Chapter XXXIX:

The Diva and the Leader

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Sandara’s flat voice bounced against the metallic walls of the elevator as she snatched her hand from Donghae’s grasp, and by the way she clenched her hands tightly, it was obvious that the woman was exasperated.

“That’s for hanging up on me.” The idol responded nonchalantly, unfazed by her seething rage. “And for ignoring me because of other men.”

“I did not ignore you for those kids!” she hissed, taking the liberty to raise her voice since they were alone in the mechanical box. “I was caught in the situation and had to hang up on you. Do you really have to pull such indecency out in the public just because of that?”

“It isn’t just that.” Donghae grumbled back. “They were being extra clingy on you and I didn’t like it, okay?”

“My, God,” she rolled her eyes. “Those boys are your hoobaes and they were just being polite.”

“You really don’t understand, do you?” he sighed. “Hoobaes or not, they are still boys and good looking at that,” he added. “I had to punish you, and, at the same time, I had to do something to give them a reminder that I am your man, that I could be the only one who could shower you with special attention.”

A faint blush tinted Dara’s cheeks at his possessive implication yet she managed to whirl her head away before Donghae could notice it and think he had this effect on her. Surely, it was because of the temperature inside. It was just so hot nowadays. So, so hot.

“You are taking this scheme way too serious than you should, Lee Donghae,” she said, shaking her head in frustration.

“Oh, hell, I am!” the idol blurted with much conviction, his hands clenched in fervor as he puffed his chest out while Dara simply rolled her eyes. Then she averted her gaze back at him and was about to speak yet again when something had caught her attention, her eyes instantly squinting at it.

“Your…” she started, pointing a finger on his face—on his head, specifically, “Your hair…it’s blue.”

Sandara’s face was in a mixture of amazement and sheer interest when she pointed it out which caused Donghae to self-consciously run a hand on his dyed hair.

“Uh—yeah.” He smiled awkwardly. She never did this; noticing the trivial details on his body and pointing it out blatantly. Donghae was flattered. “Do you like it?”

His lawyer simply shrugged her shoulders. After a few moments she said, “its okay, I guess. But I think it would have been better if you chose a blonde hair.”

“Blonde?” Donghae raised his eyebrows, intrigued. “Why blonde?”

She looked at him for a while with a sluggish grin spreading across her face. “Well, you know, since you like copying Johnny Bravo and all.” Sandara teased and started laughing at the ridiculous memory of his forced baritone voice, sputtering a few words he said in a same manner as she continued laughing.

Donghae, on the other hand, was absolutely unimpressed of what she said; the potential flattery in his being stabbed and crushed unto a quick death.

“I could do a lot of things to you inside here, you know,” he mused darkly which effectively placated Sandara’s gale of laughter.  

The woman glowered at him. “I was just joking, you byun—”she snarled but stopped herself when Donghae shot her a warning look.  Biting on her lower lip, Dara decided to stomp her frustration instead, like a petulant child who was afraid to throw a tantrum in fear of her parent’s punishment.

Then she stiffened, hit by a realization.

Afraid?

Good gods, was she starting to get tamed by Donghae?

Impossible. No man ever tried to control the feared Attorney Sandara Park, worst, threat her with slightest form of harassment possible—a kiss. Yet as pathetic the consequence sounded, she actually found herself threatened by it. God, she was afraid of Donghae’s kiss!

What the heck was happening?

It was beyond absurd.

This has to stop, she thought with such finality.

Sandara had to do something to stop the madness of this pathetic rule. She had to do something before he could completely overpower her and use it for his own strange and erted benefits.

Just as she concluded the idea in her mind, an electronic ding sounded, implying that the elevator had finally reached their destined floor. Donghae offered a hand yet she ignored him and stepped out of the elevator immediately. With a sigh, the man started walking as well, leading both of them back towards the practice room.

“Why did you bring me here?” Sandara asked once they reached the slightly ajar door, her eyes peeking through the gap, instantly realizing that it was some kind of a dance studio.  Muffled noises could be heard from behind it and Dara immediately had the hunch that the other Super Junior members might be inside as well. Not that she didn’t want to see them, it was just she worried for the fact that she would have to act all sweet and flirty with Donghae again since other people would be watching them.

“When I mentioned about being stuck with our practices earlier, I was actually telling the truth,” he said, edging beside her. “Good thing it was our break time when you called. So I got to fetch you up right away.”

Sandara cringed subtly. Was it really a good thing? Because, honestly, she would’ve preferred it if he was busy enough to just ignore her or let her be. Things would’ve been better that way.

Too late for such thoughts, though.

Donghae pushed the door open and her thought snapped in an instant.

They stepped inside and were welcomed by the Super Junior members in their casual, laid-back outfits, sporting all sorts of new hairstyles that she had to bite back a gasp at the sudden change of appearance in most of them.

Idols were indeed taking on a serious account on how to keep themselves in trend, she realized as her eyes panned a look at them. Eunhyuk had his hair dyed in a shade of platinum blonde, almost bordering to white while Siwon had a brighter brown hair. Nothing special with that, though, when compared to Sungmin’s new look. His face was mostly covered with his long silver fringe and Dara couldn’t help but wonder how the man could possibly see with those bangs blocking his eyes.

“Poor bunch of hair, your strands must be suffering all the time,” she thought silently as the men lying on the floor finally took notice of their arrival in the room. They all beamed the moment they saw her standing beside Donghae.

“Oh, hey there, Attorney!”

She tore her sympathetic gaze away from the set of abused hair and turned to see Kangin—now with the 5:5 blonde hair—waving at her, a smile gracing on his face. She beamed at the elder and waved. Yet before she could open to greet him, a man, indistinctive since she has never seen him before, suddenly stood in front of her. 

The odd man stayed there for a while and crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes running along the small silhouette of Sandara’s frame, seemingly sizing her up.

Annoyed by the outright act of silent scrutiny, Sandara simply raised her eyebrows and waited.

“So…” he drawled in a deliberate, criticizing manner, his eyes squinting at her. “You’re Donghae’s girlfriend.”

“Hyung,” Donghae grunted cautiously behind Dara, sending the other guy a look which was meant as a plea for him to stop but the older seemed unfazed as he kept the smug expression on his face.

Then his mouth twitched in what seemed like a brief scoff. “You look quite okay, but I expected better.”

 “And who, may I ask, are you?” Sandara asked calmly, completely unperturbed by the stranger’s way of intimidating her.

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