Chapter XXX: Karma

She stood amidst a flowery meadow, green grass swaying beneath her feet. Savoring the tranquility, Dara roamed her eyes around the surreal paradise, and halted as an image of a man caught her attention. He was lean, tall and fair; an angel stood by the distance and her heart skipped a beat. She knew who it was. Every feature of that man was already memorized by her mind.

She took a step forward and then another as she tried to approach him yet the closer she got the blurry his image had become.

“No,” Dara whimpered as tears slowly fell on her cheeks. “Don’t leave me, please…no!” She ran faster to where he stood as she desperately yearned to hold him, feel him and have him again, but the silhouette vanished right before her eyes. She gasped upon realizing that where Jae stood was at the very edge of a cliff. With eyes closed, Dara braced herself for the fall yet a hand caught her arm, skimming her around before enveloping her tightly into an embrace.

“Shh…It’s okay,” she heard him whisper in her ear. His voice was oddly familiar but she did not lift her eyes to know who the guy was. Instead, she had let him hold her longer as the warmth of his presence gave her a peculiar feeling of alleviation. “I’m here, it’s alright, babe…”

Babe?

Her eyes flickered open, however, the huge beaming light from the ceiling made her eyes even heavier that it already was. As soon as her vision adjusted in concord with its brightness, a strong smell of medical cleanser then assaulted her breathing. But what made Dara utterly confused that moment was neither the blinding light nor the unwelcoming reek nor even the tube injected in her forearm.

 It was the sight of Donghae sleeping peacefully beside her on the patience’s bed—not as though the bed was large enough to hold them both. Donghae held her close against his chest so that she won’t fall.

What’s happening?

Confused and aghast, Dara remained motionless, afraid enough not to move or else she’ll tumble out of the bed—having another reason for a headache would be the last thing she’ll need.

Headache…oh yes. Now she remembered. The memory of the morning’s occurrences rushed through her; from the freaking, noisy birds down to the blackout. Is that why she was in the hospital? Is that why Donghae was with her?

As if sensing her wake, Donghae made a hoarse moan and propped his head up by the elbow.  “Hey, babe.” He said with his raspy voice, lifting a hand to cup her cheek. “Good, your fever is gone.”

“Wha..why are you here?” She asked, shamefully stammering her words out.

“You fainted, remember? I brought you here, in the hospital.” Donghae responded, looking offended by her question.

She heaved a sigh and removed his hand from her cheek. “What I mean is why are you laying here with me? Do you really have a hobby of jumping into other people’s mattresses?”

Now she’s back to her old self. Donghae mentally sneered at her.

A part of him preferred the sleeping Dara; the saintly maiden laid peaceful in her slumber. In that way, he could have the infinite time to stare at her angelic face. However, he was still a young and healthy man and alongside that fact was the roaring need to feed on her lips, to savor the sweetness of it.

But he held back.

God knows how many gallons of self-control he poured onto himself not to touch nor lay a single finger on her but again, Dara always had the oblivious ways of ruining it.

“Hey, you’re the one who has this hobby of whining at me to sleep with you.” He countered but the girl kept her incredulous stare. “How can you call that a hobby if it only happened twice?”

“Same thing applies to your prior remark, babe.” He shrugged but then a slow impish smile grew wider along the corners of his lips. “If you really want me, you can just say it even when you’re awake. No need to pretend you’re fast asleep to request for my beefy arms around you, my baby.” He teased in a low seductive tone.

Dara narrowed her gaze as she gave Donghae a hard, fierce stare befor