DARA

 

My phone made that distinct sound again just when I was about to go to bed. What is it this time? I took my phone and looked at the screen. He sent me another message with his photo attached to it. I snorted when I saw his picture. I quickly typed in a reply saying he looked ugly.

 

He sent me another picture of him pouting this time asking me to show him what handsome should look like. I looked around me and searched for a good spot to take a picture. I decided to take it with my study table behind me. I sent the picture to him and told him that’s how it should look like.

 

It took a while for him to respond that I thought he wasn’t going to reply anymore. This isn’t handsome. This is cute. But thank you for sending it. I now have a decent picture of you. Look, I even made it as my lock screen and wallpaper. That was what the message said and it also had an attachment of his phone’s lock screen and wallpaper.

 

Ah, how could I be stupid to have fallen into that easily? He was obviously fishing for it and I easily took his bait. Ah, that sneaky sly guy. I sent him another message telling him to delete my picture from his phone and to change his lock screen and wallpaper.

 

I don’t want to, the message said when he replied.

 

I hit my head once with my fist. Ah, this was on me. I was stupid enough to have taken his bait without even thinking about it. I should have been suspicious about it from the beginning. Delete it!!!!!

 

I don’t want to.

 

I breathed in heavily. I was just about to go to sleep and he’s starting to annoy me again. I decided to call him and have a word to make him aware how annoyed I am and that he should not mess up with me. The phone rang. . . . and rang. . . and rang. “Ugh,” I growled. “Look at this guy not answering my call.”

 

“We were just together a while ago, did you miss me that much to call me?” he answered after a while.

 

“HEY!” I returned, my voice raising. “DELETE THAT PICTURE NOW! AND WHY DID YOU MAKE THAT YOUR LOCK SCREEN AND WALLPAPER? WHAT IF OTHER PEOPLE SEE? WHAT IF THEY MISUNDERSTAND? WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD PUT A PICTURE OF THE SAME GENDER AS THEIR PHONE WALLPAPER UNLESS IT’S A PHOTO OF A CELEBRITY?”

 

He started laughing out loud. “You do realize you’re nagging me, right? You’re such a girl.”

 

“DELETE IT NOW!”

 

“Make me,” he said.

 

“Argh, why are you being annoying all of the sudden?”

 

He chuckled. “You did send me the picture, though. I did not force you or steal it from you.”

 

That made me stop from saying anything further. He got me there.  “I’m not going to fall into your wicked traps anymore!” I told him, more to myself though.

 

“Too bad,” he said. “I’ve got more wicked traps set up for you. Ah, why do I feel so confident of you falling into the greatest traps of all?”

 

“That’s never going to happen,” I told him.

 

“We’ll see,” he said, chuckling.

 

There was something about what he said which made me frown and curious. I admit it also made me a bit nervous. “W-what trap is that?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

 

“The trap I set up in my heart.”

 

I stared blankly ahead of me. I felt my jaw dropped the same time I felt the hair in my body raising. Did he just say what I thought he said? That was. . . “Eww!” I shrieked from disgust. “That’s. . . ewww!”

 

“That, babe was sweet.”

 

“No, it wasn’t,” I disagreed as I went over my bed.

 

“Stop pretending that your heart didn’t flutter.”

 

“It definitely did not,” I informed him. “It only gave me goose bumps!”

 

“That’s what usually happen when your heart flutters,” he said.

 

“No, goose bumps happen even when you’re disgusted.”

 

“And?”

 

“When you’re scared or nervous.”

 

“And?”

 

“When you’re having a constipation or diarrhea.”

 

He burst out laughing that I had to put the phone away from my ear in fear of damaging my eardrums.  But I also laughed out loud myself. “You’ve experienced that a lot, haven’t you?” he asked. “You wouldn’t have known that if you haven’t. Tell me, did you experience that a lot at school?”

 

“No!” I replied. “I just heard from others!”

 

“Liar,” he said, chuckling.

 

“Seriously, I only heard it from others.”

 

“I can hear the lie in your voice,” he said. “Don’t worry, I don’t see that as a turn off.”

 

“I don’t really care about the things you find a turn on or turn off,” I informed him.

 

“Good,” he said. “I’d like you to act more you when you’re with me.”

 

“You’re giving me goose bumps again.”

 

“Eh,” he teased. “Am I being too sweet? Hehehehe. You’re really falling hard for me, aren’t you?”

 

“In your dreams!” I scoffed.

