Chapter XLIV:

An Escapade of Emotions and Tensions 

Day 1

13:24 KST

He lay sprawled on the sand covered floor, a thin sheet beneath him while he waited silently.

DongBaek Island was beautiful in this time of the year. The sun blazed yet it wasn’t too hot to the point of scorching one’s skin; it shone just enough to turn the sea from its usual moody gray into a deep, dark blue.

There were a few people, random and indistinctive, milling along the ocean’s bay. Some sat as they adored the beauty of the nature before them, while the others preferred to play or swim or run or did whatever they wanted. Life bustled through every corner; a cacophony of splashing waves, laughter and muffled music mixing in the cool tropic breeze. Warm, serene and comforting.  

What made it more relaxing was the fact that there were no crazy fans nor any nosy paparazzi were tailing after them. Picture taking could only be allowed within the function halls—in their case, photographers were only allowed to take pictures during the actual fashion show. Here, on the outside, professional cameras were prohibited—unless it was a personal equipment to take selcas.

In this place, they were as free as any tourists to roam anywhere or to lay low in wherever spot they want. This was no ordinary resort, and he had to commend Park Bom for choosing a venue which was pretty much exclusive and took a serious consideration for the desired privacy of its clients. And to make things better, they could indulge themselves within this rare exclusiveness and relaxation for three whole days.

Oh, how amazing was that?

However, Lee Donghae was no longer capable of appreciating the loveliness of his surroundings and the beauty of solitude around him.

He was frustrated.

But the idol couldn’t help it.

They have arrived at the hotel hours ago and yet, Dara was nowhere to be found.

She was late.

Was she even going to show up?

Donghae frowned at that thought. He dreaded the possibility of not having Dara with him. In the past few days he had been orchestrating too many plans, too many ways on how to give the greatest confession of all time—a confession that could excavate the hopeless romantic who lain dormant and buried deep within the body of the grumpiest and most sarcastic woman he ever met.

Just give her a VIP ticket to watch BIGBANG’s Dome tour in Japan, that’ll definitely make her happy.

He thought once but shoved it away the instant it passed in his mind. The hell with her weird fangirl stuff! There was no way Donghae would let other guys be the source of her entertainment. That was a big, no no!

He’d do it himself. He’d make her swoon. He’d sweep her off her feet with his own boyish charms. But, heck, Donghae wasn’t even sure if there was enough puddle of cheesiness in Dara’s character to make her slip on her feet.

But he wasn’t going to back down.

After contemplating for so many nights and opening thousands of blog posts and articles over the internet, there was no way he was going to let this chance slip away.

“Oh, hell, that’s a no-no!”

But…

The only problem now was her presence.

If the main recipient of his plan won’t appear . . . then all his efforts and so with the opportunity of winning her heart would be damned, thrown at the furthest recesses of the Pacific Ocean, wasted.  

Damn it!

“Your frown doesn’t suit this place, fish.”

Ignoring the remark of the voice beside him, Donghae heaved an audible sigh. The stress and fatigue and the after effects of jetlag weren’t mixing well inside of him.

“Look at this brat,”

 Donghae heard the man clicking his tongue and through the corners of his eyes, he could see Eunhyuk shaking his head while he settled himself on another mat beside him.

“You miss her already, don’t you?”

He eyed his best friend before finally giving a response. “What makes you think I do?”

Rolling his eyes, Eunhyuk said, “Come on, Lee Donghae. Don’t try denying it. I could practically read the words ‘I miss my Sandara’ all over your face.”

Well, he was indeed missing his Sandara. “Is that a bad thing?”

“My, my, look at you…all grown up and looking so in love,” the latter said in an amused tone, a wide smile gracing his face as he shook his head. “Yearning for the presence of your beloved girlfriend is totally normal. However . . . What’s not normal is a frowning guy who wears bright red clothes in a beach resort,” he teased. “At least put a smile on that face and work that red outfit out, man.”

Donghae grimaced at that, his thoughts instantly led as to why he ever tried the awful idea of seeking love advices from a silly paperback writer.

Holy damn, when will he ever learn?

“You know, Hyuk, I’m really starting to doubt that seducing tips.”  

Eunhyuk laughed, probably sensing the cause of his friend’s weird get up. “So that’s the reason behind this?” he piped in, gesturing his hands toward his shirt. “You’ve been wearing red since we arrived in the airport up until now because of it was a part of that tips? Ahh, and here I was, starting to think of calling you Mr. Period.”

“Mr. Period?” Donghae shot him a glare, and yet he sounded curious at the same time.

 “You know, uh, the cause why girls turn Hulk-like every month.” Eunhyuk said. “Or, do you rather understand it if I call you Mr. Menstruation?”

“Aish, shut up.” Donghae hissed and punched Eunhyuk’s arm.

“But, don’t worry, brotha, I still accept you no matter how blue…or red you are.” His best friend added with a sympathetic gaze. “Just tell me and I’ll wear all yellow so that we can perform ‘Oppa Oppa’ together again.” Then he collapsed in giggles that were fast to amplify into a loud laughter, and started slapping the mat beneath him while he clutched his stomach.

