Chapter 20

Dinner

DARA'S POV

This is such a bad idea.

I thought on repeat. I’ve been thinking that ever since I came to my senses. It was a bad idea. I should have never agreed to Jiyong. I should have kept my cool and remain hard on him. But no. This had to be, by far, the stupidest thing that I’ve ever done.

This is certainly a bad idea.

“Not at all. You agreed Dara, remember?” I jumped to my feet when I heard Jiyong spoke. So I was speaking my thoughts again out loud? Damn, I should really practice myself to control that. I stood in front of him, wearing a knee-length sun dress with denim jacket. I was wearing a flat strappy sandals because I knew Ji Woo would be a lot to handle.

“Did I mention how much I hate you today?” I tried my best to put a scowl but I’m wearing soft make-up which betrayed me.

"If you did, I wasn't listening." Jiyong’s white polo shirt and jeans complemented mine. He pulled it off effortlessly and the silhouette perfectly showcased his frame.

We both looked at each other when we heard Ji Woo screamed. I looked at the clock and it was six in the evening already and we were expected by Jiyong’s parents at seven. I was still having the longest sleep I thought I will ever have in weeks when I heard Jiyong rang the doorbell. Seriously, I should probably ask the maintenance to remove that doorbell so Jiyong would stop taking advantage of it. Jiyong came back to the living room carrying Ji Woo. As soon as I saw Ji Woo, I couldn’t help but smile because of his cuteness. His eyes were puffy, still wet with tears and both of his hands were in a fist, them as if those were the most delicious food he’d ever tasted.

“Oh my God, Ji Woo-ah! Since when did you learn how to do that? Hands are not meant to be .” I said as I picked Ji Woo from Jiyong and held him to my chest, kissing the top of his head.

“You stop crying for other people.” Jiyong pouted before walking back to the bedroom to get Ji Woo’s baby bag. It was a cute sky blue bag with prints of clouds. I remembered picking it up the last time we had baby shopping.

“You did not forget anything, right?”

“Nope.”

“You sure?” I eyed him suspiciously.

“God, Dara…you should’ve packed his things in the first place.”Jiyong reasoned.

“Fine.” I gritted out reluctantly. “Hold Ji Woo for a moment.” I said as I handed Ji Woo to him.

I opened the baby bag and found Ji Woo’s necessities: diapers, bottles, formula milk, few clothes, etc. I just have this feeling that we were forgetting something so I walked back to Jiyong’s bedroom just to be sure.

“Jiyong!” I exclaimed.

What. The. Hell.

“Tell me you did not forget to bring the car seat!”

“Oh.” Jiyong muttered as he appeared next to me. I pinched his sides which earned a loud whimper from him. Ji Woo was shocked and suddenly cried.

“See? You scared him off!” I got Ji Woo from him and swayed to calm him.

“You pinched me!” He shouted. I gestured a hush at his direction because Ji Woo was getting fussier than ever.

Jiyong stomped off to get the car seat and I made him check Ji Woo’s things for the third time to make sure we’ve got everything covered. I didn’t care about the daggers he was throwing at my direction. Better be sure than sorry.

“So…we should probably use this time to discuss our back story.” I said in a low voice. Jiyong just pulled out of the building’s parking lot. According to him, the ride to his parents’ house would take us less than thirty minutes. We still got time to plan everything.

I glanced at Jiyong and saw him frowned. “Back story?”

“Yes! We need a back story about our relationship. What if they asked us how we met? I just want to be prepared.” I reasoned out. I was starting to imagine how his parents would react if ever we answered at the same time but differently. How embarrassing it would be!

“Right. What do you think?”

“Hmmm…” I started to think of something. “The best thing to do is stick to the truth as much as possible.” I said firmly. “So…we were neighbors, and that’s how we met.”

Jiyong nodded. “Okay…”

I smiled in satisfaction. “And we met two years ago. Clearly, your parents don’t know that I studied abroad. So we’ll just say that I studied in Seoul University. We’ve been dating for a year and nine months.”

“A year and nine months?” Jiyong repeated incredulously. “That’s…very precise.”

I shrugged. “It’s the perfect time frame.” I said. “Remember we have a month old Ji Woo, say I carried him in belly for nine months, so that’s ten months in total already, Jiyong! I don’t want your parents to think that you got me as soon as we started dating.”

Jiyong tried to hide his laughter in between coughs. He was clearly enjoying this.

I flushed a brighter pink than the bag I was wearing. “Stop laughing!” I berated Jiyong.

Jiyong took his eyes off the road long enough to give me a disbelieving look. “You know what, Dara, you’re clearly better at this than I am.” He said. “Why don’t you just tell me our back story.”

I smacked him on the arm, hard. “You’re no help!”

He held his right hand up. “Let’s stick with your back story.”

I smirked in satisfaction. “Don’t forget about that.” I stared at the car window at my side. The lights were flickering outside, I saw the win