Ahhh, but of course, I won't leave you guys hanging.

so, here's the next chapter. <3

Chapter XLIII:

An Unexpected Ministration

Oh.

He suddenly moaned under his breath the moment a pair of small, delicate hands closed over his shoulders, specifically, on the crook of his neck, then descended slowly, pressing the curve in a ticklish yet very delightful massage. Now he knew what she intended. Dara understood his fatigue, and like a very caring girlfriend, she did something to ease it. The best part? It felt heavenly! Oh, how was it possible? Did he do something so great, so saintly, to receive such blessing? But Donghae buried all of these unnecessary thoughts down into the heaps of his other concerns and savored the sensation of her ministrations instead, closed his eyes and dropped his head backwards in surrender of the pleasure Dara was giving him, subtly when she kneaded on the exact spot where his muscles throbbed.

“Wow, look at those two,” Eunhyuk sighed from his spot, staring the couple across them, and then he turned to look at the blonde girl sitting beside him, pouting. “How come you never give me a massage, baby Hyo?”

Lifting her eyes to look at the guy, the blonde said, “You really want that to happen, hon? Are you sure?”

“She’ll probably end up breaking you bones, oppa.” Another girl chimed in, grinning at the two of them.

“Sunny is right, hyung. We all know how Hyohyeon can break things with her hands.” Henry added, and the blonde looked at him in mock-offense.

“Yah, I’m not that brute. Besides, if Eunhyuk wants it, then I can, probably, break a few of his bones for him.” Then she looked at her boyfriend, blinking cutely while she smiled. “Right, oppa?”

The guy gulped hard. “Ah, never mind. It’s better to have aching muscles than fractured bones.” With that, they all laughed. However, one particular mouth wasn’t smiling, in fact, it was pressed into a tight, pink line, unimpressed, utterly displeased by the sight in front of her.

“Where is Jessica going?” Ryewook asked once the brunette stormed out of the room and the others, oblivious, simply shrugged their shoulders, continuing on their own businesses while the bored guys somehow kept observing the couple from the other bench, wistfully wishing they had the same caring girlfriend.

 “You like this, don’t you?” Dara spoke as she continued kneading Donghae’s back.

“Hmm, very much, babe,” he sighed.  “Can I just hire you as my personal masseur?”

“Sorry, but I'm not for hire,” she said, catching on the joke in his question. “And besides, my hands are always busy doing other things so you should consider yourself lucky ‘cause this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Oh, I wonder what those other things are.” Donghae said dreamily and she could practically hear him grinning.

“Now, you’re being a ert again, are you?”

Donghae chuckled, his shoulders shaking beneath her hands as he did. “You’re the erted one if you think I’m a ert for saying something I clearly have meant no malice.”

“Yah, who are you calling ert, huh?”

Dara gave him a slap on his back, reproaching him and Donghae feigned a yelp.

“Hey, that hurts!” Well, actually it wasn’t yet he glanced at her over his shoulders, wearing an assaulted expression as he rubbed the spot where she had hit him. “You’re being sadistic over your poor boyfie again.”

“Wow,” Dara scoffed. “After what I just did, you have the nerve to call me sadistic? What an ungrateful jerk.”

“But you are,” Donghae said, countering her, enjoying the way she reacted with his teasing. “And erted at that,” he added with a click of his tongue. “I guess seeing my y made you this way. Ah, yes, maybe that’s it.”

Upon mentioning that, Dara’s face flushed beet red, yet before Donghae could take notice of it, she took the initiative of slapping his back again, this time stronger that a real yelp came from the guy.

“There’s nothing y about your , because looking at it felt like looking at an infant’s ,” she retorted but Donghae remained unfazed.

“So, you’re admitting that you actually had been looking at it?”

She hissed, her face burning in earnest now. “I—I wasn’t—it wasn’t like I intended to look at it! I had no choice, okay? I was—” She stopped herself at the sight of his impish grin and, instead rained his back with punches, drumming it hard with her fisted hands.

Donghae, on the other hand, cried out in defeat, and in attempt to stop her, he turned around, wrapped his legs around her waist and used his arms to hug her. It seemed effective because Dara was totally trapped within him, looking like a stiff branch to a koala clinging around it. Obviously, Donghae was that koala.

Struggling to break free, Dara shrieked, “Let go off me! God, your sweat doesn’t smell very appealing, you know?”

“I’ll let you go if you’ll apologize for hurting me.”

“You’re the one who started it.”

“Well, then...” Donghae hugged her closer, tighter, that she could practically feel the wetness of his swea