Today I will post Chapter 9 - 14 !

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enjoy!!!!

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Dara

I push Taeyang inside. “Stop it,” I whisper. We’re at the back of the store now, where nobody else can hear us.

“Why?” Taeyang asks. “You need a guy to stand in front of old people with you, and he needs something to do besides sit around and count his tattoos all day. It’s a perfect idea.”

“No, it’s not.”
 

My mom shimmies her way next to us and hugs Youngbae. “What’s up?”

“I can’t help Dara with her painting class on Friday, so she wants to ask Ji to take my place,” Taeyang says.

A big smile crosses my mom’s lips. “Oh, honey, that’s so nice of you to include him in your activities. You’re so special.” She squeezes me in a huge bear hug. “Isn’t my daughter the best?”

“Definitely, Mrs. Park. The best.” Youngbae is such a -up when it comes to my parents.

“Dara, when you and Taeyang are done here, take Jiyong home. He was with Seunghyun, but I think they had a disagreement or something. I’ll be leaving in about an hour, but I need to pick up Sanghyun from his friend’s house and your father is making dinner. Oh, and once you get home, you might want to supervise so there’s something edible for us.”

After my mom makes us tea, I find Ji outside drinking what I suspect is one of my mother’s special blends. He seems to like it, although I can’t be sure because his face is an emotionless mask.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Taeyang says, saluting me with his paper cup.

“What did you want to ask me?” Jiyong asks. He sounds annoyed. Will you dress up as a cowboy on Friday night and model in front of old people? “Nothing.” I just can’t get the words out.

My mom comes out to chat with customers. I watch as she makes conversation with each and every person as if she’s their personal friend. When she reaches our table, she leans down to make sure we’re drinking our tea.

“I see you liked it,” she says to Jiyong. My mom takes such pride in her tea blends that if she finds the right custom blend for a hard-to-please customer, it makes her feel like she’s won the lottery. “I understand Dara wants to ask you to be a model for her on Friday at The Seouk Highlands. It should be fun.”

Jiyong gives me a what the hell is she talkin’ about? look.

“Want more tea?” my mom asks him.
 

“No, thanks.”
 

“Dara can drive you home. Right, sweetie?”
 

“Yeah. Let’s go,” I say before my mother says anything more. When we reach my car, Jiyong tries to pull on the passenger-door handle.

“You have to climb through the window,” I tell him.

“You’re kiddin’ me, right?”
 

I shake my head. “I’m not kidding.” That’s my next project, after I fix the clock and radio.” Jiyong climbs in the car with ease, his feet entering first before his whole body slides into the vinyl bucket seat. I wish the radio or old tape player worked, because I think Jiyong is getting anxious after five minutes of me driving in silence. He shifts in the seat. “What’s this modelin’ thing about?”

“It’s modeling for a nursing-home painting class on Friday night. You don’t have to do it. I wasn’t even going to ask you.”

“Why not?” We’re at a stop sign, so I turn to him and say the truth. “Because you’d be posing with me, and I knew you wouldn’t agree to do it.”

Jiyong

I get it. She wouldn’t want to pose with a guy who’d get busted for drugs. “I can bring Sohee,” I tell her in the cocky tone I know grates on her nerves. “She’d pose with me. On second thought, she invited me to her house Friday night, so I can’t make your little paintin’ party.”

“I don’t know what you see in her.”

“A lot more than I see in you,” I lie to push her away. Truth is, I don’t see anything in Sohee. I’ve been trying to avoid the girl since she puked at her party, but since she’s on my list of people who might have framed me, I’ve got to get closer to her. Dara doesn’t need to know that. Hell, Dara shouldn’t know I’ve been thinkin’ about her and her cookies way more than I ever should