Dara closed her eyes as she felt the warm wind against her face, the roof of Donghae’s car rolled down as they they trekked along the sidehill on their way to The Majestic, one of the most lavish private resorts the family owned, to celebrate Donghae’s grandparents’ wedding anniversary. Dara had woken up by an insistent ringing on her phone that morning and she cursed at Donghae for waking her up at 6. He had reasoned that they need to be early but Dara could tell from his voice that he did it just to irritate her given the way he was snorting right after he hung up the call.

What an .

He picked her up at close to 11 and she made him confirm that Siwon is okay with her skipping off work. He then called Siwon on the spot and passed the phone to her. Dara had no other choice but to talk to her CEO all the while piercing Donghae with a deathly glare. Yes, Donghae had already called him, Siwon had said sounding resigned. And he had permitted Dara to have her vacation leave for three days. Dara had ptorested that three days is too much but Donghae took the phone back and hang the phone up after telling Siwon they gotta go.

He is the most exasperating human Dara had ever enountered!

But as Dara felt the warmth of the sun touching her face and the wind blowing her hair as the car drove by, her stressed shoulders gradually begun to relax and she was glad she had agreed to go with this trip. Even if Donghae had coerced her into going. Darn. She’s got another one to thank Donghae for. Will the list ever end?

She stole a glance at Donghae at the corner of her eye who was focused in his driving, his hair fluttering in the wind.  How far will he go just to win the girl of his dreams? He had made it clear from the start that he was only doing the deal for Yoona so he could’ve just invited Yoona in celebrating his grandparent’s anniversary. He could’ve just laid out reasons why she couln’t go instead and it’s not like she’s gong to ruin that chance for him. Although she would be tempted to but after everything he had done for her family, she doesn’t think she would be that ungrateful. Is he really going to stick with the deal like what they had agreed on? Is he really going to act broken hearted when she dumped him so Yoona would be there to rescue him from wallowing in misery?

The thought left a sour taste in . Well, she won’t be there to witness that anyway. Once the deal is over, she’ll just find another job or move somewhere else. Or just take a small job in Busan so she would be closer to her mom. One thing she is sure of is that once Donghae and Yoona started getting it on together, she doesn’t want to be there to see it.

Donghae the left and Dara could make out the front entrance with the word The Majestic in fancy letters. One of the security guard opened the gate and they drove through shrubbery paths. Dara could see a wide landscape of greenery csattered with clump of trees in all sizes. Marble benches are sporadically but stylishly positioned on the grass and Dara could make out a group of boys playing ball. One of them in a snapback stopped when they saw them passing by and he waved enthusiastically. Dara remembered him as Jackson. One of Donghae’s cousins who seems to be always high on sugar. She awkwardly returned his wave. Donghae turned and parked his car near a white mini van. Dara could see a number of cars parked and she wondered how many guests does Donghae’s grandmother have.  She asked Donghae that as they stepped out, adjusting her knee length short.

“There are no guests,” Donghae said putting his sunglasses up his head and putting his car keys on the pocket behind his walking shorts,

Dara looked at the cars parked and she asked Donghae incredulously, “And these are your relatives?”

“Yup,” Donghae said. “I don’t know if these are all of them but I think some of them couldn’t make it.” He took their bags from the trunk. “We’re a big family.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Dara mused as she fell into step beside Donghae who started to walk towards the wide open door. She could hear faint yellings and splashes from afar.

They went inside the spacious room and Dara could see from the window that there’s already a group of teenagers already playing in the water slide. She paused as she looked out the window, slightly opening as her eyes flit from one group to another.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Dara looked up. Donghae is already ascending the stairs and was just waiting for her. She followed him go up. “Chaerin is really the only girl in your family?” She asked in disbelief. All she had seen so far are all boys.

“Yup. Except for our mothers, and the new generations, of course. We’ve got three little girls from my older cousins but they're just 2 to 3 years old.”

Donghae opened one of the mahogany doors and walked in, opening the light and putting her bag on top of the table. Dara was awed as she walked over to the balcony overlooking the wide sea. It’s so beautiful. She turned to Donghae to tell him that when she noticed that there are two single beds in the room. Her eyes were round as it fixed its gaze on the beds before lifting them up to meet Donghae’s.

“You’re not—you’re not thinking of sleeping in here too, do you?”

Donghae rewarded her with a lazy grin while he crossed his arms and leaned on the wall. “What if I am?”

Dara could only meet his lazy gaze, her eyes gradually narrowing as his smirk became more pronounced. She was about to protest but her snarkiness is too deeply ingrained in her that she returned Donghae's smirk with one of her own before walking slowly over to him. Donghae just watched her go to him before his smile gradually faded when Dara chose to stand as close to him as possible. She lifted her hands and trailed her fingers from Donghae's chest to his shoulders, her smirk turning into, what she hoped, a seductive smile as she watched Donghae's adam's apple bob up and down as he looked down at her.

Then she grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled it roughly towards her so that Donghae's face is at level with her.

