“Jiyong” Jaejoong called. I stopped and turned around. “ill just talk to him for a while” he smiled down at Dara. The girl turned her eyes on me, glaring. Then, she raised her chin up in the air and walzked away.

“Brat” I heard Bom murmured.

“What do you want?” I asked Jaejoong. He grimaced, as if he ate something foul.

“Thank you” he finally said. “For talking to Dara about what happened in-“

“You didn’t tell her I was with you two when that happened, did you?” I snapped.

He looked taken aback but he sounded calm when re responded. “No. We haven’t talked about anything else yet. She was crying the whole time, saying sorry”

I relaxed and nodded slowly. “Don’t tell her that I . . . that I helped you”

“Why?” he asked, frowning.

“Shouldn’t you just thank me?” I asked coolly. “If you don’t have anything to say, I suggest you go ahead already. You don’t really want your girlfriend standing alone outside, do you?”

“Seungri followed her” Bom inserted.

“Anything else?” I asked Jaejoong again.

“Nothing” he said. “Thank you again”

When he was out of sight, Bom started tugging on my hand. I pulled my hand back and massaged my temples.

“My head hurts” I quietly said. “I need to rest”

“Huh!” Bom snorted. “The kiss was all for a show, wasn’t it?”

“No, it wasn’t” I raised my voice slightly. “I just feel so tired. . .”

“Of course” she snorted again, then walked away. I went to the room where I was staying a while ago. I slowly went to the bed. I closed my eyes. I didn’t lie when I said my head hurts. I don’t want to think of anything right nw but my mind’s working overtime instead. I can’t really blame Bom for deciding to break it up. I remembered we argued a lot that day. I was trying to reason out that she’ll just have to trust. Personally, I don’t believe in destiny, only in choices. But she thought otherwise. She’s still special to me, of course. But one simple decision changed everything we had before.

o=o=o

~DARA’S POV~

“Will you tell me everything now?”

He smiled. “I promise I’ll tell you next time. You need to rest Dara and we still need to stand up with the alibi Youngbae made to your parents”

I slowly nodded. “Will you be guarding me tonight?”

“Of course”

“I appreciate everything you do, Jae. I really do” I said. “But please don’t overtire yourself. Kwon Jiyong said you’ve been staying up all night for me”

“Dara, I love what I’m doing”

I shook my head. “Please do me a favor” I said. “Please take a rest tonight”

“Dara-“

“Please?” I half begged him.

He sighed. “Okay”

“Promise? No cheating?”

“I promise, no cheating” he said, making me smile. “But you have to call me if ever you feel something odd and keep your lampshade on”

“What if you’re unavailable? Is it okay for me to call Kwon Jiyong, too?” I asked. I suddenly regretted the words as soon as they came out upon seeing Jae going very still. “I’m sorry, I-“

“It’s okay” he cut off. “It’d be better to have a back up to-“

“I remember, he doesn’t have a mobile phone, so. . .” I trailed.

“Really?” he chuckled. “He never fails to amuse me”

I took his hand and enclosed them in between mine. “Thank you” I said, looking straight into his eyes. “For everything”

He smiled. “I just want you to be safe and happy”

My heart gave a squeeze. “I love you” I whispered.

“I love you, too”

o=o=o

I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, breathing really hard. I had a bad dream. I suddenly tensed and looked around the room, seeing no one. But there’s something eerie in the corner of the room where the light from my lampshade can’t reach.

“J-jae?” I softly called.

“Hi” Seungri emerged.

“Oh” I mumbled. “You scared me for a moment there”

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t in my intention to scare you” he said and slowly walked towards me.

“What are you doing here anyways?” I asked.

“I was asked to come over” he said, taking a sit at the edge of the bed.

“By Kwon Jiyong?”

“No, by your boyfriend”

“Oh” I chuckled lightly. “He’s really thoughtful, isn’t he?”

