This has gotta be the worst thing that will ever be included in my life history, Donghae mused morosely as he drummed his fingers on the table top as he waited for Dara. Since Dara decided to be psychotic again earlier today, he had steered clear from her and eventually forgetting about her during the course of his meetings with the staff, clients, picking the layouts for the ads. It was already close to 6 when he returned back to his unit and remembering that he’s got a bet to win. He grudginly sent a text message to Dara asking to meet before taking a shower. He saw Dara’s response after he put on his clothes.

He sighed for the tenth time while waiting for her. He could have just picked her up at her house but Dara said to meet here. And given that he really doesn’t want to drive all the way to her apartment again, he agreed. He’s beginning to get really tired of this whole thing. Maybe he should just call it quits and just give KiBum his villa and whatever his friends had asked in the terms instead of agonizing another grueling experience with a psycho. Before he could think further, he saw Dara entering the shop without a smile on her face. He stood up, smiling awkwardly.

“Hey,” Donghae greeted.

Dara just looked at him before sitting across from him poker faced. Donghae sat too.

“So? Why do you want to meet?” Dara asked dispersing any small talks.

“I just… want to talk to my girlfriend…” Donghae started and Dara rolled her eyes. “Listen, Dara,” Donghae continued. “I don’t know what made you mad at me. I don’t even know why you’re getting mad at all. I just…”

Dara crossed her arms, looking pointedly at Donghae with one of her eyebrow slightly raised. It unnerved Donghae but he still continued. “I just want to… have fun. Together. With you. And… you have got to tell me what’s wrong and I’ll try to make it right.” Years of using flowery words is now rolling of his tongue like an expert and he took advantage of it. “You are the most important thing to me and I’ll do anything for you.”

Dara’s eyebrow rose even higher. “Anything?” She asked after a moment.

“Yes,” Donghae said glad that he is now getting a response. He really needed to expedite this whole bet thing so it will be over. “Relationships are give and take. I’ll do everything for you and all I ever wanted is for you tell me how you feel in front of my friends.”

What a pathetic scheme, Dara thought as she gave him a wry smile. “Why do you want me to confess to you in front of your friends? Isn’t me telling you what I feel enough?” She could bull as much as he does. And more.

“I want them to know you’re mine,” Donghae said hoping he’s not laying it on too thick. “And I want them to know you’re serious. You haven’t really paid much attention to me in high school. You didn’t  even know me until that day at the café. Or maybe not even then. You know what they’re doing? They’re laughing at me saying you are not going to be serious with me and… this is my pride on the line. Once you tell them that… then… I can go on with my life.  All I wanted is to be with you but… everytime you get mad at me for every little thing, I feel like I am not enough. And then my friends… they’re just making it worse for me. I feel like, I won’t ever be enough for you and I wanted to have something which will tell me you are serious about me. About us. I want to give you everything. Anything. And all I’m asking is for you to tell them how you feel about me. That’s all I want.”

Dara stared at Donghae wishing she could just punch him by spewing all these pathetic lies that comes easily out of his mouth. Hell, she wanted to punch him in the mouth so all his teeth will fall out. But as it happens, she had something in mind. She sighed instead then looked at Donghae. Anything huh? “Come with me.” She stood up and Donghae followed looking puzzled. Dara shook her head as Donghae went to his car and he just followed her on the bus stop.

“Where are we going?” Donghae asked as the bus rolled to a stop.

Dara smiled sweetly. “In a place where I want you to be. Sharing a special moment with me.” She stepped inside the bus and Donghae followed wondering where’s she’s going to take him.

It took three bus rides before they stopped at a rickety building at probably the farthest part of the city. Donghae looked up at the peeling paint of the building before following Dara as she stepped through a rusty iron gate.

“This is where I used to go when I was young,” Dara said as they walked towards the main door.

“What is it?” Donghae asked as he could hear muffled voices inside.

Dara turned the knob and swung it open. “Boxing.”

They stepped inside the wide space, from the ring in the middle wherein two muscled, sweaty men are grappling with each other, one doing the jump rope, one practicing with the sandbag throwing punches in succession, a couple sparring on the corner.

“Dara?”

They both turned and saw a muscled guy probably in his fortys wearing a shirt and pants, holding a pair of blue gloves striding toward them. He looks like a foreigner with his blond hair but as he got closer, Donghae realized he is a foreigner.

“Sir Jason!” Dara greeted happily as she hugged him.

“Look at you! So grown up,” Jason said looking her up and down. “Last time I saw you, you are practically just a little kitty.”

“Well, kitty’s gotta be a cat sometime,” Dara said smiling. “This is Donghae. The one I told you about this morning?”

“Oh hey,” Jason said extending his hand to Donghae which he accepted.

“Oww,”  Donghae silently muttered as Jason gripped his hand like he’s going to crush it. He immediately pulled his hand back, massaging it.

“Sir Jason was my boxing teacher when I was in grade school,” Dara told Donghae. “My father enrolled me to his classes until my mom put her foot down and insisted I learned ballet. Ugh, the horrors.”

Jason laughed. “You were crying and kicking when your mom picked you up on your last day.”

