Dara and Jiyong continued to walk along the Han River. After walking for another 10 minutes, they stopped and turned to gaze at the river. It was amazing how neither of them needed to say anything to know what the other was thinking.

 

What were we waiting for? What was I afraid of? What was she afraid of? Gosh, we were so silly.

 

“Baby girl,” began Jiyong.

 

“Yes?” replied Dara.

 

“I have something for you,” said Jiyong, as he turned to face Dara.

 

“What is it?” asked Dara, looking into Jiyong’s eyes.

 

Jiyong reached into his pocket and fished out a small box.

 

“I know this must be super cliché, but I bought these a while back,” said Jiyong, as he opened the box. In it were a pair of simple rings that were of the same design. Dara’s hand flew to in surprise. Upon looking more closely, Dara saw that one had “DRAGON” engraved on it, while the other had “BABY GIRL” engraved on it.

 

“Don’t get any ideas, Sandara Park. I’m not proposing to you. But I do want to give you a physical form of my commitment to you, baby girl. I’m not a very creative guy, so I could only think of a ring. But I hope you like it,” said Jiyong as he looked at Dara with all the sincerity and love he could muster.

 

Dara covered her face in shyness and turned away from Jiyong. Jiyong felt worried and asked, “What’s wrong, baby girl?”

 

“Anni~ Nothing’s wrong,” replied Dara, still with her back to him.

 

Jiyong smiled at her shyness. Instead of pulling her arm towards him to put the ring on for her, he gave her a back hug and took her left hand into his. With his right hand, he slid the ring that said “DRAGON” onto her ring finger.

 

“Shouldn’t I be taking the other one?” asked Dara, as she felt Jiyong’s warmth from her back.

 

“No, you should be taking the “DRAGON” one. I want to be by your side all the time,” explained Jiyong. “I really don’t want to lose you again, baby girl. I’m still an idiot. I’m slow at figuring out what you want. I always figure out your feelings too slowly. But despite all that, I really love you so much, baby girl. And I’m sometimes so afraid that I’ll lose you. So please forgive me for being so clingy but you really are my world and I don’t ever want to let you go.”

 

Dara tilted her head backwards and looked at Jiyong lovingly. “I will never leave you, Ji. Unless you choose to leave me,” said Dara.

 

“I will never leave you, Dara. Nothing could ever come between us,” replied Jiyong, as he hugged Dara from the back with his eyes closed.

 

“Not even an ex-girlfriend? You’re such a catch. Some old flame of yours might come back and try to take you away from me,” teased Dara.

 

“That’s never gonna happen, Dara. No ex-girlfriend of mine could ever compare to you. In fact, I think I would be more worried about your past loves. Who knows, Donghae might appear out of nowhere and try to steal you from me,” said Jiyong half-jokingly, half seriously, his hug around Dara growing tighter as he spoke.

 

“Do you hate him, Ji?” asked Dara.

 

Jiyong thought for a while, before replying, “No, I don’t, baby girl.”

 

“Are you sure?” teased Dara.

 

“Yes, I am,” said Jiyong seriously. “He helped you realise your true feelings for me while you were in a relationship with him. If anything, I’m grateful that he helped you discover those feelings. So why would I hate someone who brought you closer to me?”

 

Dara smiled at his answer, as she drew Jiyong’s arms more tightly around her.

 

“Thanks, Ji. I was worrying that you would hate him because of my mistake. I’m really glad you feel this way,” said Dara.

 

“I love you, baby girl,” replied Jiyong.

 

After walking for over an hour along the Han River, Jiyong and Dara decided to head home, since it was the first time in a long time that Jiyong had walked for so long. Both wanted the night to last longer if possible and walking slowly helped lengthen the time that they would need to get to Dara’s house.

 

I don’t want this to end. What else could I ask for? She’s by my side.

 

…

 

The following day, Jiyong and Dara went out to buy some school supplies for Mrs. Kim. The four kids whom they were looking after were due to start their new school term soon but the orphanage was running low on school supplies. Jiyong and Dara had volunteered to buy some school supplies for their four children out of their own pocket from the local department store. As they headed back to Jiyong’s place to put down the stuff before their planned visit to the orphanage in the following weekend, Jiyong noticed that a renovations company had started work on the house next door. Jiyong walked over to the supervisor of the team and asked, “Annyeonghasaeyo. I’m Jiyong and I live next door. Is somebody moving into this house soon? Do you know who they are?”

 

“Yes, a new family is moving in soon. This is quite a small job for us, as there are only minor touch ups that we need to do.” replied the supervisor. “But I’m not sure who this family is though. The on-site team never gets details like that.”

 

“It’s okay. Thank you for your time,” Jiyong bowed and went back to Dara’s side.

 

“Is something wrong, Jiyong?” asked Dara, as they entered Jiyong’s house to put everything down.

 

“No, everything’s fine. I was just curious because the house next door has been vacant for the past two years. Looks like I’m getting new neighbours soon,” replied Jiyong.

 

“Hope they’ll be nice people. Maybe we can bring them some food when they move in,” suggested Dara.

 

“Aigoo, baby girl. “We” can bring them some food? “We”? Are you that keen to move in with me?” teased Jiyong.

 

“Anni~ Yah, Kwon Jiyong!” replied Dara in a huff, as she flushed a deep red and started hitting him on his arm.

 

Jiyong laughed at her expression as they walked into Jiyong’s house.

 

…

 

The following Saturday came and Jiyong and Dara headed down to the orphanage. As they walked down the street that led to the orphanage, they saw two familiar characters walking hand in hand some distance ahead of them.

 

“Jiyong-ah, is that who I think it is?” asked Dara.

 

Jiyong squinted for a while, before replying, “Isn’t that… oh my goodness…”

 

Jiyong and Dara shouted at the same time, “Lee Chaerin! Lee Seungri!”

 

The pair in front of them turned around and let go of their hands once they saw who was shouting at them. Dara and Jiyong ran forward with huge grins plastered on their faces.

 

“Yah, Lee Chaerin! Why didn’t you tell me you two were dating?” demanded Dara.

 

“Seungri-ah! I thought you said she wasn’t your type?” asked Jiyong.

 

Seungri and Chaerin’s faces resembled ripe tomatoes as they struggled to reply.

 

“Anni, Dara,” mumbled Chaerin. “We’re just heading down to the orphanage. We haven’t seen our kids for a long time.”

 

“I’m not blind, Chae. You two were holding hands,” teased Dara.

 

“I was feeling giddy just now, so he was just trying to help me feel more stable,” insisted Chaerin.

 

“Oh I’m sure you feel a million times more stable when you hold Seungri’s hand now, Chae,” teased Dara.

 

“Aish~ Just admit it to them, Chaerin,” said Seungri in a half-exasperated, half-amused voice. “Yes, we’re dating! But it’s true, we’re going to the orphanage to see our kids. We haven’t seen them in ages and Mrs. Kim told us they’ve been missing us a lot.”

 

“Ahhhhhh!!!! Congrats Chae! And good luck to you Seungri! Chae’s quite a handful, so you’ve got your work cut out for you,” said Dara cheekily, which earned her a punch on the arm from Chaerin. “A