[DARA]

  This is awkward level 2000.

  I glanced at the pair who were sitting opposite from me before quickly directing my eyes back on the table again, silently sipping on my coke. Beside me, Seunghyun sat rather disinterestedly, mindlessly fiddling with his food. Each of us had a plate of seafood mix in front of us because Her Royal Highness Princess Hani wanted that for dinner. I can't even eat it. One bite of that and they would have to rush me to the ER. (Emergency Room)

  The small stopover restaurant didn't have many patrons, which is good because I don't know if anyone else could stand the sight infront of me. Hani is still clinging onto one of Jiyong's arm as she ate happily, occasionally flashing me and Seunghyun a rather grudging glare like we're two air conditioners in a freezing winter. It's not really like we want to be here either to see a display of Miss Hani 24 styles of Aegyo and how she whines for Jiyong to feed her before he nonchalently pops a piece of food into . 

  Blagh, and judging from the looks that Seunghyun shot me, he'd probably rather not be here either. 

  "Why're you not eating?" Jiyong spoke suddenly. I looked up to see him staring straight at me.

  "I'm allergic to seafood." I replied.

  Or maybe I'm allergic to eating-with-a-lovey-dovey-couple-threatening-to-make-me-throw-up. Ha. Ha.

  Jiyong went back to his dinner without saying much. Fine. I'll just starve. 

  "Hey, do you want to grab something else instead next door?" Seunghyun asked. KYAA, the human sculpture is actually being thoughtful for me! What blessings did I accumulate in my last life???

  "She's fine." Jiyong answered before I could. Annoyed, I snapped my head towards him. EXCUSE YOU? My stomach is having a riot here!

  Silently, I slumped further into my seat and observed Jiyong and Hani in front of me. I hate to admit it, but they look gorgeous as a pair. Why does everyone that has ties to the Seoul Mafia looks so ultra-attractive? Is having good visuals part of their admission criteria?

  "If you're not eating, why don't you go home first?" Hani said in a high pitched voice. Ugh, this kid here is getting on my nerve. She looks only slightly older than Mino but she's acting like such a fussy baby. I squeezed her a perfectly fake smile before gazing out of the window. Look at that burger house outside. I can imagine the juicy meat with the warm bun already. SIGHH. 

  Dara and Seunghyun lingered a few steps behind Jiyong and Hani. Instead of heading straight home after dinner, Hani insisted that they around Insadong street, a long alleyway lined with both funky and oriental goods and items for sales. Dara tagged behind them at a snail's pace, her eyes trained on the back of the pair, lost in her own thoughts. For some reasons, she didn't like this trip at all and longed to get away from them. Something's making it hard for her to watch the pair.

  She was kicking pieces of loose gravel off the ground as she walk to entertain herself when Seunghyun pulled her to a side. She almost toppled over but Seunghyun managed to grab her shoulders from the side in time. She looked up to see a tiny roadside stall selling exquisite pieces of paintings. There were all kinds of them - Southeast Asian, traditional Korean, Japanese watercolour, and all sorts. Curiously, Dara looked up at Seunghyun to see his eyes glued to a particular, abstract piece of work at the far end corner.

  "Stunning, isn't it?" He whispered excitedly. "I wonder if that old man knows what he's selling."

  Dara tore her eyes away from his face and gazed over at the yellow work. Truthfully saying, the brush marks just looks like a bunch of doodles to her. It's arguably messy looking, even. But Seunghyun was awe-struck.

  "There's always these things that exist in places like these when they should be in museums." He said, turning to Dara with a small smile. It's funny and amazing at the same time. A mobster that appreciates art is rare anywhere.

  Dara's spirits lifted and slowly, she started to enjoy the trip as the both of them went from stalls to stalls to look at the kind of things sold here that're probably unavailable anywhere else. There were carved stone monkeys, baby chinese drums, and even a sweet maker that paints with honey before scraping the entire, solidified piece of work onto a stick to sell it. At the 8th stall, Seunghyun tried a wooden pen that ended up shooting red ink out from its rear to whoever that's using it, and both Dara and Seunghyun were stunned for a split second before they burst into uncontrollable laughter.

  Ahead of them, Jiyong turned around lazily, expecting to see Dara but instead finds her vanished. An unexplainable panic flooded him, making him withdraw his arm from Hani's cling as he looked around the tight street, his eyes wide and a little crazed, before he spotted his teammate and his PA a good 3 metres behind them, still doubling over. Instantly, an unreadable look masked his face.

  Dara finally straightened up before erupting into another fit of mad laugh at the smudged, red ink across Seunghyun's face.

  "I don't even know why I'm laughing. This is ruining my beauty." Seunghyun chortled. Still hiccoughing and almost tearing up, Dara shakily took out some tissue from her sling bag and wiped at Seunghyun's face shakily.

  They finally managed to move on and reach the waiting pair. Hani was tapping her feet impatiently at the two slow walkers that's obviously third-wheeling her date with her Jiyong oppa, whom she haven't seen in 3 years.

