I can't go to our goddess' fanmeeting an April 2!!!! Arrrggghhh! It's frustrating me so bad!!! Sniff. Sniff. We still have to go on school on 1 and it's not like I can travel at night to go to Manila. Who among are you going? Please tell me that there are Royals who would be there. Sinchayo.

Shoebox ended. Sigh. One of the best stories here in AFF. I’ll sure miss riding the rollercoaster there. Well, I can always ride again and again, deh? B-but . . . sigh. T_T

The soft sound from the little waves crashing to the shore awakened him from his sweetest slumber that Donghae had after these years. The sun was about to shower the island with its warmth but the cold breeze from the night was still making him want to curl in the blue blanket. It was the only thing that was covering his , god-like physique. His hand reached for his woman beside him.

But he touched no one.

Donghae squinted his eyes and looked to his left where he watched her fell asleep last night.

Last night . . .

Last night was perfect. He hadn’t seen it coming but it did. They were united with their burning love for each other.

Last night was beyond perfect.

So, why does the morning after seemed different?

“Dara?” His voice faded with the breeze from the clear and crystal blue ocean. He used his left hand to sit up and looked around. “Dara?” His calls were being eaten by the waves. Donghae took his black brief and shorts near his feet and wore it. He immediately stood up and circled, hoping he would see her. 

That feeling of your heartbeat going faster . . . he could hear it from his own heart. But that wasn’t the kind of beat that one was expecting when you are in love. There was no butterfly in his stomach. He wasn’t breathless for he could feel that he was not breathing at all. The isolation wherever he looked was making him feel something that he was never ready. Panicked. Terrified.

“Dara!” He shouted at nowhere. Maybe she already went inside. With that, he ran for his life. He ran to their rented house and he flung the entrance door opened. “Dara!”

If the coast was isolated, the house was even more silent.

He rushed to the living room. “Dara!” No one. His legs made him ran to the bedroom. The thread of hope that Donghae was holding onto was severed on its very middle. It wasn’t that the room was emptied but the bags were nowhere to be found as well. The only clothes remained on bed were the ones that he remembered wearing when Heechul drugged him in their dorm. Hers? Gone too.

His eyes were blank as he felt his knees gave and made him sat on the edge of the bed. Why? The panic and fears turned to something he thought he wouldn’t be feeling anymore. Pain. He just bowed his head to the floor as tears were slowly gathering in his eyes. “What did I do wrong?” He whispered in sorrow.

“Well, you haven’t bathed. The boat will be fetching us at 7. You got like 34 minutes to prepare.”

That voice!

Donghae snapped his head to his front.

Dara.

She was already wearing her tattered jeans, gray hoodie, on the go rubber shoes and a yellow beanie. She put back an apron on the chair. “Come on. What are you waiti-”

Dara almost fell flat on the floor when Donghae just charged at her and pulled her for a very tight embrace. He buried his face to her neck as he pulled her even closer. “Dara!” And he whined so loud early in the morning.

She was having a difficulty in breathing with the way he was caging her. “Wae?”

“Where are our bags?!”

What the. “It’s outside the house. I already finished packing them neatly so it wouldn’t be hassle later on. Did you not see them?”

“Where did you go?!” His face still buried, not wanting to look at her for he felt that if he did, his tears would really burst out.

Dara looked from her left to right. “I went at the back of the house. I was looking for a huge trashcan. Wae?”

“Why are you looking for a trashcan?!” He whined louder.

“Yah. Why on Earth do you keep on shouting at me?” Dara made a ‘tsk’ sound as she tried to pull away from him but he just wouldn’t budge.

Donghae shook his head furiously on her neck. That tickled her for a bit. “Aniyo. Aniyo. Mianhe. I’m not shouting at you.” He mumbled on her neck and lowered his voice. “It’s just . . . just . . .”

“Just?” She waited.

“You scared me.”

That made Dara cupped his face and forced him to look at her. She was taken aback when she saw the tears formed in his fishy eyes. He was pouting like 5 year-old kid that he was. Donghae looked like a kid who was just informed that the Santa Claus and tooth fairies did not exist. “Why are you crying?” Her small hands still on his cheeks.

“You scared me.” He repeated with his whining tone.

“Wae?”

Donghae’s whining expression turned to a serious one. He inhaled for air as he admitted. “I thought you left.”

Dara just watched him before answering. “I did.” And gave him a soft peck on the lips that made Donghae’s heart leaped and the crease on his forehead eased. “But only for 30 minutes.” She threw her arms around his nape and made them both swayed. Chest to chest. Nose to nose. 

