Dara awoke with a throbbing headache.  She staggered slowly to the bathroom, careful not to wake the sleeping male in the living room.  She heaved a sigh as she stared at her reflection, noting her swollen eyes with distaste.  She splashed cold water on her face and brushed her teeth quickly.

She scrunched up her nose and forced a smile on her face.

“Today’s another day Sandara Park!  Hwaiting!!!”  Dara softly laughed at herself as she practiced her smiles till her cheeks hurt.

She changed into jeans and a loose checkered shirt and crept her way outside, basking on the warmth of the sun on her porcelain skin.

“Hey Dara!  Good morning!”  CL greeted Dara cheerily.

Dara waved back and her face breaks into a warm smile.  Grateful for the presence of another person.  “Good morning to you too CL.”

“Good.  You remembered.”  CL smiled wider as Dara addressed her CL and not Chaerin.  “Is Jiyong up?”

“Nope.  He’s still sleeping.”  Dara answered timidly hoping that CL will not ask any other questions since she really did not want to lie.

“Aigoo must have left him tired huh?”  CL winked at her teasingly and Dara caught on what she meant and blushed.

“Hey me and the boys are on the field to harvest some berries and pomegranates, do you want to join us?”  CL asked suddenly changing the topic.

“Sure.  If it’s not a bother.”  Dara warmly accepted the invitation, thankful for the distraction presented to her.

“Oh please, an extra pair of hands is always welcome.  Let’s go.”  CL s an arm on Dara and tugged her towards her cousins.  The two walked arm in arm as if they were best friends strolling around.

“Boys Dara is joining us!”  CL announced and the boys broke out in celebration, happy to see a new face and friend joining their so-called pack.

Jiyong awakened with a jolt and looked around to find himself in an unfamiliar place only to realize that he was not in his own house and was for the meantime supposed to travel incognito in a faraway place to clear his head.

He somehow ended up travelling with a “new friend”. 

Jiyong scoffs at the thought, since in reality he can only count with one hand people he considered as real friends, more like brothers and they were only four of them.  Dara was not one of them.

“!  Dara!”

Bits and pieces of what happened last night came back to him in a rush and a strange emotion which he strongly denies as guilt crept to his system.

Jiyong looks around the room thinking that he must have scared Dara less with his actions and words last night.

Jiyong ran inside the sole room in that small bungalow and was surprised to find her stuff intact.

For some strange reason Jiyong felt relieved that Dara’s things were still there meaning she did not leave him, not that he would care.

Jiyong walked around the bedroom, looking at her things strewn all over the bed.  He involuntarily smiled seeing her camera, remembering his mistake which led to where they were now and the shots they took when they went around the town.

He picked up her pink scarf and for some apparent reason decided to take a whiff, and he was enthralled by the faint sweet scent left by Dara that lingered on that piece of material.  A mixture of vanilla, strawberry and something else.

Jiyong rubs his hand across his face that after just a few hours of spending with that impulsive and reckless woman who was so trusting, here he was acting already like a creepy ert.

Jiyong does not like where this involvement with her might lead, he always put up his guard, but there was just something about her that makes him forget the rules he set to himself that he would live by.

And with that, he found his renowned resolved and decided to apologize to Dara for his despicable actions last night and hoped that she would understand.

Jiyong grabs his jacket after freshening up in the bathroom and headed out to look for Dara.

On the way out, as he walked around the front yard of the Lee’s he bumped into Hee Yeol who informed him that Dara was with CL and the boys and that he was on the way there as well and offered to bring him to his “wife”.

“I hope you and your wife had a restful sleep last night.”  Hee Yeol remarked starting a conversation with a very quiet Jiyong.

Jiyong squirmed in his seat knowing that last night was nowhere restful and peaceful with his nightmares and rough act towards Dara.

“I know how hard to sleep when you’re in a new place.  And much more when you’re newlywed.”  Hee Yeol laughed at his lame attempt of joking hoping to break the awkwardness.  Jiyong forced himself to at least force a chuckle at the obvious effort of their host.

“Ummm so Dara are helping with the harvest?”  Jiyong changed the topic to a safer one making Hee Yeol smile.

“Yes, they’re gathering some flower blooms and pomegranate at our field.”  Hee Yeol confirmed.

“Flower blooms?”  Kwon Jiyong looked at Hee Yeol in confusion. 

