AUTHOR’s POV

 

Little did Dara know, Jiyong followed her in the storage room. He saw her scooted in one corner, head bowed down. He started taking steps towards her but then he stopped and thought otherwise. He sighed then turned around quietly. He took another glance at her as he silently closed the door.

 

Meanwhile, Dara was lost in her own misery. Never did she feel more alone than this moment. She was doing so damn fine until that manager arrived. And now, the ghosts of the past are back again. Why is it so hard to forget someone or something you desperately wanted to forget? Why is it that the more you try to forget, the more you remember it?

 

She ran, she escaped from that place only to be imprisoned yet again. Was it wrong to escape from the agonizing pain? She knew it was her fault but does that mean she can never live normally? Happily? Well, she’s stupid for thinking about that.

 

Happiness.

 

She can never have that. After all the things she’d done, she knew she can never be happy. But sometimes, it’s so tempting to live in an illusion that she can still at least experience it: be happy. But who was she fooling anyways? Sooner or later, that word will be perforated by the ghosts she tried so hard to run from, to escape from.

 

Maybe, if she only didn’t cause the death of the two most important people in her life, she would never feel the need to run away. Maybe it would be easier for her to accept their deaths. But it’s just so hard. Just by the time she was starting to accept that her father will never return her bestfriend followed. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t help the feeling of not accepting Jiyong’s death. It was easier to accept her father’s death than Ji’s.

 

 

DARA’s POV

 

After I gathered myself together, I stood up and wiped my tears off angrily and breathed in deeply. I fixed myself up then stepped out, went into the kitchen and splashed some cold water into my face.

 

 

Later. . .

 

I prepared to leave as Dae arrived in the café. I talked to him for a while then waved goodbye. I inhaled the fresh morning air as I stepped out of the café.

 

“Need a ride?”

 

My head turned sharply to the left and I saw HIM standing there, leaning on his car.

 

“No, I have feet, I can walk,” I dismissively said. I started walking, not really paying attention as I was grumpily mumbling to myself.

 

“Hey, wait up!” he called but I ignored him. Then, I suddenly stopped as I caught a glimpse of a very familiar figure. I squinted my eyes but I saw nothing but shadows. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

 

“N-nothing. I thought I saw. . .” I shook my head to clear my thoughts then turned to Mr. Kwon. “Ya! What do you think are you doing?” I burst out.

 

“It’s really dangerous to walk home alone, you know,” the persistent insect said.

 

“I can take care of myself!” I said.

 

“We can’t be too sure, can we? So, there’s no-“

 

“What the hell’s wrong with you?!”

 

“Hey, don’t shout at me like that. If you’ve forgotten, I’m your boss.”

 

“Well, if you’ve also forgotten, Mr. Kwon, we’re not at the café anymore and my shift is done, meaning, we’re on equal footing right now,” I scowled at him and started walking away. I succeeded in making a few good distance between us when I heard his voice.

 

“Don’t you want to know what my payment would be? For taking care of me?” he called. I stopped but I didn’t turn around. I hesitated for a while but then decided to go on.

 

It turned silent for a while. I dared not look back. When I reached home without hearing anything, I concluded that he stopped following me and went back to the café. I took out my keys and inserted it in the hole. I turned the knob and pushed the door open.

 

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” a voice behind me said. I jumped in surprise and gave a frightened squeak.

 

“Ya! How dare you sneak up on me like that?!”

 

He chuckled lightly. “You’re so insensitive to your surroundings. I’ve been following you the whole time.”

 

“What do you want?” I hissed.

 

“I’ll cook for you in return to-“

 

“I can cook for myself.”

 

“No wonder you’re so thin,” he mumbled. My nostrils flared.

 

“What did you say again?”

 

He smiled. “Aren’t you going to offer me a cup of coffee?” he answered instead.

 

“You shouldn’t have followed me if you want a cup of coffee! There are a lot of them in the café!” I burst out and closed the door on his face. What the hell’s wrong with him? First, he would go all cold towards me then now, he’s acting like some persistent lapdog. Aish! He is so. . . . so unexplainable.

 

I just stepped into my room when I heard the doorbell rang.

 

And it rang. . .

 

And it rang. . .

 

And it rang. . . .

 

And it rang again. . .

 

And I lost count of how many times it rang.

 

I opened the door roughly and pushed the cup into his hand and closed the door again.

 

“It’s hot!” I heard him exclaimed.

 

“Of course it is!” I shouted through the door, “How stupid could you get?” I added. I crossed my arm on my chest and tapped my foot impatiently. Then, after a few minutes, it rang again. I sighed out of frustration and opened the door for the second time. He gave me the empty cup and I took it roughly from him.

 

“I DON’T WANT YOU TO REPAY ME! AND I WANT TO SLEEP SO GO AWAY AND STOP BUGGING ME!”

