Chaerin tries to stop herself from feeling sympathy for the poor girl but it just won't go away so by the end of the week, she's just staring at Dara with sad, sad eyes and now Dara is the one avoiding Chaerin.

       Chaerin's had a considerably long amount of time to process all the that happened Monday night and she isn't really sure what to think anymore. Because to be honest, she thinks that Dara's huge spiel was completely and totally heartbreaking. She never knew Dark Angels could have so many pent-up feelings and words, she just kind of thought Dark Angels didn't have emotional capabilities (and she's sure that's what her dad thinks).

       Dara's words run through her head again and Chaerin can only say that she's left in awe every time she thinks about her now. Because in Chaerin's book, Dark Angels are fearless, brutal, angry, sadistic, heartless. But with Dara, all she sees is a scared pile of broken pieces.

       And she feels like crying every time she thinks about it.

       So Friday night, Chaerin braces herself for that Aura again because she still isn't sure what'll happen. She braces herself for that Aura again and, with no plan at all, steps in front of Dara as she's leaving the empty restaurant, blocking her from going through the door.

       Dara looks stunned. Kind of angry, kind of vulnerable, kind of shocked, and kind of fierce.

       But still really ing depressed.

       Chaerin, on the other hand, is just really relieved because Dara's Aura didn't attack her. It enveloped her with warmth and some weird type of reassurance and she honestly enjoys feeling this way.

       "What the hell are you doing?" Dara asks, narrowing her eyes suspiciously and stepping back so their distance is a little more comfortable. Chaerin can't help herself but look into those yellow eyes and she almost gasps out loud.

       She gets a good, close look at Dara's eyes for the first time and she feels like the breath was just knocked out of her chest in one blow. Her dad had always told her the eyes of a Dark Angel were menacing and yellow. Chaerin had imagined them as a sharper, angrier, scarier, darker yellow. But she sees Dara's eyes and it's like staring into glowing illusions that go on for miles. They're not yellow. Her eyes are a deep, vivacious gold and it feels nice on Chaerin's nerves. She likes it.

       There's so much hidden behind the glowing warmth that she just wants to take Dara to a quiet place and talk to her about anything and everything, just so she can get to know this devilish Angel more. She knows that they appear as a lighter brown color to Mortals, but she's fine with that (if anything, she wants to keep these breathtaking golden eyes to herself).

       "Dirty yellow my ," she mutters under her breath as she recalls the words her father said to her. Dara's eyebrows furrow in confusion, her beautiful eyes hardening slightly.

       "What?" she asks, sounding kind of irritated. Chaerin snaps out of her reverie and her somewhat creepy fascination with those eyes, straightening up and clearing .

       "Nothing. Your uh...your eyes. I've never seen them up close," she explains nervously. Dara snorts, crossing her arms.

       "Yeah, I wonder why," she says sarcastically. Chaerin bites her lip guiltily. After all, who's the antisocial one that refuses to get close to anyone? Who's the one that ditched the dying Dark Angel in the alleyway?

       They stand there in silence. Dara starts to tap her foot, looking around the restaurant and every once in a while sighing loudly.

       "Tell me about it," Chaerin says suddenly. Dara stops tapping and looking and sighing, but she still doesn't look at Chaerin. Her jaw is just hanging open mid-sigh.

       "Tell me how it feels to be you," Chaerin continues. Dara turns to her, looking kind of bewildered.

       "...which means...?"

       "Just, you know. Just vent out all the inside of you. 'Cause we all have inside of us, right? Sometimes you need to let it out." Dara scoffs in response.

       "You don't know how it feels to have inside of you until you're me," she barely says. Chaerin looks down at the ground because those deep golden eyes are becoming a little too deep for her to bear. Dara her eyebrow and tilts her head in amusement.

       "You really want to just sit there and listen to a Dark Angel vent her frustrations?" Chaerin looks at her hesitantly, contemplating the question herself. "Because the last time I checked, you hated Dark Angels."

       Yeah, last time I checked, I DID hate Dark Angels.

       "You seemed sad that day...I just want to help," Chaerin's mouth stupidly stays. But she goes with it because that's really what her wimpy self would do if she wasn't so damn wimpy.

       Dara shifts her eyes to Chaerin's, taking in her emerald green orbs seriously. After a while of contemplating (and what Chaerin thinks might be Dark Angel attempts at mind-reading and manipulation that get her all squirmy and nervous), Dara sighs and shakes her head.

