool." he replied as he pointed to the corner of my lip.

Drool?! DROOL?! I Sandara Park do not drool! My hand quickly went up to touch the corner of my lip, I mentally breathed a sigh of relief when I felt nothing, before glaring at him from my buckled up position in his car.

"YAH! I don't drool! Look! Nothing!" I protested as I wiped at my mouth then showed him my dry hands.

"Believe what you want to believe," he said shrugging his shoulders, "Do you fancy getting out of my car now?" he asked as he opened the car door wider.

I quickly unbuckled myself and stepped out of the car, his jacket falling on the floor. Before I could reach for it Jiyong had already bent down picking it up.

"Well thanks..." I said awkwardly not sure what to say after everything that had happened tonight. Well what are you supposed to say to someone you had hugged then punch within the space of 30 minutes?!

I my heels and began to walk towards the female apartment blocks when I felt a jacket drape over me again. I paused and turned my head to question him, but he was already walking off in the opposite direction towards the male apartment blocks. Unconsciously a smile graced my face again as I tightened the jacket around me before making my way inside.

== The next day ==

*Poke*

*Poke Poke*

I slapped away the offender and rolled over, hugging my pillow.

*Poke Poke Poke*

"Yaaaah!" I shouted weakly in protest, my head still buried in my pillow. Sleeeeeep.

*Poke Poke Po--*

"YAAAAAH! Will you quit poking me?! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?!" I screamed in frustration as I sat up in my bed glaring at the offender through hazy eyes, before falling back down onto my bed to sleep again.

"If you don't get your out of bed this minute you're going to be late for class," the voice warned. I rolled over again, ignoring the voice.

"Dara it's 8:30" the voice spoke again. Hmmm 8:30....

8:30?! My eyes snapped open as I sat up in bed. OH SH*T I'll be late for school! I scrambled from my bed running towards the bathroom to ready myself for the day, whilst my bestfriend sat on the edge of my bed, laughing at my bed head.

I had managed to ready myself in record time, I should get some sort of medal or something! I stepped into the kitchen flustered, to see CL calmly sitting at the table eyeing me with amusement.

"Yah! Aren't we going to be late? Come on! Let's go go go!" I said as I grabbed my bag and made my way towards the door.

"It's 8:00 Ssantoki."

"I know I know! It's almost 9:00, we're going to be la--" I paused when I realised what she said. I slowly turned around to see CL grinning at me cheekily.

"It's what?!" I said in a low voice, my eyes turning into slits as I tried to stop myself from combusting into flames.

"It's 8:00" she said as her grin widened even more, enjoying the view before her.

"YAAAAAH! LEE CHAERIN!" I stormed over to her and slammed my bag on the table, "Why did you tell me it was 8:30! You made me rush for no reason!"

She shrugged casually, not phased at all by my obvious anger, "That's what you get for hanging up on me"

My jaw literally just dropped to the floor. Could someone call a doctor please? I think I need to reattach my jaw.

You've got to be kidding me! "You made me rush because I hung up on you?!" I asked in disbelief.

"Yup!" she replied happily popping the 'p' before taking a sip of her coffee.

I let out a loud sigh and collapsed tiredly on the chair opposite her, allowing my head to rest onto the table.

"Remind me again why we're best friends?" I questioned. I seriously need to replace her. Anyone willing to be my new bestfriend? No? Damn it.

"Because you love me," CL replied simply, "and because i'm such an awesome bestfriend, I'll let you off for not getting me coffee this morning."

I looked up to see her pushing a coffee towards me. Ah yes! Now that's why she's my bestfriend! I grabbed the coffee gratefully and took a long hard gulp. I really needed this.

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" She asked as she placed her coffee down and leaned back on her chair, her arms folded across her chest.

I know I told her i'd explain things to her.. but what was I going to say? 'Jiyong and I had a walk on the beach and then we hugged for over 2 hours?' I don't think so! That would be so embarassing and I could never live it down!

"Let's just say I realised I don't know Jiyong as well as I thought I did..." I trailed of evasively.

