~DARA’S POV~

 

“Hey, what are you two doing here?”

 

“We need your help”

 

“Oh sure. What is it?” I asked. Seungri and Youngbae looked at each other.

 

“It’s your boyfriend”

 

“Why? What ha-?”

 

“He’s fighting with Jiyong and I think he’s on for the kill”

 

Fear gripped my heart.

 

“Take me to them” I said.

 

Seungri and Youngbae nodded to each other. They circled around me. I was about to ask them what they’re doing when I suddenly felt a force pulling me.

 

I blinked and found myself in the forest near the arena. I looked around and gasped out loud as I saw fallen trees, burned leaves and all the mess around me. It’s like a storm hit the place.

 

I heard a swooshing sound. I looked up and saw Jiyong’s body hit a tree. He grunted as he dropped to the ground with a loud thud. Jae was suddenly looming over Jiyong. He bent down and grabbed the latter’s collar.

 

“Jae!” I called. “Don’t!”

 

But it’s as if he didn’t hear me as he threw Jiyong’s body away again.

 

“Why isn’t Jiyong fighting back?!” I cried.

 

“Err. . .” Seungri said. “It’s because of this” he added, handing me a brown envelope. My eyes grew wide as I saw the photos. A blush crept to my cheeks as I remembered the first time Jiyong kissed me.

 

“How am I going to stop Jae?”

 

“Just try convincing him” Seungri suggested. “We tried to stop him a while ago but he just sent our bodies flying to a tree”

 

“JAE!” I called out loud. “PLEASE STOP!”

 

But he didn’t listen. Instead, he wrapped his right hand around Jiyong’s neck and lifted him up off the ground. I saw his grip tightened around Jiyong’s neck. For a second, I thought Jae was going to break Jiyong’s neck but he just pounded Jiyong’s body on the rock near him.

 

“Oh God!” I gasped as I saw Jiyong’a face. He was badly beaten. I can barely recognize his face anymore. Unable to take it anymore, I ran to Jae and wrapped my arms around him. I rested my left cheek on his back and begged him to stop.

 

Jae removed my arms off him. He turned to face me. I can’t help  but cower at the look in his face, especially his all-black eyes. “Why?!” he gritted.

 

“It’s not what you think!”

 

“I’ve seen the pictures, Dara!”

 

“I kissed her” Jiyong said, tying to pull himself up in a standing position. “As you have seen in the photos, we kissed but the photos failed to show everything”

 

“Get on it with it already!” Jae snapped.

 

“The photos failed to show the part where Dara struggled and slapped me”

 

I stiffened. I didn’t do that! Why was he lying?

 

“Is it true?” Jae asked me

 

“I . . . .”

 

“But why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Jae asked me again.

 

“Because I scared her off” Jiyong answered.

 

Tears started forming in my eyes. Why is he lying? He’s lying! I didn’t struggle when he kissed me. I didn’t slap him and I definitely didn’t forget it! I wanted to, I tried to but I can’t. It’s been etched into my mind. So why is he lying?

 

“You. . . scared. . . her off?” Jae repeated.

 

“Yes” Jiyong hissed.

 

“NO!” I screamed as Jae lunged at Jiyong again. I shivered in fear as Jiyong was lifted in the air by invisible strings, his body twisted in an unusual angle. It was like what Jiyong did to Kimho. I went in front of Jae and cupped his face. “Please! Stop, I’m begging you”

 

A loud thud and a grunt told me that Jiyong’s on the ground again. I kept Jae’s face imprisoned in between my hands. I sighed in relief as his eyes went back to normal.

 

He suddenly pulled me to a tight hug. I hugged him back and whispered calming and comforting words. He was still stiff, his breathing ragged. I admit I was taken aback seeing him like that a while ago. Maybe I just got this word representation of Jae as a guardian angel and Jiyong’s more of the fallen angel, the rebel one.

 

“Jiyong!” I heard Bom called.

 

I pulled away from Jae and turned around. Jiyong was still lying flat on his back. I felt a painful squeeze as I saw his face, the rip in his clothes and some cuts, bruises and scrapes in his arms.

 

“This is all your fault!” Bom looked up at me.

 

“Bom, we-.” Youngbae started but stopped as Bom waved him off. She then marched towards me so fast that it took me by surprise when I saw her standing in front of me and her hand made contact with my face. It was hard, so forceful that I was sent down to the ground. I touched my cheek and looked up again, only to see Jae holding Bom off the ground by her neck. She started choking and gagging.

 

“. . .can’t. . . . breathe. . . .” she rasped.

 

“Jae, put her down!” I said. Instead of putting Bom down, his grip tightened on her neck. I stood up and grabbed his arm the same time Youngbae came but he only pushed me away, sending me to a nearby tree while Youngbae was sent farther. I tried to ignore the pain as I pushed myself up to go back and stop Jae but before I could do that, Jiyong attacked him. Jae was able to drop Bom down, who was really blue right now.

 

Youngbae, who just recovered, immediately rushed forwards to Bom.

 

“Uh-oh” Seungri muttered. I followed his gaze and saw Jiyong surrounded by a weird black and violet smoke.

 

W-what’s going on?” I asked.

 

“Get Jaejoong out of Jiyong’s reach before he kills him!” I heard Bom hissed.

 

Everything went blurry and confusing to me. All I know is that Seungri and Youngbae are badly knocked, unconscious.

 

“Oh crap!” CL’s familiar voice entered.

 

“CL!” Bom called. “You’re right on time. Help me take Youngbae and Seungri out of Jiyong’s way”

 

“Okay” CL answered.

 

“W-what’s going on?” I asked CL as I followed her to pull Seungri and Youngbae out of the way.

 

“That’s not Jiyong anymore” Bom said.