       "I know Seungri says this a lot, but it's true. You're ing weird, Lee Chaerin." Shaking her head, she walks past Chaerin and out the door, waiting until Chaerin walks out to lock up the restaurant for the night. She doesn't even glance at Chaerin before turning away and walking down the street.

       Chaerin follows her like a puppy because she's the type of person that will finish something once she's started it. And in this case, she, like a maniac, decided to start talking to this Dark Angel that will probably murder her once they arrive at her destination, which is probably some haunted mansion in the middle of a lake with a serpent living in it.

       "D-Dara? Um, where are we going?" she asks hesitantly from behind after a couple of minutes. Dara stops and heaves a sigh, not turning around.

       "Why are you still following me?" she asks, exasperated. Her tone makes it obvious that she knew Chaerin was following her the whole time. Sensitive Angel senses.

       Chaerin shuffles her feet nervously. "I said earlier. I think you need to vent and I'm curious, so why not kill two birds with one stone?"

       "Are you actually curious though? Because the moment I start talking to you about the most normal things, like my family or something, you're just gonna freak out on me and run away like you did on Monday." Chaerin bites the inside of her cheek and plays with her fingers because that familiar guilt is coming again and she wants it to go away; it's making things worse and more uncomfortable. Dara turns around and an eyebrow at Chaerin.

       "Admittedly, I'm kind of already freaking out," Chaerin says because she has nothing else to say out loud. Dara laughs a laugh mixed with confusion, disbelief, and annoyance. "But I really am sorry for that night. And I want to know more about you. And like I said, you need to let out your sometimes."

       There's another silence as Dara analyzes Chaerin again, this time from head to toe. After a very uncomfortable five seconds, she gives an imperceptible nod. Chaerin feels a grin starting to form on her lips and she has no idea. She's more than disturbed by herself for wanting to smile right now. Why am I even here, let alone smiling about it?

       A motorcycle zooms by just as Dara says something, but Chaerin thinks she can make out the words "what", "come", "house", and "roommate". She almost gags because what the ? Going to her house?

       "Damn motorcycle. What'd you say?" Chaerin asks, praying to the heavens that Dara didn't say what she thought she did.

       "I said, what if I told you to come to my house because I need to go make sure my roommate doesn't blow the place up?" She raises an eyebrow, clearly not expecting Chaerin to agree. Her expectations must be really low, but Chaerin can't really blame her after what has happened between them so far.

       Dara just stares at Chaerin and Chaerin starts feeling stressed but she tells herself to calm down and contemplate the entire situation for a second. After a while, she thinks she's genuinely very interested in this girl after everything she said in the restaurant that day. And what could her house possibly have in it if she has to work at the damn Panda Express? So Chaerin nods as firmly as she can in this ridiculous situation that she would have died before catching herself in two weeks ago.

       Dara looks totally surprised for a second before she starts chuckling. "You're ing weird, Lee Chaerin. You sure you're not out of your mind right now? Drunk, on drugs, a little too tired? Going off the deep end?" Chaerin shakes her head decisively.

       Dara shrugs in reply. "Alright then, fine. Follow me I guess. We're going to my house." And Chaerin feels her heart rate spike a little at the smile Dara flashes her way.

       And she honestly isn't sure if she's feeling fear or attraction.

       They just silently walk along the street and hop on a bus for a couple of minutes before stepping off and walking some more. Dara hasn't said a word and Chaerin is starting to make up delusional stories about Dara because she doesn't know what else to do with her screwed up life.

       As they approach a line of fortunately normal-looking houses, Chaerin is already imagining that Dara can control fire and uses it to burn people for fun. Chaerin suddenly breathes in sharply as she remembers what Dara said earlier.

       "Wait...you said your roommate might blow the place up?" Dara stops and Chaerin almost bumps into her back. Dara turns around with a goofy smirk that makes Chaerin smile in amusement and shiver in fear at the same time.

       "Finally regretting your decision?" she asks, and she sounds like she's having fun with this. Chaerin shrugs a little.

       "Well uh, you know, I just...uh...maybe. Maybe I am," she answers unsurely. Dara laughs a little before continuing forward. Chaerin follows despite the fear that's starting to fill her head again. She tries to push it out.

       "Maybe if you told me a little about them first?" she tries her luck. That seems like a safe enough question. Dara snickers, probably entertained by Chaerin's obvious nervousness.

