The ride home was quiet. Seunghyun asked if Dara was okay but he didn’t get an answer. She kept staring out the window as she drove. When they were at home, she went to her room and quietly closed the door. The house was so quiet that from Seunghyun’s room he could hear her pressing the buttons on her button to call someone. He heard her leave multiple messages because it seemed like Youngkwang wasn’t picking up her calls. She apologized multiple times and told him that what he saw wasn’t the whole story. After a while Dara gave up and the house was quiet again.

Seunghyun knocked on her door and opened it to see Dara on her feet pacing the room.

“Dara, are you hungry? We should eat.”

“I’m not really hungry right now. You should eat though.” Her voice was quiet and he could see how hard she was trying to make it seem as if she was fine.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m actually gonna go take a walk. I’ll be back later.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Dara smiled at him because she appreciated how sweet he was being.

“No, I just want to be alone to clear my head. Don’t worry I’ll be fine.” With that she walked out of the room and left.

Seunghyun couldn’t help but worry for her and had to try his best to not call her. He didn’t want to invade her privacy. He knew how important being alone was sometimes and trusted her to keep herself safe. Then suddenly, he heard a ringing in the house. He knew it wasn’t his phone because it was in his hand. Seunghyun walked over to check Dara’s room and saw her phone on her bed. Someone was calling, and when he walked closer he could see a picture of Youngkwang hugging Dara on the display. He didn’t know if he should pick up but after a few rings, Seunghyun picked up.

“Hello…” The other side of the call went silent.

“Of course, you would pick up. Where’s Dara?” Seunghyun was regretting his actions, if anything he would probably make things worse and Dara would hate him.

“Dara went out for a while and she left her phone at home.”

“You two live together? Wait of course you do, you’re married.” The word coming from Youngkwang made it seem almost dirty.

“With all due respect, you don’t know the whole story so I’d like it if you check your tone.”

“Did you know your wife was cheating on you? How can you be so calm?”

“Dara is not my wife.” Seunghyun had to keep himself in check so he wouldn’t say anything that would hurt Dara’s relationship with Youngkwang.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“The situation we’re in right now, has forced us to be together.”

“What situation forces two people to be married?”

Seunghyun then took a deep breath and began to explain the whole story from the beginning to him. Youngkwang would try to interrupt from time to time but Seunghyun used his CEO voice to demand his attention.

“That makes no sense, how can something like that even exist?”

“We asked the same question. The man that was with us today was Dara’s lawyer, he knows about our situation and was only joking when he called us a married couple.”

“We had no choice but to live together for the time being. There is nothing between us, we're only friends.”

“Yeah, right.”

“If you don’t believe me that’s fine, but Dara’s your girlfriend you should believe her. She really likes you, both you and I know that.”

“She should have told me this from the beginning.”

“I know she should have, but like I said she really likes you and probably didn’t know how you were going to react if you knew.” Youngkwang was quiet now.

“You need to apologize to her.” Seunghyun’s voice was serious.

“Excuse me? I was the one who was lied to and I have to apologize? Are you crazy?”

“You called her a cheater. I don’t know if you know but that’s the last thing Dara could ever do to someone, so apologize. I’m not saying Dara doesn’t have to apologize either but you’re also at fault.” There was silence again, Youngkwang knew Seunghyun was right.

“There’s one thing I don’t get.”

“What?”

“Why do you care so much? Why are you taking the time to explain everything to me?”

“Because she’s a friend, and someone I care a lot about.”

“Just a friend?”

“Yes. Just a friend. I’m done explaining so I’ll hang up now. I’ll tell Dara you called when she comes back.”

“Alright.”

Seunghyun sighed in relief because the conversation went better than he expected but he was still worried about Dara. It’s been a couple hours since she left and she didn’t take her phone with her. He tried to distract himself with work, and after another hour he heard the front door opening. Seunghyun walked out to see Dara in the kitchen putting some things away.

“You’re back.” He was so relieved to see her safe.

“Yeah, sorry I know I was gone for a while.”

“I was worried, you didn’t even take your phone.” He walked to the kitchen and started helping her put things away.

“Yeah I only realized that when I was already outside.”

“Where’d you go?” They stood side by side as they worked.

“First I just walked around, and then I got hungry so I grabbed something to eat. Then I went grocery shopping.”

“Of course.” She let out a small laugh and he was glad to see that she was feeling a little bit better.

“Hey don’t judge. If I didn’t go grocery shopping, you wouldn’t have gotten your gift.” She was walking towards the fridge now.

“Gift?”

