o=o=o

I stopped in my tracks as I saw the girl waiting in my porch. She stood up as she saw me. I heaved a sigh and continued walking. I chose to ignore her and just immediately went to my door without glancing at her.

“Jiyong” she mumbled. Still,I ignored her. I unlocked the door without using a key. I was about to close the door when I saw that she already slipped herself inside. I sighed again.

“Why are you here?” I snapped and went to the stairs.

“Jae left already” she answered, trailing behind me.

“So?” I asked, turning around to face her.

“Y-you had a deal with-“

“As far as I can remember, I backed out. And if my memory serves me rights, you prefer Seungri more than me, right? You should go to him, not to me”

“I did say that but I didn’t really mean it” she mumbled.

“Then you shouldn’t have said anything”

“I said that because I was hurt, okay?” she burst out. “I have feelings too, Jiyong. Did you really think I don’t feel anything everytime you shoo me away just like that or when you say how much you don’t want my company?”

I stared at her blankly. Maybe I just got used to his positive attitude and stubborn persistency that it surprised me hearing her burst out like this. I was about to retort something sarcastic when I noticed the tears forming at the corners of her eyes. I quickly looked away, jaws clenching.

“If you think your tears will move me, better think twice” I gritted. “I’ll only laugh at you if you start crying in front of me”

At the corner of my eyes, I saw her head bowed down. I looked back at her. She quickly wiped her tears away, her lower lip trembling so hard that she bit her it down. I balled my fists as I felt my hands and arms started to tremble.

“!” I cursed out loud and before I could stop myself, I pulled her head towards my chest a bit roughly that I was sure she’ll have a bump in her forehead a few hours from now. I thought she’ll stop crying but she started wailing instead. Maybe she bumped her head against my chest too hard that’s why she started wailing. I grabbed her shoulders and was about to pull her away from me when her arms wrapped around me tightly. My arms dropped to my sides.

I must be out of my mind. No, I take that back, I’m definitely out of my mind!

When she stopped crying HOURS later, she wiped her nose with my sleeve and stepped back. I looked down at my shirt and saw that it was wet with her tears.

“Great” I grimaced and looked at her. She sniffed then grinned.

“I’ll wash your shirt for you” she offered.

“Do you even know how to wash clothes?”

“Of course I do!” she came up defensively.

“Thanks but no thanks” I scoffed.

“Why?”

“Because you might throw away my black shirts and replace them with rainbow-colored stuffs”

The way her face looked proved me right. She blushed deeply and bowed her head, looking perfectly guilty. I suddenly felt uneasy at knowing that I seemed to understand how her mind works than before.

“I was just offering” she mumbled, and then her face lit up again. I hate it when she does that. “So I guess we’ll be BFFs for the a while, eh?”

“What?”

“You don’t know what BFF means?” she asked in disbelief. “It means bestfriends forever”

“There’s no such thing as forever” I informed her.

“There’s no harm in dreaming that there’s forever”

“It’s better to live with the harshness  of reality than believe in the falseness of dreams”

“You’re such a pessimist” she pouted.

“Just being realistic” I shrugged then turned around.

“Where are you going?”

“Going to take bath. Wanna join me?”

“Err, can I?” she asked back, stopping me in my tracks. I faced her again. “I was just joking!” she laughed then ran past by me and straight to my room.


~AUTHOR’S POV~

Dara jumped to the bed as soon as she reached his room, giggling along the process.

“Wow, feel at home” Jiyong’s voice entered. He took off his hoodie and shirt, throwing them aside. He was about to unbuckle his belt when he noticed the girl eagerly watching him. He growled and just went straight to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Dara started prying around the room when she heard the shower sound. There wasn’t much stuff in his room. She went to his closet and looked into it. She grimaced upon seeing that it’s literally filled with nothing but BLACK-colored stuff. She closed the closet and went to his CDs. There were CDs of Linkin Park, Paramore, Eyes Set To Kill, Flyleaf, Mudvayne, The Used, Evanescence and other artists she’s not familiar with. She frowned as she saw a little paper at the bottom of the pile. She flipped it over and saw a legible-enough penmanship.