       "A girl. And she's not a Dark Angel, if that's what you're wondering. I wouldn't need to vent to you or whatever if I knew another Dark, right?" Chaerin nods absently, trying to catch up with Dara's footsteps. They continue on in silence.

       "You're...not gonna tell me more about her?" Chaerin asks hesitantly. Dara just shrugs and Chaerin thinks she gets the message that that's the end of the conversation.

       After a little more silent walking, Dara finally stops. Chaerin stops too, taking a deep breath with closed eyes to prepare for whatever messed up building she sees in front of her. She turns and sees a typical small house standing before her. It's painted with a light and soft green, with some white. Very innocent, Chaerin must say.

       "Oh," she says before she can stop herself. Dara looks at her with an amused twinkle in her golden eyes.

       "Oh?" Dara asks with a teasing tone. Chaerin gulps.

       "It just...I'll be honest, it looks a lot more normal than I thought it would," she blurts out as fast as she can. She bites her lip when she's finished, looking at Dara's reaction from the corner of her eye. Dara bursts out laughing and Chaerin has to admit that it's a beautiful, tinkling sound and it makes her smile.

       "Did you think it would be eternally on fire and all black and making ghost noises or something?" she asks incredulously. But as Chaerin looks into her eyes more directly, she thinks she notices a little bit of hurt (or maybe she's just seeing things).

       "Something like that, I guess?" she ends with a questioning tone. Dara shakes her head before walking up the front steps and unlocking the door. When she opens the door, she yells and it's a lot louder than Chaerin ever thought such a small person could be.

       "Park Bom we have a visitor!" Dara belts out before stepping in and taking off her shoes. She hurls her small, simple black bag onto a couch across the room before turning around and motioning for Chaerin to come in.

       "Come on wimp, we're not gonna kill you. Bom is pathetically harmless." Dara's voice has a hidden gentleness and understanding despite the things she says, and Chaerin wonders how someone can make her feel so safe with just their voice and words.

       "YAH I HEARD THAT!" a woman's voice bursts out from a room inside. Chaerin flinches because it's her second nature to be scared of strangers (especially strangers that live with a ing Dark Angel). Dara giggles mischievously at god knows what.

       "You can just go sit on the couch over there, I'm gonna change. My wings are being little s today," she says before leaving Chaerin all alone.

       Not bothering to look around because she's still aware that this is the house of a Dark Angel, Chaerin just sets her eyes on the couch and makes a straight beeline for it. But when she's almost there, it's as if time stops and her limbs turn to stone. She can't move at all, not even her eyeballs. She feels tighten in fear until she can't really breathe properly.

       , , , Dara took me here to kill me, she's gonna kill me, !

       A woman with flaming red hair appears from a room a little ways down the hall in front of Chaerin. She's wearing a thin, white tank top and the shortest jean-shorts Chaerin has ever seen. They're really casual and sloppy clothes but this woman is hella y, and Chaerin can tell that the woman knows it. She starts walking toward the still-frozen Chaerin, who faintly feels her Aura but not any recognition attached to it. She must be a Creature Chaerin hasn't met before.

       "Hey there stranger," she says, biting her lip seductively. Chaerin feels a stronger urge to breathe and she hopes it's not because she's , because she just might be. Chaerin doesn't really know herself anymore.

       The girl comes closer with a naughty look in her smoldering brown eyes, one of her hands running down Chaerin's side and to her jeans. Chaerin can feel the woman's fingers slowly, sensually moving around in the area of her waistband and Chaerin doesn't think she'll ever be able to explain this to Dara. The girl's fingers reach into her pocket and feel around before grabbing onto a small wad of bills Chaerin always keeps there just in case. Her fingers pull out the money and she winks before walking toward the door.

       Chaerin suddenly feels like she can move again and she heaves a breath, her shoulders sagging. Dara's voice suddenly pierces the weird, hot, stuffy air.

       "Park Bom what are you doing?! I told you we had a guest, I didn't tell you to steal her money!" Chaerin whirls her head around, scared that this Park Bom lady will do something to Dara too (but when did she start caring about Dara's safety?). But instead she sees Dara hopping out of her own room wearing a ridiculously oversized white t-shirt and pink plaid pajama pants. The seductive woman is pouting cutely, like a small child, and reluctantly handing the money over to Dara, who looks stern but not surprised. Or petrified and unable to move, for that matter.

