4/17/2015

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Part 9:

Dara stood in the east wing section of the museum, the area where several art pieces fromt he 18th century where displayed, including the restored paintings her team had worked on. She stood off to the side and bowed politely as guests and patrons came through, answering any questions they might have had about the paintings.

“You look beautiful,” Minho whispered, coming up from behind her.

“Go away,” Dara whispered back, pushing him slightly after making sure no one was watching.

“Not until you agree to go to dinner with me.”

“No.”

Minho smirked and circled around her, pretending to be studying the paintings. “And here I thought you’d be grateful for my staying to help out last night.”

“No one asked you to stay, you volunteered!” Dara stage whispered.

“I even bought everyone dinner,” he whispered back. Unexpectedly he reached over and tugged playfully on her hair.

Dara turned and slapped his hand as he laughed and jumped away. She scowled at him as Minho blew her a kiss and made his way to the next room. When he was out of sight Dara relaxed and smiled as she shook her head. Such a cuckoo guy, she thought.

Dara didn’t see Jiyong standing in the upper level looking down to where she was. He’d seen her playfulness with Lee Minho and it made him hate the guy even more. Jiyong made his way downstairs and into the section that Dara was at.

She saw him the moment he entered the section. Instead of coming to where she was, Jiyong circled slowly to the other side. He’d dressed in his best suit today and knew he looked good. For added measure he’d chosen to wear wire-framed glasses today instead of contacts.

Dara refrained from rolling her eyes when she saw him and the glasses he wore. So he’s trying to tempt me, is he?

He knew she preferred him with glasses. She loved that cold studious look it gave him when he wore glasses and it never failed to make her a little more hot for him. When they were in high school the glasses made him look a little nerdy. But as he grew and they entered college Dara found that the glasses now only helped to define his handsome features more.

Bastard! Two can play at that game, she thought. Just he wait until some cute guy walked into this area! She was so going to flirt with him and make Jiyong jealous, ha!

Dara remained rooted where she was, ignoring Jiyong as he purposely lingered longer than necessary at each display in that area. Dara rolled her eyes. Such a jerk! Why didn’t he just come over and talk to her if he wanted to. What other reason could he be there for if not to talk to her?

She continued to bow her head to guests as they continued to walk into the room. Suddenly Dara heard her name being called and she turned to see a tall handsome man walking towards her with a smile on his face.

“Ian!” Dara's face lit up as her friend, Dr Ian Mo approached her and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. He took both her hands in his.

“Hey beautiful,” he said, making Dara blush.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, smiling up at him.

“I read about the exhibit in the paper yesterday and decided to stop by today to see it. I was hoping I’d get a chance to see you as well.”

Dara signaled another member of her team to take her spot as she walked with Ian over to the side and spent several minutes talking to him. She’d completely forgotten about Jiyong who was currently glaring at her from the other side of the room. She had first met Ian Mo when she was interning here at the museum. She had helped him to choose a few paintings that were now hanging in his practice and they had become friends from then.

“I’ll let you get back to work,” Ian was saying to Dara after several minutes. He held her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s do lunch some time,” he told her, and Dara readily agreed.

“You promise?” he asked, grinning down at her.

“Promise,” Dara replied. “You have my number, right? Call me when you’re free!”

Ian Mo left while Dara waved and stared after him with a smile on her face. It was so nice to see him again.

She turned and jumped back in surprise when she came face to face with Jiyong’s burning gaze.

“J..jiyong!” she stuttered, her hand flying to her chest.

“Jiyong!” he mimicked, his eyes narrowing as he took a step closer. “You-are-so-dead,” he breathed.

*