Seungri and Youngbae turned into their human forms as they saw a car in the middle of the road and a girl lying on the street, unconscious.

“She’s still breathing” Seungri told Youngbae.

“This one’s not so good” Youngbae said. “We need to bring him back to our place at once. The hospital can’t fix this anyways”

“Okay” Seungri nodded. “Are the keys-?”

“It’ll be faster to travel through air” Youngbae said. “Let’s leave the car first and we’ll get back to it after we bring the both of them to Bom’s place”

“Okay” Seungri nodded again “You bring him, I’ll bring Dara”

Youngbae gave him a look but he did what he said. Seungri scooped the girl while Youngbae pulled Jaejoong off the car.

“Let’s go”

o=o=o

“Bom?”

Bom looked up at her mother and smiled a little. “He’s still unconscious” she said.

“He’ll get by” her mother said. “Come on, you need to rest”

She shook her heard stubbornly. The old woman sighed and squeezed her daughter’s shoulder before leaving the room.

“How is she?” Youngbae asked.

“Still worried to death” the woman answered. “Jiyong’s not showing any signs of improvement while the other guy seemed to recover quickly. How about the girl?”

“Seungri’s keeping her asleep” Youngbae answered then sighed, making the older woman chuckle.

“Seungri’s not a kid anymore, Youngbae”

“He’ll only get himself hurt” Youngbae stated.

“That’s the beauty of life” she smiled gently. “You’ll understand that someday”

o=o=o

~JAEJOONG’S POV~

I gasped out loud as soon as I opened my eyes, glad that I was able to escape those horrifying nights – actually, I can’t remember how many nights I’ve been suffering already. I gloried at the sight of the light, grateful that I’m still alive. The nightmares were so real – I felt so trapped in the darkness, tortured, to think that I’m used to the darkness, that a part of me came from that side.

I suddenly sat up straight as I remembered what happened at the foundation dance.

“Oh, you’re up already”

I looked sideways and saw Youngbae. “Where’s Dara?”

“Sleeping” he answered. “You should stay still, though. You’re not fully recovered yet”

“How long have I been-?”

“About two days”

“Two days?!” I exclaimed.

“We already talked to your parents” he said. “I must say, it took us some time to find them in Europe”

“Dara’s parents?”

“We fixed that with your parents already. The girl’s parents think you two are together. . . somewhere”

I closed my eyes. I don’t like this.

“Oh, err, your mother will arrive anytime this week to check up on you”

This isn’t really good. I looked down at my body. I almost back to normal except for some reddish and bluish discoloration visible everywhere, hated the way I feel so wobbly. I put on the shirt I found beside the bed.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to-“

“I have to see my girlfriend” I said, giving him an intense look.

Youngbae sighed then shrugged. “Suit yourself”

“Where is she?”

“Follow me”

We went through a narrow hallway and turned right. He opened the door and gestured me in. With unsteady gait, I went in and saw my angel on the bed, unconscious. I silently inspected her with my eyes and sighed a relief as I found out she was okay.

“Have you checked if she got-?”

“She’s all cleared” Youngbae answered at once. “We’ve been keeping her asleep. We don’t want to do all the explanations to her. You should do that, that is if you want to tell her”

There was a moment of silence.

“But I suggest you tell her”

I chose not to answer. I looked at Dara’s sleeping figure. A small smile curved my lips. Any man would want to wake up with that beauty as the first thing to see every morning.

I turned to Youngbae. “Where’s Jiyong?”

“He’s still not waking up” he said with a sigh.

“Can I see him? I asked. He looked at me with surprise. I know it’s odd but I know I owe the guy a thank you and I also want to delay the supposed talk I’ll have with Dara. I’ll let her sleep for a while.

He led me to a different room. As what he said, Kwon Jiyong was still unconscious and he seemed very . . . ill.

“Look at what your flirting of a girlfriend did to Jiyong!”

I took in a sharp breath at the words and instantly took a step forward. But I was able to stop myself as I remembered the speaker was a girl.

“Dara didn’t ask Jiyong to protect her” I said, making the girl turn red.

“Bom” Youngbae warned.

“Ever since that girl started stalking Jiyong, he got all messed up! Now who else am I going to blame?” she burst out.

“You’re being a again” Seungri said, making CL hiss at him. “Why are you blaming Dara? She didn’t ATTACK Jiyong. You should be mad at the person doing all of these things”

“Oh right” Bom cired. “I’m always the here, aren’t I? I’m always on the loosing end!”