“I didn’t want to leave you there but I really wanted to surprise you by making a healthy breakfast but . . .” Dara glanced at the kitchen and smiled playfully. That was the only time Donghae noticed that the kitchen table was in a mess. Flour. Olive oil. Vanilla. Milk. Mangosteen. Guava. Carrots. Chicken legs. Broccoli. Apple vinegar. Eggs. And crushed graham crackers. Plus, a burnt odor was lingering on the air. He looked back at Dara confusingly which she just awkwardly chuckled. “I . . . well, I . . .” She smiled again and scratched the back of her head. “I kept on looking outside the window to see if you’re awake. You know, you being awake already would mean that my effort to surprise you would just go straight to the garbage can. So, I . . . Well, I . . . think I stared at you for a long time from afar.” She hesitantly admitted. “And uhm, everything just got burnt. I went outside to give it to the stray dogs I found but,” She grinned again with that awkward look. “They didn’t eat it too and ran away.”

Donghae just looked at her as if another head sprung on her. 

“I just figured to just order some take out and just cuddle beside you for a while but you were gone already and I went back here to see you.”

“Oh.” Good thing, he managed to say. “I s-see. I understand.” He nodded at her. “W-what are you cooking?”

Dara narrowed her eyes at him. “Can’t you guess?” They both swayed from side to side. Still, not pulling away from each other.

Donghae glanced at the table again. Honestly, he couldn’t think. A soup with a chicken dish? But he knew her too well. One wrong answer. An answer that would offend her cooking skill would definitely reward him a 500 feet away from her rule. “A healthy breakfast?” The safest answer he could come up.

She just laughed while nodding. “Deh! I was almost finished cooking it. Really. What a waste.” Dara shook her head, suddenly feeling pissed but then smiled back. “I was making you a healthy Maldives pancake.” She proudly announced.

Donghae nodded and waited for her to enumerate. But she didn’t. “And?” He asked.

“What do you mean by ‘and?’

“Pancakes and?” There’s a lot of stuff on the table.

“Just pancakes.”

Donghae’s smile froze as he looked back at the table. What in the freaking world are the vinegar, chicken leg, olive oil and crushed grahams for? His thought before nodding back at Dara. Well, he missed this Dara. He would gladly eat anything, as in anything, that she would cook for him. “Make me another one when we get back to Seoul.” He kissed her lightly on the nose.

“Deh!” She told him happily. “Hae. 29 minutes.” She reminded him of the time but then crossed her brows when she saw that very playful smirk on his face. That’s dangerous. She thought. “Yah. What are you thinking?”

Instead of answering, Donghae made her turn her back on him as he backhugged her so tight. His chin on her shoulders. Her morning scent was definitely luring her into her world. “Don’t you think it’s too unfair for him? We did it on the beach. On top of the island’s famous white sand but completely neglected him.”

“Him?” Dara narrowed her eyes as she looked to her left.

Donghae pursed his left forward and she followed it with her eyes.

Their bed.

“28 minutes.” She tried to push his face. Dara was blushing furiously and she couldn’t stop it.

“So?”

“Hae ah.” But he was very persistent that he began walking there while pushing her while caging her in his arms and giving butterfly kisses on her smooth nape. “Hae.” Dara bit her lower lip to stop herself from releasing a moan. Her yellow beanie fell down on the floor as they both fell on the bed. Him on top of her. “Yah. You’re heavy.” She laughed and hit him on the shoulders lightly.

“Mianhe.” He laughed with her and tucked the strands of hair to her back ear. 

Dara had no idea how much it had scare him to think that she really left him. That after everything that happened last night . . . he would still come to lose her. But then he thanked the God above. She accepted him back in her life. He is hers. She is his.

Right?

The loving look on his face as he gazed at her beauty was replaced with an apprehensive stare. 

“W-wae?” Dara couldn’t help but ask.

It took a few seconds for Donghae to reply. “Y-you . . . what are you?”

.         .         .         .         .         .

“Huh?”

Donghae shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Ani. I mean,” Paused. “What am I?”

.         .         .         .         .         .

“Huh?” She looked at him like he was a patient from a mental institute or something.

Donghae shut his eyes in irritation to himself. Why can’t I say it? “It’s . . . uhm . . . what are we?”

That she got. Dara did not answer and just gazed at his brown orbs. They really came from an angel. He must be an angel. Oh well. He sure is. 

Noticing her confused state, he decided to go straight to it. “Are you my girlfriend? Will you be my girlfriend?” He looked at her with so much hope. “Again?”

“No.”

His mouth dropped and froze right there and then.

“I’m a woman who let you ate and pounded me on the beach. In public and under the moonlight. Woke up early in the morning after sleeping so late to cook your breakfast. And still let you straddle me on top of this bed. Oh no. I’m definitely not your girlfriend.”

The sarcasm in her voice must have not reached his comprehension for Donghae remained fr