“He just wants you to be safe”

I sighed and leaned my back against the headboard. “You don’t really have to do this, you know”

“It’s alright” he quietly said. “I don’t have anything to do anyways”

“I can’t let you stay up all night just to-“

“No worries” he cut off. “I’m used to staying up all night. You shouldn’t really make a big deal out of this. Nice room by the way”

“Thanks” I grinned. We turned silent then. A lot of questions were floating around my mind and I can’t help but wonder if I should ask him or not. I don’t really want to have another set of bad dreams. hen again, my curiosity got the best out of me. “So,” I started. “I heard you’re a shadow, too”

“I am” he grinned.

“W-what are you guys exactly? Jae only told me bits of what being a shadow is”

“Hmm” he thoughtfully mumbled. “It’s kind of hard to describe what really are. I guess we’re some sub-type of warlocks”

I slowly nodded, remembering what Jae told me. “Where did it all began and how did you become like this?”

“I don’t know if you’re up to listen to a story ‘coz it’s pretty late alre-“

“I’m up for it” I quickly cut off.

“The history of our kind isn’t as concrete as yours whereas normal people, like you kept your history written in history books. So what I’m going to tell you was only passed on through tongue from generation to generation. There might be some alterations in it”

“I understand” I nodded, fully awake now.

“Centuries back, there’s a boy named Chang Hee. He was an orphan and often the subject of discrimination and other wrong doings. When an outbreak of an infectious disease occurred, many people died but surprisingly, he wasn’t infected with it. People were still suspicious back then and they somehow thought that he’s related to something evil that’s why he was left untouched by the disease. They drove him off the place because of that. But since he doesn’t know where to go, he sneaked back one night and went to the cemetery. He was set to live there but there’s a problem – he needs food, water, clothing and other stuff. He knew no one from town will help him. He-“

“Aww, poor him” I blurted out. “Oh, sorry. Please continue”

“He knew death is unavoidable in his situation but fate had other plans for him. Fortunately for him, a girl happened to saw him when he was about to commit suicide. She was able to stop him and eventually became friends with him. She sneaks out food, water and other stuff to him early in the morning and late at night. Eventually, the girl’s parents found out about it and she was badly punished for it”

Why am I feeling a sense of déjà vu here?

“When he heard about it, he wants to the girl’s house only to find the house empty – the family was already gone. It turned out that they moved out to a new place. He was devastated of course. He went back to the cemetery, drowned in his own sorrows. One night, at full moon, it was said that he called for the trapped spirits for help. But something more came.

I straightened up as his voice turned low. I hugged the pillow tightly and gazed at him, wide-eyed.

“A beautiful lady in black appeared in front of him. She introduced herself as one of Satan’s daughters – half evil and half human.

“Satan has daughters?!” I disbelievingly exclaimed.

“That’s according to the stories, Dara. I told you, the story might not be 100% accurate”

“I’m sorry. I just can’t absorb it”

“It’s a lot to take in” he smiled gently.

“So, what happened next?”

“The lady was delivered by a human and fathered by the devil himself. She made Chang Hee an offer and he quickly accepted it. But there’s a condition. He needs to get her pregnant”

“What?!?” I half whispered, half yelled. “That’s. . . that’s. . . eww”

“I know right?” he earnestly returned. “So, eventually, he did get her pregnant. After that, he went to look for the girl who helped him. When he found her, he took her away from her family and built a family of their own. He never told her about what he had become. He tried to live as normally as he can be for he doesn’t want to scare her off. When he had his first son, he immediately knew that his son’s like him. He was left with no choice but to tell his wife everything. His wife turned against him. She silently coordinated with the townspeople. One night, when everyone was sleeping, she sneaked out, leaving her son and husband behind. When she was out of the house, the people burned the house down.

“Oh my God!” I gasped. “How could she do that to her own husband and child? That’s so awful!”

“You can’t really blame her, Dara. Imagine your husband making a deal and sleeping with the devil’s daughter, how would you feel?”

“But it’s still awful!” I moaned. “So what happened next?”

“There was no news about the woman after that. Some said she mysteriously disappeared. As for Chang Hee and his son, they survived”

“Whoa. That was. . . something” I said in awe. “Now I fully understand what Jiyong said about always wearing black clothes”

“He thinks he doesn’t deserve to wear white” Seungri snorted, shaking his head.

