Incoming Call

Don't Drink

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dara." he breathed laboriously. "Hey, Dara... Hey!" 

A slightly frown marred her face as she took a sip of her slurpee. "Why are you panting?" 

He heaved another deep breath before clearing his throat. "My loins are aching for you." 

"ing ert, I swear." 

"So," he closed his eyes, leaning on the leather seat while a bunch of rice triangles surrounded him with his driver happily eating one. "What've you been up to, princess?"

"Some weird guy just harassed me and dashed."

"Oh?" came his grimace. 

"Yeah, I thought he was cool at first when he gave me a rice triangle but then he took a sip of my drink and kissed my cheek!" she said scandalously. "He kissed my cheek!" 

"Are you sure it wasn't just a peck?" 

Dara gave him a mirthless laugh. "Oh no, buddy. I definitely heard a smack in there. And it was wet too." she shuddered. 

"Maybe he wants you to feel a little wet."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Dara?"

"Alright, I'm hanging up."

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" he chortled. "Sorry, I can't help it. It's in my genes."

"You have genes of a ert?" 

"I put a baby in that woman."

Jiyong shook his head furiously at the recollection. Though his dad gave them a quick summary of it all, he still gave them a detailed explanation of certain things that really should just be kept between two people. He swore he saw his life flash before his eyes. 

"N-No." he cleared his throat again. "I have a blood of a romantic." 

Dara snorted. "Whatever makes you sleep at night, Jiyong." 

"You do."

She scoffed, blushing. She refused to answer, not really knowing what to answer. 

"And besides, babe, don't Europeans kiss people on the cheek as a customary greeting?"

Dara stopped dead on her tracks and scrunched her brows. "I never mentioned that he was European."

"You didn't?" Jiyong laughed a little too awkwardly. "Oh, that just sounds like a very European thing to do. Hahaha... Ha... Hmmm... Yeah, European." he coughed. "Did he look or sound European?"

Her eyes darted around the streets suspiciously. He wasn't here, was he? "He looked Korean but I think he doesn't speak Korean." she pursed her lips. "He said something... Oh Rev...wa?" 

Jiyong smiled. "That's French, darling. Au revoir."

The girl's ears perked up. "Can you say that again for me?" 

"Au Revoir." 

"Again."

He was about to repeat himself when the realization of what she was doing finally hit him. Jiyong started to cough furiously, rambling in his brain of topics to divert her from making him speak more French. 

He decided that he'll go for classy and tasteful subject. 

"So I just took a massive dump earlier—"

Which in turn she cleanly avoided. "Do you know how to speak French, Jiyong." 

"Just a little." he sounded nonchalant although deep in side he was on the brink of panicking. "My family used to visit France when I was young." Which wasn't a lie. 

Dara hummed in understanding. She forgot that he was related to Park Bom, the rich .

Speaking of relatives... 

"Are you alright, Jiyong?"

"Yeah," it came out with a strained chuckle. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She bit her lip in thought. Dara didn't know if bringing it up would step over a line. She saw how Bom was caught in a fit of grave hysteria when she found out that their mother was pregnant. 

"Dara?" 

What if he tells her that it's none of her business? 

"Are you there, baby?"

Dara shook herself out of her reverie. "Yeah, I'm still here..." 

Jiyong straightened in his seat as he handed the driver another rice triangle. The older man smiled brightly at him. "Is there something wrong, Dara?" he cooed. 

She was about to say something when the loud boom of music snatched her ears away. He scowled and looked at the store that blasted the song 'FXXK IT' by BIGBANG. Stupid friggin' flower boys, she thought spitefully. 

Dara looked away and began to think again. 

" It~!"

She cursed. How could she think straight when someone keeps saying ' it' in her ear? She was about to walk away from the noise when her eyes landed on a cardboard cut-out of BIGBANG's leader G-Dragon who stared at her with his soulless cardboard eyes. 

" it!~"

"Babe?"

Her eyes twitched. That cardboard man looked like he was taunting her with that music playing behind him. 

"Jesus, where are you? Why is it so loud in there?" 

" it~!"

But what if—

" it~! I love y'all."

"How's your mother?" Dara blurted out, walking away from the cardboard G-Dragon and the store. 

Jiyong shut his mouth and looked down on his rice triangle-filled lap. 

"Jiyong?" 

"If I didn't know any better, I would think that you cared about me.."

She moistened her chapped lips and brushed a lock of her hair away from her face. 

"I'm here." 

Jiyong smiled faintly, "Thank you."

She nodded though he couldn't see. It took her a couple of seconds before she added, "So, how is she?"

"She's fine." he sighed. "How did you know?" it came out as a hoarse whisper. 

"Bom, and..." Dara paused. "I heard you talking about it on the phone." 

He shifted on his seat before unwrapping a triangle and taking a huge bite of it. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." 

"Is it possible for women over 50 to give birth?"

Dara racked her brain for the right topic. Never once was she this relieved to know the details concerning the reproductive system. "There's been a growing number of successful births after the age of