“Yah!  Apologize.”  Dara pouts at Jiyong.

 “Let’s be friends?”  Dara smiles brightly extending her hand towards Ji.

JIyong stared hard at the extended hand in front of him.  It was the first time that someone was blunt enough to demand things from him.  It was quite surprising and refreshing to be treated normally.  He wanted to leave his life so bad even for a while cause he really felt suffocated.  He just hoped to spend this time in solitude but life just won’t let him be.  He was really suffering from bad karma.  He was the one reaping all the repayment for his family’s life of lies.  With that Jiyong could not help but to laugh bitterly.

Dara looked at him surprised by his reaction.  There was something behind the guarded eyes of this guy.  There was something about him that was drawing her to him.  Dara sensed that this guy was similar to her, broken.  Misery really do love company, Dara thought as she kept her eyes locked at the laughing guy.

“I’m not very good with this friendship thing Miss Park.”  A playful smirk appeared on the usually stoic face of Jiyong.

“Well you’re lucky then Mr. Kwon cause I am.”  Dara smiled, her sweet smile while raising her hand once again.

Ji paused for a while then he clasped his hand with hers accepting her offer.  “What do I have to lose right?”

Jiyong stared in disbelief at the hyperactive Dara.  He could not fathom where this tiny and annoying rabbit was getting her nonstop energy from.  He was just humoring her when he accepted her hand as a “friend.”  The old Kwon Jiyong would not even bother himself with people such as her.  But this is why he took this trip to find himself again after discovering the biggest lie within his family. 

“Hmmmm come to think of it since I met this ball of energy I haven’t thought of….AISHT!”  Ji was about to release a string of curses when Dara distracted him.

“Kyaaahhhhh!!!! We’re stopping over in Gangwon Province Jiyong-ah.”  Dara clasped her hands together and stared dreamily outside the window.

“Tsk!  Jiyongah? This girl…”

“Jiyong where are you going?”  Dara asks out of the blue still staring out the window.

“Huh?”  Jiyong looks flustered by the sudden question, where was he going?  He didn’t have an idea at all.  He was just in a hurry to escape and hopefully he brought just enough cash to last for days.  He was a powerful business man but he did leave his company to the capable hands of his bestfriends, Choi Seung Hyun and Dong Youngbae.  Heck he was quite sure that even Daesung and Seungri would lend a hand if needed.

“Where are you headed?”  Dara turned her head towards Jiyong seeking for an answer.

Jiyong felt uncomfortable and shifted in his seat.  He pulled his beanie down and adjusted his sunglass. 

“Nowhere.”

“Well what about that!”  Dara smiled brightly at Jiyong, “I’m going nowhere too.”

“! Is this girl screwing with me?”  Ji was feeling uneasy and he really did not want to involve himself with other people.

“I just bought a ticket and rode on this train.”  Dara’s voice turned soft almost whispery.

“Don’t you feel that you’re suffocating and you cannot breathe living your current life.  That sometimes you just want to escape?”  Dara lost the trace of smile in her beautiful face. 

When Jiyong looked at her this time, she looked like a lost child, broken, like him.

“Yeah.”  Jiyong did not want to elaborate because he was overwhelmed with an unfamiliar feeling in his chest that he could not identify.

The two person sitting across each other was enveloped in awkward silence.  Dara was fumbling with her fingers while Jiyong just maintained his poker face, the two lost in their own thoughts.

The train is now approaching Gangwon Station!  The stop for Gangwon will be for twenty minutes.  Thank you.

The train announcement broke through the reverie of Dara and an idea came to her mind.

“Hey Jiyong, you said you’re going nowhere right?”  Jiyong straightened from his seat and crossed hi arms across his chest but remained silent, wondering where Dara’s question is leading this time.

“How does Gangwon Province sound to you?”  Dara was grinning at Jiyong.

“What makes you think I’m going with you?”  Jiyong removes his sunglass and gives Dara his icy glare daring her to reason out.

“Well you looked like you could use a company.  We’re friends right?  So why not join me here in Gangwon ffffrrrrriiiieeeennnddd.”  Dara purposely stressed on the “friend” word.

“You really have some nerve you crazy ahjumma.”  Jiyong was shaking his head in amusment a playful smirk hinting on his luscious lips.

“Yah!  I’m not an ahjumma!”

“So you oppose being called ahjumma but you’re okay with crazy?”  Ji teases Dara.

“I am crazy! Kekeke Oh come on jiyong! Where’s your sense of adventure?  You look so stiff!  Chill for a while okay grumpy Ahjussi?”  dara stuck out her tongue at Jiyong.

“Ahh-ahjussi????” 

“Yes ahjussi!  Jingyooooo we can go to Hambaek Mountain or stay in Woljeongsa Temple and meditate.”

“Are you from Gangwon?”  Jiyong looks at Dara suspiciously.

“No, but I’ve read about it.  It won’t hurt to be crazy once in a while!”  Dara waited for Ji hoping that he’ll ho with her.  Though she was adventurous by heart but there was something about this guy that was making her more impulsive.

“Arasso, lead the way crazy ahjumma.”  Jiyong finally relents and gives way allowing himself to follow this ahjumma.  He needs to distract himself anyway.

“Kyaaahhhhhh!!!!  You won’t regret this I swear!”  Dara beamed at Jiyong while she gathered her stuffs.

Jiyong grabbed his overnight bag and slung it over his shoulder.

Dara grabbed Jiyong’s arm while she balanced her backpack which was as big as her and pulls him towards the exit.

“Gangwon Province here we come!!!”

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I'm not really that familiar with provinces in South Korea but I browsed through the web and found scenic pictures of Gangwon Province.  I felt that it could be a nice backdrop to this fanfic =)

Credit to the owner of the pictures used in this story.

Congrats to the 2ne1 girls for topping the charts =)

NEXT CHAPTER TEASER:

Gangwon Province