“I’ll make him wear white someday” I determinedly said.

“Goodluck with that” he chuckled.

“Jae told me something about the evil blood taking over. How does that work?” I asked, surprising myself at how I seem so casual about it.

“Oh, the dark attacks” he nodded. He looked at me for a second, then smirked. “You’re pretty lucky Jiyong was able to get hold of himself. Usually, a shadow can’t stop the craving to hurt or kill someone at times like that. I don’t know how he stopped halfway through”

“Have you. . . have you killed someone?” I asked.

He didn’t answer at once.

“How many have you. . .?”

“I haven’t went through that yet, Dara. Youngbae did, once. Jiyong have those dark times more often than us”

“Why is that?”

“Because he’s not mentally and emotionally stable” he knowingly said. I gave him a look because of that. “I’m not saying he’s literally crazy. It’s just that he had a hard time growing up. He didn’t have a firm foundation to begin with, so he’s more susceptible to have those dark attacks”

I suddenly felt hatred towards his parents. “Jiyong doesn’t deserve to have parents like those. He should have ran away”

“Jiyong’s father got. . . skipped with being a shadow. He blamed Jiyong and Jiyong thought it was really his fault. His father was jealous, angry and all because of it.  He channeled his anger through hurting Jiyong and his mother”

“But his mother left him, too”

Again, he was silent.

“So. . . did Jiyong’s father die because he had one of those. . . err, dark attacks?”

“I’m sorry, but you have to ask him that yourself”

“He’s not going to tell me” I pouted.

“But your stubbornly persistent, aren’t you? That should help. Now go to sleep”

“But I want to hear more sto-“

“Next time, Dara. Your boyfriend’s going to fry me alive if I won’t let you sleep”

o=o=o

“What made you decided to cut your hair?” I asked the moment I entered his room. I mentally slapped myself. Out of all the questions to be asked and out of all the things to be said, my tongue just slipped.

He looked up. “Sulli asked me to” he shrugged then walked away.

“Hey, I’m not done talking with-“ I called but he was gone already. When I was sure he’s out of earshot, I took my phone out and called Sulli.

“Hello?” she answere3d after a few rings.

“Hi!” I greeted her enthusiastically. “So, how are you doing?”

Of course, I can’t just ask her what I had in mind so I talked to her for a few minutes. When I thought it was the right time, I intentionally directed the conversation to Kwon Jiyong. “So, how did you convince him to cut his hair?”

“Huh?” she asked blankly. “I didn’t ask him to cut his hair. Why?”

“Oh” I mumbled, silently fuming. He’s not just rude but a liar, too! “Nothing, I just assumed it”

We talked for a few minutes. But after sometime, I bid her goodbye. I immediately ran downstairs and into the kitchen. I saw him facing the sink.

“You lied” I said at once. “I talked with Sulli. She said she never asked you to cut your hair”

“Lying is part of my nature” he shrugged without facing me.

“Yeah, right” I rolled my eyes.

He turned around, with two plates on both hands. He went to the counter and placed the plate in front of each other. I went opposite him and assumed that the other plate of pancakes was mine.

“Did I say that’s for you?” he asked.

“No” I answered. “But I assume it is and since you’re not stopping me, that that only proved me right”

“Spoof” he chuckled under his breath.

“So, tell me. Where did all that bruises cam from again?”

“Had a fight” he shrugged.

“I can’t understand why you keep on fighting down in the arena when you-“

“You don’t have to understand it” he quickly cut off. “And besides, I’m not expecting you to understand it since you’re IQ is below sea level” he added. My eyes narrowed and I was about to fight back but I got distracted with his black-painted nails.

“Boys shouldn’t get their nails done”

“Is there a law that prohibits boys to get their nails done?”

“None. But-“

“I’ll do what I want with MY nails. They’re mine in the first place”

“You’re really rude”

“Heard that before”

My eyes narrowed again. Then, an idea popped into my mind. “I’ll be back” I said and ran to my house. I’ll get that black polish off his nails!