So there Dara was, with people cheering her on, but it felt like she existed for one person only. She can drown in those brown eyes, which had the ability to arrest your entire being when they are locked on you. In the middle of her thoughts, Dara was rudely reminded of her surroundings when Min Ho came up and congratulated her.

“Wow, Dara! That song rocked! It’s a sad one, but you do have serious writing chops.”

Dara just smiled and said thanks.

“Oh, your boyfriend is here!” Min Ho exclaimed with excitement, which got Dara to look to her right. Jiyong was slowly making his way through a crowd of people greeting him. He was wearing a baseball cap, a hoodie, shorts and sneakers, but he still managed to stand out from the crowd.

His eyes met hers, and Dara smiled at him. He grinned back, and put an arm around her shoulders. Dara could smell his cologne..and maybe a whiff of cigarette smoke.

Has he been smoking again?

“Hey man, Dara did well, don’t you think? Have you heard this song before?” Min Ho turned to the man beside Dara.

Jiyong used his arm around Dara to bring her closer to him. Dara stiffened a bit, feeling a little self-conscious about their proximity.

So this is how it feels like to be Jiyong’s girlfriend in public. Dara couldn’t help but think. She knew in that moment Jiyong was proud of her.  He glanced at her before responding.

“It was my first time hearing it too…she’s been very secretive about her writing projects.”

Again, he looked at her deeply, those brown eyes seemingly communicating something to her. Something her brain can’t process even if she tried.

“I just didn’t think I’d show it to a bar full of people, that’s why.” Dara jokingly smirked at the nosy Min Ho.

“Aigoo, well now we know we have a secret songwriter in our hands.”

Christian, the handsome tattooed man Dara met earlier, joined in the conversation too.

“Man, that song was good!” He greeted Jiyong and praised Dara some more, then he added:

‘Say, will you be interested in joining us for one of our projects soon? I’m working on an ad for this major beer brand here. It will be my pleasure working with you…”

Christian looked towards Jiyong, as if getting his approval first, then to Dara, who was clueless about “projects” and ads. Maybe not totally clueless, because she did some marketing jo