“Well, I love hitting people and I hate to see it end,” Dara said jokingly. “Anyway, here’s Donghae.” She gave him a little push.

“Wait… what?” Donghae asked when Dara pushed him forward.

Dara pouted. “You said you’ll do anything for me? I want you to learn how to box. Like me. So we will be made for each other.”

Donghae was at a loss for a moment. “I know how to box.”

“Good, then show me.” She smiled radiantly.

“Don’t you have work tomorrow? It’s getting late.” Donghae asked when this Jason started to put the gloves in him.

“I’ll call in sick if need be,” Dara said.

“I have a meeting,” Donghae said as both of his hands are now in gloves.

“This won’t take long,” Dara said then she smiled at her former teacher. “Don’t go easy on him.”

“What?!” Donghae sputtered before Jason gave him the headgear. He then turned to the teacher. “Can you give me a moment, please?”

Jason just shrugged before going over to one of the rings to get his gear ready.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Donghae asked irritably as he held the head gear between his gloved hands.

“Playing,” Dara said smiling sweetly at him. “You said you’ll do anything for me and I want you to play with me. This is what I love to do. I want you to know what you’re going to get yourself into if you wanted to continue dating me.” She put her hand in his face, his cheek with her thumb. “I want to know the length of what you’ll do for me like what you said. I called my teacher earlier today so you could meet him but I realized how perfect it would be if you learned how to defend me if there are some bad people who wants to get me.” Then she gave a pained smile. “Are you backing out? Because we can call this over. Maybe we weren’t really meant for each other. If we’re not meant to be, then let’s end this right here, right now.”

Donghae had his mouth in a straight line then answered in resignation. “Okay, but you’ll box too.”

Dara shook her head. “I’m just going to watch you, baby. To see if you’re worth the person that I need to confess to in front of my friends and yours.” She gave him a wide smile.

Donghae stood there for a minute before exhaling in a heavy breath. He grudgingly put on his head gear and strode toward the ring where Dara’s teacher is waiting for him, already in his gloves. And without the head gear.

Dara had to bite her tongue from laughing as she sat on one of the tables to watch. The idea just came into her when she received Donghae’s text message asking to meet so he could apologize for anything he had done wrong. Getting her boxing teacher’s number wasn’t really hard and she had called him introducing herself as one of his students from way back. And her teacher remembered her as the scrawny stubborn kid. She then proceeded to tell him she had a boyfriend who wanted to learn boxing from a real teacher as he hadn’t had a chance to actually learn from any he had before.  The fact that he was born with a silver spoon on his mouth, none of the teachers attempted so much as to push him down the rug in fear of getting the family’s wrath down on them and he is the person who could help him immensely on the sport. Her teacher believed her and agreed to meet him and told her he will teach him everything he could. Dara added that Donghae already know the basics. What he need is the real practice fight.

And now here he is. All polished, clean. His shirt all perfectly tucked inside his ironed pants. About to get his kicked. She watched as Donghae awkwardly stepped up inside the ring with her teacher suddenly giving instructions and slamming both his gloves together before beckoning Donghae closer.

An hour later, Donghae laid facedown on the mat, all his musles screaming in pain, he could feel the sweat on his head streaming down on his face inside his headgear. He doesn’t want to get up. He just wants to lie down and for this teacher to leave him alone. But no. That was too much to ask. Jason the teacher bellowed his instructions for him to get up, make the right stance, face the opponent… he wanted to yell at him to shut up. Boxing has never been the type of sport he would be insterested in doing. He likes to watch boxing competition but participate in them? Hell no.

Two of the teachers’ assistant helped him up and Donghae grabbed hold of the rope for dear life as he breathed in for some air. He then caught sight of Dara seating beside some people who was watching their teacher beat the out of him. Eating ice popsicles.

Dara waved at him and then shrieked, “Fighting!”

He’s going to kill her!

“C’mon mate,”  Jason said. “Honestly, you weren’t taught the correct basics for boxing. You actually had nothing.”

What? He turned his body to face the teacher again.

“Come at me,” Jason said. “Put your hands in front of your face as you come at me. You don’t want your opponent to target any opening.”

Donghae could hear Dara catcalling from the back cheering him on but it only pissed him off. He was damn sweaty, he’s got a meeting he will probably missed, he’s getting beat up, and all she did was sit there and eat popsicles! His anger rose and it brought him new energy. He charged without thinking, driven by need to just land a hit on the teacher’s face. Just one hit. But as he ran, he tripped over his own feet and hopped a few times to stay standing trying to get anything to grip on for balance but Jason moved out of his way and he went straight towards the rope, falling down the side of the platform as his gloved hand couldn’t hold onto the rope for support. He could feel the pain in his tailbone as he laid down on the floor, staring at the white flourescent light overhead. Then Dara’s face appeared, blocking the light.

“Oh , are you okay?” She said concernedly.

The teacher squatted down from up the boxing ring. “I think your Donghae needs to take up boxing lessons from the beginning.”

Dara took off the headgear and pushed the hair off his sweaty face. “Donghae?”

“My hurts,” Donghae said in a half strangled tone.