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice” she read aloud. Her frown deepened, wondering why Kwon Jiyong seemed so against with stuff like this. Ashe put the paper back and looked around again. Her eyes landed on the desk table. She saw a mobile phone resting there. A grin spread across her face as an idea popped into her mind. A grin spread across her face. Determined to put into action her idea, she immediately went to the desk and took the phone up. She scrolled down and grinned wider when she saw what she’s looking for. She cleared and pressed the record button.

A while later, Kwon Jiyong got out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was drying his hair with another towel. Sandarac suddenly felt hatred and sadness at the same time upon seeing the scars covering his body. Hatred, for his father. Sadness, for him.

“Youy’re going to stay with me later, right?” she asked.

“No” he answered. “Seungri will be guarding you. I have a fight in the arena later”

“Oh” she mumbled. “Can I come with you?”

“No” he said again. “You got classes tomorrow, remember?  I’ll be up ‘til early morning”

“But you got classes tomorrow, too”

“True. But I can stand up to it. Can you?”

“But you’re supposed to be guarding me?” she protested.

“I thought you prefer Seungri than me?” he asked with raised brows while pulling his jeans up, not bothering to put a shirt on.

“I told you, I didn’t really mean that. . .”

“Will you get off my bed? I want to take a nap”

“I want to take a nap, too” she saod.

“Go take a nap in your place” he waved off, dropping himself on the bed. But instead of getting off the bed, the girl laid down beside him. She turned to her side, facing him. She freely watched his face. He had his eyes closed and one arm across his forehead.

“Jiyong?” she whispered.

“What?”

“Can I touch your scars?”

“ them if you want:’ he mocked, chuckling lightly with his eyes still closed. She chose to ignore his mockery and lifted her hand slowly towards his tummy. He took a sharp intake of breath at the same time his muscles tensed the moment her index finger touched one scar. A frown creased his forehead but the girl didn’t notice for she was busy staring at his scars.

“Do shadows have the power to erase or heal scars?” she asked.

“None” he breathed unsteadily as she started tracing his scars one by one.

“I wish I have the power to do that”

“Why?” he snorted. “Is it because they’re too ugly to look at?”

“No” she softly said. “It’s because these scars represents all the bad things that happened to you. I’m just think that if they’ll disappear, you will forget your experiences with your father”

His eyes suddenly opened. He looked sideways and was greeted by two brown orbs. “You’re being a spoof again” he said. “What you’re thinking is cowardice” he scoffed, closing his eyes again. “You should learn from your experiences, whether good or bad and not run away from them”

She turned silent as she tried to search for something witty to reply. But her brain failed her. Instead, she smiled gently. “I guess that’s alright” she said. “At least I know you’re not going to forget me, too”

“There’s always an exemption to the rule”

“Ya!” she protested wildly. The guy just chuckled lightly and patted her head gently.

“I want to sleep so stop talking”


Not long after that, they both fell asleep.

o=o=o

Jiyong woke up. He was greeted by darkness. Instinctively, he willed the lights to open. He looked down and saw the girl’s head resting on his chest while she had her arm on top of his tummy. He gently removed her head and arm off him as he went to get a shirt and a hoodie on. He went to get the mobile phone and put it inside his jacket before going back to the girl and took her in his arms. He looked at the light switch, blinked, and then the lights went off.

Slowly, his body started to fade until him and the girl turned into black smoke suspended in the air. The smoke eerily evaporated and suddenly appeared in the other room. His body then materialized. He went to put the girl on her bed and went to switch her lampshade on.

He looked down at the girl who still peacefully sleeping. A frown creased his forehead. A tap on the window made him look up. He saw a crow outside and instantly recognized it as Seungri. He nodded to the bird in acknowledgment. When the bird blinked, the window opened.

“You’re early” Jiyong said.

“Got nothing else to do” Seungri shrugged.

“Call me if something happens” he said.

“I can handle this” Seungri stubbornly stated.

“If you say so” Jiyong shrugged and slowly went to the window and jumped out. His fixed his hood up, put his hands inside his pockets, bowed his head and started walking.