“What are you doing here?!? And what the hell are you wearing?!” I burst out, nose flaring, eyes squinting.

 

“Tabi!” she exclaimed, looking extremely shocked. “I. . I . . . what are you doing here?”

 

“TOP hyung!” Jiyong greeted as he materialized beside Dara. I frowned when I saw his bruises but what caught my attention more were his disheveled hair and the fact that he’s shirtless. He must have seen my shocked face 'cause he quickly came into defense.

 

“Hyung, it's not what you think!”

 

I looked Dara darkly. “He's right. We didn't do anything wrong. I did not do anything wro. . .” she stopped, making my nostrils flare.

 

I suddenly grabbed Dara’s arm and pulled her out.

 

“Ouch!” I heard Dara whimpered. I stopped pulling her as I felt a hand on my wrist. I looked back and saw Jiyong.

 

“Let her go. You’re hurting her,” he said, looking worried. Now why do I have an inkling feeling that it has a double meaning? Like he’s not just talking about how tight my grip on Dara’s arm was? I wanted so much to hurt him and make him see that Dara is mine but I can't. I know SHE won't like it if I did.

 

Instead of letting go, my grip tightened its hold in Dara’s arm. I turned to Dara. “You got a lot of explaining to do. Go get dressed. We’re going out.”

 

“But Tabi, Ji needs-“

 

“I said get dressed, Dara. We’ll talk later,” I ordered firmly.

 

“Why do you keep on bossing her around?” Jiyong suddenly interfered.

 

“Because I have the right to do so,” I mocked.

 

“And who gave you that idea?” Jiyong mocked back.

 

“She’s MY girlfriend. So I have the right to-“

 

“Exactly! She’s your GIRLFRIEND, not your prisoner!”

 

“Prisoner?!” I burst in disbelief.

 

“Yes! You treat her like a prisoner. You keep-“

 

“Ji, stop!” Dara butted in. “Just go inside and take a rest, you need that,” she added.

 

“This will be the last time I'm gonna keep my patience up, Jiyong.”

 

He sniggered. “Keep your patience up? Why do you have to do that? I'm not doing anything wrong here.”

 

“I'm not as blind as you think.”

 

“Oh, really? What-”

 

“Ji,” Dara cautioned.

 

I saw Dara and Jiyong stared at each other as if they’re silently arguing, silently debating, silently fighting. Then Jiyong sighed and surrendered. “Fine!” Jiyong said, going inside and closed the door loudly on us.

 

 

DARA’s POV

 

Tabi was silent as we were walking hand in hand. The way he held my hand made me feel like he’s saying: “you’re mine and mine only”. This was something I did not expect. After changing clothes, I thought he’ll be scolding me or questioning me or have another argument. But he was quiet. I chose to keep my mouth shut too and let him start the conversation first.

 

“Do you believe in love at first sight, Dara?” he finally broke the silence.

 

“I don’t know,” I honestly answered. “I haven’t experienced it, so I really don’t know. Why’d you ask?”

 

“That’s what happened to me. The first time I saw you, I was already smitten. I didn’t mind that you act and dress like a boy, all I wanted was your attention. But you know what happened, we started fighting.”

 

I chuckled. “Oh, yeah. I was so mad at you because you kept on pulling Ji away from. . .” I stopped at the mention of Ji’s name. I looked at him fearfully, but he seemed distracted. Then, he stopped walking to face me. He looked into my eyes as if searching for something.

 

“Have you ever wondered why I tried changing you?”

 

“Why are you asking me this?” I asked back.

 

Out of nowhere, I heard laughter and delighted giggles. I turned my head and saw two persons I didn’t expect to see. I felt my blood boiled and rushed to my head. How dare them look so happy while Ji was sulking? I felt my body warming up. My jaw tightened as my teeth gritted. I pulled my hand away from Tabi’s grasp as I ran towards Sohee and Yosuk.

 

I grabbed Sohee’s arm and pulled her roughly away from Yosuk. I clenched my fists as I was face to face with the guy. My fist flew straight into his face. But I wasn’t satisfied with that so I proceeded on kneeling him “in-between” his legs. The guy groaned and bowed down with pain. I turned to Sohee with squinted eyes.

 

“How dare you hurt him?! How dare you betray him?! I trusted you, you !” I shouted as I slapped her. I was about to attack her again when someone suddenly stopped me from doing so. I felt I was being pulled away from Sohee. I squirmed and fought hard to be released.

 

“Let me go!” I hissed.

 

“That’s enough already, Dara!” I heard Tabi said with authority. I turned to him.

 

“Why? That sister of yours hurt my bestfriend! She freakingly betrayed him! What I did to her isn’t enough!” I shrieked. As I turned back to face Sohee again, I ran and pulled her hair upon reaching her. I heard Sohee gasped in pain but I didn’t stop. NOBODY, as in NO ONE has the right to hurt Ji, well except for me of course. Ms-All-So-Cutesy has been getting on my nerves for so long but I kept my silence because I know Ji loves her but she crossed the line. She made the biggest mistake in her life in hurting Ji.

 

“Unnie, stop!” she pleaded. But I didn’t listen.

 

I suddenly felt strong arms on my waist, pulling me away from her. I kicked aimlessly. Then my head was thrown back as I felt a slap on my face. I cupped my face and looked at Tabi.

 

“How could you. . . ?” I breathed. My jaw tightened as I waited for his answer. But he didn’t speak and went to help Sohee up instead.

