“Mmm” I sighed. Oh God, his lips felt heaven against mine. I know I should stop this at once. But instead of pushing him away, I cupped his face to pull him closer. He, on the other hand, had one hand on my nape while the other was around my tiny waist.

 

My back arched as he nibbled on my lower lip. Heat course through me that I feel like I’m going to explode anytime soon. I had a fair share of kissing guys but I never reacted to a kiss like this before. I gasped as his tongue darted forward while his hand started to travel down my thigh. I shivered at the sensation his touch brought. Oh goodness gracious! Why am I responding like this to him? Why am I kissing him desperately like this? I shouldn’t feel this way, should I?”

 

“No” I protested as I felt him pulling away. “Please don’t. . .”

 

My lips parted slightly as he was now trailing kisses on my neck. At first, I thought he was really going to pull away but it turned out that he wants to explore my neck but I prefer him kissing me on the lips. So I cupped his face again and brought it up to mine. A surge of contentment spread through my system as his lips touched mind again.

 

A loud, unexpected screech surprised us. We separated and that’s when I realized I was straddling his lap already. I can’t even remember climbing to his lap! How did that happen? God, I really can’t remember. I quickly looked away, blushing terribly. Oh dear, what did I do?

 

“I. . . it wasn’t. . . . I didn’t. . . .” I stuttered.

 

“Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen” he said. “It didn’t mean a thing, anyways”

 

My head snapped back to him sharply. He was wearing that I-don’t-care look of his again. He started standing up, making me stumble down on the ground. My eyes started to sting but I willed myself not to let the tears fall. I pushed myself off the ground and started gathering my things up. He wordlessly handed me to clue but I just shook my head. I’m not in the mood to read it anymore. I turned my back on him.

 

“Before we go” he started. “I just want to remind you that I’m the team leader here, meaning, you’ll follow everything I say. If I say run, you run, if I say hide, you hide. If I say NO, it’s a NO. Got that?”

 

I didn’t say anything. If I open my mouth, I think I’ll just end up bawling out loud. I’m being sensitive to him again. I shouldn’t be like this. I don’t have the right to feel hurt just because the kiss didn’t mean a thing. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. I turned to face him again with a smile on my face.

 

“Yes, sir!” I saluted. “Now, lead the way and let’s resume our amazing adventure!”

 

o=o=o

 

~AUTHOR’S POV~

 

“Jiyong, I think that rope is not safe” Dara said as she watched Jiyong prepare himself to climb down the cliff since the clue required them to get a key that’s hidden somewhere down the cliff.

 

“Do you have any better idea?” he snapped.

 

“No. But-“

 

“Then don’t say anything”

 

“You’re being really mean” she said.

 

“That’s because I’m damn tired of your stupidity” he snide. She flinched at his tone. She turned away from him, trying to hide the stinging in her eyes. Why was he being like this? Moreover, why was she being sensitive to his rudeness? Shouldn’t she be used to it already?

 

“I’m coming with-“ she stopped as she turned around and found him gone. She sighed. The kiss only made their. . . . friendship more complicated. She shouldn’t have kissed him. She should have asked him to stop. She should have pulled away. But no, she did the opposite. And the worst thing, she betrayed Jaejoong. But then again, he’s been MIA lfor days. Can he really blame her for what happened?

 

“Hey” a male voice called.

 

Dara jumped slightly. She looked around and saw three mean looming over her.

 

“H-hey” she greeted back, forcing a smile.

 

“We’ve been watching you for a while” the tallest of them said.

 

“R-really?”

 

“Yeah” the cute one said, swirling a Swiss knife in his hand. “We’ve been hoping to have a little chat with you actually but well, we knew Jiyong would not allow it”

 

“Oh, you know Kwon Jiyong?” she asked, starting to feel uncomfortable.

 

“Every shadow in this place know him”

 

“Oh” she mumbled. “He’s quite popular among us, too. I mean, among us normal human”

 

The three glanced at each other, grinning.

 

“So” the tallest one said. “I’m Baesuk”

 

“Kimho here” the cute one introduced.

 

“Jang Ryu at your service”

 

“I-I’m Sandara Park” she stammered.

 

“Yeah, we know” Baesuk said.

 

“A-are you guys watchers, too? I’ve seen the other watchers and you three looked kind of young to me”

 

“No, we’re not” Jang Ryu said. “We’re just lurkers”

 

“Oh” she mumbled. She chuckled awkwardly. “Jiyong’s kind of taking long”

 

“Why? Don’t you want to talk to us?” Kimho asked in a hurt voice.

 

“Oh no, it’s not that. It’s just that. . . that he’s usually fast. . .”

 

“We saw-“

 

“Hey! What are you doing?!” she panicjed as she saw kimho cutting the rope with his Swiss knife. Without having second thoughts, she grabbed the blade. He suddenly pulled it out of her grasp, slicing her skin. She gasped out loud at the pain. She looked down at her palm and screamed Jiyong’s name at the sight of her own blood.

 

“Take the girl!”

 

“Let’s get out of here before-“

 

“Before what?” a menacing voice asked. The three looked at the newcomer with obvious fear in their faces. Baesuk dropped Dara back to the ground.

 

“Jiyong, they tried to cut the rope!” Dara whine4d like a child. The pain all forgotten as she saw Jiyong safe and sound.

 

Jiyong glanced down at Dara and saw the blood in her palm. He hissed under his breath as he turned to the three shadows who were now flying away from them in their crow form. But Jiyong, enraged, would not let that happen. He raised his left hand, his fingers slightly curved – his eyes all black. The three crows screeched and fell to the ground. They turned back to their human forms, and agonizing from pain. Jiyong slowly walked towards them with a deadly look in his face.

