When another ordinary day ended, Dara walked home with Jaejoong. Jaejoong is now working as the librarian’s assistant. He insisted to help Dara with her living expenses even though she refused. He just told her that it’s exactly the purpose why they came with Dara to the city.

When they arrived home, Dara saw an unfamiliar Bentley Mansory parking silently in front of their house.

“Do you know who owns that?” Jaejoong asked her.

Dara just shook her head.

Suddenly the door on the driver’s side opened and someone stepped out.

“Jiyong!” she gasped.

“Wow! You own that car?!” Jaejoong gasped then walked towards the car then examined the car very closely. “Wow, this car looks so shiny. I haven’t seen one like this so close. I don’t see a car like this on our province.”

Jiyong chuckled then turned to Dara.

“Do you mind if I take you somewhere?” he asked.

The drive was silent. The sky was already dark outside. It was really a long travel. Dara’s heart was beating fast. She was nervous AND excited. When the road got steeper, Jiyong grabbed a handkerchief and ordered Dara to cover her eyes with it. Hesitantly, Dara followed. Now, her heart is beating twice as it did a while ago. After a few minutes, she felt the car stopped. She heard Jiyong got down from the car and gently closed the door. She hasn’t heard any orders from him and so, she sat still. After a few running footsteps, she felt his presence to her right and he gently opened the door for her. With this, she assumed that she’s now supposed to get down too. She stepped out with one foot first. Because she’s blindfolded and because she doesn’t know where to step on or where to go, she felt her legs trembling.

Jiyong noticed this. He grabbed Dara’s hand and helped her get out of the car. Dara’s hand gripped tighter on his hand as if asking for his support. He wrapped his arm around his shoulder and supported Dara to get out and walked to a viewing platform. He let go of her.

“Can I look now?” Dara asked.

Jiyong didn’t answer. Instead, he was the one who removed the blindfold from her eyes. Dara gaped as soon as she was able to see.

“Welcome to Seoul City Lights,” Jiyong said.

“It’s…” Dara started but can’t find the right word to describe the view just in front of her. A smile was already glued on her face.

“I’m glad you like it,” he mumbled.

“Are you kidding?” she said, facing him, still smiling. “I love it here!”

Jiyong’s eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting that she would like it here. Well, at least, not this much.

“Do you come here often?” she asked but was still looking at the beautiful lights.

Jiyong nodded. “I usually come here when I wanted to be alone,” he said, then continued. “This is my secret place.”

Dara faced him again. But he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was staring intently at the city lights that caused them to be reflected in his eyes. She can’t look away now.

Jiyong felt the weight of his stare so he looked at her too, with a smile on his lips.

“If this is your secret place so you could be alone, why did you bring me here then?” Dara asked.

“Same reason as mine. I want to see you smile,” he said then looked away.

She looked away too, a deep blush on her face and a sweet smile on her lips.

Another day without her friends. Again, no Bom, no Jiyong, no Taeyang, no Chaerin, and absolutely no Seunghyun. She hasn’t heard of him lately. They were sitting next to each other every day but yesterday, he seemed to be ignoring her. And today, he’s absent… again. She doesn’t have the nerve to talk to him now. But she wanted to apologize.

She was walking away from the school so she would go home straight and rest. At the school gate, she saw Seunghyun leaning against a BMW and was smirking at her.

“Seunghyun…” she whispered.

He opened the passenger’s seat at the front seat. “Let’s go?”

“To where?” Dara asked, curiously. Isn’t he mad?

“Let’s camp,” Seunghyun plainly said as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. He grabbed her wrist and let her get in his car.

When Seunghyun was settled on the driver’s seat, Dara asked, “Where are you bringing me?”

“Somewhere.”

“But I’m not ready with my things.”

Seunghyun pointed behind him where a couple of bags were sitting on the back seat. “I’ve prepared everything you need.”

Dara nodded. “Are you mad at me?”

“Why would I be?” he asked.

So she stopped asking. At least he’s not mad.

It was a long drive. It was around 5 pm when the road started getting rocky. Then they eventually stopped. Dara got down and looked around her.

“We’re at…” she trailed off.

“Yes, we are,” Seunghyun said, grabbing the bags. “Let’s go. We still have to hike before it gets dark.”

The sun has already set and a few stars started appearing on the sky when they arrived at the place. Dara can’t help smiling at the memories she had when she was still a kid at this place with her complete family. She looked at the person beside her who was also taking in the pleasure of the place. She was also with him when they came here before. She’s glad that she was able to come back with him again. She wanted to come back to this place but she never remembered the directions because she was still a kid then.

