Confused Hearts

It was the last day of their summer vacation in Boracay, a beach located in the Philippines famous for its long stretch of fine white sand and never ending night life. It was only a few minutes after 8 am but the sun was already shining a little too brightly for Jae Joong's taste. He squinted his eyes and covered his face with one hand in an attempt to hide from the sun's burning rays. After a few seconds, a smile replaced his scowl when he spotted a petite girl in board shorts and t-shirt standing near the shore among the throng of bikini clad beach bums. He tried calling her but after seconds of useless yelling he gave up and just walked towards his bestfriend who was now standing with her hands on her hips and was talking or rather arguing with some American guy.

“Aisht.” He muttered under his breath as he quickened his pace towards Dara but the flour like sand made it a bit more difficult.

“I can wear whatever I feel like wearing.” Dara yelled not caring that the guy obviously cannot understand a word she was saying.

Jae Joong watched as the guy looked at Dara with a big question mark plastered all over his face. The big guy with blonde hair looked genuinely alarmed with Dara's outburst. In spite of his earlier worry a big grin broke on his face. It was typical of his best friend to be involved in any kind of trouble. Amused, he took his time while watching the flustered American try to communicate with Dara who was now on her toes as she tried to look taller.

“Why do you care?” She snapped, her temper rising a few notches higher when the guy merely shook his head and frantically waved his hands in front of his face.

“I can't understand you.” The guy exclaimed in english.

What the hell is he saying now? She thought as she prepared another verbal attack. She raised her brows and opened to speak when a hand suddenly covered . Her eyes rounded in alarm and was about to turn and practice her taekwondo moves when her captor suddenly talked.

“Shut up, you're making a scene.” Jae Joong hissed and smirked when Dara protested that sounded really weird with his hands tightly covering her fiery mouth. He looked at the now amused American and spoke in perfect english. “I'm sorry she tends to over react. What happened?”

The American visibly sighed in relief upon hearing Jae Joong speak in a language he can fully understand. He smiled and said. “I was just asking your girlfriend if she would like to join our Island hopping later. There's still two spots open.”

The two guys continued talking which added to Dara's irritation. She counted to ten then suddenly bit Jae Joong's hand making him jump up and down in pain. She glared at him, unable to believe that the guy who was supposed to be her bestfriend instantly befriended the erted American. When he turned to glare at her she glared back with more intensity and angrily stomped on his foot before turning to walk away but was again stopped by Jae Joong's strong grip on her hands.

“What?” She snapped and shoots daggers at Jae Joong who instantly released her.

He raised his hands and tried to keep the grin off his face but miserably failed making Dara scowl deeper. “Don't be mad.”

“Don't be mad?” She repeated, disbelief coating her tone. “You..you traitor!”

Traitor? Jae Joong thought and silently laughed when Dara continued to glare at him. She looked really mad that it was easy for him to imagine smoke coming out of her ears. “Will you calm down.” He said, looked around them and smiled apologetically to the people around them who looked ready to jump in and take him down for making a girl yell that loud.

Great. Now I look like the bad guy. He thought and turned to Dara with the most calm expression he could muster. “The guy was just asking if we would like to join their island hopping later.”

Oh, I thought he was telling me to change clothes. She thought suddenly embarrassed at the way she acted but she would never let anyone know. “Why should we join them? For all we know he might turn out to be the leader of those organ sellers.” She scoffed with her arms crossed across her chest, refusing to acknowledge defeat.

He just smiled; he was already expecting Dara's reaction. It would take a miracle to make her admit a fault as embarrassing as this. He turned to the American with a smile. “We'll meet you later. Thank you.” The guy smiled, nodded and waved as he left without looking at Dara.

“What did you say?” She asked still pissed at the fact that she couldn't understand a thing.

“I said that we will join them later.” He said in yelped in pain when Dara smacked his head while muttering things under her breath. “Don't worry they don't sell organs. They just need two more people to fill the boat.” He explained then smiled when she finally stopped protesting.

Soon enough the earlier incident was forgotten as they executed their original plan – have fun at the beach. They had breakfast at a restaurant serving Indonesian delicacies that faced the ocean. Then after satisfying their cravings they strolled down the long shore and decided to hit the water. At exactly 1 pm he and Dara went to meet the group of foreigners for the scheduled island hoping. He couldn't help but smile at Dara's obvious excitement. The earlier almost brawl completely forgotten and she even happily greeted the American in english and successfully asked for his name which made Tom smile brightly at them. After the informal greetings, they settled on their designated seats and wore the life jackets as they waited for the others to arrive. Dara looked at the children making sand castles and smiled wishing that she too can experience being a child again while Jae Joong busied himself by taking pictures.