 

“See? You even want to see me in my dreams. Ah,you’ve got the worst end of it!”

 

“What? What worst end of it?”

 

“Worst end of being bitten by a love bug,” he said.

 

I was about to say something when I heard the sound of something similar to a metal being swung back and forth. “Where are you right now?” I asked. “Are you actually at the playground?”

 

“Oh? How did you know?”

 

“I can hear the swing,” I told him and then frowned when I checked what time it was already. “Hey, what do you think are you doing there? It’s already late! Don’t you have a watch with you? Hey, no matter how tough you think you are, you’re still a teenager! A high school student that is!”

 

“You’re such a nagger,” he whispered gently. He whispered the words so gently that it made my heart beat a bit stronger than it normally does.

 

What’s going on? I frowned. Why was he whispering like that? I tried to rewind our conversation in my head and it made me realize how would I have sounded on his end. “Don’t put other meaning to what I said as something else,” I told him. “I’m not being worried or concerned. I’m just stating facts.”

 

“You sounded worried, though.”

 

I sighed. “Fine. So what if I was worried? I mean, I do consider you a friend.  A friend.”

 

“Are you actually emphasizing the word friend for me or it’s your way to convince yourself?”

 

“Do you always find a different meaning to everything I say?” I asked, getting annoyed again.

 

“Nope,” he said. “It’s how you say it which makes me think that way.”

 

“I emphasized the word because I want you to understand that I see you as a friend only.”

 

“You’re being defensive, eh?” he teased.

 

“Tell me, what’s the point in talking to you?”

 

“You’re the one who called me though,” he reminded me.

 

“W-well. . .” I started and cleared my throat. “Well. . . that. . . I was. . .”

 

“Yes?”

 

“You were really annoying so I want to make a point across and I felt that I’d make you understand better if I call you instead of just exchanging text messages,” I went in one breath as soon as my brain formulated it.

 

“Breathe,” he instructed. “Take it easy. Ah, is my voice that hot for you to run out of breath? You must be imagining naughty things right now, aren’t you?”

 

“ert!” I hissed.

 

The jerk just laughed his head off. “You’re calling me ert now but sooner or later, let’s see who’ll be addicted to getting a kiss from me.”

 

“And who might that be?”

 

“Take a guess,” he said.

 

“It’s not me,” I told him. “So I have no idea.”

 

I heard him sigh but I could also hear his soft chuckles. “Yeah right,” he snorted. “You can deny it all you want but you’ll eventually end up doing so anyways.”

 

“Your arrogance is unparalleled.”

 

“It’s not arrogance,” he said. “It’s called confidence.”

 

“Confidence?” I repeated. “You’re just conceited. Did you seriously think everyone genetically born as a female at school would end up liking you?” I asked on a rant. I was trying to mock him but when I remember that around 75% of the female population did vote for him as the campus guy sometime ago, I suddenly realized my mistake.

 

“I think around 75 or 80 percent of the girls at school actually likes me. Do you wanna make a bet?”

 

“What bet?”

 

“To make the remaining of the female population fall for me?” he asked. “I can if I want to, you know.”

 

I wasn’t really sure what to say to that as I had a feeling he can actually do it. “I’d like to see you try,” I challenged.

 

He chuckled. I kept hearing that sound lately. It was starting to become familiar. “So. . . want to make a bet?”

 

“What’s in it for me if I say yes?”

 

“If you win, your call.”

 

“That’s easy,” I told him. “I want you to stop bothering. . . no, I want you to stop teasing me and I want you too act as if I’m just a normal high school boy and for you to act as if you haven’t found out my secret and act like how you used to before you knew my secret.”

 

“That’s a lot of wants,” he chuckled. “You need to choose one since we’re only doing one bet.”

 

“No, it’s a package. Why? Not that confident now in winning, eh?”

 

“Fine, but if I win. . . “

 

“If you win. . . then what?”

 

“Hmm. . . I’ll think about. I’ll tell you once I’ve made up my mind.”

 

“Alright but I’m not agreeing to anything yet until I hear what you want,” I told him and belatedly realized I made another mistake.

 

“So who’s not confident in winning huh?”

 

We went ahead trying to outwit each other or should I say, I went ahead trying to outwit him. I’m not sure up until what time we were talking to each other. All I know is that when I woke up, I found myself still holding my phone up in my ear. I groaned out loud and stretched lazily. I checked my phone and saw that my battery’s about to drain. “Ah, I only one and hours left to prepare for school and my batt’s about to die. That jerk. . .”