“Yes, we’re making flower wines, which is one of our produce.  Usually we use chrysanthemums to make gukhwaju (국화주, 菊花酒), we also have acacia flowers mixed with maesil blossoms for maehwaju (梅花酒), peach blossoms to make dohwaju (桃花酒), honeysuckle to use in indongju (인동주, 忍冬酒).”  Hee Yeol explained to Jiyong who looked amazed and suddenly interested.0

“Wow those are a mouthful to remember, I did not realize that a lot can be made from other flower blooms of fruits, I only know of MyeoncheonDugyeonju which is designated by the South Korean government as an important Intangible Cultural Property.”  Jiyong responded with enthusiasm.

“Oh, you know about it, not that many people know that.”  It was Hee Yeol’s turn to be surprised.  “But our best seller actually is Dugyeonju (두견주, 杜鵑酒) it is a wine made from azalea petals, usually it is produced in Chungcheong Province. It is sweet, viscous, and light yellowish brown in color, and contains about 21% alcohol. But we try our best to make it here in Gangwon.  But my dream flower wine is baekhwaju (백화주) which is made from 100 varieties of flowers.”

Jiyong nods as he rubs his chin, “You said they also harvested pomegranates, does that mean you also make Bokbunjaju (복분자주)?”

“Hahaha I think I know why you know, you must have found out that its good for ual stamina eh?”  Hee Yeol laughed boisterously making Jiyong blush.

 “A-ani.  Aniyo.”  Jiyong denies in a rush.  “I read about wines before.”  Jiyong reasoned out,

Hee Yeol was about to tease Jiyong more when he spotted Hyori who seemed to be arguing with some group of men.  Hee Yeol sped up and stopped by the road just behind the men’s pickup truck, his hands , trying to control his temper. 

Jiyong felt the sudden change in the atmosphere and felt the tension emanating from Hee Yeol.  He looked at the drama unfolding before his eyes and reluctantly also stepped out of the truck to follow Hee Yeol.

Hee Yeol approached the group just in time to see one man grab his wife, Hyori.

“Get your hands off my wife!!!”  Hee Yeol rushed to the scene and grabbed the perpetrator pulling him off his wife and punching him straight in the face.

The guy’s companions were about to help the fallen guy out but Jiyong spoke up, “I would not do that if I were you.”

The group looked in surprise at the unexpected stranger; they were about to retort but felt hesitant when they chanced to look into Jiyong’s eyes, who was glaring at them.

“Don’t meddle in this kid, you would not want your pretty face to be messed up.”  One of the men spoke up and tried to threaten Jiyong.

Jiyong smirked and directed his eyes to the one who spoke.  “Do you want to try to see who’ll end up messed up?”  He cracks his knuckles and shrugged off the stiffness in his shoulders feeling the rush of adrenaline starting to pump in his system.

The two group were about to start fighting when they heard another vehicle approaching.  Hanbin was driving and was accompanied by Bobby, Jihnwan, and Mino. 

“Yah!!!”  The group of males yelled.  The troublemakers glanced at one another and realized they were outnumbered.  In silent agreement, they slowly backed off but spoke out a threat.

“This is not the last time you hear from us.  You’ll eventually give us what we want Hee Yeol!  Stop trying to fight what’s inevitable.”

They hurriedly rode their pick up and drove away leaving dust in their trail.

“Yeobo are you okay?”  Hee yeol approached Hyori his voice laced with concern for his still shaking wife.

“I’m fine yeobo.  They do not scare me!  I just hate that Minho had the nerve to send his goons to do his dirty work!  Coward!”  Hyori spat in disgust making her husband sigh in relief that his wife was still her feisty self.

“Mianhe Jiyong-sshi, you had the unfortunate event to meet my cousin’s goons.”  Hyori looked at Jiyong and apologized.  “Please don’t let yours and your wife’s stay here in Gangwon be tainted by what you just witnessed.”

“Don’t worry Hyori-sshi, I won’t.”  Jiyong assured her and forced a smile to at least pacify the still trembling woman.

“Aisht those cowards!”  Bobby and Mino exclaimed and acted disappointed for a chance to be involved in physical altercations.

“Yah!  Don’t act too disappointed.  Don’t involve yourself in fights boys.”  Hee Yeol reprimanded his nephews.

“Don’t worry samchon, we’re glad we came right in time.  We don’t want our handsome samchon beat up.”  Jihnwan smiled cheekily at their Uncle Hee Yeol who smiled despite the tension in the air but realized the underlying joke of his nephew.  “Yah you brat how dare you imply I’d get beaten up.  They ran away because they got scared of me.”

