“DARA.”


When she looked around, she found Bom, Chaerin, and Minzy, her best of friends in school, waiting for her at the entrance. She didn’t even realize that she stop walking and let her thoughts consume her. 


"Girls." she shakes her head to erase whatever happened yesterday. She will not think about it today. 


"It's almost bell time, hurry," Bom said, dragging her to the main building of their school.


"Wait," Chaerin said, holding Bom's hands to stop her from walking. "Look." she gestured ahead.


When she looks around, almost all the students stop in their tracks and we're looking at something or rather at someone. When her gaze landed ahead, she saw a guy standing in front of the building looking like a king to his subjects, by the way, his gaze flicker from one direction to the next.


The guy is sinfully gorgeous from the roots of his hair to the toes of his feet. He is wearing a black suit that makes his appearance more dangerously mysterious.


"Who is that guy?" Dara asked her friends.


Her friends just shrugged their shoulders.


"We don't know." Minzy said.


The guy started to walk in their direction. Her friend's sequel in delight.


"Oh my God, he is walking this way," Bom said. The three of them fix their face, hair, and bit their lips. She rolled her eyes.


"Let's go. I don't want to miss our first class." she drags the hesitant Bom and walks ahead.


She is about to walk past him when he grabs her arm.


She stops in her track and looks at him. His piercing eyes turn to her with an amused look.


“I came all the way here and this is how you greet me. You're such a bad hostess, Dara Park." He said sarcastically. Even his voice is so beautiful in her ears.  


"Dara, how did he know your name? Do you know him?" Bom softly whispers in her ears.


"No, I don't remember meeting him," she answered. "Mister, can you let go of my arms already. You see we're going to be late." she tried to shake his hands away but it's futile, his grip tightens even more. She winced in pain.


“Let her go, Mister. Can’t you see you’re hurting her?” Chaerin said in anger. One of the things she didn't want to see is her friend getting hurt in front of her.


As if the guy didn't hear anything they say. He just looks around and then turns his gaze towards her again. His eyes seem to darken even more.


His hand in her arm settles in her hands and locks her left hand inside of his.


"You are a witch." he whispers in her ears and he stunned her and everyone else when he gets down on one knee and kneels in front of her.


For whatever the reason is, her friends put a distance between them, leaving her all alone with him, a total stranger. She tries to move but her action remains futile, she seems to be rooted on her spot.


"Don't worry, I will not hurt you and as of what happens with them, unconsciously they feel my power and that’s the reason why they step back away."


Her friends and everyone that are watching gasp in awe. In a distance, they looked like a couple, with him asking her hand in marriage.


When she snaps from her shock, she looked at him angrily.


"Can you please get up, you're embarrassing me." she hissed.


"I will but promised me first." he looked up. A smile is curving on his lips.


"Just tell me! God, this is so embarrassing." she looked around, earlier only students are there to watch but now there are a few teachers too as if everyone forgets that the bell will ring in a few minutes.


Everyone put their distance around them and think that they should give them some privacy but it's far from a proposal. His next word shocks her to her feet.


"As a warlock in sorcery world, I implore you to be my Chosen One." he said. “Just say yes and I will get up immediately like what you want.”


"This isn't happening, my mother did not mention this kind of thing to me," she whispers to herself. Her mother only tells her what she deems most important and this is not one of them.


The guy looks around again and when he looked up his eyes lit in anger.


"Just say yes, dammit. We don't have all the time in the world. He's coming this way." he said with gritted teeth in suppressing his emotion. 


He doesn't know what will happen if this act of his fail. He can't bear the thought that someone will be with her and it's not him. It will not end well when that happens. 


"Who is coming?" she asked, confusion written all over her beautiful face.


The first time that he saw her, his world turn upside down as if he is seeing her for the very first time. She is the most beautiful woman that he ever saw, even surpassing the beauty of those in his world.


Her angelique features speak of how innocent she is and he will not let others tainted her. He will protect her from anyone who dares to harm her in any way. The protective instinct inside of him awakens with the mere sight of her.


"I'll explain everything later. Just say yes." his eye is pleading. 


