“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Dara muttered in disbelief as she found Donghae yet again standing outside her apartment that morning. He was standing by his car, hands in pocket and was smiling at her wanly. Dara exhaled in an irritated breath while glaring at him and decided to just ignore him. She had woken up feeling good, congratulating herself on a job well done last night especially when she was narrating what happened at the restaurant to Suzy, with the latter laughing at Dara’s audacity to plot her perfect revenge. Suzy had then asked on what she will do with the rest of Donghae’s friends, with Choi Siwon as their CEO and all but Dara just shrugged and said she will put everything behind her because Donghae already paid the price of her vengeance for all of them.

Now, her morning sunshine is being clouded over by ominous clouds at the sight of Donghae standing there like nothing happened. She stepped down the stairs and walked past him but it seems like Donghae is adamant in ruining her day.

“Dara, can we talk?” Donghae asked while walking into step beside her.

“No,” Dara answered without a moment’s pause.

“Please. This’ll just take a moment. You just need to hear me out,” Donghae pleaded but Dara continued walking, not faltering in her stride. Donghae stepped in front of her and walked backwards as he continued, “Please just one minute. One minute.” He held up his index finger to emphasize that one minute he was asking but Dara just kept walking and hoping he would trip over something. “I know I’ve been a jerk,” Donghae went on and Dara scoffed. “A total . And I can’t blame you for being mad at me.”

“Oh, you think I’m mad?” Dara asked sarcastically. “What gave you that idea?”

“If you would just listen to me for a second, I swear I won’t bother you anymore after this.”

Dara just kept on walking until they reached the bus stop and she had to cross her arms over her chest as she waited for the bus. Damn that bus, always taking so long. Now Donghae would have the chance to prattle on eventhough she made it clear she’s not going to listen. Donghae stepped in front of her and repeated, “Just hear me out. I swear I’ll leave you alone.” He put his hands together in sort of a praying position. Dara shot him a deadly glare while tapping her foot and Donghae took that as a sign of acquiese.

“You know I think in some ways, I already knew that you knew about the bet,” Donghae started. “Maybe I was just too—“

“Stupid?”

“Dense,” Donghae corrected. “Or maybe I just wanted to… you know… deny that you already knew about the bet. Or maybe I was just too reckless or too caught up in winning that…” His voice trailed off while he ponder on the complexities of his cluelessness

“If you really think I’m going to listen to your busll for more than a minute, you’re a lot more stupid than I originally thought,” Dara said. “If you wanna say what you wanted to say for more than a minute, you better talk fast because time is ticking.”

“Okay, okay,” Donghae said taking a deep breah. “I’m here to offer you a deal.”

Dara scoffed. “No, I don’t want your deals. Oh look at that.” She looked at her wristwatch. “One minute’s up. Bye bye.”

“Hear me out first, okay. This deal will be all in your favor,” Donghae said in hurry as he saw the bus coming from afar.

“Not interested,” Dara said as she too saw the bus and already took a step to get on it once it stopped.

“I’m giving you a chance to make a fool of me on this deal,” Donghae said.

“Just in case the events of the last couple of days slipped your mind, I think I’ve already done that,” Dara said wryly.

“Yes, but this time, it’ll be for as long as you want!” Then Donghae thought about what he said. “Or… for as long as this deal lasts, anyway.” The bus is already getting near and Donghae hurried on. “You can make me your slave! At your beck and call. You can do whatever you want with me! I know how upset you must’ve been and… and… those things you did to me? I know it was not enough for… for… the uh… rage… you must’ve felt when you found out about the bet so… I am giving you a chance to exact your full revenge. Not only with me but my friends too. You know, those jerks who have signed the bet as well. And… just thought you should know, it wasn’t my idea. This bet wasn’t my idea. I was a victim too but I know I was an for agreeing to this that’s why I’m offering you this deal!”

But it seems like Dara is not listening to him as the bus neared. Dongahe took her shoulders and forcefully made her face him. Dara looks like she’s going to beat him bloody at the look in her eyes. “Make me do anything you want, whenever, wherever.” Then he added as an afterthought just in case Dara demanded him to kill himself. “Within boundaries, of course.”