 

I went looking for my charger and as I did, I heard the thing made that distinct sound again.  “Ah. . . . what is it again? So early in the morning!”

 

When I checked my phone, I saw that he sent another picture of him with the words good morning! “Good morning?” I asked out loud. “Good morning?!” Before I could even stop myself, I pressed the call button and lifted the device up to my ear. I started tapping my barefoot against the floor as I waited for him to answer.

 

“Good morning!” he greeted. “Can’t get enough of my voice?”

 

“What do you mean good morning?” I snapped. “My battery’s about to die because you were talking to me all night long and you think sending me a picture of your face this early would put me into a good mood?”

 

“You’re the one who called me,” he said. “It’s common courtesy and knowledge that the one who made the phone call should also be the one to end it but you kept talking to me on and on without showing any signs of wanting to stop.”

 

“Well, you. . .” I started but then I heard my the sound of the battery draining. I pulled my phone away from my ear and looked at it. It’s dead. Great. I went to charge my phone before going to the bathroom. I need a bath. I need a shower to cool my head off. Why was he so good in annoying me?  Nobody has annoyed me this much before and I usually don’t care but he was just so annoying.

 

“Hey, hey, slow down. Why are you such in a hurry?” my mother asked as I was eating breakfast.

 

I took my time in the bathroom so now I’m in a hurry or else I’ll be late. I didn’t answer my mother straightaway as I tried eating everything on my plate as fast as I could. I grabbed the glass of water in front of me and drank the water in one go. I swallowed hard before answering my mother. “I don’t want to be late.”

 

“What were you doing so late at night shouting in your room?” she asked.

 

“She was talking to someone over the phone,” Minyu answered for me.

 

“You were? Were you fighting with one of your friends?”

 

“No!” I answered. “I would never get into a fight with the boys. Only Kwon Jiyong would annoy me that much!”

 

“Ooh, so you were talking to Kwon Jiyong?”

 

“What’s with that tone and look, Mom?” I asked, eyeing her.

 

“What?” she asked back innocently.

 

I turned to Minyu. “What is she up to now?” I asked.

 

“I like Kwon Jiyong,” Mom said.

 

“I don’t,” I told her. Did you two actually change personalities or what?” I asked. It was unusual for my mother to be playful. It was more of Minyu’s style.

 

“Hanri-ya, I think she still hasn’t gotten over Soo Hyun,” Minyu said.

 

“So Hyun’s my childhood best friend,” I sighed. “And you both know I don’t like boys.”

 

“Yes, I think she’s still waiting for him to come back,” Mom agreed.

 

“Why are you all teaming up against me?” I demanded.

 

“Aren’t you going to be late?” Minyu asked.

 

“Oh yes,” I exclaimed and started gathering my things to leave for school. “See you later!” I waved at them as I rushed out of the door and started heading towards school. I can’t be late again. What’s going to happen to me if I’ll end up being late again? Am I going to have additional punishment on top of my detention? Ah, it’s Kwon Jiyong’s fault! If only I still have my skateboard.

 

I stopped running the moment I reached school and checked that I still have fifteen minutes before the school bell rang. Ah, my sides and legs hurt. I stood where I was to catch my breath. I hugged my middle because of the hitch when I felt air blowing into my left ear.

 

“Good morning baby,” a husky voice whispered. I knew that voice. My initial reaction was to elbow him which I did. No, I shivered from disgust first before elbowing him. “Aww, that hurts.”

 

I turned around to face him. “You just ruined my morning.”

 

“”Well, you just made mine.”

 

“There’s no point in telling you to leave me alone since you won’t do it anyways so can you just tell me what you want to bother me so early in the morning?”

 

“Wow, you really love nagging me don’t you?” he said. “Is that your defense mechanism? Is this how you’ll be once we’re together?”

 

“We? Together?”

 

“Yep,” he answered, smacking his lips. “I already know what I want if I win the bet.”

 

I straightened up. “What is it? Hurry up, we don’t have much time before the first class.”

 

He smiled. “Be mine.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Mass Updates on the roll!

 

I swear guys, this has got to be one of the fun fics i’ve written. . . . hehehehehe..

 

Also! I created a sub-twitter account @noobhago - I’ll be posting mainly fic related stuff on this account as well as dg related stuff, hehehe.

 

Anyways, tell me your thoughts!