Without any other choice, she muttered “Yes” to him in haste.


“Louder.”


She gritted her teeth, inhale-exhale deeply, and shouted.


“Yes.”


His wide grin appeared. "Finally." And he kisses her hands and a ring appears on her ring finger. The connection between them is secured and no one can take it away, even the most powerful warlock can't do anything about the binding that connected them.


"Wear this ring as a symbol of my pledge to protect and shelter you in all harm. That every one will have to kill me first before hurting you. This is our family heirloom that passes through generation after generation." he explains after the ring materializes in her ring finger.


She stared at it. The shape of the ring is like a spider's body with its black onyx as its stone. The moment the ring appeared, she started to sense it differently.


"The ring also chooses you and that's not all, you sense something else." he smiles mysteriously. 


How the heck did he knows that? Yes, Dara senses that someone is approaching and how did she know that beats her.


"You're so clever, Kwon Jiyong." The mysterious guy said. He appeared out of nowhere and when she looked around,  everyone is freeze in time. The three of them are the only ones who are aware of what is happening. 


"There's nothing you can do about it, Donghae, so shut the hell up and don't say anything you would regret later on." The guy called Kwon Jiyong said calmly but the threat underlines the words he spoke of.


“Yes, but you trick her for doing so. Save that threat to yourself and be aware that I'm watching," he smirks.


 Jiyong knows how to appreciate, so he nodded to Donghae before he disappears before them. 


“Prepare yourself, little girl." He said as parting words and little by little his presences disappear and everyone returns to normal.


When she asked him about that he just shrugged his shoulder.


"I see you later, Dara." and he disappears as fast as he appeared in front of her.


The crowd cheered. Congratulations are everywhere. She smiles despite the anxiety she feels. What a day for a fifteen-year-old teen to experience. Somehow she wished that everything is just a dream and she will wake up soon.

 
Learning that she is a witch and someone asking her to be their Chosen One is a lot to take in. She doesn’t even know what that word is.


After the class dismissal, she immediately went home to talk to her mother. She had lots of questions and her mother is the only person who would know the answer.


Dara reaches their house faster than she ever has. When she passed the threshold, her mother's Nana is waiting for her in their living room.


She doesn't know if their blood is the reason for that but she still looks so young being her great-grandmother.


"Nana, good afternoon, it's been a while." she greeted her.


"Little Dara, you are looking more beautiful with each year pass." Yuri greeted her great-granddaughter. She looks so much like her daughter. Yuri knows that her daughter is so proud of her grandchild even though they did not meet personally. Being a pureblood for three-generation within the family is a big honor fairy blood can have, even though it skips her grandchild.


In her grandchild's time, there’s no one born to be a full-blooded fairy and that creates a ruckus within their clan as it was the very first time that it happens. All children born in that generation are halfling. Usually, it will move from another line to another without so much a pattern to look at.


"Tell me, wherein this house you feel so much comfortable and at peace?" Yuri ask.


"The library." Dara answer simply.


"Let's go there, we better start early as soon as possible."


"All right, I will just change clothes." And she went straight to her room without so much as a glance in her mother in the hallway looking at their interaction.


Yuran looks preflex. Something happens and her daughter is angry with her. Dara doesn't behave that way unless she does something to irritate her.


"Don't worry, Yuran. I will address that later. You must be understanding in this situation, your daughter is in the process of a huge transition in her life and even us doesn't come often with this situation where you need to deal with this problem all at once."


"I understand perfectly, Grandmother."


"Tell Dara that I'm waiting in the library for her."


Yuran nodded.


As soon as Dara enters the library, her Great Nana starts right away. They spend hours inside and in there she learn so much. 


Hours pass before she is allowed to her bedroom and as soon as she went outside, she is engulfed in warm arms.


"Where were you? Where did you go?" Jiyong asks agitated.


Her presence vanishes all of a sudden and he went ballistic looking for her aura everywhere and when he senses it, to hell with his identity, he appears out of thin air inside her house and shows himself to two-person who is with her.


"Dara, remember what I told you. You need to tell him everything, he will understand because he is your other half. He claims you first, so it will be all right." Her Nana said.