Dara tried to shrug off Donghae’s hands from her shoulders but Donghae insisted a lot more firmly this time. “Make me your own personal slave.” His eyes bored into hers. “I. Deserve. It.”

Dara’s eyes narrowed in suspicion at Donghae’s ardent declaration. She heard the bus stop and she glanced at it as the door opens. She shot Donghae another glare before swatting off Donghae’s hands on her shouders and stepping into the bus. She heard Donghae yell as the door closed, “Think about it! Call me!”

“When hell freezes over,” Dara muttered as plopped down on the seat.

Hell does freeze over as she sat in the building’s cafeteria eating lunch thinking about the ridiculous offer Donghae had gave her that morning. Suzy was shipped to an off site location with the other trainees and two of their senior scriptwriters while Mr. Kraz ordered her to stay and do some editing of the script for next week’s program. She was fuming before Mei told her she had done a good job with yesterday’s script and it was Mr. Kraz’ way of trusting her on editing scripts.  It took a moment before her fury subsided and later on realized she’d rather sit behind a desk than go out and bask in on Mr. Kraz’s gruff attitude. She was already finished even before lunch and she strode over to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. As it happens, she was alone in her thoughts with nothing much to keep her brain occupied and it always drift over to what Donghae had offered her earlier.

Make me your slave.

At your beck and call.

I am giving you a chance to exact your full revenge.

I. Deserve. It.

Now that she think about it, it does sound pretty tempting. Lee Donghae, the rich, arrongant, chauvinistic, egotistical, business tycoon, at her mercy. Doing the most stupidest thing she will ask to make him look like an utter fool. She gave a little snort as she imagined all the most unimaginable things he wouldn’t even think of that she can ask him to do. Like clothing himself in women’s attire when he goes to his office, or borrowing his car to total it and he’s not allowed to be mad at her or ask for any damage compensation, or asking him to announce to his family that he’s gay. That would be a laugh.

The question now is, why did he offer that? What would he get from it? Because it’s definitely not because of chivalry. Or contrition because she doesn’t believe Donghae would ever have it in him to feel sorry for anything. There is a hidden agenda on this.

And it’s killing her not knowing.

She looked at her watch while tapping her chin thoughtfully. She took out her phone. Only one way to find out.

Let’s talk. Meet me at the café at the groud floor of CSW at 1.

She sent Donghae the text message then continued eating her bowl of rice. How symbolic. That was where the bet was created and where Donghae had made his first move on her. Now she’s going to make hers.

Dara saw Donghae was already inside the café and she sniggered. It was already 3 in the afternoon and she ignored all of Donghae’s calls and text messages telling her he was already there. If he wanted to make this deal with her, then he’d better be used to it because this is just the start.

She went it and sat down across from him. Donghae had his brows furrowed.

“You said one,” Donghae said sounding annoyed.

“Yeah, I did,” Dara answered without offering an explanation on why she came 2 hours late. She saw Donghae already finished his coffee.

Donghae just let out his breath though his nose seeing that Dara is not going to say anything else. “Have you thought about what I’m offering?”

“Can you get me a slice of cake?:” Dara said. “I’m kinda craving for sweets today.”

Donghae just sighed before standing up and going over to the counter to buy her a cake. Minutes later, she was scarfing on the chocolate cake while Donghae impatiently drummed his fingers on the table waiting for her to finish, as she had instructed him. When the last icing was wiped off from the plate, Dara asked Donghae to get her a glass of water which the latter grudgingly followed.

“Now can we talk?” Donghae asked after Dara put the empty glass on the table.

“Sure,” Dara said. “How about why you offered that in the first place?”

Donghae blinked several times and Dara narrowed her eyes as she knew it would be an answer of an obvious lie she will get. “I just want to make amends,” Donghae asnwered.  “And, you know, I’ve been a total a—“

“Cut it. I’m an expert liar so I can spot a lousy one,” Dara interjected. “Don’t tell me you are offering  yourself to be my slave,” she made air quotes. “just because you want to make amends because honestly, you don’t strike me as a person to offer yourself as a sign of penitence nor do I think you have guilt in your vocabulary so let’s not waste each other time. Say it to my face and cut those flowery bull.”