"Hmm..." CL replied her eyes narrowing suspiciously like she knew I was hiding something. I had never told her about the incident on the beach. In fact no one knew except for the people that were on the beach that day.

"Well I guess that's all I need to know for now right?" she said in a resigned tone, knowing I wouldn't divulge any details to her.

"So what did you do last night? Did you manage to make a start on your designs?" I questioned, changing the subject.

Cl shifted in her seat uncomfortably, her eyes suddenly trained on her cup of coffee like it was the most interesting thing in the world, "I guess you could say that." she replied just as evasively.

She looked up and met my curious eyes before sighing, "Seungrat came over last night to apologise."

My mouth opened slightly in surprise. I know I told him to apologise, but I didn't think he'd do it so fast, and I never would've guessed he would've come to the apartment. Alone. With no protection. He seriously just knocked on the door of the tigresses lair? Wow.. I have a new found respect for his stupidity.

"He... He's not... ya know..." I whispered wide eyed, as CL looked at me, bobbing her head for me to continue, not getting where I was going, "Ya know..."

"Ya know....?" CL repeated.

"Ya know..." I said again.

"Dead?" I said in a hushed voice. Is that why CL was being so shifty before? Oh my god! Did I sleep in the apartment with my beloved dead dongsaeng!? My eyes scanned the kitchen and living room nervously, in search for a body bag that may contain my dongsaeng.

CL blinked, her lips parting slightly then--

"YAAAAAAH!!! SANDARA PARK! What do you think I am?! A killer?!" She screamed, standing up from her chair to get her point across.

"Aissh! Arasso, arrasso! Stop screaming!" I said covering my ears from her loud voice, "Well I wouldn't put it past you... I mean there are alot of knives here..."

"Sandara Park!" CL said in a low scary voice as she sat back down.

"Okay, okay! Sorry! So if you didn't kill him... what happened?" I asked, if she didn't kill him... then I can't imagine what happened.

CL exhaled loudly, glaring at me again, "Well I'm glad we've clarified that my bestfriend thinks I'm a killer" she said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes at her and waved my hands, gesturing for her to get on with the story.

"Well, the rat came over and tried to apologise... I tried to get him to leave but he's just too persistent," she paused, rolling her eyes, "he barged into the apartment and made his way into the kitchen..."

My gosh! How much more stupid can Seungri get! He practically sacrificed himself to CL. He walked into the kitchen. Willingly?!

"I admit, at one moment in time I did eye those knives..." CL murmured as her eys flickered to our knives chilling on the counter.

"I knew it..." I muttered, but CL heard, shooting me another glare, silencing me.

"Anyway, I wanted to get on with my designs, I really didn't have time to humour the rat, so I left him to do whatever..." she trailed off, her eyes began to soften, making me surprised, "I came out and he'd... he'd..."

"He'd...?" I prompted her.

"He'd cooked dinner." she finished, her eyes flashed with an emotion before returning back to normal.

"Dinner? Seungri can cook?" I asked surprised, I didn't know he could cook...

"Yeah.. and I hate to admit it.. but he's really good at it too.." she admitted, honesty ringing out in her voice. Although CL didn't like Seungri much, she would never deny talent when she saw it. To hear her say Seungri's cooking was good... well he must be at like michelin star level or something!

"It's such a waste..." she whispered to herself softly.

"Eh? What did you say?" I said, not quite picking up what she said.

CL shook her head slightly before looking at me and smiled softly, "Nothing. Come on lets go or we'll really be late this time."

========

I walked into Business with 5 minutes to spare, wearing Jiyong's jacket. My eyes immediately glanced over to our seats, to see him in his seat as usual, with his head down on the table probably sleeping. I strode over, placed my coffee down, then took his jacket off, placing it over his shoulders, covering his bare arms before taking my seat.

"You're later than usual," I turned my head to see Jiyong had shifted his position, the left side of his face was now leaning against the table, his eyes open watching me take my things out of my bag.