 

Huh! Fine then!

 

I started running away from them, heading towards home.

 

“Dara! Stop right there!” Tabi called but I didn’t listen and ran faster instead.

 

 

AUTHOR’s POV

 

Dara immediately went into her room without looking up. She loudly banged the door of her room and dropped herself on the bed.

 

“What happened to your face?” a voice entered her senses. She suddenly sat up and saw Jiyong standing in front of her with a frown in his face.

 

So, Tabi didn’t run after me, she thought.

 

“Who did this to you?” he asked with clenched jaw as he inspected the red mark on his bestfriend’s face.

 

“It’s nothing,” the girl mumbled, bowing her head. Jiyong put a finger under her chin and raised her face up. He inwardly cursed as he saw the mark clearly.

 

“Stay here. I need to talk with hyung,” he said, but Dara stopped him.

 

“Don’t. You don’t need to go there,” she said, holding his wrist tightly. She doesn’t want to think what Jiyong would feel if he sees Sohee and Yosuk together again.

 

“I’ll be fine,” he insisted then gently pulled his wrist away.

 

“Please don’t hurt him,” she mumbled. Jiyong froze upon hearing that. He looked at her with a blank face.

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

 

 

Later. . .

 

Dara was apprehensively waiting for Jiyong. And when he arrived, she quickly examined him silently. To her relief, no sign of a new bruise appeared. Only the ones she caused were visible. But she was nervous with his silence. Then, he proceeded to applying ointment and ice pack in her face. After a while, they silently ate dinner with Dara’s mother. Dara knew that her mother noticed Jiyong’s blackeye and bruises as well as the mark on her face but she was glad her mother didn’t ask about it. She’s probably waiting for her to open it up voluntarily.

 

Then, when the dishes were done, she silently walked to her bedroom with Jiyong trailing behind her. She lied down and so did he. He squeezed himself beside her and put an arm under her head as he pulled her closer to his body.

 

“You know that what you did to Sohee was wrong, right?” he started. The girl frowned.

 

“She hurt you. What I did to her was nothing compared to what she did to you,” she answered.

 

He chuckled first before answering back. “I know that. But that doesn’t mean that you have to hurt her, too. You have to understand that you cannot control the heart, Dara. You can’t order the heart to stop loving and continue loving someone. You can’t tell the heart to whom you should fall for.”

 

Dara angrily stood up. “Fine. Go side with Sohee just like what Tabi did!”

 

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” Jiyong called as he saw Dara going towards the door. He quickly stood up and blocked her way. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her closer.

 

“Listen, you stubborn little rabbit, I’m not taking sides, okay? I’m not saying that what Sohee and hyung did was right. BUT what you did was also wrong.”

 

He gave an amused chuckle as he saw her childishly pouted. Ah, how he missed that pout of hers. He removed one arm from her waist and raised it to pinch her nose while his other arm remained on her waist to prevent her from moving.

 

“But Tabi slapped me!” she informed him. He sighed.

 

“Your brutality is something that normal people can’t understand. You must understand that they are not like me, who just leaves you unscathed even if I’m already covered up with bruises.”

 

“My brutality?” she exclaimed in disbelief.

 

“Neh, people don’t approve of barbarians. So I suggest you just keep your barbaric acts between the two of us, arrasso?” Jiyong smiled as she saw Dara nodded. “Good. Now, let’s go to sleep.” he said, messing her hair up.

 

“Hold it. You’re still not allowed to sleep here.”

 

He shrugged. “If you say so. Just don’t go running to me when you can’t sleep. Ah, a long and peaceful sleep! It’s been a while.” Jiyong smiled as he turned around and faced the door. He started walking towards it. Then, his smile grew wider as Dara stopped him.

 

“Okay, wait! Just this once, okay? This will be the last time you’ll sleep here, arrasso?”

 

Jiyong cleared his throat first then fixed his face. He wore his poker face as he faced his bestfriend again. That’s what I’m talking about, he thought. “I had a weird dream,” Jiyong started as he settled himself beside her in the bed.

 

“Really? What is it?”

 

“It was really weird. I dreamt that someone was watching me while I was in the shower. The person even scrubbed my back with soap. It was really weird.”

 

He didn’t notice how his bestfriend’s face turned purplish red.

 

 

JIYONG’s POV

 

I was silently running my fingers through her hair as she was using my arm as a pillow. I can’t help but smile when she started snoring. Ghad! It was really weird that for the past months I was not allowed to sleep in her room anymore, I found it hard to sleep because I can’t hear her snores anymore. I missed that sound.

 

Then I sighed. Pathetic, I know but I really can’t stay mad at her for long. I know she caused the black eye and bruises but I wasn’t really that bothered. Because it made me feel that the Dara I knew is still there, the punching Dara: the one who always punches and hits me. Weirdly, I was somewhat relieved and happy about the bruises. At least, it proves that TOP hyung was unable to change everything about her.

 

A frown creased my forehead as I remembered hyung. We’re not really on good terms right now, I don’t know how that happened. But I stopped myself from blowing up on him when we had a talk a while ago, though it was one of the heated talks I had in my life. I know Dara won’t like it if we end up hurting each other. And besides, I already had bruises myself, I don’t want to earn more. I sighed. Me and hyung were really close before but eversince Dara started to change, I secretly blamed hyung for it. Maybe that’s why a big thick wall started to grow between us.