“Alright, alright,” Donghae said. “You didn’t have to insult me.” He leaned forward resting his arms on the table. “Okay. I still want to win the bet.”

Dara pierced him with a glare. “You are such a self-serving .”

“Hear me out, okay?” Donghae said. “Look, I’m not a total like what you think. Maybe a little, yes, but not totally. I know what we did is beyond the power of forgiveness of all female species but… you know us in high school. We do things at random. We do things because it’s fun. We even run for the student council just for the heck of it. Maybe you don’t recognize me but you know Kibum. Yesung… Siwon… or maybe not Siown. But you know they’re uncontrollable. That sums all of us. We do things before we even think. This bet… this is one of those things. We do not mean for anyone to be hurt in the process.”

“Really? You’re giving me that reason?” Dara said. “You guys played me. If I hadn’t found out about the bet, I would look like a total fool. You tried to make your playboy moves on me, and it was really pathetic by the way, but if I had fell for that, what then? If it had been some other girl who really wanted to be with you and date you, what then? You break up with her after two weeks using your lines like It was not you it’s me, this is not working out, you’ll find someone who deserves you better?” Dara vented. “You don’t mean to hurt anyone? Anyone would be offended by it. Lucky for you I wasn’t offended. Too bad because I was enraged.”

“Dara, that’s what I’m saying. We don’t think. We never think. We only consider things as fun and we don’t consider the consequences. We live by the moment, never really looking beyond the day,” Donghae explained. “We are jerks. I am a jerk. And I’m really sorry.” He looked imploringly at Dara who was looking at him furiously. “I am not trying to bull you. You wanted me to be honest? This is as honest as I can get. I never should’ve done this. I never should’ve agreed— which I really did but they overpowered me by the way— but what’s done is done. And all I can do is apologize. And tell you honestly, that I still wanted to win the bet.” Dara didn’t speak so Donghae went on. “I have a lot to lose.” He took something out of his pocket and smoothed out the crumpled paper on the table with the bet written on it. “Not just the money, the car… my dignity and pride is in here too.” Dara scoffed but Donghae continued. “I know I don’t deserve your help but I’m asking for it anyway. And in return, we can make a deal of our own. The guys do not know you already knew and I’ve got two more days until I lose.” Then he looked at Dara pleadingly. “Or until I win. My life, at this moment, depends on you. So I’m offering myself at your mercy. Appealing to your compassionate heart. Help me with this and I wlll do anything for you.”

“For starters, you might want to shut up. You are such a drama queen,” Dara said. “Your lines are making me shudder.” She slid the bet-paper towards her. Honest to god, she is starting to think about it. No, she shouldn’t. She already decided to sever whatever sort of ties she had with Donghae and the rest of his friends last night. She had even considered looking for a new job far away from them.

But it’s an opportunity too good to pass up. Revenge given to her in a platter, all ready for her taking.

She looked at Donghae’s beseeching face. “How long are you talking about here if I agree to this?”

Donghae could feel Dara coming closer to agreeing with him. “Uh… one week?”

Not a chance. “One month.”

“What? That’s too long!”

“You’re right. Let’s make it longer. Two months.”

“Oh c’mon!” Donghae protested.

“Still not good? Let’s make it three months then.”

Donghae just heaved a heavy breath keeping his mouth shut, his lips thinning, nostrils flaring while Dara looked pointedly at him expecting him to make another round of protests. She realized this must’ve been so important to him that she could make it a year and he would still agree unwillingly.

Oooh, this should be fun.

“So, explain to me how you wish to win your stupid bet?” Dara asked.

Donghae sighed first probably thinking he can still argue with that three months duration a little later after all the important information has been given.

“Okay, here’s my only term,” Donghae began. “I just want you to confess to me in front of the guys, like what the bet says. Not how you love Eunhyuk or… anyone from them. Just tell them you love me, you like, you want to date me