"Mmm, I was just talking to CL..." I trailed off, placing my notebook down before pushing my bag under the desk. I thought he would've gone back to napping, but when I turned around his eyes were still wide open observing me.

"What did you talk about?" he questioned, a small smirk beginning to appear. I rolled my eyes. He was clearly pertaining to what had occured the previous night between us. Well i'm not going to humour him!

"Not much," I replied as I leaned the right side of my face on the table to face him, our faces about 15cms apart,"Do you know Seungri went to apologise to CL last night?"

"Really?" he said, not hiding the surprise in his voice.

"Mmmm, he even cooked her dinner as an apology," I replied, my eyes scanning his face. He looked really good at this angle... I mentally shook the thought from my head, "Did you know he could cook?"

"Vaguely... he's always cooking at the apartment, he rarely goes out to eat. I've never tried his cooking though... Once I tried to eat some of his Kimchi Fried Rice when he came barrelling up to me, smacking the fork away from my mouth and grabbing the bowl," Jiyong chuckled at the memory, "He said something like he hadn't perfected his cooking yet and couldn't take my critiscm just yet." he said as he rolled his eyes at the maknae.

At the slight movement a piece of his hair flopped over, covering his eyes. I don't know what came over me, but on instinct I reached up and brushed it away from his eyes. Hmm... that's better...

"Really? He wouldn't let his favourite hyung eat, but he let CL eat? Wow, he really pulled out all the stops for this apology... he was probably sweating in nerves waiting for her response," I said, retracting my hand from his face as I chuckled at the thought of Seungri sweating buckets in front of CL.

I stopped my laughing when I saw the way Jiyong was looking at me. With such intensity. I began to feel uncomfortable under his intense gaze wanting to avoid his piercing look, but I couldn't find it in me to look away.

Thankfully at that moment Mr Sang decided to walk in.

"Sorry I'm late class but there's been a slight change in plan with the order of your course," his voice rang out, breaking the trance that had fallen over Jiyong and I. I lifted my head up off of the table and he soon followed suit. I began to massage my right cheek which felt numb from me leaning on it.

"The University is holding a fundraiser to raise money for orphanages and all classes are expected to participate in anyway they want. I know it's only our first week of term but since we must participate, I have decided to switch around our course. The Business Department have decided that we will hold a business fair, where you will work in pairs to open up a small store. The money you get from sales will be donated to the charity. To motivate you the pair with the highest sales will get a prize. You can set up whatever store you like. For the remainder of the week i'm going to be doing lectures on Consumerism and Marketing, to prepare you and help you to market your store the best way possible before the week after next when the fair will be held. Next week you will have lesson time to think up ideas and begin prepping for the fair," Mr Sang announced clearly as a powerpoint titled 'Consumerism' popped up on the screen.

The class began to murmur in excitement. This would be agreat opportunity to get some hands on experience.

"Hey Dara, do you want to be my partner?" I blinked when I heard Jaejoong's questioning voice.

"Erm..." I trailed off.

"Oh, before I forget class I'll be deciding the pairs." Mr Sang spoke out, causing s few people to groan, "In fact, I'll pair you up now in case some of you want to start discussing ideas over the next couple of days."

I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, I smiled apologetically at Jaejoong, "I guess we'll have to see if we're partnered together or not."

Mr Sang began to call out the pairs of names from a list in his hand.

"Park Hanbyul and Choi Dong-wook"

"Jung Ki Suk and Jeon Ji Hye"

"Kim Myungsoo and Lee Seungyeol"

"Lee Taemin and Seo Joo-Hyun"

"Kim Jaejoong and Im Yoona"

The list went on, my name had yet to be called out. Guess who else hadn't been called out? That's right. Jiyong. I mentally rolled my eyes. I could already see where this was going.

"..and last but not least, Kwon Jiyong and Park Sandara" Mr Sang finished, confirming my thoughts. Of course I'd be paired with him.

"Hey partner," Jiyong whispered as he sent me a wink. I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't stop myself from smiling. I was surprised to find I wasn't bothered by this. It just meant I would get to spend more time with Jiyong and get to know him better.