"I'm home!" Dara shouts the moment she steps into her apartment.

"Hey sis! You're here early" her brother, Cheondung, replies from the living room and Dara narrows her eyes at him.

"aren't you supposed to be in class?" Cheondung just shrugs and stuffs his mouth with the remaining pretzels that were lying on the table. Dara's eyes widen

"Are those my pretzels??" he quickly lets go of them and raises both palms in surrender.

"I'm..sorry?" he responds dumbly, as if unsure of what to say. Dara simply sighs and flops down on the couch next to him. She was actually hoping to eat those pretzels before her date. She doesn't want to admit it to her boyfriend, but Dara is a big eater, and she likes having snacks before meals. Although, it is nutritionally unhealthy to do so, the heart wants what it wants. She can't be blamed though, being a proofreader is guaranteed to the life out of you. It's not an easy job, having to sit all day and nitpick errors like a grammar Nazi and go over every word carefully like a third grader that still doesn't know how to read. It's a hassle, a huge pain in the bum. But, if Dara were to be honest, she likes it. She's always had such immense love for literature and yeah, maybe it's not the greatest job out there, but, she gets to read different books for free, and be a vital part of their publication. And that makes her happy.

"I forgive you solely because I'm in a good enough mood to forgive you" she mutters and he just blinks confusedly.

"I'm going to pretend I understood what you meant" he gets up and dusts away the small pretzels' crunches stuck on his hoodie and shorts, before he stops abruptly and turns towards her "Ok, I just understood what you meant"

"smart boy" she responds sarcastically, but he quickly dismisses her retort.

"So, why are you in a good enough mood?"

"Well," she sits upright and a smile instantly colors her face "Jae and I are going on a date. Technically, it's dinner at his house, but it totally counts as a date!" she chirps so happily that it very much freaks Cheondung out.

"You still with that guy?" Dara rolls her eyes with a loud painful groan.

"Seriously, Cheon?" she sighs in disbelief but Cheondung seems unfazed by her reaction.

"I know you're head over heels for the guy, but, don't you get douche-y vibes from him?" Dara can't believe what's coming out of her brother's mouth

"what are you talking about? He's far from being a douche! Jae is a gentleman." Cheondung is literally so close to throwing himself out from the window. He can't believe how blind his sister can be.

"He measures the calories in his food and throws a fit if it's more than 600, he thinks tap water is the leading cause of stomach cancer, and, he hates this apartment, because, and I quote 'It can barely fit two people, let alone three" He stares at his sister knowingly "So basically, the guy is a drama queen, a limited-edition idiot and a presumptuous bastard. That's three strikes Dara, and that's only the tip of the iceberg" He smiles in triumph, but Dara is fuming.

"Ok, so he has some flaws, we're all flawed! nothing wrong with that! He's still a very kind and sincere man. Maybe if you focused more on his positives, you'd know how much of a great guy he is"

"Dara," he sighs, seemingly tired from the fruitless argument. He doesn't even understand why he started it, but to be very honest, he's really sick with of Jae's shenanigans. He knows Jae doesn't like him either, never did matter of fact, but Dara, the ever so loving person she is, refuses to see beyond what the eyes can see. She refuses to see people for who they are, and instead, sticks to their favorable qualities. "I love you, you're the greatest person I've ever known in my poorly executed 22 years of my life, you've always had my back, you've always been there for me in every step, even when our parents weren't, but this time, I want to be the one to have your back." He grabs his sister by the shoulders. "I'm worried about you, you know. They guys' you've dated before, they were trashier than trash itself, so what guarantees that Jae is any different?" Dara's eyes soften at the concern in her brother's words and gently pats his cheek.

"Don't worry Cheon, Jae is different, I promise." She looks at him reassuringly and he finally lets go and nods.

"Okay, I trust you"

"Good, now I'm going to get ready for dinner with Jae" she smiles and runs to her room. Cheondung lifts the beer he was drinking from the table and chugs whatever's left. He doesn't want to see his sister hurt, not again, but it's going to take a long while for his sister to come to terms with reality, and he's going to make sure he's there for her.

.................................

Dara makes sure there is not lipstick stuck on her teeth as she checks herself in the mirror one last time before she knocks on the door.

She was pretty nervous about what to wear. She usually prefers the comfort of pants or knee length shorts when going out, but Jae likes it when she bares her legs, so she went for a navy-blue romper coupled with dark heels. She let her hair fall down her back and put on light makeup to complete her attire. She didn't want to seem flashy. Usually, she just puts a bit of eyeliner and mascara, but for Jae, she went the extra mile and applied some eye shadow, blush and a light shade of lipstick. And now that she's here in front of his condo, she's giddy with excitement.

The Door finally opens to reveal her handsome, tall and well-built boyfriend, Jaejoong. They both smile as she makes the first move and drops a quick peck to his lips.

"Hey gorgeous, you look hot" He whispers to her ear as she slides past him.

"Don't get too excited." she winks and takes off her shoes once they're inside. He holds her hand and leads her to the dining room but Dara's smile quickly disappears once she notices the other people in the room that she did not expect, or, more specifically, the other females.

"um, Jae, who are they?" she murmurs so as to not be heard.

"They're my friends, from work." He starts introducing each one of them while pointing at them "That's Hyejin, she's the project manager of our company, Solbin, assistant marketing, Aera, Human Resources Director and Kyungri, my assistant" he beams and Dara is not too sure if she wants to continue this 'date' or take a run for it. "everyone! This is my girlfriend, Dara" Dara simply waves with a hesitant smile.

"Heeey!" they all say in unison and, judging from their slurred tone, Dara is pretty sure that they're all pretty wasted. She coughs awkwardly and takes a seat next to, if she remembers correctly, Solbin.

There are so many questions swimming in her head and she's ready to fire them, but then, Solbin puts her hand on her thigh and smiles seductively. Why is she smiling seductively? Dara asks herself.

"So, you're the famous girl that stole Jae's heart. I wouldn't mind if you stole mine" she winks and Dara is officially done with whatever is going on. She bolts out of her seat and drags Jaejoong, who was hysterically laughing with Aera in the corner, oblivious to the whole situation.

Once they're safe from earshot, she glares at him and raises both her hands in question

"what is this?"

"what is what?"

"Don't play dumb with me Jae, you know what I'm talking about" Dara is losing every ounce of patience, and yet, here he is, acting aloof as if what's going on there is the most normal thing ever.

"Look, I invited you for dinner and you said yes, why are you mad?" Dara is dumbfounded. He's either a real idiot or hella drunk to know what he's saying.

"Are you serious? this is supposed to be a date, just you and me." She states, trying to stay calm but Jae stares at her as if she's crazy.

"um, No, I didn't specify it as a date, I just said dinner" he explains, and Dara is starting to feel small all of a sudden. He notices the crushed look on her face and swiftly comes closer and hugs her to his chest.

"oh baby, I'm sorry, I didn't know you thought it was a date. I just thought it would be great to introduce you to my colleagues over dinner" he mumbles, patting her back. "I just wanted to show you off and I'm sorry if I hurt you, I didn't mean too baby, trust me" he breaks the hug and looks her in the eyes. Who is she kidding? Dara can't stay mad at him, she's weak for his soft pleading eyes. And so, with a sigh, she smiles and points at her cheek. He grins goofily and drops a wet kiss there.

"You're the best baby." He runs off back to the girls and Dara's smile immediately drops. She doesn't know why she feels hurt, he just said he wanted to show her off to his friends at work, she should be happy about that, so why does her heart feel heavy?