  "There's something red on your face." Jiyong commented dully to Seunghyun, his expression aloof and unreadable.

  "I knocked out some dudes back there. It's their blood." Seunghyun lied, much to Dara's sniggers. Jiyong's eyes flickered to the laughing girl, who quickly withheld herself.

  "Cool." was the Caporegime's only reply before he started to walk again. He lifted his arm from his side for Hani, who happily jumped onto it, snuggling her head into his shoulder.  The laughing spell in Dara was extinguished abruptly and replaced by a strange, dark heaviness.

  They look so good together.

  Hastily, she shook the unsettling feeling and the strange depressed feeling inside her, blaming it on her empty stomach.

[Dara]

  FINALLY WE ARE HEADING HOME.

  Jiyong dropped Seunghyun off first. Before he open the door to get off, I waved behind his back. But instead of getting out of the car, Seunghyun turned his neck around to me.

  "Hey, thanks for the day." He said in a deep voice before flashing me a small smirk. Good Lords. He looks so (in Bommie's words,) delicious!!! I need to start praying for my poor defenceless soul, hul hul. 

  My heart thumped furiously inside my chest and I could feel the strange heat on my face. GAHH. Why would a gorgeous man like Seunghyun THANK a mincemeat pie like me?

  I was still lost in my own world of hallucinatory sins when Hani started to protest against sending her back next.

  "Why don't you send HER back first?" She said, throwing her tantrums. UGH, why did I do to have to put up with this? This is beyond my job scope.

  "You live nearer from here, Hani." Jiyong exhaled tiredly, swerving the driving wheel with his eyes on the road.

  The Princess folded her arms across her chest and started to sulk. Great, Jiyong. I think you just made her hate me a thousand fold more.

  The Mercedes halted before a luxurious looking mansion - everything from the cubic design of the structure to the posh, well groomed yard showed that the building was obviously constructed from scratch. Whoa, these people are seriously loaded. 

  "But it's been 3 years since I last saw you, thats 36 months!" Hani pouted, sounding like she's on the verge of tears. Okay, looks like the waterworks are going to begin again. Now I feel a teeny bit of pity for her. She really does sound like she misses Jiyong a lot. Afterall, Seunghyun told me just now at Insadong that other than her older brother, this Hani didn't really have any other friends while she grows because, well, she's a spoilt brat, and also, because people were too afraid of her mafia brother. 

  "It's late, Hani." Jiyong sighes, "Get off." 

  With a small, defeated sniffle, Hani stepped out of the car. Jiyong honked the car horns and it didn't take long before the servants in the mansion started to run out to get the girl's suitcase from the bunk. Jiyong briefly rolled down his car window to instruct the servants when Hani flashed me a huge glare. What did I do now? Is it because I haven't said 'bye'?

  "Uhm, see ya." I said hesitantly to the Princess outside who has her arms folded across her chest indignantly.

  "I would rather not." She answered snobbishly, with her nose scrunched up.

  WOW, EXCUSE ME??? Unnie here is trying to be sociable?? I take back whatever compassion I have for that rude baby!!!

  We waited until Hani and her band of nannies attenders had went into the house safely. Silence ensured. Why aren't we moving? I'm famished. I want to go back home too. I'm sure Bom would be home anytime soon. 

  "Move up." Jiyong said suddenly. I blinked.

  "I'm fine here." I answered. I'm too lazy to move, actually.

  Jiyong turned his face around and narrowed his eyes, making me withdraw back into my seat as I stared back. 

  "Would you prefer to get into the front seat yourself or would you like me to carry you up again?" He said casually. Omo, why is he saying that as if I'm the one begging for him to pick me up in his arms all the time? It's always you who scoop me up without my permission!

  Scoffing, I got out of the backseat and settled beside him. Jiyong kept his face straight ahead but I saw a hint of smugness flash across his lips just before I closed the door of the front seat, where Hani was moments ago.

  We starting to drive in silence, both of us exhausted from a whole day of walking and shopping. I had my head leaned against the window and was almost dozing off when the unthinkable happened. A loud growl from the unspeakable depths of my stomach broke the silence. My eyes flew open just as my hands shot to my belly. OH MY GOD, I CAN FEEL MY FACE MELTING AWAY. What was that? It sounded like a monster lives in there!!

  "I didn't eat anything at all just now at the res-" I begin to defend myself in a panic, stuttering over my words. Almost as if he didn't hear me at all, Jiyong cut swiftly across me.

  "You like Seunghyun Hyung?" He asked in a quiet tone suddenly. 

  Huh? That was unexpected. Perculiarly, it didn't really sounded like a question. More like it was a statement that he wanted to confirm. Thank goodness that he didn't seem to have heard that humiliating gurgle. But what does that question means? Did I look stupid beside Seunghyun? I swear it's because of his good looks, anyone would be flustered!

