Chapter XLI:

A Sudden Change

Atty. Sandara Park found herself staying within the confines of the SM building longer than she initially intended.

Her reason?

She wasn’t quite sure, either.

Perhaps, it was by intuition, because all of her female hormones raged against this certain girl who apparently had managed to annoy her in stealthiest ways possible. It was, basically, a kind of thing among girls and it was absurd because this seething sensation inside of her gave Dara the sudden urge to keep her eye on that girl, hence, the prolonged stay. Kind of childish, really, because she had so many things left to do back in her office but there she was, keeping a wary stare towards the direction of her pseudo-boyfriend and on the hands snaking around his waist, his arms, his head…practically, everywhere around him, and they call it “choreography.” Some sort of a dance surprise for the fans who would be watching their joint concert in Beijing.

She scoffed at that. Although Donghae had kept looking at her while he danced, winking from time to time, it bothered the lawyer because he was teasing her while having another girl in his arms with the dance steps emitting a sensual aura around them.  

What the hell was that?

“Jealous, aren’t we?” A sudden voice materialized from her side and Dara was startled out of her trance. She turned towards the owner and saw Heechul wearing a radiant, knowing grin on his face.

She quirked an eyebrow, “Wha—what do you mean?”

The latter chuckled at her flustered state. “Oh, come on, you know what I’m talking about,” he said, diverting his stare from the woman towards the direction where Donghae was practicing his dance number with Jessica at the moment. Then he looked back at her and added, “Your glare could set someone on fire, Attorney. And I won’t be surprised if that someone is Lee Donghae.”

“I was glaring?”

Oh, god, did she really just look like a jealous girlfriend in the eyes of the older guy?

“Yes!” Heechul nodded, chuckling. “You actually looked like...” he paused, crossed his arms and, proceeded to explain the implication with his face, contorting it into a deep frown while he squinted and pursed his lips tightly into a line. “Like this.”

“I definitely didn’t look like that.”

“Yes, because yours looked worse.”

fell ajar and glared at the latter in mock-offense. Heechul, on the other hand, laughed seeing this because Dara looked cute rather than being scary. “Geez, that was just a joke, a joke,” Then he draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled Dara closer towards him. “But, seriously, Attorney, you there’s no reason for you to be jealous, because that fish—” he gestured towards Donghae’s direction. “—is the most loyal human being I have ever known. His mentality is too innocent to entertain unacceptable things such as infidelity, so no need to worry about Jessica or any other girl.”

Dara tried to retort and correct the guy because, heck, she wasn’t jealous! She was…ticked off. Irritated. Definitely, annoyed—for some odd reason that is and the girl was so sure it wasn’t jealousy. But Heechul didn’t give her the chance to throw her fierce denials as he continued speaking in a pensive, father-like manner, shifting his head to look at Donghae once more.  “And, you know what?” he said, his eyes lingered on the other man. “Despite his strong physique, Donghae is, in fact, one of the most sensitive among us. He has a heart of a five year old child—too trusting and too innocent sometimes—so we make sure to take a good care of him.”

Dara was dubious of the last part after witnessing the way they manhandled Donghae a while ago and how they had fun torturing the man’s . That was definitely not her idea of taking care of someone.

“Oh, but of course, the pranks and -slapping are a vital part of that upkeep…men gotta do what they gotta do, you know?” Heechul supplied, side eyeing her with his lopsided grin after noticing the cynical look on the young woman’s face.

She simply smiled at that. Although Dara had no concrete explanation as to why most of the male population shared the strangest shenanigans among them, she understood what he meant, because, well, the same unexplainable crap also existed within that complicated world called ‘women’s logic’. That seemed fair enough.

“Honestly,” Heechul continued. “I’ve never seen him this happy, and I guess I’ll have to thank you for that.”

Well,