Dara let out a little chuckle before helping him get up. Donghae muttered a curse as moving only made him focus on the pain more. She led him towards a bench and he sat gingerly. She felt sorry as she looked at him pained expression but then she had to bit her lip from holding laughter. The sight of him charging and tripping on his own feet, falling down the ring… she wished she had a video camera ready to capture the moment. As it was, she gave a little snort and Donghae narrowed her eyes at him. Dara looked at him with wide, innoncent eyes then proceeded in wiping off his sweat with a towel.

“Where did you get that?” Donghae asked he grabbed the towel off Dara’s hand. It stank.

But before Dara could answer, a stocky man with hair in a military cut took the towel off Donghae’s hand. “That’s mine,” he said menacingly. “Get your own towel.” He strode off using the towel to wipe sweat off his armpits. Donghae felt his mouth open then used his hands to wipe his face off the stink that the towel left on his skin.

Dara covered with her hand and tried not to laugh but it escaped anyway and Donghae glared at her.

“Sorry,” Dara said before bursting out laughing. It was too funnny to be held inside.

Donghae watched her laugh, still glaring but the corners of his mouth lifted. And pretty soon, he was laughing along with her.

“Stop,” Donghae said. “My already hurts enough as it is. Laughing is making it worse.”

“You should’ve seen the look on your face,” Dara said in between her laugh.

Jason walked over to them and threw a towel in Donghae’s direction which he caught with his hand. He wiped the sweat off his face and neck. His polo shirt is soaking wet as well as the tank top he wore underneath. He ed the polo shirt and shrugged it off him, leaving the tank top on, feeling relieved at the cool air in his skin. He didn’t notice Dara suddenly becoming silent while her eyes turned to the other side.

“You good?” Jason asked Donghae.

“No, I’m not,” Donghae answered.

Jason chuckled. “You’ll learn in time if you continue your lessons. You weren’t taught the proper way, that’s why it was difficult for you. Your teachers only made it harder for you.”

Donghae’s brow creased. “My teachers?”

“We gotta to go now,” Dara said suddenly jumping up and shaking Jason’s hand. “Thank you so much for your time, sir Jason. It means a lot to me that you are able to teach us. I’ll come back again when I have free time and visit you, okay?” She took Donghae by the elbow and tried to pull him up. “Let’s go, it’s getting late. We have to take the bus.”

Donghae let her pull him up and he nodded his thanks to the teacher before Dara practically ran towards the door.

“What’s the rush?” Donghae asked when they reached the gate. He had his damp polo shirt on one hand and his other hand is still using the towel to take off any sweat in his arms.

“It’s getting late,” Dara said turning to him then turning immediately back as she saw him stretched out his arms with the towel mopping his skin, his biceps in her face but didn’t stop her from noticing the width of his shoulders. Dara walked towards the bus stop while Donghae followed, his polo shirt now hanging on his shoulder. They waited for the bus in silence and Dara could feel the warmth of Donghae’s skin beside her. She stepped away from him not liking it one bit. Not liking that she even noticed.

“Can you put on your shirt?” She said crossly. “It won’t do us any good if you will parade in the city half .”

“Half ?” Donghae repeated. “I’m wearing a tank top. And if you didn’t notice, I would have a higher chance of pneumonia if I keep on wearing this.” He indicated the polo shirt on his shoulder. “I could’ve brought a shirt if I had known where we’re going.”

Dara only huffed at him, tapping her foot while waiting for the bus.

“Wait,” Donghae said. “Does my being half bother you?”

Dara only looked at him wryly, scowl on her face before turning her attention back to waiting. That one didn’t even merit an answer.

Donghae chuckled. “Is it distracting?”

The bus finally arrived and Dara looked at him before smiling like a maniac. “It is. And I might pounce on you anytime soon. So better watch your back.” She stepped inside the bus and Donghae followed, still wearing that smirk on his face. Donghae sat next to Dara who scooted as far away from him as possible, which is really difficult given the way that it was only a two seater. So Dara ended plastered by the window while Donghae sat comfortably in his seat, whistling while smirking at her. His bare arms is brushing on hers while riding and she stiffened by every touch, her teeth clenched. Unable to take it anymore, she pushed him off and he ended up sitting on the bus’ floor.

“Ow!” Donghae yowled as the pain in his doubled. The driver turned his head. “What’s happening there?”

“Nothing!”  Dara answered then hissed at Donghae. “Sit somewhere else! Your stink!”

Donghae ended up sitting on the row across from hers, his smirk now replaced by a scowl as his felt like it had been used as a punching bag.

When they reached the coffee shop where Donghae left his car, he asked Dara to have dinner. Not really caring about the bet for once. He just wanted to eat and it’s courtesy to ask your date to eat with you even if you didn’t want to.

“No,” Dara declined. “I’m going home.” She had enough playing for today. She just wanted to sleep.

Donghae smirked, unable to resist. “You afraid you won’t be able to resist this?” He motioned for his form and Dara narrowed her eyes at him. If Jason didn’t succeed in giving him a bloody black eye, she’s going to!

But then, where’s the fun in that? She put on a winning smile then stepped closer to Donghae, her hands trailing onto his collar bone to his shoulder. Then she gripped h