The Year is 2012 and Dara is 26 years old

“Here you go, Auntie. Uncle.” Dara handed Mr. and Mrs. Kwon a cup of coffee each. Down the hallway Jiyong was talking with the head nurse. He had his lab coat on as he was still working, but he had come up when he got a call from Dara and then his mom that Dami had gone into labor.

Dara settled down into the seat next to Jiyong’s mom and waited with them. After a few minutes Jiyong came over and sat down next to Dara. He automatically reached for her hand even as he spoke to his parents. “She's dilated to 6 cm,” he told them. "So I guess we still have some time to wait."

His mom thanked him for the update and inquired if he’d had something to eat.

“Not yet,” he answered. Like usual he’d gotten caught up in his research and hadn’t noticed the time. He looked now at Dara, his gaze warm. “Come with me?”

Dara nodded, and the two excused themselves after Dara first asked his parents if she could bring them back anything.

“No dear, we’re fine. We ate before we came. You two go… and make sure he eats.” Mrs. Kwon said, and gave Jiyong a warning look.

Mrs. Kwon smiled and nudged her husband as Jiyong and Dara walked away. They’d barely gone two feet and Jiyong was reaching for Dara’s hand. “Those two have gotten even closer lately,” she said to her husband. “Mark my words, there will be wedding bells this year for sure for our families.”

Mr. Kwon made a soft noise. He’d been surprised when he first found out about the two, but like his wife and daughter, they were happy to see Jiyong and Dara together. Dara was practically like a member of the family already. She was a good girl, her family were close friends of theirs, and he knew she would make a good wife for Jiyong.

Jiyong made a detour on the way to the cafeteria. He pulled Dara into an empty cubicle and shut the door.

“Jiyong!” The rest of what Dara was about to say was lost as his mouth covered hers. Dara surrendered to him. He’d been working long hours as he tried to finish the project he was working on. She also had been busy with work and had recently come back from a four day business trip down to Shanghai.

When he finished kissing her Jiyong held her in his arms and pressed his lips to her hair. “I can’t do this anymore, Dee. I know we said we would wait until I finished my residency but I don’t want to wait any longer baby. Being apart from you is more of a distraction then anything. I want you by my side always. I want to know that when I go home at night you’ll be there waiting for me. When I wake in the morning I want to see you there next to me. I need you, Dara. I love you. Let’s get married now, okay?”

She melted at his declaration. Truth was she felt the same way. On her recent trip to Shanghai she missed him like crazy. Drawing back a little she looked into Jiyong’s eyes and smiled. “Let’s do that then,” she answered softly.

They made the announcement to their families that weekend, deciding to wait until after Dami and Younghwa brought their beautiful baby boy home from the hospital. A tear escaped from Dami’s eyes when she heard the news ands she hugged Dara. “You’re finally going to be my sister,” she cheered, which made Dara laugh and hug her back.

Sanghyun had a similar reaction as he teased Jiyong. “So you’ve finally won my noona’s heart. Congratulations hyung.” He’d known from when he and Jiyong were still young - about 8 years old -- that his friend had a crush on his older sister. Back then he had thought it gross that Jiyong could like his noona! But as Sanghyun grew older and eventually saw his sister dating different guys, Sanghyun began to see and feel like none of those other guys were as good to Dara as Jiyong was. The two (Dara and Jiyong) had their own lives after a while, his Dara noona moving on to college and then starting a career while Jiyong began dating other girls and grew up himself. But at Dami noona’s wedding Sanghyun had not failed to see the rekindled look in his best friend’s eyes as he looked at Dara. But even more surprisingly Sanghyun had seen his sister’s reaction to Jiyong – and somehow he knew that maybe, just maybe, his Dara noona was finally seeing his friend Jiyong as a man and not little ‘Jiyongie’.

“You know I’ve loved her for a long time,” Jiyong admitted, as they both looked at their two older sisters talking across the room. “She’s the one for me, Sanghyun-ah. I promise I’ll look out for her always and cherish and love her as she deserves.”

“I know you will,” Sanghyun replied, placing his arm around Jiyong’s shoulder. “But just so you know, hyung, if you ever make her cry, I’ll beat the out of you.”  Jiyong gave him a sidelong glance, and the two burst into laughter.

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