"Just make sure you stay on your side of the bed unless you want to meet a plastic surgeon tomorrow to reconstruct your face," she said with gritted teeth, her eyes blazing, before letting him go by pushing him. Does he honestly think she would turn tail and run? She won't lose on this battle of wills.

Donghae felt all the air rushing out at him as his back felt the wall he was leaning earlier. He couldn't speak for a minute as Dara's touch on the skin of his neck had made him feel like he'd gone crazy for that second. He watched Dara strode to where he put her bag and took it then saw him looking like he was zonked out.

"What?" Dara said before putting the bag  on the bed near the balcony. She proceeded to open the bag when she glanced at Donghae still looking catatonic, his face turning into a slight shade of red. Her brows furrowed wondering what was up with him. She snapped her fingers and the sound probably shook him off his stupor. "Zoning out already?" She shook her head as Donghae blinked before clearing his throat.

"I thought you said you don't have any problems with physical contact?" Donghae said hating that his voice sounds hoarse before realizing that was a wrong thing to say. Isn't it already obvious that Dara really doesn't have problems with physical contact at all?

"I don't," Dara said simply. "Why do you think i love hitting people?"

"Aish," Donghae said already feeling his senses going back. "You should've clarified that you meant you don't have problems getting physically violent." He straightened up from leaning on the wall feeling like he needs to get outta here. "And you didn't have to worry. I don't plan to be in the same room with a war freak tomboy. If you can remember, you were the one who stole a kiss from me. So if there's anyone who should be wary around here, it's me."

Dara rolled her eyes "I was merely proving a point. It's not like i kissed you for real."

"A kiss is still a kiss," Donghae said, irritated that Dara had just disregarded that kiss she stole from him.

"I didn't even consider that a kiss," Dara wryly said.

Now Donghae was offended. "You—I didn't consider that as a kiss either! It was completely so forgetful, i can only remember it as... as... as bitten by a mosquito or... a bee!"

Dara just glowered at him before she took note of his red face and remembering the look on his face when she went all over him earlier. went wide open. "Are you... Is that... Is that your first kiss?"

Donghae felt his mouth fell open as her sudden question and he let out a breath in disbelief, words deserting him.

"Are you still a ?" Dara asked with narrowed eyes looking Donghae up and down.

"What?!" He couldn't take this anymore. He glared at Dara. "Ya! Stop saying things you don't know!"

"So… you're no longer a then?" Dara asked innocently and Donghae felt like his chest is going to heave by the way Dara is asking him if he's still a ! Which normal girl is gonna ask that to a guy, for god’s sake!

"N--no!" Donghae stuttered. "I mean, yes! I mean... Aish!"

"Is that why you're blushing?" Dara asked again cocking her head slightly to one side.

Okay that's it! He's outta here. "You—" He let out a laugh to cover his embarrassment of being embarassed but it came out sounding like he was being strangled. He gritted his teeth and glowered at Dara, lookig at him with her big innocent eyes. "Chaerin is sharing the room with you. She requested that you two share the room together. And I don’t plan to be in the same room with a war freak tomboy. I'm going to my room now, far away from you!"  He turned and quickly left the room, shuttig the door behind him.

Dara's straight face collapsed and she plopped down on the bed holding her stomach while she laughed. That was fun. She would not forget the look on Donghae's face like he was choking on something. It was priceless! Seriously, why are the boys in this family so easy to rattle?

After an hour, Donghae picked her up from the room to go greet his grandmother. They found her sitting on a spanish styled antique chair in the lawn talking to the mothers and a couple of the fathers. There was one brief awkward moment when they saw that one of the fathers present is Donghae’s looking clean but thinner without all the coats he had worn everytime he visits Donghae. They all fell silent except Donghae’s grandmother who doesn’t seem to notice that things had got a little bit awkward. Or maybe she just chose to ignore it. Donghae met his father’s gaze and he lifted the corners of his mouth in a small smile.

“Hi Dad,” he said which everyone gawked at. Even Dara. His mother covered looking like she wanted to cry and Donghae rolled his eyes at her dramatics. His father’s smile went a little wider at his greeting but before Donghae could steer Dara off to the party now where his cousins are having fun, his grandmother pulled Dara to her side and introduced her to the other parents who didn’t know her. They all greeted her warmly and when his grandmother announced that she was his girlfriend, the glint in their eyes made him take Dara’s hand to take her off to the pool now and get away from their relentless questions about how they meet and all that stuff. Why do they always love to ask that in every relationship?

They went over to the long table with rows of food but Dara was looking at the tunnel water slide which drops down to the wave pool. Most of the people swimming on it, playing ball, and some other different games aer mostly boys. She spotted Chaerin who was waving at her from the other side of the pool looking so chic with her one piece bathing suit. She waved back and turned to see Donghae who was picking of food from a tray.

“Your family’s pretty easygoing,” Dara said. “Aren’t your parents or… grandmother, you know, appalled that you have brought a peasant girl like me to this event?”

Donghae frowned at her as he chew. “What do you mean?”