 

“Who wants to die first?” he asked in a voice coated with rage. The three, who was being tortured invisibly, only twisted from pain. “Or maybe I could kill all the same time?”

 

“S-stop. . . .p=please” Kimho begged.

 

“Are you volunteering?” Jiyong asked dangerously.

 

“N-no. . .”

 

“You first then” Jiyong said, lifting Kimho up in the air. Kimho’s body twisted in a more dangerous angle as he floated in the air. Hes tarted screaming as the pain grew intense. He chest felt tight and he knew that if this will continue, his heart will explode. He will die in a few seconds. Two tiny arms suddenly wrapped themselves around Jiyong’s waist.

 

“Jiyong, stop” Dara begged, hugging him tighter. “Please don’t kill them”

 

It was a miracle for Jiyong to calm down. When his breathing went even and his eyes went back to normal, Kimho suddenly dropped to the ground. He gave a grunt from the pain. And eventhough he was still in pain, he quickly took off, with Jang Ryu and Baesuk trailing behind him.

 

Jiyong closed his eyes, letting Dara’s warmth take over him. The heat coming from her body was calming, soothing, relaxing. He was at bliss. But nothing last forever. He gently pulled her arms off his waist and went to heal her wound, replacing her blood with his.

 

“Jiyong, you don’t have to-“

 

“Shush” he cut off.

 

“I’m s-sorry!” she suddenly cired. “I’m sorry if I’m being a burden to you already! I got scared when I saw Kimho trying to cut the rope with his knife. It was so stupid of me to grab the blade to stop him! I should have remembered that you can turn into a crow so ifever the rope was cut, nothing would happen to you because you cans till fly. I was being stupid and dumb. I’m so sorry! I just got scared and. . . and. . .” she continued through her tears, sniffing every now and then.

 

Jiyong was unsettled as he saw the fear in his eyes. Yes, he wanted to scare her away; he wanted to see fear in her eyes but now that he’s seeing it, it didn’t give him the satisfaction he once thought he would feel. He sighed and wiped her tears off with his thumb. Dara, who was taken aback with the gesture, blinked and lifted her eyes to his. But before she could see his eyes, she was once again, pulled to a hug.

 

“You look ugly when you cry” he said while her back. “Especially when the corner of your lips goes down. And you cry like a baby, too”

 

“Ya!” she weakly protested, chuckling a little.

 

“Hmm, looks like my sense of humor is improving”

 

“And you seemed to enjoy hugging me” she said in a muffled voice.

 

Jiyong laughed and kept his arms around her. “Okay, I accept it. You’re better in making people laugh”

 

“I already know that” she said.

 

Silence enveloped them.

 

Maybe it’s not so wrong in doing what you want rather than doing what is right. There were so many MAYBE’S surrounding then. But then again, life is a cycle of uncertainties. No one knows what will happen tomorrow.

 

“Jiyong?”

 

“Mmm?”

 

“You feel so warm”

 

‘You feel so warm, too’ Jiyong thought but he kept those words to himself. His fists balled tightly, his jaw clenching. This has gone too far. He was so confident that it wouldn’t happen, but it’s already starting to happen. But he will stop it. He will fight it.

 

But, will he be able to?

 

He may or may not know what tomorrow brings. But one thing’s for certain, every future begins today, here at his present.

 

“Let’s go” he said, pulling back. Dara nodded and smiled a little as he once again, joined their hands together.

 

o=o=o

 

~DARA’S POV~

 

“How are we going to find the right box in here?”I asked in disbelief as we were now face to face with I think thousands of chest boxes. The others were already there. Bom and Youngbae were showing a good teamwork as both of them were working to find the right box to their key. CL and Seungri were exhibiting the opposite. Seungri was leaning against a tree, just watching CL do all the work.

 

“Stupid, useless jerk!” I heard CL hissed.

 

“Come with me” Jiyong whispered in my ear, still holding my hand.

 

I looked at him in surprise. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yes” he smiled. “Let’s put our things down first”

 

“Oh-kay” I nodded slowly. I looked at him in wonder. Does he really want ME to participate? He looked at me again then smiled. I quickly flashed my camera. “Are you being charming?”

 

“Let’s go find our box”

 

“Ya, ya, ya!” Seungri suddenly came to us. “What’s with the holding hands thing? Why-?”

 

“Watch out!” I warned as I saw CL’s shoe flying towards Seungri’s direction but I was already too late. The shoe hit Seungri squarely in the face.

 

“Ya!” Seungri shouted. “What was that for?”

 

“That’s for you, you stupid useless rat!” CL shouted back.

 

“What did I do this time?” Seungri asked, marchi9ng angrily towards CL.

 

“That’s exactly it! You’r enot doing anything to help me but you find time in meddling with other people’s business!”

 

“Err, should we stop them before they hurt each other? Like, physically?” I asked.

 

“No, they’ll be fine” Jiyong answered.

 

“But-“ I started but stopped as I felt goosebumps all over my body. I looked around and saw Bom glaring at me darkly. She looked so angry, so pissed, so mad, so jealous. . .

 

“Bom, I’ll go this way and you go the other way. . .” Youngbae called but Bom ignored him. Instead, she started heading towards our direction.

 

Uh-oh. I can see, smell and sense trouble coming my way.

 

 

 

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supposed to post these two chaps last December 25, but i got stuck in our house.. hehe