Chapter 7:

“Is that all you’re going to eat?” Jiyong asked, as he pointed toward Dara’s salad.

“I had a big breakfast, and I’ve got that flight… I don’t want an upset stomach,” she explained. The two were at a cozy café style restaurant, and because it was still early there were not that many people around. They ate for a few minutes comfortably. Dara was the first to broach the subject that was on both their minds.

“What should we do about this engagement our grandfathers want?” she asked, her eyes on Jiyong. As he thought of her question he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful her eyes were, dark chocolate in color, framed by long dark lashes. She wore no makeup other than a touch of lip gloss. He cleared his throat, forcing himself to focus.

“My grandfather’s quite taken with you,” he confessed. He didn’t know if it was the innocence in her eyes as she looked at him or the knowledge that they were both caught in this situation, but he found it easy to speak openly with her. “And I haven’t exactly been the exemplary grandson, more like the rebellious black sheep.”

Dara saw what looked like regret cloak him, and she felt the need to reach out to him. “It’s not too late to change,” she said quietly.

He met her gaze, searching for sarcasm but seeing only a gentle smile offered sincerely. Jiyong smiled back at her. “That’s easier said than done.”

“Why?”

He paused, debating how honest he should be with her. There was something about the way she was looking at him, guileless and innocent, that made him decide to trust her with the truth. “I don’t have the talent or desire to take on the role my grandfather wants. I’m sure that if I tried, really tried, I’d probably be able to do the job adequately. But just the thought of spending my life doing that, being CEO… It’s just not me. It fills me with dread. And now he wants me to marry you? I can barely get my own life together, I don’t want to ruin your life as well.”

Dara expelled her breath slowly. They really were quite a pair. He had what she wanted most, the opportunity to work and do what she loved, while she had the freedom he wanted. Her heart reached out in sympathy to him, understanding the familiar feeling of being trapped in a destiny you didn’t want. At least she had a better chance of obtaining her dream, but for him she wasn’t so sure.

“Why don’t we take some time to think about it?” she offered, and he raised his eyes to look at her. “They want us to get married after I graduate, which doesn’t give us much time. I can talk to my grandfather and ask that he give us time to get to know one another. That should buy us some time to come up with a proper plan.”

He smiled at her, and found himself thinking that he wouldn’t mind having her as a friend. He had a dozen close friends but perhaps it was because Dara was a stranger of sorts to his life that he found it easier to talk candidly with her. “I’d like that,” he said honestly.

“Great!” She beamed at him, and he felt himself grinning back at her.

**

“You can just drop me off there,” Dara said, pointing to the curb. But Jiyong instead pulled into the lane leading to the car park. She looked at him curiously.

“You still have some time before your flight and I’m not doing anything. I’ll come inside and wait with you.”

Dara shrugged. “Okay.”

He really wasn’t a bad guy she thought, especially when he wasn’t teasing or purposely trying to get her all worked up. Her phone rang and she looked at the caller ID before smiling and answering.

“Bae Bae!”

“Yeah, I’m at the airport right now.”

“Don’t worry about it Bae baby. I know you’re busy today. I’m glad we at least got to spend time together last night…”

“Okay, no worries… thank you. I love you too. I'll call you, okay? Bye.”

She ended her call and looked over at Jiyong, who was staring straight ahead. “Sorry, that was my friend Dong, Youngbae. We went to school together, not sure if you know him.”

Jiyong shook his head. “I don’t think I do.” He glanced over at her. “Is he a special friend?”

Dara’s eyes widened. “You mean like a boyfriend? Hahaha, no… We’re just really good friends. Bae would roll over laughing if he heard you. Actually, he had a good laugh last night at my expense when I told him about us.”

The corners of Jiyong’s mouth quirked up in a smile. He liked the sound of her referring to the two of them as ‘us’. “I’ll have to meet him.” And Dara shook her head.

“Not anytime soon if I have any say in it. Having one of you teasing me is bad enough. I can’t imagine if the two of you were to gang up on me.” She shuddered, and beside her Jiyong laughed. He parked the car and got out to go around to help her out but she was already getting out on her own. He took her hand, a natural move for him that he didn’t even think twice about, but it caught Dara by surprise.

Jiyong stopped and looked back at her, wondering why she wasn’t moving. Dara looked down at their hands and then back up at him.

“Oh.” He chuckled self-consciously, but didn’t let go. “Sorry, force of habit.”

Dara raised her brow at him. Really? Did he really want to remind her that he was a total playboy?

“Now don’t go thinking like that,” he pouted, reading the look in her eyes correctly. And she couldn’t help but lighten up at the little boy look he was giving her. “Besides we’re engaged aren’t we? And we agreed to try and get to know each other.”

“Jiyong,” Dara said, concern in her eyes. She wanted to warn him that they shouldn’t get too comfortable with each other, after all, they were planning to break their betrothal. The extra time was just a way for them to find how best to get their grandfathers to agree to end their engagement. But she stopped when he squeezed her hand and gave her a look.

“I don’t mean anything by it,” he assured her. “Let’s just take things one step at a time. I’m certain that super-smart brain of yours will come up with a solution to this situation,” he grinned, and Dara rolled her eyes as she allowed him to pull her after him.

**

A/N:  A short update before heading off to work. Thank you everyone for reading and your comments. Have a grea day everyone!