Obviously, Donghae wasn’t pleased with the joke. Raking the guffawing idol with a glare, Donghae grumbled a string of cusses under his breath, questioning the universe on why it ever decided to turn this obvious monkey into a fully evolved man.  

“Why do I even consider you as my friend, huh?”

The friend in question then stopped laughing, and instead of giving a serious response, he suddenly started singing in a high pitched tone.

“Because, I’m so fancy. You already know,” Eunhyuk flipped his long, imaginary hair. “I'm in the fast lane, from L.A. to Tokiyo-oh!”

Then he started bobbing his head, and, to Donghae’s utter disgust, the ‘dancing machine’ started shimmying his hips and shoulders, and wiggled his nonexistent s, acting all fabulous while he remained lain flat on the mat.

“I'm so fancy, Can't you taste this gol—blegh!”

Eunhyuk’s impromptu performance instantly stopped replaced by a shocked yelp and exaggerated gagging sounds the moment Donghae threw him an ample amount of sand, sprayed the fine dust to his bastard of a friend.

“Fu—it entered my mouth!” Eunhyuk coughed. “What the heck, Donghae!”

Now it was Donghae’s turn to laugh out loud as he watched the other guy scrape his tongue with his fingertips. “I, sure, can’t taste that gold, alright,” he said after sobering from his laughter.

 After swiping the last bit of sand off of him, Eunhyuk snorted at him. “Geez, thanks for that a-hole.”

“My pleasure, brotha.” Donghae crooned, mimicking Eunhyuk’s sympathetic gaze earlier before a sly grin broke across his handsome face.

Heaving an annoyed huff, Eunhyuk lifted himself up, glowering.

“Where are you going?” Donghae asked.

“I’m going to Attorney Park to file a case against you!”

“What the?” He laughed on though he felt a small pinch in his gut the moment Eunhyuk reminded him of Dara.  “On what ground, idiot?”

“Uhm, for . . . for violating the ‘Anti Lee Hyuk Jae Abuse Law’!”

“Do you have the slightest idea how stupid that sounds?” Donghae’s laughter slowly died down. “And besides, she is still not here remember? Got a feeling she won’t even come.” The last sentence was said in a bitter whisper, but Eunhyuk was able to catch it along with the reappearance of Donghae’s frustration that lay hidden behind those words.

“Man, why are you so worried about that? It’s not like you won’t be seeing her again after this, right?” Eunhyuk looked at him curiously, and Donghae didn’t like the sight of doubt on the latter’s face.

He cleared his throat and remained quiet, mentally praying that his friend would not try prying further on that issue because Eunhyuk didn’t understand the brevity of this opportunity. He didn’t have the slightest hint about the struggles Donghae had to face in order to eradicate the concept of ‘pretense’ in the relationship he had with his lawyer. Well, of course, he won’t. The dude didn’t have the faintest idea on why Donghae became ultra-busy the past week, so why would he expect Eunhyuk to understand the stress he was experiencing?

Aaah, look at all the things I do for Love…

“Come on, dude, you look ten times uglier when you frown.” Eunhyuk intercepted his thoughts which only made his frown go deeper.

“Don’t worry; I’m sure she’ll come, okay?” the latter added, crouched beside him and patted his shoulder.

Donghae was a hair’s breadth close into believing the sincerity in Eunhyuk’s words.

 A hair’s breadth close . . . but then what felt like a hurricane of sand, suddenly, came slamming directly at his face and that sincerity died a quick death.

“Yah, Lee Hyuk Jae!” he bellowed while the culprit ran in a speed of light, singing the phrase, “Karma karma karma is gonna find you! Whatcha gonna do when it comes for you?!” in between his hysterical laughter.

Good thing his reflex was fast and Donghae was able to close both of his eyes and mouth in time when Eunhyuk made his little revenge.

“Oh, I’m gonna kill you, you prick,” he grumbled while swiping off the sand from his hair and his shirt.

But then, it seemed that karma was not done yet, because just right after he stood up, Donghae heard a distant scream.

“Lee Donghae!”

But, then again, maybe it wasn’t karma’s doing. Maybe it was destiny calling him, because when Donghae turned his head towards the source of that shriek, his heart instantly fluttered like crazy. It felt like his life was suddenly turned into a movie and this particular scene played in a dramatic slow motion right before his eyes. The man swore he could even hear the cheesy, old romantic song playing in their backdrop, creating an odd duet with the erratic beating of his heart.

Because lo and behold, his beloved lawyer dressed in a white, loose polo shirt radiated under the magnificent afternoon sunlight, oh, holy heck, she was practically glowing while she approached him!

Fast…very fast, he might add—Sandara was approaching him in quick steps.

Wait, no.

She wasn’t approaching him. She was running towards him.

Now he was confused.

Was she that excited to se