“Ya.” Dara whispered while poking Jae Joong with her elbow.

“What?” He asked without looking at her.

Dara looked at the late comers and felt her cheeks warm. “He's here.” She whispered looking away when the guy suddenly looked her way.

“Who?” Jae Joong whispered back as he tried to capture the disappearing beach on film.

Dara concentrated on studying her surroundings but her stubborn eyes kept on straying back towards Minho's direction. Her ultimate crush, the most popular guy in their university, known and loved for his intelligence and handsome features. “Lee Minho.” She whispered covering with her hand as discreetly as she could.

For a split second, Jae Joong froze, then turned and looked for the guy through the lenses of his camera. There he was on their right side with some of their schoolmates he recognized as Jonghyun and Taemin who were looking at their direction with blank expressions. He never liked them not because they were popular but because they act as if the whole school would bow down to their every command. He made a show of taking pictures of the island behind the three men and hoped that he did not look as stupid as he felt.

“Stop taking pictures.” He heard Dara whisper which made him look at his bestfriend with a playful smirk.

He studied the flustered self-proclaimed tomboy and felt slightly irritated. Tomboy my tush, he thought frowning when Dara continued to look at anywhere but them. He faced her and waited for her to look his way and immediately took her picture and tried not to laugh at loud at her bewildered expression. “Precious photograph.” He grinned and stuck his tongue out the now glaring girl. “Do that and I'll spread this on the internet.” He threatened and grinned when Dara's hand stopped midair, signaling defeat for the first time in their almost 20 years if friendship.

“Stop it.” She hissed and nervously gathered her hair into a loose ponytail.

He just shrugged and continued clicking away completely ignoring Dara's burning glares. After a few more minutes the boat suddenly stopped in the middle of the clear blue green ocean. Confused Jae Joong looked at the boat man and asked in his little tagalog. “Bakit po huminto?” Why did we stop?

The local smiled brightly at him and gave him two thumbs up for bravely speaking their language. “You can snorkel for 30 minutes. After that we will go to that island.” He said while pointing at the nearest with white sand.

Jae Joong nodded with a smile and looked at Dara who suddenly turned bright and excited. She loves the ocean that's why she bugged him to go with her in the Philippines to see with her own eyes the white beach sand that her brother was bragging about. “Can I have two please?” His smile grew wider when the man instantly gave him two snorkels. “Thank you.”

Dara smiled and accepted the gadget a little too eagerly making Jae Joong laugh. Laugh all you want. She thought then smirked as a thought crossed her mind. Let's see if you can still laugh after this. She faced him then smiled that evil smile of hers that never fails to make him nervous.

He looked at her with caution. “What are you planning now Dara?” He asked, tightly gripping the edge of the boat, fearing that the girl would push him into the deep water before he was ready.

“Nothing.” She innocently replies then suddenly gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it up, revealing her narrow, toned and creamy waist and small but firm chest. His throat suddenly dried, it was the first time that he saw Dara in her bikini, the girl refuses to wear girly clothes. Why must she start now when these guys here are probably gawking at her. He suddenly thought but did nothing, the shock was too great. He shook his head and was about to yell at his friend when she suddenly lowered her board shorts, revealing her long, toned and white legs. His eyes grew big in shock and continued to grow bigger until he feared that they would pop right out of its sockets. It almost took everything he had to look at Dara's face and not wrap her in his big beach towel like a cocoon. Gulping and taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and opened them up again just in time to see Dara smirking at him. “ya! What the hell are you doing?” He yelled as soon as he found his voice

“Getting ready to swim.” She replied and stuck her tongue out.

“Why are you wearing that.” He asked not minding that he sounded really really stupid.

Dara just rolled her eyes and tried to look comfortable, the little piece of clothing really makes her want to sue whoever designed the bikini. “Because it's the proper outfit and it's our last day here.” She reasoned and forced her hands to remain on her side and not grab the towel and cover her boy. She looked around them and groaned upon realizing that they were the only ones left inside the boat. “Let's go.”

Grabbing the chance, he immediately rose to his feet and stood close to Dara before slowly taking his shirt off and laughed at loud at the way her face turned tomato red. Still laughing, he grabbed her hand and jumped into the ocean. They spent 30 minutes of swimming around, following schools of fish and just marveling the wonders of the ocean. Minho and the bikini incident totally forgotten.

