She glanced outside through the window of the car…her forehead’s creasing as she bit on her inner cheeks… she shifted her gaze away from the window… looking down on her lap, watching her hands gripping on the fabric of her dress… she then sighed, which earned a worried look from the old driver she’s with…

The car has been parked in front of her campus for a while now… keeping herself in silence since she left the mansion raised curiosity to her driver… the old man watched her through the rear-view mirror…would put a slight smile on his face whenever he would see his young miss pout then sigh… 

Seeing them together last night was like an answer to their prayers… finally a time seeing them not arguing and finally seeing his young master giving such affection towards his wife… just by observing them these past few days, seeing a vast change from his young master, he knew by then that something’s forming between the two… such a pity for they’re both holding back… may it because they are both oblivious to it… but a big part was because one of them is still compelled with his past… he may look unfair for not feeling sorry for Taeyeon, but seeing Dara and Jiyong happy and especially being together just like last night… may the heavens punish him for wishing that Taeyeon would just let the two and find herself another man that would love her more than Jiyong did.

“Miss… aren’t you going to your class yet…? You might get late on your first period…” 

Dara looked up to him… anxiousness written all over her face that made the old man got more curious about what’s holding her back to go to her class…

Dara let out a faint smile as her gaze dropped once again and bit on her bottom lip… 


‘You didn’t do anything wrong… so why are you this afraid, Dara…?'


She asked herself… only to sigh on her own thoughts…


‘Will he really be there…?’


Her sad gaze landed on the window once again, watching the students passing by her car… thinking about what her husband told her yesterday… 

And as if Mr. Lee heard her thoughts… finally getting the situation, a warm smile crept on the old man’s lips…

“The young master even called me a while ago… telling me to drop you off to school early so you won’t be late… he said he’ll just see you there…”

The old man simply said not looking at her through the mirror… that made Dara looked up, with clear hope and joy in her eyes… before her gaze shifted to the side and finally, a smile crept on her lips… the old man peeked on her and it warmed his heart to see the change in her mood… he then shook his head with a smile on his face and headed out to open the door for her…


‘Kids these days, really… making simple things so complicated than they should be…’


He thought as he guided her out of the car…

Dara then flashed him her warmest smile and startled the old man when Dara suddenly hugged him tight.

“Thank you Mr. Lee…” 

She whispered before she let go of the old man… Mr. Lee nodded and reached for her head and gently tapped it like a father to his daughter…

“You shouldn’t worry too much about things… it would make you grow old fast...”

He teased, which earned a light chuckle from Dara…

“Arasso… I better go now Mr. Lee…”

She then started with her tracks, waving goodbye to the old man… 

A smile was still plastered on her face… thinking Jiyong would probably just around her campus by this time… looking forward to see even a glimpse of him… but then as she neared her building, she then started to feel the scrutinizing gazes of the students around her…

That made her slowed on her tracks… felt heavy as she took each steps… her smile slowly faltered, meeting the gaze of the students, started to hear them whisper to each other… she almost just wanted herself to be swallowed by the concrete ground she’s walking at… as shame slowly crept up to her…albeit the fact that she shouldn’t feel even a tinge of it… all she wanted was to be kept away from that place.


‘Running away is like also telling them that you’re guilty of something’


Just then, ‘his’ words rang inside her mind… giving her enough strength to push herself up from being swallowed by her own fear.

With that, she straightened herself up… peeling off her gaze from the students around her and instead, just stare ahead and continued with her tracks… playing deaf from hearing insults that the students throw at her… not caring about the piercing gazes from them… for they don’t anything for her to care about they think…

They don’t know how much pain she had been through to get to her place now… they don’t know how much tears she had shed just to gather that strength she has her now… and they don’t know how much happiness she had given up just to stay beside her husband, going through any consequences that their vows to each other brings her... and they don’t even have the slightest knowledge how painful it is to love someone who would never love you back…

Those insults… those bad thoughts they have for her were nothing as to what she had been through… and certainly they wouldn’t know… for they’re too caught up being blind and deaf… busying themselves to pull someone that they don’t even know down… 

--

Finally arriving in front of their classroom, she sighed in relief… giving herself a credit passing through a ‘battle’ awhile ago… but delaying her celebration for as soon as she entered her classroom… another ‘battle’ had been waiting for her after all… 

She could only sigh… gathering herself tighter, keeping her head up as she quietly went to her seat… 


‘Good thing I’m not yet late…’


Smiling to herself, distracting herself with her thoughts... finding that their professor wasn’t there yet…

She looked around, searching for her friend and wondered as to why he wasn’t there yet… only for her thoughts to be answered when she heard the door of their classroom opened, as an expressionless Youngbae entered the room…

His gaze was set to the side… as if listening to the talks of their classmates… his face was cold… not until he heard ‘her’ name being mentioned by one of their classmates… that’s when his gaze landed on her direction… 

The expression on Youngbae’s face instantly changed upon seeing her… a clear surprise was in his eyes apart from the other unreadable expressions on his face…their eyes locked for a moment… until Dara broke out a smile… 

And as if he didn’t want to blink his eyes, he kept his gaze on hers… started with his tracks going towards her… making Dara a bit conscious with his stares she could only smile at him… 

Her eyes then wandered around, with him standing in front of her and looking down at her… hearing the silence that suddenly filled the room, she saw their classmates looking at them… her gaze then snapped back at him when she heard