Chapter LII:

Game On

07:15 PM KST

Amid a crowd of strange faces and condescending stares, atty. Sandara Park walked the runway like she was born to do it. Well, at least that was how it looked like. Fortunately for her, the audience couldn’t hear the thoughts racing through her mind while she strutted her way.

Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Oh goodness gracious. Don’t you freaking fall!

It was a monumental effort just to keep her legs moving. And a damn miracle to keep up a straight face.

Just walk, walk. Keep walking. You’ll survive. Left. Then right. Yes. Walk.

The gazes burned like a band against her skin and didn’t help her one bit. Blame it on her clothes! Being a mere substitute, Dara’s outfits were significantly different from the other female models. She wore Donghae’s supposed clothes, but in a feminine way. Bom had to make a few tweaks here and there just so it would adjust accordingly to her style and size. It was cut shorter, slightly flimsier, so she could exhibit her flawless skin enough to tease the viewers. This was a fashion show for summer wear, after all. But then again, summer wear wasn’t always Dara’s ideal choice for an everyday outfit.

During her fist walk, Dara wore a casual white over-sized linen shirt and a laced pair of gray shorts that exhibited the brilliance of her milky white legs. They matched the outfit with a coal black fedora hat. Then in her next turns, Dara sported other sorts of variations of men’s wear that it looked like she had been a girlfriend who enjoyed playing with the clothes of her partner instead of the respected lawyer she truly was. Not that she didn’t like it. She was actually relieved. Grateful even. Heck, she should thank the heavens because the outfits didn’t require monster heels. That’ll surely be the death of her.

While Dara silently struggled to survive on the runway, Lee Donghae was rather enjoying every moment of it. When his lawyer first stepped out of the backstage and into the spotlight, his undivided attention has been with her since then. Even if she ended a round, Donghae would wait eagerly for her to show up again. And every time she would walk out on that runway, Donghae found himself shamelessly transfixed. The only time he spared a glance away was when he bragged like a proud boyfriend he was.

“That’s my girlfriend right there,” he whispered to the woman on his right. “She’s my girlfriend,” to the man on his left. “I’m her boyfriend,” to the trio of girls behind him. He was grinning all the while and the people around him simply gave him an amused smile.

“You’re lucky, young man.” One of them said and this only widened the already wide smile on his face.

“I sure am,” Donghae quipped while his gaze followed Dara as she walked on that stage. She was now cladded in a yellow long sleeved mid riff that revealed her toned abs and a pair of faded blue jeans that was folded up until her ankles. Donghae knew for sure that pants was meant for him, and they repaired it to fit her just enough—by enough, it meant a loose, twice-her-size kind of fit that hanged lowly around her hip. The idol swore he could see the yellow bikini peeking through the denim edge.

It was rather...y.

Donghae knew the jeans would look good on him, but then it seemed the pants liked hugging Dara’s slender thighs better than his own hard and buffed legs. She owned that outfit—every outfit actually. And the night seemingly agreed as the gust of air blew her long, dark well-coiffed hair gently from her face as though caressing the skin of her cheeks.

Damn. Look at her.

Damn it. Stop looking at me.

Dara knew just how eye-candy she could be. But, holy damn, the ogling of the audience made her feel like they were her all up. Could they stop looking so openly like they can see through her clothes? For goodness sake, the -pad wasn’t that obvious, was it?

She wondered if this was how Donghae felt every time he stepped on the spotlight. How he dealt with the hungry gazes that seemed to feast on the every inch of his being. Was this how every celebrity felt? Bare and acutely aware of their flaws?

Just then she caught Donghae’s eyes lingering on her. He sat not too far from the runway with an ecstatic smile on his face. Somehow, that calmed her down. It was less frightening knowing that there’s a pair of familiar eyes amid that sea of strange gazes.

She reached the backstage then, and wondered how all of this would pan out if Donghae walked instead of her. She would be the one sitting on the side lines. And he would be wearing the older versions of her outfit, gliding gracefully through the runway like the idol he was. The pants and the other shirts would’ve definitely looked great on him. But then again, she wasn’t sure about that.

Dara hadn’t had the chance to see how the Super Junior members, Jaejoong and Seungri looked like since she was walking alongside the other female models and