  The traffic turned red and Jiyong tore his gaze from the road to me, waiting.

  "I- er- think Seunghyun is very attractive, but I don't think that's the kind of 'like' you're talking about." I admitted.

  Jiyong in his lower lips a little as he drew his head back, looking like he's trying hard to hold back something. The lights changed green again and he instead of driving straight into the street where Bom's apartment is, he made a U-Turn.

  "Where are you going?" I asked, sitting up straight.

  "To feed your glutton stomach." He smirked. "You gave the right answer."

  What right answer? Kwon Jiyong is such a complicated character. I don't understand him at all. One moment ago he's still an android and the next moment he's happy again. I quickly dropped Bom a text about having to be back late.

  To my very very pleasant surprise, he drove right down to Burger King!!! I am an absolute trash for this fast food chain,I tell you. I would choose a Whooper meal over any other five star course anytime. I can already hear the church music ringing inside my stomach as my famished, tortured soul ascended straight from hell and up into the loving doors of heaven.

  With all the grumpiness in me washed away, we ordered and sat down by the window. The Whooper burger lies defenceless in my tray. My my, how should I do my way with you?

  "How did you know I love Burger King?" I asked Jiyong, sinking my teeth into my first bite. This is paradise.

  "You were staring so hard at that burger shop opposite the seafood restaurant just now, you look like you wanted to mentally teleport yourself there." Jiyong commented, popping a fries into his mouth.

  I opened my mouth to protest, before it hits me that he had noticed such a little thing, spreading a strange warmth inside me.

  Jiyong turned back into his usual jerk mannerisms again, trying to guilt-trip me on how much calories I am pressing right into my system, bla bla bla. Too bad this fail-proof tactic doesn't work on me. First, I am not going to deprive myself of all these good things in life trying to look good on a weighing scale. That's something Bommie is in charge of. Second, I know how to rid myself of all these calories. I've done a module back when I was a freshman on nutrition. 

  Jiyong glanced around the place, which was filled with teenagers studying and people having their supper. "Do you know what happened here before?" 

  "What?" I said in a muffled voice as I stuffed the last of my Whooper into my mouth. I haven't been to this Burger King before.

  Jiyong leaned in closer. "Back in the 90s, there was a murder that happened here. Right in the bathroom back there." He whispered.

  I drew myself away from him aruptly. What the heck? 

  "You can search it up if you don't believe me." Jiyong shrugged, leaning back into his chair. "A college student was stabbed by some American dude back there. It was even made into a movie or something." 

  I laughed nervously. If Jiyong's motive was to scare me, then he succeeded completely. Queasily, I popped the fries into my mouth. 

  We finished the meal quietly again, with my mind still lingering on the way too unnecessary piece of information that Jiyong just shared with me. Determined to leave this now-creepy place asap, I finished the rest of my drink in a gulp.

  Wrong move, because by the time we got up to go I was consumed by the irresistable urge to go to the bathroom. THE BATHROOM!!!

  I was on the verge of tears when Jiyong turn around to see me frozen on the spot. 

  "I need to pee." I whispered in a hushed tone.

  "Then go?" He raised a brow, folding his arms together. Noo!! You don't understand!! How can I still- still go to that place after all that you told me??

  "I can't!" I choked, seriously suffering a mental breakdown by now. This is it. Go to that bathroom or wet yourself like an infant right here. CHOOSE, PARK DARA.

  "Can you come with me and wait outside?" I begged. There you go, my pride flying out of the window. I am actually begging Kwon Jiyong, the Caporegime of the Seoul Mafia to accompany me to the toilet! I'm such a wimp!!

  Jiyong scrunched his brows together and releases his arms from his chest. I can already hear the curses running through his mind at how needy I am right now but I DON'T HAVE TIME.

  Grabbing his hand, I stormed straight for that horrendous washroom.

  "It happened in the gents you idiot! I should be the one scared less now." Jiyong hissed behind me, glancing around to make sure no one was looking at us.

  I shut my eyes firmly as I passed by the gents and pressed Jiyong firmly on the ground outside the ladies. He opened his mouth in annoyance again but I gave him a hard look before dashing into the toilet. I swear if he leaves me in there alone, I am never going to see him ever again. I don't care if he's a mafia member or not. If he does that, we're through.

  The toilet is one of those kind that only have a cubicle and a sink for others to wash their hands. The entire room was bathed by a blueish, luminious light. I swallowed my fear uneasily.

  "It happened in the gents, it happened in the gents, I'm safe here." I chanted to myself under my breath like it was a mantra.

  The toilet was eerily silent. 

  "Jiyong?" I called out. There was no reply. Wild panic flooded me and I was almost going to charge straight out of the toilet when I heard his comforting voice.

  "What?" He answered, although it sounded highly irritable.

  Relieved, I quickly did whatever I had to. As I was washing my mouth, the lights flickered. I screamed and dashed straight out of that terrifying cubicle and into...

  ...Jiyong's arms