 

~o~

 

“Hey!” I heard someone greeted from behind me. I turned around and saw Mr. Kwon smiling brightly at Minhwan. I was in the middle of cleaning Minhwan’s table when Mr. Kwon sneaked up again.

 

“Annyeong!” Minhwan greeted back uncertainly, giving me confused looks

 

“It’s pretty late. Does your mom know you’re coming here at this wee hour?”

 

“Well, I don’t really-“

 

“I hope you understand that I don’t want the image of this café tainted. I mean, people might think that we’re not a very good influence to kids since we’re making you up this late.”

 

“The people-“

 

“I suggest you go home already. You’re not really looking good lately. You’ve been developing dark circles under your eyes. And you looked kinda pale. Not to mention that you’re looking very thin. And between the two of us, you know how girls get attracted to physical appearance; you do want to have a girlfriend someday, don’t you?” Mr. Kwon ranted. I looked at Minhwan. He was gazing at the manager with wide eyes.

 

“Oh,” he mumbled. “Oh, well, maybe I should-“

 

“You don’t have to leave yet, Minhwan,” I said, giving Mr. Kwon a dirty glare.

 

“Oh, no. I’m kinda tired, too. So, I think I should go,” Minhwan answered quietly. He stood up and bowed to me and Mr. Kwon, smiling awkwardly. I watched him walk away stiffly before I turned to Mr. Kwon. He was smirking at me. His lips turned into a lopsided grin, looking so smug. I balled my fists tightly. I don’t want to create any commotion since there are a few good number of customers around. I took his hand and started dragging him to his office. I was expecting him to resist but he let himself be dragged. The moment the door closed, I faced him with squinted eyes.

 

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?!?” I burst out, as usual. I can’t seem to control my temper around him. He didn’t answer; he just looked at me with amusement. “HOW DARE YOU SHOO MINHWAN AWAY JUST LIKE THAT?! AND DON’T YOU GO TELLING ME YOU’RE JUST CONCERNED ABOUT HIM BECAUSE I’M NOT THAT DUMB!”

 

Still, he continued looking at me like I’m the most amusing thing in the world, choosing to remain silent.

 

“DID YOUR TONGUE GET TWISTED?! AND WHAT’S WITH THAT LOOK IN YOUR FACE? STOP THAT!” I snapped. He started chuckling lightly; much to my surprise, then looked down. I followed his gaze and saw that he was looking at our hands, still intertwined. Oh well, let me rephrase that: he was looking at how my hand was holding his hand tightly. Err, I didn’t notice I was still holding his hand. I know I should have let go by now, the moment I realized I was still clinging to his hand but, well, my fingers won’t let go eventhough my brain was screaming to let go already. All I did was stare at it too, and wondered how perfectly the spaces in between our fingers fit perfectly.

 

“Oh,” I mumbled incoherently. “Well, I. . .” I stammered and looked up. “I was just-“

 

My words were drowned as his lips claimed mine. I shivered and raised my free hand, resting it on his chest. Mind you, I AM NOT DOING THIS VOLUNTARILY.

 

My lips parted, oh, this is involuntary again.

 

I breathed him in, letting his lips brushed lightly against mine. His lips; they were moving so gently, so slow, so light that it made me want to cry. The gentleness was too much for me to take; too gentle it was like a soft breeze was touching my lips. There was some sort of familiarity but my mind pushed the thought aside as I was struggling to wonder how come he felt so familiar. I was suddenly distracted when I felt something more into it: underneath the gentleness and familiarity, there was something more like begging, pleading. For what? I don’t know. Then I felt the begging and pleading becoming more urgent, making me pull back, away from him. I looked at him. He looked like he was surprised with what he did, with what had just happened. But aside from the surprise look, he was gazing at me tenderly.

 

“I’ve seen that look before,” I whispered, frowning. His face suddenly changed. The smirk was back as his eyes shifted to dark pools.

 

“Sorry,” he chuckled. “I was pretty surprise with what I did. Oh well,” he shrugged, “things like that happen, I guess. I’m still a guy after all.”

 

I stood still, speechless. “I’m going to punch you,” I said. He just looked at me, not moving. I knew he saw it coming but he didn’t dodge. He looked as if he was waiting for it to come. He looked like he wanted me to punch him.

 

And so I did.

 

~o~

 

Six weeks passed in a blur. After the incident in the office, we grew awkward and distant to each other, not that we were close though. But I also felt guilty and I can’t look CL-roo straight in the eyes for a while but I got over it. I’ve had some peace, though. Maybe it was meant to happen, that “event” in the office since me and the manager never talked or looked at each other anymore; don’t acknowledge each other’s presence; can’t even stay in one room if the other is around and I prefer it that way. But there were times that we still clash, though. It seemed natural, inevitable.