 

“W-what do you mean?” I asked.

 

“That’s his sleeping evil side” she answered. “He can’t and doesn’t recognize anyone anymore”

 

“How will we stop him?”

 

“We can’t do anything to stop him” CL answered.

 

“But-!”

 

“He’ll only stop when his cravings to torture and kill people will go away” Bom said matter-of-factly.

 

“No. . . .” I breathed. I turned away from CL and Bom in time to see Jae coughed out a mouthful of blood. Without thinking, my feet started moving. But eventhough I was running already, I wasn’t fast enough to stop Jiyong from picking up Jae’s body and throwing it against a rock. A portion of the rock cracked and I saw a trickle of blood on it. I looked at Jae closely and saw that he was unconscious.

 

My body started to tremble as I saw Jiyong walking towards Jae. Oh God! He’s really going to kill him! Desperately, I ran faster. I ran past by him and knelt to the ground, cradling Jae’s head on my chest. I hugged him tightly and looked up at Jiyong.

 

As soon as I saw Jiyong, I wanted to scream. He doesn’t look like himself anymore. He looked more of the. . . . devil himself.

 

“Ready to die?”

 

“Jiyong, no. . .” I brokenly whispered.

 

He smiled but it wasn’t the smile that I recognized as his. It looked. . . diabolical. My heart was uncontrollable now. It was pumping so hard against my chest that I just wanted to rip it out.

 

“Death is my heaven” he said. “Wanna go there?”

 

I shook my head, unable to speak. I’m really trembling so hard now. I suddenly felt myself being lifted in the air, like a hole is taking me up. I gasped in horror as Jiyong made me stand in front of him.

 

“Answer me!”

 

I shook my head again when he suddenly grabbed my neck. His grip was too tight, narrowing my airway. My eyes started stinging as I started running out of air. Everything inside me felt so tight. His grip tightened even more. Weakly, I reached for his face and caressed it, a tear falling from my right eye.

 

“J. . .ji. . . yong”

 

The black and violet smoke around him suddenly disappeared. His eyes went back to normal again. He stared at me in surprise then quickly let go of my neck. He looked at his hand then back at me with wide eyes. I was still coughing and gasping for air when without warning, Jiyong suddenly dropped to the ground, unconscious.

 

I started crying as I hugged my knees to myself, rocking myself back and forth. Warmth suddenly enveloped me as two arms hugged me.

 

“It’s okay. It’s over now” I heard Bom’s familiar voice.

 

~AUTHOR’S POV~

 

“How did that happen?” Seungri asked. “I mean, I saw her calm Jaejoong down and based from your story, she stopped Jiyong, too”

 

“She doesn’t have special powers, Seungri” CL rolled her eyes. “It just so happens that both Jaejoong and Jiyong have-.”

 

“Let’s not talk about this anymore” Jiyong sighed, sounding exhausted. “I want to be alone and I want to take a rest so if you may all will, get out of my sight”

 

Jiyong closed his eyes. Frustrated – that’s how he feels right now. He can’t remember EVERYTHING but he was sure that he was aware of what he was doing. He loved it. He loved how he was embraced by that dark side if him. He loved how it brought and gave him so much strength and power that he felt greedy for more. He felt nothing but happiness everytime he inflicts pain on others. But the moment Sandara Park touched his face. . . . It was like all the pain he inflicted backfired to him. There was a hollow, agonizing pain deep in his chest as his dark side fought how his heart responded to her touch. It wasn’t just his heart. Everything inside him responded and acknowledged the girl’s touch.

 

Happiness and power – that’s what he felt when that dark part of him took hold of his body. There was nothing but darkness for him. Greed made him wants it, crave it.

 

Pain – that’s what he felt when the girl touched him. It’s like a fog in his mind cleared the moment that happened. Her touch sapped that dark part of him.

 

“Hey” a familiar voice called.

 

Jiyong didn’t open his eyes at once. He already knew who the person was even without looking.

 

“What are you doing here?” he asked, still with eyes closed.

 

“I just wanted to see how have you been doing?”

 

“I almost killed the people I know today, Dara. How do you think I’m feeling right now?”

 

“You ALMOST did but you didn’t, did you?”

 

“How’s Jaejoong?”

 

“He’s in their house, still unconscious” she answered. Krystal and her family are there, the Kims, Victoria and Luna are there. I just thought to stay away for a while since the girls and I aren’t really on good terms”

 

“Are you okay?” he asked as he finally opened his eyes.  “You look. . . different”

 

“Do I?” she chuckled and went to sit at the edge of the bed.

 

“Yes” he frowned. He looked at her closely. Literally, she still looks the same but there’s just something not right about her that he can’t figure out.

 

“Jiyong?” she called. “Can I . . .? Can I kiss you?”

 

“WHAT?!?”

 

“You won’t mind if I kiss you, right?”

 

“Yes, I do mind if you-.”

 

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as her lips covered his. The moment their lips touched, there was a sense of protest inside him. He pushed her right away and that’s when he realized what’s wrong. It’s her eyes – they were not Dara’s eyes.

 

“You’re not Dara!” he hissed.

 

The fake Dara stepped back, laughing. “Did you have fun today, Kwon Jiyong? Because I sure did”

 

“Who are you?”

 

“Did you enjoy the moment of darkness, Jiyong? Did you love how the power surge through your veins? How pleasurable it was to see someone in pain?”

 

“You-!” he started and was about to attack when the fake Dara suddenly changed into Seungri, then to Youngbae, to Bom, to CL then back to  Dara.

 

“All of them will die, Jiyong” the fake Dara said but with a guy’s voice. “They will die in your hands”

 

Jiyong suddenly jerked awake, panting and sweating heavily. He looked around the room and found himself alone.