“You know,” Dara said. “You guys are rich… and I’m just… I mean, I know we are actually not dating in real life but… them accepting their son gong out with an heiress-turned-beggar….”

Donghae snorted. “You’re watching too many dramas.”

Dara picked a fried shrimp and chomped on it. “It just seems a lot more logical than all these… perkiness ad this whole… acceptance-ready attitude around your family.”

“I can’t believe you even had to wonder that,” Donghae said. “My father is a fisherman when he met my mom. My grandfather opposed that, our family broke apart… You could see why my mother is letting us date whoever we want because she never had that freedom. She understands how it feels. And my grandmother… she came from a poor family. My grandfather was too but he earned his fortune through his hard work. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t want my mom to marry someone less wealthier than him. He doesn’t want my mom to go through what he did. But hey, who knows? I’m just glad I was born in this family.”

Dara could just look at Donghae feeling like an idiot for making him out as a conceited  .

“Hey Dara!” Chaerin was running over to them with a towel wrapped around her shoulders and she was already drenched. She took hold of Dara’s hand. “C’mon and take a swim with me. It’s so exasperating to swim with a bunch of idiots!” She pulled Dara before she could protest. Donghae just watched them as Chaerin led Dara by the pool and suddenly pushed her without warning with the latter screaming murder. He snorted and he turned and saw his cousins, Taecyeon, walking over to him wearing only a tank top to show off his muscular build.

“Hey,” he greeted handing him a beer. “Who’re you with? Is that your girlfriend Ive been hearing a lot lately?”

Donghae didn’t answer and he just chuckled. “Grandmother is taking on the role of gossip girl lately? What about you? Is she still hounding you?”

“Yeah, but his focus is Yoochun at the moment. He had been hiding from her since he got here.”

They both chuckled and Taecyeon called Jaejoong when he saw him walking from the benches. He strode over to them.

“Hey,” Jaejoong greeted them picking a chopped fried chicken.

“When did you get here?” Donghae asked.

“Last night,” Jaejoong answered.

“Did you stay at Grandma’s?” Taecyeon said smirking.

“No, I stayed at the hotel,” Jaejoong said grinning.

“You should get yourself a girlfriend already so grandma would stop assaulting you,” Taecyeon said. “Look at Donghae here. Why don’t get some tips from him on how to get a girl to introdue grandma to?”

Jaejoong just chuckled and Donghae drank his beer, suddenly feeling alert.

“Isn’t there a girl in Hongkong you could be interested in? They’re all pretty right? Maybe you could introdue me to one of her friends,” Taecyeon continued jokingly. “Oh right! Grandma told me you already met a girl you want. What happened to that anyway?”

Jaejoong just smiled. “She’s in an….” his glanced at Donghae who was looking at him with a frown on his face. “arrangement…” he returned his gaze to Taecyeon. “with someone.”

“Oh right,” Taecyeon said nodding. “Grandma did mention that. If it’s true or not, that seems to be a great tactic.” He slapped Jaejoong’s shoulder. “She laid off setting you up on blind dates. Maybe I need to tell her I met someone too.” Then his eyes caught something nd he grinned. “Hey! Yoochun!” He laughed before walking over to where he saw his cousin lurking leaving Jaejoong and Donghae beside the table of food. Donghae was standing straight, his shoulders tensed while Jaejoong put a clam in his mouth and chewed, looking relaxed.

“You know, I’m beginning to think you’re insulting me,” Donghae said unsmilingly.

“What makes you think that?” Jaejoong said looking surprised.

“I’m not an idiot. You telling to my face you wanted my girlfriend and then ‘now you’re telling grandma and Taec?”

Jaejoong’s surprised look turned into comprehension.

“I’ve been trying to ignore it but this is too much,” Donghae continued. “Are you really serious? What happened to family, huh? Aren’t there any chinese girls you could date instead of looking at my girlfriend? What about girls in this country? We are going out. She’s my girlfriend. Why did you have to pick—“

“I know about the bet,” Jaejoong interrupted.

Donghae stopped. “What?” Then a horrible thought occurred in his mind. Did Dara told him? So that they could go out behind his back? “Did Da—“

“I saw the bet on Siwon’s desk,” Jaejoong said, now unsmiling as well. “I never would’ve imagined you could made a bet to play someone just so you could get Yoona. I was disappointed in you and your friends. Especially Siwon.”

Donghae clenched his jaw and Jaejoong continued, “But then I saw… a list of tasks on your glove compartment when Chaerin borrowed your car.”

Donghae closed his eyes in irritation as he remembered the list of tasks Dara had given her that first day of the deal and he had shoved it on his glove compartment. Dara did warned him of someone else getting a hold of it. He should’ve listened!

“She forced me to be her chauffeur that day and I saw ii and I finally understood. To win the bet you made, you need Dara’s cooperation. That was a pretty damn long list she made and I thought, that was a really smart move.” He smiled. “I’m not trying to antagonize you Donghae. I just want you to know my intentions once your whole… whatever arrangement you had with her… is over so you wouldn’t be caught off guard.”

Donghae was unable to speak as he gl