The boys and Hyori laughed at his words, knowing that Hee Yeol was as tender as an innocent lamb unless it was his wife and daughter in the line of danger.

“But Minho is stepping up with his threats yeobo.”  Hee Yeol face sobered up as he glanced at Hyori.

“We’re never selling our farm to him Hyori Imo right?”  Hanbin finally spoke up.

Jiyong squirmed in his spot as he found himself in the middle of a family drama.

Hyori sensing Jiyong’s uneasiness offered an explanation.

“Mianhe Jiyong-sshi, Minho is my bastard of a cousin who has been pestering us to give up our farm to him at a very low price.  He’s claiming that he’s developing our promising province into an urban hub and points out that our farm was on the way of his so-called vision.”  Hyori simply explained to Jiyong.

“Minho is their cousin who hit big time and is now the owner of Lee Real Estate Development.”  Hee Yeol offered the information to Jiyong. 

“Our operation is not that strong as it used to be especially with a lot of competition going around and prices of commodities going up.  We’ve been trying to look for investors but it seems that Minho already beat us to them.”  Hee Yeol sighed in frustration. 

“This is a family business and it has been with us for a long time.  More than the profits, it’s our identity, we cannot give this up.”  Hyori remarked with seriousness in her voice.

“Aigoo what a morning to welcome our guest.”  Hyori blinked the tears that was threatening to fall from her eyes and changed the subject.   “Jiyong-sshi I was on my way to the girls and these boys here to bring them lunch, come let’s go find your wife, neh?”

“Food!!!!”  The somber mood lifted up with the mere mention of food as the boys cheered.

The two groups went on their way to meet the girls and saw them sitting underneath the shade of a tree where a mat was laid out.

Jiyong’s gaze zeroed in on Dara whose laughter reached his ears making him smile and grateful that Dara did not seem traumatized with what he did last night.

.

Dara was having a great time as she played and joked around with CL and the boys as they harvested some fruit and flower blooms earlier.

Her depressing mood was quickly forgotten as she found herself in the middle of a field, surrounded by fragrant and colorful trees and flowers.

The sweet scent was like a balm soothing her broken soul and she took a deep breath thanking the heavens that she stumbled upon this place making her forgot even for a bit about her troubles in life.

She felt welcomed by the warmth and easy-going attitude of CL and the boys, Hanbin, Bobby, Jihnwan and Mino who were throwing playful banters at each other.

After filling a number of baskets with blooms and fruits, the group took a rest as they waited for their food to arrive.

CL explained to her that this was their usual routine and that her mom, Hyori, makes one wicked feast that would tickle her taste buds and fill her tummy.

When Hyori still did not show up the boys decided to check on their aunt and left the two to rest and chatter.

Dara was laughing with something that CL said when they heard the sound of vehicles approaching.  Her breath hitched as she spotted Jiyong among the group, not knowing how to react to him after last night’s event.

“Dara noona we’ve brought the food!!!”  Mino and Bobby fought over the basket trying to impress Dara.

“Yah!  How dare you forget me you ungrateful brats!”  CL pouted and and glared at her cousins who were obviously smitten with their guest.

“Aigoo boys behave, you’re forgetting her husband is with us.”  Hyori reprimanded her nephews lovingly as she shakes her head in amusement.

The boys hushed down and looked at Jiyong with envy in their eyes, thinking how lucky the guy was to be married to a goddess.

Jiyong cleared his throat and captured Dara’s gaze who was trying to avert her eyes.

Dara attempt to look away once their eyes met was thwarted when Jiyong’s apologetic eyes looked at her silently pleading his apology.

“Good morning Dara.”  Jiyong greeted her calmly as he reluctantly smiled at her, wishing that they were alone so that he could properly apologize at her.

After a brief ringing silence…

“Good morning Jiyong.”

Mianhe for the long wait for an update hope thiis double update could make up for it somehow.

I'm not really that knowledgeable about Korean Wines, but there's google and wikipedia helping me out, I hope you don't get bored with the bits and pieces of information on the wine though, winemaking has a role in this story too.

Photos used are not mine.  Credit to the rightful owners.

Please comment & upvote.

And support my other fics as well.

FALLING STARS BURN BRIGHT 

DADDY by ACCIDENT 

PS (Phone ) Partner...Saranghae

INTENSITY

DARA OPPA

Who Is Next

Kamsahamnida.  m(_ _)m

poohbearl0u