       "You're supposed to welcome her, goddammit. You can't just pickpocket everyone you can possibly approach," Dara continues to scold. Bom pouts even further. Chaerin can only blink because that hella y lady is pouting and it's surprising, to say the least.

       "Hul! You make it sound like I'm some kind of criminal!" she protests defensively.

       "What do you need the money for?" Dara asks, ignoring what Bom just said. Chaerin can tell it happens a lot.

       "I'm gonna go out and buy some corn. I'm hungry." Dara's face brightens up and she obviously isn't angry anymore. Was she even actually angry in the first place? Chaerin isn't really sure.

       "Oh! Can you get me some ramyun?" Dara asks excitedly. Bom giggles, hopping up and down like a little girl.

       "Already on the list! And then we can both have some dried mangos!!" At Bom's words, the two girls are both giggling and jumping and whooping excitedly, talking about all sorts of things at lightning speed. Despite being very confused at the fast-paced conversation, Chaerin smiles at the roommates' obviously close relationship. And their oddly evident obsession with food.

       Bom quickly snatches the bills out of Dara's hand and starts toward the door again but Dara grabs her arm with impressive reflexes and Chaerin vaguely wonders what it feels like to be touched by a Dark Angel.

       "Hey! That doesn't give you the okay to steal Chaerin's money!" She grabs the money out of Bom's fully-manicured hand before rushing past Chaerin and rummaging through her purse on the couch. She grabs what looks like all that's left in her wallet, walking back over to Bom and shoving it in her hands.

       "Now go!" she says, motioning toward the door. "I want ramyun!" They both giggle in adorable excitement. Before leaving though, Bom turns around and looks Chaerin in the eye.

       "Your name is Chaerin? Hi! I haven't met a Light in a while." She smiles warmly. "Sorry about earlier!" she says quickly before rushing out the door, whooping loudly, obviously excited to get food. Dara laughs a little before closing the door and turning to Chaerin.

       "So that's my roommate. Park Bom." As if her name by itself is funny, Dara chuckles a little. "I think you might get what I mean when I say I have to make sure she doesn't blow the place up. I swear I've laughed more in the two years I've lived with her than the rest of my life altogether." Chaerin smiles softly because she can tell that Dara loves Bom (in a sisterly kind of way).

       "Anyways, sit on that couch. I'll get you something to drink." Chaerin looks behind her at the white couch. She turns back to Dara, her eyes shifting nervously. Dara groans in frustration.

       "Miss Lee Chaerin, I swear to you that this house is not dangerous in any way. The couch will not explode or engulf you, nor will the drink poison you or turn you into a hippo. Just sit the down and I'll be right back." And with that, she turns on her heel and walks off into where Chaerin assumes the kitchen is located.

       Chaerin doesn't sit down. She feels super awkward because she hasn't been in very many people's houses aside from her own, and she can't help but remind herself that she barely even knows Dara. She just went out on some psychotic limb and decided to approach her and probably put her life on the line in the process.

       She's pretty much lost in the thought of why she's doing this in the first place when Dara comes back in holding two cups. They both have pulpy orange juice in it. Not exactly the type of drink I was expecting from a Dark Angel, but okay.

       "Lee Chaerin, SIT DOWN!" Dara yells, exasperated. And with her freakishly stern tone, Chaerin immediately plops onto the couch. She watches as Dara sets the two cups on the table, and then she lets her eyes wander around this unfamiliar place. She looks at the light green walls, the green window curtains, the green picture frames, the small stickers and drawings and posters of cartoon frogs everywhere, and then she realizes that...

       "Everything is green," Chaerin states before she can stop herself. Dara chuckles a little as she leans back on her own chair and props her feet on the table, taking a small sip of her orange juice.

       "Bommie is obsessed with the color green. Especially green frogs. She always says her husband is going to be a frog," Dara explains matter-of-factly, wiggling her toes, which are covered with Kiiroitori socks. Suddenly, pops open.

       "Oops, I forgot about my wings," she tells Chaerin as she sits up again, scooting forward on her chair to give her wings more room to expand. Chaerin watches with horrified eyes because she didn't prepare herself to see her ing black wings so early in their messed up relationship. She unconsciously scoots more onto the couch and away from everything as Dara's wings begin to push through her shirt and show themselves, presumably through two holes on the back of the shirt.

       Chaerin holds her breath. She sees the wings of a Dark Angel for the first time since her mother's death.

       And they're beautiful.