“That’s exactly the problem here” Seungri argued. “You always think that it’s all about you. You kept on putting your personal issues on the line. It’s-“

“That’s enough, Seungri if you don’t want me to cut your tongue out” Youngbae snapped.

“Hey guys, this isn’t the right time to fight” CL stood up. “Can’t we just be grateful that Jiyong’s still alive?”

“Alive?!” Bom cried out. “Yes, he is alive but look at him! He’s as good as a corpse-!”

“Who’s a corpse?”

All of our head turned to the bed. Kwon Jiyong was sitting up. He suddenly became invisible as his friends gathered around him.

“Hey, hey careful” he protested. “My body still feels like ”

After all what seems to be a festivity over him, he looked up, smile quickly disappearing. He frowned and stood up, only to stumble back to the bed. Bom immediately scolded him, making Jioyng scowl in response. He pushed himself up in a sitting position.

“How long have you been up?” he asked.

“Minutes?” I shrugged. “I’m not sure”

He frowned and attempted to stand up again, earning him another lecture from Bom but he waved her off. “If he can stand up, I can, too”

“You should listen to them” I said. “You don’t really look good to me”

“I don’t ing care what you think” he snorted then laughed as he successfully stood up without falling back to the bed.

“Where are you going?” Bom aghastly asked as Kwon Jiyong started limping towards the door.

“I want to see the girl” he casually answered. “Where is she?”

“Fourth room” Seungri answered. I instantly froze. I grabbed his arm a he past by me. We exchanged looks. My grip tightened on his arm, making him flinch.

“She’s sleeping” I gritted.

“So?” he returned with brows raised. “If you’re worried about me waking her up, don’t worry. I’ll leave that job to you”

My jaw clenched and I was in for a fight when I suddenly remembered that I OWE him for protecting Dara, too. I sighed wearily and let his arm go. He snorted and started limping his way down the hall. I followed him.

“I’m planning to tell her everything” I said. He didn’t say anything. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. “What is it that you want from her?”

He gave me a sarcastic smile as he removed my hand off his shoulder.

“She’s my girlfriend” I gritted.

“I know!” he hissed. “But I think I have the right to see the person I so willingly shielded with my body ending me up in this ing !”

He turned around and continued limping his way towards the room where Dara was staying. When we reached the room, Kwon Jiyong turned silent. And then, he chuckled lightly.

“Will you look at that” he chuckled again. “Not even a single bruise”

“Funny, isn’t it?” a female voice said from the door. I looked back and saw Bom with her arms crossed in her chest.

“Have you checked if she’s been infected with-?”

“She’s cleared” Bom said. “And I find that kind of funny”

Jiyong sighed. “Just spill it out, Bom”

“As we know, she’s the real target, right? But she wasn’t even hurt”

“Your point?”

“Whoever the person behind this is obviously targeting HER GUARDS first” Bom sarcastically said. “It would be easy, won’t it? If no one’s protecting her, she’ll go down. So I think it’s better if you’ll just keep your out of this. Stop being nosy”

“y y” a male voice chanted. I saw Seungri entered the room, too.

“Where’d you find her?” Jiyong asked.

“We found her lying in the middle of the road, unscathed”

Jiyong nodded slowly then glanced at Dara again. I felt my insides went wild as he stared at her. I wanted to pry his eyes out. Then, he smirked and shook his head. He straightened up and started limping his way out of the room. He stopped beside me and smirked again.

“She’s all yours” he mockingly said.

Everyone left the room, except Seungri.

“Lee Seungri!” Bom shouted. The guy rolled his eyes.

“Coming!”

When I was left in the room, I sighed and looked at Dara. I slowly walked to her bed and sat down at the edge. I gently caressed her face then blinked. She slowly blinked her eyes, too. Then, her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey” I greeted.

She slowly sat up. “Jae! Are you alright? You were-! Where are we?”

“I’ve got something to tell you”

“Wha-?”

I shook my head. “I need you to listen. Save your questions for later”

She frowned. “What is it?”

I sighed and closed my eyes.

“Jae?” she called, her voice sounding uncertain.

I opened my eyes and looked up. “Dara, I’m not entirely human” I said. “I’m a shadow”

“Eh?” she blankly asked.