“Yep,” she had a small smile as she reached inside the freezer and  took out a tub of chocolate chip ice cream.

“You got me ice cream? Why?” She walked towards the counter to take out two spoons, and handed him one.

“Because I said I would get you ice cream for coming with me to the mall.” He took the spoon from her and opened the tub of ice cream.

“Thank you.” He couldn’t believe the girl in front of him. Despite everything that happened with her today she still took the time to make him happy. When Dara looked up, she had ice cream in and some slightly on the corner of . With a smile he reached over to wipe the ice cream off with his thumb as he said “You’re amazing, you know that?” She responded with a little wink. Their laughter quieted down after a while and they were still standing there in their kitchen eating chocolate chip ice cream.

“Youngkwang called while you were gone…” She didn’t respond, but only nodded her head.

“I picked up… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. What did he say?”

“He was angry so I told him everything.”

“You did? Why?”

“I know you probably wanted to tell him but I just ended up telling him.”

“What’d he say?”

“He didn’t believe it at first but I think he does now. Right now I think he’s just mad that you didn’t tell him from the beginning.” Dara lowered her head as she ran her hand over her face. Seunghyun heard her sniffle and then start to speak.

“I wanted to tell him, I knew I should have even before we started dating but I was too scared. Every day I would think about it and tell myself I’d tell him tomorrow but I couldn’t. What if he broke up with me because of it?” She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. This was the first time seeing Dara this close to crying.

“You still had to tell him at some point.”

“I know. When he was talking to you did he sound really angry? Do you think he’ll break up with me?” Dara’s voice broke at the last question and Seunghyun couldn’t stop himself. He took a step closer to her and wrapped her arms around her. This was the first time Seunghyun himself was initiating the action but he knew she needed the reassurance.

“He’s not going to break up with you Dara, you’re too amazing. And if he does, then he’s crazy. Trust me you two will be fine.” Dara, initially a little surprised by the hug, now fully welcomed it. She was grateful for Seunghyun. She wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her face on his chest. The warmth she felt when he held her hand was now multiplied as she was in his embrace.

“Alright enough of this sap fest, let’s eat some more ice cream.” He held her at arm’s length and as if asking her if she would be okay with his eyes, she nodded in response. The two moved to the living room where they sat next to each other with the tub in the middle while they surfed the channels to find something to watch.

“You’re not going to call him back?”

“A little later. I need to take a break from this sap fest like you called it.” They looked at each other with smiles on their faces and went back to their show. They watched TV for another hour when Dara’s phone began to ring again. As she got up to answer it, Seunghyun called out “good luck!”

Dara was in her room now, with the doors closed. She could hear Seunghyun increase the volume on the TV as a way of saying he wouldn’t eavesdrop. Even from the smallest actions, it was evident how much of a good person Seunghyun was. She took a deep breath before answering “Hello…”

“It’s me… your boyfriend.” He was still mad.

“I know.”

“Oh do you?”

“Youngkwang, please. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I know I should’ve told you everything from the beginning but I was scared that you wouldn’t want to be with someone that had all this baggage. I really like you and I really want to be with you. I’ll do anything to make you forgive me.”

“Anything?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, tell me you love me.”

“What?”

“What? You don’t love me? Fine then I’ll g-” Dara cut him off before he can go.

“Wait wait!”

“Yes?”

“That’s all you want?”

“Well you have to mean it.”

“You’re not mad anymore?”

“I was, but then I talked to that Seunghyun guy and I realized I should’ve listened to you before going overboard.”

“You didn’t go overboard. It makes sense why you were mad.”

“I shouldn’t have called you a cheater Dara, I’m sorry. I know now that you wouldn’t do that to me.” Dara’s eyes teared at his apology.

“It’s okay I forgive you.”

“Really? Thank you… but I am waiting to hear something.”

“Oh yeah… um I love you.” On the other side Youngkwang was rolling around in joy.

“What’s that? I didn’t hear you. The connection must be bad. Say it again.” Dara rolled her eyes at his words but couldn’t help but smile.

“I love you!” She let out a small laugh afterwards. Outside her room Seunghyun stopped in his tracks. He was heading towards his room when he heard Dara. He didn’t know why but hearing those three words, being directed towards someone else, made Seunghyun feel as if someone stopped his air supply. His heart was beating faster and he couldn’t move in his spot. Hearing her laugh usually made him feel better but this laugh, only made his heart feel a little heavy. 

****Double update!! Only because i felt bad :) Hope you enjoyed both chapters, the ending is a little :x Thank you for reading, i really appreciate it.