Or not.

The last stop was the Puka beach. It was the island where Jae Joong had to constantly bit his lips to stop himself from nagging and making a big fuss over her walking around with barely nothing on. He can't even appreciate the beauty of the Island because of constantly worrying and glaring at every guy who would dare look at Dara for more than a second. He planted himself next to Dara and moved when she moved, perfectly in sync almost as if he became her unwanted shadow.

They spent three hours hopping from one island to another. But with Dara's current almost state, in his point of view, he couldn't even take a single picture because of constant worrying for the girl who looked like she was having a blast. Even speaking her little english towards the Filipinos and other foreigners. And it did not escape his eagle like eyes when she even turned friendly with the American that she almost killed earlier that day.

“I'm so tired.” He complained as soon as his feet touched the fine white sand of the main beach. “Let's eat then sleep, we still have an early flight.”

“Okay.” She agreed and pointed at the restaurant standing a few feet away from them. Comfortable silence engulfed them as they walked towards the restaurant. Dara stopped and frowned, hating the way she was baring too much skin, she grabbed Jae Joong's hand to stop him from going any further and said. “Can we shower first? Then eat?” She pleaded with her sweetest voice and smiled when he readily agreed. They shifted their direction and headed towards their hotel.

She loved Boracay. It spells fun in every way possible. The hotels are just near the beach, the restaurants and other shops are just a few feet away from the shore. It was just the perfect place to forget all your worries and have fun.

Upon reaching the hotel Dara went directly towards her room which was just beside Jae Joong's and took a quick shower. She wanted to take her time and really shower but her stomach was already grumbling. After 30 minutes she went out of her room wearing her usual board shorts and shirt much to Jae Joong's relief and delight.

Without words they walked towards the beach and looked for a place to eat. Dara being a meat lover dragged Jae Joong towards a place called Gilly's Island where they serve buffet of different dishes and yummy looking barbecues. After finding a vacant table, which took time because the restaurants are always full especially during lunch and dinner, she immediately left to choose her food not minding that Jae Joong was about to protest. On her plate were two roasted chicken thighs, a grilled fish and half a plate of rice. Disapproving looks were given to her by the girls with model frames but she just smiled at them pitying them on her mind while making her way back to her friend whose frown was evident even from where she was standing.

Feeling a little guilty she walked faster only to stop on her tracks when she spotted Minho and his friends sitting on their table which obviously pissed Jae Joong off. She looked at her plate and cursed. Slowly she turned to leave but Jae Joong already saw her and called her to join them. Left without a choice she joined them hoping that she did not look as sick as she felt. Here was her crush seated right in front of her, finally having dinner with them but she had to ruin it by having an appetite as big a construction worker. She tried to smile to mask her unease.

The three guys smiled back. “Hi Dara-ssi, we hope you won’t mind us sharing your table.” Minho said with a smile.

Jae Joong just scowled as he watched Dara getting all flustered. Taking a deep breath he excused himself to get his food and was annoyed when only Key and Taemin followed him. Minho was left alone with Dara and he doesn't like it. At all.

Dara watched her friend go and felt her heart hammer wildly against her chest. In just a few seconds she was left alone with Minho. Akward silence consumed them as she tried to look anywhere but him. Her stomach was furiously grumbling but she couldn't bring herself to take even a single bit because Jae Joong was still wasn't around and it would be rude given that Minho doesn't have his food yet.

She cleared and tried to make the atmosphere less awkward. “Minho-ssi, if you want you can go get your dinner. I don't mind being alone here.”

Minho smiled. “Don't worry about me Dara-ssi, Key agreed to bring my dinner.”

“Ah ok.” She replied and scanned the place for Jae Joong. Come back fast, she thought oblivious to the way Minho was staring at her.

Relief washed through her as soon as she saw Jae Joong making his way towards them with a blank expression. She smiled up at him and frowned when he did not return the smile. What's wrong with this guy, she thought as she ate a mouthful of chicken completely forgetting that Minho was watching her every move.

With Dara's action, a big grin broke on Jae Joong's face. He looked at the three guys and had to bite his lips to stop himself from laughing. They were watching Dara eat as if they have never seen a woman eat with such eagerness. He can't really blame them though, Dara can eat as much as he can. Sometimes her appetite can even surpass his. “Let's eat.” He said and started eating ignoring the obviously shocked men. He silently applauded Dara for successfully making three of their university's most popular men gape in shock.

Trust food to make her forget