They set up the place. They built a fire for the both of them. Although it’s summer, the night is still cold. They had their sleeping bags neatly lying on the ground beside each other.

“You know, I wanted to come back here,” Dara said.

“Why didn’t you?” Seunghyun asked.

“This place brings so many memories that even just remembering them hurts me. Besides, I can’t remember the directions so well. So, how did you find this place?”

“Well, it took me all day, you know. That’s why I was absent today at class.”

Dara smiled at his effort.

“This place didn’t change much, right?” Dara said, amused.

Seunghyun nodded.

They were staring at the sky while wrapped around their sleeping bags.

“I missed this,” Dara mumbled.

“Me too,” Seunghyun agreed.

“I never noticed how much I missed you until you came back,” Dara said, still staring at the sky.

Seunghyun stared at her.

“I haven’t told you this yet, Seunghyun,” Dara started and stared at him too. “Thanks for coming back for me.”

“You’re welcome,” Seunghyun said.

Dara returned her eyes to the sky. Seunghyun didn’t look away from her face. Later, her eyes began to drop.

“Seunghyun,” she mumbled while her eyes were already closed. “Thanks for making me happy like this,” she rolled to her right so that she was facing Seunghyun. “Thank you,” she repeated and she was already sleeping.

Seunghyun tucked the hair that was covering her face behind her ear. “You’re welcome Ssantokki,” he got up and leaned to kiss her forehead. “Good night, my angel.”

Dara rolled to her side and felt the space beside her. She remembered that there was someone sleeping beside her but now she’s just feeling the cold sleeping bag beside her. She opened her eyes and saw the empty sleeping bag. She got up and rubbed her sleepy eyes. She scanned the place. The sun hasn’t risen yet but she can see the faint rays from the east. She heard a few roosters starting to wake the people up.

Without hesitation, she headed to the east. She walked through the woods until she found who she was looking for. He was standing with his back facing her. He was wearing a jacket because it was cold. Dara hasn’t notice it until then. She rubbed her arms. She felt goose bumps. But even though she felt cold, she tried to forget it and just stared at the tall figure standing by the lake and watching while the sun’s rays are peeking through the lake. She quietly walked towards him and joined him.

“This is my first time watching the sun rise,” he said.

“I’m glad that I’ll be watching it with you,” she whispered.

Seunghyun wrapped his arm around her shoulder and let her lean on him. “It’s cold,” he just said.

Dara smiled as the sun rays reflected on his face.

They decided to go back to their camping site when the sun has fully risen. While walking, Dara noticed that Seunghyun stopped on his tracks. She turned to face him. He was looking up at a tree. She joined him.

“I can’t believe that you used to climb this tree before,” Seunghyun said.

Dara chuckled and walked around the tree to inspect the trunk looking for something.

“Omo!” she gasped.

“What?!” Seunghyun asked, panicking and running to the other side of the tree where Dara was beaming on something on the trunk.

“It’s still here!” Dara said, excitedly.

Seunghyun saw what she was talking about. He never mentioned to her before what he wrote here eight years ago. He was surprised why she knew about it. He felt his face heat up.

“You knew about this?” Seunghyun asked.

“Of course,” Dara said, still smiling.

Seunghyun cleared his throat as if embarrassed.

“I’m glad that it’s still here,” she said. “Even though this tree grew old, what was written still lasted for eight years.”

She touched the carvings and remembered the time when she came here to check on what Seunghyun was hiding before when they were still kids. Somehow, she felt happy that it’s still here.

“The same as my feelings for you,” he mumbled.

“What?” Dara asked and turned to him. She hasn’t heard anything as she was busy reminiscing those memories.

“Nothing,” he said. “Let’s go and eat breakfast then let’s go home.”

The next day, Dara was about to leave to go to school when she heard three different voices talking downstairs. She recognized all three of them so she hurriedly ran downstairs.

“Good morning, Dara,” the three of them greeted in chorus as if it’s scripted.

“What are you, guys, doing here?” Dara asked.

Suddenly, Jaejoong came out of the kitchen carrying four cups of coffee on a tray.

“Oh, good morning, Dara,” Jaejoong greeted. “I let Jiyong, Seunghyun, and Taeyang come in because they were waiting outside for an hour already.”

“You were?!” asked Dara with a hint of surprise.

Taeyang nodded.

“Why?!” Dara continued to ask.

“Well, we wanted to walk to school with you,” Seunghyun answered.

“Why do you want to do that? You, three, have your own vehicle. Why choose walking with me?!”

“Aish! Just sit and have breakfast, then let’s go to school,” Jiyong said impatiently.

Suddenly, Dara giggled. It amused her how Jiyong got impatient with all her interrogations.